Leading Through Uncertainty

Donna O'Toole is the Founder of August Recognition, a business dedicated to helping other businesses to win awards as part of their marketing strategy. Donna and her team advise on the strategic timing of award entries, leveraging past successes, and aligning award participation with business goals. Donna also talks about her own challenges as a business leader, including navigating uncertainty, a...

Eman Al-Hillawi is the CEO of Entec Si, a business change management consultancy. Eman discusses the challenges her business faced during the pandemic, including the financial strain and the emotional impact of redundancies. She reflects on the importance of relationships and the need to balance business growth with nurturing the team. The conversation also covers the shift to hybrid working and t...

Chad Foster is a keynote speaker who became blind at the age of 21 due to an eye condition, retinitis pigmentosa. Chad had a dream as he was growing up to be in the medical field but had to change this due to his eyesight and ended up going to Harvard Business School and became the first executive to graduate from their leadership programme. I feel grateful for having had the chance to interview C...

Fabrice Desmarescaux   is a Partner at McKinsey and works with CEO’s and their teams to increase in their performance and effectiveness. He also creates the next generation of leaders working with team members who are not yet on the executive committee. He talks about the benefits of retreats for his clients and how slowing down and being in nature can have a positive impact. Fabrice tells us...

Daniel Astarita is the Managing Director of Kesslers, a business that he bought when it went into administration. He’s also MD of a London-based mannequin business, having bought the assets from another business that had also gone into liquidation. He explains how he took a risk to run the business in a different way. Instead of chasing revenue and profit in isolation, he realised that retail need...

Wendy Dean is the CEO of Strategi Solutions, a business consultancy offering services around people, creative and marketing. She talks about the anxiety that comes when thrust into the uncertainty of major change and how she looks for opportunities and generates new ideas to turn uncertainty into certainty. Wendy reminds us that excitement and fear are physiologically the same and therefore h...

Graham Todd, Co-founder of Spaghetti Agency, a digital marketing company talks about his transformative journey from struggling with alcohol to adopting a healthier lifestyle. He explains the moment he realised how excessive his drinking habits were and how that realisation led him to quit alcohol. Todd explains the positive changes he experienced after focusing on his fitness, including improving...

Show Notes Leading Through Uncertainty podcast celebrates its 100th episode and this time I’m talking about my journey with uncertainty and why we need different skills. I share stories of how I came to talk about uncertainty, how I have led through uncertainty, some of the challenges I’ve faced and how I’ve overcome them.  I also share stories of the horses, how working with them has given m...

Julie Chakraverty is the founder of Runway, a platform that facilitates employee feedback in organisations. Julie explains how Runway allows employees to voice concerns either anonymously or openly, ensuring a safe space for dialogue. She explains that the platform is predominantly used by companies undergoing change, with common themes around organisational and process change. Julie shares some s...

Suzi Archer is the Staff Director at Huler.io, a fast-growing HRtech company. Suzi’s creative approach to HR policies and procedures has resulted in a more human interaction with employees at Huler. By ripping apart the employee handbook, she's created a culture where people can be themselves both inside and outside of work.  Suzi shows that by prioritizing employee well-being, balancing tech...

Anne Shaw is the Executive Director for Transport For West Midlands. She talks about the challenge of managing a variety of stakeholder groups, from users to transport providers, the government, as well as her own team. She explains that change can be positive or negative for people by how well we engage and include them in the process and decisions. Anne recognises the need to balance the needs a...

Ann Hiatt is a Leadership Strategy Consultant working with scale-up companies to create rapid growth. Ann talks about personal and professional change and the skills needed to navigate the uncertainty of change. She advocates a need for an “insatiable curiosity” and draws on her experience of working with Jeff Bezos at Amazon to demonstrate how companies can grow through a recession through innova...

