Leadership & Life Chat

TRIGGER WARNING – This episode contains mention of suicide Not only is Serena's business journey inspirational, but she's also doing important work in empowering and supporting women's mental and career health! Shortly after facing redundancy, Serena founded ProspHER, a business providing training, practical support and mentoring for women in business, with a focus on empowerment and community. Se...

This week's episode is based around a quote from the business icon that is, Dolly Parton "Find out who you are, and do it on purpose". Becky makes the argument that attaching your personal values to your work, makes for clearer messaging within your business, from your reputation through to recruitment. Her and Mark debate the idea of not leaving business to chance, and how living and working cons...

What does giving 100% really mean? For most of us, we go straight to working more, but is that really the best way forward? High performance coach Ben Coomber talks to Mark & Becky about what the reality of working 'smarter not harder' really involves, and addresses what leaders need to do to change and adapt to new behaviours to improve their personal and professional lives. They discuss Ben's en...

Back in 2016, renowned entrepreneur and New York Times Best Seller, Kevin Kruse, published a popular blog that piqued Mark's interest, and here we are seven years later, digging through the best bits of '15 Surprising Things Productive People Do Differently'. His points are still as relevant now as they were then. There's so much good stuff in Kevin's work, that this is the second of two episodes,...

This week's episode is a fascinating insight into a brilliant mind! Brenda Harrington is a business coach, founder of Adaptive Leadership Strategies, and author, who advocates for the benefits of learning and development outside of our core competencies and professions. These skills were vital for business leaders to help them 'survive' the COVID-19 lockdowns. This period also allowed Brenda the s...

Back in 2016, renowned entrepreneur and New York Times Best Seller, Kevin Kruse, published a blog that piqued Mark's interest, and here we are seven years later, digging through the best bits of his article, '15 Surprising Things Productive People Do Differently'. His points are still as relevant now as they were then. Kevin interviewed over 200 people who were considered highly productive, includ...

This is the one hundredth podcast for Mark, after starting Impromptu Business Chat back in May 2020, and to celebrate this milestone, we needed a very special guest, and they don't get much better than local legend (and Tractor Boy!) David Sheepshanks CBE. David was Chairman of Ipswich Town Football Club (soccer to our US listeners) during their success in the 90s, including their infamous win ove...

Sometimes stress and anxiety can get in the way of our personal or professional progress, but there are a multitude of techniques, therapies, and systems available to help us combat these barriers. One such being the Havening Technique, of which Mark is already a big fan. We welcome expert practitioner, Tony Burgess, to the pod, who gives a 'hands-on' practical demonstration of how this applicatio...

We're back, and avid listeners to the pod will know that Mark loves a challenge, especially when it comes to following rules, and in the first episode of series 3 he discusses the relevance of workplace dress codes and workplace etiquette with our fabulous new co-host Becky Ames. The lockdowns of 2020 brought about many changes in how we work, least of all what we wear whilst we're doing it, but h...

Christmas is a wonderful time of year for many, but it can also be a time of great demand, monetarily, socially, and emotionally. We put great pressure on ourselves to be happy, generous and organised, and many will be struggling to balance pay cheques through the rising costs of, well, everything.  James and Mark believe mindfulness is key to surviving the season – it's so easy to get wrapped up...

TRIGGER WARNING – this episode contains mentions of miscarriage, child-loss, suicide, eating disorders and self-harm. If you're a male business leader, this episode may be of particular interest. Our special guest is occupational health specialist Hilary Horton. Hilary has decades of personal and professional experience and insight into the complexities of women's health. She chats to Mark about h...

Profit Hunter Freddie Bennett, and The Sober Exec Chris Anthony both spoke openly to James and Mark on what you consume impacts how successful you can be in business. They reflect on both their personal and professional experiences with the impacts of the corporate party culture and how it can be combated for the better of profits, and our mental health. Ahead of the festive season, this is a grea...

