And just like that, another season of the Working On Wellbeing podcast has wrapped! Over the past few months, I’ve had the privilege of interviewing twelve more inspiring experts who are all helping to shape the future of wellbeing. From grassroots changemakers to leading academic experts and global thought leaders, each conversation offered valuable insights, with guests drawing on their own research, professional expertise, or lived experiences.   

To our Season Three guests – thank you for being so open with your stories, and for sharing such helpful insights.  Our conversations continue to reach beyond the usual wellbeing circles, with listeners from all walks of life regularly tuning in to be a fly on the wall during conversations with the world’s leading wellbeing experts.  

Our regular listeners will know that I always ask guests for at least one simple, practical takeaway from the episode. I’d like to reflect on a few standouts from this Season below. 

We kickstarted Season Three with a guest who has become a household name thanks to his recent Netflix documentary: ‘Live to 100: Secrets of the Blue Zones’. Dan Buettner, Founder of the Blue Zones Project, drew on evidence-based insights from naturally occurring ‘Blue Zones’, unique regions across the globe where a high concentration of people enjoy remarkable longevity and vitality. Dan shared practical steps we can all take to live longer, healthier, and happier lives – from eating more plant-based foods to being active in our communities through volunteering, and more.  

He also discussed the importance of governments going ‘Beyond GDP’ to make wellbeing their over-arching goal, and highlighted how environmental nudges, like living in a walkable city, can help us thrive.  

The second episode of the series was an emotional one. Two trailblazing work wellbeing experts, Jen Fisher and KeyAnna Schmiedl, joined me to talk candidly about what they’ve learned from their own mental health journeys, and the work they’re doing to actively push for a wellbeing-centric focus to work. The episode was jam-packed with actionable tips for individuals and business leaders alike.

One simple but effective tip: Give your employees JOMO – Joy Of Missing Out. Instead of packing calendars with unnecessary meetings, free up calendars, and give your team time back to focus on work that really matters.  

In our third episode, we shifted the spotlight to neuroinclusion at work. Professor Amanda Kirby, a global authority on neurodiversity and inclusion, joined me to explore what leaders can do to build genuinely neuroinclusive workplaces.

Drawing on her own expertise as a medical doctor, researcher, author, and parent of neurodivergent children, as well as being neurodivergent herself, she shared practical guidance for anyone supporting neurodivergent people – whether you’re a manager, colleague, parent, or friend – as well as for neurodivergent individuals.

One insight that stuck with me was her reminder to pay close attention to how people communicate. Different people process information and communicate in different ways. You might be a confident talker, but your colleague may process and communicate better through writing. Taking the time to understand each person’s communication preferences and adapt accordingly isn’t just considerate – it’s key to getting the best out of your team. 

In a Working on Wellbeing first, this year we welcomed not one, but two professionals from the elite sporting world, starting with Jess Thom, Lead Psychologist for Team GB. Jess supports elite athletes in building the mental focus and resilience needed to perform on the world stage. What stood out most, though, was how relevant her advice was beyond the sports field. She shared proven psychological techniques for managing everything from pre-event nerves to prolonged anxiety, from tackling negative self-talk to improving our sleep and digital hygiene.  

My favourite tip? Plan in how you look after yourself – do not leave it to chance. Jess works with each Olympian to create a daily routine that protects their sleep and mental wellbeing. How often do we do the same for ourselves?   

The next episode turned our focus to child and adolescent wellbeing, with two leading voices in the field joining me in the studio. Both Lucy Bailey and Leoni Boyle had a clear message: there is no conflict between wellbeing and education outcomes. Schools and nations should focus on improving youth wellbeing because doing so will not just improve mental health outcomes, but also enhance academic performance and social development. They also stressed the importance of teacher wellbeing as the foundation for student wellbeing. The evidence shows that when teachers thrive, students thrive, creating a ripple effect that extends far beyond the classroom. 

To mark the publication day of their new book, ‘Why Workplace Wellbeing Matters’, we welcomed Prof Jan-Emmanuel De Neve and Dr George Ward onto the podcast for a special episode. Their ground-breaking research, which they summarised in this episode, should convince even the most cynical Chief Executive or Chief Finance Officer that investing in employee wellbeing isn’t just the morally right thing to do – it’s a smart business decision.

One particularly illuminating insight from Dr Ward was that workers are willing to sacrifice an average of 13% of their salary to work at a happier company. As George so strikingly put it, “A sizeable proportion of the working population is so miserable at work they’re willing to pay to get out of it”. In the context of a global cost-of-living crisis, that should be a wake– up call for every employer to take employee wellbeing seriously.  

What if the things that make your life meaningful are already right in front of you? That’s one of the powerful messages shared by Prof Michael F Steger, Director and Founder of the Center for Meaning and Purpose at Colorado State University. Drawing on decades of research, Michael broke meaning down into three key elements – significance, coherence and purpose – and used simple, relatable examples to bring each to life.

A particularly striking image that stayed with me was his analogy of purpose acting as an ‘anchor to the future’, helping us organise our priorities and goals. It keeps us tethered to a future reality that doesn’t yet exist, but which we can still assign great importance to and use to guide us in the present. 

We wrapped this Season by exploring how movement and community nurture lifelong wellbeing with former professional athlete turned wellness strategist, Kayla Jeter, alongside Lululemon’s Head of Social Impact + Engagement, Anne Wintroub. In an inspiring, candid and often moving conversation, they described how staying active carried them through some of their toughest moments, and how they’re now collaborating to widen access to sport through corporate philanthropy, community engagement, and inclusive grassroots initiatives. They emphasised that movement for a lifetime should be the goal for all of us, but reminded us that while elite athletes can be a great source of inspiration, we need to be kind to ourselves when it comes to our own relationship with exercise, and to celebrate how our bodies and interests can change over time. If you used to be a keen runner but now prefer walking or hiking, that’s something to embrace, not something to be hard on yourself about. Find a form of movement that brings you joy, not something that’s simply trendy! 

And with that, I’m heading out for a walk in nature – something that always brings me immense joy. Whether it’s hiking in the Wicklow mountains near where I grew up, surrounded by nothing but wild landscape and sheep, or walking alongside the deer of Magdalen College here in Oxford, I always find that disconnecting from a busy day by going for a walk helps me to relax and reset. Whilst I do enjoy heading out without my phone and taking in all the sights and sounds around me, I can also often be found listening to a podcast on these walks. Perhaps the Working on Wellbeing podcast might keep you company next time you head outside…  

You can watch full episodes on the World Wellbeing Movement YouTube channel, or listen to the Working on Wellbeing podcast wherever you get your podcasts, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Acast. 

Keep an eye out for an extra special bonus episode before the end of this year, where I will be sitting down with an important member of the UK political landscape, who has been very open with his own mental health journey and paved the way for others in similar roles to feel comfortable doing the same.