Leaders in Conversation with Anni Townend is the podcast in which I talk to leaders about their own life and leadership stories, to encourage you to reflect on your values, beliefs, passion and purpose, and inspire you to be even more confident and courageous in your leadership.

About this episode:
 
Today’s guest is Carien Borst, Artist and Leadership Coach. In this episode we are talking about Creativity and Reflection in Leadership - how every job is a creative act, and how we all have a part to play in creating a workplace and environment in which there is harmony, diversity and contrast.

Carien offers valuable insights into:

• How as human beings we are all creative
• How through being creative it can be an endless source of life energy
• Knowing and being yourself - how being authentic and vulnerable gives others permission to be authentic and vulnerable
• Creativity and how it’s related to leadership 

Carien's Three Key Encouragements to Leaders:

1. Know yourself, and be yourself - We serve the world by showing ourselves who we are! 
2. Explore, experiment, play and be creative - Let go of the outcome and experience joy! Remember to play and take time to simply enjoy creative activities. 
3. We create all day - By choosing our words and by our reaction towards others. 

Connect, follow and find out more about Carien:

LinkedIn: Carien (Mooibroek) Borst 

Website: www.carienborst.nl 

Instagram: @carien_borst_art

To listen to other Leaders in Conversation with me Anni Townend:
 
Email me on anni@annitownend.com
Visit my website www.annitownend.com 
Follow me on LinkedIn

About Carien Borst:

Carien was born and raised in the Netherlands. She studied Art Therapy and Human Development. 

Carien worked for 15 years in mental healthcare, and for about 10 years in different leadership roles. She started as a team leader and the last years as a manager of the eleven sheltered living houses for people who suffered from all sorts of psychiatric diseases.

Around 7 years ago Carien started to realise she was missing creativity in her life. Due to a busy job, two young children and simply not prioritising what she needed. 

After a weekend spent in a monastery, filled with silence and creativity she decided to change things in her life. She woke up early every day to create in silence. Writing, creating an art journal, sitting still and taking time to think and feel. She chose to follow art courses and slowly new ideas developed. How could she bring this creativity into her leadership role?

She found the courage to bring three pillars together in her own business: creativity, leadership and reflection. Based on her experience as a leader in mental healthcare but also through her journey in opening up again for the power of creating and growing in being a painter and artist. 

Hello, welcome and welcome back to Leaders in Conversation with me, Anni Townend. 

Today’s guest is Guy Newey, Chief Executive Officer at Energy Systems Catapult, and the title of our conversation is ‘On Accelerating Net Zero Energy Innovation’.

I have had the privilege of partnering with Guy and working with a group of Future Leaders at Energy Systems Catapult - a company committed to accelerating NET ZERO in the UK through supporting innovators to commercialise, and helping design and deliver the future energy system.

Together Guy and I delve into the people, places and experiences that have made him the person and leader he is today. 

Guy offers valuable insights into :

• Communication and what he has learnt about communicating across the wider team.
• Resilience, how managing your own energy is key, along with helping to manage that of the team.
• Getting comfortable with not knowing everything, and how the more senior you become as a leader the less you know.

Guy's Three Key Encouragements to Leaders looking to innovate and commercialise for Net Zero 

1. There is a huge market out there - net zero is an incredible opportunity (as well as an essential mission)
2. It is not unusual to feel imposter syndrome - in fact it is super common
3. Learn fast - be prepared to pivot quickly if something you thought was going to work does not work.

To connect, follow and find out more about Guy:

LinkedIn: Guy Newey

Website: https://es.catapult.org.uk/

Twitter/X: @guynewey

To contact Anni Townend:

Email me on anni@annitownend.com or visit my website www.annitownend.com, subscribe to my newsletter and follow me on LinkedIn.

About Guy Newey

Guy was appointed Chief Executive Officer at Energy Systems Catapult, the innovation business, in June 2022. Guy joined the Catapult in 2018 as Director of Strategy after being an energy and political adviser to two UK Government Secretaries of State; Greg Clark and Amber Rudd. In Government, he was involved in many key decisions, including closing the UK’s coal-fired power stations, greater independence for the electricity system operator, and as an architect of the Clean Growth Strategy.

Before joining Government, he was Head of Policy at the challenger energy supplier, OVO Energy and Head of Environment and Energy at the influential think tank, Policy Exchange. He was previously a journalist, including three years as a foreign correspondent in Hong Kong for the international newswire, AFP. He is a non-executive director with UK100, a charity campaigning for greater environmental action by local authorities. He lives in Enfield, with his wife and two children.

Welcome and welcome back to Leaders in Conversation with me, Anni Townend, the podcast that helps you to grow confidence, care and courage in your leadership.

I created this series of candid conversations for leaders to share their inspirational personal leadership stories, weaving together the threads of their life - the people, places and experiences that have shaped them and made them the leader that they are today. 

They offer valuable insights and rich experience to help and inspire you on your own unique leadership journey. If you are not already please do subscribe to the podcast, review and share it. Thank you!

About This Episode

In this episode I am delighted to be in conversation with Julian Roberts, Executive Business Coach, Podcast Host of Helping Organisations Thrive

We delve together into: 

1. Why the need for resilience in leadership in today’s workplace is greater than ever.
2. How to create a resilient mindset to lead your team and organisation.
3. And how to create resilient teams that are better equipped to navigate challenges and thrive in an ever-changing environment.

Julian’s Three Key Encouragements to Leaders 

1. Lead by example, through developing a resilient mindset and behaviours that inspire confidence in others, helping them to adapt to change; and as part of that foster a supportive work environment, one in which people are helped to navigate challenges and uncertainties effectively.  
2. Create daily habits that build resilience as a leader all embedded within your purpose.
3. Focus on the 3 P’s of Purpose, Psychological Safety and Processes - Reduce, Regulate and Repair

Contact Julian:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/julesroberts/

Website: https://www.julianrobertsconsulting.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/julesroberts45/

To listen to other Leaders in Conversation with me Anni Townend go to my website, www.annitownend.com

A big thank you to my support team at the Conscious Marketing Group for helping me with all the marketing of the podcast, to Coco O’Brien for the wonderful intro and outro music, for the lovely design, and for the excellent editing and sound production.

To contact me Anni Townend do email me on anni@annitownend.com visit my website www.annitownend.com, subscribe to my newsletter and follow me on LinkedIn.  I look forward to connecting with you, thank you for listening.

About Julian Roberts

Julian Roberts, an Executive Business Coach with a background in commercial and sales, is passionate about people, resiliency, and business. He has held a number of senior strategic commercial positions for multinational corporations such as Heinz, Yoplait, and Johnson & Johnson, as well as for family-owned businesses.

In 2017, he launched his coaching practice, working with individuals and teams from various industries, including food, FMCG, retail, media, engineering, financial services, legal, construction, and medical.

About This Episode

In this episode I am delighted to be in conversation with John Edwards, Director General, Regions Group, at the Department for Education, UK. 

John and I were invited to be in conversation by and for the annual Transform Applied Leadership Summit, held virtually this year on 8th March 2024. The title of our conversation Understanding Ourselves and Understanding Others - a leadership perspective is the title of the summit.

(For listeners who don’t know about Transform Applied Leadership I share their details at the end of the podcast, along with ways in which you can connect with John.)

John and I delve together into: 

1. How becoming a leader is all about finding your own leadership 
2. The alignment between who we are, how we lead and why we lead, and what it means to be an authentic leader
3. The importance of being aware of individual and collective leadership behaviour and the impact that it has on others 
4. 360 degree leadership and measuring our leadership achievements through the successes of others

John’s three key encouragements for leaders looking to grow their leadership identity, build greater confidence and understanding in their leadership behaviours.

1. We never need to create our leadership approach, or copy it from others - we just need to find it, observe it and look after it
2. We don’t need to worry about making time for DOING leadership, only for THINKING ABOUT leadership - it’s not an extra job, it’s how we do the job we have
3. Listen to others but trust your instincts - there is no right answer

How to connect with John Edwards on LinkedIn

The Transform Applied Leadership Summit happens annually and is designed to stimulate new ways of thinking and behaving in our leadership. Delegates come from education and reflect upon their own leadership, have conversations with other leaders, and to hear speakers from different backgrounds.

To find out more about the Summit, and Leadership Applied the leadership study and research; the leadership experts and about the Future Engage Deliver approach to leadership developed by Steve Radcliffe do go to the website:

https://www.transformapplied.co.uk/leadership-applied

Contact Anni Townend  
anni@annitownend.com
www.annitownend.com

About John Edwards

Having started out as a secondary school maths teacher, I’ve had the privilege to work in schools, local government and now central government - but still, when asked what I do, the word ‘teacher’ is the first word that comes to mind.  11 years in three schools was followed by 14 years working in three different local authorities, responsible for the full range of education and skills functions in largely urban settings.  I now head up the Department for Education’s Regions Group, covering improvement, intervention and capacity-building for schools, children’s social care and SEND through 9 regional teams.

I am proud to have grown up and lived all my life in the north - for more than 20 years in Sheffield where my wife and I both work and where my kids have grown up.  We have one rule in our house: there’s always time for a hug.  When neither working nor hugging, I love watching cricket, riding my bike and walking on the beach or in the hills.

About This Episode

In this episode I am delighted to be in conversation with Tanya Shadrick - author of The Cure for Sleep: her memoir of a late waking life, a story of breaking free, and making a more creative life; Tanya is founder of the Selkie Press; editor of the Wainwright Prize-listed Wild Woman Swimming.  She is a community builder of writers and storytellers through Substack where she writes, and invites you to share your stories.

We delve together into: 

What it takes - and costs - to build an authentic life of one’s own, while continuing to honour our roles within families, workplaces, and communities.

And explore four key themes:

1. The voices around us - and the beliefs that we form about ourselves and our abilities because of what is praised or punished.
2. Our Size and Shape - and how related to beliefs about ourselves, and our abilities, we (perhaps) make ourselves smaller
3. Work - and how writing about work is central to Tanya’s storytelling
4. The importance of service, of finding the best in ourselves, and each other, for the good of others, and to deliver use and meaning to others

Three key encouragements

1. Look how far you’ve come… We can forget how hard we once found things that are now a core part of our senior roles - public speaking, say, or preparing a visual presentation for stakeholders or investors. Write 500 words from the you of now to the twenty-something you once were, starting out. Be in dialogue. Remember the vivid details. It releases a kind of energy that helps us be better mentors and encouragers to our graduate staff and our career returners. 
2. A list of what you love…  spend an hour making a list of 100 things you love about your work life. It will seem impossible to get anywhere near that number. Your first few items might seem so simple, so insufficient - just a list of obvious things: the salary, the pension, the status, the holiday allowance. But as you persist, the process starts to yield surprising results - by the time you get to around sixty, or eighty, most people find themselves remembering their deepest values, their fiercest ambitions and so on.
3. How do you talk about your job to those you don’t work with?  This is a very different exercise from crafting ‘an elevator pitch’ and its purpose is deeper, broader. Having a simple, authentic way to speak with quiet pride about what you do is one of the most useful ways to connect with other people - it extends to them the possibility of sharing what matters to them too: whether that’s their paid work, their passion, or an unpaid voluntary role.

Contact Tanya via her website, for writing resources, and podcasts:

www.thecureforsleep.com
https://tanyashadrick.substack.com/

To contact Anni Townend
anni@annitownend.com
www.annitownend.com

About Tanya Shadrick

I first heard of Tanya through a friend that I met some years ago via Instagram. Knowing my love of life writing, and of memoir, she asked me if I had read, and did I know Tanya Shadrick.  I didn’t. However the title of her book excited me, I wanted to know more about her, and about her writing. I read the book over a matter of days, snatching moments in my day to read, and was inspired by her openness and generosity of spirit. More recently she has shared via Substack and Instagram her experience of being with her mother at the end of her life, and her death. Tanya writes beautifully, poetically and is an inspiration to us to wake up, to make time to find and be creative, and to share our stories. 

Welcome and welcome back to Leaders in Conversation with me, Anni Townend, the podcast that helps you to grow confidence and courage your leadership.

I created this series of candid conversations for leaders to share their inspirational leadership stories, weaving together the threads of their life - the people, places and experiences that have shaped them and made them the leader that they are today. 

