The Evolving Leader

In this episode of The Evolving Leader podcast, hosts Jean Gomes and Scott Allender talk to the mother of mindfulness, Dr Ellen Langer . Dr Langer is a Professor of Psychology at Harvard and for over 40 years has studied Mindlessness/Mindfulness, concluding that mindfulness (without meditation) results in improved health, well-being and improved relationships. She has written over 200 research art...

How neuroscience, machine learnig and AI are shaping our future  In this episode of The Evolving Leader podcast, co-hosts Emma Sinclair and Arjun Sahdev talk to Anna Ivanova . Anna is a postdoctoral researcher at MIT and is studying the relationship between language and other aspects of human cognition using tools from cognitive neuroscience and artificial intelligence (such as large language mode...

In this episode of The Evolving Leader podcast, co-hosts Jean Gomes and Scott Allender welcome Rob Cross back to the podcast. We last saw Rob in June 2022 (S4, Ep17) and we’re extremely pleased that he’s come back to talk to us about his latest book, ‘The Microstress Effect’. Rob defines microstress as ‘the hidden epidemic of small moments of stress infiltrating both our work and personal lives wi...

In the this bonus ‘Meet the Author in 15 minutes’ episode of the Evolving Leader podcast, host Jean Gomes talks to Stuart McLachlan and Dean Sanders. Stuart and Dean have written “The Adventure of Sustainable Performance: Beyond ESG Compliance to Leadership in the New Era” (Wiley, 2023) which the publisher describes as ‘a guidebook for leaders to create value from sustainability and organisational...

Something about work isn’t working for us. In this episode of The Evolving Leader podcast, co-hosts Jean Gomes and Scott Allender talk to Chief Medical Director of Employee Health at Johns Hopkins Medicine, Dr Richard Safeer. During this conversation, Richard tells us that one key is to avoid thinking about wellbeing in the workplace as a benefit in kind for employees and rather see it as a source...

In this episode of The Evolving Leader podcast, co-hosts Jean Gomes and Sara Deschamps talk to Jonathan Kaufman , who is leading the debate about how we can think differently about the converging issues of diversity, disability and the huge market opportunities they represent. Our conversation ranges from his time as a White House advisor to Barack Obama, to his current work as a research consulta...

In this episode of The Evolving Leader podcast, co-hosts Jean Gomes and Emma Sinclair talk to applied psychology researcher and author Amy Walters Cohen . In her book ‘Ruthlessly Caring and Other Paradoxical Mindsets’, Amy explores how leaders cope with the true landscape of leadership judgement, comprising competing demands and seemingly impossible paradoxes that morph over time. Sit back and lis...

Today on the Evolving Leader podcast, co-hosts Scott Allender and Jean Gomes talk to Rachel Stockey . Rachel is the head of The Department of Entrepreneurial Skills at King’s College London. Rachel’s mission is to unlock the limitless potential of people and their ideas and as part of that she works to demystify the world of entrepreneurship in order to spark the next generation of thought leaders...

In this latest episode of The Evolving Leader podcast, co-hosts Jean Gomes and Emma Sinclair talk to Mike Skrypnek . Mike is a strategist helping entrepreneurs and industry leaders find their happiness. He is the founder and chair of The UNLimited WORTH Wellness Society and Project, an organisation that he set up to realise a vision of a world free from the impacts of trauma. Mike hosts the Unlimi...

In this episode of The Evolving Leader podcast, co-hosts Jean Gomes and Emma Sinclair talk to Emma Sky . Emma is an expert on conflict, reconciliation and stability, and has worked mainly in the Middle East. She served in Iraq as the political advisor to US General Ray Odierno and General David Petraeus during the surge and is now Director of the International Leadership Center at Yale University,...

In this episode of The Evolving Leader podcast, co-hosts Jean Gomes and Scott Allender talk to leadership consultant, author and AI expert Nick Chatrath. In his work, Nick’s focus is helping others be all they can be, and currently that includes helping clients bridge the gap between what it means to be human in a new world of Artificial Intelligence (AI), and in creating environments where others...

Economics has often been accused of making inferences about human behaviour without any real understanding of how we actually make decisions, choose between options or act against our stated interests. Behavioural economics combining economics and psychology started to accelerate its development in the 1980s, but its roots can be traced back to the 18th century economist Adam Smith. In this episod...

