PODCAST · business
People Soup
by Ross McIntosh
Grounded in behavioural science, with practical ideas you can actually use.The name People Soup comes from a quote by Abraham Maslow:"A first-rate soup is more creative than a second-rate painting."I've always loved that idea because creativity isn't confined to art. It shows up in how we live, work, lead and relate to one another.Work often feels like a soup: a rich, sometimes bewildering mix of people, personalities, decisions, pressures, relationships and unexpected challenges. Every day we're trying to make sense of the ingredients in front of us.Behavioural science doesn't make work simple, but it does give us better ways of responding to complexity. It offers practical ideas, evidence-based tools and skills that help us respond more effectively—to ourselves, to other people and to the situations we face.That's what People Soup is all about.Whether it's a conversation with a guest or a short solo episode, People Soup explores how behavioural science—and particularly Accepta
Episodes
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Quick Spoon: What are your values telling you?
When we're under pressure, it's easy to get pulled towards whatever feels easiest or most attractive right now. Put off the difficult conversation. Take the path of least resistance. Go for the quick win. But what if our values could help us see beyond what's tempting us in the moment? In this...
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Quick Spoon: Can people be honest with you?
Can people be honest with you when things aren't going well? In this Quick Spoon, Dr Ryan Kemp reflects on why honest conversations about addiction depend on having an established, trusting relationship. He makes a point that applies just as much to managers as it does to professionals working…
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Quick Spoon: What are we rewarding?
At work, are we always rewarding what really matters? In this Quick Spoon, Dr Ryan Kemp talks about the different forms of reward we experience at work, pay, bonuses, praise, recognition and positive feedback and asks what happens when we derive that pleasure too quickly. It got me thinking about...
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The culture of now: Dr Ryan Kemp on addiction, work & what we reward
What happens when the immediate becomes more important than the longer term? In Part One of my conversation with Dr Ryan Kemp, we explored how addiction can compress a person's experience of time — making the immediate reward feel much more compelling than what might matter further into the…
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Quick Spoon: What if seeking relief gets in the way of reflection?
Sometimes the things we reach for to make ourselves feel better can also stop us from finding out what's really going on. In this Quick Spoon, I reflect on an observation from Dr Ryan Kemp about our culture's focus on the immediate — "now, do it, enjoy it, live for the moment." That got me…
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Quick Spoon: What else might be true?
We all tell stories to make sense of our experiences. Your boss says something you don't like. Someone challenges you in a meeting. A colleague doesn't do what you expected. And almost immediately, we can have a story about what's going on: "They're being difficult." "They don't appreciate me."...
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Quick Spoon: What are you trying not to feel?
Sometimes, when something feels difficult, uncomfortable or overwhelming, our instinct is to make the feeling go away. We distract ourselves. We work. We scroll. We reach for something that changes how we feel. In this Quick Spoon, Dr Ryan Kemp talks about this in the context of addiction — and...
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Quick Spoon: The path of least resistance
What's driving the choices we make at work? In my conversation with Dr Ryan Kemp, we were talking about addiction and how a person's experience of time can become compressed around the immediate. Ryan described part of his therapeutic role as helping people with addictions to expand that time...
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Quick Spoon: The pull of the immediate
How often do we get pulled towards what's going to give us relief or reward right now? In this Quick Spoon, Dr Ryan Kemp describes how addiction can change someone's experience of time, so that the immediate becomes much more important than what might happen in the future. I'm not suggesting that...
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When the future gets smaller: Dr Ryan Kemp on addiction
What can addiction teach us about being human? In this episode, I'm joined by Dr Ryan Kemp, a clinical psychologist and Director of Therapies at a large NHS Trust. Ryan is also an author and Honorary Professor of Clinical Practice at Brunel, University of London. Ryan has worked in the field of...
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Quick Spoon: Recovery isn't the opposite of performance
We often think about recovery as something we do after the productive work is finished. But when is the work ever really finished? In this People Soup Quick Spoon, Dr Amanda Super challenges that assumption: “Recovery is productive.” Amanda suggests that self-compassion isn't just something we...
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Quick Spoon: You can be kind to yourself AND ambitious
Being kind to yourself doesn't mean lowering your standards. In this People Soup Quick Spoon, Dr Amanda Super challenges the idea that self-compassion and ambition are somehow incompatible. Amanda shares what she learned from comparing her experience of her Master's degree with her doctorate ten...
