Truth, Lies and Work

Welcome back to Truth, Lies & Work, the award-winning workplace podcast where behavioural science meets workplace culture.

This week, we are adjusting our usual format for a specific reason. Co-host Al Elliott recently celebrated his birthday, so Leanne is taking over the reins to give him a brief respite from the standard news cycle. Instead, we are answering our most requested listener query: an analytical retrospective into the operational history, the high-stakes decisions, the failures, and the legal battles of Al’s career as a serial entrepreneur.

In this special episode, we dissect a highly unconventional career path. From being recognised as a "42 under 42" breakout entrepreneur to navigating a complex £103,000 personal bankruptcy, Al shares the raw realities of scaling businesses from the ground up—and how hitting rock bottom ultimately informed his blueprint for ethical, sustainable growth.

📈 Strategic Takeaways From This Episode

1. Operations & Turnaround: From Bottom Tier to Market Leader

Al details his early career in hospitality management, outlining the strategic operational changes required to take a underperforming Manchester student venue from the 27th worst in the region to the number-one position in total sales volume.

2. Regulatory Arbitrage: Exploiting Systemic Loopholes

Discover the origins of Al's first major tech start-up: an after-hours alcohol delivery service. He explains the technical loop-hole he engineered around credit card transaction processing windows to legally bypass strict UK licensing frameworks—and the bespoke 50-binder software system required to protect the operation.

3. Risk Management & Insolvency: Navigating a £103K Bankruptcy

When capital markets dried up post-dot-com bubble, Al faced a devastating cash crunch resulting in asset repossession and a £103,000 bankruptcy. He discusses the psychological toll of financial restructuring, the operational dangers of relying on short-term credit, and why shifting toward an American perspective on corporate failure can turn insolvency into a critical founders' credential.

4. Ethical Scalability: Building a 38-Property Portfolio Out of Crisis

How do you launch a real estate venture with maximum capital constraints? Leveraging high market empathy and strategic partnerships, Al built a 38-property portfolio during the dawn of the 2008 global financial crisis. Learn how his startup outmanoeuvred corporate institutional landlords by designing an innovative, ethical "99-year tenancy" model for families facing foreclosure.

5. Founder Fallacies: Why Ego Destroys Early-Stage Ventures

Al offers critical advice for modern founders and next-generation executives. His primary directive: eliminate overhead-heavy vanity metrics, suppress founder ego, and prioritise rapid market validation over theoretical perfection. He shares the costly mistake of investing £40,000 into premium office infrastructure before securing an initial proof-of-concept, and argues for a biased-toward-action framework.

📬 Connect with Al & Leanne

– LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/truthlieswork
– Al Elliott: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thisisalelliott
– Leanne Elliott: https://www.linkedin.com/in/meetleanne
– Email: [email protected]
– Book a call: https://savvycal.com/meetleanne/chat

Mental health support

UK & ROI — Samaritans Call 116 123 or visit https://www.samaritans.org
UK — Mind Call 0300 123 3393 or visit https://www.mind.org.uk
US — Suicide & Crisis Lifeline Call or text 988 or visit https://988lifeline.org
Australia — Lifeline Call 13 11 14 or visit https://www.lifeline.org.au
Global helplines
https://findahelpline.com

Truth, Lies & Work is a proud part of the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals.

Welcome back to this special live edition of Truth, Lies & Work, the award-winning workplace podcast where behavioural science meets workplace culture. This week, Al, Leanne and Associate Producer Georgia, are joined by three exceptional experts to explore a straightforward but powerful question: what does the military do differently when it comes to leadership, and what can businesses actually learn from it?

Most organisations say leadership matters, but many are just guessing. We promote based on length of service, confuse being "in charge" with being a leader, and create cultures where capable people are too afraid to speak up. The military, however, has spent decades perfecting the art of building instant trust and providing the clarity needed for independent action.

