Truth, Lies and Work

What happens when two art students fall in love, start freelancing together, and accidentally build one of the UK's happiest creative brand agencies?

In this episode of Truth, Lies & Work, we're joined by Gemma Ruse and Xavier Shariff, the husband-and-wife co-founders of Studio Zag, a 60-person agency that designs and builds experiential installations for brands all over the world.

STUDIO XAG: https://studioxag.com/

Gemma: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gemma-ruse-646979a

Xavier: https://www.linkedin.com/in/xavier-sheriff-49091132

Ellie Glason PR: https://ellieglasonpr.com/

They met at 20 in a house share at Central Saint Martins. They've been together for over 20 years, running Studio Zag together for 16 of those. They've clad a 35-metre boombox onto Diesel's Carnaby Street facade, become a certified B Corp, and built a business where people regularly say: "This is and will always be the best place I've ever worked."

This isn't a story about having it all figured out. It's about trusting your gut, knowing when enough is enough, and building culture through brilliant work — not ping pong tables.

What you'll learn in this episode

Why they never planned to work together (and why it works anyway)

How complementary skills matter more than identical visions

Why "disagree in the room, commit outside the room" is their partnership rule

The difference between forced fun and authentic culture

Why they don't want to grow from 60 to 600 people (and what that says about sustainable business)

How trust your gut feeling actually works as a leadership strategy

Why great work IS culture (and how they keep that red thread of attention to detail at scale)

What it means when people say your agency is, "the best place you've ever worked"

Gemma and Xavier are brutally honest about the realities of building a creative business with your life partner: the complementary strengths, the stubborn moments, and why sometimes the best business advice is to ask yourself: "What does this feel like in my stomach?"


💬 Connect with Truth, Lies & Work


Website: ⁠https://truthliesandwork.com⁠


Email: ⁠[email protected]⁠


LinkedIn: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/company/truth-lies-and-work⁠


Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/truthlieswork⁠


Al Elliott: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/alelliott/⁠


Leanne Elliott: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/leanneelliott/⁠

🧠 Mental health support

If this conversation brings anything up for you or someone you care about:


UK & ROI: Samaritans — 116 123 | ⁠https://www.samaritans.org⁠


US: Suicide & Crisis Lifeline — 988 | ⁠https://988lifeline.org⁠


Australia: Lifeline — 13 11 14 | ⁠https://www.lifeline.org.au⁠


Elsewhere: ⁠https://findahelpline.com

Welcome back to Truth, Lies & Work — the podcast where behavioural science meets real working life.

This week, we’re asking a simple question with uncomfortable answers: who really gets flexibility, who’s trusted around AI, and what psychology myths are still shaping work decisions?

🔥 Stories covered

1. Who actually gets flexible work — and why

Leanne introduces a new term this week: i-deals — short for idiosyncratic deals. These are personalised, one-to-one flexibility arrangements negotiated privately between employees and managers.

📄 Research source:https://bpspsychub.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/joop.70084

2. When corporate politics becomes the real job

Al brings a thread from X this week by an account called IT_Unprofessional, written by an IT Director earning around $280k a year. He describes what he calls a “corporate survival guide” — not about technical excellence, but about navigating power, perception and incentives.

3. Why banks are hiring behavioural scientists for AI roles

After one of the toughest recruitment years since 2008, UK financial services firms are hiring again — and not just technologists.

The concern isn’t AI failure. It’s human behaviour around AI — over-trust, automation bias, and quiet deference to systems that sound confident but may be wrong.

🔗 Reporting:https://www.lbc.co.uk/article/banks-ai-experts-worried-misuse-5HjdRJS_2/

🔥 Truth or Lie💬

People learn better when teaching matches their learning style

Visual learner. Auditory learner. Kinaesthetic learner. The idea is everywhere.

Leanne breaks down decades of evidence and explains:


Preferences exist


Enjoyment increases when preferences are met


Learning outcomes do not reliably improve

The verdict: Lie.
What matters is the material, not the learner label. And learning that feels harder is often more effective.

Workplace Surgery

This week we tackle:


How to motivate a team nearing retirement without patronising them


What to do when a career coach crosses ethical lines


Whether employee NPS is a meaningful measure of engagement

We explore motivation, power, boundaries and what good evidence actually supports.

🎧 Coming up Thursday

We’re joined by Gemma Ruse and Xavier Sheriff, co-founders of Studio XAG, to talk about building a people-first agency, becoming a B Corp, and what it’s really like running a business with the person you’re married to.

