One Question

Professor Jennifer Hudson joins Sarah to explore the role of leadership in higher education, and the balance between academic achievement and shaping future leaders in a time of cultural shifts, innovation, and uncertainty. Post-pandemic, higher education is undergoing rapid change, juggling economic pressures with a growing demand to rethink what learning should look like in 2025. How do we balan...

Can we live in a world of compromise instead of cancel culture?  Sam McAlister is a former news night producer and the orchestrator behind one of the most famous royal interviews of our time. Since leaving the BBC, Sam has written Scoop, which later became a Netflix hit and featured Billie Piper and Gillian Anderson. Sam has since switched media for academic and is a fellow at the London School of...

In this week's episode, Gillian Tett, a Financial Times Columnist, joins Sarah to explore whether traditional media can still lead and influence.  With the rise of AI-generated content, the challenge of misinformation, and the breakdown of trust in institutions, can traditional media still shape public discourse, influence decision-making, and hold power accountable? Gillian Tett writes a wee...

Hope not hate is an antifascist organisation leveraging the power of hope in the face of hate.  Dr Joe Mulhall joins Sarah to explore the kind of leadership we need to address deep ideological and political polarisation, the rise of far-right political party, Reform, the power of MAGA as a force for change, the expectations of a new government, the overwhelming importance of community and where we...

What type of leadership do we need to address the climate crisis? In this episode, Sarah welcomes Emma Howard-Boyd, Chair of Client Earth, Climate Resilience for All and the London Climate Resilience Review and a Global Ambassador for Race to Zero and Race to Resilience, to answer One Question. With devastating serendipity, this episode was recorded just as the wildfires took hold of LA, causing s...

CEO of Octopus Money, Ruth Handcock, joins Sarah to explore how we lead today through the lens of financial services. Part of the Octopus Group, which includes Octopus Energy and investments, Octopus Money is democratising financial understanding to create an economically stronger society, one day at a time. A B-corp with a long-term mission, Ruth explores how the values of the business impact her...

How do we lead today? In British Politics.  This week's episode is timely, as Sarah is joined by Jack Doyle, former associate editor at the Daily Mail and Director of Communications to Boris Johnson at 10 Downing Street.  Jack left journalism after ten years in the newspapers to become Boris Johnson's political spokesman and press secretary before being promoted to communications directo...

Nadia Innanuzzi is the President of the international organisation OTT Hydromet, which was founded in Germany and became a subsidiary of American corporate Veralto in 2023; as an Italian female leader, Nadia has a unique perspective on what it means to lead today across different markets and cultures. Nadia is joined by corporate communication leader Marshall Manson. Manson started his career in A...

Kay Rufai is an artist, photographer and founder of S.M.I.L.E-ing Boys Project,  a project to address the rise in youth affected by violence, which sparked a series of reactionary approaches from the government regarding tougher criminalisation of youth, more stop and searches and greater police presence in global majority communities. These approaches inspired Kay to investigate the mental health...

In 2024, the rate of suicide is the highest it has been in twenty-five years. In the last decade, 6929 young people, those under the age of 39, have taken their own lives; suicide is the most common cause of death for those under 24. Perhaps the country's most critical challenges are supporting positive mental health and addressing the overwhelming rise of those in crisis. Sarah is joined by...

Using artistic license to tweak this week's questions, Sarah is joined by Sarada Peri and Lindsay Holst, part of the recent Democratic Conventions Writing Room, to explore how we tell the story of leadership when leadership is uncertain. Before founding her own communications practice, Sarada was a former senior speechwriter for President Obama, working closely with Lindsay Holst, who, before...

Sarah is joined by Richard Meddings CBE, Chairman of NHS England, and George Gordon, Communications and Corporate Affairs Director of TSB, to answer this One Question through the lens of society. Are we increasingly being asked to lead in service of something greater than ourselves, or has that always been the case? It is just that the context of leadership has changed. Before joining the NHS, Ric...

Dan Smith, managing director of communication and reputation consultancy, Headland, and Dr Ben Shenoy, psychologist, author, and professor at the London School of Economics, join Sarah in answering this series question, "How do we lead today?" Ben and Dan are authors of the Collaborative Report, research unveiling how a business that partners with peers and third parties can unlock finan...

