The extra-Ordinary Leader with Dolly Waddell

In this episode of The extra-Ordinary Leader , I’m joined by Sophie Bowen , Head of Learning & Development at COOK Trading Ltd , a business widely recognised for its award-winning culture, human-centred leadership and long-term commercial success. Sophie has spent 15 years inside COOK, embedding learning and development into the fabric of the business rather than treating it as a bolt-on or a...

If you want a high-performing team, you cannot ignore the language you use. In this episode of Dolly in My Pocket, I unpack Tactic 8 from my book extra-Ordinary Leaders and explore the link between language and performance. Do our words shape our behaviour, or does our behaviour shape our words? More importantly: is the language you use helping your team move, or quietly creating friction? I look...

In this episode of The extra-Ordinary Leader , I sit down with my first-ever returning guest, Roderic Yapp, former Royal Marine Commando and founder of Leadership Capital. Rod brings a razor-sharp perspective to leadership in complex, fast-moving environments, and this conversation expands how we think about context, decision-making, and performance. We explore why context is the overlooked founda...

Welcome to Episode 7 of Dolly in My Pocket , where we dive into one of the most overlooked elements of effective collaboration: how we think together . We often enter meetings with agendas, pre-reading, the right people in the room… but there’s almost never an agreed approach to how we should be thinking and communicating in that space. In this episode, I introduce two essential modes of thinking:...

In this episode of The extra-Ordinary Leader , I’m joined by the brilliant Maria Franzoni — communication strategist, former international speaker bureau owner, and creator of The Bookability Formula . With over 25 years of experience helping speakers get booked and rebooked, Maria knows exactly what makes communication memorable, impactful, and influential. Together, we explore how to elevate you...

Welcome back to Dolly in My Pocket . In this solo episode — tactic six from The extra-Ordinary Leader — I want to introduce you to a metaphor that’s shaped how I think about leadership recovery and performance: The Aeration Chamber . Just like red wine needs time to breathe to soften its compounds, release toxins, integrate flavours, and remove off-odours — so do we . This episode explores: Why st...

In this episode of The extra-Ordinary Leader , I sit down with my friend and inspirational business leader, Emma Wood — founder of Emma Wood Interiors and the soon-to-launch Emma Wood Home. Emma has taken her creative background in fashion and turned it into a thriving interiors business with a growing team, major commercial projects, and now a new product line. What strikes me about Emma’s leader...

Welcome to Dolly in My Pocket , tactic five. This time, I’m tackling something that either makes or breaks teams, culture, and performance: feedback . Let’s be honest — most of us aren’t doing it well. We either lobb it in with no care for the landing, loiter around it hoping people “get the hint”, or avoid it altogether because it’s awkward and uncomfortable. But here’s the truth: effective feedb...

If you want a boost of inspiration for your leadership and management, this episode is for you. I sit down with the incredible Tasneem Bhamji — strategist, transformation leader, and founder of Office Real Talk — to unpack what it really takes to lead with impact in high-pressure environments. Tasneem’s journey from journalism graduate to senior leader in banking and digital strategy has been mark...

Welcome back to Dolly in My Pocket — the solo series from The extra-Ordinary Leader podcast, designed to offer short, powerful reflections you can take straight into your leadership and life. In this episode, I’m talking about something I call the art of knowing yourself — but not in the “I like coffee and I’m a bit impatient” kind of way. I’m talking about truly understanding your personality, yo...

In this episode of The extra-Ordinary Leader , I sit down with Laura G. Patac , Strengths Coach , creator of Strengths Velocity Lab™ , and author of Stories with Purpose . With over 20 years as a corporate executive across five continents, Laura brings a wealth of wisdom on what it really takes to thrive as a leader. We explore the difference between success and impact, why presence and influence...

Welcome to another Dolly in My Pocket — the short solo series within The extra-Ordinary Leader podcast, designed to offer pithy, practical leadership insights to carry into your week. This episode is about quitting — but not in the way you think. I'm not talking about giving up alcohol or bad habits. I’m talking about something far more radical: quitting the automatic “yeses” and inherited “n...

In this episode of The extra-Ordinary Leader , I sit down with Thor Olafsson, Founder & CEO of Strategic Leadership Group and author of Beyond Ego . Thor has built and led multiple businesses and now works globally with leaders to integrate strategy and people in a way that creates true, sustainable growth. We explore the nine ego types that can both empower and undermine leadership, and how s...

