Crisis What Crisis with Andy Coulson

Mike Soutar is an entrepreneur, publishing titan and the forensic interviewer familiar to millions from BBC’s The Apprentice.
In this bonus episode of Crisis What Crisis, Mike shares the four points of personal navigation he relies on when life gets hard: a person, a habit, a comfort and a single piece of advice.
If you haven’t heard our full conversation yet, go back and find it in the feed. It’s packed with hard-earned lessons about risk, resilience and leadership.
POWERED BY KINGSLEY NAPLEY
I know what it is to have the right legal support around you when facing crisis. Kingsley Napley are the kind of lawyers I wish more people knew about – there to help you make the right decisions, protect what matters and build real resilience when the pressure is on.
This episode is powered by Kingsley Napley. Visit https://www.kingsleynapley.co.uk for more details.
CHAPTERS
00:42 A Person – His wife Bev, the rock and centre of his world
01:27 A Piece of Advice – “A great day in the office is when you lose more arguments than you win”
02:48 A Comfort – The jangly optimism of 1980s Scottish pop
04:28 A Habit – The daily wet-shaving ritual that centres him
BUY MIKE'S BOOK
Next Gen CEO: Leadership Lessons for an Uncertain World – https://www.amazon.co.uk/Next-Gen-CEO-Lessons-Uncertain/dp/1035095726
FOLLOW MIKE SOUTAR
Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/mike_soutar/?hl=en
LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/mike-soutar/
FOLLOW CRISIS WHAT CRISIS?
Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/crisiswhatcrisispodcast
TikTok – https://www.tiktok.com/@crisispod
This was a Crisis What Crisis Production – Rex Fisher (producer), Ioana Barbu (studio manager), Fred Sharp (research), Johnny Seifert (audio), Jasper Cullen (video).

Millions know Mike Soutar as the forensic interviewer on The Apprentice, the Scottish voice across the boardroom table for the last 15 years. But long before the television, he built one of the most remarkable careers in British media – on a deceptively simple formula of hard work, optimism and self-belief.
In this business episode, we go back to the beginning. Mike started out at 17 writing horoscopes and romantic fiction at DC Thomson in Dundee, working on hot metal presses with a pencil he wasn't allowed to replace until it was a stub. By his early 20s he was editing Smash Hits. He went on to turn FHM into the biggest-selling monthly magazine in Britain, launched some of the country's best-known titles, and sat on the board of IPC when it was sold to Time Warner for more than £1 billion.
But the biggest turning point of his career came not in a boardroom, but in a hospital bed. In 2006, at the height of his corporate success, a chicken Caesar wrap left him seriously ill, his organs beginning to fail, unsure whether he'd survive. Lying there, he asked himself whether he had ever really tested himself — and the honest answer was no. So he walked away from the security of corporate life, raised £4 million in five weeks, remortgaged his home and launched ShortList.
His new book, Next Gen CEO, is about how the next generation of leaders can navigate an age of AI and uncertainty by becoming, of all things, more human.
POWERED BY KINGSLEY NAPLEY
I know what it is to have the right legal support around you when facing crisis. Kingsley Napley are the kind of lawyers I wish more people knew about – there to help you make the right decisions, protect what matters, and build real resilience when the pressure is on.
This episode is powered by Kingsley Napley. Visit www.kingsleynapley.co.uk for more details.
FOUR LESSONS FROM MIKE
Optimism without a plan is just naivety. When ShortList failed on day one, hope didn't save it, a plan did.
Investors back people first, ideas second. Ideas change the moment they meet the real world. What backers are really buying is you.
When you're fighting a difficult boss, keep it principled, not personal. Argue for the customer, not for yourself, and keep bringing the data. It's very hard for anyone to argue against a case built on what's genuinely right for the people you serve.
Chasing purpose. Mike had sold his company, had the money and the status, and still felt hollow. He thought what was missing was a job, instead it was a purpose..