They offer valuable insights and rich experience to help and inspire you on your own unique leadership journey. If you are not already please do subscribe to the podcast, review and share it. Thank you!

About This Episode

In this episode I am delighted to be in conversation with Moses Tai Founder and CEO African Development Choices (ADC), Author of ‘There Is Shade’ and Speaker.

We delve together into the working culture of African Development Choices, in particular how they encourage community and reflect who they are in what they do: 

• Seeking and giving input, raising awareness of choice
• Showing and taking initiative as part of sustainable change
• Commitment to the organisation and its purpose through building belief and hope, and working together

Moses’ Three Key Encouragements to Leaders 

1. Develop a strong vision 
2. Recruit and retain talented people 
3. Build well structured teams

Connect with Moses Tai, and find out more about African Development Choices

www.linkedin.com/in/mosestai

https://mybook.to/TISHADE

https://africandevelopmentchoices.org/

To listen to other Leaders in Conversation with me Anni Townend go to my website, www.annitownend.com

A big thank you to my support team at the Conscious Marketing Group for helping me with all the marketing of the podcast, to Coco O’Brien for the wonderful intro and outro music, for the lovely design, and for the excellent editing and sound production.

To contact me Anni Townend do email me on anni@annitownend.com visit my website www.annitownend.com, subscribe to my newsletter and follow me on LinkedIn.  I look forward to connecting with you, thank you for listening.

About Moses

My mission with the podcast is to be in conversation with people who have a passion and purpose (no matter how small or large), and, who want to make a difference through their leadership, and to give them a way of sharing their story to inspire, confidence, care and courage in you the  listener - far and wide. So when Taryn Weeks of Sparks Marketing suggested that Moses would be a great guest I contacted him, and bought a copy of his book ‘There Is Shade’. Moses is an inspiring leader, a passionate voice for sustainable change. 

Welcome and welcome back to Leaders in Conversation with me, Anni Townend, the podcast that helps you to grow confidence, care and courage in your leadership.

I created this series of candid conversations for leaders to share their inspirational personal leadership stories, weaving together the threads of their life - the people, places and experiences that have shaped them and made them the leader that they are today.

They offer valuable insights and rich experience to help and inspire you on your own unique leadership journey. If you are not already please do subscribe to the podcast, review and share it. Thank you!

About This Episode

In this episode I am delighted to be in conversation with Roger Mortlock, Chief Executive Officer, CPRE, the countryside charity. 

Together we delve into what it means to lead:

• A heritage organisation, being open
• In a federated structure, being humble
• A campaigning organisation, being brave

ROGER’S THREE ENCOURAGEMENTS TO LEADERS

1. Do it your way - learn from the leaders who help you grow as a person as well as a leader
2. Find and honour that which gives you joy at work, what you love - give yourself space to flourish as well as face into the challenge
3. Keep making the time and space to imagine the future

To contact Roger

LinkedIn: Roger Mortlock

Website:  www.cpre.org.uk


About Roger Mortlock

I first met Roger some twenty years ago and have had the privilege of partnering with him, and the teams he has led and been part of over the years.  

To listen to other Leaders in Conversation with me Anni Townend go to my website, www.annitownend.com

A big thank you to my support team at the Conscious Marketing Group for helping me with all the marketing of the podcast, to Coco O’Brien for the wonderful intro and outro music, for the lovely design, and for the excellent editing and sound production.

To contact me Anni Townend do email me on anni@annitownend.com visit my website www.annitownend.com, subscribe to my newsletter and follow me on LinkedIn.  I look forward to connecting with you, thank you for listening.

Welcome and welcome back to Leaders in Conversation with me, Anni Townend, the podcast that helps you to grow confidence and courage your leadership.

I created this series of candid conversations for leaders to share their inspirational leadership stories, weaving together the threads of their life - the people, places and experiences that have shaped them and made them the leader that they are today. 

Together we delve into what they really care about, their values and beliefs, their passion and purpose and how they live and weave these through their leadership every day, in all that they do. 

They offer valuable insights and rich experience to help and inspire you on your own unique leadership journey. If you are not already please do subscribe to the podcast, review and share it. Thank you!

About This Episode

In this episode I am delighted to be in conversation with Febronia Ruocco, Strategic Insights Professional, Executive Coach and Mentor

We delve and explore together leadership values and skills, and the importance of these in Febronia’s life, leadership, insights and mentoring work. In particular the values of:

1. Integrity
2. Collaboration
3. Honesty
4. Empathy

Febronia’s three encouragement to leaders:

1. Bear in mind that people have gone through very difficult times: the pandemic, the economic crisis. 
2. Be kind with your feedback, with your encouragement, with your guidance, be supportive, have empathy for your teams, and try to instil in them a sense of safety so that they can come and they can share their views and perceptions freely. 
3. And also, if you have time, please do some mentoring. There are lots of young people out there at universities and schools, at the beginning of their jobs, who really could do with a guiding hand.

How to contact Febronia

LinkedIn: Febronia Ruocco

About Febronia

I first met Febronia through LinkedIn - she not only liked my podcast, but also commented, and messaged me personally. Febronia has her own podcast weekly roundup of the best listens, and it is a huge honour to have been chosen by her more than once! She is a Strategic Insights Professional and Executive Coach. And she is also a Leadership and Career Mentor for Undergraduates at Durham and Lancaster University. After several exchanges via LinkedIn we arranged a call and discovered that we shared similar passions, and had some shared experiences. I am delighted that she agreed to be my guest, and to share her leadership story.


To listen to other Leaders in Conversation with me Anni Townend go to my website:
www.annitownend.com/podcast

A big thank you to my support team at the Conscious Marketing Group for helping me with all the marketing of the podcast, to Coco O’Brien for the wonderful intro and outro music, for the lovely design, and for the excellent editing and sound production.

To contact me Anni Townend do email me on anni@annitownend.com visit my website www.annitownend.com, subscribe to my newsletter and follow me on LinkedIn.  I look forward to connecting with you, thank you for listening.

Welcome and welcome back to Leaders in Conversation with me, Anni Townend, the podcast that helps you to grow your confidence and courage as a leader.

I created this series of candid conversations for leaders to share their inspirational leadership stories, weaving together the threads of their life. 

They offer valuable insights and rich experience to help and inspire you on your own unique leadership journey. If you are not already, please do subscribe to the podcast, review and share it. Thank you!

About This Episode

In this episode I am delighted to be in conversation with Meera Craston, a highly experienced senior leader and executive coach; and co-founder of Next Brave Move. Meera is committed to supporting individuals, teams and organisations to thrive, demonstrate their impact and bring about positive change.

Together we delve into:

1. How understanding and embracing your heritage can enable you to more fully connect with your passion and purpose; 
2. How tuning into your strengths and into what comes naturally to you can open up new possibilities for exploring your leadership;
3. The beauty of the ‘reset’, and how discovering and using your ‘reset function’ can help you in re-evaluating and ‘course correcting’ your leadership as you go along.
4. The importance of having a support network who act as ‘thinking partners’ to help you stay ‘on course’. 

Meera’s three key encouragements for leaders:

1.  At times when you feel stuck, there’s something very valuable about taking stock and weighing up whether you are holding onto an old narrative that was once very valuable but over time has become less relevant and is no longer serving you well 

2.  Be true to yourself and recognise that careers do not need to be linear and that it’s never too late to change direction and build new dreams

3.  Creating space and being brave and exploratory can often lead to the most amazing opportunities.

A huge thanks to Meera for sharing so much of herself, her  thoughts, insights and experiences.

To find out more about Meera and Next Brave Move, find, follow and contact her at: 

LinkedIn

• https://www.linkedin.com/in/meeracraston/

WEBSITE

• www.nextbravemove.com 

EMAIL

• meera@nextbravemove.com 

To contact me Anni Townend, do email me on anni@annitownend.com

ABOUT MEERA

Meera is a deeply purpose-driven senior leader and executive coach, and co-founder of Next Brave Move. She is committed to supporting individuals, teams and organisations to thrive, demonstrate their impact and bring about positive change. 

Having worked as an evaluation, impact and policy design specialist for two decades, she is a strong advocate of evidence-based (and pragmatic) decision making, who understands the challenges of leadership, consultancy and making sense of complexity.

Her recent experience includes leading the UK Evaluation Society as its inaugural Executive Director, and prior to this, co-leading Ipsos UK's Policy and Evaluation Unit. This involved strategic, operational & commercial responsibilities, and leading the people, talent development, and cultural aspects of the Unit.

Looking forwards, her evolving portfolio of work brings together her leadership, consulting, and evaluation experience, and her longstanding interest in re-imagining the dynamics of work-life, effectively navigating transitions, and exploring the intricate evolution of mission and identity.

Welcome and welcome back to Leaders in Conversation with me, Anni Townend, the podcast that helps you to grow confidence, care and courage in your leadership.

I created this series of candid conversations for leaders to share their personal inspirational leadership stories, weaving together the threads of their life. 

They offer valuable insights and rich experience to help and inspire you on your own unique leadership journey. If you are not already please do subscribe to the podcast, review and share it. Thank you!

About This Episode

In this episode I am delighted to be in conversation with Martin Glover, HR Director for Morton Fraser - Martin is an advocate for fairness, equity and leadership development…..

Together we delve into:

1. 1. What he really cares about, his values and beliefs, his passion and purpose - who, what and where have shaped him -  and how he lives these through his leadership : 
   2. Why as leaders of organisations we should be prioritising Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging;
   3. Why targets in Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging aren't helping us get to where we need to be in organisations
   4. And ask - Does improving diversity mean that inclusion and belonging will follow?

Martin’s three key encouragements for people looking to develop their leadership, and to lead intentionally and deliberately for diversity, inclusion and belonging.

1. Think about the experience you are trying to create in your organisation - what do you want people to think and feel about your business 
2. Hire for the why (the Vision) this ensures people are aligned to what your organisation is trying to achieve 
3. Develop your own curiosity for difference in people and think about the value broadened outlooks like this can add to what you are trying to achieve

To find out about more about Martin, about the firm, find and follow him on: 

www.morton-fraser.com

LinkedIn: Martin Glover

To listen to other Leaders in Conversation with me Anni Townend go to my website, anni@annitownend.com

A big thank you to my support team at the Conscious Marketing Group for helping me with all the marketing of the podcast, to Coco O’Brien for the wonderful intro and outro music, for the lovely design, and for the excellent editing and sound production.

To contact me Anni Townend do email me on anni@annitownend.com visit my website www.annitownend.com, subscribe to my newsletter and follow me on LinkedIn.  I look forward to connecting with you, thank you for listening.

About Martin

I first met Martin when he worked for a different organisation, and was thrilled when he contacted me at his next company to talk about leadership, and then when he moved to Morton-Fraser I moved with him! I think of myself very much as a Leadership Partner, and Martin is a true partner, a fantastic builder of relationships, he is passionate about inclusivity and diversity, and about community.

Welcome and welcome back to Leaders in Conversation with me, Anni Townend, the podcast that helps you to grow confidence, care and courage your leadership.

I created this series of candid conversations for leaders to share their inspirational leadership stories, weaving together the threads of their life. 

Together we delve into what they really care about, their values and beliefs, their passion and purpose and how they live and weave these through their leadership every day, in all that they do. 

They offer valuable insights and rich experience to help and inspire you on your own unique leadership journey. If you are not already please do subscribe to the podcast, review and share it. Thank you!

About This Episode

In this episode I am delighted to be in conversation with Justin Russell, Former Chief Inspector of Probation, a role that he finished in the Autumn of 2023 on the challenges and satisfactions of leading in the public sector.

Together we delve into:

• His experience of Senior leadership in the Civil Service – the challenges and satisfactions of sharing the vision setting space with politicians and other parts of government
• Operational versus Policy leadership in the Public Sector - why most top civil service jobs go to policy specialists and why intellectual leadership is prioritised over emotional leadership in Whitehall.
• Justin’s personal career challenge - as someone who loves policy detail and evidence - of getting the balance right between being ‘Hands off and hands on’, of being on the balcony versus being on the dance floor. 
• The challenge of engaging colleagues in an era of hybrid working – and how does remote working make leadership more or less easy / more or less satisfying? 

