An Evolving Man Podcast

Piers Cross
  • 4.9 (15)
  • Mental Health
  • Updated fortnightly

An Evolving Man Podcast explores leadership, emotional intelligence, trauma, healing and peak performance. Hosted by Piers Cross, the show features conversations with leading psychologists, psychiatrists, executive coaches, authors, researchers and high-performance leaders, alongside solo episodes on leadership, resilience, relationships and personal transformation. Drawing on the latest research in psychology, neuroscience, attachment, trauma and human performance, the podcast helps leaders develop greater self-awareness, emotional intelligence and the capacity to lead with clarity, compassion and courage. Whether you are a CEO, founder, entrepreneur or aspiring leader, each episode offers practical insights to help you thrive professionally while creating a more meaningful and connected life.

  1. 2 days ago

    Why Your Child’s Behaviour Isn’t the Problem | Geoff Owen | AEM #170

    What if difficult behaviour is not something to control—but something to understand? In Episode 170 of An Evolving Man Podcast, Piers Cross speaks with Geoff Owen, founder of Biologically Aligned Parenting and author of The Parenting Assumption. Geoff argues that children are born with innate needs for safety, certainty, connection and regulation. When those needs are not sufficiently met, behaviours we label as defiant, aggressive, withdrawn or difficult may emerge as adaptations. Rather than immediately asking, “How do I stop this behaviour?”, Jeff encourages parents to ask: “What is this behaviour telling me?” Piers and Geoff explore parental stress, nervous-system regulation, punishment and rewards, high-performing parents bringing workplace management strategies home, learning through observation, attachment, boarding school and the fight-flight-freeze-fawn responses children may develop. They also discuss a different vision of parenting: creating an environment in which children feel trusted, capable and secure enough to develop naturally. A thought-provoking conversation about parenting, attachment, emotional intelligence and our assumptions about children. Find Geoff: https://geoffreyowen.com/ Find Piers:  https://piers-cross.com --- Piers is an author and a men's transformational coach and therapist who works mainly with trauma, boarding school issues, addictions and relationship problems.  He also runs online men's groups for ex-boarders, retreats and a podcast called An Evolving Man.  He is also the author of How to Survive and Thrive in Challenging Times. To purchase Piers first book: https://www.amazon.co.uk/How-Survive-Thrive-Challenging-Times/dp/B088T5L251/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=piers+cross&qid=1609869608&sr=8-1  For more videos please visit: http://youtube.com/pierscross  For FB: https://www.facebook.com/pierscrosspublic  For Piers' website and a free training How To Find Peace In Everyday Life: https://www.piers-cross.com/community  Many blessings,  Piers Cross  http://piers-cross.com/

    Why Your Child’s Behaviour Isn’t the Problem | Geoff Owen | AEM #170

  2. 4 days ago

    End of Summer Anxiety & Boarding School Syndrome | Piers Cross

    Why can the end of summer bring unexpected anxiety, sadness or unease for former boarders? In this short episode of An Evolving Man Podcast, Piers Cross explores how late August and early September can unconsciously reconnect ex-boarders with the repeated childhood experience of leaving home and returning to boarding school. After weeks at home, children often had to prepare themselves to separate from family and “harden up” again for another term away. Decades later, seasonal changes, returning from holiday or going back to work can still activate those old emotional patterns. Piers shares a simple invitation: rather than immediately reacting, fixing or distracting yourself, pause and notice what is happening in your body. There may be anxiety, anger or grief underneath the surface. The work, he suggests, is not to judge those feelings but to parent ourselves with kindness, steadiness and compassion. A short reflection on boarding school syndrome, transitions, nervous system regulation, grief and self-parenting. Find out more:  https://piers-cross.com --- Piers is an author and a men's transformational coach and therapist who works mainly with trauma, boarding school issues, addictions and relationship problems.  He also runs online men's groups for ex-boarders, retreats and a podcast called An Evolving Man.  He is also the author of How to Survive and Thrive in Challenging Times. To purchase Piers first book: https://www.amazon.co.uk/How-Survive-Thrive-Challenging-Times/dp/B088T5L251/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=piers+cross&qid=1609869608&sr=8-1  For more videos please visit: http://youtube.com/pierscross  For FB: https://www.facebook.com/pierscrosspublic  For Piers' website and a free training How To Find Peace In Everyday Life: https://www.piers-cross.com/community  Many blessings,  Piers Cross  http://piers-cross.com/

