Collective Intelligence – Details, episodes & analysis

What Primates, Group Dynamics, and the Dunbar Number teach us about Thriving.

How do we create truly connected, thriving teams in an increasingly hybrid world?

Join Tracey Camilleri and Robin Dunbar, co-authors of The Social Brain: The Psychology of Successful Groups, as they delve into the science of social connection and organisational dynamics.

In this thought-provoking episode, Robin Dunbar shares the fascinating origins of the Dunbar Number — 150, the optimal group size for human connection — and explains how group size impacts everything from information flow to organisational success. Together, they explore:

• Why face-to-face interactions still matter in a virtual world
• How organisations can design social strategies to foster trust and collaboration
• The psychological and physical health benefits of strong social bonds

Whether you’re a leader, an HR professional, or simply curious about how relationships shape our workplaces, this conversation offers actionable insights for building better teams and rethinking hybrid work strategies.

The Collective Intelligence podcast is hosted by Tracey Camilleri and Sam Rockey, founders and directors of Thompson Harrison. Contact details in the links section below. Fractal structure of human & primate social networks optimises into flow · Connect with Robin on LinkedIn · More about the Social Brain book here · Website · LinkedIn · Follow on Instagram · Connect with Tracey Camilleri on LinkedIn · Connect with Sam Rockey on LinkedIn

Building Community and Connection through Humour.

Join Sam Rockey in a captivating conversation with comedian, leader, and educator John Vlismas as they explore the profound intersections of comedy, leadership, and personal growth. In this episode, John shares his transformative journey from a high-energy entertainer seeking adoration to a reflective performer embracing vulnerability, presence, and connection.

Dive into topics like the art of audience connection, the shift from exhaustion-driven work ethics to a Buddhist-inspired balance, and the role of gossip in comedy and society. With humour and insight, John discusses generational responsibility, planting seeds for the future, and how leaders can integrate stillness and self-knowledge into their practices.

This is more than a conversation, it's an invitation to think deeply about how we connect, laugh, and grow, both on stage and in life. Perfect for anyone curious about the fusion of art, wisdom, and leadership.

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The Collective Intelligence podcast is hosted by Tracey Camilleri and Sam Rockey, founders and directors of Thompson Harrison. Contact details in the links section below. Connect with John on LinkedIn · OGO Creative website · Website · LinkedIn · Follow on Instagram · Connect with Tracey Camilleri on LinkedIn · Connect with Sam Rockey on LinkedIn

Connecting Talent with Opportunity

Guest: Thami Schweichler (Makers Unite)

In this episode Tracey Camilleri talks to Thami Schweichler, the inspirational founder of Makers Unite, a sustainable clothing manufacturer based in the Netherlands that uses design as the mechanism to connect refugees with local people, businesses and ultimately with opportunity. The starting point for Makers Unite was to provide an environmental and social solution to the problem of exclusion - a 'win, win, win' model as he describes it. An inveterate optimist, Thami believes that everyone has a talent but that they deserve opportunity in order for that talent to flourish. He is in the business of creating those opportunities. He tells powerful stories of what has been achieved since the inception of Makers Unite by the newcomers he has had the privilege to meet and work with along the way. Changing the World is a Phone Call Away - Ted Amsterdam 2020, T Schweichler · Here is the link to Makers Unite · Connect with Thami · Thompson Harrison, one of London's leading bespoke leadership development consulting firms. · LinkedIn · Follow on Instagram · Connect with Tracey Camilleri on LinkedIn · Connect with Sam Rockey on LinkedIn

Building an interconnected and thriving world for all.

With our Guest, Shruthi Vijayakumar.

In this episode Shruthi shares her own story of courage and change. As a young change-maker, Shruthi's work focuses on re-imagining how society can be designed to ensure a positive social impact for all.

Drawing on ancient wisdom and challenging commonly held assumptions and belief systems - Shruthi shares helpful insights and experience that leaders can use to refocus their own personal purpose.

