The Leadership Enigma

Nic Marks’s TED talk on the Happy Planet Index has been viewed millions of times. He studied maths at Cambridge, is a trained therapist and statistician and was a member of the Think Tank (New Economics Foundation) working on wellbeing that became hugely successful and influential at Governmental level. A happy team is a successful team. Happiness is ill defined and therefore can be thought of at...

Ian Clarke is Founder of award-winning culture transformers Delight Consulting and the author of 'Project Speak Up' - a global D&I report and change campaign that sent ripples across the global financial sector, broke 5 CSR world records and changed the perception of people and conduct risk forever. A multi-award winning philanthropist, rights campaigner and D&I consultant, Ian is a leading author...

Garry Ridge is the CEO and Chairman of WD40 , a publicly traded company of the iconic blue and yellow can with the red cap. His 25 years as CEO have been his apprenticeship in all things leadership and culture. Garry describes himself as the consciously incompetent, probably wrong and roughly right CEO of an iconic product that can now be found in 176 countries. Culture is at the heart of everythi...

Dr. Gautam Gulati is a physician entrepreneur and world-renowned keynote speaker focused on using unconventional and contrarian techniques to drive innovation in health. By being a "sponge to the world", Dr. G has an uncanny ability to identify problems, spot trends, and uncover patterns that most others miss. He uses a personal mantra called GO.BE.DO . to serve as a guiding filter for his life de...

Hidde de Vries is the founder of Recharge , a former Googler and the author of “Work Smart, Play Smart’ which he released in the UK live on this podcast episode. Hidde recalls losing his business, his income, his girlfriend and his flat as the catalyst for his journey to avoid burnout and depression. It was only when Hidde was full time at Google and loving his work did he start to reconsider how...

Lisa Hurley is a writer, TV host, Podcaster and Activist. We met when both of us were separately featured in Podcaster Inc Magazine. As soon as I heard Lisa's story, this episode became a priority. We are two totally different people who share a passion for trying to add value and positivity in the world. Our curiosity allows us to see our commonality and human spirit for positive change. Lisa exp...

Rob Lilwall is a National Geographic Adventurer and author. Rob's first expedition was a 35,000 mile bike ride from Siberia to London where he had to survive months of minus 40 degree weather and being knocked off his bike twice. He then deiced to walk from Mongolia to Hong Kong followed by his decision to trek across the Taklamakan (desert of death) by himself. Rob is a true example of an ordinar...

Simon Leslie is the CEO of Ink Global , the world's largest publisher of in-flight magazines..........that was until the global pandemic arrived. Simon is also the author of a number of books including 'Equanimity - Diary of a CEO in Crisis' which he wrote during the challenges of the pandemic. Simon has been a serial entrepreneur all his life striving to do things better, differently and in a cul...

Welcome to Episode 100. Renée Elliott is the founder of Planet Organic and co-founder of Beluga Bean. Renée has devoted her working life to offering and supporting a life of wellbeing. She built Planet Organic on the basis of being able to offer healthy food to create healthy lifestyles. Her passion is laser focused on helping entrepreneurs and business owners understand their 'Whole Self Leadersh...

Tony O'Driscoll is a Professor at Duke University and author of his recent book "Everyday Superhero."  Tony's work is at the cutting edge of modern day leadership as we discuss the challenge for organisations to transform in perpetuity and the absolute need to understand that people make an organisation stop or go. We also discuss the necessity for leaders to create clear and compelling narratives...

Chester Elton is one of the world’s leading authorities on leadership and culture having spoken in over 45 countries. He is a 7 time Wall Street Journal Best Seller a 5 Times New York Times Best Seller . He is part of the Marshall Goldsmith 100 and the King of Gratitude. Chester shares his personal journey that led to the writing of his recent books, “Anxiety at Work and “Leading with Gratitude” O...

Jay Goldman is the co-founder and CEO of Sensei Labs , a New York Times best-selling author of ’The Decoded Company', HBR contributor and TedX Speaker. Jay chats to me about the need for speed in our organisations and in our leadership especially as the global pandemic was a ‘forcing function’ that delivered 10 years of digital transformation in just 2 years. A successful company exists within a v...

