Uncommon Courage

Andrea T Edwards

Welcome to Uncommon Courage, the podcast, where we’ll be having the conversations we need to be having as members of the human collective. We are all being called upon to step up and lead – with kindness, big hearts and unshakable courage – because right now, we have an opportunity to redress what we got wrong in the past, as well as deal with the disruptions we face today, to create a better world for all. However, if we are completely truthful, the biggest challenge we face is believing we can do it – believing in our ability to create massive change. But everyone knows you can’t achieve anything significant without guts, determination, and of course, the courage to keep driving towards the goal, regardless of how hard the journey is! Uncommon Courage will feature global conversations determined to contribute to creating a better future for all life on earth. Ideas, solutions, arguments and laughs - it’ll all be part of the journey. It is time for that which is uncommon to become common.#UncommonCourage #AndreaTEdwards

  1. The Sh*t Show: what will this El Niño really deliver?

    5 days ago

    The Sh*t Show: what will this El Niño really deliver?

    Send us Fan Mail  El Niño warnings are in the news every day, with some declaring a super or even Godzilla event is coming, and then someone else will say it won’t be that bad, while others declare that even if it isn’t a record event, an El Niño landing on an already overheated planet (it was just announced we had the hottest May since 2024) is not good news, regardless. It’s confusing, isn’t it?  But the even bigger story, which is often reported separately, is there’s a double impact on our horizon, and this is where it becomes a polycrisis. We are moving into even hotter conditions at a time when infrastructure, energy systems, food systems, trade routes, and political systems are all under strain. It speaks to the essential truth that climate risk and geopolitical risk do not sit in separate boxes; they interact and compound. Yet the media keeps reporting it all separately, so how can we prepare if we do not know?  The war in Iran will have a profound impact on our food supply. Farmers are either not planting crops because they can’t afford fertilizer or are paying much higher costs, which means we – the consumer - will experience significantly higher food prices and inflation. However, with extreme temperatures and extreme weather events (like extreme flooding) coming, how much food will even make it to market? Just rice, which more than 50% of humanity relies on as a staple, doesn’t grow above 40°C, and we’ve seen months above that recently in Asia – where most of the world’s rice is grown! It’s getting serious.  We are very happy to welcome our very special guest, Jan Umsonst, the Earth System Nerd, and he’s promised he’ll join us this time! One of the great benefits of listening to Jan is he sees the whole system, starting with the ocean, and he educates on how the changes in our oceans ripple out and impact the world. He will provide an insight into what he is seeing developing right now, and what it means to us across the globe. Jan is an earth system consultant, and we encourage you to follow him on social media, as he is a great educator on the state of the planet, especially as someone with the systemic view, which is so critical right now.  Please do join us this Friday for a not to be missed show. We’ll be going live Friday, 12th June 2026, kicking off at 8am UK, 9am EU, 11am UAE, 12.30pm IN, 2pm TH, 3pm SG, 5pm AEST. Streaming across various locations, and no doubt about it, we’d love your support.  The Sh*t Show is a Livestream happening every Friday, where Andrea T Edwards, Dr. David Ko, Richard Busellato and Joe Augustin, as well as special guests, discuss the world’s most pressing issues across all angles of the polycrisis, working to make sense of the extremely challenging and complex times we are all going through, plus what we can do about it. Help us move the needle so we can change the name of the show to something more genteel when (or if) it is no longer a sh*t show.  #TheShitShow #UncommonCourage  You can find me Andrea T Edwards | The Digital Conversationalist and Welcome - Uncommon Courage - An Invitation.  My book Uncommon Courage, an invitation, is here https://mybook.to/UncommonCourage  My book 18 Steps to an All-Star LinkedIn Profile, is here https://mybook.to/18stepstoanallstar