Justin’s three key encouragements for leaders, whatever the sector they are working and leading in:

1. Pay attention to your impact! Don’t underestimate the shadow you cast  - or the difference it can make…………
2. Say yes when people ask for help with career advice or mentoring – and don’t be afraid to ask the people you admire for their help too. What goes around always comes around.
3. Always keep yourself anchored by asking yourself first what is the right - fair and just -  thing to do when faced with a leadership or policy challenge – but don’t beat yourself up too much if that can’t be fully delivered. Leaders have to be pragmatists as well as idealists.

About Justin

Justin is the former Chief Inspector of Probation, a role that he finished in the Autumn of 2023. I had the privilege of partnering with him and his leadership team over a short period of time during 2023. Together we introduced the Future-Engage-Deliver approach to leadership, created by Steve Radcliffe to help the team get clear on their shared future, build bigger relationships with each other, and to deliver more now and later through others. 

His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation’s mission is to deliver ‘High quality probation and youth justice services that change people’s lives for the better’, their focus is on how the probation does things and on how probation makes a real life difference in the lives of the people they work with – something that has been a passion for Justin throughout his career.

Contact Justin via LInkedIn, on Justin Russell, where he posts regularly.

Welcome and welcome back to Leaders in Conversation with me, Anni Townend, the podcast that helps you to grow confidence and courage in your leadership.

I created this series of candid conversations for leaders to share their inspirational leadership stories, weaving together the threads of their life - the people, places and experiences that have shaped them and made them the leader that they are today.

Together we delve into what they really care about, their values and beliefs, their passion and purpose and how they live and weave these through their leadership every day, in all that they do.

They offer valuable insights and rich experience to help and inspire you on your own unique leadership journey. If you are not already please do subscribe to the podcast, review and share it. Thank you!

About This Episode

In this episode I am delighted to be in conversation with Jane Mather, Make-up Artist and Personal Stylist

We delve together into: 

1How truly understanding our ‘uniqueness’, and our ‘values’, can help us shape our personal style and achieve our goals

2How translating our ‘values’ and defining our non-verbal communication skills helps us hone our personal style for success

3 The importance of showing compassion to and being empowering of others.

Three Key Encouragements

1. 1. The first step in honing your personal style is to identify your ‘core values’ - really knowing what’s important to you.
2. The second step is understanding your impact and personal presence - addressing any concerns about your personal style to help you achieve your goals.  
3. The third step is taking a ‘leap of faith’ in and for yourself and in others!  You never know what opportunity might present itself or what you might discover!

Learn more about Jane through her website:  www.janemather.co.uk, where you can also subscribe to her newsletter.

Or follow Jane on Instagram: @janemather_makeupstyle

To listen to other Leaders in Conversation with me Anni Townend go to my website, www.annitownend.com

A big thank you to my support team at the Conscious Marketing Group for helping me with all the marketing of the podcast, to Coco O’Brien for the wonderful intro and outro music, for the lovely design, and for the excellent editing and sound production.

Welcome and welcome back to Leaders in Conversation with me, Anni Townend, the podcast that helps you to grow confidence, care and courage in your leadership.

I created this series of candid conversations for leaders to share their inspirational personal leadership stories, weaving together the threads of their life - the people, places and experiences that have shaped them and made them the leader that they are today. 

Together we delve into what they really care about, their values and beliefs, their passion and purpose and how they live and weave these through their leadership every day, in all that they do. 

They offer valuable insights and rich experience to help and inspire you on your own unique leadership journey. If you are not already please do subscribe to the podcast, review and share it. Thank you!

About This Episode

In this episode I am delighted to be in conversation with Emma Harris, Finance Director, M&S Food, Property and Retail. Together we delve into: 

• How to bring alignment in corporate world
• The importance of amplifying your strengths
• Staying authentic in more challenging environments

Emma's three key encouragements to leaders:

1. Stay true to yourself and your values
2. Find an environment where you can thrive…doesn’t have to be easy, but you can bring value through your leadership
3. Amplify your strengths, that’s where you’ll get the highest ROI

About Emma Harris

Emma is a senior finance leader, balancing living in Yorkshire with her partner and 2 boys, and working her London-based finance director role. Spending over 20 years in retail, leading finance teams, Emma is passionate about driving shareholder value for the organisation through commercial curiosity, leading great teams and her own self development. 

To connect, follow and find out more about Emma:

LinkedIn: Emma Harris

To listen to other Leaders in Conversation with me Anni Townend:

www.annitownend.com/podcast

To contact me Anni Townend:

Email me on anni@annitownend.com
Visit my website www.annitownend.com
Subscribe to my newsletter and follow me on LinkedIn.  

I look forward to connecting with you, thank you for listening.

Welcome and welcome back to Leaders in Conversation with me, Anni Townend, the podcast that helps you to grow confidence, care and courage in your leadership.

I created this series of candid conversations for leaders to share their inspirational personal leadership stories, weaving together the threads of their life. 

Together we delve into what they really care about, their values and beliefs, their passion and purpose and how they live and weave these through their leadership every day, in all that they do. 

They offer valuable insights and rich experience to help and inspire you on your own unique leadership journey. If you are not already - please do subscribe to the podcast, review and share it. Thank you!

About This Episode

In this episode I am delighted to be in conversation with Beto Funari. Together we delve into: 

1. Acting as a humanist leader: Why human leadership matters to people feeling valued, enabled and motivated to contribute and create a better future, to learn and develop their potential; and how to do this through leading with empathy, actively listening, fostering diversity and inclusion 
2. Balancing Profit and Purpose: How balancing purpose and profit is at the heart of building a compassionate and prosperous business whilst financial success is essential it should not come at the expense of human well-being or ethical principles. 
3. Adopting a Customer-Centric Approach: How adopting a Customer-Centric Approach helps in understanding and meeting customer’s needs, through building trust and loyalty and through delivering high-quality products or services. 

Three Key Encouragements

What are your three key encouragements for leaders looking to build hope and optimism?

1. Cultivate Empathy and Deep Listening in your own leadership, be a role model to others and encourage them to cultivate empathy and deep listening, and open communication;
2. Prioritise People through continuous learning and development;
3. Balance Profit, Purpose, People and (Ethical) Principles, commercial success is essential however never at the expense of People and ethical Principles, have a Purpose that is bigger than Profit and includes People this will ensure sustainable success

To contact Beto, do so through LinkedIn, Roberto Funari.

To listen to other Leaders in Conversation with me Anni Townend go to my website, www.annitownend.com

To contact me Anni Townend do email me on anni@annitownend.com visit my website www.annitownend.com, subscribe to my newsletter and follow me on LinkedIn.  I look forward to connecting with you, thank you for listening.

Welcome to Anni in Conversation. In this episode I delve into my thoughts and insights into the importance of leaders asking for feedback on their impact felt, and how to create a safe environment in which to have these conversations. 

Many years ago, my friend and colleague Steve Radcliffe suggested to me that the two most important questions a leader can ask are...
-  how good am I at creating a safe environment for people? 
- And what is your experience of me? 

Creating a safe environment in which people can be open and honest through practising curiosity, care and courage in their leadership is at the heart of the Collaboration Equation™, a unique framework co created by myself and Lucy kid that encourages and guides leaders in creating cultures of care and connection, in which inclusive dialogue and diversity of thought and feeling are welcomed. 

Finding out what people's experience of us is essential to developing greater self awareness. We remember how we feel around people. In any one situation, how people feel around us will vary. So gathering this invaluable data on how different people feel, can help us to ensure that our behaviour is aligned with how we would like people to feel around us. 

My own aspiration is to have people feel seen, heard and understood. It's an aspiration. The only way I can find out whether that's how people experience me is to share with them that that's my aspiration, and to ask them: 
-  How you feel around me? 
-  When do you feel that way? 

So do invite a conversation with people you know, and you would like to build a relationship with and from whom you can get this invaluable impact felt feedback.

Thank you for listening.

Welcome and welcome back to Leaders in Conversation with me, Anni Townend, the podcast that helps you to grow confidence and courage your leadership.

I created this series of candid conversations for leaders to share their inspirational personal leadership stories, weaving together the threads of their life. 

Together we delve into what they really care about, their values and beliefs, their passion and purpose and how they live and weave these through their leadership every day, in all that they do. 

They offer valuable insights and rich experience to help and inspire you on your own unique leadership journey. If you are not already please do subscribe to the podcast, review and share it. 

Thank you!

About This Episode

In this episode I am delighted to be in conversation with Steen Broust Nielsen Senior Vice President Sales at Wood Mackenzie Power & Renewables

We delve together into: 

1 Trust – as a foundation for cohesive and high performing teams

2 (Com)passion – caring is at the core of authentic leadership

3 Meaning – fuels us all and gives us purpose

4 Humility and resilience – knowing it is never about you - and that’s ok

Three key encouragements 

What are your three encouragements that you would give to leaders?

1. Be real – leaders are people too

2. Be bold – if it matters to you it matters to others

3. Be consistent – trust is earned with our teams as well as with our peers

To find out more about Steen and to get in touch with him do connect with him on LinkedIn, where he posts regularly .

To listen to other Leaders in Conversation with me Anni Townend go to my website, www.annitownend.com

A big thank you to my support team at The Conscious Marketing Group for helping me with all the marketing of the podcast, to Coco O’Brien for the wonderful intro and outro music, for the lovely design, and for the excellent editing and sound production.

To contact me Anni Townend do email me on anni@annitownend.com visit my website www.annitownend.com, subscribe to my newsletter and follow me on LinkedIn.  I look forward to connecting with you, thank you for listening.

Welcome and welcome back to Leaders in Conversation with me, Anni Townend, the podcast that helps you to grow confidence and courage in your leadership.

I created this series of candid conversations for leaders to share their inspirational leadership stories, weaving together the threads of their life. 

Together we delve into what they really care about, their values and beliefs, their passion and purpose and how they live and weave these through their leadership every day, in all that they do. 

They offer valuable insights and rich experience to help and inspire you on your own unique leadership journey. If you are not already please do subscribe to the podcast, review and share it. 

Thank you!

About This Episode

In this episode I am delighted to be in conversation with Cassandra Ogier.

Together we delve into: 

1. The power of presence

2. Embodied leadership

3. Deep listening/communicating from self-regulation

4. Trusting the unfolding of life

Cassy’s Three key encouragements, guiding principles for leaders to help them come home to their true nature….

1. Be guided by your passion. What you love.

2. Trust in yourself as a part of the whole experience of life.

3. Life is happening for you, not to you

To find out more about Cassy and to get in touch with her do follow her on Instagram @thereflectivehorse and go to her website, www.thereflectivehorse.com

A big thank you to my support team at The Conscious Marketing Group for helping me with all the marketing of the podcast, to Coco O’Brien for the wonderful intro and outro music, for the lovely design, and for the excellent editing and sound production.

To contact me Anni Townend do email me on anni@annitownend.com visit my website www.annitownend.com, subscribe to my newsletter and follow me on LinkedIn.  I look forward to connecting with you, thank you for listening.

About Cassandra Ogier

Cassandra is the Founder & Director of The Reflective Horse®, providing embodied leadership experiences through partnering with horses. She is the pioneer of equine-guided programming with free-roaming horses. She created The Reflective Horse® in 2011 in the US, and has expanded her practice through The Reflective Horse® Mastery Program, teaching Practitioners, and widening the potential for free beings - horses and humans - coming together to experience a shift in perspective through somatic practices and Insight-Based mentorship.

She is passionate about creating and collaborating on inspiring programming to support clients in reconnecting with their innate wisdom, and liberation from the conditioned mind.

Originally from East Sussex, Cassandra moved to California with her family in 2007 where she actualized her dharma. She is the Mother of three incredible sons, of whom she is most proud and honoured to be sharing this life. She currently teaches in North and Central America and in Europe.

To learn more about Cassandra visit her website, thereflectivehorse.com/about

Welcome back to Leaders in Conversation with me, Anni Townend, the podcast that helps you to grow confidence and courage your leadership.

I created this series of candid conversations for leaders to share their inspirational leadership stories, weaving together the threads of their life. 

They offer valuable insights and rich experience to help and inspire you on your own unique leadership journey. If you are not already please do subscribe to the podcast, review and share it. 

Thank you!

About This Episode

In this episode I am delighted to be in conversation with Ellie Norman, Chief Communications Officer, Manchester United Football Club. 