  3. 21 Aug

    Why We Stay Stuck in Addiction | Alcohol, Trauma & Grief with Colleen Clifford | AEM #169

    What is the story beneath addictive behaviour? In Episode 169 of An Evolving Man Podcast, Piers Cross speaks with commercial fisherwoman, health coach, speaker and alcohol-free living advocate Colleen Clifford. Colleen spent more than three decades working in Alaska’s commercial fishing industry. Months at sea without alcohol made it easier for her to believe that her binge drinking was under control—even when episodes of drinking continued to create consequences in her life.  She also shares the devastating loss of her husband by suicide and the long process of grief, depression and healing that followed. Their conversation moves beyond alcohol itself to explore the beliefs and wounds underneath destructive behaviour. While writing her memoir, Colleen recognised that a traumatic experience at nineteen had left her carrying an unconscious belief that she was unlovable. She began to see how that story had influenced relationships, risk-taking, drinking and the fiercely independent persona she developed.  Piers and Colleen discuss trauma, emotional avoidance, shame, asking for help, hyper-independence and the parallels between institutional environments such as ships and boarding schools. They also explore Colleen’s 95/5 trap: when a behaviour appears manageable 95% of the time, it can be easy to dismiss the 5% in which things become chaotic or dangerous.  Colleen finishes with practical suggestions for anyone questioning their relationship with alcohol: take an honest inventory, identify your personal reason for change, find support and avoid becoming paralysed by the idea that you must make a decision “forever.”  A compassionate conversation about binge drinking, addiction, grief, suicide loss, trauma, shame and discovering the story beneath the behaviour. Content note: This episode includes discussion of suicide, alcohol misuse and traumatic loss. For UK listeners who need someone to talk to, Samaritans can be reached free on 116 123. Find Colleen:  https://lifebeyondthebinge.com Find Piers:  https://piers-cross.com --- Piers is an author and a men's transformational coach and therapist who works mainly with trauma, boarding school issues, addictions and relationship problems.  He also runs online men's groups for ex-boarders, retreats and a podcast called An Evolving Man.  He is also the author of How to Survive and Thrive in Challenging Times. To purchase Piers first book: https://www.amazon.co.uk/How-Survive-Thrive-Challenging-Times/dp/B088T5L251/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=piers+cross&qid=1609869608&sr=8-1  For more videos please visit: http://youtube.com/pierscross  For FB: https://www.facebook.com/pierscrosspublic  For Piers' website and a free training How To Find Peace In Everyday Life: https://www.piers-cross.com/community  Many blessings,  Piers Cross  http://piers-cross.com/

    Why We Stay Stuck in Addiction | Alcohol, Trauma & Grief with Colleen Clifford | AEM #169

