Episode 501 – Effective with Melissa Swift

Episode 501 - Effective with Melissa Swift

‘It’s just this kind of ordinary zone of getting done the things you need to get done and making sure your work has the impact it’s supposed to have.’ There’s a lot of talk about high performance in leadership literature. But perhaps a more realistic goal, and the one with…

Continue reading

Episode 461 – The Disruptors with Sally Percy

Episode 461 - The Disruptors with Sally Percy

When she started her first job reporting on farming, trying to work out how to move into interior design, Sally Percy had no idea she’d forge such an extraordinarily successful careeer as a business journalist and author. But the lessons she learned in her earliest days – how to write…

Continue reading

Episode 456 – We Need New Leaders with Charlotte Otter

Episode 456 - We Need New Leaders with Charlotte Otter

‘Every time I interviewed somebody, I said, is there anyone you think I should talk to? And so it had a network effect for me. My network grew with these generous, amazing, thoughtful people.’ Writing a novel can be lonely; writing a thesis can be demanding; writing a business book…

Continue reading

Episode 414 – CEO Secrets with Dougal Shaw

Ep 414 - CEO Secrets with Dougal Shaw

Journalism is changing, which means journalists have to change too. And a great example of this is the way that BBC reporter Dougal Shaw has reinvented his own role from pure video journalism, transforming what started as corridor conversations with business leaders who happened to be visiting the BBC into…

Continue reading

Episode 395 – Bright sparks & damp squibs with Sir John Tusa

Episode 395 - Bright sparks & damp squibs with Sir John Tusa

‘It’s the stories we respond to in life. It’s people’s stories we respond to, and then… you can tease out the lessons. You don’t go for the theory head on.’ There are many, many books about creativity: what it is, how to do it, what steps to follow. When journalist…

Continue reading

Episode 369 – The Leap to Leader with Adam Bryant

‘Everything at its core has to be one of those three things: a great insight, a great story, or a great practical approach.’ Adam Bryant, creator of the New York Times‘s Corner Office column, has interviewed a LOT of top leaders, but not in the way they expected. He ask…

Continue reading

Episode 347 – Slow journalism with Rob Orchard

Episode 347 - Slow journalism with Rob Orchard

‘Slow journalism for us was just a way of encapsulating that feeling that when you take your time, you can do something more quality.’ In a media landscape dominated by the white-hot, reactive world of social media and rolling news, it can be hard to keep a sense of perspective.…

Continue reading

Episode 309 – Fearless writing with Robert Kelsey

Episode 309 - Fearless writing with Robert Kelsey

‘[Writing] is a craft. It’s no different to knitting or painting by numbers or whatever, you just have to learn the craft. It might take practice and it might take learning a few rules, but, you know, they’re not that scary.’ For Robert Kelsey, writing is an essential business skill…

Continue reading

Episode 293 – The Long Game with Dorie Clark

Episode 293 - The Long Game with Dorie Clark

‘You have to be good enough and you have to be persistent, [and] if you combine those two things together, then if you keep putting yourself in new situations, eventually there is going to be something that clicks.’ Dorie Clark is very clear that creating content – sharing your ideas…

Continue reading

Episode 289 – Medium, message and meaning with Jeremy Kourdi

Episode 289 - Medium, message and meaning with Jeremy Kourdi

‘Why would you write 28 books? To get good at some of the stuff that you’re writing about.’ As well as writing those 28 books, Jeremy Kourdi has experience of senior leadership at The Economist, Duke University and the CMI. It’s fair to say he has an all-round perspective on…

Continue reading