Explore every episode of the podcast Executive Learning REWIRED

Why do so many transformations fail - even with the right strategy and technology?

In this episode, behavioural scientist Guy Champniss explains why most organisational challenges are really behaviour problems in disguise.

From AI adoption and habits at work to decision-making, culture, and motivation, he unpacks why leaders must stop treating behaviour as an afterthought — and start designing for it.

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Adaptability is fast becoming the defining skill of modern leadership. Andrew Hill, senior business writer at the Financial Times, unpacks how leaders can stay agile, clear, and effective amid political shifts, AI disruption, and rising uncertainty.

Guest: Andrew Hill, Financial Times

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Can we really future-proof our careers?

In this episode, Financial Times journalist Isabel Berwick unpacks how AI, automation, and shifting workplace cultures are reshaping what it means to stay relevant. From graduate hiring chaos to the rise of AI agents, she reveals why adaptability-not certainty-is the real career advantage.

Guest: Isabel Berwick, Financial Times

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Negotiation doesn’t end at signature- it begins a relationship. Katharina Dalka, teh CEO of Stellarone, unpacks the human factors that make or break deals: culture and context, money mindsets, “resentment costs,” and the leadership behaviours that turn contracts into durable partnerships.

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Leadership expert Professor Dame Vlatka Hlupic challenges the obsession with frameworks and methods, and makes the case for a shift in mindset instead.

She unpacks her Five-Level Management Shift model, a powerful tool that helps leaders identify where their teams really stand from toxic disengagement to limitless innovation and how to guide them through conscious, level-by-level transformation.

Guest: Professor Dame Vlatka Hlupic, Headspring associate faculty

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In this episode, business strategist Peter Fisk breaks down why being busy doesn’t mean being productive and why AI alone won’t save your business.

He shares bold insights on how purpose, imagination, and strategic learning are the real game-changers.

From reverse-engineering the future to building sustainable innovation, Fisk offers practical advice for leaders who want to stop reacting and start reinventing.

Guest: Peter Fisk, Business strategist

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Why storytelling is no longer a ‘nice to have’ - but an important leadership skill.

In this episode, author and corporate storyteller Preethi Nair explores what it truly means to lead with authenticity. She shares how leaders can use storytelling to communicate vision, build trust, and drive meaningful change.

From shaping culture to making data resonate - this conversation reveals how the stories we tell can define the futures we create.

Guest: Preethi Nair, Corporate Storyteller

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Why strong professional relationships are no longer optional-they’re essential. From breaking down the myth of the “natural networker” to practical tools like the Four I’s and the 24/7/30 rule.

Andy shares how leaders and organisations can build trust, break silos, and create deeper connections in a rapidly evolving workplace.

Guest: Andy Lopata, Author & Professional Relationships Strategist

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What if the key to better leadership is listening to the voices of those often left out of decision-making? 

Guest: Patrice Gordon, Reverse Mentoring Expert & Associate Faculty

Are leaders failing because they think they need all the answers? If so, what’s the real job of a leader in 2025?

Guest: Mark Fritz, Leadership Consultant & Associate Faculty

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Can you trust AI to make better decisions than your leadership team? If so, what’s the role of your company’s leaders?

Guest: Roger Steare, the corporate philosopher and associate faculty professor.

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📌Blog: AI & Ethics: Leadership and Decision-Making in an AI-Enabled Workplace - Headspring Executive Development

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Hear about the Leadership Programme and future of leadership at Cefetra, with their HR Director Mirjam Ruiten, Financial Times contributor Michael Skapinker and Headspring’s Meike Gil.

In this podcast, Paul Lewis speaks with Adam Kingl, Author of Sparking Success: Why Every Leader Needs to Develop a Creative Mindset.  They discuss why the corporate world stifles creativity, what we can learn from creative industries, and how leaders can help address the problem.

You will also hear about:

• The neuroscience behind creativity
• Why organisations are failing to embrace it
• Practical steps leaders can take to foster creativity
• How to map creativity to business strategy and output

Businesses have to change at a fast pace today to stay relevant. But that doesn't mean transformation is easy, as most people are resistant to change.

In this podcast, we speak with Lyndsey Jones and Balvinder Singh Powar about going digital: best practices for navigating cultures that are at first opposing change, how to avoid roadblocks, and how to convince the naysayers.

