Burn The Rules with Chet Hirani

Think about yesterday. Your entire day. From the moment you woke up to the moment your head hit the pillow.Now tell me how much of that day was genuinely productive? Not busy. Productive.How many of those meetings actually needed you? How many of those emails moved the needle?And how many hours were spent doing things that felt like work but changed absolutely nothing?Be honest. Because I already know the answer.Most of it was noise.This episode is called Being Busy Is Not Leadership. And before you think this is another anti-hustle, work less and meditate conversation it's not. I'm going after both sides today. Because hustle culture is a lie. But so is the idea that doing less is automatically doing better.Most leaders are trapped somewhere in between. Exhausted and ineffective at the same time.Let me show you a way out.▶ IN THIS EPISODE- The 90-minute inbox trap: how I spent the best hours of every day on other people's priorities and called it a good start- Why hustle culture is self-destruction with a motivational quote on top and what the research actually says about productivity past 55 hours- Why the anti-hustle movement has a problem too and why 'protecting your energy' has become code for avoiding discomfort- The season everything fell apart: the business, the personal challenges, the decision to get busier instead of facing what was real- The five-minute morning practice that rebuilt my clarity, my focus, and my sense of direction and why it works when nothing else did- Three signs your busyness is noise and not leadership: you're the bottleneck, you're confusing presence with impact, and you're using busyness to hide- Three moves you can make this week and why the time audit result will shock you▶ KEY MOMENTS00:00 The Illusion of Productivity03:46 The Dangers of Busyness06:30 Finding Alignment in Leadership09:42 Identifying the Bottlenecks12:32 Taking Control of Your Time15:16 Redefining Leadership15:44 The Practice of LeadershipMore on me:Take the Pressure Pattern CheckFor more information about me go to: chethirani.comGet my Award Winning Bestselling book:Burn The Rules HereConnect, Follow & Subscribe:LinkedInYoutubeInstagramFacebookTikTokKeywords:#BurnTheRules #leadfromwithin #leadership #productivity #busyness #focus #burnout #timemanagement #executiveleadership #clarity #podcast

Most of how you're feeling at work right now is probably not your fault. That's not an excuse that's neuroscience.As VP of Human Capital at Pure Harvest Smart Farms. Natalie has spent years studying how leaders behave under pressure, what the brain actually does when it feels threatened, and why calm is contagious in exactly the same way chaos is.In this conversation, we get into the 3 leadership capabilities she believes will define who survives what's coming Emotional Intelligence, Adaptability, Resourcefulness and the deeply personal story that forged her entire philosophy. Her words on the adoption journey she went through: they made me jump through hoops, then lit those hoops on fire.▶ IN THIS EPISODEThe neuroscience of pressure: what happens in your brain when you feel threatened and why your thinking slows down exactly when you need it mostWhy calm is contagious and so is chaos and what that means for every interaction you have as a leaderThe Future Ready Set: EQ (Emotional Intelligence), AQ (Adaptability), and RQ (Resourcefulness) and why you can't learn any of them in a training roomThe adoption journey that changed her entire relationship with failure and why she's grateful for every hoop they lit on fireConnect with Natalie:Natalie on LinkedInNatalie on InstagramChapters00:00 Navigating Current Challenges04:45 Life in the Food Industry07:44 Understanding Human Capital10:15 The Role of Human Capital in Business12:48 Breaking the Perfectionism Cycle15:51 Leadership Capabilities for the Future18:38 The Importance of Adaptability21:24 Empowering Opinions and Respecting Others25:55 Continuous Learning Beyond School27:32 Understanding Pressure and Its Effects on Leadership30:24 Recognizing Signals of Losing Control32:06 The Importance of Seeking Support33:52 Embracing Failure and Resilience36:12 The Shift from Fear of Failure to Resourcefulness38:53 The Journey of Adoption and Personal Growth41:25 Finding Gratitude in Difficult Experiences43:20 Patterns of Leadership Across Different Industries48:32 Taking Action with Resourcefulness49:59 Quickfire Questions and Personal Insights52:37 Redefining Leadership53:06 The Practice of LeadershipMore on me:Take the Pressure Pattern CheckFor more information about me go to: chethirani.comGet my Award Winning Bestselling book:Burn The Rules HereConnect, Follow & Subscribe:LinkedInYoutubeInstagramFacebookTikTokKeywords:Leadership, Resilience, Future Skills, Emotional Intelligence, Agri-tech, UAE,

