This is a raw, unfiltered conversation recorded outside after almost not happening at all.

Claire and Ant talk honestly about what it actually feels like to be in the middle of building a business while raising a family, carrying responsibility on all fronts, and trying to hold everything together.

They share the tension of knowing they should be working on the business while being pulled into delivery, logistics, and day-to-day demands. They speak openly about guilt, about the pressure of being needed at work and at home, and about how easy it is to stay stuck at the desk even when it is no longer producing clear thinking.

This episode captures the reality that rarely gets spoken about. Not the highlight reel of business ownership, but the messy middle where nothing is broken, yet everything feels stretched.

It also explores what shifted when they stepped outside, and why environment, energy, and perspective play a far bigger role in decision-making than most leaders realise.

Who This Episode Is For

This will resonate if you are a founder or leader who:

• Feels pulled between business and family, and not fully present in either
• Knows you should be working on the business but cannot seem to get there
• Is carrying a constant mental load of decisions, messages, and responsibility
• Feels guilty, stretched, or disconnected

Key Moments

00:05 — Setting the scene
Recording outside after resistance to leaving the desk and stepping away from work.

01:17 — The messy middle defined
The reality of being stuck in the business while knowing you should be working on it.

02:00 — “It’s nuts”
Building the business, delivering, and raising three children at the same time.

03:10 — Family pressure and emotional load
GCSEs, SATs, perimenopause, and the cumulative weight of life alongside business.

04:00 — Triggers and guilt at home
The reality of parenting while working flat out, and the emotional reactions that come with it.

06:00 — Holidays, time, and pressure
The tension between creating family experiences and the constraints of running a business.

09:30 — Why this conversation matters
Normalising the messy middle and the importance of stepping out for perspective.

11:00 — What it feels like at the desk
Isolation, overwhelm, negative news cycles, and the sense of “why isn’t this working yet?”

14:00 — Resistance to stepping away
The internal negotiation before leaving the desk, even when you know you need to.

15:00 — Immediate shift outside
Perspective, conversation, and thinking beginning to clear within minutes.

16:00 — The limits of productivity
Why sustained output without space leads to burnout rather than clarity.

17:00 — The real lever: energy and focus
Where you place your time, talent, and energy is what actually drives the business.

17:40 — The uncomfortable truth of leadership
One clear idea can outweigh a week of graft, but many leaders struggle to own that.

What This Episode Leaves You With

A clearer understanding that the challenge is not simply time or workload.

It is where your energy is going, and whether the conditions you are operating in are allowing you to think properly.

Next Steps

If this feels familiar and you would value stepping out of your usual environment to think alongside other like-minded business leaders, you can explore upcoming experiences on the WildEdge events page.

We recorded this walking by the River Aire in the sunshine, finally.

After a long winter of just getting on with it, holding things together, keeping the faith, it feels like something is starting to shift.

And that felt like the right place to have this conversation.

Because what we are seeing right now with founders and leaders is not a lack of ideas, or strategy, or ambition.

It is overload.

The world is moving faster than ever. AI is accelerating everything. Decisions are stacking up. And instead of creating more ease, it is creating more pressure.

So this episode is about that.

It is about why time and space to think is becoming one of the most important leadership advantages you can have.

And why stepping out of the noise might be the most productive thing you do.

What we talk about

We talk about what it actually feels like to be leading right now.

The constant decision-making. The mental load. The sense that things are moving quickly and you are trying to keep up.

We talk about how AI is changing the way we work. Not by removing work, but by increasing the speed and frequency of decisions, which brings its own kind of pressure.

We talk about why even the best strategy is useless if it is even slightly off, and why getting yourself right first matters more than ever.

The messy middle

We also get really clear on who this work is for.

The founders who have built something that is working.

But it feels like it is starting to outpace them.

The ones who did not set out to be CEOs, but suddenly find themselves leading people, making big decisions, and quietly wondering if they are the right person to be doing it.

The ones who care deeply about what they are building.

Who are values-led, heart-led, impact-led.

And who can feel the gap between how they are showing up now and who their business needs them to be.

What we actually do

We also clear something up.

We do not just go for nice walks.

Yes, we work outdoors. Yes, we climb mountains and get into cold water.

But that is not the point.

The point is creating the conditions for people to think properly again.

