Stepsero

Modern work is demanding. Even for people who are good at what they do, the human complexity around it can be exhausting. Stepsero is a podcast for professionals who want to feel less overwhelmed by it all. Every episode is a focused, honest conversation on one of the topics that make modern work challenging: leadership, communication, difficult conversations, AI, mental well-being, and more. No filler. No hour-long rambles. One short conversation at a time, towards a little more clarity.

117 episodes

1mo ago latest

fortnightly cadence

English language

Explicit rating

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Episodes 117

#116: What Are You Being Taught to Believe About Yourself?
1mo ago · 16:22
In this conversation, leadership and performance facilitator Richard Gordon Kelly explores the invisible beliefs we carry about who we need to be, and how those beliefs, more than the work itself, create pressure and burnout. The discussion covers where these beliefs originate, why pressure acts as “expensive fuel,” and what happens when a thought is noticed rather than believed. It closes on presence and slowing down as a way of staying close to what is actually true in the moment. Our Guest: Richard Gordon Kelly Richard Gordon Kelly is a leadership and performance facilitator working with ex
#115: Sounding Alike: AI, Research, and the Risk of Convergence
1mo ago · 17:45
Cecilie Steenbuch Traberg joins Stepsero to discuss her co-authored paper, “AI is turning research into a scientific monoculture.” The conversation covers how reliance on the same AI tools drives convergence in language, methods, and questions, plus a productivity paradox, where individual gains in output create more collective work rather than less. It also touches on leadership overconfidence in AI leading to less oversight, and the risk of losing purpose and skill development when the effort behind work is handed to AI. Our Guest: Cecilie Steenbuch Traberg Cecilie Steenbuch Traberg is a Dr
#114: AI at Work: Uneven Adoption, Real Risks
1mo ago · 18:47
In this episode, Olga Solovyeva explains why AI adoption inside organizations is so uneven, often coming down to leadership. Some leaders give teams freedom and time to experiment; others pause and “park” AI altogether. That caution has a cost. When leadership restricts AI, employees often turn to personal accounts instead (what Olga calls shadow AI use) which strips away any oversight the organization would otherwise provide. The conversation then turns to risk: data leaks from sensitive information entered into AI tools, and hallucinations that have already damaged reputations at major consu
#113: Passion, Skills, and Why so Many People Get Their Career Wrong
1mo ago · 20:55
Most people approach their careers the same way: skip the thinking, go straight to applying. Hundreds of applications to roles they half-want, hoping something sticks. Alex McCann has spent the last few years trying to understand why, and building something to fix it. In this conversation, he breaks down why so many career decisions get made on autopilot, why the debate between following your passion and following your skills is more nuanced than most career advice suggests, and what it actually takes to find work that fits. Along the way, there are some honest reflections on the entrepreneuri
#112: Psychological Safety in the Age of AI
1mo ago · 16:37
Psychological safety is one of those terms everyone has heard, and most people misunderstand. It’s not about being nice. It’s not about avoiding conflict. And it’s certainly not about lowering the bar. In this episode, Mehmet Baha breaks down what psychological safety actually means, why the data behind it is hard to ignore, and what gets in the way of building it in most organisations. The conversation also moves into AI territory: what happens when employees don’t feel safe admitting they don’t understand the tools they’re expected to use, why transparency around AI use matters, and what res
#111: Stress at Work: Too Many Demands, Not Enough Resources
2mo ago · 17:02
Stress happens when the demands of a situation outweigh the resources available to meet them. In the modern workplace, that gap is widening and it’s costing more than most people realise. In this episode, stress scientist Alexandra Crosswell breaks down what chronic low-grade stress is actually doing to the body, why AI has introduced a new kind of threat that hits differently from other workplace pressures, touching both livelihood and sense of belonging, and what can be done practically to start recovering. Alexandra also touches on why the messy middle of uncertainty, as uncomfortable as it
#110: Who Are You Outside Your Job Title?
2mo ago · 18:21
What happens to your professional identity when the role that defined you disappears? In this conversation, executive coach Costas returns to Stepsero to explore one of the most pressing questions in modern work: how do we stay relevant and grounded when everything around us is changing? We get into why identity and job title are not the same thing, and why confusing the two is one of the biggest blockers to reinvention. Costas shares his own path across law, banking, private equity, and coaching, and what curiosity, intellectual humility, and a willingness to start at the bottom taught him al
#109: Cognitive Overload at Work: What’s Really Going On?
2mo ago · 23:05
Something feels off at work, and it’s not just you. We are experiencing unprecedented levels of cognitive demand in the modern workplace. People are exhausted, struggling to prioritize, struggling to focus, and struggling to make decisions. And yet we keep reaching for resilience training and wellness programs as the answer. In this episode, we get into what cognitive overload actually is and how to spot it. We talk about why individual solutions alone won’t fix a system problem, and what both individuals and leaders can actually do about it. We also get into how we got here: the addiction to
