THE SLOW DOWN

I’ve been obsessed with Eugene’s insightful and razor sharp cultural analysis reels on Instagram and Tiktok - along with literally millions of others who watch them. 
Eugene Healey is a strategist whose insights help brands, individuals and organisations make sense of the soup that is culture, consumerism, taste, aesthetics and social media. He is also a gifted keynote speaker and original thinker - sharing ideas in his substack Considered Chaos. He was a lecturer at the Melbourne Business School and continues to use his content as a way to educate. 
He asks questions like: How can you have authenticity in environments that are about performance? Something I think about A LOT in terms of how I can show up in spaces driven by algorithms. What is status anxiety? Are we living to be perceived? Are we on social media to consume fiction or reality? What is Netflexification? We explore all of this and more in this episode. 

In this episode we cover: 
Growing up an Asian immigrant in New Zealand 
Is ‘hard work’ a virtue? 
Selling ideas: discovering brand strategy as a career 
Learning how to perform intelligence 
Putting ‘authenticity’ as a concept in the bin 
‘Don’t lose yourself in self-analysis’
How to make your career EXACTLY what you want it to be 

Mentions:
Filterworld: How Algorithms Make Everything the Same by Kyle Chayka 
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde 
Eugene Healey on vulnerability for The Guardian
Tony Wang 
Matt Klein on The Slow Down

Links: 
https://www.instagram.com/eugbrandstrat/ 
https://www.eugenehealey.com/

Only having big goals can set us up to fail. 
In her new book, neuroscientist and ex- Google executive Anne-Laure Le Cunff explores the transformative nature of living a more experimental life; turning uncertainty into curiosity, and carving a path of self-discovery. The book is a current best-seller and her work has been featured in Rolling Stone, Forbes, Financial Times, WIRED, and more. She is also  the founder of Ness Labs, where her weekly newsletter is read by more than 100,000 curious minds. Her research at King’s College London focuses on the psychology and neuroscience of lifelong learning, curiosity, and adaptability. 

In this episode we cover: 
Learning to be curious in a French-Algerian household 
The desire to work and succeed in Big California Tech 
Putting work above health, and the consequences 
Going back to school to study neuroscience 
Growing her newsletter from a Tiny Experiment to 100,000 subscribers 
The process of writing a best-selling book 
Knowing when to stop with followers, fame and recognition

Mentons:
Michael Pollen - How to change your mind 
James Clear - Atomic Habits

Links:
https://nesslabs.com/ 
https://tinyexperiments.org/
https://instagram.com/neuranne

Arizona Muse has graced more than 40 international Vogue covers and starred in campaigns for some of the world’s most iconic houses: Prada, Chanel, Estée Lauder, Louis Vuitton, Saint Laurent, Miu Miu, Chopard, Chloé… . She is one of the most recognisable faces in modern fashion. But the part of Arizona’s story that moves me most is her becoming a climate activist, educator and founder of DIRT — a charity dedicated to regenerating soil and restoring ecosystems. 
Arizona now works as an impact consultant for brands trying to meaningfully reduce their environmental footprint and serves as an advisor and ambassador to the John Innes Centre for soil and crop research. She also co-founded Soilonic and co-curates Landed, a nature-based solutions investment conference in partnership with Founders Forum. Arizona is working on what I think is the most important resource we have: soil, and has beautiful routines and practices that help her and her family feel grounded. 

In this episode we cover: 
Growing up in Arizona and becoming a model 
Juggling motherhood with global fame and chronic insecurity
The power of learning new things for your mental health 
The dark side of the fashion industry 
Discovering regenerative farming 
Lessons learnt from her partner 
Re-defining her relationship with time 

Mentions: 
DIRT - www.dirt.charity 
Soilonic - soilonic.com
Demeter - demeter.net
Founders Forum Group - ff.co 

Links:
www.instagram.com/arizona_muse

Ben Branson is the founder of Seedlip, the world’s first distilled non-alcoholic spirit that pioneered a movement of non-alcoholic drinks. In under 4 years Seedlip shot to success - being stocked in over 8000 bars and in homes across 35 countries before being sold in a multi-million pound deal. But what did this rapid success mean for Ben? Ben who is open about his autism and adhd diagnosis. Ben who is launching his new venture - Sylva, spirits that explore the untapped flavour potential of trees. I had so much I wanted to unpack with Ben - from going to rehab many times, to coming up against the entire alcohol industry, to his love of ‘lifestyle businesses’ and creating a product that is designed to be sipped slowly. 

In this episode we cover: 
Boarding school, autism and routine 
Pushing the limits to a near-death experience in India 
Starting a new, sober, life at 25  
Following your hobbies and curiosities 
Seedlip’s astronomical rise & acquisition by Diageo 
Why businesses need to slow down

Mentions: 
The Art of Distillation by John French, 1651 
Brutal Simplicity of Thought, M&C Saatchi, 2013 
A Life on Our Planet, David Attenborough, 2020 
Podcast episode with Ben’s wife: https://www.hidden20.org/podcast/episode-17-sam-branson 
Links:

https://www.instagram.com/seedlip_ben/?hl=en

Katri Josling doesn’t have a job title, awards, or even an active social media account - she’s a housewife. But she’s also a constant learner - whether it’s completing a new boating license, a culinary chemistry course to create the most amazing meals, learning her fourth language, going skitouring in Svalbad or training her two giant Rhodesian Ridgebacks.
She was a consultant with a UCL degree in Political Science and an MA in European Politics. She was working and traveling the hours you can imagine - so when her husband’s career took off - she had to make a choice between her own career and spending what time was possible, together. I want to know about her decision to leave work, how she found purpose, what architecting a world for a partnership looks like and her view on it all now.
One of the things I’ve always held  judgement around is the idea of being a “housewife.” But after years of chasing goals, building things, and burning out, I’ve started to see that choice differently — with empathy, understanding, and even admiration. I’ve started to ask myself: if I could build enough of a passive income, would I stop working? 
In a culture where you are pushed to overachieve, where the only goal touted by the media seems to be to have a multi-billion dollar business - I want to share a story that makes those who have chosen NOT to do that also feel worthy, valuable and acknowledged.

In this episode we cover: 
Growing up in the USSR and moving between Estonia, Russia and Sweden
The freedom of going to UCL for university 
Meeting her partner and how getting married was the most rebellious thing they could do 
Living in London, Nigeria, Geneva and (almost) Johannesburg 
The dinner party moment when they ask: what do you do? 
The battle with self and ego that she has overcome