Connected Leadership

You have probably heard the phrase “find your voice” but how many of us use our voice as our primary way of influencing others. Most leaders spend years refining what they say, but far fewer invest time in how they say it. In this fascinating conversation, Dave is joined by internationally trained opera singer, vocal coach, and founder of The Voice Hub, Aidan Smith, to explore why our voice is one...

Social value has become a familiar phrase in business via acronyms like ESG, CSR etc. In reality though it's often treated as a procurement requirement or another compliance exercise, a box that needs ticking. In this Voices of Leadership episode, Dave sits down with social value champion Claire Thayers to explore a very different perspective. Drawing on more than two decades of experience spannin...

The best leaders don't avoid pressure; they learn how to respond to it in a healthy way. Pressure reveals how well-prepared or ill-equipped leaders are for the job of leading and managing teams and organisations. In this third episode of our Emotional Intelligence series, Rich and Dave explore why even experienced leaders can lose their calm, clarity and presence when the pressure rises. From diff...

Most organisational change doesn't fail with a dramatic announcement or a public crisis. Instead, it quietly unravels through confusion, poor communication, uncertainty and a loss of trust. In this Voices of Leadership episode of The Connected Leadership Podcast, Dave speaks with employment lawyer Steve Conlay from BPE Solicitors. Steve shares what leaders get wrong about change, why communication...

In the second episode of our Emotional Intelligence series, Rich and Dave explore the mirror that most leaders look into with nothing more than a surface level glance. The mirror that is self-awareness. Drawing on coaching conversations, leadership development work, and real-world examples, they unpack why so many capable leaders struggle to see the impact they are having on others, particularly w...

In this Voices of Leadership episode of The Connected Leadership Podcast, Dave is joined by Chris Davies for a deeply personal and thought-provoking conversation about leadership, resilience, and the human side of performance. Chris shares his journey from a childhood shaped by team sport and strong role models to the life-changing experience of developing ME during adolescence. Forced to let go o...

In this opening episode of Zentano’s new emotional intelligence in leadership series, Rich and Dave explore why leadership failure is rarely caused by a lack of intelligence, capability, or experience. Many leaders appear confident on the surface yet struggle relationally under pressure. They become reactive, controlling, defensive, emotionally disconnected, or unknowingly create tension inside th...

In the final episode of the Confidence in Leadership series, Rich and Dave explore what happens when traditional sources of confidence stop being enough. What do leaders rely on when expertise, performance, or external validation can no longer carry the weight of difficult decisions? This conversation goes deeper than capability or presence and explores confidence as something rooted in values, pu...

In this seventh episode of the confidence in leadership series, Rich and Dave explore an important but often misunderstood leadership question: why does confidence seem to come more naturally to some people than others? Using the lens of personality profiling and leadership traits, they unpack how a diverse group of people experience pressure, uncertainty, conflict and self-doubt in very different...

In part 6 of their Confidence in Leadership series, Rich and Dave explore one of the biggest leadership transitions of all: moving from being the person who delivers, to becoming the leader who develops others. This is a pivot point where leaders stop trying to prove themselves and start creating belief in others. This is a mental shift that requires awareness and conscious choice. All too often a...

In part 2 of his conversation with Alan Muskett author of The Burnout Ladder, Dave asks Alan to bring to life the six stages of burnout and the practical tools leaders can use to regain control, rebuild resilience, and reconnect. Alan walks us through the six stages of the burnout ladder, from ignition and acceleration through to neglect, cynicism, disengagement, and ultimately embers. What makes...

In this Voices of Leadership episode of The Connected Leadership podcast, Dave speaks with author, coach, and creator of The Burnout Ladder, Alan Muskett. Alan shares a deeply personal and honest account of his leadership journey, from early responsibility in a transport company at 21 through to senior leadership roles in a global organisation. Along the way, he describes how ambition, responsibil...

In this episode of the Connected Leadership Podcast by Zentano, Dave speaks with Jennifer Appleton, Managing Director of ISO Quality Services, about a leadership journey that was never planned, but steadily built through curiosity, learning, and real-world experience. From growing up in a hard-working household to starting work at 14, Jennifer shares how early exposure to responsibility and change...