Andrew Mawson and Thiago Kiwi discuss how leadership has changed, how leaders can make virtual models work better, mental health and productivity, and some leadership challenges of the future.

What does good culture look like? Why is having a shared purpose within organisations so important? And where do formal processes go wrong?

How can you build trust in teams and organisations? What are the challenges with doing this remotely? And what happens when there's no trust? In this podcast, Thiago Kiwi speaks with Dr John Blakey about leadership and trust.

Conscious leadership must start with the self. In this podcast, Thiago Kiwi speaks with Marika Messager about authentic leadership, leading in alignment with your beliefs, and creating better habits.

How can we get more women in leadership roles? How can we overcome biases and imbed D&I in company culture? In this podcast, Silvia Pavoni speaks with Tine Arentsen Willumsen about Women's Leadership and Inclusion.

Our host, Thiago Kiwi speaks with Rupert Morrison, author of Data-Driven Organization Design, and CEO of Orgvue.

Kiwi and Morrison speak about the importance of data driving your organisational design, including:

- how this can lead to better engagement and satisfaction among employees,

- what most companies do wrong when they restructure, and

- why HR should do the workforce planning, and which skill sets are needed for this new function.

In our first podcast of the season, our host, Thiago Kiwi speaks with Ruth Kudzi, founder of the Optimus Coach Academy and author of Is it is? The Smart Woman's Guide to Finding Work You Love.  Kiwi and Kudzi speak about the science behind high performance, from how to prioritise work to how to get your team to perform their best.

Beth Davies is the former Director of Learning at Tesla and host of the super-popular Career Curves podcast, sharing a progressive voice in the domains of HR and L&D.

In this fast-moving interview we explore the death of the linear professional path and consider the prospects of the evolutionary career.

Meet our guest: Beth Davies

AI has been called everything from a fantasy to a curse. Between the extremes we find something more practical and useful: a tool that can be used to automate unwanted human functions and augment our ability to make good decisions.

As our guest in this week's episode, Sana Labs CEO, Joel Hellermark, says: AI in corporate learning is still in its infancy. But what is its potential?

We invite Joel to comment on:

• The difference between artificial intelligence and augmented intelligence, and why it matters to learning
• Why the future of executive learning rests on AI
• The dark side of AI and how to manage it

Meet our guest: Joel Hellermark

It has never been more critical for organisations to be authentic about inclusiveness. Yet, many leaders still lack the self-awareness, language or emotional skills needed to engage effectively and empathetically with LGBTQ+ members of their business.

In this episode we meet Victor Nieves, Partner in EY Capital Markets and longstanding leader of LGBTQ+ and D&I initiatives. We discuss the pressures and pitfalls facing organisations today as they move more consciously and assertively towards greater LGBTQ+ inclusion.

Meet our guest: Victor Nieves

Resilience has long been a staple of leadership development, but through the global crisis this quality has come to define successful individuals, leaders and organisations.

Through our conversations with leading thinkers, practitioners and development experts, Headspring has had access to multiple perspectives on the topic of resilience.

In this review we collect some of the insights shared with us over the past few months, distilling key lessons about the roots of resilience, how to foster it, and what leaders need to become more resilient in an uncertain future.

Includes leading-edge contributions from Marieluise Maiwald, Sudhanshu Palsule, Claire Dale, Patricia Peyton, Adam Kingl, Vlatka Hlupic, Stephen Frost, Jim Lawless, Nick van Dam, Jacquiline Brassey, Alex Edmans, and Alan Watkins.

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The accelerated rate of change we are experiencing will not disappear with the subsidence of Covid-19 - this is the new normal.

How can leaders build the capacities they need to engage with this rapidly evolving landscape? In this episode of Learning Rewired, Alan Watkins - neuroscientist, international leadership expert, bestselling author and Founder and CEO of Complete - argues that L&D functions within organisations need to move beyond L (learning) and focus on D (development).

In this interview:

• How we avoid development by getting locked into 'aboutism'
• The critical difference between horizontal and vertical development
• The profound and far-reaching need for HR leaders and the organisations they serve to take development seriously

Meet our guest: Alan Watkins

Diversity and Inclusion have been “important but not urgent” issues for some time, but are we living in a pivotal period in history, when the momentum of social movements finally accelerates organisational change?

