About this episode

Osher Günsberg talks with Graeme Cowan about the evolving nature of leadership and the importance of caring workplaces.

What does it mean to be a great leader in 2026? In age of cost-cutting and focus on the bottom line, it might just mean focussing on the human elements of your business. In this powerful conversation, former executive, author and founding director of R U OK? Graeme Cowan joins me to unpack the truth about leadership, mental health, and what it takes to build high-performing teams without burning people out. Graeme knows what he's talking about because he lived through it. He went from leading at the highest levels of global business to experiencing a five-year battle with severe depression. Now Graeme is sharing the hard-earned lessons that reshaped his life and his definition of success. Graeme explores how leaders can create cultures of care, why psychological safety drives performance, and the small daily actions that can quite literally change (or even save) a life. SUPPORT: If this episode raises concerns for yourself or a loved one, help is available: Lifeline - 13 11 14 or https://www.lifeline.org.au/ Beyond Blue - https://www.beyondblue.org.au/ LINKS   Graeme's book 'Great Leaders Care' is available now Read more about Graeme here Listen to Graeme's podcast The…

People in this episode

Host: Osher Günsberg

Guest: Graeme Cowan

Topics covered

• leadership
• mental health
• workplace culture
• high-performing teams
• psychological safety
• care in leadership

Keywords

• leadership
• mental health
• workplace culture
• psychological safety
• high-performing teams
• Graeme Cowan
• R U OK?
• Great Leaders Care

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: R U OK?, Lifeline, Beyond Blue

Books & works: Great Leaders Care

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