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I am delighted that for my 100th episode of Leading 4 Life "Stories" I am joined by my old friend Paul Beaver. Paul is a prolific author (his 80th book is about to be published!), an extremely knowledgeable historian and a seasoned broadcaster.

He has a passion for the military, and has been on the ground in some serious conflict zones both as an Army reservist and as a journalist so, unsurprisingly, we chat a good deal about geopolitics and the current challenges the world faces.

We also cover a great many leadership points, and Paul's incredibly multi-faceted career makes him ideal to provide some great thoughts on all aspects of leadership.

It was a real joy to talk to Paul at length and I really hope you enjoy this milestone episode - please do let me know what you think!

You can find Paul on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulbeaver/

Support the show

Thank you for listening! If you value the content I produce, please consider supporting the show financially by becoming a member at https://www.patreon.com/leading4life/ or clicking the "Support the Show" link above.

You will have the choice of becoming a Supporter, a Champion or a Patron of the show and any contribution you feel able to make will be hugely appreciated.

You can find more about me here:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/judsonbob/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/JudsonBob

Website: https://leading4life.co.uk/

I'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text Message

Way back in September 2023 (Episode 8), I published a thematic episode on personal resilience and self-care.

The world feels very different since that episode was published and so I thought it was time that I put out some more thoughts on resilience, but this time I thought it more appropriate to focus on national and societal resilience, especially given the increasingly challenging geopolitical situation the world is currently facing.

I always try to stay clear of political positions in my podcasts and this is no exception; however, I passionately believe that a much more robust debate on national security and national resilience is long overdue. Having cut my early career teeth in the last years of the Cold War, I am only too aware of the impact of the resultant "peace dividend" that affected many countries, particularly across Western Europe following the collapse of the Soviet Union.

In this episode I also highlight another podcast that has recently been published by Sky News. Entitled "The War Game", it is outstanding and I highly recommend that you listen to it. Not only does it have startling relevance to recent events across the globe, it also features role play in the "game" by a wide range of senior UK political, civilian and military figures who have themselves had very prominent roles within the UK Government or wider national security structure. It is not comfortable to listen to, but it is certainly important to listen to!

Our political leaders continue to "talk the talk" about national security but, understandably, they are also driven by the perceived priorities of their electorates and those same electorates (especially in the UK) are certainly not yet feeling any form of existential threat to their own borders and shores. I believe we need to change that narrative and that will require collective work from across the population. If you believe in the same priorities, I hope you will add your own voice to this critical issue.

I hope you enjoy the episode; please do let me know what you think.

Support the show

Thank you for listening! If you value the content I produce, please consider supporting the show financially by becoming a member at https://www.patreon.com/leading4life/ or clicking the "Support the Show" link above.

You will have the choice of becoming a Supporter, a Champion or a Patron of the show and any contribution you feel able to make will be hugely appreciated.

You can find more about me here:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/judsonbob/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/JudsonBob

Website: https://leading4life.co.uk/

I'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text Message

With my epic tour in command of Kandahar Airfield behind me, my next posting took me back to the Ministry of Defence in London to be the Head of Targeting and Information Operations.

In many respects this was an amazing job and a great tour, albeit that much of it cannot be discussed on this podcast because the majority of the actual work was highly classified. However, it wasn't the work environment that defined this chapter of my life. It was the personal challenges that dominated and the handling of which I still reflect on to this day!

In this episode I try to shed some light on those challenges and offer some advice and thoughts about how you might respond in similar circumstances. This is definitely one occasion when that advice is mostly focused on "don't do what I did" and I very much hope you find it useful.

Support the show

Thank you for listening! If you value the content I produce, please consider supporting the show financially by becoming a member at https://www.patreon.com/leading4life/ or clicking the "Support the Show" link above.

You will have the choice of becoming a Supporter, a Champion or a Patron of the show and any contribution you feel able to make will be hugely appreciated.

You can find more about me here:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/judsonbob/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/JudsonBob

Website: https://leading4life.co.uk/