Leading with Agility

Text us to share your thoughts In this fascinating conversation we have a chat with Riccardo an expert storyteller who shares his background and why he fell into storytelling and its importance on leadership  Here are the key talking points from our conversation: 🤩 How relaying facts and figures can be transformed into compelling stories that generate emotions and create memories 🎭 The core comp...

We sit down with Dr Meish-Ann for an insightful and eye-opening conversation about the role of leaders when it comes to employee engagement, wellbeing and stress. She breaks down her latest research that reveals uncomfortable truths for managers and leaders in any organisation. Simply showing up and being present for line reports isn't enough and far more is required. Here are the key talking poin...

Text us to share your thoughts We sat down with Paul Matthews to explore the current state of learning and where the role of reflection lies in creating more powerful experiences.  In Paul's view, modern training experiences rely heavily on teaching content in a compressed time period without creating space for reflection.  A provocative viewpoint perhaps? Join us to listen to the full episod...

Text us to share your thoughts This week we're joined by Anamaria Dorgo, an expert community builder and founder of L&D Shakers, a large and growing community for Learning & Development professionals. We cover the power of communities within organisations, how studies have demonstrated the impact they can create for employees and employers but also more importantly why they are necess...

Text us to share your thoughts What's it like being a senior Black leader in an organisation but not realising you hold privilege in that position? This was Collin's experience and the basis of our conversation, a fascinating exploration of what it means to be a POC in a senior leadership role today.  Collin reveals the impact of a post BLM era and how expectations on leadership for chan...

Text us to share your thoughts This week we don't have a guest, but we do have a topic that TK's been thinking about for a while. The unpredictable and unconventional journeys our careers take, and more importantly how this affects the nature of work within organisations. So many CEOs and business leaders in the world today have taken non-linear paths to reach where they've got to i...

This week we host Carolyn Shepherd, an AI expert, Author, HR professional and author of the 'ChatGPT Advantage' who is leading the charge to equip organisations to adopt AI tools. She's also the founder of Emmeline AI through which she delivers her expertise. The free-flowing conversation meant we covered a great deal around ethics, merits and the value of AI to organisations, specifically in the...

This week we're joined by Ceri Newton-Sargunar, an expert behavioural coach who specialies in supporting engineering leaders transition from being a technical expert to an effective people manager. Key discussion points include: The differences between Introversion vs Extroversion when exploring what makes successful leaders How neurodiversity in Engineering leaders affects leadership effectivenes...

This week we're joined by Rupert bull, an experienced Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) professional and CEO of The Disruption House, an ESG consultancy. We discuss a range of issues, including: Why C-Suite leadership must demonstrate authenticity when implementing ESG policies. How leadership must reflect wider societal concerns around sustainability and other social issues if they are t...

What does it mean to be a leader responsible for transforming a legacy auto manufacturer to adopt an entirely new way of working? In this discussion with Jag Johal, he opens up about his journey and shares some of the perosnal challenges he's faced as he's transitioned from a role in HR to leading a trasnformation effort towards Agile ways of working. We discuss how: He's created a why of change a...

In this fascinating episode with Elina Koussis, we discuss in depth how she has worked to create learning cultures that span the traditional classroom environment. For many of us, training interventions require time spent in classroom environments, whether virtual or in-person. Elina offers us a different viewpoint, which is that learning is a constant endeavour and in this episode she describes w...

In this week's episode we sat down with Dr Benjamin Ritter, an experienced talent professional and leadership coach to discuss what it really takes to step up and take on the role of leader or manager. Too often he comes across managers who are struggling with the burden of people management, or are fearful about taking it on. In many cases they aren't comfortable being in a position of such respo...

This week we're joined by Kim Faura, a highly experienced C-Suite leader who's experience working at well-known brands such as giffgaff and Checkatrade meant for a fascinating conversation about his thoughts on leadership. Kim talks us through his ideas on what skills managers need to adopt in order to progress up the leadership ranks. Specifically, the need to be strategic in outlook through what...