Shruthi leaves us with a challenge on how to focus on the interconnectedness between all people, all nature and all living beings. If we look at the world from a point of interconnectedness rather than separation - then there is a chance of thriving for all. Website · LinkedIn · Follow on Instagram · Connect with Tracey Camilleri on LinkedIn · Connect with Sam Rockey on LinkedIn

Why people don't care how much you know, unless they know how much you care

Dr. Alistair Mokoena (Google South Africa Country Director)

In this episode, Sam Rockey picks up on a conversation she started with Dr. Alistair Mokoena fifteen years ago that inspired her own work.

Drawing on his experience working for some of the leading companies in the world (Cadbury, Mondelez, Unilever, SABMiller, FCB and Ogilvy among them) as well as his academic focus, Ally shares his process for ongoing learning and reminds us that 'leaders who don't read, shouldn't lead.'

Ally shares what makes great organisations survive and thrive and talks about the importance of organisations going back to first principles - they exist to solve a need, and serve communities. For big organisations to deliver they need to work in partnership with small enterprises - taking an ecosystem approach ensures ongoing relevance. He warns against the tyranny of complacency and extends that to his own daily practice of putting together research 'cheat sheets'.

Ally provides a lens to the future and where true innovation will be coming from in the next decade and encourages us all to look for ways to unleash potential.

The books Ally mentions in the podcast are written by Tshilidzi Marwala "Closing the Gap" and "Leading in the 21st Century". Connect with Alistair on LinkedIn · Website · LinkedIn · Follow on Instagram · Connect with Tracey Camilleri on LinkedIn · Connect with Sam Rockey on LinkedIn

And Other Strategies for Women Leaders

In this episode Kathryn Bishop (Director of Oxford Said Business School's Women Transforming Leadership Programme and The Oxford Women's Leadership Development Programme) talks about her new book 'Make Your Own Map'. The book is designed as a practical strategy guide for aspiring women. Kathryn explains some of the tools that she uses to help women to navigate their way to more satisfying futures. In the conversation with Tracey Camilleri, they reflect amongst other things on imposter syndrome, the particular quality of all-female environments, the masculine/feminine continuum when it comes to leadership styles and questions like - why it is that female voices often go unheard? Kathryn balances research with stories of the real women she has worked with - as well as giving us some gems of practical wisdom - such as the joys of the 'Not to Do List'. Oxford Women's Leadership Development Programme · Women Transforming Leadership Programme (Oxford Said Business School) · Make Your Own Map by Kathryn Bishop · Website · LinkedIn · Follow on Instagram · Connect with Tracey Camilleri on LinkedIn · Connect with Sam Rockey on LinkedIn

Stop playing it safe

In this podcast Tracey Camilleri and Samenua Sesher explore the power of art to renew, re-engage and reinvigorate, especially during times of trauma. As the Founder of the digital Museum of Colour, Samenua reflects on some of the creative journeys of her contributors – and on her own visceral reaction to the Pitt Rivers Museum of anthropology in Oxford. Informed by her 'Respect Due' Gallery , she invites us all to take time out to honour those who have influenced our lives, especially our elders. Samenua exhorts even those who don’t think of themselves as being ‘creative’ or those who don’t work in the creative industries to try the untried, to change up their ‘unofficial board of advisors’, to dare to follow their imaginations. At times like these, we need to stop playing it safe. Samenua brings a much needed playful, joyful optimism to bear on our sombre times, believing that the development of the vaccine has shown us that ‘we can do things faster than we think’. ‘Joy is a wonderful place to work from’, she declares and leaves us with her 2020 playlist which, she says, gladdens the heart.

Samenua Sesher is a culture management consultant, a coach, an unconscious bias trainer and the founder and director of the Museum of Colour, exploring the creative journeys of British people of colour. She has experience of delivering multi-million-pound programmes and has fed into national cultural policy; set up and run a local authority culture service and lectured.

She was a 2008/09 Clore Fellow and was awarded an OBE for Services to the Arts in spring 2018 from the New Year’s Honours List.

Samenua is a People's Palace Project (PPP) Associate, member of the Advisory Board for The Art of Cultural Exchange and the is on the faculty for Oxford Cultural Leaders.

