Leading Through Uncertainty

Send us Fan Mail 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 sha...

Send us Fan Mail 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 valu...

Send us Fan Mail 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...

Send us Fan Mail 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 cours...

Send us Fan Mail 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 re...

Send us Fan Mail 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-...

Send us Fan Mail 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, th...

Send us Fan Mail Rebecca Mander is the Founder of GuruYou coaching . As an executive coach, she specialises in supporting people in business who are undergoing personal setback. None of us are strangers to personal setbacks. We all experience challenges in life and work. Rebecca is an inspiring leader who has turned her own personal setback into a business supporting others.  I first met Rebecca t...

Send us Fan Mail Rachel Fletcher is the CEO of Ofwat, the water regulator for England and Wales. Rachel shares the challenges for the water industry of the increased demand for water and the expectations on the environment. She talks about collaboration with different companies, as well as local environmental groups, communities and end users. Partnerships and collaboration are the key to everyone...

Send us Fan Mail Jess Lonsdale is Internal Communications Director for Virgin Media. We discuss the importance of engaging in dialogue in a crisis to stay connected to employees. We also discuss the vulnerability of emotional connection, bringing your whole self to work, being more human in the workplace, changing the world, pushing boundaries, empowering others, resilience, and so much more! My h...

Send us Fan Mail Deb Leary is the CEO of Forensic Pathways, a business she set up in 2001 after overhearing a chance conversation at a police conference. Deb has built her business on innovation, designing products and services that meet specific market needs in the security sector, despite having no prior experience in that market. She talks honestly about the need to know when to let go of produ...

Send us Fan Mail Rachel Repper led the COVID-19 response for the NHS Supply Chain. She was responsible for ensuring that hospitals had the right equipment to deal with the COVID-19 crisis. People’s lives literally depended on her decision-making. She talks about the challenges of leading in a crisis, the learning curve of working with a new and expanded team and how having a shared purpose generat...

Send us Fan Mail Jane Ashcroft is the Chief Executive of the Anchor Hanover Group, England’s largest not-for-profit provider of housing and care for older people. Jane was awarded a CBE in the 2013 New Year Honours for services to older people, some 7 years ago but as you’ll hear, her passion and enthusiasm for older people has definitely not waned. She talks about the importance of listening and...

Send us Fan Mail Adrian Packer CBE is the CEO of the Core Education Trust, who runs a number of academy schools in the Birmingham area. Adrian has a fascinating career, having started as a teacher at the Brit School, teaching pupils such as Amy Winehouse. He was given the unenviable task of turning around a number of failing schools. He’s keen to point out that academically the children were excel...

Send us Fan Mail Sally Palethorpe is the Managing Partner of Inspired Partners, a change management consultancy. She talks about the need to support leaders and organisations through change, using her Other framework which provides the skills needed to lead change. She explains the challenges of changing behaviour and why change programmes fail when we ignore the human beings behind the change. I...

Send us Fan Mail Aaron McCormick is one of my more unusual podcast interviews. Born on the south side of Chicago to a difficult background, he developed an incredible career by bucking every trend and refusing to conform. Instead, he listened to his intuition and inner guidance to be in the 1% of “Best of Best” in IBM as well as running his own tech companies. Aaron’s energy is infectious. I found...

Send us Fan Mail Denise Bobb is a highly established Portfolio Manager, leading complex change programmes for organisations across both the private and public sectors. I spoke to Denise about how we increase black engagement so that black businesses have a stronger voice as well as BAME employees not being overlooked in organisations. Denise makes it clear that a “spray and pray” approach to racis...

Send us Fan Mail Ahmed Farooq has been the CFO of Wesleyan Assurance for 5 years. He talks openly about his experience of being an ethnic minority leader in the workplace, about Ramadan, the vulnerability of being curious about other people and the discomfort of having honest and transparent conversations about race and diversity.  Ahmed is such an inspiration and a great role model for future gen...

Send us Fan Mail Piers Tincknell is the MD of AtomicSmash, a creative design agency. He talks about the need to adapt and see failure as part of the evolution of learning. He recognises that encouraging his team to learn, to innovate through trial and error is how the business can push boundaries and do great creative work through technology.  Piers has such a balance between the art and science o...

Send us Fan Mail Andy Childerhouse is the CEO of Viewpoint. He talks about the transformation of a business that was close to failure to a thriving business today. He led the team to redefine the strategy, business model and product base, and crucially the organisation’s culture so that everyone was engaged in the transformation.  Andy’s inclusive team approach shows how important it is to achieve...

Send us Fan Mail Amanda Ling is the MD of SFM Limited. She talks about the challenge of transforming organisational culture when it is less tangible than transforming a business strategy. The way she runs her fascinating business shows the potential of focusing on people, profit and planet and how we need to integrate both critical logical thinking with the emotional connection of the heart. Amand...

Send us Fan Mail Derek Redmond is a British World and European champion of the 4 x 400m relay, having raced extensively in the 1980s and 90s. He talks about how he and the relay team bucked the trend and took risks to gain the edge on their competitors, as well as overcoming injury and switching what he knew about sport to building a business.  Derek role models the importance of having humility a...

Send us Fan Mail Corin Crane is the Chief Executive of the Black Country Chamber and came in to shake up the Chamber for the modern-day. Corin has been CEO at the Chamber for almost 4 years, with a team of 31 people and a £2m turnover. The Black Country is one of the most diverse regions on the planet and Corin passionately champions that diversity.  The Chamber and Corin’s aim is to bring busines...

Send us Fan Mail Elizabeth Cronin is Director of the New York State Office of Victim Services. She was appointed in 2013 by Governor Andrew M. Cuomo. She has had the most astonishing legal career, specialising in the prosecution of domestic violence, child abuse, elder abuse and sex crimes and worked closely with crime victims. She continues her work now leading the organization that support victi...

Send us Fan Mail Garry Honey runs a business called Chiron, a risk and resilience company specialising in uncertainty. I was excited to speak to him as he approaches uncertainty in a different yet compatible way to me. Garry works with boards of organisations on managing the uncertainty of risk and talks about the importance of treating risk management as part of strategy, rather than compliance.