Transforming Work with Sophie Wade

Dr. Meghan Grace leads Gen Z research at the Institute of Generational Research and Education and leads research and data strategies at learning and development consultancy Plaid. She sheds light on who the youngest workers in the labor market are—a group whom leaders and managers across all sectors are struggling to attract, engage, and retain. Meghan shares illuminating research findings about G...

Rowena Hennigan is a university lecturer at TU Dublin, published academic author and researcher, remote work expert, and digital nomad. She lives her ethos "work is not a place" and transitioned from working remotely—starting in 2007—to establish a digital nomad life for herself and her family. Rowena explains how digital nomad options are expanding to encompass slow travel, nomad families and com...

J.R. Richards is a platinum selling American rock artist. He was the lead singer and songwriter for the band Dishwalla which achieved a major US No 1 hit, several music awards, and released five albums. J.R. now is an artist entrepreneur with four solo albums who continues to develop his 30+ year career. He shares the open-minded and entrepreneurial approach which allowed him to ride the technolog...

Adam Tuckwell, Managing Director for Mobas, a brand transformation business in the UK, crafts, seeds, amplifies, and channels corporate messaging to affect change as social media and other communications platforms shift information power dynamics between leaders and their constituent audiences. Adam brings communications experience spanning video gaming, traditional publishing, and brand agencies...

Dr. Grin Lord is the founder and CEO of mpathic.ai, an AI-powered service bringing empathy to enterprises. Trained as a clinical psychologist, Grin describes critical discoveries while a research scientist and gaining expertise in conversational design. She shares insights about how AI and machine learning can augment human connection, improve therapy bots, and train leaders, managers, and employe...

KEY TAKEAWAYS   [02:50] Colin started his career in accounting and then retail banking.   [03:50] Colin discovers he enjoys seeing people win and developing their careers.    [04:35] When banks were fighting for survival, the focus was internal not on customers.   [05:54] Colin wanted to understand the business end to end and the role he and others played.   [06:54] Transitioning from a large to a...

Lou Diamond, growth consultant and CEO of Thrive, is the host of popular podcast Thrive Loud, a keynote speaker and author. Lou's new book "Speak Easy" is a playbook to help people connect and communicate, especially addressing the most difficult and awkward conversations. Lou shares insights gathered working in retail, consulting, banking, and as an entrepreneur, learning how "soft" skills are th...

Haddy Davies is the Global Procurement Leader and Black Employee Network Chair at Johnson Matthey, a British specialties chemicals and sustainable technologies company. Haddy shares how lockdown in March 2020 forced her to do her job very differently. She recognizes the business's heavy reliance on machines as well as the critical importance of understanding and engaging employees. Post-pandemic,...

Trond Undheim, futurist, speaker, entrepreneur, venture partner, and the author of a new book, Augmented Lean in this second episode gets to the practical details of how flexibility can be achieved in manufacturing plants after a 50 year innovation hiatus. Trond draws on his industrial tech background, understanding of manufacturers' realities, and recognition of frontline workers' expertise to de...

Trond Undheim, futurist, speaker, entrepreneur, venture partner, and author of a new book "Augmented Lean". Trond draws on his technology-focused background across public, academic, and private sectors to discuss the need and solutions for workplace flexibility for frontline manufacturing workers. Acknowledging the paradigm shift to employ a human-centric approach, integrating employees' inputs, T...

Jen Fox, Director of People Experience and Culture at Justworks, discovered her passion for training and developing people early on. She shares learnings from her experiences at Nordstrom and Starbucks as well as working independently as a coach. Jen continues her journey at Justworks supporting new individualized career pathways, navigating new work arrangements, and empowering employees to help...

Paul McKinlay, VP of Communications and Remote Working at Cimpress and Vista (prev. VistaPrint) had a series of transformative experiences working in management, L&D, and Communications, working for ASDA and Walmart in the UK and US which set him up to take the lead role in implementing the strategic "Remote First" initiative at Cimpress and Vista. Paul shares his insights about the importance of...