Welcome back to Dolly in My Pocket — a short solo series from The extra-Ordinary Leader podcast, created to give you practical, mindset-shifting reflections that fit into even the busiest week. In this episode, I talk about something I call changing the rules — and no, not the legal ones. I’m talking about the unconscious, unspoken rules we live by without even realising. Things like “I should alw...

In this week’s episode of The extra-Ordinary Leader , I’m joined by my friend and powerhouse leader Becky Barsellotti—Managing Partner at GiANT London and the brilliant mind behind Alive , a seven-step process for creating a life by design, not by accident. Becky was one of the earliest catalysts in my own leadership journey. From the moment I met her, I knew she had that rare gift of unlocking pe...

Welcome to the first ever episode of Dolly in My Pocket — a new solo series within The extra-Ordinary Leader podcast. Each short episode is designed to offer a moment of pause: a thought, a reflection, a challenge you can carry into your day. These are not fluffy motivational quotes — they’re grounded insights that have shaped the way I lead, live, and support others to do the same. If you’re new...

Kicking off Series 4, I’m joined by the brilliant Chris Hirst – former Global CEO, speaker, and author of the bestselling No Bullsh*t series, including his latest release, Indispensable . This is a practical, powerful conversation about real leadership – not just the talking and thinking, but the doing . We explore what it means to take your space and authority as a leader, how to build indivisibl...

Welcome to Series 4 of The extra-Ordinary Leader . In this launch episode, I take a moment to define what I mean by “extra-Ordinary leadership.” It’s not about being grandiose or exceptional in the traditional sense—it’s about adding extra to the ordinary parts of your leadership, life, and career. I open up about my own inflexion point—moving from a full-time stay-at-home mum and vicar’s wife to...

As we wrap up Season 3 of The extra-Ordinary Leader , I wanted to pull together the most transformational threads from this series—ideas and insights that have helped me grow as a leader and that I believe can do the same for you. This episode explores how we can move from a fixed mindset to a growth mindset in leadership, the power of pausing, mastering stress, building self-awareness, and the pa...

This week I’m joined by Tanya Gallagher, MD and founder of Limitless Leadership, an award-winning leadership development consultancy. Tanya brings a wealth of wisdom to the space of leadership development, and what stood out to me most in our conversation is just how practical and human her definition of extra-Ordinary leadership is. We dig into the difference between good, bad, and terrible leade...

You’re in for a treat. This week I’m joined by the incredible Oleg Konovalov — a globally respected business educator, leadership expert, and author of The Vision Code . Oleg doesn’t just talk about leadership; he embodies it through his work helping C-suite leaders across the world create meaningful, enduring impact. In this episode, we take apart the familiar terms — vision, value, strategy — an...

This week, I’m joined by Kate Thrumble, SVP and Head of People and Experience at VaynerMedia – a creative agency where leadership is lived out daily in real, human ways. In this episode, Kate shares what it means to lead not with the weight of being the “log”, but as the kindling – the spark that ignites others. We talk candidly about feedback, connection, culture, performance and the sweet spot b...

In this episode of The extra-Ordinary Leader , I had the enormous pleasure of speaking with Helen Brocklebank, CEO of Walpole—the official body for British luxury. Helen works closely with over 250 of the UK’s most iconic high-end brands, and in our conversation, she shares the leadership behaviours, values, and mindset that make these businesses so resilient and remarkable. We explored what we ca...

In this episode of The extra-Ordinary Leader , I’m joined by the incredible Cathy O'Dowd – the first woman to climb Mount Everest from both the north and south sides. But this conversation isn’t just about physical mountains; it’s about the emotional and professional peaks we all face. Cathy’s story is one of grit, humility and mindset, and I couldn’t have been more inspired by the way she ta...

In this thought-provoking episode of The extra-Ordinary Leader , I sat down with Daniel Hulme , AI expert and CEO, to explore what leadership looks like in the age of artificial intelligence, data-driven decisions, and flatter, decentralised organisations. Together, we unravelled: Why extra-Ordinary leadership starts with getting out of the way How to use AI to surface team dynamics and friction p...