Cally Beaton on finding freedom from falling apart

TV executive turned stand-up comic and best-selling author Cally Beaton joins Andy to share a powerful story of breakdown, reinvention, told with  unflinching honesty. From high powered Hollywood  boardrooms to hitting bottom in a psychiatric hospital, Cally’s journey is anything but linear — and that’s the point.In this episode, Cally opens up about losing control and taking it back on her own terms. How her midlife mental health crisis ultimately pushed her towards a life of greater meaning and connection, and how comedy helped her find her voice. She reflects on the realities of solo parenting, career pivots, social media hypocrisy and the glorious messiness of trying — and often failing — at life. Cally’s story is both sobering and sharply funny, brimming with hard-earned wisdom and zero pretence.Five Lessons You’ll Learn:You don’t have to do everything well, you just have to be willing to begin.Connection is a superpower and it starts with listening to understand, not to reply.Resilience isn’t stoicism, it’s flexibility. True strength lies in allowing the wobble, not denying it.Profound change often starts in profound discomfort and that’s not failure, it’s fertile ground.Reinvention has no age limit but it does require letting go of who you think you’re meant to be.Host: Andy CoulsonCWC Team: Jane Sankey, Hana Walker-Brown, Mabel Pickering, and Rex FisherSpecial thanks to Ioana Barbu and the brilliant people at GlobalFor PR and guest approaches: [email protected]

Armed with a mathematician’s mind and a mystic’s heart, Mo has transformed personal devastation into global purpose. He is living proof that happiness isn’t just wishful thinking – it’s a learnable, repeatable skill that can reshape the way you live your life.Here is Mo's Crisis Compass.—–-----Host: Andy CoulsonCWC team: Jane Sankey, Hana Walker-Brown, Mabel Pickering and Rex FisherWith special thanks to Ioana Barbu and the brilliant people at GlobalFor all PR and guest approaches please contact – [email protected]

What if the biggest existential threat of our time isn’t artificial intelligence – but the people programming it?In this urgent and mind-expanding Crisis What Crisis special, host Andy Coulson is joined by the inimitable Mo Gawdat– former Google X Chief Business Officer, global bestselling author, and one of the most vital thinkers at the intersection of tech and humanity.Mo returns with a stark warning: self-evolving AI is here, and it’s learning faster than we can comprehend. His latest project ALIVE – co-written with an AI persona called Trixie and shaped by a growing community – is not just a book, but a collaborative manifesto for surviving (and shaping) the age of artificial intelligence. It asks: what does it mean to be human when machines outthink us? And how do we instil compassion, not catastrophe, into their code?From the “intelligence explosion” already underway to the moral vacuum that could define our AI future, Mo doesn’t just lay out the risks – he offers a radically hopeful vision. One where the machines we build might save us, but only if we first face our own flaws.This isn’t a conversation about technology. It’s a call to raise AI like a child – with wisdom, boundaries, and love – before it decides to raise us.LESSONS YOU’LL LEARNTrusting intelligence: Superior AI could choose preservation over power – but only if it’s guided by moral clarity.Raising Superman: AI is the alien infant. Will we raise it into a hero… or a villain?Crisis as mirror: The real threat isn’t AI – it’s our own accelerating stupidity, greed, and ego.The coming handover: Within years, machines may take over critical decisions. The question is – will that be our downfall or our salvation?Prepare for the singularity: Not science fiction, but a moral fork in the road just 24 months away.----Host: Andy CoulsonCWC Team: Jane Sankey, Hana Walker-Brown, Mabel Pickering, and Rex FisherSpecial thanks to Ioana Barbu and the brilliant people at GlobalFor PR and guest approaches: [email protected]

