Explore every episode of the podcast Curious Leadership with Dominic Monkhouse
| Title | Pub. Date | Duration | |
|---|---|---|---|
| E351 | Dan Williams: How Optimism, Grit and Vulnerability Built a £30M Business | 30 Oct 2025 | 00:50:57 | |
Can optimism really scale a company? In this episode, Dominic chats to Dan Williams, CEO of Orean Personal Care, to explore what it really takes to lead through chaos - from doubling revenue in tough markets to leading with vulnerability, optimism, and Ironman-level discipline. Under Dan’s leadership, Orean has grown from £3M to £30M turnover, becoming one of the UK’s fastest-growing contract manufacturers in the beauty industry — all while achieving B Corp certification and building a culture rooted in learning and care. What you’ll learn 💪 How training for an Ironman reshaped Dan’s mindset as a CEO 💡 The power of optimism when leading through adversity ❤️ Why vulnerability builds trust faster than authority ever could 🏭 How Orean scaled without losing its culture or values 📈 What it takes to grow sustainably - from £3M to £30M If you’re a founder or CEO navigating the messy middle of growth — trying to scale your team, your systems, and your mindset — this is a masterclass in how to stay human while building something extraordinary. Book recommendations: The Obstacle is the Way - Ryan Holiday Man's Search for Meaning - Viktor E Frankl About the Guest: Dan Williams is the CEO of Orean Personal Care, a UK-based contract manufacturer producing premium skincare, haircare, and wellness products for some of the world’s most innovative beauty brands. Under his leadership, Orean has grown tenfold in revenue and achieved B Corp certification, balancing profit with purpose. A lifelong endurance athlete, Dan brings his Ironman mindset into business — combining optimism, resilience, and relentless learning to build a company culture defined by progress, not perfection. Sign up to receive our weekly Curious Leadership newsletter: https://subscribe.monkhouseandcompany.com Follow Dominic on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dominicmonkhouse | |||
| E350 | How to Stop Wasting Money on AI (and Start Mining Gold) with WPP's Daniel Hulme | 16 Oct 2025 | 00:42:19 | |
AI hype is everywhere - but most of it is just noise. This episode cuts through it. Dominic digs into what real artificial intelligence actually looks like with Daniel Hulme, Chief AI Officer at WPP and founder of Satalia and Conscium. They explore why most so-called “AI projects” are really just automation in disguise, how to spot where genuine adaptive intelligence can unlock value, and what’s coming next - from synthetic audiences that test creative before launch, to the race toward conscious machines. What you’ll learn:
Book recommendations: Genesis - Craig Mundie & Eric Schmidt About the Guest: Dr. Daniel Hulme is one of the UK’s leading voices in applied AI, ethics, and technology. He’s Chief AI Officer at WPP, where he leads strategy and deployment of AI across 100,000 people, and Founder & CEO of Satalia, the AI company he started from his PhD and later sold to WPP for a reported $100 million. Daniel recently co-founded Conscium, an AI safety company that tests and verifies AI agents - and is exploring whether machines could soon become conscious. He holds a PhD in Artificial Intelligence from UCL, where he’s also Entrepreneur in Residence, and was named by AI Magazine as one of the Top 10 Chief AI Officers globally. Who should listen: CMOs/CEOs/COOs, data/AI leaders, product & strategy teams, and founders deciding where to place AI bets (and what not to build in-house). Sign up to receive our weekly Curious Leadership newsletter: https://subscribe.monkhouseandcompany.com Follow Dominic on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dominicmonkhouse | |||
| E341 | Achieving Global Success Through Employee Happiness with Elaine Jobson, CEO of Jetts Fitness | 10 Jun 2025 | 00:48:30 | |
Elaine Jobson is a dynamic CEO, board director, and culture strategist with over 30 years of experience scaling fitness and wellness brands across Australia, Africa, Asia, and Europe. As CEO of Jetts Fitness, she spearheaded the Management Buyout (MBO), restoring the brand to private ownership and founder-driven leadership. Under her guidance, Jetts has flourished, expanding into new markets and repositioning for sustainable, high-performance growth. Elaine’s passion for values-driven, high-performing cultures is at the heart of her leadership philosophy. Her book, High Performance Through Happy People, captures her insights on building thriving teams that deliver exceptional results. A sought-after keynote speaker, Elaine energises audiences at industry conferences, leadership summits, and corporate events, sharing expertise on leadership, culture strategy, franchising, and team performance. Known for her sharp operational and commercial acumen, Elaine is a proven leader in strategic growth, franchising, and culture transformation - making her one of the most impactful figures in the industry today. In this episode, Dominic uncovers how the implementation of a Net Promoter Score (NPS) should be a business philosophy rather than just a survey. With Elaine providing insights on identifying detractors through customer feedback, the importance of delivering what she calls “brilliant basics”, and the significance of empowering her club managers and staff to enhance customer service to create a positive culture. Elaine also shares the rapid growth and expansion of the Jetts Fitness brand, their franchise model, commitment to good profit, the evolving perception of fitness as a means for mental health, and looks ahead at opportunities in the global fitness market, particularly in emerging territories like India. Discover How Leadership Drives Growth: Strong leadership is essential for managing growth, stabilising operations, and adapting to changing business environments. How to Build a Positive Culture: A happy, engaged workforce leads to higher performance and better organisational outcomes. Culture is a key driver of long-term success. How Metrics Can Improve Performance: Tools like customer satisfaction scores provide valuable insights and help businesses refine their services to meet customer needs, fostering loyalty. Opportunities in Emerging Markets: Expanding into new markets with growth potential requires strategic planning, market understanding, and partnerships to capitalise effectively. How Scalable Business Models are Key: Structuring businesses to scale - for instance, through franchising or other replicable models - enables sustainable growth and adaptability across regions. Book recommendations: Elaine’s book High Performance Through Happy People is out now Dominic’s book Mind Your F**king Business is out now | |||
| E252 | The Science of Engagement and Successful Management with Jim Harter | 20 Jun 2023 | 00:52:44 | |
This week we learned from the Chief Workplace Scientist at Gallup, Jim Harter. Jim is also the co-author of the Wall Street Journal bestseller Wellbeing at Work and the No. 1 Wall Street Journal and Washington Post bestseller, It's the Manager. Now, he’s written another book, Culture Shock, where he explores how organisations adapting to this culture shock will determine whether they thrive or even survive and whether U.S. and global productivity will go up or down.
Jim has been studying human behaviour in organisations for 37 years and really gets a kick out of studying what happens inside them. His work at Gallup is to study what happens in the populace at large and to do massive polls of the world and workplaces around the world and understand what's going on in people's work and lives. Last year, Gallup did a daily survey throughout COVID, and fifteen thousand people take part in their quarterly survey, so they got some fantastic data. That’s why we wanted to invite Jim to The Melting Pot to find out what that data said about working from home versus being fully remote, or hybrid.
In this episode, we learned how many days in the office drive engagement. Also, do higher levels of engagement translate into better financial performance? How do we make business more productive and outperform our competitors? We also dig into the data about working from home versus in the office, and we find out what are the five things that drive wellbeing as humans, how to structure one-to-one meetings, and how often they should be. And finally, what are the top five things that we should talk about with our teams every week to drive high levels of engagement.
An absolutely fantastic conversation. Download and listen to learn more.
On today’s podcast:
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2023 Gallup Exceptional Workplace Award Winners
Book recommendations:
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| E251 | Unleashing the Power of Innovation Tournaments with Dr Christian Terwiesch | 13 Jun 2023 | 00:49:11 | |
How can we generate thousands of ideas in your organisation? Feel overwhelmed just by thinking about it? Our guest on the podcast this week thinks that, if you can’t come up with thousand ideas, you’re unlikely to come up with a winner. That’s why he suggests creating an innovation tournament.
This week on The Melting Pot, we learned from Dr Christian Terwiesch, professor at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, and Chair of Wharton's Operations Information and Decisions Department. Christian has written numerous business books but, in this episode, we wanted to learn more about his latest work, The Innovation Tournament Handbook. This book is a more practical approach to the theory he laid out in his first book, Innovation Tournaments.
In this episode, Christian explains how to run an innovation process in your business and how to build an innovation tournament so that you’re running one every six months. That means lots of people get involved with loads of ideas emerging, all in a relatively low-cost way. He also talks about the importance of destigmatising failure in innovation and why we need to embrace it as part of the process of innovation.
Download and listen to learn more.
On today’s podcast:
Follow Christian Terwiesch: The Innovation Tournament Handbook
Book recommendations:
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| E250 | From Failure To Success: Getting Innovation Right with Alex Osterwalder | 06 Jun 2023 | 00:46:28 | |
How do you manage your metrics around innovation? How much investment do you need to put into innovation as a mature business? How do you give people the time and structure needed to innovate in your business? This week we asked one of the most influential strategy and innovation experts to come back to The Melting Pot to answer these and some other questions about innovation. Founder and CEO of Strategyzer, Alex Osterwalder reckons that seven out of ten projects that you start within your business need to be killed. And maybe one in ten of your innovation projects is a go, but you're going to need to build a portfolio of maybe 50 live projects that are at any one time to get enough innovation going in your business to make a material change, to get a return on your investment. He also introduced us to the concept of AKIs (Aspirations and Key Insights) – as opposed to Objectives and Key Results – for innovation teams not to produce results, but key insights to understand whether they should kill, iterate or scale a product.
