Better Under Pressure

In this episode, I’m talking to Tendi Sherpa - who has been guiding people to the summit of Everest and down again now for 18 years.  After initially training to be a Buddhist monk, he started work as a porter for treks around Nepal aged just 13, carrying around 43 kg for up to 15 hours a day for over 3 weeks at a time – and wearing flip-flops while he did. A year later, he climbed his first mount...

In this episode, I’m talking to Rachel Joyce - an award-winning novelist and playwright. Over the course of a 20-year career as an actor, performing leading roles for the RSC, National Theatre and Cheek by Jowl, she was always writing. Alongside radio drama, she also wrote the Sunday Times and international bestsellers, The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry and The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennes...

Zani Mashinini works at The South African Reserve Bank. Leading a team of HR specialists. Prior to that, she worked for organisations like Unilever, Pearson, Bank of New York and the South African National Treasury. As well as a leader in the field of HR, Zani is also a speaker, coach and mentor who thrives on creating organisational transformation programmes that improve the workplace experience...

Duro Oye is the Founder & CEO of 20/20 Change - a multi-award-winning social enterprise leading the way to a more diverse and inclusive workforce in the UK. It empowers young black professionals to flourish in the workplace.  Duro designed the award-winning ‘I AM CHANGE’ 10-week programme which focuses on developing young people’s self-awareness, vision, persistence, and dignity. He’s also a quali...

Chloe Cameron is Chief People Officer for the Pax8 EMEA region. Previously, she’s worked in global corporations and small start-ups and occupied various leadership roles across marketing, business operations and most recently people. She came into a career in tech via a History degree from the University of Cambridge. As Chief People Officer for the Pax8 EMEA region, her role is to ensure the comp...

Abi Stephens is a renowned TV Sports Presenter who has been track-side, pitch-side and ring-side the world over, hosting major sporting tournaments, including the Olympics and World Cups, for the likes of Discovery, BT Sport and ITV. When she’s off camera, Abi is a Leadership Performance coach drawing on her rich experience performing live under pressure to help leaders in sport and business eleva...

Rob Bullock is Executive Producer at Left Bank Pictures, one of the UK’s leading independent drama production companies, where he’s headed the production of a slate of premium drama productions for Amazon, HBO, Sky, and YouTube. He’s currently in production for two new returning dramas on Netflix. Before joining Left Bank, Rob produced the multiple award-winning show, The Night Manager, for BBC/AM...

Louise Moore is the Managing Director of Michael Joseph, one of Penguin Random House’s biggest commercial publishing lists, specialising in women’s fiction, crime, thriller, cookery, memoir, and lifestyle books. She made her way up the editorial ladder, starting as a PA, and joined the division as an editorial director in 1997, before being made publishing director in 2001. She’s been MD for over...

Julie Harris has over 30 years of experience working with both B2B and B2C content and tech platform organisations. As an accomplished media, marketplace, and subscription business specialist, Julie has led multi-discipline teams, has a wealth of international experience, including living and working in Asia and positively thrives in high-pressure complex environments, particularly in private equi...

Helena Maus is the CEO of Archetype, a global communication and marketing agency. She describes herself as an atypical CEO and is passionate about furthering Archetype’s vision to build a model of the agency of the future and driving Archetype’s client charter, in which success is mutual and excellence is pursued relentlessly.  Previously Helena served as CEO at Bite, was partner at the OutCast Ag...

Anna Rafferty is The Lego Group's VP of Digital Consumer Engagement. She leads the Lego Group's direct engagement with consumers of all age groups, which takes many forms, from magazine, publishing, community management and social engagement to digital products like apps and websites, creator programmes and events. She also takes additional responsibility for Digital Child Safety, Rights and Wellb...

In this episode of Better Under Pressure, I sit down with Cheryl Giovannoni. Cheryl is the CEO of the Girls' Day School Trust, one of the UK's leading charities, taking on the education of over 180,000 girls in 23 schools and two academies across the UK. She leads an organisation of 4,000 team players who dedicate daily to fulfilling their mission of 'helping girls learn without limits.' In our co...

Fran Boorman is an award-winning business leader, having built and exerted a multi-million-pound turnover business while bringing up two young children. Subsequently, Fran launched groundbreaking Goal 17, a mentor training company known for innovative social impact programs. She was voted the UK's number 1 female business influencer by Global Woman and is featured in Forbes and on the BBC.  Her bu...

In this episode of Better Under Pressure, I sit down with Alan Jones, Head Teacher at Fulham Cross Academy in West London. Alan has over 20 years of experience as a teacher, and the last sixteen he's spent as a school leader.   I had the pleasure to work with Alan just before the pandemic when he was working at Fulham Cross Girls School, where he invited us to work with the girls on supporting the...

On this episode of Better Under Pressure, I am joined by Nilema Bhakta-Jones, Group General Counsel for Kantar, the world's leading data, insights and consulting company. Nilema and I first crossed paths at the Courageous Leadership event she founded to fund an education project run by the charity Plan International to continue the education of disadvantaged girls in Zimbabwe, where she was born....

In the second episode of "Better Under Pressure", I am joined by Anabel Hoult, CEO of Which?, the UK's most prominent consumer rights organisation. Her experience as a leader across multiple industries, including retail, charity, consumer services and fintech, makes her a natural choice as a guest to speak about pressure and how she handles it. During our time together, she shares the power of a p...

In this first episode, I’m delighted to be talking with Paula MacKenzie, Managing Director of KFC UK & Ireland, responsible for over 28,000 team members, 960 restaurants and 35 franchisees. She has over 20 years experience in the food and drink industry. In our conversation, she shares what she means by ‘reversing out of her day’ and how she managed the pressure moment of speaking to an audience t...