Power Hour

Sharmadean Reid MBE is a founder, writer and creative consultant who in her 20 year career has launched an innovation led salon, a beauty tech start up and now a media company. Sharmadean’s amazing new book is out now. New Methods for Women is 49 powerful essays that offer new perspectives on life, work, self, friendships, parenthood, and relationships. Sharmadean interweaves the lessons she’s learnt, with a diverse range of thinkers, ideas and stories that have informed her approach. There are countless books that tell women how to navigate the system as it is, but what women really need is to change the system to empower and support them: this book gives you the tools to do just that.

Adrienne is looking back at some of her favourite Power Hour episodes from years gone by!Oliver Burkeman worked for many years at The Guardian, where he wrote a popular weekly column on psychology, “This Column Will Change Your Life.” His books include the New York Times bestseller Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals and The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can’t Stand Positive Thinking. Oliver's new book Meditations for Mortals: Four Weeks to Embrace Your Limitations and Make Time for What Counts is described as "A map for a liberating journey toward a more meaningful life―a journey that begins where we actually find ourselves, not with a fantasy of where we’d like to be". It's available no in stores and online.

Adrienne is digging into the Power Hour archives and today's episode comes from 2023. dAmy Edmondson is the Novartis Professor of Leadership and Management at Harvard Business School. Renowned for her world-leading research into the concept of psychological safety, Edmondson has been named by Thinkers50 as the most influential management thinker in the world.In her new book, Right Kind of Wrong, Amy Edmondson - the world's most influential organisational psychologist - reveals how we get failure wrong, and how to get it right. She draws on a lifetime's research into the science of 'psychological safety' to show that the most successful cultures are those in which you can fail openly, without your mistakes being held against you.She introduces the three archetypes of failure - simple, complex and intelligent - and explains how to harness the revolutionary potential of the good ones (and eliminate the bad). And she tells vivid stories ranging from the history of open heart surgery to the Columbia Space Shuttle disaster, all to ask a simple, provocative question: What if it is only by learning to fail that we can hope to truly succeed?

Adrienne is looking back at some of her favourite Power Hour episodes from years gone by! Berthold Gunster is the founder of the Omdenken, or Flip Thinking, philosophy. After studying at the Theatre Academy in Utrecht he worked as a theatre director and writer for years. Since 2001 he and his team have been offering trainings, workshops and shows about Omdenken to companies and individuals. Berthold has written thirteen bestsellers about the Omdenken theory. Flip Thinking beautifully illustrates how a person who can turn a negative into a positive can never be defeated. The book is available now in shops and online.

As a Friday bonus Adrienne is sharing a recent episode from the Modern Wellness Podcast - remember to follow or subscribe if you haven't yet! Firstly there’s a look at a recent New Scientist article all about tiredness, as according to a recent analysis of data from 32 countries, as many as 1 in 5 otherwise healthy adults complain of problematic levels of fatigue. "A fresh understanding of tiredness reveals how to get your energy back"There’s a discussion about biophilic design after Fitt Insider’s recent report Issue No. 327: Cooped UpAnd finally, Adrienne predicts a big rise in at-home saunas!Don't forget to rate/review and subscribe or follow!You can follow the show and send in your questions to @modernwellnesspodcast or email questions@modernwellnesspodcast.comAnd follow the hosts Adrienne @adrienne_ldn, Sammi @sammiadhami, and Oli @_olipatrick.

Today Adrienne is joined by the brilliant Dr Avanti Kumar-Singh, MD. An internationally recognised Ayurveda practitioner, certified yoga therapist, and former ER doctor. Her approach brings together Western medicine with the ancient wisdom of Ayurveda that comes from her South Asian lineage. In her new book The Longevity Formula: Ayurvedic Principles to Reduce Inflammation, Increase Cellular Repair, and Live with Vitality  Dr Avanti invites us to reframe our approach to aging through The Longevity Formula―boosting longevity by reducing inflammation and increasing cellular repair. This approach to increasing our health span isn’t complicated, and it doesn’t require expensive tests or procedures. Instead, it offers simple, science-backed practices based in the time-honored tradition of Ayurveda.Dr. Kumar-Singh has experienced the power of these practices herself. During her successful career as an emergency room doctor, she suffered a health crisis that Western medicine couldn’t fully resolve. In her search for answers, she returned to Ayurveda, the healing tradition of her South Asian roots. Ayurveda is a holistic system that shows us how to live in harmony with nature, with its daily and seasonal rhythms. It’s complementary with Western medicine, and it honors aging as a time of vitality and wisdom.

Today Adrienne is joined by the brilliant Alice Wilkinson (@alicewilkinsonwrites). Alice is a writer, editor and journalist at The Telegraph. A previous editor of Waitrose Health, she has featured in many national newspapers and magazines. Alice also writes a weekly Substack newsletter titled 'What's the alternative?' where she takes a counterintuitive look at what matters most to millennials.Between marriage rates dwindling and the cost-of-living soaring, house sharing is becoming more and more common – but that doesn’t stop it being one of the most complex living set-ups of the 21st century. Thankfully, journalist and serial house sharer, Alice Wilkinson is here to help you stay sane when you're feeling stuck.Her new book How to Stay Sane in a House Share is the friendly and informed guide to house sharing you have been waiting for. From how to choose the right housemate to navigating conflict when it (inevitably) arises, Alice draws on interviews with experts such as Professor Dunbar, 'The Millennial Therapist' Sara Kuburic and more to explore the anxieties that run the lives of young professionals living in house shares to help create a more harmonious home.

Anne-Laure Le Cunff (@neuranne) is a former Googler who decided to go back to university to pursue a PhD in neuroscience. As the founder of Ness Labs and the author of its widely read newsletter, she is the foremost expert on mindful productivity and systematic curiosity. She writes about evidence-based ways for people to navigate uncertainty and make the most of their minds. Her new book Tiny Experiments: How to Live Freely in a Goal-Obsessed World is out now!In this conversation, Adrienne and Anne-Laure explore the themes of the book, including mindful productivity, the societal obsession with goals, and the importance of embracing uncertainty. Anne-Laure shares insights from her book 'Tiny Experiments', advocating for an experimental mindset that focuses on the process of learning rather than binary outcomes. They discuss the protective mechanisms of cynicism, escapism, and perfectionism, and how metacognition can help individuals navigate their fears and doubts.

Today Adrienne is joined by the brilliant Jeff Wetzler. Jeff has been on a quarter-century quest to transform learning opportunities and unlock human potential. Blending a unique set of leadership experiences in the fields of business and education, he’s pursued this quest as an international management consultant to executives in Fortune 500 corporations, as Chief Learning Officer at Teach For America, and currently, as co-CEO of Transcend, a nationally recognized education innovation organization. In his book Ask: Tap Into the Hidden Wisdom of People Around You for Unexpected Breakthroughs In Leadership and Life globally recognized expert on learning and leadership, Jeff Wetzler offers a hands-on, surprisingly effective way to find out what others really think, know, and feel. Ask leads to smarter decisions, more creative solutions, and deeper relationships. Too often, we don’t find out what’s truly on others’ hearts and minds because we don’t know how to ask the right questions in the right ways. Co-founder of Transcend and former international business consultant and Teach for America executive Jeff Wetzler wants to show you how to fix that. In Ask, he brings you a powerful method called The Ask Approach™, based on a simple premise: that tapping into what other people truly think, know, and feel is a game-changing superpower.