CHAPTERS
06:38 – Why AI makes human leadership more valuable, not less
10:13 – Whether a self-made career is still possible in a flat economy
14:59 – How instability early on can forge the drive to control your own destiny
21:42 – Fake it till you make it: backing yourself into a job you're not ready for
24:27 – The FHM playbook: build in service of your customer, not your advertiser
28:43 – Why he left a hit at its peak – and what fear of failure does to founders
32:12 – How to stand your ground with a boss who holds all the cards
39:41 – The near-death moment that asked him: have you ever really tested yourself?
44:23 – Losing control, and what to do when you're forced out
46:27 – How he raised £4 million in five weeks – and why investors really said yes
50:16 – The launch-day disaster, and the case for protecting your team from the panic
53:22 – The £1 million opportunity he turned down – and the lesson in why
55:03 – Why success and status left him feeling hollow – and what actually fixed it
59:15 – Knowing when a job isn't worth your reputation, and walking away
01:03:27 – What 15 years on The Apprentice taught him about how to treat people
BUY MIKE'S BOOK
Next Gen CEO: Leadership Lessons for an Uncertain World – https://www.amazon.co.uk/Next-Gen-CEO-Lessons-Uncertain/dp/1035095726
FOLLOW MIKE SOUTAR
Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/mike_soutar/?hl=en
LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/mike-soutar/
FOLLOW CRISIS WHAT CRISIS?
Instagram – www.instagram.com/crisiswhatcrisispodcast
TikTok – www.tiktok.com/@crisispod
This was a Crisis What Crisis Production – Rex Fisher (producer), Ioana Barbu (studio manager), Fred Sharp (research), Johnny Seifert (audio), Jasper Cullen (video)

Perspective is one of the most useful tools we have in crisis – a way of taking pressure out of a difficult moment, stepping back and working out what really matters.
In this special compilation episode of Crisis What Crisis, I share the story of the five most terrifying days of my own life and revisit four extraordinary guests whose lives have been shaped, and sometimes almost undone, by the pursuit of perspective.
POWERED BY KINGSLEY NAPLEY:
I know what it is to have the right legal support around you when facing crisis. Kingsley Napley are the kind of lawyers I wish more people knew about – there to help you make the right decisions, protect what matters and build real resilience when the pressure is on.
This episode is powered by Kingsley Napley, visit www.kingsleynapley.co.uk for more details.
CHAPTERS:
00:41 The worst experience of my life
05:06 Timbaland – the bullet that's still inside him, and why he refuses to take it out
06:05 Dame Stephanie Shirley – the Kindertransport and the neighbours who kept asking, "aren't you lucky to be saved?"
12:48 James Landale – seeing death across a crowded room, and the tank of coloured poison he can still return to
14:30 Rory Stewart – the frozen body in the snow, sitting down happy to die, and the dog that saved him
19:29 The Belmarsh swear jar – how the words you use shape the size of the crisis
21:50 Four things I take from all of this
LISTEN TO THE FULL EPISODES:
Timbaland – https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/crisis-what-crisis-with-andy-coulson/id1517015748?i=1000634317774
Dame Stephanie Shirley – https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/crisis-what-crisis-with-andy-coulson/id1517015748?i=1000680629888
James Landale – https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/crisis-what-crisis-with-andy-coulson/id1517015748?i=1000642157416
Rory Stewart – https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/crisis-what-crisis-with-andy-coulson/id1517015748?i=1000608962048
FOLLOW THE GUESTS:
Timbaland – https://www.instagram.com/timbaland/?hl=en
Rory Stewart – https://www.instagram.com/rorystewartuk/?hl=en
FOLLOW CRISIS WHAT CRISIS?
Instagram – www.instagram.com/crisiswhatcrisispodcast
TikTok – www.tiktok.com/@crisispod
This was a Crisis What Crisis Production – Rex Fisher (producer), Johnny Seifert (audio)