Together we delve into: 

• How to manage your energies to be at your best, and to help others be their best through having people feel seen and validated;
• How connecting with people and building relationships is key to business success, whatever the business you are in;
• Why building a culture of belonging is so important, and what you can do to build one through hope and possibility.

Ellie’s Three Guiding Principles to have people feel seen and validated

1) Bring the light. So be able to bring the light and to shine that light on every individual you meet.  Think about ‘How do you leave every person feeling good about themselves? ‘

2) Challenge the status quo. So to ask ‘what if?’. 

3) Recognise just how fortunate we are, so find that zest that fun and that energy, and to be able to bring that.

About Ellie Norman

I first met Ellie on the Marketing Leaders Programme, when she came to speak to the group of marketing leaders.  I was inspired by her passion and commitment to people, by her energy and enthusiasm to connect with people, and to put them at ease helping them to be their very best through learning. I love her passion for having everyone feel validated no matter where they are, or who they are or where they have come from.

Recognised as customer-obsessed and target-driven, with demonstrable critical thinking skills and an ability to disrupt the status quo to achieve category beating growth. A broad, curious, perceptive thinker who combines creative and problem-solving skills to find new opportunities. Inspires teams to work with excellence, curiosity, and a ‘can do’ attitude to deliver the business growth. Leads by example, able to embrace change and find a path through ambiguity, maintaining a sense of calm confidence, optimism, whilst balancing focus on long-term strategy.

To find out more about Ellie and to get in touch with her do follow her on LinkedIn, where she posts regularly.

To listen to other Leaders in Conversation with me Anni Townend go to my website, www.annitownend.com

A big thank you to my support team to the Conscious Marketing Group for helping me with all the marketing of the podcast, to Coco O’Brien for the wonderful intro and outro music, for the lovely design, and for the excellent editing and sound production.

To contact me Anni Townend do email me on anni@annitownend.com visit my website www.annitownend.com, subscribe to my newsletter and follow me on LinkedIn.  I look forward to connecting with you, thank you for listening.

Welcome back to Leaders in Conversation with me, Anni in Townend, the podcast that helps you to grow confidence and courage your leadership. 

In today's episode, I share my thoughts on Being, Seen, Heard and Understood. 

I delve into: 

• My own aspiration to ensure others feel seen, heard and understood
• Values and beliefs within leadership
• Understanding felt experiences from others of your own leadership

My Three Key Encouragements to ensure your team feel Seen, Heard and Understood: 

1. Meet people where they are at
2. Listen to learn and understand
3. Be curious and ask questions, especially when you have a different point of view

To contact me, Anni Townend, do email me on anni@annitownend.com or visit my website www.annitownend.com, subscribe to my bi-monthly newsletter or follow me on LinkedIn to discover more leadership insights. 

I look forward to connecting with you. 

Thank you for listening.

Welcome back to Leaders in Conversation with me, Anni Townend, the podcast that helps you to grow confidence and courage your leadership.

I created this series of candid conversations for leaders to share their inspirational leadership stories, weaving together the threads of their life. 

Together we delve into what they really care about, their values and beliefs, their passion and purpose and how they live and weave these through their leadership every day, in all that they do. 

They offer valuable insights and rich experience to help and inspire you on your own unique leadership journey. If you are not already please do subscribe to the podcast, review and share it. 

Thank you!

About This Episode

In this episode I am delighted to be in conversation with Rachel Eyre, Chief Customer and Marketing Officer at Morrisons. We delve together into: 

- How influencing starts with self-awareness, you are your own data bank - use it;

- How leading with pride, courage, and conviction and not being a ‘paranoid overachiever’ matter in leadership;

- The importance of building your career around your strengths, whilst plugging the gaps;

- The importance of being nice, and remembering we are all human beings.

Rachel’s Three Key Encouragements to Leaders and Marketing Leaders:

1. Feel the fear and do it anyway
2. Believe in yourself, back yourself,  use your own data - you are your own data bank, draw on it, and replenish it
3. Be a decent person, how you make people feel matters

About Rachel Eyre

I first met Rachel on the Marketing Leaders Programme and immediately warmed to her, was inspired and committed to her success. I have followed her leadership journey ever since and was thrilled in March 2023 to see Rachel listed as one of the top ten most powerful women in the supermarket industry! Her being included in and on this list was not a surprise, and look forward to seeing where her leadership takes her!

To find out more about Rachel and to get in touch with her do follow her on LinkedIn, where she posts regularly.

To contact me Anni Townend do email me on anni@annitownend.com visit my website www.annitownend.com, subscribe to my newsletter and follow me on LinkedIn.  I look forward to connecting with you, thank you for listening.

Welcome and welcome back to Leaders in Conversation with me, Anni Townend, the podcast that helps you to grow confidence and courage your leadership.

I created this series of candid conversations for leaders to share their inspirational leadership stories, weaving together the threads of their life. 

Together we delve into what they really care about, their values and beliefs, their passion and purpose and how they live and weave these through their leadership every day, in all that they do. 

They offer valuable insights and rich experience to help and inspire you on your own unique leadership journey. If you are not already please do subscribe to the podcast, review and share it. Thank you!

Together Sophie and I delve into: 

1) Pacesetting and the principles for positivity, and how velocity can speed up success.

2) How leadership is an iterative process - and how to be the editor of your leadership, constantly creating, testing and revising.

3) Why marketing matters - now - more than ever

Sophie’s Three Key Encouragements:
1) Manage your pace
2) Only Connect
3) Act with Audacity

About Sophie
In addition to being the Global Chief Executive of The Marketing Society since 2020, Sophie is the author of ‘Superfast: Lead at Speed’  shortlisted for Business Book of The Year and co-author with Ben Renshaw of LoveWork: The Seven Steps to Thrive at Work. This is a book about growing your relationship with your work, and how to have a more positive relationship with it. Sophie is an acclaimed keynote speaker and a successful entrepreneur. 

You can read Superfast in hardback, paperback and audio through this link -  https://tinyurl.com/ya5xeq9b

You can order LoveWork: The Seven Steps to Thrive at Work which explores how to discover or recover a better relationship with work through this link - https://amzn.to/3qOQpjx

To find out more about Sophie  and to get in touch, follow her on LinkedIn or visit The Marketing Society website www.marketingsociety.com to find out more about this wonderful community of marketers that Sophie’s leads together with her amazing team.

A big thank you to my support team at The Conscious Marketing Group for helping me with all the marketing of the podcast, to Coco O’Brien for the wonderful intro and outro music, for the lovely design, and for the excellent editing and sound production.

To contact me Anni Townend, do email me on anni@annitownend.com visit my website www.annitownend.com, subscribe to my newsletter and follow me on LinkedIn.  

I look forward to connecting with you, thank you for listening

Welcome and welcome back to Leaders in Conversation with me, Anni Townend, the podcast that helps you to grow confidence and courage your leadership.

I created this series of candid conversations for leaders to share their inspirational leadership stories, weaving together the threads of their life. 

Together we delve into what they really care about, their values and beliefs, their passion and purpose and how they live and weave these through their leadership every day, in all that they do. 

They offer valuable insights and rich experience to help and inspire you on your own unique leadership journey. If you are not already please do subscribe to the podcast, review and share it.

Thank you!

About This Episode

In this episode I am delighted to be in conversation with Nina Holdaway, Managing Director at Accenture Song.   

Together we delve into: 

1. The energy flywheel, and how managing your energy is key to feeling inspiring and inspiring others

2. Playing to strengths as part of being your best and helping others to be their best

3. Being your authentic self and understanding human leadership and why this is more important than ever

4.  How life and leadership are about the journey, not the destination, and making this journey and adventure

Key Encouragements

What are your three or four key encouragements for leaders looking to Making Working Lives Better through their leadership.

1. Look after yourself as a leader so you can bring your best every day 

2. Provide clarity and direction - paint a picture of an exciting future ahead

3. Create belonging: be there for people - physically & in spirit … positive role modelling goes a long way

4. Be flexible, what & how 

Thank you, Nina

To find out more about Nina and to get in touch with her do follow her on LinkedIn where Nina posts regularly. 

To listen to other Leaders in Conversation with me Anni Townend go to my website, www.annitownend.com

A big thank you to my support team, the Conscious Marketing Group for helping me with the marketing of the podcast, and to Coco O’Brien for the wonderful intro and outro music, for the lovely design, and for the excellent editing and sound production.

To contact me Anni Townend do email me on anni@annitownend.com visit my website www.annitownend.com, subscribe to my newsletter and follow me on LinkedIn.  I look forward to connecting with you, thank you for listening.

Welcome back to Leaders in Conversation with me, Anni Townend, the podcast that helps you to grow confidence and courage your leadership. 

I created this series of candid conversations for leaders to share their inspirational leadership stories, weaving together the threads of their life. 

Together we delve into what they really care about, their values and beliefs, their passion and purpose and how they live and weave these through their leadership every day, in all that they do. 

They offer valuable insights and rich experience to help and inspire you on your own unique leadership journey. If you are not already please do subscribe to the podcast, review and share it. 

About This Episode
In this episode I am delighted to be in conversation with Henrietta Norton, Founder of Wild Nutrition 

Together we delve into: 

1. Purpose - why purpose, instead of passion, is essential in sustainable leadership.
2. Authenticity - and how this is really the greatest force we have. And how this is very much a personal journey that weaves the thread between personal and professional growth. 
3. Balancing being and doing - why carving out the space to be is the fuel that drives the being and how historically many work cultures have focused on the doing at the cost of being
4. How Sustainable Leadership is really holistic leadership and is about supporting ourselves in all aspects of our being - body, mind, emotion and soul wellbeing.

Three Key Encouragements
What are your three key encouragements for leaders looking to be more than do, and to lead sustainably with purpose.

1. Value and diarise time to ‘be’ - this gives you the opportunity….
2. Be clear about the contribution you want to make - personally and for your business, to the world
3. Growth, growth, growth - never stop growing as a leader and encouraging growth in your team. It’s infectious, creative and empowering for everyone. 

To find out more about Henrietta Norton, and Wild Nutrition, to get in touch with them do go to their website wildnutrition.com and follow on Instagram.

To listen to other Leaders in Conversation with me Anni Townend go to my website, www.annitownend.com

A big thank you to my support team Taryn Weeks of Sparkz Marketing and the Conscious Marketing Group for helping me with all the marketing of the podcast, to Coco O’Brien for the wonderful intro and outro music, for the lovely design, and for the excellent editing and sound production.

To contact me Anni Townend do email me on anni@annitownend.com visit my website www.annitownend.com, subscribe to my newsletter and follow me on LinkedIn.  I look forward to connecting with you, thank you for listening/

About Henrietta

Henrietta is Co-Founder and Formulator of leading Food-Grown Supplement Brand Wild Nutrition.Wild Nutrition is an expert voice in Women's health, offering Award-Winning formulations for women at every stage of their health journey, from puberty to menopause, energy to stress and sleep. Henrietta is also the published author of Take Control of Your Endometriosis and Your Pregnancy Nutrition Guide. 

To find out more go to www.wildnutrition.com or find them on instagram at @wildnutritionltd. 

Welcome and welcome back to Leaders in Conversation with me, Anni Townend, the podcast that helps you to grow confidence, care and courage in your leadership.

I created this series of candid conversations for leaders to share their inspirational personal leadership stories, weaving together the threads of their life - the people, places and experiences that have shaped them and made them the leader that they are today.

Together we delve into what they really care about, their values and beliefs, their passion and purpose and how they live and weave these through their leadership every day, in all that they do.

They offer valuable insights and rich experience to help and inspire you on your own unique leadership journey. If you are not already please subscribe to the podcast, review and share it. Thank you!

About This Episode

In this episode I am delighted to be in conversation with Chris Harte, Chief Executive and Commercial Real Estate Partner at Morton Fraser MacRoberts LLP - a leading Scottish law firm committed to providing straightforward advice, clarity on cost and to building strong trusting relationships with clients ensuring that their evolving needs are met with focus and care. Together we delve into:

• What it means to "Serve to Lead" and that leadership is not about you.
• The importance of Being Curious  and to remember firstly that "the issue is never the issue", and secondly ‘not knowing’ all of the answers is a feature not a bug!
• How focusing our energy - not dispersing it - is key to strategy and that limitations can be useful, and helpful rather than a hindrance.

