People Soup

Ross McIntosh
  • 5.0 (11)
  • Management
  • Updated Weekly

Grounded in behavioural science, with practical ideas you can actually use. The name People Soup comes from a quote by Abraham Maslow: "A first-rate soup is more creative than a second-rate painting." I've always loved that idea because creativity isn't confined to art. It shows up in how we live, work, lead and relate to one another. Work often feels like a soup: a rich, sometimes bewildering mix of people, personalities, decisions, pressures, relationships and unexpected challenges. Every day we're trying to make sense of the ingredients in front of us. Behavioural science doesn't make work simple, but it does give us better ways of responding to complexity. It offers practical ideas, evidence-based tools and skills that help us respond more effectively—to ourselves, to other people and to the situations we face. That's what People Soup is all about. Whether it's a conversation with a guest or a short solo episode, People Soup explores how behavioural science—and particularly Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)—can help us lead and work with greater intention, developing the psychological flexibility and practical wisdom to navigate whatever life throws our way.

  1. 1d ago

    Quick Spoon: Can people be honest with you?

    Can people be honest with you when things aren't going well? In this Quick Spoon, Dr Ryan Kemp reflects on why honest conversations about addiction depend on having an established, trusting relationship. He makes a point that applies just as much to managers as it does to professionals working with people experiencing addiction. If a relationship is built around fear and compliance, how likely is someone to admit that they're struggling? And this isn't about lowering expectations or avoiding difficult conversations. It's about creating the conditions in which people can speak honestly, even when the subject is uncomfortable. So here's something to try. Think about someone you manage or work with and ask yourself: Am I creating a relationship with this person where they'll share the difficult stuff with me? And what small step could I take in that direction? A short reflection on trust, honest conversations and the relationships we build at work. This Quick Spoon comes from my conversation with Dr Ryan Kemp, clinical psychologist, addiction specialist and author of Transcending Addiction. Listen to the full People Soup conversation: The culture of now: Ryan Kemp on addiction, work and what we reward. People Soup: Real conversations about work, leadership, and being human — grounded in behavioural science, with practical ideas you can actually use. If this episode resonated with you, please consider following People Soup, leaving a rating or review, or sharing it with someone who might find it useful. Every recommendation helps more people discover practical, evidence-based conversations about work, leadership and being human. Listen to the first part of my conversation with RyanTranscending Addiction by Ryan KempConnect with Ryan on LinkedIn Here's the People Soup Website. And you can subscribe to the People Soup YouTube Channel here. Visit Ross' Website. Connect with Ross on LinkedIn People Soup on Instagram which also features plenty of Ross' photos of the Andalusian life.

    Quick Spoon: Can people be honest with you?

  2. 4d ago

    Quick Spoon: What are we rewarding?

    At work, are we always rewarding what really matters? In this Quick Spoon, Dr Ryan Kemp talks about the different forms of reward we experience at work, pay, bonuses, praise, recognition and positive feedback and asks what happens when we derive that pleasure too quickly. It got me thinking about the pull of the quick win: getting something done, receiving the praise, solving the immediate problem or choosing the option that gives us the quickest sense of satisfaction. Sometimes that's exactly what we need. But sometimes the thing that feels most rewarding right now isn't necessarily the thing that matters most in the longer term. So here's the question: What is this moving me towards — and how might it matter in the long term? This Quick Spoon comes from my conversation with Dr Ryan Kemp about addiction, work, culture and the pull of the immediate. 🎧 Listen to the full conversation: The culture of now: Ryan Kemp on addiction, work and what we reward. People Soup: Real conversations about work, leadership, and being human — grounded in behavioural science, with practical ideas you can actually use. If this episode resonated with you, please consider following People Soup, leaving a rating or review, or sharing it with someone who might find it useful. Every recommendation helps more people discover practical, evidence-based conversations about work, leadership and being human. Transcending Addiction by Ryan KempConnect with Ryan on LinkedIn Here's the People Soup Website. And you can subscribe to the People Soup YouTube Channel here. Visit Ross' Website. Connect with Ross on LinkedIn People Soup on Instagram which also features plenty of Ross' photos of the Andalusian life.

    Quick Spoon: What are we rewarding?