Robert Keane, Founder and CEO of Cimpress and Vista (formerly VistaPrint) built a multibillion-dollar business from scratch starting more than 20 years ago. He transformed the original analog operations through digitalization in order to scale rapidly. Robert explains how this strategic move also set them up to go "remote first" in August 2020—listening to employees' preferences—with the intent of...

Ali Azeem, the Global Head of Growth at Ipsos Strategy3, has always believed in making an impact through involvement across the three professional realms--corporate, government, and charity. He shares his career journey as he has developed greater insights into human behavior—from customers and constituents to business colleagues—leading to his increasing focus on and interest in creating organiza...

Jenn DeWall is a leadership development strategist, workshop facilitator, and coach working mostly with and on behalf of her Millennial peers. She also hosts The Leadership Habit podcast. Focused on supporting rising Millennial leaders' progress, Jenn shares her own experiences—successes and struggles—that have shaped her perspectives and approach to leadership development in the new era of work....

Dominic Price, Work Futurist at Atlassian, first explains unlearning. He discusses the excitement and challenges of his work ensuring his company keeps adapting to stay ahead of competitors as it grows rapidly year on year. Focused on anticipating, exploring, and improving ways of working, Dom offers suggestions to specific questions that we are all currently trying to answer such as about hybrid...

Podcast host, Sophie Wade, checks in to discuss the current challenges, frustrations, and fatigue we are all dealing with as we emerge from the pandemic. From resisting or rolling out new work arrangements, to managing supply chain disruptions and rising costs, facilitating business and workforce transformation at the same time is not easy. Sophie explains how empathy works to enable the necessary...

Pascal Dulex, Culture Coach and Creative Director at Freitag in Switzerland, has been one of the people instrumental in implementing holacracy—a "self-management practice for organizations"—within the company. Pascal discusses the essence of leadership, provides insights about the role of managers, and explains how work processes were affected as the company prepared for and adopted holacracy. He...

Dr. Amanda Crowell, a university professor, cognitive psychologist, and coach, developed a time management system that helps people be productive without burning out after she experienced severe burnout herself. Amanda explains how to transform outcomes and avoid burnout by recognizing our own expertise, shifting focus, and discovering what key elements to do differently. When we reconfigure "how"...

Deepa Purushothaman shares the experiences of many Women of Color, including herself, in the corporate world and their challenges to rise as leaders—including loneliness and not seeing themselves represented. Deepa talks about the importance of co-conspirators speaking up as well understanding they will make mistakes. Deepa is the author or "The First, The Few, The Only: How Women of Color Can Red...

Minter Dial, a management consultant on leadership and transformation and author of several books, speaks about his latest book, You Lead: How Being Yourself Makes You a Better Leader . Minter discusses what he learned when he ran a division at L'Oréal and what he needed to understand about himself—with the help of the Grateful Dead—along the way. He also shares why having a business purpose is a...

Reid Hiatt, the Co-Founder and CEO at Tactic, launched this new venture during the pandemic to enable companies to bring employees back into the office safely and to provide long-term solutions for those moving to hybrid models. Reid shares insights about the dynamics of hybrid work arrangements and how he sees companies—including his own—using effective communication and new tools to implement th...

Claire Harbour spent years in general management, strategy consulting, and executive search before deciding to focus on people, talent and bringing out the best in individuals and organizations. She is now a leadership coach and co-author of Disrupt Your Career: How to Navigate Uncharted Career Transitions and Thrive and online courses on career agility. Claire shares insights about the Great Resi...

Kapil Kane, Director of Innovation at Intel China and co-founder of award-winning corporate innovation accelerator GrowthX, has wide-ranging experience in product design and shares insights about his customer- and employee-centric approach to design and innovation. He explains how the accelerator stimulates innovation at Intel and how they have adapted to be responsive and innovate faster during t...

Susan Inouye, CEO of the Inouye LoRe Group, is an executive coach, recognized expert with Millennials, and bestselling author of Leadership's Perfect Storm: What Millennials Are Teaching Us about Possibilities, Passion and Purpose . Susan brings her proven track record in transformational change to share insights about what matters most in all our working lives and how leaders can stop the burnout...