The Not So Breakfast Show

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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

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Episode 267
Being good at your job is meant to be a good thing. Until everyone notices, starts sending everything your way, and your reward for being reliable is a to-do list that now requires its own project manager.
In this episode, Ish and Sacha unpack the curse of being the capable one — why high performers get overloaded, why leaders keep defaulting to the same safe pair of hands, and how something that initially feels like recognition can quickly turn into frustration, burnout, or career stagnation.
This episode explores what happens when capable people become the default solution to every problem.
Sacha reflects on hiring new people at Coffee Culture and realising just how much work had quietly accumulated around a few highly capable team members. That leads into a wider conversation about the difference between being recognised and being properly rewarded, and why praise can sometimes be little more than a cheerful introduction to another task.
They look at the issue from both sides. For capable people, the challenge is learning to set boundaries, manage upwards, clarify priorities and make sure extra work is actually leading somewhere. For leaders, it is about noticing when you are over-relying on one or two people instead of developing capability across the whole team.
Along the way, they cover realistic training simulations involving breakfast at night, why senior leaders make staff suddenly forget how to make coffee, the hidden thinking behind work that looks effortless, and the danger of being remembered only for the one plate you finally dropped.
Key Learnings
1. More work is recognition, but it is not always reward
2. Manage upwards by making the trade-offs visible
3. Over-relying on one star performer exposes a leadership gap
4. Work that looks easy may be hiding enormous skill
5. Hard work should be a deliberate choice

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Episode 266
What do Rubik’s Cubes, children’s birthday cakes, startup pitch decks and a CEO with three envelopes have in common?
Quite a lot, apparently.
In this episode, Ish uses his hard-earned Rubik’s Cube mastery to explore how leaders solve problems. Sometimes we learn the process. Sometimes we copy someone else’s steps. Sometimes we outsource the whole thing. And sometimes we quietly rearrange the stickers and hope nobody looks too closely.
The real question is whether you’re building the capability to solve the next problem or simply making this one look finished.
Ish and Sacha unpack the surprisingly useful leadership lessons hiding inside a Rubik’s Cube.
Ish shares how his first attempt at solving one produced the right result but very little actual learning. He followed a YouTube tutorial, completed the cube and then had absolutely no idea how to do it again. From there, the conversation explores shortcuts, outsourcing, internal capability and the difference between following a reliable process and genuinely understanding the problem in front of you.
They discuss why leaders need dependable “algorithms” when they’re starting out, how experience helps you recognise patterns and move faster, and why breaking the rules only works once you’ve bothered to learn them.
There’s also some excellent chat about cheating at family card games, paying professionals to make better birthday cakes, bringing new energy into established teams, the predictable cycle of corporate restructures and whether Duolingo’s animated bird should really be applying that much pressure.
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Episode 265
In this episode, Ish and Sacha unpack some of the worst leadership advice that often gets dressed up as wisdom.
They start with the classic “don’t bring me problems, bring me solutions” and explore why that can shut down useful thinking if people haven’t properly defined the problem first. From there, they take aim at advice like “treat everyone the same,” “leave your emotions at the door,” “the customer is always right,” “never let them see you struggle,” “a good leader is always available,” and the ever-sparkly “pressure makes diamonds.”
Along the way, there are stories about birthday awkwardness, conference bands, zebra crossings with actual zebras, gym equipment that definitely did not shake body fat away, open-door policies that sound drafty, and Sacha’s ongoing four-year battle with sugar.
The real message? Leadership advice is rarely one-size-fits-all. A phrase might contain a useful idea, but if you apply it without thinking, it can quickly become lazy, unhelpful, or even harmful. Better leaders don’t just repeat advice; they test it, adapt it, and make it useful for the people and situation in front of them.
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Episode 264
Ever sat in a meeting and heard a very vague, slightly passive-aggressive comment float across the room… then spent the next ten minutes wondering, “Was that aimed at me?” Same!
In this episode, Ish and Sacha unpack the weird little phrases we use at work to soften, dodge, delay, delegate, or quietly scream into the void. From “let’s circle back” to “as per my last email,” it turns out workplace language often says a lot more than the words on the page.
This week, Ish and Sacha dive into the hidden meanings behind common workplace phrases and corporate jargon, the stuff we all say, the stuff we all pretend to understand, and the stuff that can create a whole lot of unnecessary grey.
Ish kicks things off with a meeting moment where a vague general comment left everyone wondering who it was actually aimed at. Sacha connects that to the classic leadership trap of addressing the whole room when you really need to speak directly to one or two people.
From there, they translate some of the greatest hits of office language: “let’s circle back,” “let’s park it,” “I’ll leave that with you,” “as per my last email,” “no worries if not,” “thanks in advance,” and the always ominous “quick chat.”
Along the way, they talk about clarity, passive-aggressive communication, managing up, why examples matter, and why “don’t be a dick” sometimes lands better than a beautifully structured leadership framework. There is also a side quest involving Sacha climbing unfinished apartment buildings, perimenopause email rage, and Ish reviewing The Mandalorian and Grogu with the enthusiasm of a man deeply committed to Star Wars.
Key Learnings
1. Vague messages create unnecessary anxiety
2. Corporate jargon often hides the real message
3. Say what you mean before people have to decode it
4. If you need action, give context
5. Cut-through beats corporate polish