Episode 5

full
Published on:

7th Apr 2026

Quick Spoon: Values over fear

You don’t need fear to disappear before you act.

In this Quick Spoon, Jill Stoddard shares what it looks like to take action in the presence of fear — guided by your values.

People Soup: Real conversations about work, leadership, and being human — grounded in behavioural science, with practical ideas you can actually use.

Visit Ross' Website.

Connect with Ross on LinkedIn

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Dr Jill Stoddard

Jill's Website.

Jill's Books.

Jill's TEDx Talk - How to Succeed in Every Moment Even When You're Failing

Connect with Jill on LinkedIn.

Transcript

Values Over Fear

Jill: [:

Speaker 4: Hi there, and welcome to People Soup, quick Spoon, real conversations about work leadership and being human grounded in behavioral science. With practical ideas you can actually use. I'm Ross Macintosh and here's your quick spoon.

Jill: And if you have a message to share that helps even one person, that's consistent with your professional mission. So you got to get out there and do it. And it was like the combination of those two things that I just saw. That was it. I got in touch with my values, and I decided to, bring all of that fear and insecurity and everything else, and I bought a bright red blouse and leopard print shoes because I wasn't going to hide behind my insecurity about my appearance, and I did the talk in the presence of I'm not ready, I'm terrified, I don't have a message worth sharing, you know, all the zillions of insecure thoughts that, that were there.

I [:

Oh, I'm getting choked up just talking about it. And I am so glad I did it. And I think, you know, what people get when they live their values is like, yeah, you have to feel scared because you're doing something that you care about and the stakes feel high. But you also get to feel this incredible sense of vitality and meaining and pride and all sorts of other things that you don't get if you avoid it.

this landed for you, please [:

And if you'd like the full conversation with Dr. Jill s You'll find it wherever you get your podcasts.

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About the Podcast

People Soup
Real conversations about work, leadership and being human
A podcast exploring work, leadership, and being human through real conversations — grounded in behavioural science and full of practical ideas you can apply straight away.

About your host

Profile picture for Ross McIntosh

Ross McIntosh

I'm a work psychologist. I want to help you navigate the daily challenges of work by sharing behavioural science in a way that's accessible, useful and fun.
I'm originally from Northumberland in the UK and I now live near Seville in Spain with my husband.