Chris’s three key encouragements to leaders

1. Help others to succeed - be a leader - focus more on asking questions than providing answers;

2. Identify priorities - use limitations to help focus minds on conscious choices;

3. Retain a sense of perspective - keep a sense of humour close at hand and don't take yourself too seriously - a wee bit of humility goes a long way.

To contact Chris:

LinkedIn www.linkedin.com/in/chris-harte

To find out more about Morton Fraser MacRoberts LLP follow them on linkedin and do go to their website.

To listen to other Leaders in Conversation with me Anni Townend go to my website, www.annitownend.com

A big thank you to my support team at the Conscious Marketing Group for helping me with all the marketing of the podcast, to Coco O’Brien for the wonderful intro and outro music, for the lovely design, and for the excellent editing and sound production.

To contact me Anni Townend do email me on anni@annitownend.com visit my website www.annitownend.com, subscribe to my newsletter and follow me on LinkedIn. I look forward to connecting with you, thank you for listening.

Help transform your meetings from the transactional into the relational, through checking in with each other at the start of the meeting and at the end of a meeting - be the meeting in person or online.  Indeed checking in when we are meeting online matters more, not less, to make sure that everyone feels they have a voice, and that they will be listened to. 

I truly believe that we could make our meetings more effective through making time to give people space to think, and to speak, and to be listened to and to know that we are listening to each other - through looking at each other, and giving each other 'focused attention'. 

Making time for people to arrive in the meeting, to take a moment to think 'How am I' and then to share a few words helps everyone to 'meet each other where they are at' ahead of getting into the content of the meeting.  Through doing this check in people feel welcomed, they know that they matter and their contribution matters both in their listening to others, but also in their speaking with others.

Checking out is of equal importance, thanking people for their participation, and encouraging everyone to say one thing about their experience of the meeting reminds us why meetings matter, and how important acknowledging our human to human connection is.

Welcome and welcome back to Leaders in Conversation with me, Anni Townend, the podcast that helps you to grow confidence and courage your leadership.

I created this series of candid conversations for leaders to share their inspirational leadership stories, weaving together the threads of their life. 

Together we delve into what they really care about, their values and beliefs, their passion and purpose and how they live and weave these through their leadership every day, in all that they do. 

They offer valuable insights and rich experience to help and inspire you on your own unique leadership journey. If you are not already please do subscribe to the podcast, review and share it. 

Thank you!

About This Episode

In this episode I am delighted to be in conversation with Raj Kumar Interim CMO, SVB (Silicon Valley Bank) UK.

We delve together into: 

- What being kind and being direct really means

- How Raj’s leadership has been shaped through being an explorer

- Why Diversity, Equality and Inclusion matter, and Raj’s personal experience of navigating these

- What Marketing is, and why leadership and marketing go hand in hand.

Three Top Tips - What are your three top tips for leaders looking to be kind, and to be direct in their leadership?

1. Make choices, don’t prioritise 
2. Never judge yourself by the performance review 
3. Seek out opportunities to learn and show up

To find out more about Raj and to get in touch with him do follow him on LinkedIn, Raj Kumar, where he posts regularly and re-shares posts to spark your interest and curiosity.

To listen to other Leaders in Conversation with me Anni Townend go to my website, www.annitownend.com

A big thank you to my support team from the Conscious Marketing Group, for helping me with all the marketing of the podcast, to Coco O’Brien for the wonderful intro and outro music, for the lovely design, and for the excellent editing and sound production.

To contact me Anni Townend do email me on anni@annitownend.com visit my website www.annitownend.com, subscribe to my newsletter and follow me on LinkedIn.  

I look forward to connecting with you, thank you for listening.

About Raj

I first met Raj on the Marketing Leaders Programme some years ago and admired his commitment from the outset to his own learning and development and that of others. The programme is a one year programme, made up of residential modules and coaching groups in between. Raj contributed wholeheartedly to everyone so much so that we regularly ask him to return as a speaker to delegates, inspiring them with his passion and purpose, his insightful questioning of and straightforward approach to marketing leadership.

Raj is an award-winning marketing executive who has grown and transformed major global brands across sectors and geographies. His focus is on building an inclusive, open and curiosity driven culture that does not accept the status quo. Raj has delivered best in class results by combining the art of the creative together with a data driven commercial mindset.

He was included as one of Campaigns Power 100 marketers, Top 100 most effective marketers by Marketing Week and voted Financial Services Forum marketer of the year 2020. He is a Fellow of the Marketing Society and is an active mentor for aspiring marketers from ethnic minority backgrounds.

Raj is a dad, husband, son as well as a brilliant colleague and friend to many. 

Hello and Welcome to Leaders in Conversation with me, Anni Townend, the podcast in which leaders share their personal leadership stories weaving together the threads of their life to encourage you to grow confidence and courage in your leadership.

I created this series of candid conversations for leaders to share their inspirational leadership stories, weaving together the threads of their life. 

Together we delve into what they really care about, their values and beliefs, their passion and purpose and how they live and weave these through their leadership every day, in all that they do. 

They offer valuable insights and rich experience to help and inspire you on your own unique leadership journey. If you are not already please do subscribe to the podcast, review and share it. 

Thank you!

About This Episode

In this episode I am delighted to be in conversation with Erika Behl, leader and builder of courageous teams, key-note speaker and storyteller

We delve together into: 

- Why every moment is a choice
- How leadership burnout really does exist and what what we can do to navigate the leaders sometimes treacherous journey
- How leaders can become more courageous so that their team can be more courageous 

Welcome Erika!

Erika I would like to start by asking you about you, about who you are – your values and beliefs, passion and purpose - who are the people, places and experiences that have shaped you and made you who you are today?

Tell me more about why every moment is a choice, and what this means especially when sometimes we don’t feel like we have a choice.

What makes leaders' journeys so treacherous with the dangers of real burnout and how can we navigate this?

How have you become more courageous, what and who has helped you and how do you help teams to be more courageous?

Three Top Tips

What are your three top tips for leaders looking to build courageous teams, and to make every moment a conscious choice?

1. As a leader, articulating your core values is a must.  Put in the work, do the self reflection, get feedback.  Whatever it takes to clearly discern what gives you conviction to live with your choices—not everyone will like your choices, but they will accept your leadership if you are authentic 
2. Any vision, strategy, or plan has to include the WIIFM (what’s in it for me) for whomever you’re counting on to execute it or transform as a result… this can also be a ‘heightened version’ of themselves 
3. You need a moment—a space—in order to make a decision that’s conscious and aligned with your values.  Learning not to react and to create that space for a response is one of the most powerful things you can choose as a leader

ABOUT ERIKA

Erika is a powerful and courageous leader who I had the privilege of meeting on a leadership program some years ago. She stood out as a leader with huge potential to go far, and I remember sharing this with her over dinner one evening. Since then I have had the privilege of working with Erika, and following her leadership journey which as she says of others has not always been easy, and at times treacherous. Not only does she embody great courage in her leadership but also curiosity.  She is keen to learn and develop new ways of being and staying humble. She is passionate about sharing her learning of Customer Success journeys in the healthcare space engaging patients in their own health journeys whilst providing measurable outcomes for healthcare providers. She loves paddle boarding, is growing to love and believe in public speaking and storytelling, has two wonderful children and lives in Singapore.

Welcome and welcome back to Leaders in Conversation with me, Anni Townend, the podcast that helps you to grow your confidence and courage as a leader.

I created this series of candid conversations for leaders to share their inspirational personal leadership stories, weaving together the threads of their life. 

Together we delve into what they really care about, their values and beliefs, their passion and purpose and how they live these through their leadership every day, in all that they do. 

They offer valuable insights and rich experience to help and inspire you on your own unique leadership journey. If you are not already please do subscribe to the podcast, review and share it. 

Thank you!

About This Episode

In this episode I am delighted to be in conversation with Candace Gerlach, founder of The Conscious Marketing Group

We delve together into: 

• How collaborating with people who think differently and getting to know them is key to business – and brand -success.
  
  
• Why inspiring people along their journey through creating a set of guiding principles and then letting them find their own way matters more than ever.
  
  
• How being curious makes us better marketers – and better humans.

Three Top Tips

What are your three top tips for leaders looking to collaborate, to inspire and to be more curious in their leadership?  

1. Don’t be too hard on yourself – remember you are human – learn to let go of things rather than dwell upon them.
   
   
2. Be curious and interested in what other people have to offer – encourage diversity of thought to get to a more rounded point of view.
   
   
3. Be passionate! Be open and honest. Energy is infectious. Galvanise people behind a vision and common purpose – be they customers, colleagues, shareholders, or the wider community.

ABOUT CANDACE
Candace is the founder of The Conscious Marketing Group (TCMG). Her mission and that of TCMG is to bring big brand thinking into the lives of small to medium sized business that are doing amazing things, and to problem solve collectively for brands that have so much to offer – for their customer, for people, and for the greater good.

CONTACT CANDACE
To find out more about Candace and The Conscious Marketing Group connect with her on LinkedIn, and go to her website www.theconsciousmarketinggroup.co.uk

CONTACT ME
To contact me Anni Townend do email me on anni@annitownend.com visit my website www.annitownend.com, subscribe to my newsletter and follow me on LinkedIn. 
 
I look forward to connecting with you, thank you for listening.

Welcome and welcome back to Leaders in Conversation with me, Anni Townend, the podcast that helps you to grow your confidence and courage as a leader.

I created this series of candid conversations for leaders to share their inspirational leadership stories, weaving together the threads of their life. 

Together we delve into and weave together what they really care about, their values and beliefs, their passion and purpose and how they live these through their leadership every day, in all that they do. 

They offer valuable insights and rich experience to help and inspire you on your own unique leadership journey. If you are not already, please do subscribe to the podcast, review and share it. Thank you!

About This Episode

In this episode I am delighted to be in conversation with Alicia Ioannou, a policy senior manager in the Home Office who is currently enjoying new adventures on a career break in Switzerland!

Together we delve into:

1) What it means to be confident and to go for it!

2) How to deal with stressful situations 

3) The importance of being an explorer of new opportunities and skills

Alicia’s Three Top Tips

• Remember to communicate, communicate, communicate – it is better to over communicate than under communicate
• Be inspired by others, by their stories and be inspiring in and for yourself with your own story
• Always give opportunities to the people in your team to explore, learn and grow

ABOUT ALICIA

Alicia has been a senior manager in the UK Civil Service for 19 years where she has designed and implemented policies for the UK Government on migration including aspects of the post Brexit immigration system; tackling illegal migration and managing the UK’s Presidency of the G7 on Interior Security matters. Recently Alicia “went for it”, and moved to Switzerland on a career break where she is thinking through what is next for her career. Alicia is also enjoying rediscovering some of her early passions – piano, tennis and hiking in the mountains.

To find out more about me go to my website www.annitownend.com

To listen to more leaders sharing their inspirational personal leadership stories, https://www.annitownend.com/leaders-in-conversation-podcast

To contact me Anni Townend, do email me on anni@annitownend.com

ABOUT THE SHOW

Welcome to Leaders in Conversation with me, Anni Townend. The podcast that helps you to grow your confidence and courage as a leader.

I created this series of candid conversations for leaders to share their inspirational leadership stories, weaving together the threads of their life, offering valuable insights and rich experience to help and inspire you on your own unique leadership journey.

In each episode leaders share their personal life and leadership stories to encourage you to delve in what you really care about – your values and beliefs, your purpose and passions and how to live these through your leadership every day, in all that you do. 

If you are not already subscribed to the podcast please do subscribe, review and share it! To listen to more episodes go to my website www.annitownend.com

ABOUT THIS EPISODE

In this episode Wilma and I delve into and weave together:

• How making change always starts on the inside of ourselves
• What it means to discover and lead from who we are, not from who we think we should be 
• The value of being present and avoiding the zip wire of time 
• Understanding the deep impact of spending time alone 
• Why now, more than ever, there is a need for a leadership renaissance 

Wilma’s three top tips for leaders looking to lead differently 

1. Make time to spend time alone and notice how this shifts your thinking and feeling

2 Find your ways of nourishing and replenishing yourself, and your purpose not only for your leadership but for those around you

3 Look within, change starts on the inside of ourselves.

ABOUT WILMA

Wilma is a Growth and Development mentor to leaders and emerging leaders in the pursuit of something extraordinary, including People who are part of leading climate change solutions.  She has a very special cottage in the heart of the Black Mountains in Monmouthshire where she invites clients to spend time alone.  Here she uses the space and silence at the to allow the extraordinary to emerge.

