Send us Fan Mail In this episode of The Chief Psychology Officer Podcast, Dr Amanda Potter and Caitlin Cooper are joined by occupational psychologist and Chief Connection Officer John Cooper to explore why human connection is essential to performance at work. Together, they discuss why great teams are not built through harmony alone, but through the quality of connection that allows people to challenge, support, trust, and understand each other. John shares why the “chemistry” between people mat...
May 11, 2026•35 min
Send us Fan Mail Ep 93 Stop fixing people: start fixing work with Jo Yarker What does it take to sustain performance over time? In this episode of the Chief Psychology Officer podcast, Dr Amanda Potter is joined by Professor Jo Yarker to explore how organisations can create healthy working environments that support both wellbeing and performance. Many organisations invest in resilience and wellbeing initiatives, yet still struggle with burnout, disengagement, and declining performance. This conv...
Apr 20, 2026•45 min
Send us Fan Mail In this episode of The Chief Psychology Officer Podcast, Dr Amanda Potter and Caitlin Cooper are joined by Adam Smith, a mindset and behavioural change coach, to explore the inner critic, negative self-talk, and the language we use to describe ourselves. Adam shares his personal story and explains how our thoughts, labels, and belief systems can shape confidence, resilience, behaviour, and performance. The conversation looks at how unhelpful self-talk develops, why familiar patt...
Mar 30, 2026•46 min
Send us Fan Mail Decisiveness is not speed; it is clarity. We explore how top teams make better choices by slowing the front end of the process, framing the real problem, agreeing decision criteria, and then committing with pace. Joined by leadership coach Mark Herbert, we unpack the human side of decisions—how dopamine, mood and pressure change what feels obvious, how halo and horns biases skew judgment, and why similarity bias keeps boardrooms comfortable but wrong. We get practical about buil...
Mar 09, 2026•49 min•Ep. 91
Send us Fan Mail AI is rapidly reshaping how organisations operate, make decisions, and develop talent. But as technology accelerates, what happens to the human skills that drive performance? In this episode of The Chief Psychology Officer Podcast, Dr Amanda Potter and Angela Malik are joined by Simon Defoe CPsychol, Learning and Performance Senior Manager at Vodafone, to explore the intersection of AI, psychological safety, and leadership. Drawing on expertise in organisational psychology, resi...
Feb 16, 2026•39 min
Send us Fan Mail If you’ve ever wondered whether psychological safety is a soft sentiment or a hard performance driver, this conversation brings the receipts. With Professor Adrian Furnham and Dr Amanda Potter, we unpack what psychological safety really means, how to measure it well, and why trust—not cleverness—predicts whether people speak up, challenge ideas, and share hard truths when it counts. We go beyond the generic “I feel safe” survey item and show how short, validated psychometrics tu...
Jan 26, 2026•41 min
Send us Fan Mail A million more people are now economically inactive for health reasons than just a few years ago, and once an employee has been on sick leave for a year or more, the chance of returning drops to around 3%. That is not a wellness statistic. It is a warning light for businesses, communities and the economy and it is the spark for this conversation with Poppie Foakes, Director of Product and Innovation at the Retail Trust, and our Chief Psychology Officer, Dr Amanda Potter. We unpa...
Jan 05, 2026•40 min
Send us Fan Mail Complexity is rising, expectations are colliding, and the old playbook is running out of pages. We sit down with author and applied researcher Amy Walters Cohen to unpack the core idea behind her book Ruthlessly Caring to understand how leaders can deliver more value when they replace either-or choices with both-and mindsets that match today’s messy reality. We start by mapping the megatrends shaping work for example, ageing populations, climate pressure, AI, regulatory shifts, ...
Dec 15, 2025•45 min•Season 4Ep. 87
Send us Fan Mail Resilience emerges from the most unthinkable circumstances in this powerful conversation with Figen Murray OBE, whose son Martyn was killed in the 2017 Manchester Arena bombing. What follows is an extraordinary story of transformation through grief, forgiveness, and purpose-driven advocacy. Figen shares the raw reality of how her life changed in "the split second it took for a suicide bomber to detonate a bomb" - not just losing her son, but also her identity as a psychotherapis...
Nov 24, 2025•30 min•Season 4Ep. 86
Send us Fan Mail Ever pushed yourself to work through illness or stayed late just to be present at work and be seen? Your brain might be paying a devastating price. Presenteeism, means showing up physically but functioning below capacity due to illness, injury, or simply staying longer than necessary. This costs UK businesses a staggering £100 billion annually. Yet unlike absenteeism, it remains largely unmeasured and unaddressed in most organisations. The neuroscience reveals why this matters s...
