In Episode Five of Season Three of The emPOWER Breakfast Podcast, Founder and Host Athene Parker sits down with James Brook Partridge, Head of Production at WPP Productions, for a brilliantly candid conversation about family, masculinity, mental health, reinvention and belonging.

James has spent more than 25 years in advertising production, with a career that took him from London to Hong Kong and Singapore before eventually bringing him home again.

But 'The Long Way Home: How Relocation Redefines Reinvention' is much less about the impressive job titles and much more about the man.

James grew up in a family firmly rooted in the establishment. His father, Bernard Brook-Partridge, was a prominent politician and a larger-than-life patriarch whose famously forthright opinions included a particularly memorable verdict on Punk and banning the Sex Pistols from playing in London.

He had an upbringing that gave him plenty to reflect on. The expectations we absorb from our families. The roles we learn to play. He talks openly about his brother's alcoholism and the impact that had on the family, as well as his own experiences of anxiety, depression and burnout. And then there is the leaving. James spent years building a life in Hong Kong and Singapore with his wife and young family. Moving thousands of miles away brought adventure, opportunity and the freedom to create a different version of himself. He reflects on the fact that returning home is different. The people, the place and you yourself have all moved on, yet there can still be an expectation that you simply step back into the shape you once occupied. Family dynamics had changed. James had changed too. And suddenly the person returning had to work out how he fitted into a life that had continued without him.

Athene and James talk about:

• Mental health, anxiety, depression and burnout
• Masculinity and emotional honesty
• Growing up in an establishment family
• Family dynamics and inherited expectations
• His brother's alcoholism and its impact on family life
• Leadership and the responsibility of looking after more than 150 people
• Moving abroad and starting again
• Life in Hong Kong and Singapore
• Returning home after years away
• Marriage, fatherhood and belonging
• Learning to let go
• Kindness and going easier on ourselves and other people

What makes this conversation special is the honesty James brings to all of it. He can talk about struggle without diminishing his strength. He can talk about uncertainty whilst clearly being someone capable of making difficult decisions. He can be vulnerable without surrendering authority.

And perhaps one of the loveliest threads running through the episode is James' understanding of home. After all the countries, moves, career changes and reinventions, home for him is ultimately wherever his wife and children are.

🎧 Listen to the James Brook-Partridge Spotify Playlist

Track 1 – Sexcrime (Nineteen Eighty-Four) – Eurythmics

Track 2 – Waterfront – Simple Minds

Track 3 – The Helicopter Tune – Deep Blue

Track 4 – There Is a Light That Never Goes Out – Johnny Marr

Track 5 – Dance Hall Days – Wang Chung

James Brook-Partridge, James Brook Partridge, WPP Productions, WPP Production, Head of Production, advertising production, advertising industry, production leadership, creative production, mental health, men's mental health, burnout, anxiety, depression, masculinity, modern masculinity, leadership, emotional intelligence, Bernard Brook-Partridge, Punk, Sex Pistols, family dynamics, relocation, working abroad, Hong Kong, Singapore, returning home, reinvention, identity, belonging, fatherhood, resilience, The Long Way Home, emPOWERMENt, The emPOWER Breakfast Podcast, Athene Parker

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