🔥 Key Themes Covered

1. What 'Mission Command' Actually Means
James Hardie and Major General Matt Smith break down the concept of Mission Command: providing a clear goal and the "commander's intent," then trusting your people to figure out the "how". While most businesses are flexible at the top and rigid at the bottom, the military provides a structure that empowers disciplined initiative at every level.

2. Trust as a Starting Point, Not a Prize
Danny Wareham explains the "trust gap." In the military, trust is often assumed based on shared competency; it only reduces if proven otherwise. In civilian life, we often make people earn it slowly through "presenteeism" and internal politics, which slows down performance and kills initiative.

3. Leadership Emerges, It Isn't Assigned
We discuss the concept of leaderless leadership (or constellation leadership). If the mission and culture are strong enough, they can effectively replace the need for a traditional "boss". We explore how leadership should shift situationally to whoever has the most relevant expertise in the moment.

4. The "Liminal State" of Transition
James discusses his research on the experience of veterans moving into civilian roles. He describes the "liminality"—the uncertain journey between two identities—and why veterans often struggle, not because they lack skills, but because civilian organisations aren't built to receive what they bring.

5. Calmness Under Pressure
Major General Matt Smith shares a powerful story from ground combat in Afghanistan, illustrating that a leader's most effective tool in a crisis isn't shouting—it's maintaining a level of calmness that signals to the team that everything is under control.

🎙️ The Guests


Danny Wareham: Certified Business Psychologist and author of Constellation.


LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/danny-wareham


Website: firgun.co.uk


Major General (Ret) Matt Smith: A 32-year US Army veteran and head of the Master in Business for Veterans programme at Emory University.


LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/smithmattd


James Hardie: Former RAF helicopter pilot and organisational psychologist.


LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/james-hardie72


Website: coursecorrection.co.uk

📬 Connect with the show
– LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/truthlieswork
– Al Elliott: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thisisalelliott
– Leanne Elliott: https://www.linkedin.com/in/meetleanne

– Georgia Hodkinson: https://www.linkedin.com/in/georgia-hodkinson-gmbpss/
– Email: [email protected]
– Book a call: https://savvycal.com/meetleanne/chat

Mental health support
UK & ROI — Samaritans Call 116 123 or visit https://www.samaritans.org
UK — Mind Call 0300 123 3393 or visit https://www.mind.org.uk
US — Suicide & Crisis Lifeline Call or text 988 or visit https://988lifeline.org
Australia — Lifeline Call 13 11 14 or visit https://www.lifeline.org.au
Global helplines: https://findahelpline.com

Welcome back to Truth, Lies & Work, the award-winning workplace podcast where behavioural science meets workplace culture. This week, we are skipping Truth or Lie because we have a massive, jam-packed episode featuring the brilliant Cait Donovan! Cait is a culture and leadership keynote speaker, host of Fried: The Burnout Podcast, and author of an upcoming book out later this year.

Together, we tackle the existential anxiety of AI, the baffling world of employee retaliation, a hilariously disastrous federal crime, and a deep-dive workplace surgery to help you protect your energy and lead authentically.

🔥 Stories covered


Word of the Week: Circling Forward
Leanne introduces a phrase coined in an Esquire article by Kyle MacNeill exploring why so many workers feel pessimistic about the future of work. "Circling forward" is the idea that progress doesn't move in a straight line.
Esquire Article Link: https://apple.news/AqVByb5pFTsKcDzvf_F50iA


When Candour Hurts the Business (and Someone Poisons the Chocolate)
Cait brings a highly controversial Harvard Business School article by Henrico Castro-Pires to the table. The research suggests that managers are giving overinflated performance reviews to mediocre employees because they are terrified of employee retaliation—ranging from workplace gossip to an extreme case where an employee dumped ethanol into a tank of melted chocolate.
Harvard Business School Article Link: https://www.library.hbs.edu/working-knowledge/when-candor-hurts-the-business-economics-of-employee-retaliation


Two Brothers, One Firing, and the Ultimate Teams Call Blunder
Al shares a wild, real-life crime story from February 2025 involving two brothers, Muneeb and Sohaib Akhter, who were fired from government contractor Opexus on a joint Microsoft Teams call.
Ars Technica Article Link: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/05/drop-database-what-not-to-do-after-losing-an-it-job/

💬 Workplace Surgery with Cait Donovan


Question 1: How do I stop being the person everything falls on?
A listener feels completely burnt out after taking on the responsibilities of four roles without a pay raise or promotion, fearing that pushing back will make them look like they can't cope.