Nov 03, 2025•29 min•Season 4Ep. 85
Send us Fan Mail What if the 360 feedback you're receiving is more a reflection of human cognitive shortcuts than your actual performance? In this illuminating conversation, Dr. Amanda Potter—recently named Association of Business Psychologists Practitioner of the Year 2024—takes us behind the scenes of 360 assessments to reveal the hidden biases that distort results and undermine effectiveness. Our brains evolved to make quick judgements for survival, but these same mechanisms now create signif...
Oct 13, 2025•35 min•Season 4Ep. 84
Send us Fan Mail Psychological Safety isn't merely a workplace buzzword—it's the foundation for innovation, authentic collaboration, and organizational success. In this compelling revisit to one of our most downloaded episodes, Dr. Amanda Potter and Psychologist Caitlin Cooper explore how our understanding of psychological safety has evolved dramatically since 2020. We dive deep into what psychological safety truly is, the sense of security to learn, contribute, take risks and challenge without ...
Sep 29, 2025•44 min•Season 4Ep. 83
Send us Fan Mail Resolving workplace conflict requires more than good intentions—it demands psychological safety. In our latest episode, we explore this powerful intersection with Alex Myers, a Chartered Occupational Psychologist, coach, and mediator who's transforming how organisations handle workplace disputes. Alex shares her journey implementing psychological safety principles at Jewish Care, where the impact has been transformative. What began as executive leadership training has cascaded t...
Sep 08, 2025•31 min•Season 4Ep. 82
Send us Fan Mail What if everything you thought you knew about identifying potential in your team was based on flawed assumptions? In this thought-provoking conversation with Adam Wheelwright, Chief Technology Officer at IG Group, we challenge conventional wisdom around talent assessment and high-performance cultures. Drawing from his 30 years of experience in financial services and technology leadership, Adam reveals why the search for simplistic models of potential fundamentally misunderstands...
Aug 18, 2025•40 min•Season 4Ep. 81
Send us Fan Mail Episodes are available here https://www.thecpo.co.uk/ To follow Zircon on LinkedIn and to be first to hear about podcasts, publications and news, please like and follow us: https://www.linkedin.com/company/betalent-by-zircon/ To access the research white papers mentioned in this and other podcasts, please go to: https://www.betalent.com/research For more information about the BeTalent suite of tools and platform please contact: Hello@BeTalent.com...
Jul 28, 2025•42 min•Season 4Ep. 80
Send us Fan Mail What happens in your brain when faced with complex choices? The average person makes 35,000 decisions daily, from trivial selections to career-defining judgments – yet a shocking 99.5% of leaders have never received formal training in decision-making. Leadership coach Jon Bircher joins Dr. Amanda Potter to unpack the psychology and neuroscience behind effective decision-making at the executive level. With decades of leadership experience across industries, Bircher has developed ...
Jul 07, 2025•47 min•Season 4Ep. 79
Send us Fan Mail What happens when a major financial merger puts wellbeing at the heart of its transformation strategy? Lucy Becque, Group Chief People Officer at Coventry Building Society, reveals the powerful impact this approach has had as they navigate combining with the Co-operative Bank – doubling their workforce overnight and bringing together distinctly different organizational cultures. Lucy shares how focusing on resilience through deliberate "firebreaks" – pauses in the relentless pac...
Jun 16, 2025•37 min•Season 4Ep. 78
Send us Fan Mail Ever wondered why traditional competency models often gather dust while organisations continue struggling with talent development? The answer might lie in a more holistic approach called "blueprinting" - a framework that's transforming how forward-thinking companies like Haven approach leadership development. This eye-opening conversation with DeanO Giles, Head of Learning and Development at Haven, and Dr Amanda Potter, CEO of Zircon, reveals how blueprints differ fundamentally ...
May 27, 2025•38 min•Season 4Ep. 77
Send us Fan Mail Dr. Amanda Potter and guest Dr. Stewart Desson, CEO of Lumina Learning, explore the complex relationship between personality testing, neurodiversity, ethical assessment practices, and strengths-based approaches in the workplace. • The Big Five personality model (Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Neuroticism) remains the most empirically validated framework for understanding personality • Both experts challenge traditional views of personality as static, s...
May 06, 2025•44 min•Season 4Ep. 76
Send us Fan Mail Have you ever been accused of "selective hearing" or caught zoning out during an important conversation ? You’re not alone. Our brains constantly filter information, deciding what deserves attention, often without us realizing it. This episode unpacks selective listening; choosing what we focus on—versus selective hearing (unconscious filtering) and selective attention (our ability to stay focused despite distractions). These patterns shape workplace dynamics, often amplifying s...