Gillian Bailey is the Operations Director for Maintel, a technology organisation. We talk about the backdrop of the pandemic, as well as economic and political uncertainty and how all of these impact employees as well as business. Gillian explains how Maintel is handling hybrid working and the challenge of balancing the needs of a business with the needs of employees. We discuss the complexity of...

Tony Langham is the Executive Chair and co-founder of Lansons , a reputation management and public relations firm based in London and New York. We discuss the importance of approaching reputation management as the way people perceive each other and companies. With an increased focus on ESG, Tony explains how companies need to change their behaviour to stay relevant. We also discuss anti-racism, ba...

Tara Rule is the Senior Director of Commercial Strategy Go to Market and Operations at Adobe , responsible for looking at how Adobe make smart commercial decisions. Tara manages to juggle her full-time role as a director in a fast-paced global business with launching a leadership programme, being a working mum as well as a professional coach. She talks about the importance of curiosity in leadersh...

Dr Mersha Aftab is the co-host director for MA Design Management courses at Birmingham City University. She specialises in design leadership within large organisations, exploring how designers design and lead strategically in business. We discuss how designers have a voice and a platform to give them the agency to lead even though they don't have the position in an organisation. We cover emotional...

Phill Elston is Operations Director of Brompton Bicycle and is responsible for leading the manufacturing organisation in the production of the famous Brompton bicycles. Phill joined the company because his values were aligned, and he felt able to express himself. He talks about the importance of being driven not being at the expense of having joy and fun and seeing a team as an organism. He has a...

Sarah Foster is the Managing Director of Comply Direct , an environmental consultancy and compliance business. She is also the author of Yabba Dabba Do It, a book on self-confidence. Sarah shares her three steps to self-confidence – Prepare, Do and Review. We also talk about the environment, of course, Sarah’s business is based on it but we also discuss relationships, emotional intelligence, bound...

Rich Horth is Operations Director for Adecco , a large recruitment agency with 80 offices throughout the UK. Rich talks about the great resignation, how that creates a candidate-led market and what that means for employers. With the highest number of vacancies ever seen, Rich talks about the importance for organisations to look after their employees and keep people engaged. He shares some of the t...

Cathy Brown is the Chief Executive of i-SE, a social enterprise that provides business support services for social enterprises in the West Midlands. Cathy brings a wealth of experience from both the commercial sector as well as social enterprises and social movements. We discuss the importance of having a strong sense of purpose in an organisation and the importance of social value in business. Ta...

Bella Lewis-Smith is the founder and MD of Salad, a design and digital agency based in Dorset in the UK. Bella talks about the process of selling her business to become a 100% employee-owned business and the challenges she faced along the way. She explains how selling the business into an employee-owned trust enabled her to be much more honest about what she wants personally. Even though Bella is...

Jane Huntington is the Head of Application Development for Guide Dogs. I’ve worked with Jane and her team and I have some understanding of the complexity and volume of technological change that they are leading. Jane talks about using an agile way of working to lead change, continually taking the next step forward, reviewing progress and adapting quickly where needed. And of course, she reminds us...

Sope Agbelusi is a leadership consultant and coach and founder of the business Mindset Shift and the podcast host of Everyday Leadership. We discuss the need for courage and vulnerability in order to be authentic and have an inclusive workplace. Sope outlines the steps needed to create an inclusive workplace and is clear that the conversation is just beginning. I loved how Sope reminds us that cre...

Lee Evans is the founder of Mind Power Solutions and coaches the British Army’s leadership as well as elite athletes and business owners. He talks about how fear is the biggest challenge that every leader faces and how we need to change our relationship with it, moving from avoiding it to working through and with it. We also talk about finding your flow and the importance of self-awareness, especi...

Mary Gregory is a leadership consultant and coach and the author of the book Ego: Get over yourself and lead. We discuss the emotional side of change and the need to include the people side of change as a priority. Mary unpicks the ego in leadership and in relationships, exploring how it can be useful, as well as how it can get in the way. We discuss the shadow side of leaders, the importance...