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I鈥檓 feeling a little on edge. Nick Leeson, the Barings鈥� rogue trader, is running late for our interview and I鈥檝e been wondering whether he鈥檒l turn up. After all, as the object of a global manhunt 10 years ago, he does have a bit of a reputation for not being where he鈥檚 supposed to be. In his new guise as a stress expert, I鈥檝e also arranged for him to conduct a stress workshop with one of the most famously relaxed men in construction, which has been gnawing away at me as a bad idea for a while now. Of the 38 stress warning signals Leeson lists in his book, Back from the Brink: Coping with Stress, I reckon I鈥檓 suffering from 33 of them.

Perhaps I shouldn鈥檛 have worried. Leeson arrives looking thoroughly relaxed 鈥� a walking advert for the book. The fingernails, bitten so raw they looked like 鈥渁mputated limbs鈥� during the years that he frantically buried 拢862m of losses on the Singapore Monetary Exchange, are neatly clipped. He has put on a little weight but he wears it in a contented, approaching-middle-age way 鈥� he鈥檚 38 鈥� rather than as a result of gobbling 10 lb of sweets a day, as he once did. When he says: 鈥淭here鈥檚 not much that bothers me these days,鈥� it鈥檚 easy to believe him.

I, on the other hand, quickly begin to develop the other five stress warning signals. Despite the fact that Leeson鈥檚 website clearly states: 鈥淓ither alone or together, Nick and Ivan [Tyrell, Leeson鈥檚 co-author] will be able to present a fascinating workshop or speech to any business organisation,鈥� this isn鈥檛 exactly the case. It quickly transpires that Tyrell, a director of the European Therapy Studies Institute, does the workshops while Leeson 鈥渢akes more of a lay approach鈥�, discussing his own experiences.

Those experiences, of course, make for a pretty harrowing discussion: between 1995 and 1999, he went through a divorce, was given a 60% chance of survival after being diagnosed with colon cancer 鈥� oh, and he was incarcerated in Singapore鈥檚 Tanah Merah maximum security prison for four years after bringing down Britain鈥檚 oldest bank. Although the central thrust of the book is how Leeson dealt with these events and moved on with his life, the greatest stress relief that it offers is of the 鈥淭hank God my life鈥檚 not that bad鈥� variety. This is the straw I am clutching at as I realise the stress workshop I had organised, and which is intended to reveal the strains inherent in the high-pressure construction industry, isn鈥檛 going to turn out as expected.

Leeson makes a decent living retailing his life story on the after-dinner circuit. The night before we met, he was giving a talk in the City. Stress and the need for status were recurring themes: 鈥淚 think status was the thing that motivated me. When immature people have status, there is never any plan that they follow 鈥� it鈥檚 like an animal instinct. I just reacted badly to a situation. A lot of the stresses in your life blinker you.鈥�

It seems odd that he is such a popular speaker in the City 鈥� a situation not dissimilar to getting a burglar to take a look at your domestic security. Does he worry about running into people from the bad old days? 鈥淚鈥檓 not bothered really,鈥� he replies.

Does he feel any guilt about trading off his notoriety? 鈥淣ot really, no. There are limited opportunities open to you after being released from prison. If that rubs people up the wrong way, so be it.鈥�

This almost stubborn lack of anxiety seems typical of Leeson鈥檚 approach to life. As he puts it in Back from the Brink: 鈥淪pending day after day undergoing the demeaning process of being stripped naked in jail for a full body search taught me that there are some things one just has to accept.鈥� This might not be something that everyone can relate to, but the acceptance of things you can鈥檛 change is central to Tyrell鈥檚 stress management strategy.

After prison there are limited opportunities open to you. If trading off my notoriety rubs people up the wrong way, so be it

It has also led newspapers to describe Leeson as robotic and emotionally withdrawn. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think that鈥檚 accurate,鈥� he says. 鈥淚 am emotional about certain things. It鈥檚 just that things that I can鈥檛 influence don鈥檛 worry me. The fact that I鈥檒l be called a rogue trader until the day I die I can鈥檛 influence. It鈥檚 a phrase that I guarantee that you鈥檒l use in your piece [see opening paragraph]. But as much as I don鈥檛 like it and it impacts on my family and friends, I can鈥檛 do anything about it.鈥�

These days, his family is his second wife Leona, who he married in 2004, his two stepchildren and his baby son, with whom he lives in Galway. Life on the west coast of Ireland isn鈥檛 all domestic rural tranquillity though: Leeson still likes a flutter. 鈥淚 invest in the stock market, I spread bet, I play online poker,鈥� he says. Then the stress expert kicks in: 鈥淚 think everything in life is about tempering your behaviour. I used to be very compulsive, but I do it within limitations.鈥�

When you read Leeson鈥檚 book, one thing that stands out is that the period in which he suffered the greatest stress, when he considered suicide, was not during his incarceration in Singapore, but while he was awaiting extradition in the relatively civilised H枚chst prison in Frankfurt. He says: 鈥淭he reason for thinking about suicide was purely because I couldn鈥檛 quantify what the sentence was going to be 鈥� 11 years is a long period of time, 84 years makes me dead.鈥� It was, to use his phrase, something he couldn鈥檛 influence.

This feeling of helplessness became so all-consuming that, in an extraordinarily rational manner, he began to arrange an assisted suicide: 鈥淚 couldn鈥檛 have done it myself. There were people who would have done it for money. We鈥檇 spoken about how much. I wasn鈥檛 going back to Singapore to spend 25 years in jail.鈥�

In the end, a guaranteed maximum sentence of eight years was agreed and 鈥渢hat was something I could quantify. If it was longer than that, I wouldn鈥檛 have gone back鈥�.

In an industry such as construction, in which on average one person commits suicide every two days, Leeson鈥檚 experiences are relevant. As he says: 鈥淣ot knowing is a difficult thing. In any sort of industry there鈥檚 an awful lot of not knowing. When you鈥檝e got something coming to fruition, for an awful long time leading up to it, that clarity isn鈥檛 necessarily there.鈥�

He may not be the stress counsellor I was given to believe, but I鈥檓 beginning to think there are some benefits to Leeson鈥檚 layman鈥檚 approach to stress management after all. Finally, I begin to relax 鈥