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Quick Spoon: What do I need right now?
When something difficult happens, we can move very quickly from what's happened to what we're going to do about it. An email we don't like. Something someone says that gets under our skin. A difficult or overwhelming situation. And suddenly we're going from 0 to 100 in nanoseconds. In this People...
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Quick Spoon: What would you say no to if you cared about yourself?
We often think of boundaries as something we put in place to manage other people's demands. But what if a boundary is actually an act of compassion towards ourselves? In this People Soup Quick Spoon, Dr Amanda Super describes boundary setting as a “radical act of self-compassion”. She talks about...
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Quick Spoon - What if you spoke to yourself like a friend?
When something goes wrong, it's easy to add another layer of difficulty by being hard on ourselves. What's wrong with me? I should be able to handle this. Why can't I cope? In this People Soup Quick Spoon, Dr Amanda Super recalls a nurse telling her: “You're being very hard on yourself.” That...
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Can you be ambitious and self-compassionate? Dr Amanda Super
What if being kinder to yourself doesn't make you less ambitious — but helps you work, recover and live more sustainably? In this episode of People Soup, I talk to Dr Amanda Super, an occupational and coaching psychologist, author and founder of Creating Compassion. Amanda specialises in...
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Quick Spoon: Give yourself permission to stop
I'm taking a short break from People Soup during August. Before I do, I'd like to leave you with one final invitation. Give yourself permission to stop. Not forever. Perhaps for ten minutes. An afternoon. Or even a few weeks. In this final People Soup Quick Spoon before the summer break, Ross...
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Quick Spoon: If your holiday had a soundtrack?
If your holiday had a soundtrack, what would it be? Music has an extraordinary ability to transport us back to particular moments in our lives. In this People Soup Quick Spoon, Ross invites you to use that deliberately: choose one song that represents not simply where you're going, but how you'd...
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Quick Spoon: The holiday that changed nothing
Have you ever unpacked your suitcase and, within three days, felt as though you'd never been away? Recovery isn't simply about taking time away from work. What we do with that time matters too. In this People Soup Quick Spoon, Ross invites you to think about what you might bring home from your...
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Quick Spoon: Who do you want people to experience?
We can spend ages planning a holiday. Where we'll go. What we'll eat. What we'll see. But perhaps there's another question worth asking: Who do I want people to experience on this holiday? In this People Soup Quick Spoon, Ross McIntosh invites you to shift the focus from what you want to do to…
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Quick Spoon: What will your photographs say about you?
This holiday, don't just photograph where you went. Photograph what you noticed. In this People Soup Quick Spoon, Ross McIntosh explores how taking one intentional photograph each day can become an exercise in awareness rather than documentation. Instead of collecting pictures of famous…
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Quick Spoon: Why I love supermarkets on holiday
One of Ross's favourite places to visit on holiday isn't a famous landmark... It's the local supermarket. Why? Because holidays have a wonderful way of awakening our curiosity. In this Quick Spoon, Ross explores the idea of beginner's mind - approaching ordinary places as if you're seeing them…
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Quick Spoon: My body's on holiday, my mind missed the flight
Have you ever arrived on holiday, only to find your mind is still back at work? In this Quick Spoon, Ross explores psychological detachment - one of the key ingredients of effective recovery. It's not just about leaving work physically; it's about leaving it mentally too. Ross shares one simple...
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Recover on purpose: the holiday matrix
What if your next holiday wasn't simply time away from work — but an opportunity to reconnect with what matters? In this solo episode, Ross explores why recovery is much more than rest. Drawing on behavioural science, the Job Demands-Resources Model and research into leisure time recovery, he...
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Quick Spoon: Are you managing your energy?
Most of us have a way of managing our time. A diary. A calendar. A to-do list. But how often do we give the same attention to our energy? In this Quick Spoon, chartered coaching psychologist Dr Rose Aghdami shares a simple but powerful idea: if we think of energy as a limited resource, perhaps it...
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Quick Spoon: Are you thriving or just surviving?