#108: Gen Z at Work: Silence Is the Signal
2mo ago · 17:06
Gen Z gets called quiet, disengaged, even entitled. Generational Strategist Benoît Vancauwenberghe thinks that read is simply wrong. In this episode, Benoît makes the case that silence at work isn’t the absence of a message, but rather the message itself. He walks us through why Gen Z operates on what he calls a different “operating system,” shaped by a communication shift that began with the smartphone, and what that means for how this generation expresses disagreement, discomfort, or distrust without ever raising their voice. That silence becomes harder to ignore once you understand what Ben
#107: Why Executive Transitions Fail More Often Than You Think
2mo ago · 20:05
Executive transitions are more fragile than most people assume. 40% of executive appointments fail within the first 18 months, not because of technical incompetence, but because of people, politics, and culture. And yet organisations continue to spend 90% of their budget on selection, and only 10% on supporting the executive once they are in the role. In this episode, we speak with Navid Nazemian about what actually goes wrong, and what a more deliberate approach to transition looks like. We discuss why the skills that get you hired into the C-suite are rarely the ones that determine whether y
#106: How Salaries Are Set, And How to Negotiate Yours
2mo ago · 21:14
Most employees spend their careers feeling confused about compensation, how it works, what’s negotiable, and what’s actually going on behind the scenes. In this episode, Sandrine Bardot breaks down how salaries are actually set, what professionals consistently get wrong about negotiation, and why the psychology of pay matters more than most people realise. From how companies build and allocate salary budgets to the best moments in your career to push for more, to the concept of procedural justice and why it shapes whether employees accept or reject pay decisions, this is the compensation conve
#105: Reinvention in the Age of AI: When Identity holds you Back
2mo ago · 19:06
Technology moves fast. People, not so much. And the real transformation, according to Nikki Barua, is human, not technical. The conversation gets into what genuine reinvention actually requires. Skills matter, mindset matters, but the number-one blocker she’s found among thousands of professionals worldwide is identity. The title, the status, the credibility built over a career become the very things that keep you stuck. Letting go of that identity is what reinvention actually demands. For people early in their careers, the opportunity now is to identify your zone of genius, pair it with AI fl
#104: Human First, AI Second: Own Your Thinking
2mo ago · 17:10
Over-relying on AI might be quietly eroding your sharpest thinking, and most people aren’t noticing until it’s too late. This episode covers the real cost of convenience: why the overwhelm around AI isn’t going away, how to spot the difference between intentional use and lazy use, and what brain atrophy actually looks like in the workplace. We also get into what leaders should watch for when team members are over-relying on AI, and why treating AI like a junior employee, one you onboard, train, and correct, gets you far better results than using it like a search bar. If you’ve ever quietly won
#103: The Art and Science of Storytelling in Leadership
2mo ago · 16:21
What makes a story land in a corporate setting, and what kills it? In this episode, Dr Gian Power OBE breaks down why leaders who rely on facts alone fail to move people, how to structure a story that drives real behaviour change, and what the biggest enemy of good storytelling really is (what he calls “the explainer”). We explore the fine line between authentic vulnerability and performative storytelling, the neuroscience behind why stories change how people act, and how AI is already becoming a powerful tool for leaders who want to communicate with more impact. If you lead people, speak to a
#102: Creativity at Work, and Why We Stay Stuck
3mo ago · 17:07
Most of us have said it at some point: “I wish my work was more creative.” And then stopped right there. In this episode, Zorana Ivcevic Pringle, Senior Research Scientist at the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence and author of The Creativity Choice, speaks about what keeps professionals stuck at that wish, and what it really takes to move beyond it. Zorana challenges the idea that creativity belongs only to artists, designers, or people in R&D. Drawing on the science of creativity and emotional intelligence, she explains why creativity is not a talent you either have or don’t, but a set o
#101: How to feel less trapped and show up better at work
3mo ago · 17:47
If you’ve ever felt stuck in a loop (work, home, repeat), this conversation is for you. Julia Romanova brings an unusually human-centred lens to how we navigate change. In this episode, Julia introduces two powerful frameworks that reframe how we relate to ourselves, our colleagues, and the world around us. Radical Connectedness is the idea that we each exist across three interconnected dimensions (personal, group, and societal). When you recognise them, you stop taking things personally, you build more resilient teams, and you start acting with greater awareness. The Third Space is something
#100: Ego in leadership: Why two CEOs aren’t the answer
3mo ago · 15:58