    2h 19m
  2. The Sh*t Show: managing yourself and owning your BS

    5 Jun

    The Sh*t Show: managing yourself and owning your BS

    Send us Fan Mail The bombs started falling on Iran again this week, who retaliated by striking US bases in the Gulf. Israel attacks on Lebanon escalated, threatening UNESCO World Heritage sites, and then a ceasefire was announced, but will Hezbollah stop? Russia scaled up its attacks on Ukraine, with murmurs suggesting internal support in Russia is waning. And on the other side of the world, Pauline Hanson in Australia is moving up the electoral charts, leaving us wondering, really? That’s the direction Australia thinks is sensible right now?  Extreme heat events continue around the world, with India releasing estimates of excess deaths during heatwaves at 3,400 a day, and up to 30,000 over a five-day heatwave - and that’s just India. Weather professor Jeff Berardelli said the forecast strength of this El Niño is nothing short of astonishing, deserving a “Supercalifragilistic expialidocious!” rating. However, later that day, he shared another view with a different data set, suggesting it won’t be that catastrophic – we hope so! Meanwhile the results of 60 section 301 investigations are out (we’ll explain that), Trump wants to cancel the 250-year celebrations because most of the musicians pulled out, SpaceX’s IPO is coming, Europe is disentangling its tech reliance on the US, and that’s just a taste of what’s been happening this week.  Our theme this week is managing yourself and owning your BS, which we think is a pretty important skillset right now, so we are delighted to welcome the Titanium Hipster herself, Cindy Tien. Cindy is a professional speaker on EQ for influence, an executive coach, Certified Speaking Professional (CSP) and she recently launched her new book – InSide, Break Through Your BS to Influence Yourself. We’re going to learn why she decided it was time to write her book, her journey of facing up to her own BS, and we’ll also learn the most underrated skill we all need so we can manage ourselves. We are excited to learn from Cindy.  Please do join us this Friday, as we all prepare to face our own BS, as well as getting an update on the most important news happening in the world. We’ll be going live Friday, 5th June 2026, kicking off at 8am UK, 9am EU, 11am UAE, 12.30pm IN, 2pm TH, 3pm SG, 5pm AEST. Streaming across various locations, and no doubt about it, we’d love your support.  The Sh*t Show is a Livestream happening every Friday, where Andrea T Edwards, Dr. David Ko, Richard Busellato and Joe Augustin, as well as special guests, discuss the world’s most pressing issues across all angles of the polycrisis, working to make sense of the extremely challenging and complex times we are all going through, plus what we can do about it. Help us move the needle so we can change the name of the show to something more genteel when (or if) it is no longer a sh*t show.  #TheShitShow #UncommonCourage  You can find me Andrea T Edwards | The Digital Conversationalist and Welcome - Uncommon Courage - An Invitation.  My book Uncommon Courage, an invitation, is here https://mybook.to/UncommonCourage  My book 18 Steps to an All-Star LinkedIn Profile, is here https://mybook.to/18stepstoanallstar