Howard Tiersky is the CEO of From The Digital Transformation Agency and Wall Street Journal best selling author of "Winning Digital Customers The Antidote to Irrelevance." In this episode we discuss how leaders and organisations have navigated the accelerated digital environment in order to understand changing customer needs and behaviours in order to avoid becoming irrelevant. Howard explains to...

Scott O’Neil was the CEO of the Philadelphia 76’s (NBA) and the New Jersey Devils (NHL) and former President of Maddison Square Garden, the venue that has hosted some of the most iconic sporting and entertainment events. Scott is also the author of “Be Where Your Feet Are” which he wrote as a purposeful mechanism to heal after tragically losing a close friend.  Scott grew up in a strong family uni...

Dan Lewindon is the current Head of Performance, Science & Medicine for the LTA (Lawn Tennis Association) and former physio for the England Rugby Team. We chat about the personal journey we are all on in the pursuit of high performance and how progress requires the need to courageously jettison a reliance on our technical and expert capabilities and leverage more of our innate human centred leader...

Peter Sursi is an experienced people manager at the FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) . All leaders continue to grapple with the ability to live and lead themselves and others through constant change. Law enforcement provides an environment where the scope and requirement to change can literally mean the difference between life and death. Peter discusses a number of projects that he has been i...

Dustin Seale is the Regional Managing Partner EMEA, Hedrick Consulting , part of Heidrick & Struggles. Dustin is passionate about taking responsibility for working with as many leaders and organisations as possible in order to foster a world better led and to create positive and sustainable change. This episode is an absolute must for all leaders as we discuss the importance of culture in a post p...

Elliot Evans (aka Elliot the Coach) was a typical teenager trying to impress, achieve, understand life and attract validation. When the going got tough he felt the need to throw himself even further into work and radical self development techniques. This was until he suffered a breakdown at the age of 25 following a series of set backs and failed attempts at finding his authentic self. Mental heal...

Tom Lyas is the Talent Acquisition Manager for the law firm Browne Jacobson. He is passionate about inclusivity and has championed social mobility in a number of organisations culminating in Browne Jacobson being voted the No.1 Social Mobility Employer in the UK. Would you consider scrapping the academic criteria from your hiring process? Tom did. The results were staggering. The firm moved from h...

Richard Newman is the founder and CEO of Body Talk, award winning writer and keynote speaker. He has featured on TV and radio and assisted one client generate an additional $1bn in revenues using his communication techniques. Richard is passionate about the subject of communication. He is an introvert and high functioning autistic whereby much of his early life was spent trying to discover why he...

Reg Rix is the co-founder and co- CEO of Car Finance 24/7 with his brother Louis. He was passionate, driven and determined to have his own business from the age of 17. Failure, administration, a credit crunch and a pandemic could not stop the brothers building a business that is disrupting the market place and now has over 600 people employed. This is a no nonsense episode from a CEO who is young,...

Brad Berwick grew up in a family with a rich and proud military heritage. His life and career are testimony that leaders are made not born. He was originally asked to leave college as a 'C' grade student which prompted him to join the military during the Gulf War before becoming a Secret Service Agent and finding himself protecting multiple US Presidents. He is currently Head of Investigations (EM...

James Lisica is a Strategist, Futurist and international speaker in relation to global supply chains. Do you take for granted the complexity and importance of how items reach their customer base? As a leader the issue of global supply chains has never been more important. Complex considerations include the use of intelligent data, sustaining profits by profiting sustainably, winning tomorrow's cus...

Anil Santhapuri is a multi award winning learning leader at CGI in India. Before we lead others and our organisations we must take the time to deeply think about our own leadership. Anil discusses three key categories. Human Being: Who we are at each moment, or rather who we want to be at each moment. It's your inner essence and core of existence. Human Doing: What you are doing now whilst being w...

What's Next for The Leadership Enigma?  A huge thank you to all our amazing guests, listeners and subscribers. By the end of 2021 we were ranking in the top 2.5% of podcasts globally and we ranked No.1 for Leadership in the UK.  We have multiple 5 star ratings and remain on the reading list of the MBA programme at The London School of Economics.  This year we want to hear from you! Please get in t...