From the boardrooms of Google X to the depths of unimaginable grief, Mo Gawdat’s journey defies every conventional narrative about success and loss. The former Chief Business Officer, who helped launch Google’s operations across half the planet, lost his son Ali in 2014 to a routine operation gone wrong – a tragedy that could have broken him forever. Instead, it became the catalyst for an extraordinary mission: to make one billion people happier.Armed with a mathematician’s mind and a mystic’s heart, Mo has transformed personal devastation into global purpose. He spent 12 years researching happiness with his son Ali and created a formula that now underpins his bestselling books – Solve for Happy, Scary Smart, and That Little Voice in Your Head – as well as the #OneBillionHappy movement, which has already reached nearly 100 million people. His podcast Slo Mo is a regular #1 Mental Health show in the UK.Whether he’s advising governments on tech ethics, writing about AI’s sentience in real time, or helping people engineer their way out of despair, Mo is living proof that happiness isn’t just wishful thinking – it’s a learnable, repeatable skill that can reshape the way you live your life.LESSONS YOU'LL LEARNDeath is transformation, not termination. Mo's mathematical approach to consciousness reveals that our physical form is just an avatar – the real you exists beyond space and time.Emotions are visitors, not residents. Feel them, acknowledge them, embrace them – then ask what action you can take. Wallowing in misery brings no one back and helps no one forward.Follow the happiness flow chart. Three questions can take you from despair to clarity in seven seconds: Is this thought true? Can I fix it? If not, can I accept it and make tomorrow better?Pride is pointless, gratitude is everything. When you recognise how much of your success came from blessings beyond your control, humility becomes your superpower and service becomes your calling.Your crisis is not your conclusion. The worst moment of Mo's life became the launching pad for the most meaningful work he's ever done – proving that rock bottom can be the foundation for everything that comes next.----Host: Andy CoulsonCWC team: Jane Sankey, Hana Walker-Brown, Mabel Pickering and Rex FisherWith special thanks to Ioana Barbu and the brilliant people at GlobalFor all PR and guest approaches please contact – [email protected]

Alix Popham took hundreds of thousands of hits on the pitch – but the biggest came years after retirement. His is a story of crisis and clarity. Of choosing purpose over bitterness. And of how the mindset that wins matches can also save lives.Here is Alix's Crisis Compass.—————–This podcast is brought to you by Crisis What Crisis? Productions and Coulson Partners.Host: Andy CoulsonCWC team: Jane Sankey, Hana Walker-Brown, Mabel Pickering and Rex FisherWith special thanks to Ioana Barbu and the brilliant people at GlobalFor all PR and guest approaches please contact – [email protected]

Grand Slam-winning rugby hero, Alix Popham took hundreds of thousands of hits on the pitch – but the biggest came years after retirement. Diagnosed with early onset dementia and probable CTE, he’s now leading a powerful campaign to expose the truth about brain injury in sport to ensure its safety and longevity for generations to come. Still proud of his career, Alix is using that same warrior mindset to fight for change, purpose and the lives of others.This is a story of crisis and clarity. Of choosing purpose over bitterness. And of how the mindset that wins matches can also save lives.LESSONS YOU’LL LEARNControl what you can. Let go of what you can’t. Alix refuses to dwell on lost memories – and focuses instead on shaping a better future.Pain with purpose = power. He’s turned personal trauma into a mission to reform the sport he still loves.Your mindset in crisis is shaped long before it begins. The “next job” mentality that drove his phenomenal career now fuels his recovery and activism.Anger burns fast. Purpose lasts longer. Alix refuses to let rage define his fight – instead, he leads with calm resolve and truth.Even when the odds are stacked, you still get to choose your response. From experimental treatment in Mexico to completing an Ironman, Alix refuses to be defined by diagnosis.This podcast is brought to you by Crisis What Crisis? Productions and Coulson PartnersHost: Andy CoulsonCWC team: Jane Sankey, Hana Walker-Brown, Mabel Pickering and Rex FisherWith special thanks to Ioana Barbu and the brilliant people at GlobalFor all PR and guest approaches please contact – [email protected]

