Mallen Baker: Faultlines

What did the world look like to the young John O’Brien as he left school and embarked upon adult life? (1:29) The startlingly different direction that John took after his first job, and why it was both the natural place to be but also slightly uncomfortable (4:54) What was the enduring impact that came out of John’s years with the armed forces? (9:20) Have we, as a society, become soft as a result...

In this episode, I talk to Ron Bailey. This is a special one for me. Ron is a campaigning genius who has been possibly the most effective parliamentary campaigner of our time. In his early years, Ron was one of the founding forces of the family squatting movement in response to truly awful slum landlords that blighted the lives of thousands of people at the time. He went on to focus his attention...

In this episode, I talk to Jennie Galbraith who is the group head of sustainability for British American Tobacco. Jennie is also Vice Chair and one of the founding forces behind the Institute for Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability, the recently formed professional body. In this interview we talk about how she got to where she is, and what she’s learned along the way. As you can imagine, w...

In this episode, I talk to Lord Boateng who, as Paul Boateng, was a cabinet minister in the Blair Government as Chief Secretary to the Treasury. Paul also served as the British High Commissioner to South Africa from 2005 to 2009 and entered the House of Lords in 2010. He is chairman of the Africa Enterprise Challenge Fund. In this interview we talk about how he got to where he is, and what he’s le...

In this episode, I talk to Paul Polman who, until just a few weeks ago, was the chief executive of Unilever. Paul needs very little introduction to many of the listeners of this podcast. For the last decade, he has been one of the highest profile champions for sustainable business worldwide. He’s shown that leading a business with purpose can help create new models of sustainable wealth creation w...

In this episode, I talk to Beccy Speight, the chief executive of the Woodland Trust. Beccy is an energetic champion for practical environmental change. She is an articulate campaigner and an inspiring leader, drawing from her years of business experience and her management of key parts of the National Trust estates. In this interview we talk about how she got to where she is, and the lessons she l...

In this episode, I talk to Claire Fox, Director of the Academy of Ideas and author of the book ‘I find that offensive’. Claire is a panellist on Radio 4’s The Moral Maze, and is regularly on a variety of news programmes commenting on culture, education, media and free speech issues. In this interview we talk about how Claire came to be championing the view that ideas should be able to be freely co...

In this, the first episode of 2019, I talk to Mike Kelly, chairman of the Dame Kelly Holmes Trust and former head of CSR for KPMG. Mike is a seasoned campaigner from the pioneering years of corporate responsibility. He was instrumental in the creation of the UN Global Compact, and has been a consistent supporter of some of the more difficult causes, from a corporate perspective, such as homelessne...

This is a different kind of episode, as we finish off 2018 with a quick look back to some things that changed my thinking over the last year, and then we’re going to talk about how you can approach planning the impact you’re going to make in 2019. So if you want to really get your life in order next year, and you want to make a difference to the world as a change maker, this is the episode for you...

In this episode, I talk to Dame Julia Cleverdon, a passionate and practical campaigner, listed by the Times as one of the 50 most influential women in Britain. Dame Julia is co-founder of Step Up To Serve, also known as the #iwill campaign, as well as a number of other important campaigning and charitable roles. But she was probably most prominent as the longstanding chief executive of Business in...

In this episode, I talk to Vicky Pryce, economist and commentator and previously Director General for Economics at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. Vicky is a prolific author, whose books include Greekonomics: The Euro Crisis and Why Politicians Don’t Get it”, “Prisonomics” and “Why Women Need Quotas”. She has also held a variety of positions – Joint Head of the UK Government Ec...

In this episode, I talk to Andy Wales, the Chief Digital Impact & Sustainability Officer for BT, and formerly the Corporate Affairs Director for SABMiller Europe. Andy is a smart and skilful change-maker with a great track record in some of the most dynamic corporate sustainability programmes we’ve seen in the last two decades. In this interview we talk about how his upbringing and family back...

In this episode, I talk to Ravinol Chambers, the founder of Be Inspired Films - a multi award-winning video production company that helps individuals and organisations working as a force for good across business and society to bring their stories to life. Only last year, Be Inspired Films added to its haul of industry awards as ‘Production Company of the Year’ at the Recommended Agency Awards. Rav...

In this episode, I talk about the value of having a personal purpose – what it is, and how you can go about creating one. Lots of the most successful sports people, business executives and other leaders have been successful precisely because they have defined for themselves what they’re trying to achieve in life, and what success would look like. If you don’t frame your own direction, then you wil...

In this episode, I talk to Rob Cameron, the chief executive of the consultancy and think tank Sustainability. Rob has been the CEO of a sustainability-focused communications company, Flag – he has been CEO of Fairtrade International and now, in his current role, deals with some of the major global businesses that see themselves on the journey for a sustainable future. In this interview we talk abo...

In this episode, I talk to Joost Oorthuizen, the chief executive of IDH, the Sustainable Trade Initiative. Joost has led IDH for the ten years since its founding, and in that role has helped to broker projects on the ground in a number of sectors such as cocoa, palm oil, tea and many more, which have made real concrete progress in boosting sustainability and livelihoods for many thousands of peopl...

In this episode, I talk to Trewin Restorick, the founder of environmental communications charity Hubbub UK, which aims to create real practical change with positive messages and creative ideas. He was the founder and CEO for 20 years of Global Action Plan, a UNEP-endorsed environmental organisation that ran award-winning behaviour-change programmes with businesses, schools and communities. Trewin...

In this episode, I talk to David Goodhart, author of the hugely influential book ‘The Road to Somewhere – The new tribes shaping British politics’, praised as a ‘book of the year’ by the Sunday Times, Guardian, Telegraph and The Economist in 2017. It is described by many as the book that explains the new post-Brexit and Trump world, and challenges us to think afresh about the nature of the job at...

In this episode, I talk to John May, the secretary general of the Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award. He describes himself as a campaigner, storyteller, teacher, youth worker, independent diplomat, writer, broadcaster, urban cyclist, avid parkrunner, habitual chocolate cake eater and mischief-maker. He has spent his career working with, and for, young people in the UK and across the world. He...

In this episode, I talk to Chris Harrop, the group marketing director and the head of sustainability for Marshalls plc. In addition to those roles, Chris is chairman of Made in Britain, and was formerly chairman of the UN Global Compact UK network. He’s a non-executive director of the Ethical Trading Initiative. He was named as a Hero of Sustainability by Ethical Corporation in 2007, and a Busines...

Solitaire Townsend is an entrepreneur, sustainability expert and author of ‘The Happy Hero - How to change your life by changing the world’. She co-founded the change agency Futerra in 2001, one of the first sustainability agencies in the UK, through which she has advised governments, charities and major corporations like Danone and Nike. From humble beginnings, Futerra now has offices in London,...

David Grayson is Emeritus Professor of Corporate Responsibility at the Cranfield School of Management. For over ten years, he was the director of the Doughty Centre for Corporate Responsibility. He recently co-authored the influential book ‘All In – The Future of Business Leadership’. He has authored a number of other books, including most recently ‘Take Care: How to be a great employer for workin...

Mike Barry is the Director of Plan A and Sustainable Business for Marks and Spencer. He is known throughout the responsible business community as a key figure who has helped Marks and Spencer become world-renowned for its root-and-branch approach to sustainable retail. He helped to develop and deliver Plan A from its inception in 2007, and is responsible for delivering the company's ambitious plan...

A short introduction to the change maker podcast, how it's going to work and what you can expect in the first three episodes.