💬 Connect with Truth, Lies & Work


Website: https://truthliesandwork.com


Email: [email protected]


LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/truth-lies-and-work


Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/truthlieswork

Connect with the hosts


Al Elliott: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alelliott/


Leanne Elliott: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leanneelliott/

🧠 Mental health support


UK & ROI: Samaritans — 116 123 | https://www.samaritans.org


US: Suicide & Crisis Lifeline — 988 | https://988lifeline.org


Australia: Lifeline — 13 11 14 | https://www.lifeline.org.au


Elsewhere: https://findahelpline.com

What do late-night comedy writers know about trust, influence, and human connection that most business leaders don’t?

In this episode of Truth, Lies & Work, we’re joined by Beth Sherman — a seven-time Emmy-winning comedy writer who spent three decades in Hollywood writers’ rooms before taking what she learned into the world of business.

Beth has written for The Late Show with David Letterman, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Ellen, the Screen Actors Guild Awards, and the Oscars. Today, she works with leaders, sales teams, and organisations who want to build trust quickly, communicate with confidence, and connect more humanly at work.

This is not about telling jokes in meetings.

It’s about understanding why humour works, how truth creates connection, and why the most effective communicators are the most observant — not the funniest.

What you’ll learn in this episode


Why “truth is funny” — and what that reveals about trust and rapport


The difference between self-awareness and self-deprecation (and why confusing the two damages credibility)


How humour creates psychological safety without undermining authority


Why being human matters more as work becomes more automated and AI-driven


How observational humour helps in sales, leadership, presentations, and difficult conversations


Why you don’t need to be funny — you need to be emotionally intelligent and observant

Beth explains how comedians build instant rapport with strangers, and why those same principles are powerful in boardrooms, client meetings, and tense workplace moments.

Why this matters for leaders and teams

In a world where people can buy similar products, services, and solutions anywhere, relationships are the differentiator.

Humour, when used properly, signals:


Awareness of the room


Confidence without ego


Safety without softness


Humanity without oversharing

Beth’s work shows that humour isn’t about performance. It’s about connection — and connection is the foundation of trust, influence, and persuasion at work.

About our guest

Beth Sherman is a comedian, keynote speaker, and communication expert. She spent over 30 years writing comedy at the highest level before translating those principles into practical tools for business leaders.

Her upcoming book is published by Blue Goat Books.

🔗 Beth Sherman website: https://www.bethsherman.com/
🔗 Beth Sherman on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/beth-sherman/

🎧 Listen if you’re…


A leader who wants to build trust without forcing charisma


In sales or marketing and tired of scripts that feel inauthentic


Giving presentations and feeling pressure to “perform”


Curious about the psychology of humour and human connection


Navigating communication in an increasingly automated workplace

💬 Connect with Truth, Lies & Work


Website: https://truthliesandwork.com


Email: [email protected]


LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/truth-lies-and-work


Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/truthlieswork


Al Elliott: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alelliott/


Leanne Elliott: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leanneelliott/

🧠 Mental health support

If this conversation brings anything up for you or someone you care about:


UK & ROI: Samaritans — 116 123 | https://www.samaritans.org


US: Suicide & Crisis Lifeline — 988 | https://988lifeline.org


Australia: Lifeline — 13 11 14 | https://www.lifeline.org.au


Elsewhere: https://findahelpline.com

Welcome back to Truth, Lies & Work, the podcast where behavioural science meets workplace culture.

This week we’re exploring what employees and leaders are really looking for at work right now — and how it’s shaping leadership behaviour, burnout, employee wellbeing, and workplace culture.

🔥 Stories covered

Why are Gen Z leaving jobs so quickly?

According to a Fast Company article by Jeff LeBlanc, Gen Z workers aren’t job-hopping out of disloyalty. They’re growth hunting.

The research shows:


Nearly half of Gen Z plan to leave roles for better growth, not higher pay


86% won’t upskill without employer funding


43% feel too burnt out to learn outside work hours


Cost, not motivation, is the biggest barrier to development

This reflects a wider shift in workplace expectations. When organisations talk about growth but don’t support it structurally, people move on. Gen Z isn’t rejecting work — they’re rejecting stagnation.

🔗 https://www.fastcompany.com/91452297/the-rise-of-growth-hunting-why-gen-z-changes-jobs-so-oftengenz-job-hopping

Jeff previously joined Truth, Lies & Work to discuss Gen Z, burnout, and leadership psychology: https://truthliesandwork.com/episodes/207-what-happens-when-leaders-start-being-kind-with-jeff-leblanc

You can also explore his book Engaged Empathy Leadership for practical, science-backed management advice: https://www.amazon.com/Engaged-Empathy-Leadership-Redefining-Action-ebook/dp/B0FCGSC48C

Does complaining at work make teams less resilient?