We posed this question to Stephen Frost: CEO and consultant at inclusion specialists, Frost Included.

Stephen was previously diversity and inclusion advisor to both the UK government and former White House office, as well as Head of Diversity and Inclusion for the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Listen to the full podcast for:

• How HR and L&D need to be reconfigured for organisational impact
• The right questions to ask when measuring inclusion
• Why it doesn't matter how brilliant a leader is - ignoring inclusion is a business-limiting mindset

Meet our guest: Stephen Frost

"Until recently, it was assumed that the business interest was on a collision course with social and environmental concerns. Yet recent research findings challenge this assumption. It turns out that you can secure superior financial returns through highly engaged staff displaying social and environmental responsibility."

These are the words of Vlatka Hlupic, Professor of Leadership and Organizational Transformation at Hult Ashridge Executive Education, Global Faculty Member at Headspring and Founder and CEO of Management Shift Consulting.

Vlatka is internationally awarded thought leader and her latest book is the groundbreaking Humane Capital: How to create a management shift to transform performance and profit. In this enlightening interview Vlatka shares:

• The key steps to the Big Shift - where companies move to expansive performance and profit
• Why doing good is good business
• The financial power of humane workplaces

Meet our guest: Vlatka Hlupic

Learning REWIRED's FLASH INSIGHTS is a short and sharp distillation of key takeways from our podcast series.

In this episode, the highlights of our interview with Alex Edmans, Professor of Finance at London Business School and author of the norm-challenging book, Grow the Pie - How Great Companies Deliver Both Purpose and Profit.

In this episode we learn:

• Why profit and purpose do not need to be a direct payoff and the route t greater wellbeing for all stakeholders?
• Why those at both extremes of the debate about responsible capitalism have more in common than they think
• How leaders and organisations can find a genuinely sustainable way forward that serves society and investors
• What leaders need in order to create the businesses of the future

Meet our guest: Alex Edmans

Businesses are under increasing pressure to seek their profits in a responsible way. The common view is that aiming for positive social outcomes requires financial sacrifice for investors; or, in the opposite direction, that the pursuit of profit is always at the cost of social and environmental health.

But is there something fundamentally flawed with this worldview? Is there a different route that leads to increased profits and greater wellbeing for all stakeholders?

Alex Edmans is Professor of Finance at London Business School and author of the norm-challenging book, Grow the Pie - How Great Companies Deliver Both Purpose and Profit.

In this episode we learn:

• Why those at both extremes of the debate about responsible capitalism have more in common than they think
• How leaders and organisations can find a genuinely sustainable way forward that serves society and investors
• What leaders need in order to create the businesses of the future

Meet our guest: Alex Edmans

The multi-systems crises catalysed by Covid-19 have challenged business, society, the world economy, and many of our pre-established beliefs.

In these difficult times we are given endless opportunities to learn and develop, but what separates organisations and individuals that learn effectively from those that don't?

What potential gains can be harnessed by taking a genuine learning approach to experiences, and role do leaders play in this evolution?

Helping to answer these questions is Nick Shackleton-Jones: iconoclast, free thinking learning expert, HR Director, Learning at Deloitte UK, and author of How People Learn.

Meet our guest: Nick Shackleton-Jones

It has never been more important for leaders to master their own emotional and cognitive intelligence. 

In times of crisis everyone is under elevated levels of stress, but leaders bear a greater responsibility to manage their responses with equanimity and empathy.

EQ and IQ are important to effective decision-making, but science is revealing that these intelligences begin in our bodies, as part of a complex system of neurochemicals and hormones.

This system can be refined through basic behavioural changes that lead to increased individual and organisational performance.

Claire Dale and Patricia Peyton are experts in somatic optimisation and are authors of the groundbreaking book, Physical Intelligence.

Meet our guests: Claire Dale & Patricia Peyton

Learning REWIRED's FLASH INSIGHTS is a short and sharp distillation of key takeways from our podcast series.

In this episode, the highlights of our interview with Jim Lawless, author, speaker and adaptability expert:

• Why we need to let go of industrial era thinking before we can access sustainable adaptability
• The interplay between risk and organisational culture
• Adaptability Intelligence (AQ) and metacognition

Meet our guest: Jim Lawless

20 years into the 21st century and it has become almost platitudinal to observe that what got us here in the past will not get us where we need to go in the future.