Fantastic conversation with Alex. If you’re in the innovation arena, this is a must-listen for you. Download and listen to learn more.
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Book recommendations:
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| E249 | Redefining Market Success: Tony Ulwick's Jobs to Be Done Theory | 30 May 2023 | 00:32:18 | |
This week we learned from the inventor of the Outcome-Driven-Innovation (ODI) process, Tony Ulwick. Tony developed this process and, in 1999, he described it to Clayton Christensen, author of The Innovator's Dilemma. Although Clayton loved it, he didn’t like the idea of customers having a process, so he called it Jobs-To-Be-Done. Every customer has a job to be done, so what we can do is innovate around solutions to help them get that job done.
What’s the job your customer is trying to get done? And how do you measure success? In this episode, Tony guides us through the process that innovators need to answer those questions, and he shares some interesting case studies of how he’s helped different firms understand what jobs their customers were trying to get done, and how to identify their unmet needs.
A fascinating conversation with Tony. Download and listen to learn more.
On today’s podcast:
Follow Tony Ulwick: Jobs To Be Done - Book and Audiobook
Book recommendations:
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| E248 | Fixing Fractured Relationships To Build Trust Within Teams with Doug Bouey | 23 May 2023 | 00:45:07 | |
Is there any fractured relationship in your team? Many teams have people with dysfunctional relationships that show up in different ways. Often people find it difficult to solve problems. Somehow we find ourselves with a breach of trust, breach of contract, or competence. We believe one of our colleagues isn't competent, and it grows like an inverted pearl in an oyster or stone in your shoe. When this happens, people move away from those relationships or change companies. But if a business is a team sport, it's like taking the field to play football with only nine players against the opposition because some people on your team have a dysfunctional relationship. This week we talked with and learned from Doug Bouey, a coaching and facilitation veteran, recognised by Vistage/ TEC. His newest book, Fixing Fractures, creates a sure path to peace of mind and a quiet heart. Like Dominic, Doug holds a Gazelle’s (now Scaling Up) International qualification. He’s a master coach and, as part of his Vistage Chair life, Doug came across a facilitation technique to fix fractured relationships in business and life. So, he wrote his book Fixing Fractures, to help teams or individuals overcome these breaches of trust and help them build a high-performing team. In this episode, Doug guides us through his technique to help teams have these types of conversations and overcome this issue in their relationship. He explains the different levels or ‘gates’ of trust and how he helps individuals in businesses get to the bottom of their problems and what are the ‘Magic Five’ that need to be present during these ‘healing’ conversations.
Download and listen to learn more.
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Book recommendations: Fierce Conversations by Susan Scott Difficult Conversations by Douglas Stone The Science of Storytelling by Will Storr
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| E247 | Understanding Why We Do What We Do with Dr Helena Boschi | 16 May 2023 | 00:42:53 | |
Why do we do the things we do? How did COVID truly affect our behaviour? Will our ability to empathise and connect with others ever fully recover? In a world of constant change and uncertainty, Dr Helena Boschi, a psychologist specialised in applied neuroscience, offers insight into how our brains are wired to react and cope and helps us make some sense of why we do what we do. In this episode, Dr Helena Boschi discusses why we do what we do, which is also the title of her book. She also talked about feedback, why we are doing it, and what the real impact is. She gives some interesting tips on how to do it, how it works, and how the brain absorbs the feedback we give people. We also learned about the entrepreneur’s brain and what drives them, the effect of COVID on our empathy and much more.
Download and listen to learn more.
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Book recommendations: One of the things that Helena recommends to the listeners is to read as much as they can and talk to everybody, “because everybody has got something to teach us”.
In particular, she truly enjoys the work of these authors:
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| E246 | From Navy to Industry 4.0: Marty Groover's Journey to Innovation | 09 May 2023 | 00:41:42 | |
Are you struggling to achieve successful digital transformation despite continuous training and collaboration? Find out how to unlock agile decision-making with the military-inspired command by negation technique and improve employee engagement with immersive training programs - all while boosting manufacturing efficiency through SAP systems. Marty Groover offers a unique perspective on the future of manufacturing. Drawing from his experience as a retired Navy officer and working in the manufacturing sector at Caterpillar, he has developed a deep understanding of the importance of technology integration and employee training. Now a partner and CTO at C5MI, Marty is dedicated to helping companies adopt Industry 4.0 technologies, creating smarter systems and more efficient processes. If you are a manufacturing leader, you will undoubtedly benefit from his insights, experience, and passion for innovation. In this episode, Marty explains how you can boost manufacturing efficiency by harnessing the power of SAP systems, and how to drive digital transformation in your workplace. Marty is an advocate for creating a culture of learning, so he discusses how you can cultivate effective leadership and change management in your manufacturing operations, and unleash agile decision-making with the military-inspired command by negation technique. A fantastic conversation with Marty.
Download and listen to learn more.
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Book recommendations: Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink You Can’t Hurt Me by David Goggins
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| E245 | How to Thrive as a Smart and Creative Individual with Eric Maisel | 02 May 2023 | 00:46:23 | |
This week on The Melting Pot, we learned from Eric Maisel, creativity coach and trainer of creativity coaches. He writes the ‘Rethinking The Mental Health’ blog for Psychology Today, which has more than three million views, and he’s the lead editor for the Ethics International Press Critical Psychology and Critical Psychiatry series. Eric is also the author of more than 50 books covering the areas of creativity, life, purpose, meaning, and mental health. Once upon a time, in a world filled with rules and orthodoxies, Eric discovered the power of self-forgiveness, purpose, and creativity. Growing up in a neighbourhood where the aftermath of World War II still lingered, he was instilled with the idea of being a resistance fighter against societal norms at a young age. This spirit of opposition led him to question the status quo and seek out his own life purposes. He faced the challenges of being a smart individual in a society that often sought to silence voices like his. Through this struggle, Eric learned the importance of embracing one's individuality and passions. Over time, he developed into a creativity coach, guiding artists and entrepreneurs on their journeys to self-discovery and success. In this episode, Eric talks about one of his books, Redesign Your Mind, and cognitive therapy, and how it works on your thoughts. In his book, Eric proposes a methodology for changing your thoughts or replacing them with something else. He also about entrepreneurs and how he coaches them, as well as artists, who he thinks share many things but are also very different. He shares some tips about how to get in flow, his thoughts about burnout, and how to live a better life and lower your anxiety.
Download and listen to learn more.
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Book recommendations: Eric has always felt that he is in the existential tradition, a specific philosophical and literary tradition. If you have lost your understanding of that, or have never encountered it, he recommends that you read the books by Nietzsche, Dostoevsky, Camus, Orwell, and Kafka.
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| E244 | Simplifying How We Work To Drive Innovation And Growth with Lisa Bodell | 25 Apr 2023 | 00:41:23 | |
How would you define meaningful work? And your team? If you're struggling to find the right words, our guest on The Melting Pot this week has various ideas to help you. How can you expect your team to do meaningful work if you can't define it? Here's a hint: it might not be about what you need to do, but what you should stop doing. This week we learned from Lisa Bodell. Lisa is a best-selling author and, CEO and founder of FutureThink, a business focused on helping companies simplify how they work to make space for driving growth and innovation. This has been Lisa's passion for over twenty years, and she is all about taking a provocative approach to challenge our assumptions every day. In this episode, Lisa and Dominic talk about how to get people to do more of the right things, building culture –specifically, how to cut the crap and stop stupid rules. She also asks what makes meaningful work, which she often finds leaders can't articulate clearly. Lisa shares a few of the 'killing' exercises she uses with leaders to help them start investing their time and drive innovation. Download and listen to learn more.
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Book recommendations:
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| E243 | Playing To Your Unique Ability To Thrive At Work with Shannon Waller | 18 Apr 2023 | 00:43:42 | |
Do you know what’s your Unique Ability? Every entrepreneur has theirs and is only able to succeed if they're supported by a team. Because you can’t be good at everything, is important to surround yourself with a team that complements you, to compensate for your weaknesses with their strengths. Our guest this week teaches exactly that to the teams of entrepreneurs so they can do the things that they're great at and they can thrive in their unique ability. This week on The Melting Pot, we learned from highly-sought after coach, author, and creator of The Strategic Coach® Team Programs, Shannon Waller. Shannon joined Strategic Coach in 1991 as a team member, and since then, she’s created the Strategic Coach® Team Programs. She’s a decision-maker at Strategic Coach, Bab Smith’s strategic partner, and Dan Sullivan’s Creative Collaborator. In this episode, Shannon shares with us the secret of her long career at Strategic Coach and how she realised what was her unique ability. She also dives into the twelve timeless truths for successful entrepreneurial organisations found in her book Multiplication by Subtraction, and how applying the ‘who not how’ concept can help entrepreneurs do what they’re really good at and thrive at work. Download and listen to learn more.