  3. 6d ago

    The culture of now: Dr Ryan Kemp on addiction, work & what we reward

    What happens when the immediate becomes more important than the longer term? In Part One of my conversation with Dr Ryan Kemp, we explored how addiction can compress a person's experience of time — making the immediate reward feel much more compelling than what might matter further into the future. In this second part, we take that idea into the workplace and the wider culture around us. Ryan and I talk about the impact of addiction at work, the way drinking can become normalised, and how organisational cultures can reinforce short-term thinking and behaviour. We explore what happens when we're constantly rewarded for immediate results - quarterly numbers, annual targets, bonuses and quick wins - and what that might mean for relationships, psychological safety and the longer-term health of organisations. We also talk about something more practical: how can managers respond when someone is struggling with addiction without excusing harmful behaviour? For Ryan, the starting point is relationship. If a relationship is built around fear and compliance, people are unlikely to have honest conversations about difficult things. Compassion, vulnerability and trust create a different possibility. We finish by talking about values — and how reconnecting with what matters can help people move beyond the immediate and begin to see a longer-term direction again. People Soup: Real conversations about work, leadership, and being human — grounded in behavioural science, with practical ideas you can actually use. If this episode resonated with you, please consider following People Soup, leaving a rating or review, or sharing it with someone who might find it useful. Every recommendation helps more people discover practical, evidence-based conversations about work, leadership and being human. Listen to the first part of my conversation with RyanTranscending Addiction by Ryan KempConnect with Ryan on LinkedIn Here's the People Soup Website. And you can subscribe to the People Soup YouTube Channel here. Visit Ross' Website. Connect with Ross on LinkedIn People Soup on Instagram which also features plenty of Ross' photos of the Andalusian life.

    The culture of now: Dr Ryan Kemp on addiction, work & what we reward

  4. Oct 4

    Quick Spoon: What if seeking relief gets in the way of reflection?

    Sometimes the things we reach for to make ourselves feel better can also stop us from finding out what's really going on. In this Quick Spoon, I reflect on an observation from Dr Ryan Kemp about our culture's focus on the immediate — "now, do it, enjoy it, live for the moment." That got me thinking about what we do when we've had a difficult experience. We feel stressed, so we distract ourselves. We feel frustrated, so we vent. We feel uncomfortable, so we do something that takes the edge off. And sometimes that's exactly what we need. But what if the relief gets in the way of the reflection? What if we never quite get to ask: What is this experience trying to tell me? So here's something to try. The next time you find yourself looking for some immediate relief, give yourself a little space before you reach for it. What might I learn if I stayed with this for a little while? This Quick Spoon comes from my conversation with Dr Ryan Kemp about addiction. 🎧 Listen to the full conversation: When the Future Gets Smaller: Dr Ryan Kemp on Addiction People Soup: Real conversations about work, leadership, and being human — grounded in behavioural science, with practical ideas you can actually use. If this episode resonated with you, please consider following People Soup, leaving a rating or review, or sharing it with someone who might find it useful. Every recommendation helps more people discover practical, evidence-based conversations about work, leadership and being human. Transcending Addiction by Ryan KempConnect with Ryan on LinkedIn Here's the People Soup Website. And you can subscribe to the People Soup YouTube Channel here. Visit Ross' Website. Connect with Ross on LinkedIn People Soup on Instagram which also features plenty of Ross' photos of the Andalusian life.

    Quick Spoon: What if seeking relief gets in the way of reflection?

  5. Oct 1

    Quick Spoon: What else might be true?

    We all tell stories to make sense of our experiences. Your boss says something you don't like.Someone challenges you in a meeting.A colleague doesn't do what you expected. And almost immediately, we can have a story about what's going on: "They're being difficult." "They don't appreciate me." "They've got it in for me." In this Quick Spoon, Dr Ryan Kemp talks about how we can construct stories about other people when we've had a negative experience — and how it can sometimes take a little longer to consider our own part in what's happening. Sometimes our story might be absolutely right. But Ryan's observation made me think about the value of creating a little space before we settle on our explanation. Not to blame ourselves. To be curious. So here's your Quick Spoon: The next time you find yourself telling a very convincing story about someone else, pause and ask: What else might be true here? People Soup: Real conversations about work, leadership, and being human — grounded in behavioural science, with practical ideas you can actually use. If this episode resonated with you, please consider following People Soup, leaving a rating or review, or sharing it with someone who might find it useful. Every recommendation helps more people discover practical, evidence-based conversations about work, leadership and being human. Transcending Addiction by Ryan KempConnect with Ryan on LinkedIn Here's the People Soup Website. And you can subscribe to the People Soup YouTube Channel here. Visit Ross' Website. Connect with Ross on LinkedIn People Soup on Instagram which also features plenty of Ross' photos of the Andalusian life.

    Quick Spoon: What else might be true?

  6. Sep 29

    Quick Spoon: What are you trying not to feel?

