The Independent Minds

Faris Aranki the founder of strategy consultancy Shiageto . Shiageto ensures the success of change management projects and strategy implementation by focusing on building competence across all three intelligences, 1. Intellectual Intelligence 2. Emotional Intelligence 3. Focus Intelligence. In this episode of the Abeceder podcast The Independent Minds, Faris explains to host Michael Millward the w...

When the bad news hit David Patrykowski knew that he could have avoided the agony of almost losing his business if he had taken notice of, and understood the data that his business was generating. Like many entrepreneurs David had simply got on with the work. Now, David understands all the data that his business creates and has built a business to help other businesses understand their data and ut...

Noah Healy joins The Independent MInds host Michael Millward to explain  why he is working on a new approach to algorithms. Noah explains what he sees as the problems with existing approaches and why he is confident that a different approach like the one he is developing would have far reaching benefits for the tech industry, businesses and consumers. It is fascinating to hear Noah explain wh...

Finding work can be a challenge for anyone, but for someone who is leaving education with little, or no work experience the challenges of accessing the first steps on the career ladder can seem unsurmountable. When Sydney Samuels left university with an ambition to work in the finance industry, the reality of just how hard it can be to access career opportunities became very apparent. Despite the...

Adrian Ashton helps the leaders of charities and not-for-profit organisations to turn those, someone should do something about this into, I will be that someone action plans. He tells Michael Millward from Abeceder what people who want to create change must do before they can start to create that change. Adrian explains that creating a change requires  understanding the history of challenges...

Andrew Miller is the creator of the Business Enjoyment Model and author of the book More Than Just Money. In this episode of the Abeceder podcast The Independent Minds, Andrew discusses with host Michael Millward how and why people find it difficult define why they work. Many people forget the reason why they chose a particular career. Instead, the job they have and where they do that job can beco...

In his book Good to Great, Jim Collins uses foxes and hedgehogs to describe two different types of behaviours that can be attributed to entrepreneurs, investors or employees. In this episode of the Abeceder podcast The Independent Minds, Andres Klaric, the CEO and co-founder of Fuse Financial explains how when he was a Wall Street banker he was comfortable spending most of his time being one of th...

Stephan Szugat is founder of Self Coaching 365 and the author of Interconnected Success in which he explains the connections between business management and the coaching techniques that help businesses to be more successful. In this episode of the Abeceder podcast The Independent Minds, Stephan explains his seven-point model that breaks down the activities that any type or size of organisation nee...

Despite more than half a century of DEI initiatives women, and people of BAME communities still face challenges that make accessing senior management roles difficult. The problem is particularly common in the public sector. Traditionally the public sector has drawn employees from these communities, but it is usually still white males who end up in the top jobs. Now two women who have broken throug...

Clare Norman, is the author of Cultivating Coachability In this episode of the Abeceder podcast The Independent Minds, Clare explains the challenges organisations face when trying to make coaching work successfully, to host Michael Millward . Clare explains the advantages of coaching as part of the training mix, especially as a way of helping people transfer what they have learnt on training cours...

Stuart Burlton and his wife are the entrepreneurial team behind Make an Entrance , a manufacturer of door mats. When the company faced supply chain challenges many entrepreneurs would have looked to international manufacturers. But Suart and his wife decided to open their own factory instead. In this episode of The Independent Minds Stuart explains to Michael Millward of Abeceder , why that decisi...

Steve Martin is an Enterprise Agile Coach. In this episode of the Abeceder podcast The Independent Minds, Steve explains Business Agility to host Michael Millward . Steve explains what business agility is by comparing different types of business. He explores with Michael the role that HR professionals and departments play in preparing a business to start on a business agility journey, guiding the...

In this episode of the Abeceder podcast The Independent Minds, Bright Trainer Linda Salazar explains being Volun-Told to host Michael Millward . Linda describes the start of her career in training, and how she has developed her career. A key reason for Linda’s success has been recognising the times when she has been told to volunteer, what Linda describes as Volun-Told to take new opportunities. M...