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Book recommendation: ADHD. A Hunter in a Farmer’s World
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| E340 | Integrating AI & Automation Without Sacrificing Personal Customer Service with Joseph Michelli | 27 May 2025 | 00:42:48 | |
Joseph Michelli is an internationally sought-after speaker, author, and organisational consultant who transfers his knowledge of exceptional business practices in ways that develop joyful and productive workplaces with a focus on customer experience. His insights encourage leaders and frontline workers to grow and invest passionately in all aspects of their lives. A Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Publishers Weekly, Nielson BookScan, and New York Times #1 bestselling author. Joseph’s most recent book, All Business Is Personal, features proven strategies for boosting customer loyalty, engagement, and sustainable growth, and offers insights leaders can apply across industries to create high-performing, customer-focused organisations. Joseph holds the Certified Speaking Professional designation from the National Speakers Association (NSA). He is a member of the Authors Guild, an editorial board member for the Beryl Institute's Patient Experience Journal (PXJ), and is on the founders' council of CustomerExperienceOne. Other achievements include winning the Asian Brand Excellence Award and being named as one of the Top 10 thought leaders in Customer Service by Global Gurus. He received his master's and doctorate from the University of Southern California. In this episode, Dominic explores the intersection of AI and human interaction, questioning the ability of AI to replicate genuine human care and creativity, and the complexities of customer experience, loyalty, and referrals. With Joseph advocating the necessity for CEOs to be passionate and unreasonable in their pursuit of exceptional customer service. He explores strategies for activating referrals, the importance of emotional engagement, and the design of customer journeys that foster loyalty. Joseph shares his insights on the transformation of patient experience in US healthcare, and the innovative approach that led One Medical to being acquired by Amazon. Emphasising the importance of redesigning processes to enhance care delivery, he highlights the cost reduction achieved through proactive health management and the role of technology in creating human-centric services. Discover The Power of Emotional Connection in Business: Building an emotional connection with customers, beyond merely offering a product or service, fosters loyalty and helps establish a strong brand identity. The Importance of Customer Experience: Exceptional customer experience can significantly impact a business's success. By fostering emotional connections and going beyond basic transactional value, businesses can create loyalty and referrals among their customer base. Word-of-Mouth as a Powerful Marketing Tool: Customer referrals play a crucial role in business growth. Companies that focus on delivering exceptional experiences often benefit from organic word-of-mouth promotion, resulting in reduced sales and marketing costs. Balancing Cost-Cutting with Customer Experience: While reducing costs is a strategy some businesses consider, focusing solely on cost can lead to commoditisation. Prioritising customer experience and value can differentiate a business and create long-lasting success. The Influence of Net Promoter Score (NPS): Net Promoter Score is a useful metric for understanding customer loyalty and satisfaction. By asking customers how they found the business, insights can be gained that highlight the importance of customer recommendations and the overall impact of positive experiences. Book recommendations: Joseph’s book | |||
| E242 | Dealing with Risk In A World of Uncertainty with Michele Wucker | 11 Apr 2023 | 00:41:23 | |
Does everyone in your team look at risk in the same way? When we make decisions on whether to take a risk or not, we all have our biases. Our guest on The Melting Pot this week argues that diverse groups tend to make better decisions as they bring different perspectives. That’s why it’s really beneficial to look at the risk profile of everyone in the room to ensure that your team is looking at risks the right way and understands everyone’s perception of risk.
This week we learned from strategic advisor and best-selling author, Michele Wucker. Michele is famous for having coined the term Gray Rhino – a metaphor that made headlines around the world as a framework for the ignored warnings for the COVID-19 pandemic and has appeared in media in more than 70 countries and 35 languages and counting. It has sent tremors through global stock markets when Chinese officials warned of gray rhino financial risks. Central banks and securities regulators around the world use gray rhino theory, as do business strategists, boards of directors, business continuity and emergency management professionals, insurers, ESG specialists, and policymakers focused on everything from national security to climate change.
In this episode, Michele talks about her latest book, You Are What You Risk: The New Art and Science of Navigating an Uncertain World, about the perception of risk and how people feel about it. Also, she explains how you can ensure that your board, your advisory team or your executive team looks at risks the right way, understanding what those risks might be, and even the perception difference within the team, so that, as you assess how your business moves forward, you don't make the wrong decision. At the end of the episode, Michele shares her perspective on the recent collapse of several banks and how people chose to ignore the signs that led to it.
A great conversation with Michele. Make sure to download and listen to learn more from her.
On today’s podcast: What is risk?
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Book recommendations:
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| E241 | Delivering Outstanding Customer Service with Gene Browne | 04 Apr 2023 | 00:36:21 | |
This week on The Melting Pot, we learned from Gene Browne, founder of The City Bin Co. Gene has led this company to be a five-time winner of the ‘Deloitte Best Managed Company’ in Ireland, as well as a two-time National Winner of the European Business Awards - Customer Focus Category for 2013 and 2017. In this episode, Gene walks us through his journey from founding his business, how he scaled up, what tools he used, and how important Rockefeller Habits have been to him, how he then did a reverse takeover and cultural transformation of a business in the Middle East. Download and listen to learn more.
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Book recommendations: Good Strategy, Bad Strategy by Richard Rumelt The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz
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| E240 | Creating Effective and Engaging Meetings with Mamie K. Stewart | 28 Mar 2023 | 00:50:50 | |
Have you ever felt that you were wasting your time in a meeting? When we ask clients this question, all hands go up. Yet, everybody seems clear on what a good meeting looks like. Why is this? Our guest on The Melting Pot this week brings some light to this. This week we learned from Mamie K Stewart, host of The Modern Manager podcast, author of Momentum: Creating Effective, Engaging and Enjoyable Meetings and Founder of Meeteor, a training firm focused on improving the productivity of meetings. In this insightful conversation, Mamie tells us why she decided to write a book about meetings and gives us some tips on how to run great meetings in person and virtually. She also discusses how meetings are a reflection of your culture and your team dynamics, and what questions you should ask yourself before setting up a meeting. Download and listen to learn more.
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Book recommendations: Getting things done by David Allen
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| E239 | Winning The Wealth Game by Knowing Your Tax Law with Tom Wheelwright | 21 Mar 2023 | 00:37:41 | |
Do you really understand how taxes work in your country? Our guest this week believes that 80% to 90% of people pay taxes and complain about the rich not paying. But, why do the rich don’t pay taxes? Our guest says it’s because smart entrepreneurs and wealthy people understand the laws. What people don’t realise is that tax law is primarily a series of incentives for entrepreneurs and investors. This week on The Melting Pot, we learned from Tom Wheelwright, the CEO and founder of Wealth Ability, a network of CPA firms in the US and Canada. He’s spent 25 years buying, building, and selling CPA accounting, whilst travelling the world with Robert Kiyosaki, author of Rich Dad, Poor Dad, giving financial education to entrepreneurs and investors. In this episode, Tom tells us about the difference between CPAs and entrepreneurs and how rare entrepreneurial CPAs are. He’s also a Rich Dad advisor and shares the story of how he met Robert Kiyosaki, author of Rich Dad, Poor Dad, and how they ended up teaching the fundamentals of business to entrepreneurs all over the world. Drawing from his latest book The Win-Win Wealth Strategy, he talks about what are the seven investments the government will pay you to make. A fascinating conversation. Download and listen today.
On today’s podcast:
Follow Tom Wheelwright: The Win-Win Health Strategy book
Book recommendations: The Innovation Ultimatum by Steve Brown Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki
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| E238 | Building a Better and More Efficient Onboarding Process with Brad Giles | 14 Mar 2023 | 00:39:46 | |
Does your organisation suffer from onboarding debt? It’s the difference between what people should understand and what they actually understand about how to succeed in their role. This debt manifests itself through low retention, poor cultures and frustrated leaders. But it doesn't need to be this way. In his new book, Onboarded: How to bring new hires to the point where they are effective, faster, Brad Giles gives a simple step-by-step process that leaders can use to significantly increase the effectiveness of new hires and existing teams. And this week, we got the chance to learn more from him on a new episode of The Melting Pot. Brad is a business coach based in Perth, Australia, and this week he joined us to talk about how to get new employees to deliver faster, how to get clear on expectations, and the impact that will have. Often, there are structural reasons that lead companies to do onboarding inadequately. There's a big gap that remains unmeasured, which is what is the difference between what people should know and what they actually know. Onboarding isn't something that should be left to HR. It should be done by the hiring manager and the team. Brad also talks about managerial fit and expectations, the technical skills that people need to learn and the things that culturally define the business that new hires need to pick up on.
Don’t miss this fantastic conversation. Download and listen to learn more.
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Book Recommendations:
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| E237 | Exploring the Power of Emotions To Boost Your Marketing with Anthony Butler | 07 Mar 2023 | 00:40:44 | |
How do you want people to feel when they buy from you? How do you want people to feel when your sales team shows up? What fears might they have that stop them from staying with you or buying from you? As a marketer, if you really want to stand out from competitors and emotionally connect with your customers, these are important questions to answer.
This week on The Melting Pot we learned from Anthony Butler, author of Primal Storytelling and founder of the Marketing Agency Can-Do Ideas. From Helena, Montana, Anthony talks about his journey of discovery. He was a linguist and served in the army, but his story really kicks off when he gets fired by one of his marketing agency clients, who told him that his work hadn’t made any difference in the business. That was a turning point in his career. In this episode, we find out why.
