The Being Thinking Doing Podcast by Matthew Brown

Matthew Brown
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Leaders don’t have a productivity problem; they have a friction problem. Host Matthew Brown talks with world-class leaders to dismantle the myth of “doing more.” In a world obsessed with output and "busyness," this podcast focuses on the mechanics of high-performance teams. We don't talk about hacks or apps; we talk about the state of Being (leadership culture), Thinking (strategic clarity), and Doing (precision in execution). If you want to stop being the bottleneck and start building a team that operates with total autonomy, this is your manual.

Episodes

  1. 6d ago

    The Vesuvius Effect: Why We Ignore Slow-Moving Disasters - D'Maris Coffman

    What does it take to lead a major institution when you can't mandate anything? And why have we known the climate science for 45 years yet still struggle to act?In this episode, Matthew Brown sits down with Professor D'Maris Coffman — Vice Dean at UCL and former Head of the Bartlett School of Sustainable Construction — for a conversation that spans desegregating Virginia's schools, the US Navy's geothermal programme, cognitive biases in infrastructure decisions, and why the Romans ignored Vesuvius.D'Maris shares her remarkable family story: a great-uncle tasked by Eisenhower with desegregating Virginia's schools, a father who ran the Navy's geothermal development office, and how an ethic of service across generations shaped her journey from American scholar to British institutional leader.In this conversation:🔹 BEING — Identity, service and privilege: the journey from individual scholar to institutional leader, caring for a dying parent from across an ocean, and why the example you set matters more than the policies you write🔹 THINKING — Cognitive biases in action: normalcy bias and why the Romans stayed near Vesuvius, herding behaviour and bank runs, hyperbolic discounting, and what it actually takes to shift public opinion on climate change🔹 DOING — Innovation at UCL: building ecosystems beyond Silicon Valley clichés, evaluating social impact in major infrastructure, why gigaprojects like Neom distort global markets, and the survivorship bias behind the "great Victorian engineers"Key moments:00:00 – Introduction07:51 – From Virginia to Moab: a family history of service12:39 – Service as a force multiplier in leadership18:10 – Caring for elderly parents from a distance20:19 – Modelling values for the next generation25:06 – Leading by influence when you can't mandate27:34 – Cognitive biases: normalcy bias, herding, and Vesuvius32:16 – How catastrophes shift public opinion: the New Deal and the Eisenhower highways38:09 – Disinformation, state actors and the modern public sphere45:49 – Innovation at UCL: from pharma to social impact53:33 – Lessons from building innovation ecosystems58:10 – Long time horizons: St Paul's, HS2 and survivorship bias01:02:11 – A message to her 20-year-old selfAbout D'Maris Coffman:Professor D'Maris Coffman is Vice Dean at UCL and Professor of Economics and Finance of the Built Environment at the Bartlett. An economic historian by training, she previously led the Bartlett School of Sustainable Construction and now works on innovation, enterprise, and infrastructure finance. She was recently a co-author on a Nature paper on energy transitions.Connect with D'Maris on LinkedIn or via email — as she says, there's probably only one D'Maris Coffman in the world.🎙️ Subscribe for more conversations on Being, Thinking and Doing#Leadership #ClimateChange #CognitiveBias #Innovation #UCL #Infrastructure #DecisionMaking #BeingThinkingDoing

    57 min

  2. Jun 29

    Decision Under Fire: Military Lessons for the Modern Boardroom - Tom Burnet

    How do you make the right call when the information is incomplete, the stakes are high, and everyone in the room is waiting on you?In this episode of The Being Thinking Doing Podcast, Matthew Brown sits down with Tom Burnet — commissioned as an army officer at just 17 before going on to lead businesses as a CEO and serial chairman — to unpack the leadership and decision-making lessons that carry straight from the battlefield to the modern boardroom.From Sandhurst and the Black Watch to the chair's seat of multi-billion-pound companies, Tom has spent four decades learning how to lead under pressure. He and Matthew explore what it really takes to move from command to influence, why the best leaders "serve to lead," how to think clearly when the data is imperfect, and why indecision — what one CEO memorably called "swirl" — quietly destroys more value than any bad decision ever could. It's a candid, story-rich conversation on stress, risk, ego, trust, and the hard conversations every leader eventually has to have.In this episode:Why moving from CEO to chairman means unlearning the instinct to command — and learning to influenceThe "Serve to Lead" philosophy from Sandhurst, and why it still holds 40 years onHow an aggressive cancer diagnosis in his late 20s reshaped his appetite for riskReading risk and opportunity as two sides of the same coinWhen to double down on conviction vs. when to "drown the puppies" and walk away"Swirl": how a lack of decisions silently drains a business — and how to kill itMaking the best possible call with an imperfect data set, and being at peace with itBalancing shareholders, staff and customers — and the art of the "least worst decision"The hardest conversation any chair has to have: "you're in the wrong job"Why founders inspire fierce loyalty, and the painful cost of scaling past your earliest peopleTrust as the foundation of every high-performing teamAbout Tom Burnet:Tom Burnet is a former British Army officer turned business leader. Commissioned at 17 and a veteran of Sandhurst and the Black Watch, he has spent his civilian career as a Chief Executive and serial Chairman of high-growth companies, now working as a portfolio chair and non-executive director coaching founders and leadership teams to scale and internationalise.About the show:The Being Thinking Doing Podcast with Matthew Brown explores how leaders show up (being), how they reason and recognise patterns (thinking), and how they make an impact in the world (doing).Subscribe for more conversations with exceptional leaders, thinkers and operators. If you found this valuable, leave a like and tell us your biggest takeaway in the comments.#Leadership #DecisionMaking #BeingThinkingDoing #MilitaryLeadership #Boardroom #BusinessStrategy #ServantLeadership #FounderCoaching #LeadershipPodcast #Podcast

