Inspirational conversations with today‘s business leaders. Hear their challenges and how they overcame them, their tips to be an inspiring leader and tough lessons learnt along the way.
Whether you‘re a manager leading a team, a business owner, or stepping into a leadership role, you‘ll hear practical advice and experiences that will inspire your own approach to leadership.
Topics include: leading change, wellbeing in the workplace, self-leadership, authentic leadership, overcoming big challenges, emotional intelligence, crisis leadership, engaging millennials, and leading remote teams.
The hosts, Callum and Rebecca Jenkins share their own experiences of leadership. This includes growing a business in the B2B sector, to experiencing different leadership styles.
The podcast style is conversational, always leaving the listener with practical steps that they can implement in the workplace.
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#141 AI Disruption - The Skills & Strategies Every CEO Now Needs
Episode 151
Friday, November 28, 2025 • Duration 33:54
In an AI disrupted world, what do you do when technology is moving faster than your people?
Heather Jerrehian, Silicon Valley CEO, investor, and co-author of Sail to Scale, reveals why trust, psychological safety, and human-centred leadership are now the critical skills CEOs need to navigate AI-driven disruption.
For most organisations, AI doesn’t fail because the tech isn’t ready.
It fails because people don’t feel safe enough to adopt it.
But for Heather, this moment became a masterclass in leading through uncertainty, navigating resistance, and bringing teams with her into the future.
In this conversation with Rebecca Jenkins and Callum Jenkins, Heather explains what CEOs must understand about human behaviour, fear, change, and how to build the trust that makes transformation possible.
This is not theory, it’s hard-earned insight from someone who has launched, pivoted, scaled, and exited companies at the heart of the AI revolution, including a transformational acquisition by ServiceNow.
What you’ll learn in this episode:
Why AI adoption fails inside organisations, and the hidden fears leaders aren’t addressing.
How to build psychological safety so your people don’t resist AI, but embrace it.
The leadership behaviours that create trust during periods of disruption.
How Heather’s ‘listening tour’ revealed a market opportunity that changed the trajectory of her company.
Why futurist leaders must learn the skill of bringing people with them, not running ahead alone.
The four waves of growth from Sail to Scale, and how to navigate each one without losing your team.
Why human-centred leadership is the only sustainable strategy in an AI-powered world.
This is for:
CEOs, Founders, and C-suite leaders navigating AI-driven change, organisational resistance, or the complexity of leading people through disruption.
----more----
Connect with Heather:
LinkedIn: Heather Jerrehian
X: @Jerrehian
Book: Sail to Scale: Steer Your Startup Clear of Mistakes from Launch to Exit (Amazon)
----more----
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#140 Bankruptcy at Breakfast, Zero Churn by Monday: How Leaders Survive the Unthinkable
Episode 150
Tuesday, September 23, 2025 • Duration 21:47
What do you do when your CFO calls on Sunday night to say you’re filing for bankruptcy in the morning?
Tim Butchart reveals how he led through chaos, kept every customer, and turned crisis into growth.
For most leaders, that call would trigger panic, client flight, and investor revolt. But for Tim Butchart, it became a masterclass in crisis leadership and customer trust.
Against the odds, his team didn’t lose a single key customer.
In this raw conversation with Rebecca Jenkins and Callum Jenkins, Tim shares what it takes to lead through chaos, scale in high-pressure environments, and prove value when the stakes couldn’t be higher.
This isn’t theory. It’s scars-earned wisdom from SaaS, AI, fintech, and cybersecurity boardrooms, including PE-backed scale-ups where growth targets aren’t suggestions, they’re mandates.
What you’ll learn in this episode:
How to keep customers from walking when your company’s future is on the line.
Why “everything is a service” changes how you lead teams and retain talent.
How to survive PE-backed growth expectations without burning out your culture.
The four anchors of modern leadership: Vision, Scalable Engine, People, Uncertainty.
This is for: CEOs, Founders, CROs, and PE-backed leaders navigating high-stakes growth, global expansion, or customer retention challenges.