In Part 1, Dave and Rich explored why coaching is a leadership superpower. In this episode, they focus on how coaching shows up in real conversations. Because knowing coaching matters simply isn’t enough. It’s how you listen, respond, and challenge in the moment that creates impact. This episode breaks down the practical, everyday skills that transform leadership from directive to developmental. D...

In this re-released episode of the Zentano podcast, Dave and Rich explore one of the most transformational shifts a leader can make: moving from telling to coaching. In today’s fast-paced, high-pressure environments, leaders often default to directive behaviours to get results quickly. But what if that approach is limiting performance, not promoting ownership, and not developing long-term capabili...

What if the biggest barrier to your confidence isn’t your capability, but your identity? In this episode of the Connected Leadership Podcast, Rich and Dave explore a familiar but rarely addressed experience: stepping into a more senior role yet still feeling like you don’t quite belong there. Despite the promotion, the track record, and the external validation, many leaders still carry an internal...

In this fourth episode of the confidence in leadership series, Rich and Dave explore a deeper and often misunderstood truth: confidence is not about having all the answers, feeling certain, or performing perfectly. Maintaining presence and gravitas under pressure is a tricky but vital skill to learn, but for many people confidence isn’t what they think it is. In this conversation Dave and Rich unp...

In this third episode of the confidence in leadership series, Dave and Rich explore a common leadership misconception: that the most confident leaders are charismatic, certain, and dominant. So, what is myth and what is reality. The leaders who earn the deepest trust often demonstrate something quite different. They are calm under pressure, grounded in who they are, and able to regulate their own...

In this Voices of Leadership episode, Dave speaks with Lyndsey Gregory, founder of HumanKind and former owner and leader in a fast-growing construction business. This conversation gives us hope that a different kind of leadership, more aligned, grounded, and conscious, is possible at scale. Lyndsey sees things differently to the many leaders consumed by operational pressures, time constraints and...

In this Voices of Leadership episode of Unleash Your Impact, Unlock Others, Dave speaks with Suzanne Hall-Gibbons, Co-Founder of C2S The Growth Consultancy, about what leadership really demands in uncertain times. Suzanne’s journey spans international roots, leading major regeneration programmes, managing redundancy conversations at age 28, transforming organisations without formal authority, and...

In Part 2 of our conversation with Seb Sheppard, we move from helicopters on the high seas and adventures in Patagonia, into the high-pressure world of Formula 1. Seb shares how he transitioned from Royal Navy pilot to Engineering Manager at the Alpine F1 Team, tasked with building a high-performance culture among a group of circa 120 talented, and potentially world-class, engineers. What follows...

In this first episode of a two-part Voices of Leadership conversation, Dave sits down with Sebastian Shepherd to explore the formative experiences that shaped his leadership philosophy long before he worked in Formula One. Growing up in Chile between two cultures and two languages, Seb learned early that leadership begins with understanding people, not just their words, but their intent, context a...

In this second episode of Zentano’s Confidence in Leadership series, Rich and Dave go beneath the surface to explore the forces that quietly drain confidence in capable leaders. Rather than dramatic failures, confidence is often eroded through constant micro pressures, organisational politics, and the need for perfectionism, all of which trigger unconscious “masks” designed to protect self-worth....

Many leaders have done everything right. They have built experience, delivered results, and earned their place. Yet despite this, they often feel unsettled, exposed, or quietly unsure of themselves. In the first episode of their Confidence in Leadership series, Rich and Dave explore why experience alone is not enough to create real leadership confidence. Drawing on personal stories and insights fr...

In episode 55 of Unleash Your Impact, Unlock Others, Dave is joined by experienced Executive Coach Nick Marlow to explore how leaders can create positive leadership ripples and enhance the performance of both their own teams and the wider organisation they represent. Drawing on his own development challengers and over 25 years of coaching leaders and senior professionals, Nick shares a compelling...