    1h 2m

  3. May 13

    Do the things we do actually make a difference in the world? - Steven Chapman #BTDPodcast

    The Hidden Truths of Billions in Social Impact: Measurement, Myths, & Microfinance | Being Thinking Doing with Steve ChapmanIn this episode of the Being Thinking Doing podcast, host Matthew Brown sits down with Steve Chapman, a self-styled senior monitoring and evaluation strategist. With a career spanning nearly 40 years, Steve has tracked the real-world impact of massive global health and social programs. From uncovering the demand curve for condom distribution in 1989 to working with the Global Fund to distribute billions for infectious diseases, Steve reveals what truly works—and what doesn't. Structured around the podcast's core themes of Being (how you show up), Thinking (how you make decisions), and Doing (achieving impact), this conversation is a masterclass in navigating data, human bias, and complex problem-solving.KEY TAKEAWAYS & HIGHLIGHTS- The Microfinance Myth: Discover why the heavily funded, Nobel Prize-winning microfinance boom of the 1980s was proven by MIT researchers to be largely ineffective at alleviating poverty, and in some cases, actively harmful. - Navigating Uncertainty: Learn how to utilize the "known knowns, known unknowns, and unknown unknowns" framework to make sound decisions without having all the data.- The Power of Feedback Loops: Hear how historical examples, like John Snow mapping the 1850 cholera outbreak, mirror modern low-cost feedback systems like the smiley-face buttons at Heathrow Airport.- The Danger of Bad Metrics: Understand the unintended consequences of measurement, including how reporting massive monthly impact scores can accidentally disincentivize innovation.- Communicating Complexity: Why the best technical experts act as teachers, start with their conclusions, and use powerful analogies (like calling sharks the "lions and tigers of the sea") to bypass human bias. - Career Advice: Why joining a growing organization with a leader who is comfortable hearing the truth (even when it reduces their power) is the best move you can make. EPISODE CHAPTERS00:00 - Introduction: Defining the real role of Monitoring & Evaluation02:12 - Working with the Global Fund & Distributing $6 Billion04:55 - The 1989 Condom Spreadsheet that Launched a Career11:27 - Operating in Uncertainty: Rumsfeld’s Knowns & Unknowns15:22 - The "Impatient Optimist" & Viewing Real Global Progress19:58 - The Microfinance Illusion: When Good Stories Trump Evidence28:29 - The Power and Limits of Measurement: From Cholera to Heathrow38:46 - Lead vs. Lag Measures and Unintended Consequences49:28 - How to Communicate Complex Data Effectively1:01:03 - Finding Mental Clarity on Epic Road Trips1:03:52 - Final Thoughts: Finding the Right Leaders & Organizations---------------------------------------------------(Note: If you plan to visit the John Snow pub on Broadwick Street in Soho, be warned—they do not serve London Pride!)

    1h 8m

  4. Apr 8

    The 3Ms That Create Misery (And the 3Es That Create Excellence) - Mark Bishop

    Are you micromanaging your team into misery? After 40 years leading elite institutions worldwide, Mark Bishop reveals the difference between a toxic culture and a high-performing one. In this episode of the Being Thinking Doing podcast, Matthew Brown sits down with Mark Bishop (former Headmaster and current Chair of Governors at Charterhouse) to extract battle-tested leadership lessons that apply whether you're running a school or a corporate powerhouse. We bypass the textbook theory and dive into the messy reality of being a leader. Mark opens up about how to navigate tragic crises, why the "3 E's" will save your team from burnout, and the three critical tasks that a leader must never delegate. If you want to feel great, think straight, and deliver your best work, hit play. ⏳ Chapters & Timestamps: 00:00 - Intro: 40 Years of Leadership in 10 Seconds 01:50 - Leading Through Tragedy: How to Handle a Real Crisis 09:27 - The 4:30 AM Email: Are You Creating a Toxic Culture? 11:03 - The 3 M's vs. The 3 E's: Why Your Team is Miserable 16:32 - The Shift from Executive to Board Member 20:56 - Swimming in Data: How to Make Decisions That Actually Matter 28:53 - The Hardest Choice: Balancing Compassion vs. The Rules 38:04 - The ONLY 3 Things a Leader Should Never Delegate 47:55 - Strategy Fails: Why Having 15 Goals Means You Have 0 Goals 👇 Join the Conversation: What is the one leadership task you refuse to delegate? Let us know in the comments! 🔔 Don't forget to SUBSCRIBE for more deep dives into the minds of the most interesting people on the planet. #Leadership #Management #BeingThinkingDoing #MarkBishop #CompanyCulture #LeadershipDevelopment #Podcast

    51 min
  • 4 Episodes

About

Leaders don’t have a productivity problem; they have a friction problem. Host Matthew Brown talks with world-class leaders to dismantle the myth of “doing more.” In a world obsessed with output and "busyness," this podcast focuses on the mechanics of high-performance teams. We don't talk about hacks or apps; we talk about the state of Being (leadership culture), Thinking (strategic clarity), and Doing (precision in execution). If you want to stop being the bottleneck and start building a team that operates with total autonomy, this is your manual.

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