If your revenue has plateaued or your accounts feel “at risk,” access your copy of
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#139 From Toxic to Trusted: How Leaders Rebuild Psychological Safety & Performance
Episode 149
Sunday, August 10, 2025 • Duration 26:32
A leadership psychologist shares the toughest workplace turnaround of her career, the skill most leaders get wrong, and how to restore trust, unity, and results.
In this episode Rebecca Jenkins and Callum Jenkins talk with Dr. Mira Brancu, leadership advisor, licensed psychologist, and CEO of Towerscope, to explore how and why leadership needs to evolve.
Mira has over 20 years’ experience helping technical experts transition into leadership roles, navigate complex organisations, and build trust in challenging environments.
Mira is the author of Millennial’s Guide to Workplace Politics and host of The Hard Skills Podcast, where she focuses on the intersection of leadership, behavioural science, and organisational psychology.
Together, we dive into:
Toxic vs. healthy cultures - what the warning signs look like and how to intervene early.
Psychological safety - why it’s the cornerstone of innovation and high performance.
The leadership skill most leaders struggle with right now - and how to improve it.
Introvert vs. extrovert leadership - busting the myths and understanding their unique strengths.
Humility and confidence - finding the balance between approachability and authority.
How to rebuild trust in a team - after conflict, politics, or organisational trauma.
Mira also shares her pivotal career moment, in being asked to lead a “toxic and hostile” workplace early in her career and the lessons that shaped her approach to leadership ever since.
If you’re a leader navigating change, wanting to engage your team more deeply, or curious about how leadership styles need to shift now, this conversation will challenge and inspire you.
#138 Harnessing Certainty: CIA-Grade Tactics for Leadership Success with guest Mike Mears
Episode 148
Sunday, July 13, 2025 • Duration 31:33
Teams want certainty, but in an uncertain world, how can you deliver it? Find out how in this episode.
We dive deep with Mike Mears, Leadership Theoretician, former GE change-agent under Jack Welch, and ex-CIA Chief of Human Capital.
Mike Mears reveals the neuroscience backed rituals and intelligence inspired frameworks that clear away uncertainty, sharpen your focus, and unleash your team’s full potential.
From GE’s “Workout” sessions to CIA secure briefings, Mike unpacks his three-pillar “Certainty” method.
Mike shares the mindset pivots that turn cautious managers into bold innovators, and the battlefield lessons of building true psychological safety, even in the most critical situations.
Tune in to discover how these proven insights can elevate your leadership, strengthen your culture, and drive transformative results, starting today.
Journey Highlights & Story Beats
GE’s “Workout” Revelation:
Rebecca and Callum discover Mike’s first “aha” moment under Jack Welch, how a noisy, chaotic workshop taught him that culture change starts with listening, not lecturing.
CIA’s Safe-House Confession:
Mike recounts the night an agent risked their career to report a critical encryption error, because Mike had built a “safe house” of trust. That moment taught him that psychological safety isn’t a luxury; it’s a survival tool.
Military Roots & Dual-Engine Leadership:
From survival-of-the-fittest drills to commanding a nuclear missile site, Mike learned that drive alone breeds burnout and only paired with genuine empathy will people truly follow.
Key Takeaways
Certainty Overrides Fear
Our primitive “survival” wiring clings to the status quo. Weekly 5-minute, agenda-free check-ins and timely praise rewire brains toward confident change.
Psychological Safety as a Secure Briefing Room
In covert ops, absolute trust saves lives. In business, it unleashes candid feedback and breakthrough ideas. Start small, smile at every team member, ask one open-ended question, then listen.
Notable Quotes
Actionable Steps for Leaders.
Connect & Continue the Conversation
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#137 How to Break Free from What’s Holding You Back in Leadership, With Peak Performance Coach Saahil Mehta
Episode 147
Sunday, July 13, 2025 • Duration 30:12
In this high octane episode, Callum and Rebecca Jenkins discover how Saahil Mehta, an internationally renowned peak performance coach and author of Break Free, helps to declutter your life, lead with intention, and unlock your full leadership potential, in business and beyond.