    2h 12m
  3. The Sh*t Show: an honest conversation with a humanitarian

    29 May

    The Sh*t Show: an honest conversation with a humanitarian

    Send us Fan Mail Pope Leo’s Magnifica Humanitas encyclical was released this week, with AI taking centre stage, but it wasn’t just this document that discussed AI, in the US - due to protests against AI, mainly datacentres - ‘Anti-Tech Extremism’ is now a target for law enforcement, and of course, the bombs started to fall again on Iran. In case you’ve been living under a rock, Europe’s heatwave took centre stage in the world’s news, which unleashed climate deniers across social media, meanwhile - not gaining anywhere near the level of attention - India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Vietnam and beyond, are seeing extreme wet bulb temperatures creeping towards 50°C, with grids straining to keep citizens cool, especially during an energy crisis.  We saw the first Enhanced Games break one record (just), the backlash against Ferrari’s first EV, Alberta has decided to move ahead with plans for independence from Canada, more than 90 people died in a coal mine explosion in China, and at least 500 children have died of measles in Bangladesh. In Saudi Arabia, the Hajj goes ahead with extreme heat a massive risk, apparently 1.2 billion people are living with mental disorders globally, scientists are screaming the alarm as Thwaites (aka the Doomsday Glacier) is facing imminent collapse, and of course, Ebola is raging and experts are becoming increasingly concerned. It’s been a big week!  Our theme this week is looking into what it’s like working as a humanitarian today, as the multiple crisis pile up, the funding shrinks, and extreme weather events ripple across the world. We will discuss the state of the humanitarian field today, the biggest concerns, the reality of funding cuts on the ground, the Ebola situation as its unfolding, preparation (or not) for the forthcoming Super El Niño, and how you can work in this field and keep your faith in extremely challenging times.  To help us understand the state of the humanitarian field, we are delighted to welcome Nicola Upham, who is director of humanitarian strategy and delivery for Save the Children, but she is not speaking on behalf of Save the Children, she is speaking as a leader in the field. Nicola has been working for humanitarian organizations for nearly two decades, and prior to this worked in recruitment and even had a stint at Coca-Cola in sales. She’s seen it all across her career, and we’re so grateful for the opportunity for a birds-eye-view into the humanitarian profession, from a person doing the hard work supporting the most vulnerable.  Please do join us for this unique opportunity, especially as Nicola is really busy right now, dealing with the world’s crisis. It’s all happening this Friday, 29th May 2026, and the livestream kicks off at 8am UK, 9am EU, 11am UAE, 12.30pm IN, 2pm TH, 3pm SG, 5pm AEST. Streaming across various locations, and no doubt about it, we’d love your support.  The Sh*t Show is a Livestream happening every Friday, where Andrea T Edwards, Dr. David Ko, Richard Busellato and Joe Augustin, as well as special guests, discuss the world’s most pressing issues across all angles of the polycrisis, working to make sense of the extremely challenging and complex times we are all going through, plus what we can do about it. Help us move the needle so we can change the name of the show to something more genteel when (or if) it is no longer a sh*t show.  #TheShitShow #UncommonCourage  You can find me Andrea T Edwards | The Digital Conversationalist and Welcome - Uncommon Courage - An Invitation.  My book Uncommon Courage, an invitation, is here https://mybook.to/UncommonCourage  My book 18 Steps to an All-Star LinkedIn Profile, is here https://mybook.to/18stepstoanallstar

    2h 16m
  4. The Sh*t Show: DEI in a post-woke world

    22 May

    The Sh*t Show: DEI in a post-woke world

    Send us Fan Mail We went from Hantavirus to the Ebola virus this week, with the rare Bundibugyo strain unleashed in Africa. The WHO have declared a global health emergency, as the scale and speed of its emergence alarms experts. Meanwhile, the details of the US/China visit are emerging, while Trump returned to a country in chaos with shocking poll numbers and escalating inflation, Taiwan reaffirms its independence, and Iran was threatened (again) by Trump and then it was called off (again), as well as other shenanigans coming out of the Whitehouse. No doubt, the global economy continues to be erratic, and, as a side note, if you’re thinking of ballmaxxing, you might want to think again.  On the other end of the world, scientists are alarmed as the Thwaites Glacier (aka the Doomsday Glacier) starts to break apart rapidly, the WHO is being asked to call the climate crisis a global health emergency, Greenland ice melt has surged sixfold and scientists are alarmed, the insect apocalypse has been linked to malnutrition and stunting in Nepal, there are 170 trillion (at a minimum) pieces of plastic in the world’s oceans, and our rivers are becoming depleted of oxygen. Yeah, a lot going on here.  To help us dig into our theme of DEI in a post-woke world, we are so happy to welcome Zsuzsanna Tungli Ph.D. Zsuzsanna has been a force in global leadership development for more than three decades, and she focuses on developing and utilising cross-cultural competence for a more harmonious and effective world, accelerating the journey towards gender equality and supporting organisations to develop (even) more inclusive and responsible leaders and individuals. Author of The Culture Key, and managing partner of Developing Global Leaders Asia, it’s hard to find someone more at the leading edge - and impacted by - the global setback on DEI in the business world.  So come and join us as we step back and look at where we’re headed from an economic perspective, this Friday, 22nd May 2026. The livestream kicks off at 8am UK, 9am EU, 11am UAE, 12.30pm IN, 2pm TH, 3pm SG, 5pm AEST. Streaming across various locations, and no doubt about it, we’d love your support.  The Sh*t Show is a Livestream happening every Friday, where Andrea T Edwards, Dr. David Ko, Richard Busellato and Joe Augustin, as well as special guests, discuss the world’s most pressing issues across all angles of the polycrisis, working to make sense of the extremely challenging and complex times we are all going through, plus what we can do about it. Help us move the needle so we can change the name of the show to something more genteel when (or if) it is no longer a sh*t show.  #TheShitShow #UncommonCourage You can find me Andrea T Edwards | The Digital Conversationalist and Welcome - Uncommon Courage - An Invitation.  My book Uncommon Courage, an invitation, is here https://mybook.to/UncommonCourage  My book 18 Steps to an All-Star LinkedIn Profile, is here https://mybook.to/18stepstoanallstar