To get out of the noise.

To have the conversations they have not been able to have.

To access ideas, clarity and creativity that have been buried under the day to day.

Between us we bring decades of coaching, strategy and behavioural work.

The environment just lets it land differently.

A couple of things that matter

Walking side by side changes the conversation. It removes the pressure to perform and gives people space to actually say what they think.

Time away from the noise is not indulgent. It is often the moment where everything starts to make sense again.

And those moments where you push yourself slightly, whether that is a climb or getting into cold water, they stay with you.

If you are listening to this and thinking “this is me”, the best place to start is a Beacon Session.

FIND OUT MORE

It is a short, focused, nature-led session designed to get you unstuck and moving again, with follow-up built in so it actually lands.

We also talk about the Rewilding Retreats for 2026.

FIND OUT MORE

We also talk about Claire's book on Imposter Syndrome - download a copy here

This is not us explaining the Rewilding retreat.

This is Mia, Chloe and Juliet, trying to put words to something that is quite hard to describe.

They came expecting space to think about their business.

What actually happened was something else.

In this conversation, they share what it felt like to arrive, what shifted during the retreat, and what stayed with them afterwards.

There are moments of laughter, moments of honesty, and a few lines that land harder than anything we could say ourselves.

If you have ever wondered whether this is for you, this is the closest thing to being in the room.

What we explore

We talk about what it feels like to step away from the noise of business and into a very different environment.

They describe how quickly connection builds when you remove the usual roles and expectations that people carry in their day to day lives.

We explore the difference between taking time off and actually slowing down, and what becomes possible when you do.

They share what they thought they needed before they arrived, and what actually surfaced once they had space to think and feel properly.

We also talk about the weight of leadership, and how easy it is to lose yourself in something you have built.

A couple of moments that stayed with me

“It felt like this real life-affirming week where you’re like, oh my God, this is what it is to be alive. I shouldn’t just be sat in front of a screen for 40 hours a week.”

“Sometimes it feels like none of it is about me anymore.”

What this conversation really shows

This is not about fixing your business.

It is about creating enough space to hear yourself again.

From that place, things tend to become much clearer.

Who this is for

This episode will land if you are leading something that matters, but you feel the weight of it more than you expected.

It will land if your days are full, but your thinking feels crowded.

It will land if you have not had proper space to step back and look at your life for a while.

If you are feeling the pull

There are a small number of spaces left on the upcoming Rewilding retreats.

If this resonates, you can register your interest here or message me directly and we can have a conversation.

What began as a small, experimental retreat for women has grown into one of the most powerful experiences WildEdge offers. Across multiple retreats in the Lake District, Claire has witnessed leaders arrive carrying the weight of business, responsibility, and constant decision-making, and leave with something entirely different: clarity, energy, and a renewed connection to who they are as leaders.

In this conversation, Claire reflects on the moments that have defined those retreats. She shares stories of the transformations that happen when founders step away from their usual environment and spend time walking, talking, swimming, and thinking in nature.

Ant joins the discussion to explore why these experiences work so powerfully and why the time feels right to introduce something new: the first WildEdge men’s Rewilding Retreat.

Together, they talk about:

• What actually happens on a Rewilding Retreat
• The shifts they have seen in leaders over the past four years
• Why stepping away from the noise of business often unlocks the clearest thinking
• The different pressures men and women experience in leadership
• Why Ant felt called to create a men’s retreat for the first time

This episode is both a reflection on the journey so far and a look ahead to the next chapter of WildEdge retreats.

If you have ever felt the need to step away from the constant pace of business to reconnect with what truly matters, this conversation offers a glimpse into what becomes possible when leaders give themselves that space.

Find out more and register your interest here

This is the real one.

If you're the founder or the leader of a business that's currently playing in the messy middle, this is for you.

The Saturday morning in bed that turned into IKEA craft paper on the bedroom floor. The golden cage we built the first time. The moment we realised something had to change. And what it looks like to burn the bridges behind you when you are already established.

If you are building something new while still standing in the middle of it, this episode is for you.

🎙 Episode Summary

In this episode, WildEdge CEO & Co-Founder Claire Ackers heads into the woods to tell the real story of how WildEdge was born. She shares the Lake District dream that has been quietly shaping her and Co-Founder Ant’s lives for over a decade, the success-on-paper business that felt wrong in truth, and the practical, emotional and financial reality of pivoting when you already have reputation, income and identity on the line.