Saahil shares his three-step "Break Free" process, the mindset shifts required to let go of people pleasing, and how climbing mountains has taught him how to navigate life’s biggest challenges including those high-stakes conversations leaders often avoid.
What You’ll Learn:
The “7 Summits” of Personal Success: Why leaders must define their own version of success and not borrow society’s.
Decluttering for High Performance: How to remove emotional, physical, and mental distractions to gain clarity and momentum.
From People Pleasing to Personal Power: Saahil’s breakthrough moment on a retreat that changed how he shows up in life and business.
The 5 Steps to Manage Difficult Conversations: How to address conversations with empathy, understanding and clarity
Boardroom Lessons from the Mountains: Why preparation beats improvisation in high-pressure situations
Key Takeaways:
Confidence is built by doing the hard things, and real leadership starts with self-leadership.
Leaders don’t rise to the level of their ambition, they fall to the level of their preparation.
Conversations aren’t won through force, they’re earned through empathy, clarity, and courage.
Saahil’s Wisdom:
“You don’t need to react. You need to respond. That’s where the breathwork, the pause, the clarity, it all comes in.”
“You may not know your full purpose today, but your soul should leave this life better than it entered.”
Connect with Saahil Mehta:
Upcoming:
Share Your Thoughts:
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#136 How do you Want your Team to Feel this Week? A new Lens on Leadership with Cara Cunniff.
Episode 146
Monday, May 5, 2025 • Duration 31:14
The Power of Emotional Culture at Work
Hosts, Rebecca Jenkins and Callum Jenkins are joined by Cara Cunniff, a former British Army Psychological Operations Officer, turned emotional culture consultant. We explore how leaders can create high-performing teams by focusing on emotions, not just actions.
Drawing from her military background in psychological operations, Cara shares powerful insights into how emotions influence behaviour, both on the battlefield and in the boardroom.
We unpack how organisations can co-create emotional cultures, why some leaders resist emotional awareness, and how to spot disengagement before it becomes damaging.
Whether you lead a startup or a large organisation, this episode is full of practical tools and leadership questions you can apply immediately to build stronger, more connected teams.
Key Topics Covered:
What emotional culture really means and why it’s your hidden performance driver
Signs your team is disengaged and what to do about it
The Vs” of workplace emotions: Visible, Valued and Validated
Mapping a “Feeling Journey” for organisational change
Why leaders must ask: How do I want people to feel in my presence?
How to create psychologically safe spaces for honest conversations
Practical steps to start embedding emotional culture in your team
Hybrid & remote teams: how to enhance connection remotely
Cara’s Top 2 Practical Tips for Leaders:
Reflect on how you want your people to feel this week, then do one thing to move the needle toward that emotion.
Remember: Leadership isn’t what you do, it’s how you make people feel.
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#135 From WeWork to LinkedIn: The Future of Leadership with Robin Daniels
Episode 145
Friday, March 28, 2025 • Duration 33:39
Robin Daniels, an experienced leader, discusses the evolving workplace, the importance of recognising effort over outcomes, and how autonomy enables creativity.
Robin also shares his leadership journey having worked at LinkedIn and WeWork, and provides actionable insights from the importance of building an online brand to what makes an impactful leader of the future.
Listen for invaluable leadership lessons and hear Robin’s thoughts about the value of Leadership in the age of AI.
Key Topics Covered:
Public vs. Private Recognition (17:30): Robin explains the importance of balancing recognition in the workplace to ensure inclusivity and motivation.
Effort vs. Outcome (18:35): Learn why the future of work should reward input and output, not just outcome.
The Role of Autonomy (22:46): Discover how giving employees freedom while maintaining role clarity drives success.
LinkedIn’s Impact(25:08): Robin shares how actively engaging on LinkedIn transformed his career and opened up new opportunities.
Building a Personal Brand on LinkedIn (28:53): Practical tips for business owners on how to leverage LinkedIn for authenticity and engagement.
