
Anatomy of a Leader with Maria Hvorostovsky · 2026-01-20 · 1h 31m
What happens when extreme ambition meets an unregulated nervous system? In this episode of Anatomy of a Leader, Maria sits down with John Skelton - co-founder of cult concept store LN-CC, former buyer at Selfridges and Harrods, and founder of mental health project Hearted - to explore what really happens behind high-performance careers. John shares how he rose fast inside the fashion industry, helped reshape menswear, tripled turnover at Harrods, and built one of London’s most influential retail concepts - while accumulating pressure, burnout, and emotional overload. This is a conversation about: Extreme talent. Extreme pressure. Identity collapse. Addiction as coping. And the slow, uncomfortable work of rebuilding capacity. Not a comeback story. A reconstruction story. Why This Conversation Matters We live in a culture that rewards speed, output and visibility - while ignoring emotional capacity. John’s story exposes the hidden cost of that model. It’s about what happens when identity becomes fused with achievement. When performance replaces presence. When ambition outruns regulation. And when rebuilding becomes the real work.