Load Bearing Podcast

About Load Bearing Podcast

Money. Power. Business. And the absurd systems holding everything together. Load Bearing is Freakonomics meets global business—with less reverence and more real life. It investigates the hidden incentives, unusual people and questionable decisions shaping business and modern life. Every episode starts with a question. The guest helps investigate it. Most business podcasts discuss success once it has become a tidy story. Load Bearing is about what actually happened: the risks, near-disasters, impossible decisions, questionable coping mechanisms and the people quietly holding everything together off-camera. Hosted by Sheelam Chadha—an entrepreneur, investor, commercial real-estate executive, mother and professional carrier of far too many things. She has bought and sold some very large buildings. Hooray. And some small ones—not to discriminate. But the world is not just about bricks. Sharp questions. Global perspectives. Dry humour. Important subjects and inappropriate levels of honesty—with occasional interruptions from actual children.

Publisher

Load Bearing Podcast

Category

business · comedy

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

2 Sept 2026

Latest episode

23 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

14 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   23 Oct 2026

   De Beers for Sale at $1 Billion: Why Diamonds Are Crashing | Karen Rentmeesters

   Rough diamond prices fell 36% between 2022 and September this year, De Beers is reportedly for sale for about $1 billion, and mines in Canada and South Africa are closing or on pause. Karen Rentmeesters, CEO of the Antwerp World Diamond Centre, explains what has happened to the diamond industry: competition from synthetic diamonds made mostly in China and India, the Russian sanctions, Botswana's reliance on rough diamonds, the cost of mining, the potential buyers of De Beers, the difference between buying a diamond and selling one back, and where she sees signs of recovery. Host: Sheelam Chadha. Guest: Karen Rentmeesters, CEO, Antwerp World Diamond Centre (AWDC), Antwerp, Belgium. Recorded 22 October 2026. Watch the full conversation on YouTube: https://youtu.be/qkeaDR4B28M Music: "In the Hall of the Mountain King" (Grieg), performed by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 — creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Follow Load Bearing: youtube.com/@loadbearingpodcast · loadbearingpodcast.com

2. 

   16 Oct 2026

   Is Canada Breaking Up? Alberta, Quebec and What Comes Next | Duane Bratt

   Alberta's referendum on Monday 19 October: will Albertans vote to remain in Canada, or to begin the legal process for a binding separation referendum? And Quebec has just elected the separatist Parti Québécois. Political scientist Duane Bratt (Mount Royal University, co-editor of Blue Storm) explains what is really on the ballot, who is behind Alberta separatism, the meetings with US officials, Danielle Smith's balancing act, and why he thinks Canada will hold together, but the movement isn't going away. Hosted by Sheelam Chadha, who grew up in Calgary and lives in Brussels. Duane Bratt's books: Blue Storm: The Rise and Fall of Jason Kenney (University of Calgary Press, 2023, co-editor); Orange Chinook: Politics in the New Alberta (2019, co-editor). Recorded 15 October 2026, four days before the vote. Music in the trailer: O Canada, performed by the United States Navy Band (public domain); In the Hall of the Mountain King, Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0.

3. 

   13 Oct 2026

   I Exposed the Wirecard Scandal. Would I Do It Again? | Pav Gill

   Pav Gill, the Wirecard whistleblower featured in Netflix's Skandal! Bringing Down Wirecard, asks whether he would do it again, knowing what exposing the scandal would cost him. In this exclusive interview with Load Bearing, the former head of legal Asia-Pacific at Wirecard joins host Sheelam Chadha to discuss the evidence his mother helped get to the Financial Times. He recalls being asked to travel to Jakarta and receiving anonymous calls warning: "Don't go, you won't come back." They discuss BaFin's short-selling ban and pursuit of FT journalists, EY's inability to confirm €1.9bn in cash on 18 June 2020, and Wirecard's insolvency filing a week later, on 25 June. Former CEO Markus Braun is accused of fraud and denies the charges; his Munich trial has no verdict, with closing arguments planned for November 2026. Jan Marsalek remains a fugitive and has not been convicted. Pav also discusses Confide, the governance and whistleblowing software company he now runs, and a September 2026 study examining AI agents that blow the whistle on each other. Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36bMLNYcqgs Pav Gill: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pavgill/ · Confide: https://confide.ai · Load Bearing: https://loadbearingpodcast.com Music: "In the Hall of the Mountain King" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ #Wirecard #Whistleblower #Netflix

4. 