This episode was inspired by a Financial Times article titled “Why Co-CEOs Might Suit Our Tumultuous Times.” In this conversation with Executive Coach Costas Kalisperas, we use it as a springboard to dig into something most of us have felt but rarely name: what leadership ego actually looks like day to day, how it ripples through an entire organisation, and why putting two leaders at the top often creates more problems than it solves. We also get into what genuine empowerment looks like in practice, and the questions great leaders ask that most never do. Our Guest: Costas Kalisperas Costas is
#99: How to give a presentation that actually lands
3mo ago · 19:22
Most business presentations fail for the same reason: we confuse the slides with the message. Andrea Pacini has spent his career helping business leaders fix that. Andrea is the author of “Confident Presenter” and “Timeless Presenter”, and head of Ideas on Stage UK. In this conversation, we explore why simplicity is so hard to apply even when everyone agrees it’s the right approach, what Steve Jobs’ iPhone launch can teach us about business communication, and the one principle from Timeless Presenter that Andrea wants every presenter to remember. We also get into the difference between a slide
#98: AI is not replacing you: It’s moving you up the stack
3mo ago · 16:34
The dominant narrative around AI and work is built on fear. But is the replacement narrative historically illiterate, and is there a more nuanced argument to make?”. Tessa is the founder and CEO of HireGains.ai, an AI-powered platform, and author of the Human Centric AI newsletter on Substack. In this conversation, we explore three converging forces reshaping the future of work: remote work, generational shift, and AI, and what they mean for knowledge workers trying to figure out where they stand. We also get into the idea of moving up the stack, what it means, why the repetitive transactional
#97: The freedom to overwork
3mo ago · 17:51
For most of history, workplaces controlled people by telling them what they couldn’t do. Today the control works differently, by removing all restrictions and letting people push themselves to their own limits. In this conversation, Mark Orlic unpacks what philosopher Byung-Chul Han calls “The Burnout Society” where individuals are both victim and perpetrator of their own exhaustion. We also discuss what AI is doing to the human fabric of organisations, why multitasking is an animal behaviour rather than a human one, and what Mark noticed about himself only after stepping back from corporate l
#96: Personality, leadership, and remote teams: what the research actually shows
3mo ago · 15:46
In this episode, we sit down with Dr. Henry Mullins, senior operations and strategy leader, and PhD in industrial-organizational psychology, to dig into what personality traits actually drive leadership performance in virtual and remote settings. Henry shares findings from his research on remote leadership, including where the existing literature falls short, the key theories connecting personality to leadership, and practical strategies you can apply to lead more effectively in a virtual environment. Our Guest: Dr. Henry Mullins Dr. Henry C. Mullins is a retired U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel w
#95: Performance management: The Revolut way
3mo ago · 21:12
In a world where performance can make or break a company, creating a high-performance culture is essential. In this post, we dive into a conversation with Andrei Oprisor, the head of the people product department at Revolut, to explore how their internal human resource management system, Revolut People, emphasizes performance and meritocracy. We uncover the key components that drive this approach and how you can implement similar strategies in your organization. Our Guest: Andrei Oprisor Engineer turned product leader, Andrei Oprisor is the creator of Revolut People, the performance management
#94: Ambiguity at work: moving forward without all the answers
3mo ago
Ambiguity at work is not new. Yet, it feels harder than ever, and it’s one of the most underrated sources of anxiety for knowledge workers and leaders alike. Costas (executive coach and former banker) has navigated plenty of uncertainty across his career. In this conversation, we explore how to move forward when the information is incomplete, why the best leaders share the burden of uncertainty rather than carrying it alone, and why ambiguity and lack of clarity are not the same thing, even if they feel identical in the moment. One short conversation. A little more clarity on one of the foggie
#93: Trauma awareness at work, what nobody talks about
3mo ago · 17:16
Some children learn that performing is the safest way to stay connected, and that pattern follows them into adulthood. Dr. Caroline Böttiger, psychotherapist and neuroscientist, explores how childhood trauma shapes the way we behave at work, why high achievers often struggle when they’re asked to lead people, and what trauma awareness could mean for how we build healthier workplaces. A rare and honest conversation about attachment styles, psychological safety, and the patterns most organisations never talk about. Our Guest: Caroline Böttiger Dr. Caroline Böttiger holds a PhD in Neuroscience an
#92: Hiring in 2026: what candidates and companies get wrong
3mo ago · 19:39
Episode Notes Konstanty Sliwowski has spent over two decades in hiring, interviewing more than 12,000 candidates along the way. In this conversation we explore what a broken hiring process actually costs, why mass applying rarely works, and what both candidates and companies get fundamentally wrong. A practical and honest conversation for anyone navigating the job market or responsible for building a team. Our Guest: Konstanty Sliwowski Konstanty Sliwowski is a 3x founder with 2x exits, and Oxford-educated practitioner who has spent over twenty years advising leadership teams across Europe, As