Sometimes the signs that we're running low on resilience aren't dramatic. We're still turning up. Still getting through the to-do list. Still appearing to cope. But underneath, something feels different. In this Quick Spoon, chartered coaching psychologist Dr Rose Aghdami shares some of the…
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Quick Spoon: The question that changed my career
Sometimes the questions that shape our careers don't come from research papers or textbooks. They come from the people we meet. In this Quick Spoon, chartered coaching psychologist Dr Rose Aghdami shares the client conversation that transformed the direction of her work. After hearing a client…
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Quick Spoon: What resilience really means
What does resilience really mean? For many of us, the word has become associated with pushing through, staying strong and simply carrying on, whatever life throws at us. In this Quick Spoon, chartered coaching psychologist Dr Rose Aghdami offers a different perspective. Rather than seeing...
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Resilience starts with staying human | Dr Rose Aghdami
What does resilience really mean? For many people, the word has become associated with simply pushing through, coping no matter what, or carrying on regardless. But what if resilience isn't about becoming tougher at all? In this episode I'm joined by chartered coaching psychologist Dr Rose…
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Quick Spoon: Three questions before you take action
We often assume that if we're not taking action, the problem must be motivation. But what if there's more to it than that? In this Quick Spoon, Ross reflects on a practical framework shared by organisational psychologist Dr Joe Gray, based on the work of Professor Sharon Parker. Before judging...
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Quick Spoon: Proactivity might not be what you think
What does it really mean to be proactive? In this Quick Spoon, Ross reflects on a key insight from his conversation with business psychologist and author, Dr Joanne Gray. Many organisations say they want proactive employees, but we often confuse proactivity with simply being helpful or saying yes...
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Quick Spoon: Four words that changed everything
Sometimes the people closest to us can see things we've become blind to. In this Quick Spoon, Ross reflects on a powerful moment from his conversation with organisational psychologist Dr Joanne Gray. After years in a demanding corporate role, Joe made the decision to leave. When she shared the…
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Quick Spoon: The signs you might be ignoring
What happens when your body starts telling you something you don't want to hear? In this Quick Spoon, Ross reflects on a moment from his conversation with business psychologist, consultant and author, Dr Joe Gray. While working in a demanding corporate role, Jo began experiencing a persistent...
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Powering Workplace Proactivity with Dr Joanne Gray
What happens when success no longer feels quite right? In this episode of People Soup, Ross speaks with organisational psychologist, consultant and author Dr Joanne Gray. Joe shares the story of a major career transition that took her from a senior corporate leadership role into the world of...
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Quick Spoon: Pressure reveals what's running us
Pressure has a way of revealing patterns we'd rather not see. Defensiveness. Control. Avoidance. Reactivity. But these experiences aren't signs that we've failed. They're opportunities to notice what's driving our behaviour. In this Quick Spoon, Ross explores one of the central ideas behind...
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Quick Spoon: Let your light shine
Starting a new role, joining a new team or entering a different culture can be unsettling. The expectations feel different. The responses you receive aren't what you expected. And sometimes, without realising it, you start holding back. In this Quick Spoon, Ross explores a common misunderstanding...
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Quick Spoon: Avoidance rarely feels like avoidance
Avoidance Rarely Feels Like Avoidance Most workplace avoidance isn't dramatic. It's the difficult conversation that gets pushed into next week. And then the week after. In this Quick Spoon, Ross explores one of the most common patterns he sees in leadership and the workplace: avoiding discomfort...
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Quick Spoon: When we avoid disappointing others
Success doesn't always feel like success. In this Quick Spoon, Ross reflects on a coaching conversation with someone who appeared to have everything going for them: successful, respected and on track for a remarkable career. Yet something wasn't right. As they explored what mattered most, a...
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Quick Spoon: Awareness often begins with a metaphorical itch
You can't lead beyond what you notice and awareness often begins with a metaphorical itch. A feeling that something isn't quite right. Something isn't fitting. Something needs attention. In this Quick Spoon, Ross reflects on a question that changed what he started paying attention to and explores...
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Quick Spoon: The leadership skill that's going out of fashion
We're encouraged to be quick, responsive and always on. But what happens when urgency becomes identity, reaction becomes leadership and speed becomes a virtue? In this Quick Spoon, Ross reflects on why he believes the pause is becoming an unfashionable leadership skill—and why that might be a...