Janet Mui is Head of Market Analysis at RBC Brewin Dolphin, and is top of her game in a male dominated industry. Janet handles over 60 million pounds in investments and is a regular face on news channels commentating on economic issues. Having grown up in China, Janet chats to Mark not just about why wealth management is important for entrepreneurs and business leaders, but also how she had to lea...

In our most popular episode to date, climate change expert Dr Mathew Hampshire-Waugh chats to James and Mark about the realities of what's ahead, and what steps businesses can take to protect themselves. In this BITESIZE episode, we focus on Mathew outlining the history of the climate crisis and how we got to where we are, as detailed in his book, Climate change and the road to net-zero . Listen t...

Jamie has worked with 160 multi-national companies as a corporate coach and trainer and has lived in Shanghai for 15 years. He chats to James and Mark about the profound impact Chinese culture and traditions has had on his thinking and how he delivers his work to his clients, specifically around the ideas of pragmatism, practicality and philosophy, and what he has learnt about high context communi...

Mark reflects on the chat earlier this year with artificial intelligence specialist, Alix Rübsaam. In this BITESIZE episode she discusses accessibility and legislation around algorithms, what businesses can do now to keep up with what's coming, and how discrimination and bias works across apps, websites etc. She also covers avoiding compliancy around the technology whilst pursuing efficiency and o...

You might be wondering, what is Web3? If so, this episode is definitely for you! You might already know what it is, but not fully understand the implications it has for you and your business. Either way, the insights of Metacampus co-founder Alison Alexander, who describes Web3 as the fourth industrial revolution, are not to be missed. Alison previously held top level roles within local government...

In this week's bitesize episode, we look at the power of belief; belief in ourselves, in our teams, and in our businesses, but so many struggle with this. Understanding our own psychology and learning new techniques to improve our mindsets are key to making us better and more productive leaders, and indeed, people. TEDx Talk legend and psychologist Owen Fitzpatrick, and former pro-athlete turned p...

Robert Jordan is the co-author of Right Leader, Right Time: Discover Your Leadership Style for a Winning Career and Company. CEO of InterimExecs, he has spent decades working with leading executives in business, narrowing down the four unique styles of leaders that exist in the workplace which result in excellence. He chats to James and Mark about his experience and research, and how the findings...

In this BITESIZE episode, we go back to April 2021 to James and Mark's chat with former RAF Fighter Pilot and Executive Officer of the Red Arrows, Dan Lowes. Mark reflects on their conversation around the power of situational debriefs and how tick box exercises can be avoided. Debriefs help you improve communication, and gauge success, and are valuable to people at all levels, and let's face it, i...

Freddie's baaaack! Series 2 of Leadership & Life Chat kicks off with a former guest, professional adventurer and profit hunter, Freddie Bennett!  Freddie first joined James and Mark back in early 2021 on Impromptu Business Chat, chatting about how he uses the lessons he's learnt in life to advise and inspire businesses on how to motivate their teams and embrace change. Since then, Freddie has had...

Success and failure ultimately come from good or bad communication. How we verbalise our thoughts and feelings, and internalise them, affects our performance, relationships and wellbeing. James and Mark discuss what you can do to retrain your brain and learn new ways of looking at how you speak to others, and to yourself, and how focusing on this can help build your personal success as a leader. ...

Susannah is a member of the global business coaching platform, Mindshop, and back in 2021 received the coveted Value to Others award for European advisors. Mark describes her as the motivational map 'Yoda'! She chats to James and Mark about how you can learn new behaviours, and how motivational maps can help you do this. In this clip they discuss the value in psychometric testing, embracing others...

Greg is Head Coach of British Para Table Tennis and a performance coach. He believes that the best performers rely on their gut when it matters, whether that's on a track, field or in business. But this only works if you know yourself! They discuss how you can learn to focus on yourself, and understand what makes you tick, and how knowing your strengths, triggers and blind spots will help you perf...

Confidence is king. Success comes from being confident; we need confidence to make decisions for the betterment of both our business and personal lives. We wouldn't marry someone unless we're confident we love and trust them; likewise, don't go into business with someone unless you're confident in their skill, commitment and honesty! James and Mark discuss the current lack of confidence in society...