Apr 14, 2025•31 min•Season 4Ep. 75
Send us Fan Mail The battle to attract and retain high-quality early talent has never been more challenging. With 95% of organizations acknowledging that early career candidates quickly move on when expectations aren't met, understanding what truly drives these professionals has become crucial for business success. Dr. Amanda Potter, the Chief Psychology Officer sits down with Angela Malik to discuss groundbreaking research that challenges common assumptions about what early career talent wants ...
Mar 24, 2025•31 min•Season 4Ep. 74
Send us Fan Mail In this episode, Rev. Mike Wright from Network Rail joins award-winning Business Psychologist Amanda Potter and co-host Caitlin Cooper to explore what makes high-performing teams thrive. We dive into Project Speed , a post-pandemic initiative that boosted efficiency and reduced costs, saving £1.5 billion! We also examine how cognitive diversity enhances problem-solving when the need to balance essential yet competing priorities is crucial to success. Additionally, we highlight t...
Mar 03, 2025•42 min•Season 4Ep. 73
Send us Fan Mail What if your brain's craving for predictability is the real reason behind your stress? In our latest episode, we explore the complex emotions tied to change fatigue in our fast-paced world driven by relentless technological advancements. With AI reshaping the landscape and social media perpetually altering trends, the pressure to adapt can seem insurmountable. We unravel the psychological and physiological impacts of this constant flux, touching on how our intrinsic desire for s...
Feb 10, 2025•44 min•Season 4Ep. 72
Send us Fan Mail Dr. Amanda Potter, Chartered Psychologist and CEO of Zircon BeTalent, and Jig Ramji, an experienced Chief Talent Officer, join us for a compelling discussion on the transformative power of big data in talent management. Listen as we unpack the parallels between sports analytics and organizational performance, revealing why data integration is as crucial to talent strategy as it is to financial success. Jig challenges the conventional belief that more data is inherently better, i...
Jan 27, 2025•46 min•Season 4Ep. 71
Send us Fan Mail What if one small change could transform not only your life but also contribute positively to the world? Join us as Lou Kiwanuka shares her inspiring journey of embracing sustainable change, one step at a time. Starting with a personal commitment to make one change per month since January 2020, Lou's approach has led to profound personal growth and a shift from simply reducing negative impacts to actively pursuing positive contributions. Through her experiences, Lou illustrates ...
Jan 06, 2025•38 min•Season 4Ep. 70
Send us Fan Mail Unlock the secrets to creating a truly inclusive workplace with insights from Laura McLean, an HR and Talent leader at Santander. Tune in to discover how you can foster an environment where trust and innovation flourish, and employees feel empowered to bring their full selves to work. Laura, alongside Dr Amanda Potter, Chartered Psychologist and CEO of Zircon BeTalent, dissects the core elements of psychological safety, demonstrating their pivotal role in leadership development ...
Dec 16, 2024•32 min•Season 3Ep. 69
Send us Fan Mail Unlock the secrets to optimal sleep with Dr. Amanda Potter, a distinguished Psychologist and CEO of Zircon BeTalent, as she guides us through the intricate dance of our nightly rest. Discover how seven to nine hours of uninterrupted sleep can revolutionize your emotional well-being and sharpen your cognitive edge, enhancing creativity, problem-solving, and memory retention. Dr. Potter also sheds light on the substantial economic toll of sleep-related fatigue, underscoring the im...
Dec 02, 2024•31 min•Season 3Ep. 68
Send us Fan Mail Unlock the secrets of psychological assessments with our esteemed guest, Ben Williams from Sten10, as he joins Dr Amanda Potter, CEO of Zircon, for an in-depth discussion on the tools that shape development and recruitment. Discover why validity and reliability are not just buzzwords but essential elements that ensure these assessments accurately measure what they're supposed to. Together, we unravel the intricacies of state versus trait-based assessments, such as resilience and...
Nov 11, 2024•54 min•Season 3Ep. 67
Send us Fan Mail Join us for an enlightening conversation with Dr. Amanda Potter, Chartered Psychologist and CEO of Zircon, as we navigate the complexities of the entrepreneurial mindset. Ever wondered what differentiates a freelancer from a true entrepreneur? Discover how visionaries like Simon Rogerson from Octopus Energy harness their relentless energy and forward-thinking approach to fill market gaps with scalable business ideas. We'll also confront the challenges women face in entrepreneurs...
Oct 21, 2024•39 min•Season 3Ep. 66
Send us Fan Mail Unlock the hidden strengths of introversion in the workplace! Join us as Amanda Potter, CEO of Zircon, breaks down the often misunderstood traits of introverts and extroverts, backed by insights from Jung, Eysenck, and psychological models like the Big Five and MBTI. We'll dissect how biased language can shape our views and why emotional intelligence is crucial, not just for professionals but for everyone aiming to create more inclusive environments. Ever wondered why extroverts...
Sep 30, 2024•38 min