    2h 20m
  5. The Sh*t Show: the global economy is roiling

    15 May

    The Sh*t Show: the global economy is roiling

    Send us Fan Mail Presidents’ Xi and Trump are meeting in China right now, with experts predicting it will shape relations between the two great nations for at least the next decade. Meanwhile, the Strait of Hormuz remains in a stalemate, gunshots were heard in the Philippines Senate as a senator wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) sought refuge, Sir Keir Starmer continues to fight for his life, with the question being asked – is the media responsible? and there’s a new term – the sad wives of AI.  In the meantime, our seas are rising rapidly with scientists struggling to understand why, META thinks users should be responsible for behaviour when it comes to its smart glasses, Trump abandons his Gold Coast Tower ambitions because the Trump brand is toxic in Australia, popularity polls in the US are showing Trump falling off a cliff at home as consumer prices skyrocket, and datacentres are draining water and cutting off energy in regions around the world.  The backdrop to all of this is the global economy. It’s roiling in every direction, with doom and gloom the dominant narrative right now, with more experts finally talking about the cumulative impacts of both the war in Iran, and the forthcoming El Niño, which is expected to amplify the current crisis over the longer term. That doesn’t sound good, so how do we make sense of it?  This week we are delighted to welcome Marco Jean Aboav, PhD, to help us understand where we are and what’s happening. Marco has spent more than 15 years in research, portfolio management, and building fintech infrastructure for public capital markets. He is the co-founder of Etna Research, an AI lab for financial services, who help institutional clients and asset owners in their quest for performance on long-only and absolute return mandates across equity, macro and crypto. He’s also VP and community builder for PugliaTechs - a nonprofit organization working to transform Puglia into a global tech hub, has worked as an external Fintech/AI advisor on the AWS Loft program, was a senior fellow at the Aspen Institute, and a whole lot more.  So come and join us as we step back and look at where we’re headed from an economic perspective, this Friday, 15th May 2026. The livestream kicks off at 8am UK, 9am EU, 11am UAE, 12.30pm IN, 2pm TH, 3pm SG, 5pm AEST. Streaming across various locations, and no doubt about it, we’d love your support.  The Sh*t Show is a Livestream happening every Friday, where Andrea T Edwards, Dr. David Ko, Richard Busellato and Joe Augustin, as well as special guests, discuss the world’s most pressing issues across all angles of the polycrisis, working to make sense of the extremely challenging and complex times we are all going through, plus what we can do about it. Help us move the needle so we can change the name of the show to something more genteel when (or if) it is no longer a sh*t show.  #TheShitShow #UncommonCourage  You can find me Andrea T Edwards | The Digital Conversationalist and Welcome - Uncommon Courage - An Invitation.  My book Uncommon Courage, an invitation, is here https://mybook.to/UncommonCourage  My book 18 Steps to an All-Star LinkedIn Profile, is here https://mybook.to/18stepstoanallstar