Question 2: Hiding the wires as a senior leader.
A executive leader admits they are burning out but feels it is unsafe to tell their team, their board, or their peers, wondering if leadership is just a sustained pretence that everything is fine.


Question 3: Trapped in a culture of meeting overload.
A leader spends three-quarters of their day in meetings, leaving them cognitively empty when it's time for strategic thinking. They’ve tried blocking out calendar time, but the culture runs on meetings as a currency of power and information.

Connect with Cait Donovan
To learn more about Cait's corporate workshops, keynote speaking, and her mission to eradicate chronic stress, visit her website or connect with her on social media. Don't forget to listen to Leanne's guest appearance on Fried: The Burnout Podcast this week!

– Website: https://www.caitdonovan.com
– BurnBold Website: https://www.burnbold.com
– Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/caitdonovanspeaks
– LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/caitdonovan

📬 Connect with Al & Leanne
– LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/truthlieswork
– Al Elliott: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thisisalelliott
– Leanne Elliott: https://www.linkedin.com/in/meetleanne
– Email: [email protected]
– Book a call: https://savvycal.com/meetleanne/chat

Mental health support
UK & ROI — Samaritans Call 116 123 or visit https://www.samaritans.org
UK — Mind Call 0300 123 3393 or visit https://www.mind.org.uk
US — Suicide & Crisis Lifeline Call or text 988 or visit https://988lifeline.org
Australia — Lifeline Call 13 11 14 or visit https://www.lifeline.org.au
Global helplines: https://findahelpline.com

🎧 Truth, Lies & Work is part of the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals. Find more incredible business shows at https://b2b.hubspot.com/podcast-network

Welcome back to Truth, Lies & Work, the award-winning podcast where behavioral science meets workplace culture.

Have you ever wondered why some of the most brilliant people struggle to get a business off the ground? This week, we are joined by Dr. Rosenna Bakari, a psychologist, empowerment expert, and author of Seven Exits.

Rosenna’s story is a wake-up call for high achievers. After heading to Cornell at 17, earning her PhD, and building a lauded career in academia, she hit a brick wall when she tried to become an entrepreneur. She discovered that the very skills that make you "right" in a classroom—intellect, working alone, and academic rigor—can actually be the primary barriers to success in the real world.

🔥 What We Discuss in This Episode

In this episode, we dive into the psychology of "leaving where you are" and the seven exits you must take to truly grow.


The Hyper Ego: Why smart people often lean into defensiveness instead of awareness when things go wrong.


The "Right vs. Solved" Dilemma: The one question from a mentor that changed Rosenna’s life: "Do you want to be right, or do you want to solve the problem?"


The Trap of Passion and Purpose: Why treating passion like intellect can blind you to what the market actually needs.


Transitioning from Books to People: Why shifting from a high regard for knowledge to a focus on relationships is the essential "knob" to turn for business growth.


The 200-Call Challenge: Rosenna’s journey of moving from a "safe" academic facade to vulnerable, human outreach.

🧠 Key Lessons for Founders and Leaders


Your Intelligence is a Tool, Not a Passport: It can get you in the door, but it won't keep the door open. At some point, you have to change how you show up.


Check Your Ego Before You Blame the Market: When a project fails, the first question shouldn't be about the economy; it should be: "How am I getting in my own way?"


The "Respect vs. Like" Reality: If you believe it doesn't matter if people like you as long as they respect you, entrepreneurship might not be for you. Business moves at the speed of relationships.