In this conversation, Anthony shares his Primal Storytelling methodology and how he helps clients drive emotion in their marketing. We find out what questions you need to ask yourself to better connect with your audience. He also guides us through his process to map sales to marketing and what type of content and messages we need to deliver at each stage.
A fantastic conversation, make sure to download and listen to learn more.
On today’s podcast:
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Book Recommendations:
The War of Art by Steven Pressfield Expert Secrets by Russell Brunson
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| E236 | Driving Growth And Generational Change In Family Businesses with Jonathan Goldhill | 28 Feb 2023 | 00:42:14 | |
What are the differences and similarities between regular businesses and family businesses? Can family businesses be as successful? Our guest on The Melting Pot this week argues that family businesses can prove to be successful in the long run, as long as they focus on fostering the next generation of leaders while preserving the legacy.
Jonathan Goldhill is a business coach, having been in the field since 2003. He is passionate about family businesses and his book, Disruptive Successor, is a guide for family business owners wanting to drive growth in their businesses. He has a deep understanding of the complexities of multigenerational family businesses, and is well-versed in the challenges of transitioning between generations.
After exploring his passion for family businesses, Jonathan Goldhill discovered the unique challenges of transitioning from one generation to the next. He witnessed first-hand what it took for his father and uncle to join the family business, and how the tension of preservation and growth could be difficult to balance. Regular businesses and family businesses have different time horizons when it comes to making profit. In family businesses, success is usually determined by maximising family value, not shareholder value. Jonathan concluded that a crucial factor to success was to ensure that the older generation was encouraged to transition out of the business, whilst the younger generation was given the opportunity to grow it.
Download and listen to learn more.
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Book recommendations: Jack Welch Straight From The Gut
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| E235 | Creating Joy At Work with Chief Happiness Officer, Henry Stewart | 21 Feb 2023 | 00:52:00 | |
Do you believe in the power of building a happy workplace to grow your business? We definitely do, and this week we bring proof. This week’s guest is an expert in creating joy at work, no matter how many days a week you’re in the office. If you need some inspiration to build trust in your team and set the foundations for a happy culture, this is a must-listen for you.
This week on The Melting Pot, we learned from a long-time friend, Henry Stewart, founder, and Chief Happiness Officer of Happy, a company that helps organisations create happy workplaces. Henry and Dominic met many years ago when their organisations were competing for the Unisys Service Excellence Awards. Happy is the second happiest company in the UK or Best Place to Work, as measured by the Great Places to Work organisation, and number 15 in Europe.
Henry has an innovative approach to running a business and was part of the British pilot for 4-day work weeks. Then, he decided to continue on that path, which resulted in 40% year-over-year revenue growth and increased productivity. He also implemented a salary transparency system, made the staff set his salary, and decided not to make any decisions, after which his employees took ownership of raising prices during the pandemic, which ultimately saved the company. Henry is now exploring Employee Ownership Trust and is happily living out his 4-day work week.
Download and listen to this fantastic conversation today.
On today’s podcast:
Follow Henry Stewart:
Book Recommendations:
Reinventing Organizations by Frederic Laloux
Enjoyed the show? Leave a Review | |||
| E234 | Changing Lives Through Excellent Teaching with Hazel Pulley & Jonathan Smart | 14 Feb 2023 | 00:45:22 | |
What if you had to radically transform your business, change the culture, improve the percentage of A-players, drive staff engagement, and roll out a purpose and core values, all without raising salaries or changing the team? Well, that’s what our guests this week have done in their organisation. And all whilst improving the education delivery and striving to change the lives of the children in their schools.
This week on The Melting Pot, we learned from Hazel Pulley and Jonathan Smart, CEO and Deputy CEO at Excelsior MAT, a multi-academy trust, currently with six primary schools in innercity Birmingham in their portfolio. ExcelsiorMAT is one of the teams that we’ve worked with at Monkhouse & Company, and we’re deeply proud of their amazing transformation over the past few years. Hence why we wanted them to join us on the show to share with us the keys to their incredible success.
In this episode, we hear from Hazel and Jonathan about their journey applying the Scaling Up framework and how it radically transformed their organisation. They also dived into how they managed to change the business without raising salaries or changing the team. This episode is a true testament to great leadership, making the right decisions and building an amazing culture.
A fascinating and exciting episode, download and listen to learn more!
On today’s podcast:
Follow Hazel and Jonathan:
Book Recommendations:
Finding Flow by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Trusted Leader by David Horsager Lincoln on leadership by Donald T. Phillips
Enjoyed the show? Leave a Review | |||
| E233 | From Professional Rugby Player to Innovation Consultant with Aidan McCullen | 07 Feb 2023 | 00:43:43 | |
What comes to mind when you think about innovation? Creating something new from nothing. But does the word innovation push people away from doing it, thinking they don’t have the skills? Our guest on the podcast thinks so, and that’s why he uses the word reinvention instead. And that, reinventing, is exactly what he did with his own career after retiring from professional rugby. Today, we hear about his fascinating journey. This week on The Melting Pot, we learned from the author of Undisruptible, and host of The Innovation Show, Aidan McCullen. Formerly a professional rugby player, Aidan now works as an Executive Coach and Innovation Consultant. In this episode, Aidan talked about his journey as a rugby player and how he shifted from that to a career in innovation, and became a podcast host and innovation consultant. He also explored the cultural differences between some of the teams he played with, and he dived into the Butterfly metaphor that he uses in his book Unsdisruptable to explain the life cycle and how it applies to businesses.
Make sure to download and listen to this fascinating episode day.
On today’s podcast:
Follow Aidan McCullen: Book recommendations The Heart of Business by Hubert Joly The Biology of Belief by Bruce H. Lipton Change Your Paradigm, Change Your Life by Bob Proctor How Will You Measure Your Life by Clayton Christensen Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers by Robert M. Sapolski The Hidden Messages in Water by Masaru Emoto Built from broken by Scott H. Hogan Enjoyed the show? Leave a Review
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| E339 | From Founder-Led to Scalable: Sales Lessons with James Dawson & Richard Doherty | 13 May 2025 | 00:52:58 | |
James Dawson and Richard Doherty are seasoned professionals from the fintech and financial services industries, each bringing decades of expertise to their respective fields. James Dawson, founder of Humble Technology, has over 21 years of experience in fintech. His career has been dedicated to addressing and overcoming the challenges fintech startups face in sales. James believes that many fintechs fail not due to a lack of funding but because they rely too heavily on relationship-driven sales rather than employing proven, science-backed methodologies. As a former Head of Europe at OpenFin, a leader in desktop interoperability, James successfully built high-performing teams and developed his own sales techniques. To share his strategic insights, James created the Fintech Sales FastTrack programme - a framework designed to help startups establish predictable and scalable revenue systems. In addition to his fintech achievements, James also owns Humble Grape, a wine bar and merchant that imports high-quality wines from 600 small vineyards across 22 countries, exemplifying his entrepreneurial versatility. Richard Doherty, meanwhile, leads the technology practice for Asset & Wealth Management at Publicis Sapient, a prominent consultancy in financial services and digital business transformation. With over 20 years of experience in technology and financial services, Richard specialises in helping firms align their technological initiatives with business strategies. His expertise lies in implementing large-scale technological changes, including system overhauls, data transformations, and technology-focused innovations. Richard advises business leaders on building future-ready operating models that leverage technology to drive innovation, generate revenue, cut costs, and mitigate risks. By collaborating with both business and technology stakeholders, Richard fosters alignment that enables firms to ensure sustainable and expedited transformation in highly competitive markets. Together, James and Richard exemplify leadership and innovation in their fields, uniting expertise in sales strategy, technology, and enterprise transformation to shape the future of fintech and financial services. In this episode, Dominic explores methodologies used by founder-led sales to scalable sales operations. Learning that in the early stages of business development, a relentless focus on an initial product offering is essential. For example, for Amazon it was books and for Google it was search functionalities - even though their objective was expansion and market domination. With James and Richard emphasising the importance of aligning sales strategies with marketing efforts, they encourage leaders to nurture a growth-oriented mindset among sales personnel. Hear their insights on the complexities of building successful sales engines that can withstand the rigours of today's competitive landscape. Discover Business Growth and Focus: Successful companies often start by focusing on a single, straightforward offering before expanding into larger and more complex operations. This focus is essential in the early stages to build a sustainable foundation. Sales Transition Challenges: Transitioning from founder-led sales to scalable, enterprise-level sales processes is a significant challenge for businesses, especially in the fintech sector. It requires a particular skill set and mindset to scale sales effectively from small to large operations. Collaborative Expertise: Leveraging the collaboration of industry experts with diverse professional backgrounds, such as consulting and financial services, can help scale businesses by addressing complex challenges and driving transformation. The Importance of... | |||
| E232 | Leading the Twice Microsoft UK Partner of The Year with Neil Marley | 31 Jan 2023 | 00:40:16 | |
How do you find enough qualified people to deliver on the revenue opportunities that your business comes across? This is a problem that might be familiar to many professional services organisations, particularly within the cloud space. Our guest this week Neil Marley, came across that challenge whilst he was working at New Signature.
