James Longman: Mental Health, Family History, and the Power of Agency

FranklinCovey On Leadership with Scott Miller

FranklinCovey

Business, Management

4.9 • 851 Ratings

🗓️ 22 April 2025

⏱️ 30 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

James Longman, ABC News foreign correspondent and author of The Inherited Mind: A Story of Family, Hope, and the Genetics of Mental Illness, shares his deeply personal and scientific exploration of mental health. Drawing on his family’s experience with schizophrenia and depression, James unpacks the difference between genetics and epigenetics—and how we can shape our mental health and our future. He reflects on the emotional cost of secrecy, the need for honest conversations, and the power of community and connection in healing. This conversation offers a rare mix of vulnerability and science, with practical hope for anyone navigating mental illness—either personally or alongside someone they love.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello and welcome back to Franklin Covey's Twice Weekly podcast on leadership with Scott Miller.
0:16.3	Nearly seven years and, gosh, close to 500 interviews where I've been privileged to join you every Tuesday
0:23.0	and Friday interviewing some of the world's most influential thought leaders. This podcast
0:27.5	is sponsored by Franklin Covey, known to millions as the world's most trusted leadership firm,
0:33.8	founded in part by the iconic author and thought leader Stephen R. Covey, who wrote amongst many books,
0:39.1	the seminal tome, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.
0:43.0	My role each week is to tease out some of the insights from people from all walks of life
0:48.2	that present themselves on this podcast as a journalist, as academics, researchers, CEOs, entrepreneurs, entrepreneurs,
0:55.0	wannapenewers, people that perhaps have some fame or don't, but have dedicated their lives
1:01.0	to uncovering their own origin stories, how their genetics and epigenetics has shaped their own leadership journey,
1:09.0	their career, their parenting, and generally how to be a more
1:12.2	effective person in life. Our guest today is a renowned journalist, James Longman. You of course
1:18.8	know him as a correspondent on ABC News. He is based in London. Prior to that, had a long and
1:24.3	illustrious career as a journalist with many outlets, including the BBC.
1:29.5	His most recent release is called The Inherited Mind, a story of family hope and the genetics
1:38.4	of mental illness. James Longman, welcome to On Leadership.
1:46.0	Hi, thanks very much for having me. James, welcome aboard your book released recently, and about twice a year we tend to interview
1:51.0	people of consequence that have something to say about mental health, whether it be
1:56.0	schizophrenia or emotional health, suicide, ideation, anxiety. We were privileged to interview Dr. Bessel van der Kolk,
2:04.2	who you mentioned your book and talk about the impact that trauma has in our lives as well.
2:09.7	Your story is riveting. For anybody who may not know who you are, they probably now recognize
2:14.7	your face or your voice as a global correspondent
	...

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