In this episode of the Abeceder podcast The Independent Minds, host Michael Millward meets Alan Lazaros, the CEO of the Next Level University . Next Level University helps individuals work out what they need to do to be able to lead a fulfilled life., which as Michael and Alan discuss has undoubted benefits for an employer. Alan uses his personal experience, and the four bucket model to explain ho...

In this episode of the Abeceder podcast The Independent Minds, host Michael Millward discusses with Sid Madge founder of Meee the commercial reasons why employers should seriously consider employing ex-offenders. In April 2024 data from the UK Police National Computer showed 11 million people in the UK have a criminal record. A third of men and nine per cent of women will have been convicted of an...

In this episode of The Independent Minds host Michael Millward is joined by Dr Sammar Javed , a lecturer at the University of Derby for a discussion about the morning Duʿāʾ and how it connects learning, activities, and reward. O Allah, I ask You for knowledge that is of benefit, a good provision, and deeds that will be accepted. Ibn Majah: 925 What is a Du’a? For Muslims a Duʿāʾ is a prayer of inv...

It is surprising how difficult it can be for expatriates returning to their home country to find work, work at the same level they operated at when overseas, or work that would equate to a promotion. Many recruiters simply do not appreciate the value that a candidate with international experience can add to an organisation. In this episode of the Abeceder podcast The Independent Minds Clarke Dodd...

In this episode of the Abeceder podcast The Independent Minds Chris Golby the founder of CultureNav explains the difference between engagement surveys and cultural analytics, and the challenges that not understanding an organisational culure creates for organisations and their employees. As Chris explains to host Michael Millward, how to navigate culture to discover potential so that potential can...

Lindsey Struck is the Chief Handcraft Programs Officer at NEST . NEST helps artisan crafters from around the world work with major fashion and homeware brands and retailers. Lindsey explains the history of NEST and the successful connections they have facilitated between crafters and major a fashion brand like Ralph Lauren and retailers like Williams Sonoma and West Elm. Lindsey explains to host M...

Callum Armstrong (BCom) is a Kiwi social entrepreneur with a passion for marketing strategy, developing businesses, and helping the environment. Through his business, Paste and Publish Callum provides coaching in marketing that helps businesses to understand how to create content and digital marketing that enables them to grow. The aim is to solve problems for other businesses (B2B services). He e...

Technology shrinks the world making it possible for guests from around the world to appear on The Independent Minds, But most business people do business with other businesses that are in the same area. As Michael Forman explains building good relationships with other local businesses can improve the performance of any business. In this episode of The Independent Minds Michael Forman explains to h...

David Nordel , Retired AF Command Chief Master Sgt is the founder of Max Fab Consulting, a specialist in supporting employers to being Veteran ready. With their Veteran READY Certification and Training Program Max Fab assists employers to create a vibrant and inclusive veteran-READY culture that attracts and retaining highly skilled veteran employees. In this episode of the Abeceder podcast The In...

Larry Karsanoff is the CEO of Threshold Entertainment . He created all sorts of films from action blockbusters like the Terminator films and True Lies to children’s entertainment like the Lego movies. Larry is also the author of A Touch of the Madness, a book in which he explains how to help people unleash their natural creativity. In this episode of the Abeceder podcast The Independent Minds Larr...

David Alemian is known for his innovative talent retention solutions that are a win-win for employers and their skilled employees. In this episode of the Abeceder podcast The Independent Minds David explains to host Michael Millward his ideas for a Supplementary Employee Retirement Plan (SERP). Life is getting increasingly expensive, which makes it more difficult to save for retirement. People cha...

Prosper With Purpose by Colin Crooks is a book that enables the reader to unlock the secret to building a successful business either as an entrepreneur or employee without burning out! Colin Crooks MBE, is a serial social entrepreneur and experienced business coach. He has established five award-winning social enterprises and earned the Queen’s Award for Enterprise: Sustainable Development with hi...