Neil is the Managing Director at Qualyfi. He's also former UK MD and EMEA lead at New Signature, an IT Services Management company that grew from 8 to 300 people in the UK and twice won the prestigious Microsoft UK Partner of the Year award (2014, 2019), before being acquired by Cognizant in 2020.
We know Neil since 2017 when New Signature started coaching with us. During the course of our time working together, they grew from about ten people to 350. From a revenue perspective that’s around 48% compound annual growth rate.
There are two things that Neil is excited about. The first is helping people build an exciting new technology career, regardless of their background or previous opportunities; the second is building long-term partnerships with growth organisations, offering services to help fuel their growth. He has now taken his experience doing that to make Qualyfi a positive force for the world.
In this episode, he shares his journey working in public cloud technologies with Microsoft, moving from working in a big organisation to a small team, and he and his small team managed to become one of the leading partners for Microsoft. He also talked about the challenges the business faced along the way, the secrets to New Signature’s success and the impact coaching had on the team dynamics.
Download and listen to learn more.
On today’s podcast:
A journey of growth in Microsoft Leading a successful partnership with Microsoft New Signature and Winning Microsoft UK Partner of the Year The importance of business coaching Qualyfi and placing new cloud tech talent
Follow Neil Marley Book recommendations:
What got you here won't get you there by Marshall Goldsmith CEO Excellence by Scott Keller Awaken The Giant Within by Anthony Robbins Enjoyed the show? Leave a Review | |||
| E231 | Bringing Transparency And Honesty Into The Recruitment Process with Ross Lauder | 24 Jan 2023 | 00:43:47 | |
Hiring top talent –the right talent– is crucial to growing a business. Yet, so many companies get their recruitment process wrong. Clarity on what an A-Player looks like, and transparency with candidates in the process are just some of the missing elements that our guest this week noticed in many companies after falling into the world of recruitment.
This week on The Melting Pot, we learned from Ross Lauder, founder and CEO at Single Focus Talent. Before becoming the talented headhunter he is today, Ross was a tech sales manager, working for big firms like Dell and Hubspot. Today, he recruits salespeople across Europe and North America.
In this episode, we wanted to learn more from him about sales, and how the role of a salesperson has changed over time. Ross also shared his approach to recruitment and how he’s helping candidates in their careers. Also, what are people thinking about returning to the office, remote and hybrid work, and what's happening in the labour market. Is the tech world awash with talented people after the big tech layoffs?
A great conversation.
Make sure to download and listen today!
On today’s podcast:
How the sales process has changed over the years Moving from sales to recruitment A transparent and honest approach to recruitment What's going on in the current labour market Remote or office? What candidates prefer
Follow Ross Lauder:
Book Recommendations:
Unlimited Power by Anthony Robbins Awaken The Giant Within by Anthony Robbins Think And Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert T. Kiyosaki Enjoyed the show? Leave a Review | |||
| E230 | Building A Culture of Trust Through Vulnerability with Ronan Harrington | 17 Jan 2023 | 00:44:21 | |
Building trust is at the heart of a high-performing team and a great culture. Sometimes, that trust comes from allowing vulnerability and honesty into the room and acknowledging our flaws, as well as our geniuses. Our guest this week is a huge advocate of using that vulnerability to strengthen the relationships in leadership teams. On this week's episode of The Melting Pot, we learned from Ronan Harrington, an expert in the neuroscience of resilience. After receiving a Master in Public Policy from Balliol College, Oxford University, Ronan then became one of the youngest executives in the City of London, as Director of Futures and Strategy at RPC. At the age of 24, he authored a report on the world of 2030 and how the British Government should respond. In this fascinating episode, Ronan shared his views on what it takes to develop a great business culture, how allowing vulnerability can help build trust in teams, and how power can impact cultural change in an organisation. He also talked about his experience working with Extinction Rebellion and how ethical power plays work in politics and business.
Download and listen to learn more.
On today’s podcast: Developing a conscious culture How competing commitments affect culture Building trust through vulnerability Working for Extinction Rebellion Defining resilience and dealing with burnout
Follow Ronan: Book recommendations 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership by Jim Dethmer and Diana Chapman Smalls things like these by Claire Keegan Enjoyed the show? Leave a Review | |||
| E229 | The Secrets Behind Building Value-Based Businesses and How to Sustain Interest For Investors | 10 Jan 2023 | 00:57:56 | |
The definition of value creation is giving something valuable to receive something else that’s more valuable to you. In today’s fast-paced economy, every business owner should strive to make his company as valuable as he can, and optimize wherever possible to provide value. Isn't it all about profit? It may be true for large company stockholders, but it is less true for small business owners. A major corporation's stockholder may be exclusively concerned with earnings. It's part of their investment portfolio, and its sole purpose is to increase their wealth. However, a small company would be more interested in communicating a mission and vision that attracts the world, creating a product or service that adds value to both customers and shareholders, and creating value through optimizing processes and finance. Some investors have advanced to impact investing because they seek more than just profits from their investments. As a result, B-corporations are becoming increasingly common. Impact investment and B-corporations seek to maximize financial returns while also providing a public benefit and creating long-term value. Today, on the Melting Pot, we are joined by Patrick E. Donohue, an expert in valuation, business angel, and financial advisor for entrepreneurs. He started his adventure at a very young age when he showed interest in stock shares and making money at only 10 years old. His passion lies in helping small businesses grow in a way that generates value and has a lasting impact on the community. He firmly believes that business owners shape the world by providing solutions to the complexities of human life.
In his book “Breakout Valuation”, he breaks down complex financial concepts and shares them in plain easy English. His aim is for every leader to be able to understand financial intelligence and apply it in actionable plans to drive sustainable growth.
In today’s episode: Business Valuation For Beginners How to Define a Sustainable Level of Growth Insights from “Breakout Valuation” Business Design That Drives Value Every Business Has A Special Talent That Makes It More Investable What Patrick E. Donohue WishesHe’d KnownEarlier
Links:
Book Recommendations:
Aiden McCullen - Undisruptable Mike Michalowicz -Profit First Greg Crabtree – Simple Numbers 2.0 Patrick E. Donohue – Breakout Valuation | |||
| E228 | Rebroadcast: What it Takes to Become a Great CEO with Scott Keller | 03 Jan 2023 | 00:51:27 | |
Having travelled to every country in the world, Scott Keller, Senior Partner at McKinsey & Company, New York Times best selling author of Beyond performance 2.0 and CEO Excellence, was looking for a new challenge. And he found it during lockdown. Along with his fellow authors, he sought to uncover what makes the best CEOs of this century the best. They combined extensive quantitative analysis with in-depth interviews with today’s top CEOs to understand what sets exceptional leaders apart. And they found the best CEOs have to master six core things to become great. Because, and Scott uses the analogy of Ashton Eaton, the greatest decathlete of all time here - no decathlete is the best 100 metre runner in the world or the best Javelin thrower, they have to not suck at anything, while being amazing at everything. In this episode of The Melting Pot, Scott shares the methodology they used to narrow down their list of CEOs from 7,800 to the 67 they interviewed, before discussing the six things they found were the core of every great CEO. On today’s podcast:
Links:
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| E227 | Rebroadcast: The Jobs Only the CEO Should Do with Anthony Rose | 27 Dec 2022 | 00:56:01 | |
If your business is struggling to innovate, or is in fact resisting innovation all together, then don’t miss Anthony Rose, founder and CEO of SeedLegals on this week’s episode of The Melting Pot. Who better to learn from about how to incorporate, raise funds and grow your business, than the founder of the startup that one in six of all early-stage startups in the UK are using in their funding rounds. Widely known as “The man behind BBC iPlayer”, Anthony ran the iPlayer and other BBC services from 2007 to 2010, taking the iPlayer from pre-launch to a major success story. In this episode, Anthony talks about the jobs that only the CEO should do, including the CEO’s role in innovation, building company culture, getting to product market fit, and why, when you’ve got product market fit, the most important job of a CEO is to then manage culture. This is a truly insightful episode and a must listen for all leaders of startups looking to grow and build their companies. Book recommendations: The Mom Test - Rob Fitzpatrick History of Western Philosophy - Bertrand Russell On today’s podcast:
Links:
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| E226 | The science behind forecasting liabilities and the art of letting them go with Annie Duke, author of “Quit”. | 20 Dec 2022 | 00:56:00 | |
Hard decisions are part of every aspect of our human life. In business, these are what shape the future of a company and what define its success if done right. We often praise the hiring process in a company, as it constitutes a decision based on precise forecasting and analysis. However, we often brush off the equally important decision of letting someone go, as we generally believe it should be done as easily as this: take a subjective decision, have an end-of-contract meeting, and empty a desk. What we don’t realize is that letting go of an employee should be subject to the same amount of well-thought analysis, as it is as strategic for the company as hiring.
Today, on the Melting Pot, we are joined by Annie Duke, an ex-professional poker player and author of two books called “Thinking in bets” and “Quit”. The first makes a parallel between poker and business and covers ways in which we could bring the critical decision-making process from gambling into our entrepreneurial adventure. The second book is a gem that helps us know when to call it quits. More specifically, it helps decision-makers discover the neuroscience behind firing people, and how to do it right. She proposes a precise methodology to know when an employee is not a good fit anymore, and how to let them understand that it is time for them to quit.