   9 Oct 2026

   UK Mum-and-Dad Landlords Are Selling. Who's Buying? | Ashley Osborne

   Is the UK government pushing small landlords out of the rental market? Ashley Osborne, founder of PRSim and former head of UK residential at Colliers, says governments want to replace mum-and-dad landlords with large institutional owners, and that the rental crisis is not going to be solved. We talk about the UK tax changes that squeezed buy-to-let, why developers have stalled, where London money is going, and why Abu Dhabi is drawing "plan B" investors. Chapters 0:00 Opening 1:17 Meet Ashley Osborne 3:52 Governments want small landlords out 9:04 The 2016 tax changes 14:49 Developers, institutions and VAT 20:01 Dubai and Abu Dhabi 24:24 Plan B investors leaving London 29:28 Rent caps in Abu Dhabi 35:20 Zero personal tax 40:59 "It's not going to be solved" 46:15 Who will own the buildings 47:12 Would you rather own or rent? Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/KTfaYD3TzrU Music: "In the Hall of the Mountain King" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), licensed under CC BY 4.0.

5. 

   3 Oct 2026

   Bond Crisis 2026: Is This Winter the Next Financial Crisis? | James Levy-Newman

   Bonds or stocks: which one shapes your mortgage, your taxes and your savings in 2026? James Levy-Newman, a former Merrill Lynch private banker in Spain and now a partner at RS Bersy in Madrid, explains why it is the bond market. Sheelam and James talk through what a bond and a yield are, why government debt is never repaid and only rolled over, why US debt is back where it stood at the end of the Second World War, why governments cannot simply print their way out this time, and what a loss of confidence in governments means for ordinary savers. This conversation is opinion and discussion. It is not investment advice.

6. 

   1 Oct 2026

   China Replaced German Carmakers. Can Porsche, Audi, VW Fight Back? | Max Brandt, Bestselling Author

   Max Brandt is the author of the SPIEGEL bestseller China Speed and has been to China more than 150 times. He started on the factory floor at ThyssenKrupp, sold a car-steel business to Wuhan Iron & Steel, and is now writing his next book, The Slowness Trap (Die Langsamkeitsfalle). China exported 7.1 million cars in 2025. Chinese brands went from about 50,000 to 700,000 sales a year in Europe. Porsche's deliveries in China fell from 95,671 to 41,938. Max explains why German carmakers have been replaced in China, why BYD isn't German, what dark factories mean for jobs, and whether Europe's car industry can still fight back.

7. 

   1 Oct 2026

   Divorce and Real Estate in Toronto, Canada: Who Gets the House? | Steve & Samantha Benmor

   What happens to the biggest thing a couple owns when one household becomes two? A Toronto divorce lawyer and a Toronto realtor, married to each other, see it from both sides. A conversation about money, property and financial independence when a household splits in two. Steve Benmor has practised family law and mediation in Toronto for 30 years. Samantha Graff Benmor is a Toronto realtor, and most of her work today comes from estates and divorce files. Sheelam talks with them about why governments want people to own homes, why Canada taxes almost every gain except the profit on the home you live in, why Toronto's rental market exploded, and why selling the family home is as emotional as it is financial. They also discuss why more women are asking for prenups, women as primary earners, marriage versus common law, and why Steve believes men and women divorce differently. Figures on screen in the video version are sourced from Statistics Canada, the City of Toronto, TRREB, the Canada Revenue Agency and the election agencies of Quebec, Alberta, British Columbia and Toronto. Chapters 0:00 Intro 1:00 A divorce lawyer and a realtor 5:46 Splitting the house in a falling Toronto market 11:51 What lockdown did to marriages 17:53 Why more people are choosing to rent 26:29 Why governments want you to own a home 27:11 Hockey cards are taxed, the family home isn't 30:27 Who is actually buying in Toronto 32:48 Men, women and arm's length 36:12 Why more women are asking for prenups 39:36 A prenup is a shareholders' agreement 45:17 Advice for couples Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/hfRv3os7eEE Load Bearing is a podcast about money, power and business.

