Phil Birchenall
I’m the founder of Diagonal Thinking, a smart consultancy for people in the creative, media and digital industries.
Appears in 64 Episodes
Diving into Failure: Stumbling Blocks or Stepping Stones?
In our latest episode of Talking Cod, we turn the spotlight onto a topic many avoid - failure. Join Phil, Dave, and Andy as they dissect the concept of failure, examin...
Beyond the Classroom: Steve Hill MBE's Inspiring - and Bonkers - Adventures
In the latest episode of Talking Cod, Andy and Phil welcome Steve Hill MBE, an inspiring teacher who embarks on jaw-dropping adventures for charity. From scaling mount...
The Big AI Chat: Is AI about to change our lives forever?
In the latest Talking Cod, Phil, Dave, and Andy talk AI. Phil already seems to have replaced himself with an AI avatar, so we're not entirely sure if he's on this epis...
Taking Off the Mask: Finding Our Authentic Selves with The Perception Coach
In our latest episode, Phil, Dave, and Andy are joined by Jon Prince, a former Pro Poker Player turned fully Accredited Mindset Coach and Mentor, also known as The Per...
Running up that hill: and down it again. Author Richard Askwith.
In this episode, we had the pleasure of speaking with Richard Askwith, one of Andy's favourite authors and a renowned fell running expert, about staying active as we a...
Regrets? No, but we've had a few...
Regret. Now that’s a big word. We regret split second decisions and laboured choices, sometimes in equal doses. Can you really regret course of action A - however much...
Touched by the Hand of Cod: Tom Chapman, New Order
We talk about success a lot on the show, but everyone has a completely different interpretation of what that means. So how does it feel when you find yourself stood...
Perfect? Or good enough?
Many of us constantly judge ourselves by our own high standards, but does everything have to be 100% all of the time? How do we define 'perfect' in a consumer-drive...
Faith and Hope: how a terrible tragedy transformed a community
In one of our most profound episodes, we explore faith with Rev Nick Bundock, team rector at St James & Emmanuel in Manchester: a church rocked by tragedy in 2014 foll...
A Christmas Special: Cod bless us, every one!
Andy, Dave and Phil (aka the three not-so-wise men) hang up the festive tinsel and mistletoe whilst pondering the ghosts of Christmas past and present. Have we forgott...
The Power of Honest Conversations
“How are you?”, “Good thanks, how are you?”, “Can’t complain!” Sounds familiar, right? We spend our lives avoiding opening up to share just exactly how we’re feelin...
Doom, Gloom, or Boom?
We’re back! After a brief sojourn, Dave, Andy and Phil return with a vengeance for series 3 of Talking Cod: A survivor’s guide to middle age. How do we react to the po...
Who Am I, Right Now?
Have you ever stopped to take stock of where you are in life, the person you are, and the person you’re not? We evolve as we ride the highs and lows of life, but do th...
Food, Glorious Food
We sometimes chow down on our grub in total autopilot, but how often do we sit back and think about our relationship with glorious food. And just what impact our ‘conv...
Big Dick Energy: the good, the bad and the ugly
Bo Stehmeier, good friend of the show and CEO of Academy-winning production house Off The Fence, is back, and boy, has he brought a mighty subject to talk about. How d...
Money, money, money
Is it the one thing you really can’t live without ? In this weeks episode we are joined by friend and listener Nick Thompson, a man who knows a thing or two about c...
Son of my father
After an incident with a pizza oven gets the better of the cod-meisters, the chaps have one of their most profound conversations yet: how have our relationships with o...
Keep on keeping on
We've all thought of giving up from time to time, whether that's on a task, a job, a relationship, or even worse, just plain giving up. But is that even an option, and...
Taking time for gratitude
While we're battling crazy schedules and impossible deadlines, we can soon lose focus on why we're doing what we do. And though we don't do it enough, building in time...
Are we too old to change our lives?
Do you ever feel like there’s no point in trying something new and just give up? Andy’s friend, Jason Boyle, joins the conversation in a special episode. Insightful...