"Hope is a renewable source. Fear is not. At a certain point, you run out of fear because it stops being real. Hope is a renewable resource. It is intended to be self-sustaining." In episode one of series five, in partnership with Headland Communications Consultancy, Amanda Litman, co-founder of Run for Something, joins Sarah to explore this series' One Question: How do we lead toda...

Nick Hounsfield is an inspiration. Founder of The Wave, the first inland surfing destination in Bristol, and devout surfer, Nick is building a blueprint for business that prioritises people and the planet.  In episode 14, Nick joins Sarah to chat about his vision for The Wave and the impact of the surfing community as activists for the future, the undeniable link between purpose and profit, passio...

*Please be aware this conversation was recorded before the terrorist attack on Israel on the 7th of October.* Over the last twenty years, Naseem Khuri has worked as a trainer, consultant, mediator and facilitator specialising in negotiation, influence, and conflict management. He is a Senior Facilitator with Vantage Partners, a Principal with CMPartners, and a Senior Advisor with Dragonfly Partner...

Sometimes, when something doesn't exist, you have to create it. Nick Stoop spent ten years at the world’s largest asset manager, BlackRock before setting up Pangea in 2022. Having spent most of his career in Asia, when he returned to the UK and sought to reallocate his UK personal pension into positively impactful funds, there were few options, so he built one. Founder of Pangea, a positive i...

In this episode, Sarah is joined by Dr. Sarah Hughes, CEO of Mind, to answer this series question from the perspective of leadership in the non-profit and charitable sector. Spanning a 34-year career in mental health and criminal justice, Dr Hughes is a powerful voice on the importance of rewriting the rules of leadership and the economic model of charities and foundations in the UK. At a time of...

As the title states, the Activist Leader is a new mindset for doing business. Co-author Lucy Parker has worked with companies all over the world and in all sectors to help them shape and deliver their social value strategies. Before setting up Brunswicks Business & Society practice, Lucy chaired the UK Prime Minister’s Taskforce for Talent and Enterprise for Gordon Brown, focused on high-value...

Before joining TBWA, Larissa Vince was CEO of the independent agency NOW, a former Managing Director at Saatchi & Saatchi and a passionate advocate of the commercial value that difference can bring to teams and creativity. Larissa joins Sarah to explore what leadership means in the advertising industry, from a lack of diversity to old economic models, do the rules of leadership need to be rewr...

Tina Ziegler is a torchbearer for the new contemporary art market, having successfully executed and produced over 300 exhibitions. Tina is currently the director of Moniker Art, Moniker Foundation and The Ziegler Academy, pushing the boundaries of art, fashion, and media. Tina joins Sarah to explore leadership through the lens of the art industry. Arguably the art industry, encompassing the creati...

Natasha Whiting is the CEO and co-founder of Kollo Health. Her deep passion for improving lives led her to co-found Kollo Health in 2020, introducing their first product, the highly acclaimed and multi-award-winning Kollo Premium Liquid marine collagen. Natasha's leadership and dedication earned her recognition, including being honoured for her contributions as a team leader in tsunami relief...

Dr Menaal Munshey joined the United Nations, Internation Immigration Organisation, Pakistan, in January 2023 following roles at the UN in Tokyo, Barcelona, Vienna and Beirut. A lawyer and criminologist, Menaal has worked on legal aid, criminal justice and prison reform in Pakistan and is leading Indus Relief 2022 , a fundraising initiative for immediate flood relief in Sindh. More recently, Menaal...

Cody Keenan rose from a campaign intern in Chicago to become chief speechwriter at the White House and Barack Obama’s post-presidential collaborator. Today, Keenan is a partner at leading speechwriting firm Fenway Strategies and teaches a popular course on political speechwriting at his alma mater, Northwestern University. His first book, Grace , was published in October 2022 and became an instant...

Aliyah is the founder of student-led movement, Pupil Power and a student of Education, Policy and International Development at the University of Cambridge. Aliyah joined our annual conversation in September, to explore the role of education in the education system. How can businesses and society better understand the education system to equip the next generation as they navigate their careers? And...