Top Leadership Advice (33:03): Robin’s #1 tip for personal and professional success.
Memorable Quotes:
“Effort, mindset, and enthusiasm are fully within your control. Recognising these is key to a healthy work culture.”
“People follow people, not brands. Be authentic, share stories, and be consistent.”
“Surround yourself with great people. The right network lifts you up and helps you grow.”
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#134 Breaking Every Rule to have a Successful Business - Nathan Chan of Foundr
Episode 144
Thursday, March 13, 2025 • Duration 29:44
Nathan Chan has broken every rule in business to have a successful company.
Hear his leadership journey and what he's learnt from interviewing over 100 business billionaires.
----more----Nathan is the visionary founder and CEO of Foundr, a global media and education platform dedicated to empowering entrepreneurs to be outstanding business leaders.
With a journey spanning over 12 years, Nathan shares how he transitioned from an IT support role to leading a company that has grown to employ around 50 people.
Lessons from interviews with Richard Branson, Mark Cuban and other impressive leaders
Through insightful discussions, Nathan reveals his experiences interviewing some of the biggest names in business, such as Richard Branson and Mark Cuban, and the invaluable lessons he learned from them.
Dive into the challenges and triumphs of leadership, the importance of cultivating a strong team culture, and the wisdom of surrounding oneself with great people.
Facing Burnout
Nathan also opens up about overcoming burnout and the critical role of self-care in sustaining personal and professional growth.
Tune in to discover the secrets behind building a successful online business, scaling for the future, and maintaining a vision-driven leadership approach.
Whether you're an aspiring entrepreneur or a seasoned leader, Nathan's story offers valuable insights and motivation to ignite your own path to success.
Key Points and Timings
In this episode Nathan talks about :
Surrounding yourself with great people (7:15): Finding great people, surrounding yourself with great people and also retaining great people
Lessons from Top Entrepreneurs (08:04): Nathan discusses key leadership lessons he’s learned from interviewing over 100 successful founders, including the importance of having a clear mission and vision.
Creating a talent wait list (11.38)
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#133 Why Attributes Matter More Than Skills: Former Navy SEAL, Rich Diviney Shares Leadership Insights
Episode 136
Wednesday, February 12, 2025 • Duration 32:52
In this high value episode, Callum and Rebecca Jenkins are joined by Rich Diviney, a former Navy SEAL commander with over two decades of leadership experience, leading elite teams in some of the world’s most challenging environments.
Rich is also a human performance expert, and the author of The Attributes: 25 Hidden Drivers of Optimal Performance, Rich Diviney offers deep insights into the key traits that make a true leader.
From thoughts of becoming a naval aviator to commanding high-performing units, Rich shares invaluable leadership lessons and attributes that have shaped his career and the success of his teams. He shares practical tips to implement in business.
This conversation dives into the critical difference between skills and attributes, shedding light on why businesses must focus on this to create effective teams capable of performing under pressure.
In this episode, Rich talks about:
The Key Leadership Attributes (05:12): Discover the powerful traits that define success in high-stakes environments and how they apply to leadership.
Skills vs. Attributes (08:23): Rich explains why attributes like resilience, adaptability, and emotional intelligence are just as important, if not more so, than technical skills.
Unlocking Potential with Attributes Inc. (12:56): How Rich’s company applies military, neuroscience, and psychological insights to help organisations build high-performing teams.
Perseverance vs. Resilience (20:42): The nuanced difference between these two traits and how to cultivate them in your team.
Building Team Trust (28:11): Rich discusses how small behaviors and consistent actions can build lasting trust, even in the most stressful situations.
The Science of Team Dynamics (33:59): Learn how subtle behavioral shifts can dramatically improve team cohesion and performance under pressure.
Memorable Quotes from Rich Diviney.
“When the stakes are high, it’s not the skills you have—it’s the attributes you rely on.”
“Leadership is about understanding the people you’re leading, knowing their strengths, and pushing them to achieve their best under pressure.”
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#132 Are You A Maverick Leader Like Richard Branson, Steve Jobs and Barack Obama?