  4. 19 Aug

    I Didn’t Like Boarding School — So Why Did I Send My Children? | Piers Cross

    Why would someone who had an unhappy or frightening experience at boarding school go on to send their own children there? In this episode of An Evolving Man Podcast, Piers Cross explores the psychology of intergenerational repetition and boarding school. Drawing on his own experience and material from Trauma, Abandonment & Privilege, James Blunt, Bear Grylls and Tina Brown, Piers examines the contradictions that can appear in former boarders’ stories: people may describe fear, bullying, loneliness or unhappiness and yet still conclude that boarding school “did them no harm.”  He explores several possible explanations, including denial, dissociation, class and family expectations, pressure to provide children with a supposedly superior education, and the difficulty of parenting children beyond the age at which you yourself were sent away.  Piers also considers the Jungian idea that what remains unconscious can become fate: unresolved childhood experiences may be repeated until they are recognised, accepted and changed.  A reflective episode about boarding school syndrome, intergenerational trauma, dissociation, parenting, emotional awareness and breaking inherited patterns. Find out more:  https://piers-cross.com --- Piers is an author and a men's transformational coach and therapist who works mainly with trauma, boarding school issues, addictions and relationship problems.  He also runs online men's groups for ex-boarders, retreats and a podcast called An Evolving Man.  He is also the author of How to Survive and Thrive in Challenging Times. To purchase Piers first book: https://www.amazon.co.uk/How-Survive-Thrive-Challenging-Times/dp/B088T5L251/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=piers+cross&qid=1609869608&sr=8-1  For more videos please visit: http://youtube.com/pierscross  For FB: https://www.facebook.com/pierscrosspublic  For Piers' website and a free training How To Find Peace In Everyday Life: https://www.piers-cross.com/community  Many blessings,  Piers Cross  http://piers-cross.com/

  5. 14 Aug

    How to Rebuild Focus in a Distracted World | George Molakal & Brian Throckmorton | AEM #168

    Can attention be trained like a muscle—and can technology help us recover the focus that technology itself is eroding? In Episode 168 of An Evolving Man Podcast, Piers Cross speaks with George Molakal, CEO and co-founder of MindSpring Innovation, and Brian Throckmorton, co-founder and board member. Their work began with personal experience. Both had watched their children struggle with focus, schoolwork and sustained attention. This led them to explore whether there could be another route alongside medication and conventional therapy. George and Brian discuss the different forms of attention, neuroplasticity, multitasking, cognitive overload, smartphones, social media and the growing challenge of digital distraction. They also explain how MindSpring combines cognitive games, individual assessments, AI-supported coaching, parental guidance and human oversight to help children and adults strengthen attention and self-regulation. Piers explores the relationship between attention difficulties, ADHD and childhood trauma, while the guests clarify where their own research and experience do—and do not—extend. The conversation also examines phone-free schools, stigma around therapy, workplace distraction and why strong attention is essential for leaders, doctors, educators, drivers and other professionals working under pressure. The episode concludes with practical suggestions for parents, including removing distractions, breaking overwhelming tasks into smaller steps and helping children practise sustained observation. A hopeful and thought-provoking conversation about reclaiming one of our most important human capacities. Free resources for parents Download the Free Parent Playbooks—no signup and no cost: https://attentivekids.com/playbooks Listeners of An Evolving Man Podcast can use the code PIERS50 at: https://www.attentivekids.com The programme is designed for children aged 4–14. --- Piers is an author and a men's transformational coach and therapist who works mainly with trauma, boarding school issues, addictions and relationship problems.  He also runs online men's groups for ex-boarders, retreats and a podcast called An Evolving Man.  He is also the author of How to Survive and Thrive in Challenging Times. To purchase Piers first book: https://www.amazon.co.uk/How-Survive-Thrive-Challenging-Times/dp/B088T5L251/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=piers+cross&qid=1609869608&sr=8-1  For more videos please visit: http://youtube.com/pierscross  For FB: https://www.facebook.com/pierscrosspublic  For Piers' website and a free training How To Find Peace In Everyday Life: https://www.piers-cross.com/community  Many blessings,  Piers Cross  http://piers-cross.com/

    How to Rebuild Focus in a Distracted World | George Molakal & Brian Throckmorton | AEM #168