8. 

   22 Sept 2026

   Harvard Teaches This Noble Family's Collapse. What Did They Lose to the Banks? | Octavian Pilati

   Octavian Graf Pilati's family has been in Lower Austria since 1730, when his ancestors, the Khevenhüllers, bought Burg Hardegg and the estate at Riegersburg. One of them ran Maria Theresa's court and was made a prince. Another went to Mexico with Emperor Maximilian. The estates fell into the Soviet zone in 1945 and the family spent ten years as refugees; when they came back in 1955, half the forest had been cut down. In 2009 his father pledged those forests as security for the bank loans of a listed timber company planting teak in Costa Rica. His sons found out in 2010, when his older brother pulled the land registry documents. The timber volumes had been overstated and half the Costa Rican land was protected rainforest. The company went bankrupt, investigations ran in Austria and Costa Rica and nobody was prosecuted, and three Austrian banks called the pledges. Octavian was in his early twenties, sitting opposite them with a lawyer. At the end of 2017 the family sold the entire forest and repaid every bank in full, with money left over. They kept the castle at Hardegg, sold the baroque palace at Ruegers in 2021, and ended up owning the teak plantations in Costa Rica. Harvard Business School teaches the story in a course called How Not to Bankrupt Your Family.

9. 

   21 Sept 2026

   Most Britons Have No Will. Who Gets Their Money? | Tasnim Khalid

   More than half of adults in the UK have no will. Tasnim Khalid, founder of Private Client Solicitors in Manchester, has spent 21 years sorting out what families leave behind, and she says they are arguing more than ever. Sheelam Chadha and Tasnim talk about why inheritance fights are getting bigger, the client who sold his company with six months to live, a family that fought over a gargoyle, and why wealthy families are moving money to Portugal, Singapore and Dublin. Tasnim also explains why she left corporate law at nine months pregnant to start her own firm. Chapters 0:00 Intro 0:20 Meet Tasnim Khalid 0:58 Leaving corporate law, nine months pregnant 3:46 From Punjab to London: her father's story 8:33 Starting a business in Britain's tax squeeze 11:04 AI and the law 12:35 56% of adults have no will 14:45 Six months to live 20:18 Why heirs fight more than ever 23:23 The property ladder and lifetime renters 25:20 Talk to your children while you can 27:06 The gargoyle 27:55 Britain's wealthy are moving abroad 31:05 Don't let the tax tail wag the dog 34:41 London 25%, Dublin 12.5% 35:57 Running a business as a working mum 38:21 Take the leap Watch the video on YouTube: https://youtu.be/ELYPoe-qRxk (https://youtu.be/ELYPoe-qRxk) More: https://loadbearingpodcast.com

10. 

