Lancefield on the Line

What if the best things in your life all began in a moment of fear? My guest Scott Simon, author of Scare Your Soul, believes exactly that. After a panic attack on a plane, he committed to one scary act every single day for a year. Those small daily acts transformed his life, and one of them, singing in front of a restaurant, sparked a global movement. He now coaches individuals, leaders and organ...

What does strategy really mean when the word is everywhere, yet real strategic practice remains so rare? In this solo episode, David Lancefield takes on one of the most overused and misunderstood ideas in business. Drawing on nearly 30 years advising CEOs, C-suite leaders, founders, and leadership teams, he makes the case for a broader, more practical, and more human view of strategy. David explor...

What if failure hits differently depending on your gender? In this episode I speak with Deborah Grayson Riegel, an executive coach and author whose research across 1,100 women in 60 countries reveals why women experience setbacks more intensely than men, and what to do about it. We dig into why women tend to ruminate longer, and see failure as identity rather than event, and where those patterns c...

How many of us are chasing a version of success that was never really ours to begin with? My guest is Janine Mathó, author of Live Your Opus and executive coach to ambitious leaders. After navigating burnout and the loss of her mother, she went on a multi-year quest to answer one question: how can ambitious people achieve healthy, meaningful success without losing themselves along the way? We expl...

What does love have to do with leadership? More than most leaders dare to admit. My guest is Gianpiero Petriglieri, a professor at INSEAD and one of the most original and provocative voices on leadership today. We explore his idea of leadership as a kind of love, not sentimental or naive, but deeply relational. He makes a compelling distinction between performance and outcome, arguing that what yo...

What really blocks capable leaders from progressing, even when performance looks strong on the surface? In this conversation, I’m joined by executive coach and author Muriel Wilkins to examine how beliefs and assumptions operate like a personal strategy model, shaping the decisions we make. Muriel draws on her coaching work and personal experience to unpack the seven common beliefs that limit lead...

What does it take to lead at the board level when the ground beneath you keeps shifting? My guest, Shefaly Yogendra, is a board director, advisor and author who has served on boards across sectors and geographies. She brings a forensic ability to ask the right questions, a deep understanding of governance under pressure, and the kind of clarity that only comes from years of experience in the room....

I'm writing a book. There, I said it out loud. And in this episode, I invited someone who knows exactly what that means to put me in the hot seat. Scott Miller is a literary agent, 8 x best-selling author, and former podcast host of one of the world's most popular weekly leadership shows. He's represented hundreds of authors and been part of teams that have sold over 100 million cop...

What does courage really look like in leadership? Often, we associate courage with bold gestures, fearless leaders, or decisive moments where doubt disappears. My guest in this conversation is Professor Ranjay Gulati of Harvard Business School, who challenges that assumption through his research into what he calls the surprising science of everyday courage, and shows why fear is not a flaw in lead...

What if loneliness at work isn’t a personal weakness but a strategic signal? That’s the case my guest, Dr Connie Noonan Hadley, makes in this conversation. She’s an Organisational Psychologist, the founder of the Institute for Life at Work, and one of the world’s leading experts on workplace loneliness and social connection. We explore why loneliness is on the rise even in busy offices and hybrid...

What separates a good team from a world-class one. My guest today has lived that question at the highest levels. Ollie Phillips captained England in rugby sevens, rowed across oceans, and now runs Optimist Performance, helping teams move from great to world class. We explore why most organisations spend 95% of their time playing the game and only 5% practising the hard skills of leadership and tea...

What if the reason so many mergers, acquisitions and restructurings fail isn’t strategy or execution but grief? That’s the case my guest, Jennifer Fondrevay, makes in this episode. She’s the author of Now What: A Survivor’s Guide for Thriving Through M&A and an advisor to leaders navigating high-stakes transitions. We explore why unacknowledged grief can quietly drain 25–30% of productivity, a...

Incumbent traditional organisations are doomed to failure. That’s a misleading view that permeates the world of digital transformation. In fact, they can thrive if they develop the right mindsets and capabilities.  Julian Birkinshaw joins me to explore more of the myths and misconceptions surrounding digital transformation, the discipline of balancing today’s pressures with tomorrow’s opportunitie...