After earning the title of “The Duchess of Poker”, she now focuses on cognitive-behavioural decision authorship and coaches businesses in making the right decisions in their environment.
Listen and download this fascinating episode in which Annie shares the journey that got her into coaching decision-makers and interesting concepts such as loss aversion, and aspects of the human cognitive bias that can affect our forecasting.
In today’s episode:
Links:
QUIT - The Power Of Knowing When To Walk Away
Book recommendations:
Phillip E.Tetlock and Dan Gardner- Super Forecasting Brian Christian and Tom Griffiths- Algorithms to Live By Alex Sangha- The Modern Thinker | |||
| E225 | Invest In Your Leaders With Cameron Herold, The CEO Whisperer | 13 Dec 2022 | 00:52:37 | |
Leadership development is not about studying leadership, but about practising leadership in an intentional way, in a culture and environment that enables learning. For over 20 years, Cameron Herold has been the mastermind behind hundreds of companies’ exponential growth and his passion for coaching and mentoring others earned him the reputation of THE CEO Whisperer. His career in business coaching started with College Pro Painters, a house painting franchise he joined at the age of 21. This franchise turned out to be the perfect breeding ground for an entire generation of entrepreneurs and businesses. By the age of 35, Cameron built his first two 100 Million Dollar companies and in just six years of being the COO for 1-800-GOT-JUNK? he transformed it into one of the most successful new business ventures of the last decade, with a spectacular growth from $2 Million to $106 Million in revenue. In 2016 he founded the COO Alliancewith one simple goal in mind: to provide COOs with the same professional development and growth opportunities CEOs have enjoyed for many years. In this episode, Cameron shares how he discovered his passion for mentoring leaders, his beginnings in the College Pro Painters franchise, and the strategies that CEOs should use to achieve alignment in their organisations. We also dive in and talk about his 5 books, a truly powerful resource on leadership and growth solutions for companies.
In today’s episode:
Links: Website - cameronherold.com Instagram- @cameron_herold_cooalliance Linkedin - Cameron Herold Facebook - Cameron Herold Podcast - Second in Command Youtube - COO Alliance Cameron Herold - Published books Cameron's solution to breeding high-performance leaders - Invest In Your Leaders Cameron and his wife’s travel channel - @EverWanderTravel | |||
| E224 | How To Better Prepare To Combat Inflation, with Hermann Simon | 06 Dec 2022 | 00:51:01 | |
According to important voices in the economics sphere, inflation is back and here to stay. For companies, this “new normal” means that the world in which they do business has fundamentally changed. Their main priority now is to discover and apply new strategies that can ensure their survival.
Hermann Simon is a renowned speaker, founder and honorary chairman of the world’s number-one pricing consultancy, Simon-Kucher & Partners. His impressive background and expertise in strategy and marketing recommend him as one of the world's most influential management thinkers and an invaluable source of knowledge on topics such as globalization, profit orientation, corporate strategy, world market leadership and pricing. Hermann is also an acclaimed author with multiple bestsellers like Confessions of the Pricing Man and Hidden Champions of the Twenty-First Century, published and translated into over 25 languages.
Hermann joins me again in this new episode of The Melting Pot and shares some insights into his new book, Beating Inflation. This guide comes as a solution to the current economic inflation, exacerbated by the worldwide pandemic and the war between Ukraine and Russia. We debate on increased costs and pricing, how often should companies increase their prices so they don’t put too much strain on their clients and how to prepare their sales teams to combat inflation.
Download and listen! This is a conversation you don’t want to miss!
In today’s episode:
Hermann’s new book, Beating Inflation: An Agile, Concrete and Effective Corporate Guide What is inflation and how to deal with it How often should companies raise prices Increasing prices as a consultancy business Reducing cost by offshoring How should leaders prepare their sales teams to tackle inflation Managing the leaky bucket
Links:
Website - Hermann Simon Linkedin- Hermann Simon Twitter-@HermannSimon Facebook- Hermann Simon Youtube-Hermann Simon Hermann Simon- Book catalogue Links to a list of articles and interviews with Hermann Hermann’s latest book-Beating Inflation- An Agile, Concrete and Effective Corporate Guide
Book recommendations:
Hermann Simon- Hidden Champions in the Chinese Century: Ascent and Transformation Hermann Simon- True Profit!: No Company Ever Went Broke Turning a Profit Hermann Simon- Beating Inflation- An Agile, Concrete and Effective Corporate Guide Hermann Simon- Many Worlds, One Life: A Remarkable Journey from Farmhouse to the Global Stage Philip Baechtold- My Great Right Enjoyed the show? | |||
| E223 | How Human Connection Can Help A Business Achieve Excellence With Tom Peters, Co-author Of “In Search Of Excellence” | 29 Nov 2022 | 00:56:36 | |
A company’s success is measured by the happiness of its employees, and that goes for any industry we can think of. This sounds like basic knowledge, but increasing happiness in the workplace is one of the most overlooked and at the same time essential changes a company can make in order to be more successful. Often times even simple acknowledgements like a handshake or a hello at the beginning of the day can really impact an employee’s level of engagement and create a positive workplace culture. Today, on The Melting Pot, we are joined by Tom Peters, a business management pioneer and co-author of “In Search Of Excellence”, the book that, to this day, is recognized as one of the most influential books about business practices. Through this work, Tom’s ultimate goal was to motivate business owners and entrepreneurs to focus more on their employees and the way their happiness directly affects productivity and to discover their products through the eyes of their customers. Twenty books and forty years later, Tom is still one of the leading management thinkers, preaching about the importance of human connection and creating business excellence through work culture. Listen and download this fascinating episode in which Tom shares the story behind his well-known bestseller, the legacy that leaders should really focus on leaving behind and his views on women as business leaders, remote leadership and building excellent culture in this “work from home” era.
In today’s episode:
40 years of “In Search Of Excellence”- the book that changed the way the world does business Why businesses need more women leaders A leader's job is to grow people Remote leadership and building excellent culture and business in the “work from home” era Tom’s latest book, “The Compact Guide To Excellence”
Links:
Website - Tom Peters.com Linkedin- Tom Peters Twitter-@tom_peters Youtube- Tom Peters Blog- tompeters! Biography- Tom Peters Publications-Tom Peters- books and articles Tom’s latest book- Tom Peters' Compact Guide to Excellence
How Human Connection Can Lead A Business To Excellence With Tom Peters, Co-author Of “In Search Of Excellence”
Tom Peters is a well-renowned business management pioneer and co-author of “In Search of Excellence”, the book that even 40 years after its publication is still considered to be the book that changed the way the world does business. But as he himself declares, this is just one of the numerous ventures in his life and career.
Tom attended Cornell University where he received a bachelor's degree in civil engineering and a master's degree and later on, earned an MBA and a PhD in Organizational Behaviourfrom the Stanford Graduate School of business. During the war in Vietnam, he served in the U.S. Navy, making two deployments as a Navy Seabee and also participated in an exchange program between the U.S. Navy and the Royal Navy (UK) which led to him serving as a midshipman on the HMS Tiger (a battlecruiser built for the Royal Navy during the 1910s).
While working forMcKinsey & Company, he was inspired to develop different practices for business management that support the idea that... | |||
| E338 | Private Equity Exposed: Myths, Realities, and Winning Strategies with Mike Hicks from Catalysis | 29 Apr 2025 | 00:54:41 | |
Mike Hicks' connection to investing in mid-market companies dates back to 1994, when he worked at the EBRD, contributing to the creation of the first private equity fund in Romania. After overseeing a joint venture between Creditanstalt Investment Bank and Advent International, he developed a keen interest in enhancing investor-management interactions, dedicating over 20 years to this pursuit. In 2010, Mike founded Catalysis, following several years of leading a similar practice at Grant Thornton. With the support of skilled colleagues, he has managed over 375 projects since the company's inception, Mike advocates the importance of coachability and partnership in navigating the complex landscape of mid-market firms. In this episode, Dominic explores the myths and realities of private equity as Mike dismantles common misconceptions about management and investment partnerships. Highlighting the nuanced dynamics between investors and business leaders, he explains that in smaller companies, collaboration often trumps the fear of management changes. Discover The Role of Private Equity in Business Growth: Private equity plays a crucial role in providing funding for businesses, particularly those lacking tangible assets for traditional bank loans, such as tech companies. It serves as an alternative to the UK's shrinking bank funding market by offering equity, facilitating business growth, and providing management teams a pathway to personal wealth. Misconceptions About Private Equity: Management teams often face misconceptions about private equity investment. Some assume operations will continue unchanged, while others fear losing control to investors. In truth, investors aim to add value and collaborate for improvements without seizing control of the business. Team and Organisational Alignment: Aligning the management team’s capabilities with the business's needs is crucial. This match depends on the business model's complexity, market conditions, and growth goals. Businesses often require guidance to optimise their leadership teams to effectively meet these demands. Governance and Strategy in Management: Effective governance should balance strategy formulation and operational execution without overwhelming management. Boards should prioritise maintaining this balance to ensure alignment with value creation rather than focusing solely on financial oversight. Keeping boards small and focused helps avoid operational inefficiencies. Mistakes in Scaling Businesses with Private Equity: Common mistakes in scaling businesses post-private equity deal include neglecting due diligence insights, misunderstanding strategy, underestimating organisational inertia, confusing change activity with results, hastily making key personnel decisions, and suffering from unbalanced governance. Avoiding these pitfalls is essential for the success of private-equity-backed ventures. Higher Multiples with Demonstrated Scalability: Businesses that can demonstrate scalability, such as sustainable growth and robust operational capacity, are more likely to attract higher multiples and favourable responses from investors during deals, highlighting the importance of long-term strategic planning. Book recommendations: | |||
| E222 | When Unconventional Co-Leadership Turns Out To Be The Recipe For Success- Robert Chapman on Firebrand’s 21 Years As A Market Leader In Accelerated Learning | 22 Nov 2022 | 01:00:11 | |
When it comes to leadership, we normally think of one person that is in charge of holding the reins and steering the direction of a company. While it might seem counterintuitive to our traditional view regarding authority, oftentimes equally sharing power and influence can have more benefits than we can imagine. Robert Chapman, co-founder of Firebrand joins today’s episode of The Melting Pot and shares how Firebrand became an incontestable leader of the Accelerated Learning market, with 21 years of continued growth and performance even while going through three major recessions and a world pandemic. We talk about the unconventional way he and his business partner Stefano Capaldo shared the responsibilities of leading the company as co-CEOs, the sales and marketing strategies they’ve improved and adapted for Firebrand and how they transformed Verne Harnish’s book, “Scaling up” into the perfect blueprint for scaling their company.