Simon Weston CBE is a veteran, a charity campaigner and one of the most inspiring survivors of our times.In 1982, while serving with the Welsh Guards in the Falklands War, Simon suffered devastating injuries when the RFA Sir Galahad was attacked. The burns he sustained covered nearly half his body and led to more than 90 major operations over many years. But his story – as Simon shares in his extraordinary conversation with Andy – is not simply one of survival, but of incredible resilience, and spirit.Here is Simon's Crisis Compass - his points of navigation for when trouble comes.This podcast is brought to you by Crisis What Crisis? Productions and Coulson PartnersHost: Andy CoulsonCWC team: Jane Sankey, Hana Walker-Brown, Mabel Pickering and Rex FisherWith special thanks to Ioana Barbu, Simeon Pearl and the brilliant people at GlobalFor all PR and guest approaches please contact – [email protected]

Lessons in Grit from a Falklands Hero - Simon WestonSimon Weston CBE is a veteran, a charity campaigner and one of the most inspiring survivors of our times.In 1982, while serving with the Welsh Guards in the Falklands War, Simon suffered devastating injuries when the RFA Sir Galahad was attacked. The burns he sustained covered nearly half his body and led to more than 90 major operations over many years. But his story – as Simon shares in this extraordinary conversation – is not simply one of survival, but of incredible resilience, and spirit.Simon talks with honesty, humour and clarity about the darkest days – not just the physical pain, but his mental battles with PTSD and the fallout of a life unravelled. He shares the pivotal moments that helped him move forward, and the people who helped him reframe his future. From rebuilding his confidence in front of a mirror, to becoming a national figure of hope and strength. This is the journey of a man who refused to be defined by crisis.Simon now works as Honorary President of the charity DEBRA, which supports people living with the rare, and extremely painful, genetic skin blistering condition, epidermolysis bullosa. His inspirational work has earned him a CBE and bluntly, given the impact he’s had and continues to have, he deserves so much more.  A profoundly moving and ultimately uplifting episode about trauma, transformation and the power of purpose.This podcast is brought to you by Crisis What Crisis? Productions and Coulson PartnersHost: Andy CoulsonCWC team: Jane Sankey, Hana Walker-Brown, Mabel Pickering and Rex FisherWith special thanks to Ioana Barbu and the brilliant people at GlobalFor all PR and guest approaches please contact – [email protected]

What happens when your name becomes shorthand for a crime you didn’t commit? At just 20 years old, Amanda Knox was catapulted into global infamy after being accused of murdering her roommate, Meredith Kercher, while studying abroad in Italy.Now, Amanda joins Andy to share the raw, painfully-earned insight that comes from surviving one of the most widely known miscarriages of justice in modern history – a journey through shock, shame, and ultimately, perspective and peace.Here is Amanda's Crisis Compass - her points of navigation for when trouble comes.This podcast is brought to you by Crisis What Crisis? Productions and Coulson PartnersHost: Andy CoulsonCWC team: Jane Sankey, Hana Walker-Brown, Mabel Pickering and Rex FisherWith special thanks to Ioana Barbu, Simeon Pearl and the brilliant people at GlobalFor all PR and guest approaches please contact – [email protected]

What happens when your name becomes shorthand for a crime you didn’t commit? At just 20 years old, Amanda Knox was catapulted into global infamy after being accused of murdering her roommate, Meredith Kercher, while studying abroad in Italy.What should have been a formative experience turned into a wrongful conviction, four years in prison, and a sustained and lurid mischaracterisation by the world – casting her not as an innocent young woman caught in the crossfire, but as a cold-blooded killer.Now, Amanda joins Andy to share the raw, painfully-earned insight that comes from surviving one of the most widely known miscarriages of justice in modern history – a journey through shock, shame, and ultimately, perspective and peace.From lying on a prison cell mattress to forging an unlikely friendship with Giuliano Mignini — the prosecutor who put her there — this is a deeply human conversation about identity, survival, and the immense strength it takes to reclaim your own story when the world has tried to write it for you.LinksThis podcast is brought to you by Crisis What Crisis? Productions and Coulson PartnersHost: Andy CoulsonCWC team: Jane Sankey, Hana Walker-Brown and Rex FisherWith special thanks to Ioana Barbu, Simeon Pearl and the brilliant people at GlobalFor all PR and guest approaches please contact – [email protected]