The emPOWER Breakfast’s Men’s series - emPOWERMENT - is 1 Today!

A year ago today, The emPOWER Breakfast held its very first emPOWERMENt session at the majestic Ogilvy Sea Containers.

The intention was fairly radical… To look at challenges, particularly around addiction, relationship, loss, abuse, pressure and emotional regulation through the male gaze.

A no holds barred series ensued.

Our first courageous guest was Barny Wright, CEO and founding partner of No.8 London. And what unfolded was a conversation that landed deeper than we might normally expect in our advertising circles but if you haven’t experienced The emPOWER Breakfast it’s hard to imagine. If you have, you will know it’s like being on a retreat in a work environment. It’s unique. 

Barny spoke with a disarming honesty about his journey through addiction, the loss of his nephew to brain cancer, which began the crisis point, and the collective moments that forced a self reckoning, the kind that dismantles whatever story you’ve been telling yourself about having everything under control.

Barny didn’t position his sobriety as a triumph. Or a magical panacea but more as a daily practice. A constant negotiation. A conscious choice to stay present, even when everything in you might prefer not to be. He spoke about his replacement…running…an easy discipline for him, as it regulates the thought processes and to create space in a life that carries the dual weight of personal recovery and professional leadership.

And perhaps most importantly, he spoke about support because despite the mythology of the self-made CEO, recovery like leadership is relational. It happens in conversation. In community. In consistency of yourself and of the people who show up without needing you to be anything other than honest.

What The emPOWER Breakfast created in that room was something the industry doesn’t often make space for: nuance.

A place where perceived success and internal struggle could co-exist. Where silence doesn’t mean strength.

The reality is we can’t always change things in an instant. There has to be a perfect storm and the right conditions to be able to make these changes. The first step is simply noticing. Because that’s where it starts….with awareness.

Why am I reaching for this? What am I trying not to feel? What void is this filling? What might it look like to just sit with myself?

When someone asked Barny how it was, what it was like, in the Q&A

Fu**ing hard was the answer but often the choice made to face the issue is the difference between sink or swim. These are not questions we’ve traditionally encouraged anyone to ask, particularly men in our industry. But they are questions that, once asked, have the potential to change everything from how individuals cope, to how teams support, to how leaders lead.

A year on from Barny’s talk and the ripple effect of that first emPOWERMENt session continues. The emPOWER Breakfast has gone on to hold space for incredible conversations , more honesty, and more moments where people recognise themselves in someone else’s story and feel, perhaps for the first time, a little less alone in their challenge, because everyone is managing more than we can see and possibly more than they can manage alone. 

When we create environments where that can be acknowledged, without judgement, and specifically without fixing we don’t just support wellbeing. We change culture.

So here’s to the first year of emPOWERMENt at The emPOWER Breakfast.

To Barny Wright, for going first. To the conversations that followed in 2025, and here’s to our three emPOWERMENt events in 2026 which will build on the solid foundations we have created together. The first to take place in July with James Brook Partridge. 

To watch the full interview with Barny, join the membership via The emPOWER Breakfast app and you will have access to wellbeing content, nervous system regulation prompts and guest interviews. It’s a ‘pick me up’ in your pocket and we can’t wait to see you there.

To find out more go to www.theempowerbreakfast.co.uk