By now, we all know that we are living through an age of unprecedented rates of change. We are all well versed in narratives about landscape shifts, industry disruptions, strategy redundancies.

However, familiarity with the challenge does not necessarily equal a solution.

What do we as individuals need to navigate these waters? What skills do leaders especially need to develop to keep their organisations relevant and successful in the 21st century?

These are some of the questions we recently posed to Jim Lawless, author, speaker and adaptability expert.

Meet our guest: Jim Lawless

Learning REWIRED's FLASH INSIGHTS is a short and sharp distillation of key takeways from our podcast series.

In this episode, the highlights of our interview with Alan Brown, Professor of Digital Economy at Exeter Business School and author of Delivering Digital Transformation - a manager's guide to the digital revolution..

Discover:

• Why digital transformation is a revolution, not just another evolutionary step
• Why human problems are more and more predictive problem, not computational problems, and what that means in unpredictable times
• The importance of asking powerful questions that reveal the responsible, not only useful, potential of digital technology
• The practical steps towards implementing and managing digital transformation in teams and organisations

Meet our guest: Alan Brown

We were fortunate to have Aptar #CHRO Shiela Vinczeller in the studio recently to share her passion for the topic of Diversity & Inclusion.

Shiela was in London for Aptar's powerful custom leadership programme, Campus, co-created with Headspring, by Financial Times & IE Business School, and we used the opportunity to learn about the role of D&I in the evolution of sustainable capitalism.

#DandI #diversityandinclusion #inclusion #diversity #organisationalchange

Meet our guest: Shiela Vinczeller

Professor Alan Brown is an expert in digital economy with a career rooted in private sector tech development. He has driven digital transformation from the inside out and, in this episode of Learning REWIRED, shares some of the many lessons he has condensed into his new book: Delivering Digital Transformation.

Key insights include:

• What makes the current shifts in digital transformation a genuine revolution unlike anything we have seen before
• Why HR and L&D roles are critical to successful digital transformation
• The paradoxes that leaders need to be aware of
• What's at risk for leaders who ignore the need for proactive ownership of digital transformation

Meet our guest: Alan Brown

For those short commutes, long queues, or days that you just don't have the time: Learning REWIRED's FLASH INSIGHTS is a short and sharp distillation of key takeways from our podcast series.

In this episode, the highlights of our interview with Simon Ashton, business psychologist and leadership coach.

Discover:

• Why mainstream approaches to business education are causing a critical skills deficit
• How emotional intelligence has been misunderstood and poorly implemented
• The tools that leaders need to develop if they are to thrive in uncertain times

Meet our guest: Simon Asthon

The industrial era was defined by the need to know everything.

The new industrial revolution is defined by the need to learn and learn and relearn without inflexibility and attachment.

What are the human capacities that prepare our people for this type of constructive transformation? Which intelligences will become increasingly relevant as we move into the age of AI? And how do we construct a learning culture to support their development?

To help us answer these questions, we are joined in this episode of Learning REWIRED by Simon Ashton, business psychologist, trainer, and leadership coach.

Meet our guest: Simon Asthon

For those short commutes, long queues, or days that you just don't have the time: Learning REWIRED's FLASH INSIGHTS is a short and sharp distillation of key takeways from our podcast series.

In this episode, the highlights of our interview with Professor Binna Kandola, decorated business psychologist and champion of diversity and inclusion.

Reflecting on decades of research and consulting in a wide range of businesses, Binna shares his views on the needs and requirements of inclusive leadership, including:

• The dangers of diversity targets
• Trust, security and support - how diversity and inclusion drive innovation
• The three qualities of an inclusive leader
• Why the D&I complexity of globalisation is not shifting the diversity and inclusion needle in organisations

Meet our guest: Binna Kandola

It seems we are living in a time of increased polarisation. Every day we are reminded of the things that make us different rather than those that connect us.

This is a heightened awareness of diversity but often at the expense of inclusion.

What does this mean for organisations, their leaders and those responsible for fostering positive human and organizational development?

What will the role be of inclusive leadership as we move further into a globalised future?

Our guest in unpicking these topics is Binna Kandola, well-known business psychologist, author and expert in diversity and inclusion.