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Why good leaders go off track - A People Soup special #1
Why do good people do things they later regret? It's a question that's fascinated me for years. Before I became a coach, studied organisational psychology, or discovered Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), I spent years in HR leadership. One of my roles was leading the Conduct and Discipline...
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Quick Spoon: Leadership starts feeling difficult
In this Quick Spoon, Ross explores the fourth skill in the McIntosh Leadership Framework: Adaptability. Inspired by a candid reflection from Gabriella Braun, this episode explores what happens when leadership becomes uncertain, messy, political, and deeply human. So many leadership books promise...
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Quick Spoon: What's love got to do with it?
In this Quick Spoon, Ross explores the third skill in the McIntosh Leadership Framework: Authentic Action. Inspired by a powerful insight from Gabriella Braun, this episode looks at the tension leaders face between acting from fear… or acting from what matters most. Gabriella describes how every...
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Quick Spoon: I always had an eye looking in
In this Quick Spoon, Ross explores the second skill in the McIntosh Leadership Framework: Awareness. Inspired by a reflection from Gabriella Braun, this episode looks at the leadership power of noticing what’s happening beneath the surface — in ourselves, in teams, and in the wider system around...
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Quick Spoon: Why did I react like that?
In this Quick Spoon, Ross explores the first skill in the McIntosh Leadership Framework: Pause. Inspired by a powerful reflection from Gabriella Braun, this episode looks at those moments when our reactions feel immediate, emotional, and difficult to control. Why does one comment roll off our...
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Quick Spoon: That difficult person at work
Every workplace seems to have one. The difficult colleague. The challenging client. The person who pushes your buttons before they’ve even opened their mouth. In this Quick Spoon from my conversation with Dr Eric Goodman, we explore a different way of responding to difficult people at work. Not…
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Why work feels so personal with Gabriella Braun
In this episode of People Soup, Ross is joined by consultant, psychoanalytic thinker, and author Gabriella Braun for a deeply human conversation about why work can feel so personal. Drawing on her remarkable book All That We Are, Gabriella explores what really happens beneath the surface in…
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Quick Spoon: Speak to three people
What do you do when anxiety shows up… right when something matters? A networking event. A room full of strangers. A voice in your head saying: “Your Spanish isn’t good enough.” In this Quick Spoon, I share a very real moment from a networking event for psychologists in Seville—where social…
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Quick Spoon: If I was at my absolute best...
What do you do in those moments when emotions are running high? An awkward conversation. A difficult email. A family disagreement. A colleague who’s pushing your buttons. In this Quick Spoon from my conversation with Dr Eric Goodman, we explore one simple question that can create a little more...
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Quick Spoon: Pain is part of being human
What if the goal was never to become stress-free? Or anxiety-free. Or grief-free. In this Quick Spoon from my conversation with Dr Eric Goodman, we challenge a myth that many of us still buy into: That difficult emotions are somehow a sign that something’s gone wrong. Eric offers a different...
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
Grounded in behavioural science, with practical ideas you can actually use.The name People Soup comes from a quote by Abraham Maslow:"A first-rate soup is more creative than a second-rate painting."I've always loved that idea because creativity isn't confined to art. It shows up in how we live, work, lead and relate to one another.Work often feels like a soup: a rich, sometimes bewildering mix of people, personalities, decisions, pressures, relationships and unexpected challenges. Every day we're trying to make sense of the ingredients in front of us.Behavioural science doesn't make work simple, but it does give us better ways of responding to complexity. It offers practical ideas, evidence-based tools and skills that help us respond more effectively—to ourselves, to other people and to the situations we face.That's what People Soup is all about.Whether it's a conversation with a guest or a short solo episode, People Soup explores how behavioural science—and particularly Accepta
HOSTED BY
Ross McIntosh
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does People Soup have?
People Soup currently has 250 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is People Soup about?
Grounded in behavioural science, with practical ideas you can actually use.The name People Soup comes from a quote by Abraham Maslow:"A first-rate soup is more creative than a second-rate painting."I've always loved that idea because creativity isn't confined to art. It shows up in how we live,...
How often does People Soup release new episodes?
People Soup publishes regularly with 250 episodes available. Check the episode list for the typical release schedule.
Where can I listen to People Soup?
You can listen to People Soup on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts People Soup?
People Soup is created and hosted by Ross McIntosh.
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