  6. 12 Aug

    Why Change Feels So Uncomfortable After Boarding School | Piers Cross

    Why can transitions feel disproportionately difficult for former boarders? In this short episode of An Evolving Man Podcast, Piers Cross reflects on his own nervousness before leaving for a workshop and retreat—and explores how apparently ordinary transitions can activate much older emotional patterns. Drawing on the work of Nick Duffell and Thurstine Basset in Trauma, Abandonment & Privilege, Piers considers how leaving home repeatedly as a child can make later transitions—holidays, travel, moving, ending therapy or beginning something new—feel unexpectedly uncomfortable. He shares a simple somatic practice: pause, notice where the nervousness is held in the body, breathe and allow yourself to feel what is happening rather than letting fear become the hidden engine behind constant activity. Piers also explores another possibility: rather than labelling the sensation as anxiety, experiment with saying: “I’m excited.” For former boarders who learned not to become too emotionally “up” or too “down”, rediscovering excitement may itself be part of the healing process. A short reflection on boarding school syndrome, transitions, anxiety, nervous system regulation, somatic awareness and learning to experience change differently. Find out more about Piers Cross:  https://piers-cross.com 🎧 Subscribe to An Evolving Man Podcast for conversations about boarding school syndrome, trauma, emotional intelligence, healing, relationships and human potential. #BoardingSchoolSyndrome #BoardingSchool #TraumaHealing --- Piers is an author and a men's transformational coach and therapist who works mainly with trauma, boarding school issues, addictions and relationship problems.  He also runs online men's groups for ex-boarders, retreats and a podcast called An Evolving Man.  He is also the author of How to Survive and Thrive in Challenging Times. To purchase Piers first book: https://www.amazon.co.uk/How-Survive-Thrive-Challenging-Times/dp/B088T5L251/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=piers+cross&qid=1609869608&sr=8-1  For more videos please visit: http://youtube.com/pierscross  For FB: https://www.facebook.com/pierscrosspublic  For Piers' website and a free training How To Find Peace In Everyday Life: https://www.piers-cross.com/community  Many blessings,  Piers Cross  http://piers-cross.com/

  7. 7 Aug

    Attachment Wounds, Codependency and Rupture Repair | Nima Rahmany AEM #167

    In this episode of An Evolving Man Podcast, I speak with Nima Rahmany, nervous system and attachment specialist, transformational coach and founder of the Trigger Proof methodology. Nima works with high-achieving individuals, couples, parents and leaders to understand the deeper patterns behind reactivity, people-pleasing, trauma bonds, emotional shutdown and codependency. This is a powerful conversation about attachment wounds, nervous system regulation, rupture and repair, elegant boundaries, family dynamics, conscious parenting and what it really means to become “trigger-proof.” We explore: • Nima’s journey from chiropractic into trauma, attachment and nervous system work  • Why intelligent, successful people can still become reactive under pressure  • How childhood attachment wounds shape adult relationships  • Why codependency often begins as a search for safety  • The difference between co-regulation and codependency  • How rupture and repair create secure relationships  • Why unresolved resentment creates emotional and physical stress  • The importance of boundaries in family systems  • Protective boundaries and containment boundaries  • What elegant boundaries really mean  • How people-pleasing and self-abandonment keep us stuck  • Why conflict can become a doorway to deeper intimacy  • How to regulate, integrate and then communicate  • Why becoming trigger-proof is a lifelong path, not a quick fix This conversation is especially relevant for leaders, coaches, parents, partners and anyone who wants to break old cycles and build more secure, honest and compassionate relationships. Nima’s work:  https://becometriggerproof.com/  Attachment style assessment: https://go.drnima.com/lx67t  Piers Cross:  https://www.piers-cross.com/ Compassionate Leaders Global:  https://compassionateleadersglobal.com/ #AnEvolvingManPodcast #NimaRahmany #AttachmentWounds #TraumaBonds #Codependency #NervousSystemRegulation #CompassionateLeadership #EmotionalIntelligence --- Piers is an author and a men's transformational coach and therapist who works mainly with trauma, boarding school issues, addictions and relationship problems.  He also runs online men's groups for ex-boarders, retreats and a podcast called An Evolving Man.  He is also the author of How to Survive and Thrive in Challenging Times. To purchase Piers first book: https://www.amazon.co.uk/How-Survive-Thrive-Challenging-Times/dp/B088T5L251/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=piers+cross&qid=1609869608&sr=8-1  For more videos please visit: http://youtube.com/pierscross  For FB: https://www.facebook.com/pierscrosspublic  For Piers' website and a free training How To Find Peace In Everyday Life: https://www.piers-cross.com/community  Many blessings,  Piers Cross  http://piers-cross.com/

