Talent Smart Podcast

Season 2 Episode 1 - Rob Brown (Chief Transformation Officer, So Energy) – “Out to Lunch” Why sharing some food could be the key to high performance

Rob has over 30 years’ experience leading, managing, consulting and delivering innovative solutions to businesses of all shapes and sizes. He has focused intensely on organisation transformations and helping other leaders and teams become high performance and to gain results that are longer lasting, impacting more people positively.
 
During this episode we uncover the key ingredients to a high performing team and the importance of spending time together (eg going for lunch together). We discuss how this matches into today’s remote and disparate teams?
We hear from Rob’s phraseology such as; “stitching people together” and “the generational chasm”. Rob also explains why it is important that leaders demonstrate vulnerability (Bleeding in front of their team).
 
Rob explains the importance, for really high performing teams, that they must make tough commitments and meet them and he advises how to avoid situations where people simply nod and agree to commitments, but don’t genuinely believe that they will meet them?

Episode 25 - Keys To Success For Start Ups And Scale Ups – Graham Smith

It was great to catch up and chat with one of our long standing friends, Graham Smith, who is a highly accomplished and respected Strategy and Implementation Advisor. During this session, Graham shared his insights into how to successfully launch a start-up or a new product, together with offering some amazing advice for companies who have an existing product and now wish to scale up. We also covered trends and what is next for the AI world, including the new “AI CEO” run companies that are enjoying early success.

Episode 24 - Word Forest - A Conversation With Simon and Tracey West - Episode 2 of 2

It was an absolute pleasure to spend more time with Simon and Tracey West from Word Forest today. Word Forest are an environmental and education charity based in the UK that works to combat the devastating effects of global warming and climate change by planting fast growing trees in the tropics, predominantly food bearing. To assist the communities they also support women’s empowerment, build classrooms and facilitate education.  In this episode, we uncover the meaning of ‘Perma-Culture” and ‘Three Sisters” growing, together with learning more about the environment in Kenya and how planting trees can make a massive impact on the two rain cycles.
Also, Simon and Tracey tell us more about the Kenyan government’s commitment to planting 15 Billion trees. We also explore what ‘we’ can do to make a difference.

Episode 23 - Word Forest - A Conversation With Simon and Tracey West - Episode 1 of 2

It was an absolute pleasure to spend time with Simon and Tracey West from Word Forest today. Word Forest are an environmental and education charity based in the UK that works to combat the devastating effects of global warming and climate change by planting fast growing trees in the tropics, predominantly food bearing. To assist the communities they also support women’s empowerment, build classrooms and facilitate education.
 
In this episode, we discussed why they chose to set their programme up in Kenya and their “Mothers of the Forest”. In addition, we discussed the 4 pillars of the Word Forest programme and how they facilitate education

Episode 22 - Adrian Pagdin – Creating a work place based on belonging and purpose

Adrian Pagdin (Consultant, Advisor, Author and Project Manager) began his career in the Hotel industry before moving into project management and then on into the world of Learning & Development. Adrian has been a consultant and manager within some well known brand names, including Unilever, Holiday Inn and Hemsley Fraser. He is also the author of two books and the founder of Purpose Into Action, as well as being an ambassador and L&D Consultant for ADHD Aware.
 
In this podcast we uncover the benefits of hiring from the Neurodiverse community. Starting with a definition of neurodiversity and Adrian’s personal journey into neurodiversity?We discuss what kinds of adjustments might be required when a company is considering the neurodiversity community, together with some real life examples where a companies have realised the benefits of a more open hiring policy.
Adrian offer some great advice to leaders and hiring managers on how / where to start to create an amazing work place where everyone has a sense of belonging & purpose.

Episode 21 - Alexa Curtis (Founder & CEO of BeFearless) – The relationship between social media and mental health in young people

In 2011, at just 12 years old, Alexa started a fashion blog; A Life in the Fashion Lane. It became a platform for Alexa to express her feelings around everything relating to teens, body image and mental health.
 
