Truth, Lies and Work · 2026-06-25 · 52 min
What do you do when a brilliant, Oxford- or Cambridge-educated graduate walks into your office, chronically late, completely uncommitted to the business, but undeniably sharp? If you’re Mike Harle, you don’t fire them - you tell them to follow their heart and join the circus. This week, we sit down for an exclusive, world-first public interview with Mike Harle, the former UK Chief Marketing Officer of Shell. In a legendary two-minute conversation around the year 2000, Mike looked past the corporate KPI metrics of a young, nervous junior executive named Jimmy Carr and gave him the ultimate piece of career advice: Do give up your day job. In this episode, Mike shares the fascinating backstory behind one of comedy’s most famous career pivots, why he turned down an exclusive UK deal with a struggling new startup called Red Bull, and what it truly means to manage potential over performance. What We Cover in This Episode: The "Event" That Changed British Comedy: The real story behind Mike's office chat with a 24-year-old Jimmy Carr, who was torn between a high-octane job offer at Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and performing stand-up in local pubs.
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