Evolving Enterprises: Stories of Growth Transformation

Today I am delighted to be joined by Bob Scott, Honorary Treasurer and Board Member of the Operational Research Society. Bob is a former Senior Vice President of Capgemini. This is the first of a short series of podcasts that explore Operational Research (OR) which is using scientific methods to make better business decisions. In this episode Bob shares some of his stories of OR. We talk about Bob...

In this second podcast I am delighted to talk to Graeme a freelance philosophical consultant. We talk about personalised decision making, personalised medicine and how everything mediated by algorithms. But what do they do with “outliers” – the people who don’t conform to the “average”? If we don’t ‘fit the mould.’ How much will the changes in society change the structure that the algorithms use....

Today I am delighted to talk to Graham Forbes, who is a freelance philosophical consultant. We are talking about moral logistics – the way that how moral questions get understood as spreading or flowing through a complex organization and how responsibility for delivering promises works in a big and complex system. 

As we look back on 2024 I highlight some of the guests that have been so memorable for this podcast and I also look forward to our upcoming guests and to the vision for the future – to talk about what goes on behind the scenes to make our enterprises successful.

Today I continue to explore organisational culture, looking at the positive and negative. I look at the different types of culture and I review what you can do to change the culture of your organisation. If you would like a different type of workplace, be the change that you want to see. 

Today I begin a journey into organisational culture. What does culture really mean? Why would we care about what culture there is in our organisation? You will only keep great people if they remain engaged. Culture holds a lot of the keys to helping people remain engaged with an organisation. Culture affects the bottom line. According to Gallup, organisations that have high employee engagement see...

Today I am going to look at two popular leadership styles – authoritative and coaching. I am going to look at the times that theses styles may be useful and how using the right style at the right time can help to get some of our systems work implemented well.

On National Engineering Day in the UK we are encouraged to consider  the people who inspire us. I look back on the many successes of Isambard Kingdom Brunel, and the odd setback. I also look to the future, to the decisions that engineers will need to make very soon.  I am delighted to be part of a movement of people who specialise in getting amazing things done and in shaping society around us.

I'm so happy to be joined by Emma Harvey the co-founder of The 5 Hour Club (www.fivehourclub.com). The Five Hour Club is a platform that allows working parents to find professional work that fits around their caring responsibilities. I love this concept and I am delighted that my company is one of the employers on this platform.

Today I explore learning Journeys and how important they are if we are to really change complex organisations. I consider how I have encouraged board members to change their companies and what it takes to really drive change within a busy and complex corporate world. Finally I reflect on the situation within the UK NHS and look at what I have learned in my journey about this immensely complex orga...

We all get stressed by different things, and stress changes us. Our personality type will highlight the likely changes that we will experience as stress increases. Once we know what these changes look like we are able to spot the warning signs and take action so that we don’t reach “grip stress”. You can find your personality type at 16personalities.com. Once you have it e.g. ENFP type “ENFP grip...

Join me as I reflect on my journey through the engineering profession, following my recent appointment as a Visiting Professor to the University of Portsmouth, funded by the Royal Academy of Engineering. In this episode, I explore the critical role engineering plays in shaping senior leadership decisions and why it’s essential for driving innovation and progress. Discover insights into the Royal A...

I'm delighted today to introduce Julia Bakay, who is a keynote artist and visual strategist. Julia’s work involves listening to live events and drawing in real time the key points. At the end visual maps of the discussions are created which highlight the themes and ideas for people to reflect on, which untangle the complexity and give clarity in a way that is engaging, accessible and enduring...

I'm delighted by the return of Wayne Turmel, author and consultant on developing communication and leadership skills with expertise in remote working. Today we build on our previous discussion on remote working. We talk about the specific advantages and challenges of remote working, how business leaders can get the best from staff who are working remotely and the importance of good leadership...

I'm delighted today to be joined by James Brown, the co-founder and CEO of Super Sense Technologies. During a career break, James started volunteering for a local mental health charity, which inspired him to utilise AI to benefit those with dementia. We discuss the power and opportunity of AI when properly applied to its audience, the project SuperSense Technologies has embarked on to help th...

I'm delighted today to be joined by Professor Jo Meehan. Jo is the Director for the Centre of Sustainable Business and is also Professor of Responsible Procurement at the University of Liverpool’s Management School. Jo previously worked for a chemical company and developed a keen interest in the power of organisations, sustainability and the environment, which has guided her career and her ho...

Today I am thrilled to talk with Wayne Turmel who has been writing about how to develop communication and leadership skills for almost 26 years. Wayne has taught and consulted at Fortune 500 companies and startups around the world and is an expert in remote working. We talk about how business leaders can get the best from staff who are working remotely. We also talk about the secrets of building a...

Today I am delighted to bring you a podcast from Troldhaugen near Bergen in Norway, the former home of the composer Edvard Grieg. I am talking with Johannes Holtmon who is the Musical Curator of the museum and we consider what we can learn in business from the enduring legacy of the incredible and timeless music of Edvard Grieg.

Today I will be considering why you shouldn't accept the either/or with the power of integrative thinking. A concept derived by strategy advisor and author Roger Martin, integrative thinking is a quality that is shared throughout numerous inspirational leaders to make the most effective decisions. I explore the challenges of adopting integrative thinking, why integrative thinking is so benefi...

Today, I am delighted to welcome my guest Kelly Jennings-Robbins. Kelly is the Executive Director of Charity Mentors Oxfordshire, board director of IAPMD and a fundraising consultant. With nearly 20 years working in the private sector and educational publishing,  in recent years Kelly has transitioned into the third sector. We reflect on the unique demands and complexity in the third sector, how t...

Today I'm delighted to be joined by Elise Grint, who is the first person to pass the new Level 7 Systems Thinking Apprenticeship in the UK and will be opening up about what it was like to study within the apprenticeship and what systems thinking brings to her career. Elisse has a degree in project management but started her earlier career off as a zookeeper and then moved into the sciences to...

Today I am delighted to chat with the founder of Red Wizard, Jules Barrow Reed and her business partner Colin Yoshoka Smith. We will be exploring the challenges we face in the external labour market and how we can best manage these risks. Jules talks about educating managers, highlighting that de-risking business through education is a first step.    

I'm delighted to welcome Mark Baker for a second podcast exploring governing strategic systems. Mark talks about balancing the conversation at senior levels between risk and opportunity. Practical application of foresight and linking this with organisational purpose. We talk about methods and applications for anticipating outcomes of decisions. Does the allocation of resources mirror the prio...

Today I am very happy to be joined by Mark Baker. Mark is a scholar practitioner who has links into industry, academia, commerce. Mark also runs his own consulting business. Mark talks about his journey into systems consultancy. Mark has spent a lot of his career solving complex problems for large companies and international businesses. Mark talks about the importance of feed-forward controls. Mar...

Today I am talking to Mary-Beth Hosking, who is a global CIO working in the CEO space. Mary-Beth’s new book is Not Another Digital Transformation which looks at how organisations can really do well, about how they can maintain the pace and efficiency of a startup as they grow. Transformation isn’t just about going digital. Transformation could be about re-imagining your organization from the groun...