In this episode, I'm making the argument that most leaders stopped thinking for themselves long before AI arrived. They outsourced their judgment to committees, consultants, data dashboards, and best practices they copied from whoever spoke at the last conference. AI didn't create the problem. It exposed it.I break down the three ways leaders have been outsourcing their thinking for decades consensus addiction, data worship, and best-practice copying and share the stories from my own career that taught me what judgment actually is and why it can't be automated.If AI is making you nervous, this episode will tell you exactly why. And it won't be the answer you were expecting.The real revolution isn't artificial intelligence. It's actual intelligence. And the question at the end of this episode is a simple one: do you like what you see in the mirror?More on me:Take the Pressure Pattern CheckFor more information about me go to: chethirani.comGet my Award Winning Bestselling book:Burn The Rules HereConnect, Follow & Subscribe:LinkedInYoutubeInstagramFacebookTikTokKeywords:Leadership, AI, Judgment, Decision-Making, Leadership Crisis, Organizational Culture, Decision Autonomy, Leadership Development

What do you do when the world makes you visible for the worst possible reason and you have no control over the story being told about you? Michelle Raymond knows that feeling better than most.She's a 25-year HR veteran who's worked inside some of the world's most complex organisations Amazon, BT, Deloitte. She's a non-executive director, a TEDx speaker, an author, and one of the most sharp-minded leadership strategists working today.But none of that came easily. And none of it came first.Before the career, the books, and the boardrooms there was a period where Michelle was being defined by a story she didn't write. And in the middle of it all, she made one decision that changed everything: she would never let anyone else control her visibility again.This is one of the most honest conversations we've had on Burn The Rules. Don't miss it.▶ IN THIS EPISODEWhy most big organisations treat their people like lanyards and what they're losing because of itBeing made redundant on maternity leave and how it became the catalyst that drove her entire careerThe difference between making noise and making a sound and which one actually gets you furtherHer TED talk, her personal story, and the promise she made that became her life's missionChapters00:00 Introduction and Connection03:07 Navigating Change and the Queen of Pivot07:28 Understanding Employee Value in Corporations11:19 Lessons from Boardroom Leadership17:09 The Importance of Simplifying Communication20:03 The Impact of Networking on Personal Brand25:13 The Reality of Following Your Passion30:05 Burning Rules and Taking Control34:35 Trust and Personal Experience in Organizations40:09 Corporate Introversion and Leadership43:35 Visibility and Personal Challenges53:59 Retention Strategies for Talent Loss57:29 Final Thoughts and Quickfire Questions01:01:01 Redefining Leadership01:01:29 The Practice of LeadershipConnect with Michelle:Michelle Raymond's Book - David's Guide to GoliathMichelle Raymond's InstagramMichelle Raymond's LinkedInThe Talent RevolutionMore on me:Take the Pressure Pattern CheckFor more information about me go to: chethirani.comGet my Award Winning Bestselling book:Burn The Rules HereConnect, Follow & Subscribe:LinkedInYoutubeInstagramFacebookTikTok

It was 2010. I'm standing on a stage in front of 250 people and I'm falling apart.Hands shaking. Voice cracking. Eyes locked on the floor because I knew if I made contact with a single person in that audience, I was done. I was a corporate leader who could run multi-million pound programmes and sit across from a C-suite board without flinching. And I couldn't get through five minutes on a stage without wanting to disappear.But here's what I've realised since: the problem wasn't the stage. It wasn't the audience. It wasn't the lights or the room.It was me.This is the conversation nobody wants to have, because the problem isn't fear. The problem is what you're doing with it.▶ IN THIS EPISODEThe lie that high-performing leaders tell themselves every day and why 'waiting for the right time' is just fear wearing a suitThe client story: a senior leader promoted to a global role who started falling apart and what we uncovered when we stopped talking about strategyFrom 2010 disaster to TEDx red dot and what those 12 years taught me about fear, readiness, and what it means to own your storyThe three disguises fear uses on leaders: perfectionism, over-preparation, and comparison and how to call each one outWhy awareness without action is just entertainment and the three moves you can make today, not this weekend, today▶ THE THREE MOVES DO THESE TODAYNot this weekend. Not when you've had time to think about it. Today.Name the fear you've been disguising call it what it is, out loud if you have to, because fear loses power the second you stop pretending it's something elseFlip your what ifs write down the three what ifs running your decisions, then rewrite them. 'What if I fail' becomes 'what if this works.' That's not positive thinking. That's accurate thinking.Take one imperfect action send the message, book the meeting, start the project, have the conversation. It doesn't have to be good. It has to be real.Chapters00:00 Facing the Fear of Public Speaking03:46 Understanding Fear as a Leadership Challenge06:30 The Role of Fear in Leadership Growth09:44 Transforming Fear into Action12:27 Identifying and Overcoming Disguised Fears15:18 Taking Action Against Fear16:38 Redefining Leadership17:07 The Practice of LeadershipMore on me:Take the Pressure Pattern CheckFor more information about me go to: chethirani.comGet my Award Winning Bestselling book:Burn The Rules HereConnect, Follow & Subscribe:LinkedInYoutubeInstagramFacebookTikTokKeywords:leadership, mindset, self-sabotage, confidence, decision-making, overcoming fear