The Evolving Leader

This week on the Evolving Leader podcast, co-hosts Scott Allender and Jean Gomes talk to author and neurologist Dr Robert A Burton . As leaders face greater uncertainty, the consequences of their judgement and decisions become ever more significant. A profound insight from Burton’s work, is that certainty is not a rational process, but in fact a feeling; a feeling of knowing, that ranges from an i...

This week, the Evolving Leader podcast talks to one of the world’s leading neuroscientists, Mark Solms . Most widely known for his discovery of the brain mechanisms of dreaming and his psychoanalytic methods in contemporary neuroscience, Solms’ research has taken him and his teams to a surprising source – not the evolved part of our brain responsible for memory, decision making and creativity, but...

This week, co-hosts Jean Gomes and Scott Allender talk to author and innovation consultant Elvin Turner . How prepared are our leaders to drive innovation efforts within their organisations? Elvin highlights how for many leaders their experience is grounded in maintaining the status quo, their focus is on running faster after the same thing, driving improved efficiency over the pursuit of relevanc...

This week on the Evolving Leader, our co-hosts Jean and Scott talk to Holley Kholi-Murchison . Author, social practice artist, education producer and entrepreneur, Holley shares how you can tell others about yourself in a way that helps you to strengthen your sense of self and make powerful connections. Hear Holley describe the 6-step process “designed to bolster your confidence and authentic comm...

During this episode of the Evolving Leader podcast, co-hosts Scott Allender and Jean Gomes get a masterclass in self-awareness from Ian Morgan Cron . Ian is an expert in the Enneagram, an ancient personality typing system that identifies nine types of people, and how they relate to one another and to the world. He is an experienced psychotherapist who brings wisdom and a much needed soulfulness to...

During this episode, co-hosts Jean Gomes and Scott Allender talk to one of the world’s leading researchers in stress. Professor Neil Greenberg is a specialist in the understanding and management of psychological trauma, occupational mental ill-health and post traumatic stress disorder. For 23 years, he served in the UK Armed Forces in a number of hostile environments including Afghanistan and Iraq...

During this episode, co-hosts Scott Allender and Jean Gomes talk to Cath Bishop , former world champion and Olympic silver medal winning rower, and conflict diplomat who worked in some of the world’s most challenging regions including Bosnia and Iraq. In October 2020, Cath's first book " The Long Win: The Search for a Better Way to Succeed " was published and listed by the Financial...

In this episode of the Evolving Leader podcast, Jean and Scott talk to futurist, strategist, and author Scott Smith . Scott flips some of the notions of prediction, pushing back at the idea of the future that we can describe as some shiny idea, to how we think about, eliminate and quantify risk.  He gives us many fascinating takeaways about how to rethink how we plan for and prepare for what comes...

In this episode of the Evolving Leader podcast, co-hosts Jean Gomes and Scott Allender are joined by Ed Lu , astronaut, pioneer engineer and potentially future saviour of planet Earth. Ed tells us about his experiences on two space shuttle missions, his time on the international space station following the tragic loss of the Space Shuttle Columbia, his time at Google and his work as co-founder of...

In this episode of the Evolving Leader podcast, co-hosts Jean Gomes and Scott Allender talk to Wimbledon CEO, Sally Bolton. Sally shares some of the leadership challenges that she has faced during her first 12 months as CEO of one of the world’s most prestigious sporting events, a year in which she had to take the decision to cancel the tournament for the first time since WWII due to the Covid-19...

What would it be like to be thrust, in a matter of days, from the relative anonymity of being an executive in a large organisation, to being on the front line of solving the world’s No1 health, social and economic crisis? In this episode of the Evolving Leader podcast, co-hosts Scott Allender and Jean Gomes talk to Ben Osborn, MD of Pfizer UK, who led the roll-out of the world’s first vaccine prog...

In this episode of the Evolving Leader podcast, co-hosts Scott Allender and Jean Gomes talk to Jeremy Cowart , a distinctive artist whose work you’ve likely seen either online or in some glossy magazine. Jeremy Cowart is an award winning photographer, artist and entrepreneur, and in 2014 was named as the most influential photographer on the internet. So what can a photographic artist tell us about...