    Attachment Wounds, Codependency and Rupture Repair | Nima Rahmany AEM #167

  8. 5 Aug

    Why High Achieving Leaders Can’t Switch Off | Burnout, Rest and Leadership

    Why do so many successful leaders struggle to switch off? In this episode of An Evolving Man Podcast, I explore why high-achieving leaders often find it difficult to rest, sleep, stop working, put the phone down or be fully present with family. This is not simply a time management issue. For many leaders, the nervous system has learned to stay permanently “on”. Drawing on Jim Collins, Brad Stulberg, Steve Magness, Cal Newport, Kelly McGonigal, Emma Seppälä, Nick Duffell and Thurstine Bassett, I explore the psychology behind workaholism, burnout, boarding school conditioning and the importance of rest for real growth. We explore: • Why successful leaders struggle to switch off  • The difference between hard work and workaholism  • Why boarding school can train the nervous system to stay “always on”  • Nick Duffell and Thurstine Bassett’s idea of “timetabling”  • Why stress without rest leads to burnout  • Why stress plus rest equals growth  • Jim Collins on hard work versus compulsive overwork  • Why scrolling, emails and social media are not real rest  • Cal Newport’s “shutdown complete” practice  • How a twilight hour can improve sleep and recovery  • Why rest is not indulgence, but responsible leadership  • Simple practices to calm the nervous system and switch off If you are a founder, CEO, executive, coach or high achiever who finds it difficult to stop, this episode is an invitation to reframe rest as part of leadership. Not weakness. Not laziness. But essential. Piers Cross:  https://www.piers-cross.com/ Compassionate Leaders Global:  https://compassionateleadersglobal.com/ #AnEvolvingManPodcast #Leadership #Burnout #EmotionalIntelligence #CompassionateLeadership #HighPerformance #StressRecovery #BoardingSchoolSyndrome --- Piers is an author and a men's transformational coach and therapist who works mainly with trauma, boarding school issues, addictions and relationship problems.  He also runs online men's groups for ex-boarders, retreats and a podcast called An Evolving Man.  He is also the author of How to Survive and Thrive in Challenging Times. To purchase Piers first book: https://www.amazon.co.uk/How-Survive-Thrive-Challenging-Times/dp/B088T5L251/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=piers+cross&qid=1609869608&sr=8-1  For more videos please visit: http://youtube.com/pierscross  For FB: https://www.facebook.com/pierscrosspublic  For Piers' website and a free training How To Find Peace In Everyday Life: https://www.piers-cross.com/community  Many blessings,  Piers Cross  http://piers-cross.com/

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Ratings & Reviews

4.9
out of 5
15 Ratings

About

An Evolving Man Podcast explores leadership, emotional intelligence, trauma, healing and peak performance. Hosted by Piers Cross, the show features conversations with leading psychologists, psychiatrists, executive coaches, authors, researchers and high-performance leaders, alongside solo episodes on leadership, resilience, relationships and personal transformation. Drawing on the latest research in psychology, neuroscience, attachment, trauma and human performance, the podcast helps leaders develop greater self-awareness, emotional intelligence and the capacity to lead with clarity, compassion and courage. Whether you are a CEO, founder, entrepreneur or aspiring leader, each episode offers practical insights to help you thrive professionally while creating a more meaningful and connected life.

Information

  • Creator
    Piers Cross
  • Years Active
    2021 - 2026
  • Episodes
    327
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 An Evolving Man Podcast
  • Show Website
    An Evolving Man Podcast

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