🔗 Connect with Dr. Rosenna Bakari

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rosenna-bakari-ph-d-b3120194/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@dr._bakari_empowerment
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@rosennabakari5535
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sevenexits_rosennabakari/
Website: https://rosennabakari.com
Book: https://transformation.sevenexits.com

📬 Connect with Al & Leanne

– LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/truthlieswork
– Al Elliott: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thisisalelliott
– Leanne Elliott: https://www.linkedin.com/in/meetleanne
– Email: [email protected]
– Book a call: https://savvycal.com/meetleanne/chat

Mental health support

UK & ROI — Samaritans Call 116 123 or visit https://www.samaritans.org
UK — Mind Call 0300 123 3393 or visit https://www.mind.org.uk
US — Suicide & Crisis Lifeline Call or text 988 or visit https://988lifeline.org
Australia — Lifeline Call 13 11 14 or visit https://www.lifeline.org.au
Global helplines
https://findahelpline.com

Truth, Lies & Work is part of the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals.

Episode 300 is here! 🥂 To celebrate this massive milestone, Al and Leanne are joined by a very special guest, Dr. Jake Tuber. In this jam-packed anniversary edition, we’re tackling the "FOBO" phenomenon, the radical 10% pay rise experiment, and the truth behind high-performing diverse teams.

🔥 Stories Covered

1. The Rise of "FOBO": Why Gen Z is Resisting AI
Move over FOMO—there’s a new acronym in town. FOBO (Fear of Becoming Obsolete) is driving a quiet backlash against AI among Gen Z workers. Leanne breaks down why younger employees are slowing down adoption as a form of self-protection against automation that threatens their long-term value.


Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2024/mar/24/fobo-fear-of-becoming-obsolete-ai-gen-z-workplace

2. The 10% Automatic Pay Rise: A Cure for Toxic Culture?
Stockholm startup Lovable has ditched traditional performance reviews and negotiations. Instead, every employee gets an automatic 10% raise on their anniversary. We debate: Does guaranteed security make people work harder, or does a little "insecurity" keep you sharp?


Read more: https://www.businessinsider.com/stockholm-startup-lovable-automatic-10-percent-pay-rise-anniversary-2024-3

3. Workplace Scandals & Economic Indicators
Jake brings two contrasting stories: a massive $1M settlement offer in a high-profile JP Morgan lawsuit and the curious case of US job cuts—which are down everywhere except in the Tech sector. Is AI really the culprit, or is it just a convenient excuse for layoffs?

🧠 Truth or Lie: Do Diverse Teams Perform Better?

It’s the claim that has dominated business strategy since the 90s, but what does the research actually say? Dr. Jake reveals that while cognitive diversity (varied skills and perspectives) consistently boosts innovation, demographic diversity alone can sometimes increase conflict and slow down coordination if not managed correctly.

💬 Workplace Surgery: The Management Edition

In honor of Jake’s upcoming book, The Deliberate Manager, we tackle three burning questions:


The Drained Team Lead: Is the first year of management always this exhausting?


The Group Chat Trap: What do you do when you accidentally see what your team really thinks of you?


Executive Presence: How do you bridge the gap between being a "great executor" and looking like a VP?

🤝 Connect with Dr. Jake Tuber


LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jaketuber/


Website: http://www.ticonadvisory.com


Podcast (Forces at Work): https://www.ticonadvisory.com/podcast


Special Offer: Dr. Jake is offering our listeners six months of free access to his Substack, Workwise. Use this link to claim: https://workwise.substack.com/subscribe?coupon=1e481d0b

📬 Connect with Al & Leanne


LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/truthlieswork


Al Elliott: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thisisalelliott


Leanne Elliott: https://www.linkedin.com/in/meetleanne


Email: [email protected]


Book a call: https://savvycal.com/meetleanne/chat

Mental health support


UK & ROI — Samaritans: Call 116 123 or visit https://www.samaritans.org


UK — Mind: Call 0300 123 3393 or visit https://www.mind.org.uk


US — Suicide & Crisis Lifeline: Call or text 988 or visit https://988lifeline.org


Australia — Lifeline: Call 13 11 14 or visit https://www.lifeline.org.au


Global helplines: https://findahelpline.com