    2h 18m
  6. The Sh*t Show: the state of the insurance industry

    8 May

    The Sh*t Show: the state of the insurance industry

    Send us Fan Mail We’ve all learned about the Hantavirus this week, with a cruise ship struck and at least three people dead, harkening back to the days of the pandemic. War is still up in the air, with the possibility of peace in Iran, although it’s hard to know if you’re only following President Trump’s Truth Social posts. Can someone take his phone off him? Meanwhile, the stock markets are up and down, with energy and food experts screaming disaster is on the doorstep, but you wouldn’t believe that if you only followed Wall Street, right? In Karachi, Pakistan, at least 10 people have died of heatstroke, while India continues to experience shocking temperatures, and finally, the great man, Sir David Attenborough turns 100 this week.  We’ll be discussing all of that and more, but first, we’re going to look at the state of the insurance industry and what the actuaries are saying. We’ll discuss this within the context of the Nine Planetary Boundaries, and assess the current state of the insurance sector, including how far until it collapses, why it will collapse, and what that means to all of us. Because if it does go down, the global economy is next, and well, that won’t be pretty.  It’s a big, wide discussion, and we are delighted to welcome Praveen Gupta to share his wisdom. Praveen started in insurance back in the late 70s with The New India Assurance Co, followed by CGU, Allianz, Bajaj Allianz General Insurance, and finished his illustrious career as Managing Director and CEO of Raheja QBE General Insurance Company. Today he is a blogger, writer and thinker, with articles regularly featured in Illuminem, and he is also an Advisory Board Member for Sanctuary Asia. Praveen has a terrific amount of experience, is a wonderful human being, and most importantly, he’s sitting in Mumbai, India, where he will give us a lived experience of living in one of the hottest cities on earth right now.  Come and join us as we step back and look at the state of the insurance industry, this Friday, 8th May 2026. The livestream kicks off at 8am UK, 9am EU, 11am UAE, 1.30pm IN, 2pm TH, 3pm SG, 5pm AEST. Streaming across various locations, and no doubt about it, we’d love your support.  The Sh*t Show is a Livestream happening every Friday, where Andrea T Edwards, Dr. David Ko, Richard Busellato and Joe Augustin, as well as special guests, discuss the world’s most pressing issues across all angles of the polycrisis, working to make sense of the extremely challenging and complex times we are all going through, plus what we can do about it. Help us move the needle so we can change the name of the show to something more genteel when (or if) it is no longer a sh*t show.  #TheShitShow #UncommonCourage  You can find me Andrea T Edwards | The Digital Conversationalist and Welcome - Uncommon Courage - An Invitation.  My book Uncommon Courage, an invitation, is here https://mybook.to/UncommonCourage  My book 18 Steps to an All-Star LinkedIn Profile, is here https://mybook.to/18stepstoanallstar

    2h 16m
  7. The Sh*t Show: the current state of our planet

    1 May

    The Sh*t Show: the current state of our planet

    Send us Fan Mail We are going to take a different approach this week and re-orient the conversation to the current state of our planet. Yes someone tried to assassinate the US President (and the conspiracy theories are flourishing), yes King Charles is trying to heal the “very special relationship” between the US and UK, yes the war with Iran is at a stalemate and economic impacts growing, along with having a new insurgency erupting in Mali, civilians continuing to be killed in Lebanon, Israel is facing EU anger for buying Ukrainian wheat from the Russians, and the UAE has left OPEC, but…  What is going on with our planet and is it more important than all the rest?  We’re hearing escalating concerns from the scientific community about the forthcoming El Niño (it’s either a Super or Godzilla at this point), AMOC is back in the news as a near-term threat, food shortages are expected to escalate from these changes immediately and long term (even if it’s not included with food insecurity/inflation impact from the Iranian war, so we can expect a double whammy) and the world’s oceans are experiencing record heat ALREADY. Where is this all taking us?  We have Oliver Gill (the water man) back with us as co-host this week as Joe can’t join us, however, unfortunately, Jan Umsonst, the Earth System Nerd, wasn’t able to join us. No problem - an excuse to get him back again soon - but we still covered a lot of topics, from the economic situation today to the state of the planet more broadly.  Come and join us as we step back and look at the state of the planet, this Friday, 1st May 2026. The livestream kicks off at 8am UK, 9am EU, 11am UAE, 2pm TH, 3pm SG, 5pm AEST. Streaming across various locations, and no doubt about it, we’d love your support.  The Sh*t Show is a Livestream happening every Friday, where Andrea T Edwards, Dr. David Ko, Richard Busellato and Joe Augustin, as well as special guests, discuss the world’s most pressing issues across all angles of the polycrisis, working to make sense of the extremely challenging and complex times we are all going through, plus what we can do about it. Help us move the needle so we can change the name of the show to something more genteel when (or if) it is no longer a sh*t show.  #TheShitShow #UncommonCourage  You can find me Andrea T Edwards | The Digital Conversationalist and Welcome - Uncommon Courage - An Invitation.  My book Uncommon Courage, an invitation, is here https://mybook.to/UncommonCourage  My book 18 Steps to an All-Star LinkedIn Profile, is here https://mybook.to/18stepstoanallstar

