The Not So Breakfast Show
Listen, laugh and learn as we share our latest thoughts about staying relevant, contemporary leadership and doing life right. Ish Cheyne is the Head of Fitness in New Zealand for global fitness juggernaut Les Mills. Sacha Coburn is the COO of Coffee Culture, a leading group of boutique coffee shops, and the co-founder of The Company You Keep.co.nz.
Episodes
Episode 246: Christmas Parties, Career-Limiting Moments & Season Seven Wrap-Up
Sacha's in her pyjamas in Raglan (it was Coffee Culture's "Oops, I'm at the Wrong Party" themed Christmas party a week ago, she's just still wearing them), while Ish is fresh off winning a dance-off at their ABBA vs Spice Girls costume showdown at music bingo. As they wrap season seven with 246 episodes, the...
Episode 245 - Hustle Culture: Is Working Harder Still Worth It?
Episode Summary
Ish wins the Exercise New Zealand Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Fitness Industry (and wasn't even there!), while Sacha hustles across the South Island. This leads to a deep conversation about hustle culture, rise and grind mentality, and whether working harder actually gets you ahead anymore.
Plus: AI end of the world c...
Midweek Mini - What's The One Thing For The Week?
Why One Thing? – You have 52 opportunities in a year to get one thing nailed each week. Clarity breeds genius.
Focus vs. Urgent – The one thing for the week isn't necessarily the most urgent thing—it's the meaningful longer-term thing that needs attention.
The Exercise – Dump everything that needs doing on paper, then identify the overarching focus that sum...
The Not So Breakfast Show - Bad Words & Breaking Points
Sometimes you reach the end. The absolute end. Sacha is moving house, dealing with impossible transactions, and has just discovered the movers left three massive items behind. Ish is surprisingly recharged from mini-breaks and witnessing his co-host process what happens when resilience runs out. This is a raw, real conversation about those moment...
MWM: Hope Is Not a Strategy
Every time you find yourself saying "I hope sales improve" or "I hope that changes," recognise that hope isn't a strategy - you're just gambling with other people's lives and your business outcomes. Join Ish and Sacha as they unpack this famous business school line (spoiler: Sacha didn't coin it, but she uses it brilliantly).
The Recognition Tool:
- E...
The Working Genius Model
Episode Overview
Ish has just been certified in the Working Genius model and is excited to share this powerful framework for understanding team dynamics, project workflows, and personal energy. In this episode, he unpacks the model live with Sacha, who's just received her results and is wrestling with what it means to not be naturally gifted at something. Spoiler: it's no...
The Core Question
What conversation has been sitting in the back of your mind, taking up mental bandwidth?
Why We Avoid Conversations
- Hoping it will just go away
- Fear of conflict or discomfort
- Lack of preparation
- Emotional reactivity
The Two Negative Outcomes of Delay
Option 1: Extended delay
- Physical effects: not sleeping, overthinking
- Builds up exhaustion
- When you finally have it, you're depleted
Is It Good? Is It Bad? It Just Is: Lessons in Resilience
Fresh off a 17-hour flight from New York and jetlagged beyond belief, Sacha joins Ish to talk about resilience, mental fortitude, and adapting when things go spectacularly wrong. This episode is raw, real, and packed with stories about handling crisis situations—from emergency room visits in New York to water landings in Fiji—and the lessons we can ...
MID WEEK MINI: Check the Question Before You Answer
Ever start talking and hope your brain catches up with your mouth? Yeah, we've all been there. Join Ish and Sacha as they share the power of the pause and the phrases that help you actually answer the question being asked (not the one you think you heard).
Key Phrases to Have Ready:
- "Before I answer, let me check - are you primarily interested in X or Y?&q...
MID WEEK MINI
Your team is doing amazing work - but does anyone else know about it? Join Ish and Sacha as they explore how to build your team's credibility beyond simply stating "we've been working on this" and actually spotlight the individual contributors doing the heavy lifting.
Key Takeaways:
- Move beyond collective "we" language - call out individuals by name
- Give credit even when tea...
Mid-Week Mini -The Power of Microfeedback
Stop saving up feedback for formal reviews and start creating momentum shifts in real-time. Join Ish and Sacha as they break down why waiting six months to give someone feedback is completely unfair and how those little "you've got something in your teeth" moments can transform your team's performance.
Key Takeaways:
- Give feedback immediately after session...
Episode 235 Show Notes
Ever wondered if you should start a podcast? Spoiler: you probably should. Join Ish and Sacha as they unpack why podcasting isn't just about creating content - it's about developing a critical set of skills, building your personal brand, and creating a living, breathing business card that works while you sleep. From the power of editing to the legacy you'll leave behind, this is yo...
In this episode, Ish and Sacha dive deep into the power of reflection for leadership and career growth. They explore why the skills that got you to where you are today may not be the ones that take you to the next level, and share practical exercises to help you identify and develop your superpowers.
Key Topics
- Why leaders need to maintain a growth mindset regardless of their level
- The danger of believing you'r...
Sacha's texting furiously about house purchases while declaring busyness isn't impressive ("it makes you stupid"), while Ish has prepared a leadership trivia quiz based on their own podcast transcripts because he's "a man of action." This leads into a conversation about the gap between good intentions and actual follow-through, featuring uncomfortable singing, breast cancer fundraise...
Sacha's drinking her Moody probiotic soda (unofficial sponsor, awaiting payment confirmation) while stress-managing through tomorrow's house auction, ready to burn all the styling company's cushions in a cleansing ritual. Ish has been executing decisions at breakneck speed this week, discovering both the benefits and the "oh shit, should've thought of that" consequences of moving fast. Pl...
Your Roman Empire (And Why Your Brain Won't Shut Up)
Sacha's wearing her new Temu t-shirt ("More Spaghetti Less Upsetting") after finally breaking her months-long resistance to fast fashion retail therapy, while Ish has discovered a new level of ChatGPT skills can solve tech support problems in minutes that actual support teams can't solve in days. This spirals into a conversation about mental ...
Episode 230: Stop Being So Shit (A Leadership Manifesto)
Recording at actual breakfast time for once, Sacha's successfully navigating life without peanut slabs through strategic fruit substitution and emergency dried fruit protocols. This leads into a conversation about whether we need more leaders or just more people willing to improve their performance and help each other out.
Maybe we don't need more leader...
Ish has discovered the joy of AI video creation, pumping out caveman presentation ads that make everyone laugh, while Sacha's fresh from speaking to the RV crowd about her bus childhood (finally an audience that gets it). This leads into expanding their coaching toolkit beyond their beloved "Not So Breakfast Show" model with five coaching styles that all conveniently start with E.
All good coaching outco...
Laptops, Notebooks, and the Art of Meeting Presence
Sacha's fully dressed this week (an achievement after last episode's Jedi robe situation), while Ish has been designing corporate off-sites and pondering the eternal question: what does your choice of meeting tech say about you? From notebooks to laptop barriers, this conversation dives into how showing up intentionally can transform your professional brand...
Sacha appears in full Jedi regalia (aka her dressing gown) because house staging has banished all her warm clothes to boxes in the attic, while fake dried flowers now populate her formerly book-filled shelves. From this perfectly timed example of "not feeling it" comes a conversation about practical strategies for showing up when motivation has completely abandoned ship.
Main Topics
- The Normalcy of Not Fee...