In 2018, Alexa founded the Be Fearless Summit, and also launched her own radio show on Radio Disney called BEFearless Every Day with Alexa Curtis, which was the first of its kind and broke new ground for the Radio Disney brand. Alexa interviewed various guests who shared their journey of overcoming obstacles/challenges and chasing after their dreams.
 
In this open and honest interview, Alexa gave us a little about her background and how she became interested in studying the impact of social media on mental health, including the fact that she was a victim of bullying. She was able to define the current relationship between social media usage and mental health and the specific effects that social media has on the mental health of teenagers and young adults.
 
The great news for parents, is that Alexa was able to offer some pointers as to how to stay in touch with your children’s social media activities and perhaps avoid them falling into the toxic well.
 

Episode 20 - David Callow - How to foster harmony between the technology and business departments within an enterprise

I was delighted to welcome David Callow to the Talent Smart podcast for this latest episode. Dave has been in technology for over 25 years and has been a senior leader for over 10 years. He is the Chief Information Officer for NHS Professionals who look after 60 NHS trusts and work with over 180,000 healthcare professionals to provide a flexible work force to support the NHS. 
During this podcast we explore why is it so important that technology departments are working in harmony with the rest of the organisation. Dave shared his approach to bridging the gap between the technology and business departments within an enterprise, including the best ways to ensure effective communication between technology and business stakeholders to align goals and priorities?
We also explored the most common barriers to collaboration between technology and business departments and how you can measure the effectiveness of output between departments. 

Episode 19 - Paul McCarthy (Author of The FIRED Leader) – Are you in a dysfunctional leadership team….and what to do about it (Episode 2 of 2)

In this episode we discuss what are the key recurring components of a dysfunctional leadership team, together with exploring the true cost of a dysfunctional leadership team?
Paul also shares the quick ways to assess if a leadership team is working well together?
 
We discuss the topic of trust vs psychological safety how trust is the major contributor to how a team performs together? We uncover how do companies create a sense of purpose and shared vision and how do they start to assess if you have (or are in) a dysfunctional leadership team? 
 
Paul is an Author and global thought leader creating the conditions to reimagine, reinvent, and regenerate the future of leadership. Amongst a crowded space, Paul brings a unique, freshly disruptive, and bold, yet evidence-based, experiential, and experimental approach that is shifting the narrative within and beyond organisations about the future of leadership and work.
 
Follow this link for more information on Paul’s book - https://www.paulmacleadership.com/the-book

Episode 18 – Paul McCarthy (Author of The FIRED Leader) – How to elevate your leadership (Episode 1 of 2)

In this episode we talk through Paul’s book, The FIRED Leader and Paul breaks down the acronym F.I.R.E.D, together with why did he decide to write this book?
We discuss what are the new leadership requirements and what are the key mistakes that organisations make when defining their leadership (identification, recruitment, onboarding and developing).
 
We also discuss why disruption  curiosity are crucial attributes for a great leader.
 
Paul is an Author and global thought leader creating the conditions to reimagine, reinvent, and regenerate the future of leadership. Amongst a crowded space, Paul brings a unique, freshly disruptive, and bold, yet evidence-based, experiential, and experimental approach that is shifting the narrative within and beyond organizations about the future of leadership and work.
 
Follow this link for more information on Paul’s book - https://www.paulmacleadership.com/the-book

Episode 17 - Karen Poulter (CIO and IT Leader) - “Creating a high performing culture based on open communication and trust”

We were delighted to welcome Karen Poulter to our latest episode of the Talent Smart Podcast.
 
During this episode, we discussed the essential ingredients for a high performing culture, together uncovering what are “Employee networks” and how to build them. Karen also shared his insights into why is it so important that employees have a ‘voice’ and how does D,E&I contribute to high performance.
 
Karen Poulter  is a senior leader with over 15 years’ experience in delivering strategic and change programmes across both the private and public sectors with a passion for creating and maintaining high performing teams.  She has operated across a challenging and varied portfolios across varied countries and cultures.
 
Most recently, Karen was the CIO Hutchison Ports UK & Europe Division