This week we're joined by Rebecca Smart, ex-CEO of the world famous DK Books and now a leading Leadership and Talent Coach as we sat down with her to talk about all things coaching. Specifically, what does it mean for managers trying to adopt a coaching stance in how they support their employees. How can managers at learn to adopt this skill effectively? And are there risks to this approach? We al...

In this week's episode we're joined by Toby Sinclair, an accomplished Employee Experience Consultant to discuss how a change in HR attitudes  is long overdue. Given attrition, retention and employee engagement are hot topics across all industries what more can HR do to improve the overall Employee Experience to reduce the overall noise factor? According to Toby the answer lies in taking an iterati...

We kick off our 2nd Season of our podcast with this wonderful discussion with Magdalene Usikaro, CEO of the Music Relief Foundation. With a focus on young people, her charity does amazing work to support young people from disadvantaged backgrounds through the power of music. Join us as we talk to Magdalene about how she inspires young people, what leadership means as a CEO of a charity and much mo...

Text us to share your thoughts A huge thank you to ALL our listeners to our podcast, we couldn't have made it this far without you We wanted to draw Season 1 to a close with a reflective episode talking about what we've learnt and enjoyed this year. We have exciting plans for Season 2 (coming soon!), please tune in to learn more. We promise you won't be disappointed :) Listen to our...

Since handing over the reigns to Andy Jassy, increasing reports indicate that the one prized leadership culture within Amazon is starting to shift. Employees and former execs report that once unbroken rules are now becoming frayed around the edges, while others report that leadership principles have been weaponised against them. In this episode we discuss whether the culture so heavily associated...

As the summer holidays beckon, demands on employers increase. Whether its parents requiring greater flexibility or singletons wanting to spend more time outdoors with friends or at festivals. Regardless of needs, employees of all stripes will want the support of their organisation. In this week's episode we discuss how employers should approach these demands. And taking inspiration from one such l...

Earlier this year in an interview with Adam Grant, Airbnb's CEO Brian Chesky revealed his regret at describing his company as a family during the COVID-19 pandemic. In this episode we go deeper into why Brian believes this is problematic. We'll look at how true it is. We'll also explore risks with this approach and what can be negative consequences for employees if this becomes overemphasised. Fin...

This week more than 3,000 staff could get right to bargain collectively for rights and pay for the first time at Amazon's Coventry Warehouse here in the UK. With union busting efforts costing Amazon $14million dollars, how do these efforts help improve employee wellbeing, engagement and productivity? Agile Leadership demands leaders are far more reflective and collaborative overall, so how should...

By the time this episode is released, the UK will most likely be waking up to a new Prime Minister and Government (well, that's what the polls suggest!). And if your'e living in Europe, France is also in the midst of a Presidential vote tooSo with politicians seeking votes, what happens when they also seek power? We've all heard the famous comic book line "with great power comes great responsibili...

Workplace authenticity, no doubt a key topic in your organisation's HR agenda to create a more welcoming, diverse workplace. In fact, many studies now show the link between authenticity and wellbeing .But has the push towards it failed? Too many employees remain fearful of openly discussing topics that may be deemed 'controversial'.  Some out of fear of reprisals, others due to a lack of knowledge...

We frequently get told that middle managers are the problem. They are resistant to change, and in fact hold up change from occurring. In this episode we explore these assumptions and question if they really stack up. Are middle managers simply corporate yes-men or is there more than meets the eye? And as always, if you've listened to the episode, here are some of the resources we reference:[1] BBC...

In this week's episode, we discuss the importance of involving employees in designing an Employee Experience for their organisation. We consider the latest trend of  treating employees like customers and the impact of not accounting for their needs. Finally, we discuss the responsibility of leaders in crafting and creating a positive Employee Experience that supports the organisation. Visit our we...