In this episode of the Evolving Leader podcast, co-hosts Jean Gomes and Scott Allender talk to Vollebak co-founder Steve Tidball. Since 2015, Steve and his (co-founder) brother Nick have been “using science and technology to create clothing that no-one else can or will”, they create (award winning) clothes from the future. So, what might a collection of clothes from the future include? Taking just...

Where do you plan to become more radically self aware in 2021? How are you going to close the knowing/doing gap? In this short bonus episode of the Evolving Leader podcast, Scott Allender addresses these questions and reveals that the for him, the answer lies in his own mindset.   Social: Instagram           @evolvingleader LinkedIn             The Evolving Leader Podcast Twitter               @Ev...

In this episode of the Evolving Leader podcast, co-hosts Jean Gomes and Scott Allender bring together three very different digitally focussed leaders. Annemie Ress , Finbarr Joy and Carlos Nasillo join us to discuss the leadership challenges of embracing technology to unlock business model innovation.   Social:  Instagram           @evolvingleader  LinkedIn             The Evolving Leader Podcast...

In this first episode of season two, Scott and Jean talk to neuroscientist Stuart Firestein , about his counter-intuitive thinking on ignorance and failure as propelling forces in problem solving and innovation. Stuart is the Chair of Columbia University’s Department of Biological Sciences, and is  dedicated to promoting the accessibility of science to a public audience. Author of ‘ Ignorance: How...

In this final episode of season one, Scott and Jean reflect on the journey that has been season one of the Evolving Leader podcast, and address the question 'What lessons from 2020 are important for us to take forward into the future? '. The episode also includes previously unheard recordings where a selection of guests from season one* answer a series of light hearted quick fire questio...

In this bonus episode Jean addresses the moral reasoning component of leadership, with a focus on making better decisions in the face of uncertain and highly complex situations.   Social: Instagram     @evolvingleader LinkedIn      The Evolving Leader Podcast Send a message to The Evolving Leader team After more than 5 years of hosting The Evolving Leader, Jean Gomes and Scott Allender are launchi...

This episode is part two of a two part conversation that Jean and Scott had with neuroscientist, Dr Lisa Feldman Barrett . University Distinguished Professor of Psychology at Northeastern University, and Chief Science Officer for the Center for Law, Brain and Behaviour at Harvard, Lisa Feldman Barrett is profoundly changing our understanding of the brain and in particular, our emotions.  In this e...

This episode is part one of a two part conversation that Jean and Scott had with neuroscientist, Dr Lisa Feldman Barrett . University Distinguished Professor of Psychology at Northeastern University, and Chief Science Officer for the Center for Law, Brain and Behaviour at Harvard, Lisa Feldman Barrett, is profoundly changing our understanding of the brain and in particular, our emotions. Since the...

In this bonus episode, Scott asks the question 'what is truly going on inside you, and what do you really want?'.  Social: Instagram     @evolvingleader LinkedIn      The Evolving Leader Podcast Send a message to The Evolving Leader team After more than 5 years of hosting The Evolving Leader, Jean Gomes and Scott Allender are launching their new show The Mindset Economy in January 2026....

This is the second part of a conversation between Jean and tennis coach, Leon Smith. For the last decade, Leon has been the Great Britain Davis Cup captain and in 2015 he led the team to becoming world champions for the first time in 79 years.     In this episode, Leon talks to Jean about the leadership challenges that he faces working at the highest level in sport.     Social:  Instagram     @evo...

This is the first of a two part conversation that Jean has with tennis coach, Leon Smith. For the last decade, Leon has been the Great Britain Davis Cup captain and in 2015 he led the team to becoming world champions for the first time in 79 years.  In the first of these two episodes, Leon talks to Jean about what he's learned about leadership since starting coaching at 18 years of age. Socia...

In this episode, co-hosts Scott and Jean talk to polymath Ashley Bradford – tech entrepreneur and philosopher - who brings a riveting perspective about leadership. The conversation explores sense making tools to help teams navigate uncertainty, lowering barriers to ensure everyone can have access to the best education and the ethics around the rising power of digital technologies – how can we be b...

In this episode co-hosts Jean and Scott talk to Chris Hirst, who runs one of the world’s largest creative networks and is the author of No Bullsh*t Leadership (winner of Business Book of the Year Award 2020: Leadership for the future). In the book, Chris seeks to overturn what he calls the leadership industrial complex that over complicates what leadership is and prevents the core role and practic...