The Not So Breakfast Show

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Episode 272
What happens when being “the smart one” becomes part of your identity? Apparently, you get very good at constructing brilliant arguments for ideas that may still be completely terrible.
This week, Ish and Sacha get into the uncomfortable gap between intelligence and good judgement. There’s ego, groupthink, sunk costs, Harvard-sized imposter syndrome, a $200 million floating movie set, and the important reminder that sometimes the cleverest thing you can say in a meeting is: “Hang on… are we sure?”
They explore what happens when intelligence gets tangled up with ego and identity, and winning the argument becomes more important than making the right call. Sacha admits to occasionally wanting to make the other person’s argument for them properly before rebutting it, which is both impressively efficient and perhaps not the strongest foundation for collaborative decision-making.
The conversation moves through book smarts versus broader intelligence, the danger of mistaking confidence and eloquence for correctness, and why genuinely smart people tend to know the limits of what they know.
They also look at groupthink: what happens when a room full of capable people all agree, nobody challenges the direction, and everyone confidently marches towards the same cliff.
Then they ask one very useful question for projects, strategies and decisions that have taken on a life of their own:
If we hadn’t already started this, would we choose to start it today?
Key Learnings
1. Don’t confuse winning the argument with making the right decision
Being articulate, persuasive or quick-thinking can help you defend almost any position. That doesn’t make the position correct.
2. The smartest people stay open to being wrong
Real intelligence includes knowing where your knowledge ends.
3. A room full of smart people can still walk off a cliff
Agreement isn’t proof that a decision is good.
4. Don’t let someone else’s intelligence silence your own contribution
Sacha’s Harvard experience is a great reminder that being surrounded by impressive people can make us start discounting what we bring.
5. Previous investment is not a reason to keep making the same decision
The further we get into a project, the easier it becomes to build a convincing story about why we simply have to keep going.

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Episode 271
Ish arrives with a voice that sounds like it’s been dragged through gravel, but fortunately it’s not illness; it’s karaoke. Ten songs, a bit of Blues Brothers, and a final assault on Sweet Child O’ Mine will apparently do that to a man.
Once the vocal cords have been accounted for, we get into something most of us are probably terrible at: critical ignoring. Because between Slack, Teams, email, Instagram, notifications, hot takes, random rabbit holes and apparently an urgent need to learn everything about Mesopotamia, the problem isn’t just knowing how to think. It’s deciding what deserves your thinking in the first place.

This episode is all about attention: where it goes, what steals it, and why being able to deliberately ignore things might be one of the most useful skills we can build.
They explore the difference between critical thinking and critical ignoring, why businesses can’t be brilliant at everything, and how your diary and internet history may reveal your real priorities more accurately than what you say your priorities are.
There’s also a live inspection of Ish and Sacha’s Instagram algorithms, Sacha’s inability to finish researching skincare, the idea that your attention may need its own nightclub bouncer, and a mildly terrifying detour into AI agents that are apparently prepared to throw Susan out of spin class to achieve their goals.
Underneath all the chaos is a useful question: what are you allowing into your brain, and is it helping you do the things that actually matter?
Key Learnings
1. Decide what deserves your attention before you start thinking about it
2. Protect your best working time
3. Your actual priorities leave evidence
4. Make distraction slightly harder
5. Critical ignoring is not the same as avoidance
“Critical thinking matters. But first you have to decide what deserves your thinking.”

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Episode 270

This episode is about one of the most common promotion traps at work: taking the person who is brilliant at doing the job and assuming they’ll naturally be brilliant at leading everyone else who does it.
Ish and Sacha unpack why technical excellence and leadership ability are two very different things, why promotion has become the default way organisations reward high performers, and what can go wrong when somebody moves from doing the work to enabling other people to do great work.
They talk about paying your stars more instead of automatically giving them people to manage, testing internal candidates against the external market, looking for openness to feedback, and dealing with the awkward truth that the skill or behaviour you ignore now will probably become a much bigger problem later.
There’s also a lost Australian gig and a moment of silence for money never earned. Sacha discovering that relief can tell you quite a lot about the work you actually want to do, and a late recommendation for a TV series involving manipulated CCTV footage. Naturally.
Key Learnings
1. Being brilliant at the work doesn’t automatically make you brilliant at leading it
2. Promotion shouldn’t be the only way to reward great people
3. Leadership means shifting from “me” to “you”
4. Look for people who are hungry for feedback
5. Don’t hire internally just because it’s convenient

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Episode 269
Some people stay in a job for years. That doesn’t necessarily mean they’re committed. They might just be comfortable, financially trapped, quietly checking Seek at lunchtime, or waiting for someone else to make the first move.
In this episode, Ish and Sacha ask whether you and your employer are actually committed to each other, or whether you’re in a full-blown work situationship. You’re showing up, the bills are being paid, everyone’s being pleasant… but nobody wants to talk about the future.
They look at why staying in a role isn’t the same as being committed, how strong productivity can disguise emotional distance, and the mixed signals leaders send when they talk about ownership, development, and value without backing those words up.
There’s also a practical discussion about what to do when you know a job is no longer your end game. The answer isn’t to silently check out, damage your reputation, or burn every bridge on the way out. It’s to get deliberate: build your skills, update your CV, actively look for the next opportunity, and have an honest conversation where it’s appropriate.
Key Learnings
1. Staying isn’t the same as committing
Leaders need to look beyond attendance and output to understand whether people still care, feel connected, and see a future with the team.
2. Productivity can hide emotional distance
Doing the job well and believing in the job are two different things.
3. Commitment needs evidence
Telling someone they’re valued means very little if there’s no development.
4. Mixed signals destroy trust
When words and behaviour don’t match, people stop believing the words.
5. Leave deliberately, not destructively
Until you leave, protect your reputation. Quietly giving up may feel satisfying in the moment, but poor communication and burned bridges can follow you into your next opportunity.

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Episode 268
In this episode, Ish and Sacha explore five things every leader should know about the people in their team, beyond names, roles and coffee orders.
They unpack why motivation is never one-size-fits-all, how leaders can unknowingly drain people, and why “just tell me straight” often means “tell me promptly, but please don’t remove all traces of kindness.”
The conversation also covers career aspirations, different forms of support, the importance of asking rather than assuming, and how small leadership habits can either set people up to succeed or quietly make their working lives harder.
Along the way, Sacha shares the humbling attendance figures from her lunch-and-learn sessions, Ish reflects on helping a team member consider another role, and they both confess to being enthusiastic workplace interrupters.
Key Learnings
1. Don’t assume people are motivated the way you are
2. Learn what drains people. Including the things you do
3. Feedback needs the right timing, context and delivery
4. Know what your people are trying to become
5. Ask what support looks like instead of guessing