Binna is also the host of his own podcast series, Racism at Work.

Meet our guest: Binna Kandola

For those short commutes, long queues, or days that you just don't have the time: Learning REWIRED's FLASH INSIGHTS is a short and sharp distillation of key insights and takeways from our podcast series.

In this episode, the highlights of our interview with José Hernandez, author of Broken Business and rehabilitator of companies in crisis.

Reflecting on his experience at the frontlines of corporate scandal, José shares:

• The dangers of an "us versus them" perspective that writes off employees guilty of misconduct as bad apples
• The willful blindness that inevitable leads to legale and reputational damage
• Why doing the right thing is not just an ethical proposal, it's a business imperative
• How leaders can limit the risks of misconduct and corporate scandal by aligning their businesses with stronger environmental, social and governance purpose

Meet our guest: José Hernandez

Ethical and sustainable corporations are not just about flowery ideologies, hugging trees, or peace, love and unity. This is basic good business. Companies that want to endure and thrive need to commit to doing the right thing, not just for people and the planet, but for their own long-term success.

These are some of the lessons learned from José Hernandez, author of Broken Business and rehabilitator of companies in crisis. Speaking from 20 years' experience at the frontline of corporate scandal, José shares that companies are not inherently "good" or "bad", but are rather defined by how they respond to the critical dilemmas in environmental, social and governance domains.

Meet our guest: José Hernandez

For those short commutes, long queues, or days that you just don't have the time: Learning REWIRED's FLASH INSIGHTS is a short and sharp distillation of key insights and takeways from our podcast series.

In this episode, the highlights of our interview with Kit Krugman, organisational innovator and champion for purpose-driven business.

We discuss what's needed to build better organisations and discover:

• What most companies are doing wrong when they talk about values
• How distribution of power and decision-making shapes purpose-driven business
• Why building better organisations is crucial to the positive evolution of society and the world
• What growth mindset organisations look like

Meet our guest: Kit Krugman

Capitalism is shifting beyond the longheld boundaries of shareholder primacy. Declarations like those made by The Business Roundtable have brought the interests of multiple stakeholders - employees, clients, suppliers, communities and the environment - to the fore.

But are businesses ready to make the necessary adaptations to meet the expectations of evolutionary capitalism? And what are the internal hurdles that may block their way?

Kit Krugman is a organisational innovator and champion for purpose-driven business. Her roots in the talent-oriented aspects of company mechanics have given her a unique and provocative view of what we need to do to build better organisations.

Meet our guest: Kit Krugman

Learning REWIRED's FLASH INSIGHTS is a distillation of key insights and takeways from our podcast series.

In this slot we highlight Professor Alf Rehn's illuminating views on questions like

• How do effective, positive legacy-building leaders engage with the concept of power?
• What does the distribution of power within an organisation mean for successful business?
• Where do leaders start in building greater trust, loyalty and confidence in themselves and their organisations?

Meet our guest: Alf Rehn

Power and leadership are often used interchangeably, but as we learn in this dialogue with Professor Alf Rehn, one of the qualities that separates good leadership from great is the understanding that this is not the case.

The distribution of decision making power and accountability throughout an organisation is challenging for most leaders. But, Rehn argues, this is an increasingly important skill to master for the leaders of the future.

Meet our guest: Alf Rehn

Learning REWIRED's FLASH INSIGHTS is a distillation of key insights and takeways from our podcast series.

In this slot we tease out IBM Europe CHRO Gary Kildare's views on questions like

• What is AI? (it's not what you think)
• Where does responsibility for ongoing learning and skills development lie?
• Where should organisations and their leaders start in preparing for the unfolding of AI?

Meet our guest: Gary Kildare

We are all aware of the apparently imminent Age of AI, though views of the future relationship between man and machine vary wildly.

Especially debatable is the impending impact of AI and automation in the workplace.

Will machines become our servants or will we become slaves to an artificial intelligence? Will we integrate with technology, or will technology replace us, taking our jobs with it?

In this episode of REWIRED we are joined by Gary Kildare, who offers his views on these issues and more.

RESOURCES

Download the industry report, AI on the Horizon, mentioned in this show: https://go.headspringexecutive.com/AIReport

Meet our guest: Gary Kildare