This is a fascinating episode packed full of insights, so make sure to download and listen.
In today’s episode:
21 years of successful business in an unconventional co-leadership, with Robert Chapman, co-founder of Firebrand
Firebrand Training was co-founded by Stefano Capaldo and Robert Chapman and for the last 21 years has been a leader in the Accelerated Learning market.
Even though conventional wisdom says two heads are better than one, co-partnership in the business world is often looked at as the odd one out. So how did Robert and Stefano build a successful company under such unconventional leadership? Like all relationships, being co-leaders requires trust, constant communication and a very clear understanding of the role each CEO has. “I was in charge of business development, sales, marketing, go-to-market strategy, he was in charge of delivering, hence the cook it, catch it tactic. If I got the fish, I threw it over the fence and I just trusted Stefano to go and make sure a great meal conjures up.” Delivering high-quality training at twice the speed of traditional methods
Since its inception in 2001, Firebrand has grown at an incredible rate, from a start-up to a £ 20 million business. A testament to the value they offer through their unique Accelerated Learning methodology is their applicants' high rate of success in getting their IT and project management certification. “That puts a huge amount of pressure on us,” says Robert. “We gotta do a great job. We can't hide if the instructor's done a poor job of delivering that knowledge.” Leading a business through four recessions
In regards to their leadership strategy, they’ve certainly made the right decisions, because successfully navigating a company through 4 major recessions including a global pandemic is not something everyone can do. “We took some really difficult decisions. We did make some people redundant, we asked staff to take pay cuts. But by the end of 2020, we'd navigated those waters pretty well and in a really strong position financially and paid back all the staff that had pay cuts.” “I do genuinely get really emotional because so many people went the extra mile during those periods and they genuinely didn't complain.”
The Firebrand version of scaling up and the one thing that ensured its success
When Brett Raynes, CEO of Cloud Direct... | |||
| E221 | Change Your Organisational DNA and Bring Back Innovation Into Your Business with Ben M. Bensaou | 15 Nov 2022 | 01:11:53 | |
There’s no secret that, in today’s business climate, innovation is the only way companies can maintain an advantage over their competitors. No matter the field or industry you position yourself in, if you manage to create extra value for your company and the customers your company serves, you are almost undoubtedly destined for success. But, in order to achieve this holy grail and transform your organization into an innovating engine, you first need to learn to listen to your customers and your employees and understand the role they play in helping you identify real problems and the right solutions for those problems. Today’s guest on “The Melting Pot” is Ben M. Bensaou, professor and former Dean of Executive Education at INSEAD and business innovation thought leader. In his book, “Built to Innovate- Essential Practices to Wire Innovation Into Your Company's DNA”, Ben shares the proven system for building relentless innovation and culture that he discovered while researching companies from all over the world. We talk about all of his findings and the skills he thinks are required to create that perfect innovating culture, so make sure to download and listen to this fascinating episode!
In today’s episode:
Solutions for businesses that struggle with innovation Listen to your customer- they hold the key to discovering the weaknesses in your business Three skills you need to develop in order to create the perfect exchange of information between you and your clients (or potential clients) The importance of middle managers How to identify real problems that need solving Improve your ability to spot and develop good ideas for your business
Links:
Website - Built to Innovate Linkedin- Ben M. Bensaou Twitter- BenBensaou Blog- Built to Innovate by Ben M. Bensaou Biography & Publications- Ben M. Bensaou Ben’s book- Built to Innovate- Essential Practices to Wire Innovation Into Your Company's DNA
Follow Dominic:
Mentions:
We Solve- an inclusive community engagement platform for companies and organizations that Co-create sustainable and lasting solutions together.
Kordsa- develops reinforcement technologies for the tires of automobiles, airplanes, motorcycles, agricultural and industrial vehicles.
Fiskars- a Finnish group company; its products are related to the home, outdoor activities, interior decoration and table setting.
Allianz Insurance- the largest general insurer in the UK, offering a range of personal and commercial insurance solutions for their customers.
W.L Gore & Associates- an American multinational manufacturing company specializing in products derived from fluoropolymers; it is best known as the developer of waterproof, breathable Gore-Tex fabrics
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| E220 | Refreshing the World of Work with Hoxby Co-Founders, Alex Hirst & Lizzie Penny | 08 Nov 2022 | 00:54:43 | |
Like most good ideas, the idea for Hoxby, the purpose-led organisation that exists to create a happier, more fulfilled society through a world of work without bias, came to co-founders Alex Hirst and Lizzie Penny, in the pub. Fed up with, and burned out from the traditional way of working, they decided it simply wasn’t what they wanted. So they decided to take matters into their own hands. Fast forward a decade and Alex and Lizzie not only changed the way they work, but they’ve also changed the way their community works too. A community made up of more than 1,000 handpicked, talented and diverse freelancers who work remotely in 30 countries around the world. Alex and Lizzie have recently published a book, Workstyle, about how workstyle is better for wellbeing, improves productivity, and can reshape inclusion for the benefit of society. And in this episode of The Melting Pot, they share why they’re so passionate about autonomy at work, what Hoxby is, the conditions necessary to foster workstyle, and how to create connections remotely. Book recommendations
How The Future Works - Brian Elliott On today’s podcast:
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| E219 | Creating Businesses that Bring Joy to Work with Jay Radia | 01 Nov 2022 | 00:47:02 | |
Have you ever felt that you’re in a job that doesn’t fit your genius, but you’re not sure how to find your real purpose? Then don’t miss Jay Radia on this episode of The Melting Pot. Having spent a few years in banking, working in a job that didn't bring him the joy he was after, Jay realised his unique expertise lay in coming up with ideas that need to be funded. Today, Jay is the founder of startup studio, Bliss Growth. And he has founded three tech startups - the first three got to £1 million in 12 months, and two of them got to £10 million in three years. While Jay has invested in 25 angel investments, coming up with the idea is his secret sauce. In this episode, Jay shares what the challenges of coming up with new ideas and funding rapid trajectory are, and what he's learned along the way, and how he got comfortable with not being the CEO anymore. This is a truly insightful episode from a passionate entrepreneur, download and listen. Book recommendationsOn today’s podcast:
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| E218 | Why the World is so Full of Rubbish Leaders with Dr. Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic | 25 Oct 2022 | 00:47:17 | |
Did you know that the 80:20 principle also works in reverse? Whilst 80% of your output will come from 20% of your people, the same is true of your problems. Meaning 80% of the errors will be caused by 20% of your people. But, says Dr. Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic, Organisational Psychologist, currently Chief Innovation Officer at ManpowerGroup, companies spend way more time on development than they do on talent acquisition. So, what can you do about that? Well, don’t miss Tomas on this episode of The Melting Pot explaining how technology is revolutionising the recruitment role, why assessing candidates is a costly mistake, the difference between genders in terms of curiosity, why the world is so full of rubbish leaders, and how we can bring about change in leadership. This is a fascinating episode, truly insightful. Download to listen. Book recommendations
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| E217 | Rowing the Atlantic with The Entrepreneurs’ Adviser, Guy Rigby | 18 Oct 2022 | 00:40:40 | |
Are you looking for your next big adventure? How does rowing across the Atlantic sound? Think you’re not fit enough? Too old? Think again. Guy Rigby, chair of the Entrepreneurial Services Group at Smith & Williamson, and founder of advisory and mentoring business, The Entrepreneurs’ Adviser, holds the world record for the oldest, fastest man to row across the Atlantic (aged 68), and he’s looking for crews to do the same for 2024, 2025, 2026 and 2027. But before we get into that, in this episode of The Melting Pot, we find out why a man in his late 60s would want to row the Atlantic, and more importantly, how on earth did he pull it off?
