In the chaos of scale, stopping can feel like failure.

Switching off feels indulgent. Rest feels like something you haven’t earned yet.

In this episode, we're challenging the hustle narrative head-on and making the case for something both simple and deeply uncomfortable: decompressing relentlessly.

Drawing from personal burnout, lived experience, and the reality of high-pressure scale-ups, Andy explores why exhaustion isn’t a badge of honour, why you can’t sprint a marathon, and why rest isn’t laziness — it’s maintenance.

This is an episode about permission. Permission to pause. Permission to protect your energy. Permission to play the long game on productivity.

Decompression isn’t what slows you down — it’s what keeps you going.

#LeadershipPodcast #ScaleUpLife #BurnoutRecovery

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Notifications. Banners. Pings. Recurring meetings.

All of it adding noise to an already clanging environment.

This episode of The Chaos of Scale, makes the case for canceling noise intentionally — not to work less, but to work better. To create space for focus, deep work, and just a little bit of breathing room in busy scale-ups where everything feels urgent and everyone needs something from you.

Andy shares why she declines recurring meetings, runs with zero notifications, and owns her own consumption — and why nothing has burned down as a result. We dig into fractured focus, the real cost of constant interruption, calendar clutter, and how low-quality work keeps looping back when we never give ourselves the space to go deep.

This is a practical, slightly renegade take on protecting focus, delivering higher-quality work faster, and reclaiming your sanity without dropping the ball.

You’ll leave with two simple experiments you can try immediately — one for your notifications and one for your calendar — and a challenge to pause for quality instead of reacting to noise.

Business growth is messy.

Your focus doesn’t have to be.

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Life inside a scale-up can feel like living inside a never-ending fire drill.

Every ping feels existential. Every email feels critical. Every request feels like it needed to be done yesterday.

But here’s the truth: when everything is urgent, nothing actually is.

This episode breaks down the chaos-inducing cycle of reactive urgency — and why building your urgency immunity is essential for staying sane, staying effective, and staying human at scale.

You’ll learn how to spot real urgency versus urgency caused by poor planning, panic, or projection… and how to step out of the adrenaline spin so you can respond with clarity instead of chaos.

One thing to think differently about: Urgency is contagious — but so is calm. Choose the one that helps you think.

Action to take: Pause before you react. Sit in that magical space between stimulus and response, assess what’s truly needed, and protect your energy from other people’s last-minute chaos.

Hosted by Andy Golding

⁠thechaosofscale.com⁠

#TheChaosOfScale #UrgencyImmunity #ScaleUpLife #LeadershipPodcast #PeopleAndCulture #HumanAtWork #BusinessGrowth #OrganizationalDevelopment #WorkplaceWellbeing #BurnoutPrevention #LeadershipDevelopment #AndyGolding #ProductivityAtScale #PauseForQuality

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As startups grow, a familiar tension creeps in: Are we building a family… or a team?

In this episode, we dive into one of the most romanticised — and misunderstood — ideas in company culture. The early-stage “family vibe” feels warm, loyal, scrappy, all-in. But as we scale, needs shift. Roles shift. Expectations shift. And the family analogy? It starts to crack.

This episode explores why high-performing sports teams — intentional, accountable, built for impact — offer a far healthier blueprint for scaling cultures. From “brilliant jerks,” to performance standards, to the art of good goodbyes, this episode brings clarity to a conversation most leaders tiptoe around.

One thing to think differently about:

You can love your people like family — but you need to run the business like a team.

Action to take: Pause for Quality. Look at your team through both lenses: family vs. sports team. Which mindset will actually take you where you’re heading next?

Hosted by Andy Golding

thechaosofscale.com

#TheChaosOfScale #LeadershipPodcast #ScaleUp #CompanyCulture #OrganizationalDevelopment #HumanAtWork #PeopleAndCulture #LeadershipDevelopment #StartupLife #CultureBuilding #BusinessGrowth #HighPerformingTeams #AccountabilityAtWork #AndyGolding

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In the whirlwind of a scaling business, it’s easy to default to “just get it done.” But fast doesn’t always mean effective — and done doesn’t always mean done properly.

This episode unpacks the deceptively simple question: “What are we optimizing for?”

Whether it’s speed, quality, connection, or experience — the answer changes everything about how you plan, work, lead, and collaborate.

From customer calls and website reviews to team communication, Andy shares stories that reveal how clarity of purpose can transform chaos into conscious action.

One thing to think differently about: When you know what you’re optimizing for, every decision becomes easier — and more intentional.

Before your next project, pause and ask: What does success really look like? Then design for that, not default speed.

#TheChaosOfScale #LeadershipPodcast #ScaleUp #BusinessGrowth #PeopleAndCulture #OrganizationalDevelopment #HumanAtWork #AndyGolding #LeadershipDevelopment #ChangeManagement #StartupCulture #WorkplaceCulture #PsychologicalSafety #BusinessPodcast #ProcessImprovement #TeamPerformance

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The 'Ick' of Process

As your business grows, structure and formality become necessary—but they can also make your team squirm. That ick of process? It’s real.

In this episode, Andy Golding explores how to balance the need for structure with the freedom that fuels creativity. From sales teams struggling with CRMs to overwhelmed comms departments learning to say “no,” we unpack the uncomfortable, essential shift from scrappy startup to scalable clarity.

You’ll learn why process doesn’t have to kill your magic—and how to draw the playing field instead of writing the rulebook.

If this episode resonates, share it with a colleague who’s feeling the ick.

Don’t forget to like, subscribe, and review.

⁠thechaosofscale.com⁠

#TheChaosOfScale #Leadership #ScaleUp #HumanAtWork #CultureChange #BusinessGrowth #OrganizationalDevelopment #PeopleAndCulture #ProcessDesign #ScalingBusiness #LeadershipPodcast #CompanyCulture #ChangeManagement

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Scaling is messy, and in the noise of deadlines and milestones it’s easy to forget that behind every role is a whole person. In this episode of The Chaos of Scale, Andy Golding unpacks the fourth guiding principle—Own Your Human. From sleepless nights to sick kids, life always shows up at work. When we acknowledge it instead of hiding it, we unlock trust, connection, and long-term resilience. Vulnerability might feel uncomfortable at first, but it creates the kind of culture where people feel seen, supported, and ready to bring their best.

Business growth is messy, but the human side doesn't have to be.

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In fast-growing teams, pressure is constant—so set the tone with kindness. In this episode of The Chaos of Scale, Andy Golding explores “Lean on Kindness” as a practical, powerful operating principle for leaders and teams.

Learn how kindness creates safety for hard conversations, fuels better decisions under pressure, and builds the long-term resilience your team and organization need to thrive. Andy shares real moments, mistakes, and simple shifts you can make today—from how to respond when capacity is low to how to turn errors into momentum. If you want a team that takes initiative, learns faster, and has each other’s backs, start here.

Listen in, reflect on your default response, and try one small change this week: pause, breathe, and choose kindness first. If this episode helps, please like, subscribe, and leave a review—then share it with someone navigating the chaos of growth.

Business Growth is messy. The human side doesn’t have to be.

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