Episode 143
Sunday, January 19, 2025 • Duration 34:22
Discover the traits of successful maverick leaders, and how to apply them to transform your leadership and business.
Episode Summary: We take a close look at Maverick Leadership, what it is and how to apply it, with our guest Judith Germain, a leading authority on Maverick Leadership.
Judith reveals how Maverick leaders,like Steve Jobs, Richard Branson, Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, and even political figures like Barack Obama and Donald Trump, embody traits like willful independence, innovation, and the power to influence.
These leaders have transformed industries and driven massive change by staying true to their unique vision and approach.
Judith dives deep into the core principles of Maverick Leadership, showing how business owners and leaders can apply these traits to catalyse transformation and elevate their impact.
From determination to reputation, influence, and adaptability, Judith shares actionable insights that will help you become a more decisive and influential leader, ready to amplify your success and attract the clients you want.
We also explore why execution is the true key to turning plans into results, how to innovate with your product offerings, and why a growth mindset is crucial for any leader looking to achieve long-term success.
Key Takeaways
Maverick Leadership is about being willfully independent and adaptable to new ideas, with a focus on working for the greater good.
The DRIVEN acronym outlines the essential qualities of a Maverick Leader: Determination, Reputation, Influence, Versatility, Execution, and Narration.
Why commitment matters more than compromise.
How clear thinking and decisive actions are central to creating a lasting impact and driving business success.
The power of reframing negative thoughts and language to foster a positive mindset and enhance leadership.
Growth Mindset is critical for leaders, knowing how to hack your brain and use the subconscious to find the best solutions.
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Listen now - if you enjoyed the conversation, please leave a review on your favourite podcast platform and share it with a colleague who’s passionate about leadership.
Insight Prompts: Your CEO “Ask”
Inspired by CIA Director's, assign each direct report a single, high-stakes question. Give them a week to reflect, and then collect ten ideas back. Dopamine-driven “aha” moments follow.
The Dual-Engine Model: Drive + Empathy
Military toughness and modern leadership demands both relentless mission focus and genuine concern for people’s well-being.
“Great bosses don’t force change; they engineer certainty so teams feel safe innovating.”
“You don’t need all the answers, just the right questions and the space for insights to emerge.”
“Pair relentless drive with real empathy, then watch your people follow you anywhere.”
Implement CIA-Style Check-Ins: Five-minute, no-agenda chats each week with every direct report: What’s top of mind? How can I support you?
Rotate Your Ops: Structure work into three phases, core execution, innovation sprint, and recovery to maintain peak performance and morale.
Launch an Insight Prompt: Give each team member one strategic question, set a deadline, reconvene for accountability and harvest high-impact ideas.
Elevate your revenue engine with the CEO Revenue Architecture Briefing, the definitive executive briefing revealing the essential moves for impactful, strategic growth. A crisp, insightful read for senior leaders delivering:
Elevate your revenue engine with the CEO Revenue Architecture Briefing, the definitive executive briefing revealing the essential moves for impactful, strategic growth. A crisp, insightful read for senior leaders delivering:
Overcoming Burnout: (23:56) Despite his business thriving, Nathan found himself mentally drained, which led him to invest in self-care, therapy, and building a stronger leadership team.
Famous Maverick leaders include Steve Jobs, Richard Branson, Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, Barack Obama, and Donald Trump. Each embodies the characteristics of Maverick leadership, with a focus on independence, impact, and innovation.
Resources Mentioned:
Judith's Scorecard for Influence: A quick 5-7 minute tool to help you understand how to influence others and attract clients. Take the Scorecard
Judith’s Maverick Paradox Magazine: A publication focusing on lateral thinking and Maverick leadership insights. Visit the Magazine
About Judith Germain: Judith Germain is a business mentor, speaker, and author, specializing in Maverick Leadership principles. She works with business owners and leaders to help them cultivate clear thinking and become more decisive, all while amplifying their influence and impact. Judith is also the founder of The Maverick Paradox Podcast and Maverick Paradox Magazine.
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