In this bonus episode of the Evolving Leader podcast, host Jean Gomes talks to Matt Mayberry . Matt is a thought leader on business development and culture, author of the Wall Street Journal bestseller ‘ Culture is the Way ’ and former NFL Pro linebacker for the Chicago Bears.    0.00 Introduction 1.01 Let’s start with a pitch for your book “Culture is the way”. 2.26 What’s the case in terms of wh...

In this episode of the Evolving Leader, co-hosts Jean Gomes and Emma Sinclair talk to Vaughn Tan . Vaugh is a consultant, author and professor of strategy at University College London School of Management. He studies innovation and adaptability in the context of uncertainty with a focus on processes for hiring, goal setting and motivation at the team level.  References from the episode: The Uncert...

In this episode of the Evolving Leader, co-hosts Jean Gomes and Scott Allender talk to serial entrepreneur, engineer, inventor and pioneer in artificial intelligence Peter Voss . Peter spent more than 15 years studying what intelligence is, how it develops in humans and also the current state of artificial intelligence, resulting in the creation of a natural language intelligence engine designed t...

In this episode of the Evolving Leader, co-hosts Scott Allender and Jean Gomes talk to Kerry Cullen . Kerry is a business psychologist who has been coaching for more than 20 years. Working with both the public and private sector internationally, her focus is to create a coaching environment where people can come home to themselves. Kerry loves to explore and train in polyvagal theory and in 2022 s...

In this episode of the Evolving Leader, co-hosts Scott Allender and Emma Sinclair welcome Rob Murray back to the podcast. Rob last came onto the Evolving Leader back in December 2021 (season 3, episode 12), he’s a researcher, change agent and thought leader in emotional intelligence and transformational leadership who strives for a deep level of authenticity whilst at the same time being supremely...

In this episode of the Evolving Leader podcast, co-hosts Jean Gomes and Scott talk to entrepreneur, Chief Executive, broadcaster, and author Dr Margaret Heffernan . Margaret writes, speaks and blogs about business leadership, management, innovation and creativity, and her TED talks have been seen by over 14 million people. Margaret has written six books and her third book, ‘Wilful Blindness, Why W...

In this episode of the Evolving Leader podcast, co-hosts Jean Gomes , Scott Allender and Emma Sinclair talk to Alex Zekoff . Alex is CEO and Co-founder of Thoughtful , an organisation with a mission to accelerate the world’s adoption of automation and AI so humans can solve our most complex existential problems. He believes that automation gives human workers the freedom to pursue the creative str...

In this episode of the Evolving Leader podcast, co-hosts Jean Gomes and Scott Allender talk to future of work writer and speaker, business leader, best-selling author and podcaster Ollie Henderson . Ollie believes that work life balance is a myth, and instead sees career and personal life as two opposing forces. He argues that the secret is to design an integrated approach that allows them to work...

In this episode of the Evolving Leader podcast, Scott moves over to the guest seat and talks to Jean and Emma about his new book ‘The Enneagram of Emotional Intelligence, A Journey to Personal and Professional Success’. In addition to being co-host of this podcast, Scott is a certified Emotional Intelligence coach and Enneagram teacher, and in his new book Scott brings together these two systems t...

This week on the Evolving Leader podcast, co-hosts Jean Gomes and Scott Allender talk to human rights barrister Dr Susie Alegre. Susie is a legal pioneer in digital human rights, in particular the impact of artificial intelligence on the human rights of freedom of thought and opinion. Without a moment’s pause, many of us will share our most intimate thoughts with the largest tech companies and in...

This week on the Evolving Leader podcast, co-hosts Jean Gomes and Scott Allender talk to John Mullins . John is Associate Professor of Management Practice in Marketing and Entrepreneurship at London Business School, has written four books and has had more than 50 articles appear in publications that include Harvard Business Review, The Wall Street Journal to name but a few.  John’s latest book ‘ B...

This week on the Evolving Leader podcast, co-hosts Jean Gomes and Scott Allender talk to Richard Medcalf . Richard is the founder and CEO of Xquadrant, a consultancy that he set up in 2017 with a mission to help top leaders reinvent their success formula and multiply the impact that they have on their purpose, people and their profit. Richard also runs Rivendell, an international peer community of...

This week on the Evolving Leader podcast, co-hosts Jean Gomes and Scott Allender talk to Adam Bulley . Adam is a postdoctoral fellow at the Brain and Mind Centre and School of Psychology, The University of Sydney, and the Department of Psychology at Harvard University. In his research, Adam uses the tools of cognitive science to study the mind and human behaviour, with a focus on the evolution, de...