In this country, one in six of us will experience significant anxiety at some point in our lives. It's an epidemic that doesn't care about class, wealth, gender, age or race – and yet, as this episode argues, anxiety isn't the enemy. It's information. A signal to be read, not a fault to be removed.
In this special compilation episode, Andy Coulson draws on his own experience of anxiety attacks and revisits six past guests – a broadcaster, a journalist, a content creator, an adventurer, a designer and a cellist – who each faced anxiety in a very different form and found their own way to live alongside it.
POWERED BY KINGSLEY NAPLEY
I know what it is to have the right legal support around you when facing crisis. Kingsley Napley are the kind of lawyers I wish more people knew about – there to help you make the right decisions, protect what matters, and build real resilience when the pressure is on. This episode is powered by Kingsley Napley.
Visit www.kingsleynapley.co.uk for more details.
FULL EPISODES:
Steve Peters: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/crisis-what-crisis-with-andy-coulson/id1517015748?i=1000547878428
Christian O'Connell: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/crisis-what-crisis-with-andy-coulson/id1517015748?i=1000659675816
Bryony Gordon: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/crisis-what-crisis-with-andy-coulson/id1517015748?i=1000650752366
Alex Goldie: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/crisis-what-crisis-with-andy-coulson/id1517015748?i=1000729186695
Mark Beaumont: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/crisis-what-crisis-with-andy-coulson/id1517015748?i=1000618838895
Anya Hindmarch: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/crisis-what-crisis-with-andy-coulson/id1517015748?i=1000768689727
Julian Lloyd Webber: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/crisis-what-crisis-with-andy-coulson/id1517015748?i=1000779874143
FOLLOW THE GUESTS:
Christian O'Connell: https://www.instagram.com/mrchristianoconnell/?hl=en
Bryony Gordon: https://www.instagram.com/bryonygordon/?hl=en
Alex Goldie: https://www.instagram.com/goldiealexx/?hl=en
Mark Beaumont: https://www.instagram.com/mrmarkbeaumont/?hl=en
Anya Hindmarch: https://www.instagram.com/anyahindmarch/?hl=en
Julian Lloyd Webber: https://www.instagram.com/julian.lloydwebber/?hl=en
FOLLOW CRISIS WHAT CRISIS?
Instagram – www.instagram.com/crisiswhatcrisispodcast
TikTok – www.tiktok.com/@crisispod
This was a Crisis What Crisis Production – Rex Fisher (producer), Johnny Seifert (audio)

Most guests give me their Crisis Compass looking back on a crisis they've survived. Erin Baker is different. Her partner died just 12 weeks before this recording, and she is, by her own account, exhausted by the demand to keep being strong.
These four points aren't hard-won wisdom viewed from calmer shores — they're the things holding her up as we speak. That, I think, makes them rarer and more valuable than almost any compass I've been given.
In this bonus episode of Crisis What Crisis, I sit down with Erin to discuss her Crisis Compass. The four points of navigation that she turns to in order to help survive a crisis – a person, a habit, a comfort and a piece of advice.
If you haven't heard the full conversation yet, go back and find it in the feed. It's well worth your time.
POWERED BY KINGSLEY NAPLEY:
I know what it is to have the right legal support around you when facing crisis. Kingsley Napley are the kind of lawyers I wish more people knew about – there to help you make the right decisions, protect what matters and build real resilience when the pressure is on.
This episode is powered by Kingsley Napley, visit www.kingsleynapley.co.uk for more details.
CHAPTERS:
00:52 A Person – Her Frant village church community, and the stability they've offered when everything else is in flux
01:23 A Piece of Advice – A day at a time. The most hypocritical advice she could pass on — and the only one that works now
01:57 A Comfort – Writing. It's her career because it was her comfort first
02:09 A Habit – Paint by numbers. Half an hour of something absolutely mindless
FOLLOW ERIN'S WRITING
Postcards from Grief – https://erinbaker1001.substack.com/
FOLLOW ERIN BAKER
Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/erinbakerauto/?hl=en
LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/erin-baker-58901a48/
FOLLOW CRISIS WHAT CRISIS?
Instagram – www.instagram.com/crisiswhatcrisispodcast
TikTok – www.tiktok.com/@crisispod
This was a Crisis What Crisis Production – Rex Fisher (producer), Ioana Barbu (studio manager), Fred Sharp (research), Johnny Seifert (audio), Jasper Cullen (video)