Want to learn more? Of course you do! Download and listen today. On today’s podcast:
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| E216 | Uncertainty: The Portal to Possibility with Nathan and Susannah Furr | 11 Oct 2022 | 00:55:14 | |
How do you deal with uncertainty? Do you avoid it at all costs or do you embrace the unknown excitedly? To discuss the upside of uncertainty is husband and wife team, Nathan and Susannah Furr, authors of The Upside of Uncertainty. As the Professor of Strategy and Innovation at INSEAD, and with a PhD from Stanford, Nathan is an expert in innovation and technology strategy. Susannah is an entrepreneur, designer, artist, and contrarian who’s recently started a bio-intensive garden as part of a ‘hope accelerator’ in Normandy, France. On this episode of The Melting Pot, Nathan and Susannah share their experiences of tackling uncertainty, and discuss how you can improve and train your risk tolerance and seek the upside of uncertainty. And in doing so, how we can then impact organisations. Download and listen to learn more. On today’s podcast:
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| E215 | From Coaching Habit to How to Begin with Michael Bungay Stanier | 04 Oct 2022 | 00:47:41 | |
Do you want to be a force for change in the world? Of course you do, but how to begin? That's actually the title of Michael Bungay Stanier’s latest book - How To Begin, a book written to help people be ambitious for themselves, for the world, to help them find their Worthy Goal, and start something thrilling, important, and daunting. Best known for writing The Coaching Habit, a best selling coaching book that’s sold over 1.2 million copies world wide, Michael is back on The Melting Pot once more to talk about how you can figure out what that thing is you want to do, and then how you stop procrastinating so you can go and have an impact. Having handed over the reins of Box of Crayons, a learning and development company, Michael has had to find his own worthy goal, and in this episode he shares how he stepped away from Box of Crayons, how to find your purpose, and the key elements of what makes a worthy goal. To hear all this and more, download and listen today. Book recommendations Super-Infinite - Katherine Rundell On today’s podcast:
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| E214 | How to Think Differently About Compensation with Verne Harnish | 27 Sep 2022 | 00:47:39 | |
How do you think about compensation in your organisation? In this episode of The Melting Pot, Verne Harnish, a world-leading expert, speaker, author, and entrepreneur in the field of business growth, shares his recent research into how different organisations tackle compensation. Having founded the Entrepreneurs' Organisation in 1987, Verne’s also the Founder and CEO of Scaling Up, as well as author of Scaling Up, Mastering the Rockefeller Habits, and co-author of The Greatest Business Decisions of All Time, for which Jim Collins wrote the foreword. But it’s his latest book, Scaling Up Compensation, a short read at just over 100 pages, that Verne is discussing here. In this book, he explores over 100 case studies to help you move top and bottom lines by hundreds of percent, just by tweaking your existing comp plan. While the case studies aren’t there for you to copy, let them inspire and guide you in how you can take compensation and make it work for you, so you can attract and retain the best possible talent you can afford, so you can build the best team money can buy for your organisation. This is a fabulous conversation, download and listen now. On today’s podcast:
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| E213 | How to Attract & Capture the Attention of A-Players on LinkedIn with Donna Serdula | 20 Sep 2022 | 00:42:12 | |
In this incredibly tight labour market where the power well and truly sits in the job seekers’ hands, how can you optimise your LinkedIn profile so that you make yourself (and your company) more attractive to A-players and job seekers? Don’t miss Donna Serdula, author of LinkedIn Profile Optimization for Dummies, and founder of LinkedIn specialist firm LinkedIn-Makeover, on this week’s episode of The Melting Pot. What should you do as a company? More specifically, what should you do as individual leaders and hiring managers to try and make it more likely that candidates, prospects, even partners, find you and connect with you on LinkedIn? Donna details how people should be thinking about this. She shares what you as an individual leader, a CEO, should be doing. How often should you post? Should you put hashtags on? If you do, which ones? Should you share content that's already on the LinkedIn platform? Or try to get people to connect to content off the platform? To find out all this and more, download and listen to this episode today. On today’s podcast:
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| E337 | Health, Habits & High Performance: Redefining Work Life Balance with Kat Thorne | 15 Apr 2025 | 00:55:58 | |
Kat Thorne is a positive habits international keynote speaker, teacher and consultant. Her life story of workaholism, breakdown and burnout inspires global audiences to make one small habit change. Former Global Commercial Director & CEO, after losing everything in 2016 due to a health scare, she had no choice but to start again. Kat now works with organisations, leaders and individuals around the world to create one small positive habit change that actually results in increased well-being & resilience. Kat says “Burnout, anxiety, and stress are at an all-time high. People are the most important asset. The better people look after themselves, the better they perform in all areas of life. The result? A healthier, happier and high-performing work and home life”. In this episode, Dominic explores how small changes can have a monumental impact on our personal and professional lives, with Kat challenging the outdated notion of separating work from home life, emphasising how intertwined they really are. An advocate of how quality rest shapes his energy levels and daily performance choices, Dom explains the impact of technology on his mood and productivity, highlighting the delicate balance between connectivity and wellbeing. We also explore how positive habits can transform work environments, and the power of how small yet consistent changes can improve team dynamics, health, and productivity. From breaking the cycle of multitasking in meetings to achieve genuine engagement, this episode provides actionable insights for both personal and professional growth. Whether it's encouraging kids to embrace creativity without screens or finding simple ways to be present, you'll come away with a toolkit for fostering meaningful change in every area of your life. Discover The Power of Morning Routines: Establishing a positive morning routine, like waking up early and dedicating time to self-care, can lead to significant improvements in both personal well-being and professional performance. Starting your day with intention sets a positive tone for everything that follows. Small Changes, Big Impact: Implementing small, positive habits - such as engaging in just 10 minutes of physical activity each day - can be transformative. These manageable changes can lead to increased energy, improved mood, and greater productivity in both personal and work life. Integrating Personal and Professional Life: Recognising the interconnection between personal habits and professional success is key. By fostering positive habits in your personal life, you can enhance your performance, satisfaction, and effectiveness at work. Mindful Technology Use: Be mindful of how and when you consume information, especially through technology. Checking your phone or emails immediately upon waking can inject unnecessary stress and negativity into your day. Instead, create a morning practice that supports a positive mindset. Overcoming Resistance to Change: While making positive changes, you may encounter resistance or negativity from others. Understand that this is a common challenge, and focus on the long-term benefits of your new habits. Staying committed despite external pressures can lead to profound personal growth and transformation. Book recommendations: Dominic’s book Mind Your F**king Business is out now | |||
| E212 | How to Transition your Culture as you Scale your Organisation with Darrin Jahnel | 13 Sep 2022 | 00:51:42 | |
If you’ve grown your organisation and you’re now at the point where you don’t quite remember everyone’s name, and the coffee cups aren’t being stacked in the dishwasher, perhaps it’s time to reassess your company culture. To share how they’ve transitioned their culture as the organisation has grown to just over 150 people in 6 years, is co-founder and CEO of Jahnel Group, Darrin Jahnel. In this episode, Darrin explains why they’ve moved away from an executive team to implementing an extended leadership team, why he’s maniacal about company culture, and why they believe they've cracked the code on hybrid working. He also talks about inclusion, how he’s got people to show up to work being their authentic selves, as well as a fantastic metric for how many culture drivers per employee you need in your business. So, to learn more about how to transition your culture as you grow, download and listen today. On today’s podcast:
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| E211 | Why Your Organisation Needs Systemic Change, Not Individual Change with Michael Cahill | 06 Sep 2022 | 00:55:15 | |
Do you have a problem with the free flow of energy in your organisation? Perhaps you’ve been replacing individuals who aren’t performing only to find that their replacements are also not bringing in the results. Then you need to listen to Michael Cahill, author, trainer, coach and facilitator at MarketMatters. Michael blends a rich and deep knowledge of NLP (neuro linguistic programming), Systemic Coaching and Constellations with his considerable experience of business and investment, to inspire change, growth and transformation within organisations. In this episode, Michael explains systemic coaching, his energy model, and how making decisions with the right energy can make all the difference in your organisation. He also discusses how you build a business, what leadership looks like, how you make decisions, and how you become more strategic. To learn more, download and listen today. Book recommendations
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| E210 | Why Leading from the Heart is Better for Business with Mark C Crowley | 30 Aug 2022 | 00:52:12 | |
Leading from the heart is the secret to high performing teams and financial success, says leadership speaker, consultant, change agent for workplace engagement and culture, and author of ‘Lead From The Heart’, Mark C Crowley. Mark has spent 25 years leading teams in the financial services industry to record breaking sales and profitability performance by focussing his leadership on the most authentic driver of human engagement - emotional connection. In this, The Great Resignation, demonstrating to employees that you not only care about them, but value them and trust them, is one of the best ways to retain them. Simple, heart felt reciprocity, Mark found, is what is required for employees to not just excel, but routinely exceed expectations. So, how do you lead from the heart? How do you connect with employees and redefine your employee proposition? In this episode of The Melting Pot, Mark reveals why he advocates for leading from the heart, he shares a few simple ways that leaders can lead from the heart, and explains why, 11 years on, the Second Edition of his book is coming out. Book recommendations Swami Yogananda - The Autobiography of a Yogi Zoe Chance - Influence is Your Superpower On today’s podcast:
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