Research highlighted by Stanford suggests that repeated complaining rewires the brain.

Over time:


Neural pathways linked to stress and threat detection strengthen


Baseline stress levels rise


Small irritations feel bigger


Negativity becomes automatic

For leaders, this matters. Teams that normalise constant complaining may unintentionally reduce resilience, decision-making quality, and psychological safety.

🔗 https://x.com/shiningscience/status/2013113758386987099

What employee wellbeing benefits actually reduce burnout?

After a LinkedIn post went viral, Slate introduced a $200 monthly cleaning stipend for employees.

Why this matters for employee wellbeing:


It removes friction instead of adding effort


It gives people time and mental space back


It supports carers and those under chronic time pressure


Research consistently links cluttered environments to higher stress

This reframes wellbeing away from “one more thing to do” and towards burnout prevention.

🔗 https://fortune.com/2026/01/15/company-adds-cleaning-services-as-employee-benefit-what-hr-leaders-can-learn/

🔥 Truth or Lie

Can you manifest success just by visualising it?

Lie — if it’s about imagining outcomes alone.Truth — when visualisation is used to plan actions and effort.

Psychology shows visualising the process increases follow-through. Imagining success without action often reduces motivation.
💬 Workplace Surgery — practical management advice

This week we answer:


What’s the earliest sign of burnout before someone admits it?


Is it genuinely hard to find a good manager?


If you hate your job and feel stuck, what’s the first practical step?

🎧 Coming up Thursday

We’re joined by Beth Sherman to explore how humour builds trust, rapport, and confident decision-making at work.

💬 Connect with Truth, Lies & Work


Website: https://truthliesandwork.com


Email: [email protected]


LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/truth-lies-and-work


Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/truthlieswork


Al Elliott: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alelliott/


Leanne Elliott: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leanneelliott/

🧠 Mental health support


UK & ROI: Samaritans — 116 123 | https://www.samaritans.org


US: Suicide & Crisis Lifeline — 988 | https://988lifeline.org


Australia: Lifeline — 13 11 14 | https://www.lifeline.org.au


Elsewhere: https://findahelpline.com

Most founders pride themselves on being “high-capacity”.
The person who can sell, operate, strategise, and firefight all at once.

But there’s a point where that strength quietly becomes the problem.

In this episode, Al and Leanne are joined by Dustin Hillis, a serial entrepreneur and executive coach who has led businesses from early-stage chaos through to $100m-plus scale, and is now building again at a much bigger level.

Dustin’s core message is simple, but uncomfortable:what gets you to your first milestone will not get you to the next one.

Unless leaders change how they work, think, and let go, they become the bottleneck that holds everything back.

This is a long-form, honest conversation about growth, power, systems, and the emotional reality of leadership that rarely gets talked about.

🔍 What you’ll learn in this episode


Why working harder eventually stops working, and what replaces it


How leaders unintentionally burn out their best people by turning them into “catch-alls”


Why systems don’t kill creativity, but reduce fear and create capacity


What actually changes at £1m, £10m, £100m and beyond


The power dynamics that quietly derail teams as money and authority increase


Why “pruning” underperformance is painful but essential for healthy cultures


How to stop being the centre of everything without losing control

Dustin acts as a guide through the messy middle of growth, grounded in lived experience rather than theory.

📘 About the book

Dustin is the author of Capacity: Building Your Business Bigger Than You, a practical exploration of how leaders build organisations that no longer depend on them to function.

🔗 Connect with Dustin


LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dustinhillis/


Website: https://dustinhillis.com

💬 Connect with the hosts


Al Elliotthttps://www.linkedin.com/in/alelliott/


Leanne Elliotthttps://www.linkedin.com/in/leanneelliott/

🎧 Connect with Truth, Lies & Work


Website: https://truthliesandwork.com


Email: [email protected]


LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/truth-lies-and-work


Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/truthlieswork

Have a workplace dilemma or question? Get in touch — it may feature in a future episode.

🧠 Mental health support

If this episode brings up difficult feelings, support is available:


UK: Samaritans — call 116 123 or visit https://www.samaritans.org


US: Suicide & Crisis Lifeline — call or text 988 or visit https://988lifeline.org


Australia: Lifeline — call 13 11 14 or visit https://www.lifeline.org.au


Elsewhere: https://findahelpline.com