ABOUT BEING AT THE COTTAGE

Being at The Cottage offers a range of experiences with scope.  When leaders are in the pursuit of something extraordinary, it will have a positive impact for others.  It is something that will steer other people and the planet, as well as themselves, towards a better future.

Clients can come and stay from 24 hours up to 7 nights at the cottage, which is tech free, and they are fully catered for with delicious food.

Spending time alone at the cottage will give clients a profound experience of what it is to be present and in time.

It’s important that the experience of being at the cottage is supported afterwards, so work continues together long after the client has left.

To find out more about Wilma and Being at The Cottage do visit her website www.beingatthecottage.com/experiences and follow her on LinkedIn where she regularly posts or email hello@beingatthecottage.com

Welcome and welcome back to Leaders in Conversation with me, Anni Townend, the podcast that helps you to grow your confidence and courage as a leader.

I created this series of candid conversations for leaders to share their inspirational leadership stories, weaving together the threads of their life. 

Together we delve into what they really care about, their values and beliefs, their passion and purpose and how they live these through their leadership every day, in all that they do. 

They offer valuable insights and rich experience to help and inspire you on your own unique leadership journey.


ABOUT THIS EPISODE

In this episode I am delighted to be in conversation with Ayesha Murray, founder of Ayesha Murray Coaching and a podcast host herself of the brilliant The Parent Equation.

We delve together into: 

• How it is vital to become the leader of you when you decide to run your own business
• Why it is so important to help women in leadership manage Imposter Syndrome
• The challenges and conflicts for working parents between wanting a career and being present for their family

Ayesha’s Three Top Tips for Leaders looking to become the leader of themselves when making a decision to set up their own business, or indeed anyone looking to pursue their passion and purpose:

1. Stay in your lane, use comparison for good
2. Be Authentic, aligned to your values
3. Be Curious and ask, What If?

Thanks to my support team Taryn Weeks of Sparkz Marketing for helping me with all the marketing of the podcast, to Coco O’Brien for the wonderful intro and outro music, for the excellent editing and sound production.

And thank you to you the listener. If you are not already please do subscribe to the podcast, review and share it – it really does help. Thank you!

ABOUT AYESHA

After many years in a successful corporate marketing role Ayesha realised her ambition to become a coach, focusing on working parents and helping them to manage the challenges and conflicts of pursuing a career and parenting. In 2020 she started her podcast The Parent Equation initially in order to stay connected to the working parents community during the pandemic and lockdowns.

Ayesha lives in London with her husband and their two daughters, their Labrador dog and their cat. She loves being in nature, going for walks, watching box sets, good food, red wine and music.

If you are wanting to go further with becoming the leader of yourself, struggle with Imposter Syndrome and with being present both for your career and your family do get in touch with Ayesha on www.ayeshamurray.com, and listen to her brilliant podcast The Parent Equation, and follow her on LinkedIn where she frequently writes about her own experience of working and parenting.

To contact me Anni Townend do email me on anni@annitownend.com visit my website www.annitownend.com, subscribe to my newsletter and follow me on LinkedIn.  I look forward to connecting with you.

In this conversation, I share my thoughts about time and energy. 

For many years, I've been quoting Tony Schwartz, author of The Way We're Working, Isn't Working, that energy, not time, is our most precious resource. And I've been encouraging leaders and their teams to manage their energies, all four of them; physical, mental, emotional and spiritual. And I continue to think that this is super important. 

Increasingly, however, I'm beginning to realise that for me, it is both time and energy that are our most precious resources, and that they are inextricably and closely intertwined. It takes time to manage your energies to truly look after your well being. For leaders, making this time is key, in order for us to show up at our generous best, and indeed, to have the impact we want to have on those around us. 

So I am now not only encouraging leaders to manage their energies, by noticing how they are in their bodies, their mindset, their emotions, and finally connecting with their values and beliefs, but also to make time for this in their busy calendars, to find micro moments in their every day. The author Joseph Baldacci and his great book of the same title, encourages leaders to step back to take these micro moments to stop, pause, breathe and to notice, often described as switching off in many ways. I think of it as switching on to ourselves to being self aware, and then making time to take care of ourselves. 

In this episode join Anni in Conversation on how checking in and checking out with ourselves and each other is fundamental to building both self awareness and human-to-human connection.

Increasingly, I'm aware of how important it is to check in, not only with ourselves but each other at the start of a meeting. For myself, at the start of the day checking in with, how am I feeling? How am I showing up today? And noticing what I need to bring, maybe what I need to do in order to bring the best of me. 

The same applies to checking in with each other. We often ask how are how are you? And the answer is ‘I'm fine’, ‘I'm okay’. There's more. By encouraging people at the start of a meeting to say a sentence or two about how they're checking in to themselves and sharing with each other. It means that everybody has a voice. Everybody is seen. Everybody is heard and understood. 

Managing that at the start of a meeting is as important as managing that, at the end of the meeting. Checking out, making time, again, to go around to hear from everybody. What have they enjoyed? What have they learned? Maybe how are they feeling at the end of the meeting? This is especially important be meetings in person, sitting around a table, or on the screen. 

Making time for each other to check in and check out can transform our meetings, from meetings feeling like they're very transactional to feeling that there is the real human to human connection, and that there's more than what we do to who we are being and how we are being with each other. 

In this conversation, I share the importance of Minding the Gap. 

Many, many years ago, I had the privilege of meeting and hearing Marguerite Patten, the British Home Economist, Chef, food writer and broadcaster, share her life and leadership story. At the end, one of the audience asked her, “What would be your top tip to people?” and she replied, “Mind the Gap”. She was at this time in a wheelchair and had spoken about the challenges that she experienced on a daily basis of not being able to get about having been someone who thought nothing of jumping on and off a train to London from her local station. In response to the question, she went on to share with us that it was on one of these occasions, jumping on a train, when she had not got the full measure of the gap between the platform and the train. And she had fallen down into the gap causing herself much damage. She spoke of being grateful that there had been help on hand and commented on the kindness of strangers, shown towards her in particular, of a young person who had leaped to her rescue. And so she concluded, my top tip to you all is to mind the gap, to pay attention to be present in the moment to yourself and to what is around you, especially when it is already familiar to you. 

Her message resonated with me to mind the gap between and in the many areas of my life, in particular, the gaps that are thresholds, the spaces between one thing and the next, and the gaps, which can be good, providing we notice and are present to them as we move and transition. For example, from one meeting to the next, from one conversation to the next. Making time to be present, to notice the thresholds and to make space of ourselves is all part of minding the gap. 

About This Episode

In this episode I am delighted to be in conversation with my two guests, Susie Ballentyne an Independent Psychologist and Bob Judson, a fellow podcaster, facilitator, leadership coach, and keynote speaker.

We delve together into: 

1. The importance of continually developing your skills as a leader, both individually and as part of a team.
2. The value of both mentors and coaches to leaders.
3. The challenges of building, leading and inspiring teams in today’s complex and convoluted working environment.
4. The really key requirements of a good leader.

Susie and Bob’s Three key encouragements for leaders looking to grow and develop their leadership:

1. Always remember that others have been there before you.  Very few, if any, challenges are genuinely new and unique and people will always be prepared to help you be your best self if you seek the right support.
2. One of the key challenges for developing leaders is learning to let go of tasks that can be done by the team and freeing up time to focus on the larger issues.  The great thing is that by delegating well and empowering your team members you build trust and capability in them that they will really appreciate as they develop themselves.
3. Pay attention to your relationships and your personal brand as absolute priorities.  They are fundamental to your future success and deserve to be given very special treatment. 

Connect with Susie and Bob:

LinkedIn: Bob Judson and Susie Ballentyne

Website: Leading4Life

To listen to other Leaders in Conversation with me Anni Townend go to my website, www.annitownend.com

A big thank you to my support team at the Conscious Marketing Group for helping me with all the marketing of the podcast, to Coco O’Brien for the wonderful intro and outro music, for the lovely design, and for the excellent editing and sound production.

To contact me Anni Townend do email me on anni@annitownend.com visit my website www.annitownend.com, subscribe to my newsletter and follow me on LinkedIn.  I look forward to connecting with you, thank you for listening.

ABOUT THE SHOW

Welcome to Leaders in Conversation with me, Anni Townend. The podcast that helps you to grow your confidence and courage as a leader.

I created this series of candid conversations for leaders to share their inspirational leadership stories, weaving together the threads of their life, offering valuable insights and rich experience to help and inspire you on your own unique leadership journey.

In each episode leaders share their personal life and leadership stories to encourage you to delve in what you really care about – your values and beliefs, your purpose and passions and how to live these through your leadership every day, in all that you do. If you are not already subscribed to the podcast please do subscribe, review and share it! Thank you

ABOUT THIS EPISODE

In this episode I am delighted to be in conversation with Steve Chapman. We delve into:

• How being playful with not knowing is at the heart of how he lives and everything he does;
• Spontaneity and allowing ourselves to be spontaneous, to experiment and let go;
• Freedom and how we can liberate ourselves the tightening grips that hold us back;
• Stuckness and what we can do to become unstuck.

STEVE’s Three Tips for Leaders in becoming more playing not knowing are:

1. Let Go
2. Notice More
3. Use Everything!

With credit to his friend and colleague Rob Poynton

ABOUT STEVE

Steve Chapman, (also known as @stevexoh), is an artist, writer and speaker interested in creativity and the human condition. He works as a consultant and coach with individuals and organisations who are interested in finding creative and counter-intuitive ways to help free themselves from ever-tightening loops of common-sense where creativity, novelty and change are rather difficult.

ABOUT THIS EPISODE

In this episode I am delighted to be in conversation with Louise Barnes, Louise is Founder of Team-HOi, dedicated to helping people identify how to regain control over their own health. We delve into:

• How precious Time is and how investing in ourselves is within our control when we plan our time. 
• The importance of human connection and community in which people help each other.
• How focusing on and being conscious of what we believe in needs doing will bring joy and how giving back is a great reminder of what is important.
• How making health habits easy, attractive and rewarding through new patterns of thinking and acting can make all the difference to company culture

LOUISE’s THREE Top Tips for Leaders looking to regain control of their health and to feel healthy on the inside out.

1.  Find what makes you happy. What’s your thing? If you had a full day to yourself, without any demands on your time. How would you spend it? Weave this into your life.
2. Slow down to speed up. Identify what you need to stop doing. Many of us are doing two things at once.  Choose what you want to focus on and plan how to do that
3. Get comfortable feeling uncomfortable - constantly stretch your limits. Have the courage to step out of your comfort zone.  Chrissie Wellington the English triathlete said "many of us don't know where our limits are" 

ABOUT LOUISE

Louise is Founder of Team-HOi. She radiates warmth and understanding. With a joy for living which is contagious.  She enjoys connecting with people and uses her extensive experience from working in a busy corporate role to balance the ongoing pressures of working and home life..As a mother of four young children and lots of travel with her work, she has tried many approaches to staying active, fuelling her body and managing a positive mindset.

ABOUT TEAM-HOi

Team HOi partners with companies who have moved to flexible and remote working to help prevent the physical and mental health issues that come with a lack of regular movement. They don't offer a portal or information resource, they schedule integrated live regular movement sessions, life coaching and mentoring with a focus on connecting remote people to each other and their organisation.

HOME START the charity that Louise mentions, can be contacted on. https://www.home-start.org.uk/ 

For help in identifying how to regain control over your health, to reduce stress and to develop long term health habits then do get in touch with Louise at Team HOi, www.teamhoi.co.uk 

To contact me, Anni Townend do email me on anni@annitownend.com, visit my website annitownend.com, subscribe to my newsletter and follow me on LinkedIn. I look forward to hearing from you, thank you for listening. 

ABOUT THIS EPISODE

In this episode I am delighted to be in conversation with Anna Reddy.  We delve into:

• How following your heart in times of uncertainty can really help you find your passion and your purpose; 
• How managing your energy to win personally and professionally is key to performance and productivity; 
• The impact on women of demands made of them in the workplace and the challenges that they have to overcome.