Episodes

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Stepsero

Episodes 117

#116: What Are You Being Taught to Believe About Yourself?

#115: Sounding Alike: AI, Research, and the Risk of Convergence

#114: AI at Work: Uneven Adoption, Real Risks

#113: Passion, Skills, and Why so Many People Get Their Career Wrong

#112: Psychological Safety in the Age of AI

#111: Stress at Work: Too Many Demands, Not Enough Resources

#110: Who Are You Outside Your Job Title?

#109: Cognitive Overload at Work: What’s Really Going On?

#108: Gen Z at Work: Silence Is the Signal

#107: Why Executive Transitions Fail More Often Than You Think

#106: How Salaries Are Set, And How to Negotiate Yours

#105: Reinvention in the Age of AI: When Identity holds you Back

#104: Human First, AI Second: Own Your Thinking

#103: The Art and Science of Storytelling in Leadership

#102: Creativity at Work, and Why We Stay Stuck

#101: How to feel less trapped and show up better at work

#100: Ego in leadership: Why two CEOs aren’t the answer

#99: How to give a presentation that actually lands

#98: AI is not replacing you: It’s moving you up the stack

#97: The freedom to overwork

#96: Personality, leadership, and remote teams: what the research actually shows

#95: Performance management: The Revolut way

#94: Ambiguity at work: moving forward without all the answers

#93: Trauma awareness at work, what nobody talks about

#92: Hiring in 2026: what candidates and companies get wrong

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Episodes 117

#116: What Are You Being Taught to Believe About Yourself?

#115: Sounding Alike: AI, Research, and the Risk of Convergence

#114: AI at Work: Uneven Adoption, Real Risks

#113: Passion, Skills, and Why so Many People Get Their Career Wrong

#112: Psychological Safety in the Age of AI

#111: Stress at Work: Too Many Demands, Not Enough Resources

#110: Who Are You Outside Your Job Title?

#109: Cognitive Overload at Work: What’s Really Going On?

#108: Gen Z at Work: Silence Is the Signal

#107: Why Executive Transitions Fail More Often Than You Think

#106: How Salaries Are Set, And How to Negotiate Yours

#105: Reinvention in the Age of AI: When Identity holds you Back

#104: Human First, AI Second: Own Your Thinking

#103: The Art and Science of Storytelling in Leadership

#102: Creativity at Work, and Why We Stay Stuck

#101: How to feel less trapped and show up better at work

#100: Ego in leadership: Why two CEOs aren’t the answer

#99: How to give a presentation that actually lands

#98: AI is not replacing you: It’s moving you up the stack

#97: The freedom to overwork

#96: Personality, leadership, and remote teams: what the research actually shows

#95: Performance management: The Revolut way

#94: Ambiguity at work: moving forward without all the answers

#93: Trauma awareness at work, what nobody talks about

#92: Hiring in 2026: what candidates and companies get wrong

Podcast 森辺一樹のグローバル・マーケティング〜すべてはアジアで売るために〜