    11 Sept 2026

    The Dutch Property Market Is Broken. Here’s Why. | Jan de Quay

    The Netherlands is taxing its investors away. Why, and what happens when the money leaves? Jan de Quay ran Savills in the Netherlands for 19 years, after 11 years at Jones Lang. We talk about rising taxes, government spending, investors moving elsewhere, a property market stuck between buyers and sellers, and why Jan thinks a slow crisis can be worse than a crash. We also get into Amsterdam's finances, where he would put money today, AI risk, European politics, China and what the Netherlands could look like in ten years. Chapters 00:00 From running Savills to walking away at 60 03:40 A slow crisis, not a 2008 crash 05:08 A government that cannot pass anything 06:52 The Dutch market everyone wanted to own 08:02 A 10.4% transfer tax and the end of FBI status 09:50 Why nothing gets built 10:35 The new rent band from 900 to 1,250 euros 12:26 Box 3 explained 14:05 75,000 rental homes gone in two years 15:36 Everybody loses and nobody changes it 17:19 Are the Dutch actually leaving? 19:39 Amsterdam's 300 communication advisers 20:42 The country our children inherit 24:16 Are owners finally selling? 25:02 An 80 million office, offers at 62 26:25 Sell, or hand the keys back 27:02 Why office to residential rarely works 28:49 Which Dutch cities still trade 31:27 Waiting for the crisis that unlocks the market 34:38 Why Jan avoids offices now 35:13 The AI danger zone 37:00 The case for secondary retail 40:43 Amsterdam is technically broke 41:27 Where are we in ten years? 47:00 Cynicism or realism?

11. 

    8 Sept 2026

    The Future of the World, Wars and AI? | Caleb Cicek

    What happens when AI changes our jobs, fights our wars and becomes something we can't run our businesses, or our lives, without? Sheelam Chadha sits down with Caleb Cicek, Chief AI Officer at the Institute of AI, for a candid conversation about where all this is taking us. From the US-China technology race and Europe's dependence on foreign providers to robot soldiers and competition for energy, we explore who holds the power and what happens when they decide to switch it off. Then there's the human question. Are we becoming more capable, or simply handing over our ability to think? We discuss job losses, accountability, AI companions and "cognitive surrender": believing the machine because it sounds like it knows. I use AI every day and love what it makes possible. That doesn't mean I'm comfortable with everything that might come next. Some dark predictions, some disagreement and a few laughs, because you can be excited about the technology and still ask difficult questions. Recorded on 8 September 2026. Future scenarios discussed are predictions and opinions. CHAPTERS 00:00 Introduction 01:00 Caleb's story: engineer first, consultant second 04:37 What the Institute of AI actually does 05:47 Ethics, regulation and standards are not the same thing 07:47 Nobody types any more 08:31 "I wouldn't hire someone who can't use AI properly" 09:59 The regulation we missed on social media 11:57 Is AI good for us? 12:52 A robot in the house, and what it can see 14:29 Cognitive surrender 15:32 Idiocracy, and what we are losing 17:14 The EU AI Act and the December 2027 deadline 19:03 Should a model decide who gets a mortgage? 22:10 What happens to work 25:17 The AI race with China 27:03 What if another country switches you off? 29:40 Who actually controls AI 32:18 Which AI does he actually use? 37:20 Jobs, robots and manual labour 41:37 2030: robot soldiers and the war for energy 43:05 What he hopes for Follow Load Bearing for more: https://loadbearingpodcast.com

12. 

    2 Sept 2026

    Germany Is Sinking. Spain Is Rising. Why? | Christopher Hütwohl

    What happens when AI collides with politics, productivity and Europe’s economic reality? Sheelam Chadha speaks with Christopher Hütwohl about Germany, technology, work and the ideas shaping our future. Load Bearing explores money, power, business—and the absurd systems holding everything together. More: https://loadbearingpodcast.com (https://loadbearingpodcast.com)

13. 

    2 Sept 2026

    Why Does Anyone Still Buy Paris CRE? | Paul Habert

    Is commercial real estate worth investing in when bonds yield 4%? Sheelam Chadha speaks with Paris real-estate expert Paul Habert about pricing, interest rates, AI and the future of property investment. Load Bearing explores money, power, business—and the absurd systems holding everything together. More: https://loadbearingpodcast.com (https://loadbearingpodcast.com)

14. 

    2 Sept 2026

    Why Real Estate People Are Going It Alone in 2026 | Damon Healey

    Damon Healey joins Load Bearing to discuss leaving corporate real estate, building an independent business, artificial intelligence, risk and the realities of starting again.

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Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.