    Sometimes, when something feels difficult, uncomfortable or overwhelming, our instinct is to make the feeling go away. We distract ourselves. We work. We scroll. We reach for something that changes how we feel. In this Quick Spoon, Dr Ryan Kemp talks about this in the context of addiction — and about what happens when we aren't willing to stay with an uncomfortable experience for long enough to understand it. I'm not suggesting that these everyday behaviours are necessarily addictions. But Ryan's perspective raises an interesting question for all of us: What am I trying not to feel? And perhaps, before we rush to make an uncomfortable feeling disappear, there might be something useful to notice. That's the idea behind this People Soup Quick Spoon. 🎧 This Quick Spoon comes from my conversation with Dr Ryan Kemp, When the Future Gets Smaller: Dr Ryan Kemp on Addiction. People Soup: Real conversations about work, leadership, and being human — grounded in behavioural science, with practical ideas you can actually use. If this episode resonated with you, please consider following People Soup, leaving a rating or review, or sharing it with someone who might find it useful. Every recommendation helps more people discover practical, evidence-based conversations about work, leadership and being human. Transcending Addiction by Ryan KempConnect with Ryan on LinkedIn Here's the People Soup Website. And you can subscribe to the People Soup YouTube Channel here. Visit Ross' Website. Connect with Ross on LinkedIn People Soup on Instagram which also features plenty of Ross' photos of the Andalusian life.

    Quick Spoon: What are you trying not to feel?

  7. Sep 27

    Quick Spoon: The path of least resistance

    What's driving the choices we make at work? In my conversation with Dr Ryan Kemp, we were talking about addiction and how a person's experience of time can become compressed around the immediate. Ryan described part of his therapeutic role as helping people with addictions to expand that time horizon — to consider not just the immediate consequences of their actions, but the medium- and longer-term implications. That got me thinking about something I see quite often in my own work: the path of least resistance. We avoid the difficult conversation. We put off the thing we know we need to do. We go for the quick win. We choose what's going to make today a little easier. And sometimes that's absolutely fine. But sometimes the short-term gain comes at the expense of something that matters more in the longer term. So here's your Quick Spoon: Am I choosing this because it's what matters, or because it's the easiest option right now? A small question that might just help you widen the time horizon before you act. 🎧 This Quick Spoon comes from my conversation with Dr Ryan Kemp, When the future gets smaller: Dr Ryan Kemp on addiction. People Soup: Real conversations about work, leadership, and being human — grounded in behavioural science, with practical ideas you can actually use. If this episode resonated with you, please consider following People Soup, leaving a rating or review, or sharing it with someone who might find it useful. Every recommendation helps more people discover practical, evidence-based conversations about work, leadership and being human. Transcending Addiction by Ryan KempConnect with Ryan on LinkedIn

    Quick Spoon: The path of least resistance

  8. Sep 24

    Quick Spoon: The pull of the immediate

    How often do we get pulled towards what's going to give us relief or reward right now? In this Quick Spoon, Dr Ryan Kemp describes how addiction can change someone's experience of time, so that the immediate becomes much more important than what might happen in the future. I'm not suggesting that ordinary human behaviour is the same as addiction. But Ryan's insight got me thinking about something we can all recognise: the difficult conversation we put off, the easier option we choose, or the short-term reward that gets in the way of something that matters more in the longer term. So here's the Quick Spoon: The next time you find yourself choosing the easiest or most rewarding option, pause and ask: What might matter here if I widened the time horizon a little?This Quick Spoon comes from my conversation with Dr Ryan Kemp about addiction. 🎧 Listen to the full conversation: When the future gets smaller: Dr Ryan Kemp on addiction People Soup: Real conversations about work, leadership, and being human — grounded in behavioural science, with practical ideas you can actually use. If this episode resonated with you, please consider following People Soup, leaving a rating or review, or sharing it with someone who might find it useful. Every recommendation helps more people discover practical, evidence-based conversations about work, leadership and being human. Transcending Addiction by Ryan KempConnect with Ryan on LinkedIn

    Quick Spoon: The pull of the immediate
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About

Grounded in behavioural science, with practical ideas you can actually use. The name People Soup comes from a quote by Abraham Maslow: "A first-rate soup is more creative than a second-rate painting." I've always loved that idea because creativity isn't confined to art. It shows up in how we live, work, lead and relate to one another. Work often feels like a soup: a rich, sometimes bewildering mix of people, personalities, decisions, pressures, relationships and unexpected challenges. Every day we're trying to make sense of the ingredients in front of us. Behavioural science doesn't make work simple, but it does give us better ways of responding to complexity. It offers practical ideas, evidence-based tools and skills that help us respond more effectively—to ourselves, to other people and to the situations we face. That's what People Soup is all about. Whether it's a conversation with a guest or a short solo episode, People Soup explores how behavioural science—and particularly Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)—can help us lead and work with greater intention, developing the psychological flexibility and practical wisdom to navigate whatever life throws our way.

Information

  • Creator
    Ross McIntosh
  • Years Active
    2018 - 2026
  • Episodes
    250
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Ross McIntosh. All rights reserved.
  • Show Website
    People Soup

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