ANNA's Three Tips for Leaders looking for workplace health solutions for productivity and performance:

1.  Be the orchestra for healthy wellbeing change 
2. Show the Real You, be vulnerable
3. Attract and retain talent, through the things that matter to people right now

ABOUT ANNA 

Anna is the founder of Leap Health, providing bespoke, innovative and simple solutions which optimise physical and mental health, accelerating personal and professional performance and happiness in organisations.  She has a wealth of experience and knowledge of delivering health solutions in many situations including 18 years in the pharmaceutical industry; she is passionate about fitness and is a qualified nutritionist. She is the mum to three energetic children, and loves being outside with them.

 Find out more about Anna and her wonderful work via the Leap Health website, www.leaphealth.co.uk and listen to her own podcast.

 To listen to more episodes of Leaders in Conversation with Anni Townend, go to my website www.annitownend.com

 To find out more about Future-Engage-Deliver (FED mentioned by Anna and I) developed by Steve Radcliffe, and wonderfully described in his book Leadership Plain and Simple, to go www.futurengagedeliver.com  To listen to Steve Radcliffe in conversation with me go to https://www.annitownend.com/leaders-in-conversation-podcast/steve-radcliffe

 To find out more about Anna and my colleague Helen Bessell whom we also mention, go to www.thegamechangercollective.com and follow her on LinkedIn.

ABOUT THIS EPISODE – 

In this episode I am delighted to be in conversation with Nathan Blair. Nathan is the founder of The Somatic School; dedicated to training people in body-oriented coaching - helping leaders to become more conscious of their own embodied experience in relating to self and others in new ways, including using our bodies for strategic decision making and in leading for the whole.

We delve into 'Why the body?' the embodied experience and the 'felt sense' as part of awakening the senses to being fully present to Sensing and Responding our way forward. We talk about the importance of Resourcing & Regulating, in particular the resourcing dimension of Play, and regulating our nervous system and the power of relationships in helping each other co-regulate, and having a nervous system conscious workplace. We dive into how treating an organisation as a living entity, and leading from a place of being in service are crucial to leadership, now more than ever.

ABOUT NATHAN BLAIR -

Nathan founded The Somatic School in 2018 offering a highly experiential online Body-oriented Coaching Programme, accredited by the International Coaching Federation. For many years Nathan worked in the corporate world leaving to set up his own coaching practice, working as a coach with individual clients, a facilitator of groups and is a qualified Coaching Supervisor.

Click to find out more about Nathan and The Somatic School

Nathan kindly also shared several books and resources here:

• The Mindfulness Prescription for Adult ADHD by Lidia Zykowska
• Intelligence in the Flesh by Guy Claxton
• Tao te Ching by Lao Tzu (translated by Stephen Mitchel)
• Play & Creativity in Psychotherapy by Marks-Tarlow, Solomon and Siegel 

If you loved this episode of Leaders In Conversation please leave a review, share and subscribe. Thank you

In this episode join Anni in conversation as she discusses turning shoulds into coulds, and priorities into choices

Many years ago I trained in the theory and practise of Transactional Analysis and as with most trainings there are often one or two things which stand out and stay with me, and become part of who I am. One of these things was a simple exercise called 'Turning Should into Could'.  We were asked to make a list of all things that we said to ourselves that we Should be doing or have done, and, or all the things that we Should not have done, or Should not be doing.  

I remember my list was long, and it was a list that I regularly visited and revisited and gave myself a hard time over. The list never seemed to get any shorter, if anything the older I got and the more responsibilities I had the longer the lists got. Having written our Should/Should not lists we were asked to write everything down again only this time turning every Should into a Could. This small word change was transformative for me, I realised through this simple shift in mindset that as soon as something became a 'I could do this....' that I had choice, that there was a sense of possibility and that it really was up to me.

Most recently I have, thanks to  Raj Kumar a speaker on the Marketing Leaders Programme, started to think about making choices rather than setting priorities. When we think about Priorities we tend to think of a numbered list, and rather like the Shoulds the list tends to be added to and to grow longer with things jockeying for top position or dropping to the bottom of the list and eventually off it.  When we think instead about Choices there is an immediate sense of possibility, of choosing to do something because it is important, it matters to us, to our business and to the future direction.

Find out more about the Marketing Leaders Programme  or find out more about Raj do follow him on LinkedIn and to find out more about me Anni Townend, head to my website annitownend.com.

If you loved this episode of Leaders In Conversation please leave a review, share and subscribe. Thank you

Deeds not words from International leading women's rights activist Helen Pankhurst

In this episode I am in conversation with Helen Pankhurst an international leading women’s rights activist, an experienced advocate and passionate collaborative campaigner for social justice. 

We delve into how Deeds not Words matter, why we must choose to challenge, to connect and dialogue with each other – locally and globally.  We talk about what it means to live and lead a portfolio life, and how fun and purpose go hand in hand, and how shoulder to shoulder we can make a difference together.     

ABOUT HELEN

Helen is a senior adviser to CARE International UK working in the UK and in Ethiopia, and a convenor for the charity GM4Women2028 and of the Centenary Action Group (CAG).

She is a part-time professor at Manchester Metropolitan University, and the first chancellor at the University of Suffolk. She has an honorary PhD from Edge Hill University and from the University of Manchester.

She is the author of ‘Deeds not Words – the story of women’s rights then and now’ published in 2018.

She is the proud mother of a son and daughter, and together with her daughter they promoted, advised on and had a cameo role in the 2015 film Suffragette.

In 2019 Helen was awarded a CBE for her services to gender equality.

To connect with Helen follow her on Twitter, or via the Universities or the charities with which she is connected.

CARE puts women and girls at the centre of overcoming poverty and social injustice, because without equal rights and opportunities we will never overcome poverty in the world.  CARE is a charity registered in England and Wales, founded in 1945 and working in 45 countries around the world, saving lives in emergencies and finding long-term solutions to poverty for millions of people. 

Helen established the Centenary Action Group (CAG) in 2018, to mark the century of some women getting the right to vote by campaigning for greater representation of women, in all their diversity, addressing the barriers that prevent women from taking part in politics, through collaboration, joint action and campaigning.

Helen also leads the charity GM4Women2028, a coalition of change makers committed to making Greater Manchester a better place for women and girls, in all their diversity to live, work and prosper.

She is a mother of two children and the great granddaughter of Emmeline Pankhurst and granddaughter of Sylvia Pankhurst who herself was an alumni of Manchester School of Art.  Emmeline and Sylvia were both leaders in the British suffragette movement. 

If you would like to find out more about the work of CARE International, to join GM4Women2028 and to take action with the Centenary Action Group do visit their websites.

If you loved this episode of Leaders In Conversation please leave a review, share and subscribe. Thank you

In this episode join me, Anni Townend, as I share the power of a walk and talk conversation.

For many years, and for as long as I can remember I have loved walking. I grew up in West Yorkshire and every Saturday walked with my family through fields and woodland close to where my father's mother lived in a rented cottage on a farm with her sister. 

These afternoons were the highlight of my week and were some of the best times that we had as a family. We walked and talked, as we roamed through fields avoiding cows and climbing over styles. As a teenager some of the easiest and at the same time most difficult conversations that I had with my father were when we were walking the two of us, side by side, often in the rain or fog somewhere on the Pennine Way.

Some thirty years ago I moved to a small semi-detached cottage on the South Downs Way, and over the past 10 years have incorporated the walk and talk, side by side conversation into my work as a leadership partner and executive coach to senior teams and senior leaders, whether that is in person or virtually.

In person people meet me on the South Downs Way and we walk and talk, side by side; virtually we are both on our phones walking and talking - whether in person or virtually we pause, we stop, we listen, we notice as part of the coaching conversation paying attention to everything that is around us, looking up and looking down, feeling the ground beneath our feet, the air on our skin as part of becoming more conscious and clear on the way forward.

If you would like to find out more about the Coaching Walk and Talk as part of team working and, or for yourself please get in touch with me Anni Townend.

If you loved this episode of Leaders In Conversation please leave a review, share and subscribe. Thank you

About this Episode

In this episode I am delighted to be in conversation with Karen Ellis. Karen is founder of an amazing membership organisation for new mums to build a body they feel strong and confident in after they have had a baby and to be able to go on awesome adventures with their children.

We delve into who and what inspired Karen to create the membership package for new mums to feel strong and confident in mind and body through movement and babywearing exercises. Karen shares how a shift in mindset from thinking of exercise as being about going to the gym to exercise being all about movement can help us lead a more active life everyday and in all that we do. 

She talks about why it is so important to her that the membership is truly affordable and accessible for all mums.  Karen's passion is to help new mums nurture their bodies through movement, to learn and to relearn to trust their bodies. This powerful message of body positive parenting is one that I believe will resonate with all listeners - learning to trust our bodies, to listen and to know ourselves is at the heart of body positive leadership.

Karen's Three Top Tips for Leaders to integrate movement into their every day, to go on awesome adventures, to say yes to awesome experiences feeling strong in their bodies whether they have children or not..

1. Connect and listen to and do what you body is telling you to do - if you need to breathe more then pause for breath, if you need to move - move your body; learn to trust your body
2. Notice the language you are using when you talk about yourself and others, focus on language which is body strengthening and mind expanding rather than on looks and image; think about body positivity - some of us have smaller bodies some of us have larger bodies, we can all have awesome adventures
3. Add as much movement as you can that fits easily into your lifestyle and that you find fun. That could be working out whilst you carry your baby, scootering the school run, using the stairs instead of the elevator, joining in with your children at the park, skating, having a walking desk. But whatever it is, make sure you enjoy it and it integrates easily into your life then you are more likely to keep it

About Karen Ellis 

Karen founded her postnatal rehabilitation membership organisation in 2020. She had worked for many years as a midwife before taking a break and feeling pulled towards supporting new mums on their journey to feel super strong in their bodies. She has two children and lives on the coast, not far from the sea, in North East Yorkshire.

To find out more about Karen and her awesome membership organisation visit Karen Post Rehab or contact her on: 07769357334 / hello@karenpostrehab.co.uk

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In this episode Anni discusses how on a recent walk she encountered a friend who had been very unwell and in fact, the walk as their first time out of the house. 

Anni talks about how important being well met is when meeting people, not just for the first time, but every time particularly when facilitating a team or a group. 

Anni said that “One of the ways in which I do this is to ensure that everybody has an opportunity to speak, to be heard, to be fully listened to” 

What is there to say about my name?

One of the simple but effective ways Anni shares is to invite people to talk about who they are, through their name. Whilst it might seem there isn’t much to say about a name, you will find that there is so much to share. 

Anni shares her own ‘name’ story and an interview she conducted for a case study where that person had shared their name but was told it was ‘too difficult’ so gave him a new name. He described how he felt his whole identity had been taken from him and wasn’t able to be himself. 

Anni said ‘The importance of giving people an opportunity to describe and to share something about who they are through their name cannot be underestimated. It gives people an opportunity to say something about themselves, how their name is pronounced where their name came from, and indeed, on some occasions, what it mean’. 

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How to find your spark, tell your story and position your brand ‘you’

In this episode I am in conversation with Taryn Weeks. Taryn is the Founder of Sparkz Marketing, helping people and businesses find their spark through building their brand and telling their story.

We delve into her years of experience and Taryn shares how important having the right people on your support team, people who champion you and cheer you on is; how believing in yourself and that you can do it matters; and to treat yourself like a client, write your own business plan!

ABOUT TARYN WEEKS

Taryn is an experienced marketer, with a passion for storytelling and for helping people tell their own and to find their brand story. After many years working in the corporate world she took the big step and set up Sparkz Marketing supporting businesses who need an injection of strategic thinking into their marketing or who need an extra pair of hands to move their marketing forward.

She is the mother of two teenage boys who are her inspiration, and who were her ‘spark plug’ during a difficult and dark time. She lives with them and her partner who is a big supporter of her dreams, helping her to realise them and support others in realising theirs.

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About This Episode

In this episode I am delighted to be in conversation with Carolyn Youdell, Group eCommerce & Customer Engagement Director, Group Marketing Specsavers. 

I have known Carolyn for many years and am a huge fan, she is a regular speaker on the Marketing Leaders Programme, and herself a huge fan of developing marketing leadership.