This is an honest conversation about risk, alignment and what it means to build something in real time rather than looking back safely from the other side.

Key Takeaways

• Why success on paper is not the same as alignment in your body
• How to recognise when you have built a “golden cage”
• What it really takes to pivot when you are already established
• Why burning the bridges behind you creates a different level of commitment
• The power of building in motion rather than waiting until everything is tidy

Chapters

00:00 – Out in the woods, and why the podcast format changed
03:01 – The WildEdge story begins
03:14 – Welcome to the messy middle
03:21 – The Saturday morning that became the WildEdge plan
04:06 – IKEA craft paper, and the “million pound idea” moment
05:05 – The Lake District dream, and why this has been brewing since 2013
05:40 – Meeting Ant, GPS coordinates, and the early adventure roots
08:51 – The first business, success on paper, and the golden cage
10:08 – How our two paths evolved, and why they had to merge
10:52 – Rewilding, the outdoor work, and what WildEdge really is
12:12 – The 2024 double house move, the stretch, and the wall we hit
12:32 – The eureka moment that made the pivot non-negotiable
12:44 – Where we are now, and what it means to be all in
12:57 – Burning the bridges, and why there is no Plan B
13:47 – Why this is legacy work, and what we believe we are building
14:51 – Closing words

To find out more, visit https://wildedgeworx.com

In this conversation, Claire Ackers explains why WildEdge exists, what makes it fundamentally different from traditional leadership, coaching, and growth models, and why so many capable leaders feel stuck despite being highly motivated.

This episode lays the philosophical ground for everything that follows.

Why you should listen to this episode

Listen if you are:

• A capable leader or founder who does not lack ambition, discipline, or intelligence, but still feels that leadership has become heavier than it should be.
• Tired of being told you need more motivation, better habits, or another productivity system.
• Experiencing clarity in moments, but struggling to hold it once real business pressure returns.
• Curious about a different way of thinking about leadership, growth, and decision-making that does not rely on hustle or force.
• Interested in why environment, nervous system regulation, and identity matter more than most business models admit.

This episode is not about fixing you.
It is about changing the conditions you are leading under.

What this episode covers

• Why most leaders do not have a motivation problem.
• The real reason clarity collapses under pressure.
• Why traditional leadership and growth advice often works briefly, then fails.
• The difference between insight and clarity that actually holds.
• Why WildEdge focuses on engineering conditions rather than driving behaviour.
• How nervous systems, environment, and identity shape leadership outcomes.
• What it really means to lead from alignment rather than performance.
• Why burnout in high performers is often a clarity issue, not a resilience issue.

Episode chapters

00:00 — Welcome to WildEdge Worx
Why this podcast exists and why now is the right time to launch it.

02:30 — Most leaders don’t have a motivation problem
Why capable, committed leaders are solving the wrong problem.

06:30 — The gap between vision and implementation
What actually happens when real-life pressure hits even the best plans.

10:45 — When leadership starts to feel heavy
Decision fatigue, energy drain, and the quiet erosion of confidence.

14:30 — It’s not you. It’s the conditions.
Why clarity collapses under pressure and why this is not a personal failing.

18:00 — Why traditional growth advice only works temporarily
Insight without the right conditions leads to short-term relief, not change.

22:30 — Engineering clarity, not motivation
What WildEdge does differently and why environment is a lever, not a backdrop.

28:00 — Nervous systems, embodiment, and real leadership
Why you cannot outthink a dysregulated system.

34:00 — Identity and the real leadership question
When the question stops being “what should I do?” and becomes “who am I now as a leader?”

40:30 — You don’t need fixing
Why the answer is often different conditions, not more effort.

44:00 — Closing reflection
Why clarity is not a personality trait, but an outcome of truth, regulation, and space.

Key takeaway

Clarity is not something you “get” from a strategy session, a book, or a burst of motivation.
It is something you must be able to hold, especially under pressure.

When the conditions change, leadership changes.

EXPLORE WILDEDGE WORX HERE

Takeaways

• Beacon session benefits
• Beacon session framework

Chapters

• 00:00 Conclusion and Invitation