All her work is underpinned by a passionate belief in the power of creativity to transform us, challenge us and help to improve our understanding of the world, its people and ourselves. Digital Museum of Colour · The Pitt Rivers Museum of Anthropology at Oxford · Samenua's Spotify playlist · Website · LinkedIn · Follow on Instagram · Connect with Tracey Camilleri on LinkedIn · Connect with Sam Rockey on LinkedIn

Language and Power - how does it work?

Dr. Ben Morgan

In this episode Tracey Camilleri talks to poet, academic, essayist and writer Ben Morgan looks under the bonnet at how language really works and why, when used well, it is effective. How has the recent outburst of joy around the vaccine and the US election been expressed? What is powerful about the way Joe Biden use language? What can we learn from the first lines of Hamlet? Why do certain metaphors work? What's the secret of getting the tone right? Why is Greta Thunberg such a skilful user of rhetoric? Join us for this enjoyable pick through the bones and muscles of the way we speak now.

Dr Ben Morgan is a writer, critic and tutor based in Oxford. He has published poetry widely, including a long sequence, 'Medea in Corinth' (Poetry Salzburg, 2018), which retells the Greek myth in modern forms. He is completing a book on Shakespeare and the idea of political justice for Princeton University Press. He also writes essays and reviews for a range of publications, as as teaching Shakespeare studies and English to undergraduates at Oxford and beyond, with a particular focus on visiting students. Website · LinkedIn · Follow on Instagram · Connect with Tracey Camilleri on LinkedIn · Connect with Sam Rockey on LinkedIn

Taking (unmanned) flight

Dr Yoge Patel (Blue Bear Systems | CEO)

In this first of Series Two of our Ghost Lights Podcasts we focus on How to Begin.

Here we have the good fortune to talk to tech entrepreneur Dr Yoge Patel, CEO of Blue Bear Systems a UK leader in unmanned flight technology about how she began to grow her company.

She reflects on the developmental benefits of being in the middle of a family of 7 children and how that gave her with the opportunity to watch and listen as she was growing up – key capabilities for an entrepreneur.

In the conversation she reflects on a characteristic that unites all entrepreneurs – an impatient desire to change the status quo. Although she is a self-confessed ‘techie’, her approach to running a business has a solid human-based foundation, built on simple principles – or ‘mantras’ – and a non-hierarchical shared ethos.

Her secret of success?

Even after her mother told her as a child to ‘stop smiling, people will think you are simple’ – it is always to be herself, whether speaking to a cabinet minister or the youngest recruit in the office. She reflects on some of the advantages of the Covid lockdown amongst all the difficulty, ‘I love it when one of my most senior guys tells me that he has to break off a video call to put his two year old son to bed for a nap. We have won back time from our commute for our families.’

She is optimistic about the development of technology – believing that it must always contribute to broader societal value, always be a tool for the furtherance of mankind and that good emotional design is the foundation for good engineering. Connect with Yoge on LinkedIn · Website · LinkedIn · Follow on Instagram · Connect with Tracey Camilleri on LinkedIn · Connect with Sam Rockey on LinkedIn

A conversation with Margaret Heffernan

In this wide ranging episode Tracey talks to Margaret Heffernan about the importance of paying attention to what is not being said - as well as learning to listen closely to others who have a very different perspective and experience of life. She ponders the limits and oversimplifying 'narrative tidiness' of stories told in the present about complex situations, as well as the blundering misuse of big data. She reflects on the inadequacy of what is still an essentially 19th century education system and the need for lifelong learning as we embark on Uncharted territory. She laments how many management processes seem designed precisely to constrain rather than enable experimentation, creativity and flexibility - the expression of our neuroplasticity.

Margaret refers back to her earlier book, 'How She Does It', as she talks about the different way in which women lead and establish systems in organisations. Thinking about an unknown future she hopes for a world where we can all be more curious, ask better questions, one where we are prepared to give up some of our comforts for the good of the next generation and, as leaders, tell the hard truths as we see them rather than settling for short term, easy lies that lead to the costly erosion of trust that we are currently living through. Engage with Margaret on her website · Connect with Margaret on LinkedIn · Website · LinkedIn · Follow on Instagram · Connect with Tracey Camilleri on LinkedIn · Connect with Sam Rockey on LinkedIn