Together we delve into:

• Embracing challenge 
• Becoming compelling
• Driving simplicity…  

Carolyn’s Three Key Encouragements to Leaders 

1. Be a Skilled Sailor - Change your mindset about problems – see them as unique and amazing opportunities to make you better than you were yesterday. 
2. Be Compelling - What will make people follow you?  Jeff Bezos famously said ‘Your brand is what people say about you when no one is listening’ - Do you know what that is for YOU? For your brand of leadership? 
3. Simplify - don’t buy into the complexity. My Chief Marketing Officer talks about focusing on the OUTCOME and the simpler you make this for your team the better. Do the work to make it simple, NOT complex.  

To contact Carolyn:

LinkedIn – Carolyn Youdell (she is the only one!)
Email: carolyn.youdell@specsavers.com

About Carolyn:

At work. I am a Marketer. I've spent over 20 years working agency and brand side. 
With and on world-famous brands.
Across all Marketing, Communications & Digital disciplines. 
As Group Marketing Director for Specsavers I am working collaboratively across regions and teams to drive the synergies and value that can be derived from centrally led activity. I am passionate about well-run teams, well-rounded teams. 

At Life: I am a Mum. Partner. Sister. Daughter. Friend. Dog lover. Pilates poser. 5Ker. Book reader. Stuff Hoarder. Traveller. Chef. Wine drinker. Shoe fancier.


To listen to other Leaders in Conversation with me Anni Townend go to my website, www.annitownend.com.

A big thank you to my support team at the Conscious Marketing Group for helping me with all the marketing of the podcast, to Coco O’Brien for the wonderful intro and outro music, for the lovely design, and for the excellent editing and sound production.

To contact me Anni Townend do email me on anni@annitownend.com visit my website www.annitownend.com, subscribe to my newsletter and follow me on LinkedIn.  I look forward to connecting with you, thank you for listening.

In episode 3, series 2 of Leaders In Conversation Anni was delighted to be joined by Julia Yule Co-Founder and Director of Bloom and Blossom, an award winning British business that provides natural routine led, solution focused skincare for the whole family.

The experiences that shape you 

Julia starts the episode discussing her greatest leading influence was her parents. She highlights that they were massively encouraging and pushed in a way that kept them accountable.

The journey to success

Julia discusses her years in PR, fashion and magazine which although incredibly glamour was hard work but incredibly important to work your way up. 

She said that “you need to do, and you need to see and you need to experience. So, I've always applied that in whatever I do. And I'm very determined”. 

Positivity in the workplace 

Julia goes on to discuss the importance of leading with confidence but also vulnerability. She says that “To be able to lead a business takes a team, right, it takes people. And so, to give people that ability, and that chance to shine and feel confident in something that they're doing particularly at that time’.  

They both discuss that trust is vital as well enjoying what you do and one of the top things that distinguishes great leaders from good leaders is the ability to being a positive mindset. 

She said that “if we take business, having positivity in the workplace is imperative as a leader, but also, as an individual” and that we should celebrate the wins however big or small.

The To Be List

Anni shares her to-be list tip… “we can get bogged down in to do lists, things we must do. I'm a great encourager of having a To Be list. So alongside, particularly for those people who love to have a list, to have the To Do list, but also to have the To Be list, who am I being,  how am I going to show up today-  wholehearted, determined, bringing a positive mindset ..”. 

Building a flourishing partnership 

They  both go onto discuss the Bloom and Blossom, the fantastic small, independent British brand that Julia and Christina,  her sister in law/ business partner created in 2010. She said that “We wanted to build a brand, we wanted to build something that took us out of, or within the realms of body care, but slightly out of just quite the small maternity sector, albeit a beautiful sector that we still cater for certainly.”. 

Both having the same clear vision, the same principles of how they want to get there has been keen to their journey of success. 

She believes it’s also important to listen, both with Christina but also her team. Creating a safe environment of diversity of thought. 

The importance of routine

Anni goes onto share her love of the Bloom and Blossom brand products and its focus on creating routines for sleep, skincare and more.

Julia shares that we should “sit, listen and encourage as much as you can. Have the courage yourself and encourage it all out of others as well”. 

Listen to the full episode to hear about:

• Vulnerability as a leader 
•  Positivity in the workplace
• The To Be List 
• Build a flourishing partnership with a friend 
• Building a beauty and self care brand 
• The importance of self-care for success

To find out more about Bloom and Blossom and Julia and to buy their wonderful skincare products for your wellness do go to www.bloomandblossom.com 

 If you would like to be a guest on Leaders in Conversation, please contact Anni on anni@annitownend.com 

In episode 2 of our second series of Leaders in Conversation, we are delighted to be joined by Bradley Pritchard.

Bradley has had an exciting career in football and has gone onto to become the founder of The Sporting Way. A social enterprise which educates and inspires young people to fulfil their potential.

From Zimbabwe to the UK 

Bradley shares his experience of being born and raised in Harare, Zimbabwe for the first 10 years of his life before moving to the UK.

Bradley shares that “… It took me a long time to, to adapt, I think I always felt like an outsider. And I still feel like an outsider at times. But I've learned to embrace that, that feeling of being an outsider, rather than trying to conform with the environment trying to appreciate my differences and turn them into strengths”. 

A sense of belonging 

Bradley shares that “It’s one thing to say…just be happy being different. But it doesn’t get rid of vulnerability, that insecurity, of not having a sense of belonging”. 

He shares that it’s important to find someone we can relate with and someone that you can talk with. He believes that once you’re able to do that and accept that we can’t change our differences we can learn to love them. 

“I think that’s when the real strength comes in, because you are then able to see it as a positive.”. 

Breaking down barriers

His mom encouraged him to complete his A-levels before he did anything within professional sport where he went onto have great success. At 25 he shares that he was working as a performance analyst as an intern for Charlton Athletic Football Club and the manager at the time, Chris Powell, offered him a trial as a player.

He shared that “I always talk about the number of young players who stopped playing completely by the time they're 21. So, for me to be able to jump in at 25. I was at that point where I was emotionally mature. So, I was able to cope with the adversity that comes with being a professional footballer.

The Sporting Way and The Dripping Pan

Bradley goes onto discuss The Sporting Way and his return to football at 'The Dripping Pan'. Bradley said that “I have always said that if I'm going to play non-league or play part time football, I want it to be about two things, convenience and enjoyment. Because, football at this point in my life really is just about continuing a love. But it has to fit within the work that I'm doing”.

Before he knew it, he returned to football at the club and also set up a community garden in a corner of the ground which is run alongside volunteers and Michael Kennard who runs ‘Compost Club’ in Lewes. 

He hopes to soon grow the community garden team and bring in people with no interest in football, but who want to grow food, particularly those across a variety of demographics to help increase a sense of belonging.

Listen to the full episode to hear about:

• The layers of identity and breaking down barriers 
• Emotional readiness in a 'survival of the fittest' culture 
• The Sporting Way and The Dripping Pan
• Learning from your mistakes 
• Building a diverse community 

Discover more

To find out more about Bradley and about The Sporting Way and how they might be able to support work in your community school or college, or how you could partner and support their work visit The Sporting Way or contact Bradley via email on bradley@sportingway.co.uk

In this first episode in the second series of Leaders In Conversation, we are delighted to welcome back Scott Sherwood.

Back in 2021, Anni had the pleasure of being in conversation with Scott and his then 7-year-old daughter Sophie Harvey Sherwood who shared her experience running to celebrate inspirational women.

Scott participated in the Just Running It challenge, a 365 mega challenge in which he aimed to run 10km every single day for a year in aid of Glasgow Children’s Hospital Charity and was joined by Sophie too.

The parallels between running and leadership 

He talks with Anni about his inspirational experience with the Just Running It challenge, not only completing the challenge but running nearly 4200 kilometers and continuing to maintain running daily into 2022.

Throughout his career in software engineering, Scott has found many parallels between running and leadership.

Scott discusses how 'personal bests' in running are a great analogy for agile software development. Running is the ultimate agile approach to a problem where some days you get personal bests and other days take much longer.

Some weeks in projects can be amazing and moving forward and other weeks things will struggle. Scott suggests that we must accept the ‘ups and downs’ as innovation is much more uncertain. 

Dreaming Big

Scott shares his motto that “Great leaders are not born or made they are chosen by the people they inspire”.

He shares with Anni that his motto inspires everything he does in life even if its to encourage even one person to believe they can be more than what they thought. Whether that is the confidence to get running or as his role as a software engineering leader. 

He believes that many in the workplace constrain themselves by not dreaming big enough. His experience with the running challenge has shown others that you can achieve anything with sustained effort, self-belief and the support of others. 

Creating a resilient workplace culture

They discuss the importance of staying healthy, in order to run but also stay healthy in order to lead and create a healthy workplace culture in which people can be their best even though they may have days, bad days and good days. 

He said that “The thing that really appeals to me about running, particularly Ultra running is the way athletes talk about it. They very rarely see that as a physical challenge it is all a mental challenge. And I think in the corporate world, the vast majority of help navigating and leading is really mental strength and finding you have been resilient both for yourself and for your people” 

Think bigger than you ever thought possible 

Scott is passionate that we should all dream bigger and ‘higher than we ever thought possible’ and that even if we don’t get there to not beat ourselves up- just work hard and be consistent- whether it’s a running challenge or a workplace one.

Listen to the full episode to hear about:

• Scott shares his personal leadership story and participation in the Just Running it challenge
• The parallels between running and leadership 
•  Importance of a healthy culture and encouraging others 
•  Leading through ups and downs 
•  Dreaming big to achieve your goals 

Discover more, donate and connect with Scott

You can follow their progress and discover more on justrunningit.com which has links to the pair’s YouTube channel  and their fundraising page.

You can also follow Scott on Instagram and Twitter @scottcsherwood

For episode 27 of the Leaders in Conversation podcast, Anni talks to sustainable business leader, adventurer and proud family man Dougal Fleming.

Dougal talks passionately to Anni about sustainable business and manufacture practices and how his family and community values, alongside a love of the natural world, have shaped his leadership. He also talks openly about the evolution of his professional identity, and why he is keen to empower other business leaders.

Background and philopsophy
 
Over the past six years, Dougal has been the public face of Alistair Fleming Design, an award-winning bespoke kitchen design consultancy based in Lewes, East Sussex. Working alongside company Director, his father Alistair.

Dougal is passionate about sustainable design and fostering sustainable business growth practices aligned to the circular economy. Having been trained by the MD Hub in Business Leadership, he is now presenting and facilitating Business Model workgroups to introduce circular principles and profitable, environmentally-conscious additional revenue streams.

The circular economy, he explains, is a way for business leaders to “unleash [themselves] from the commonly accepted linear economic model” towards a more eco-conscious way of working, and way of producing. This is achieved through a three-pronged approach that considers: 1. Design out waste & pollution. 2. keep products and materials in use. 3 Regenerate natural systems.

Nature connection

Dougal’s desire to be in sync with, and of benefit to, the natural world comes from both his family’s deep-rooted connection to nature and his personal experiences. As an avid adventurer and traveler, Dougal has rock climbed, kayaked, sailed, skied and cycled his way around Europe and South America as an outdoor instructor. 

When he’s not with client’s in the Alistair Fleming studio, he offers rewilding adventure tours in the Sussex Downs. His tours give people a chance to “re-wild their instincts” and tune in to the “conversations” of the natural world. He is also a proud partner and father to his young family, and is a coach at a men's football team in Lewes.

Commenting on how he divides his time, he tells Anni it “takes a lot of energy”. This zest for life is something he has inherited from his mother in particular, he reveals.

Finally, Dougal shares some tips for leaders and business, including “peer to peer listening” because “sometimes being an MD, or being a leader can be a lonely place.”

Listen to the full episode to discover 

• Family dynamics and the impact of family heritage and family values
• How personal identity can shift and evolve
• The importance of partnerships and collaboration in the community
• The circular economy and butterfly diagram as a means to achieving more sustainable production and business practices 
• Adding cyclical loops into your business model to generate more revenue
• Why businesses and governments need more leaders who speak the language of nature 
• The power of taking business conversations outside
• Nature connection as a force for good and how rewilding can reawaken the senses 
• Using outdoor sport (football) as a way to break down barriers and build friendships and healthy competition

Find out more and connect with Dougal

 Discover more at alistairflemingdesign.co.uk or connect with Alistair and Dougal on instagram @alistairflemingdesign. You can find Dougal’s rewilding tours under @rewild_adventure