    2h 12m
  8. The Sh*t Show: can resilience be learned?

    24 Apr

    The Sh*t Show: can resilience be learned?

    Send us Fan Mail Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS) is a commonly used criticism towards anyone who doesn’t agree with Trump’s agenda, but looking at what he’s doing right now, should TDS be targeted at those still fully aligned with him? Because right now, Asia is suffering immensely due to the war in Iran, we’ve heard rumblings Trump was looking for the nuclear codes (unproven but not unbelievable), and the WSJ reported he had such a mighty tantrum he was locked out of his own war room.  Times are tense for everyone everywhere, and added to this are the escalating warnings of a Godzilla El Niño, we saw New Zealand hammered by extraordinary floods, the UK is in mayhem about Mandelson (again), the ‘Rape Academy’ made front page news, the Druzbha oil pipeline is open again for business, the 90 billion Euro aid package for Ukraine is back on track, the AI backlash is growing, and the Nerd Reich is openly telling the world their intentions, with Palantir publishing a 22-point manifesto.  Because everything is so incredibly intense, we wanted to bring in a special guest who can help us with the mental and emotional load, answering the question – can resilience be learned? Apparently, it can, and we are delighted to welcome Dr Jane Tuomola, a highly experienced executive and team coach who integrates her clinical psychology experience with her work as a coach. She believes that a deep understanding of psychology is key to meaningful behavioural change, finding purpose, and creating lasting impact. Originally from the UK, Jane began her career as a clinical psychologist before relocating to Asia, and today, she serves as a trainer, coaching supervisor, and mentor coach for three globally accredited coaching schools.  Come and join us as we disentangle the complexity of this time, and with Jane, develop our resilience muscles while we’re doing it. It’s all happening, this Friday, 24th April 2026, at 8am UK, 9am EU, 11am UAE, 2pm TH, 3pm SG, 5pm AEST. Streaming across various locations, and no doubt about it, we’d love your support.  The Sh*t Show is a Livestream happening every Friday, where Andrea T Edwards, Dr. David Ko, Richard Busellato and Joe Augustin, as well as special guests, discuss the world’s most pressing issues across all angles of the polycrisis, working to make sense of the extremely challenging and complex times we are all going through, plus what we can do about it. Help us move the needle so we can change the name of the show to something more genteel when (or if) it is no longer a sh*t show.  #TheShitShow #UncommonCourage  You can find me Andrea T Edwards | The Digital Conversationalist and Welcome - Uncommon Courage - An Invitation.  My book Uncommon Courage, an invitation, is here https://mybook.to/UncommonCourage  My book 18 Steps to an All-Star LinkedIn Profile, is here https://mybook.to/18stepstoanallstar

    2h 16m
5
out of 5
2 Ratings

About

Welcome to Uncommon Courage, the podcast, where we’ll be having the conversations we need to be having as members of the human collective. We are all being called upon to step up and lead – with kindness, big hearts and unshakable courage – because right now, we have an opportunity to redress what we got wrong in the past, as well as deal with the disruptions we face today, to create a better world for all. However, if we are completely truthful, the biggest challenge we face is believing we can do it – believing in our ability to create massive change. But everyone knows you can’t achieve anything significant without guts, determination, and of course, the courage to keep driving towards the goal, regardless of how hard the journey is! Uncommon Courage will feature global conversations determined to contribute to creating a better future for all life on earth. Ideas, solutions, arguments and laughs - it’ll all be part of the journey. It is time for that which is uncommon to become common.#UncommonCourage #AndreaTEdwards