Aug. 28, 2025
Hugh Wahla • Life Coach
S5E13: The Orient Express Method: Hugh Wahla on Trading Corporate Survival for Life Purpose
Hugh Wahla's story reads like a modern parable about the hidden costs of conventional success. After building Urban Outfitters' European empire and revitalising The Conran Shop as CEO, executive burnout and panic attacks revealed what he calls "survival disguised as achievement." Through meditation, sobriety, and abandoning SMART goals for outrageous meta goals like learning to swim at 53, Hugh transformed from navigating life like a "speedboat dodging obstacles" to riding the "Orient Express"—where presence replaces performance anxiety and purpose trumps traditional metrics of success.