What if the most powerful strategy you ever create isn’t for a business, but for your own life? In this conversation, I turn the microphone on myself as strategist and author Niko Canner interviews me about how to bring strategic thinking into everyday choices. We explore why busyness can be the enemy of purpose and how small, deliberate moves made moment by moment unlock greater agency and perfor...

What does it take to push yourself to the absolute limit and keep going for a cause bigger than yourself? Imagine you’re cycling 3,000 miles in 12 days on no more than 2 hours sleep a day. You feel exhausted, with nothing left to give, but important decisions need to be made to achieve your goal. This was the reality for my guest in this episode, Kurt Matzler, one of the world’s most cited strateg...

What happens when your boss is the problem? A good boss can inspire you and be a catalyst for your career, whilst bad bosses limit your potential, putting the brakes on your trajectory. In this conversation with Mita Mallick, author of The Devil Emails at Midnight, we explore the behaviours that make bosses bad, and the lessons we can take to become better leaders. Mita shares raw, funny and movin...

Immigrant entrepreneurs have an outsized impact in business and society. 80% of billion dollar startups have founders or senior executives who are first or second generation immigrants. So, what can we learn from them? In this episode I am joined by Neri Karra Sillaman, author of Pioneers: 8 Principles of Business Longevity from Immigrant Entrepreneurs. Neri’s research shows that immigrant entrepr...

Given the chance, how would you design an organisation from scratch? I bet it wouldn't look close to what we see in many established organisations. You’d want more autonomy, greater transparency and less bureaucracy. Well, what if that were possible? In this episode I am joined by Pim de Morree, Co-founder of Corporate Rebels, to explore self-managed organisations. Pim shares insights from hi...

Are you a night owl or a morning lark? For many of us the traditional working day just doesn’t suit our circadian rhythms. We’re called into a meeting or slumped over a desk at 8am but hyper focused as we’re about to leave the office and head home. What if work took our biological clocks into account? In this episode I am joined by Camilla Kring, author of Chrono leadership. We talk about the cost...

So, picture this. You've just landed a new role at work, and you might have some transition time beforehand. How do you best prepare to start? In this episode, I am joined by Michael Watkins, author of The First 90 days and The Six Disciplines of Strategic Thinking. He provides insights into the intricacies of leadership transitions, emphasising the importance of understanding organisational...

What if the person who raised you was also the one who stole your sense of self? Parents should nurture, protect and believe in you, not distort your reality, drain your self-esteem and leave wounds no one else can see. In this episode I sit down with Kathleen Saxton, psychotherapist, entrepreneur and author of My Parent the Peacock. We go beyond the surface-level label of narcissism to uncover th...

When the world is breaking apart what kind of leader do you need to be? With the environmental, technological and societal challenges we face our systems and playbooks can no longer be fit for purpose. So, who must we become to tackle the most pressing problems we are facing? My guest in this episode, Caroline Stokes, author of AfterShock to 2030 is trying to answer these questions. Her book is a...

How well do you communicate? A simple question on the face of it, but are you really winging it? Whether it’s via email, that first impression, or contributing to meetings, there are ways we can improve how we contribute. That’s exactly what I discuss in this episode with my guest Chris Fenning, an award-winning author on the topic of communication. Chris shares the significance of structuring com...

Do you know what your digital footprint is? We all know that overusing digital devices isn't good for us. But do we know the full extent of what we leave behind when we use our phones or laptops? In this episode I am joined by Professor Sandra Matz to discuss the digital footprints we leave for companies and other individuals to use. Sandra talks about the misuse of digital footprints and the...

Is your way of thinking limiting fresh ideas in your organisation? That dominant way of thinking you’re so used to could be doing more damage than good. Perhaps it’s time to find another way to enable innovation and growth amongst your team. In this episode I am joined by Rohit Bhargava, the man behind non-obvious thinking. Rohit tells us what non-obvious thinking is, and why it matters. He also g...