More Than a Lumpy Jumper – Details, episodes & analysis

It's a new season! And boy have we got a heap of awesomeness coming your way! This week join Bobby and Bridge as they welcome the fabulous, Fiona Galbraith, to join them on MTALJ.  Through her business, Ruralink, she partners with land-based businesses to develop career opportunities focusing mainly on career changers especially advocating for fellow ex-military colleagues. Fiona is also a University Lecturer in Intelligence Security, Risk and Resilience, as well as Chair of Governors at Cirencester College and a volunteer responder for REACT Disaster Response.  Clearly a Master of Pivots amongst Pivoters (is there such a word). Come and join us for Fiona’s multitude of insights into making career decisions and in the words of Barack Obama “Being the person who gets things done”  

Links 

Fiona Galbraith | LinkedIn 

Ruralink - Growing Fresh Careers 

What Colour Is Your Parachute? 2023: Your Guide to a Lifetime of Meaningful Work and Career Success: Richard N. Bolles (Amazon.co.uk) 

4 Key Pivoting Phases of a Successful Career Change (forbes.com) 

Five Strategies for Making a Career Pivot | Stanford Graduate School of Business 

 Becky Grove | LinkedIn 

Emergent Generation I A diverse network of young people working together to build an agroecological food system and regenerative future 

Mike Croll | LinkedIn 

The Rise of Security and Why We Always Want More | Mike Croll (Amazon.com) 

Welcome to the final episode of our "Guests with Gifts". This week, Bridge is joined by two remarkable women who've made significant impacts in their fields and communities. First, Nina Killick, a longtime friend of Bridge with a portfolio career including sports coach and project manager in the hospitality industry, and Lieutenant Colonel Ann O’Flynn, the Commanding Officer of the British Army’s 1st Military Working Dog Regiment. They discuss everything from sports like rugby and triathlons to values, change management, and authenticity. Get ready for a sporty, thoughtful, and engaging finale to our mini season! 

 Links

Dr Ann O'Flynn MCMI BSc (Hons) BVSc PGDip MSc MRCVS | LinkedIn 

1st Military Working Dog Regiment

Being Blame free with accountability 

Being a Person with a Bigger Purpose 

Constantly Curious 

Being comfortable with curiosity 

Being a Wall Breaker 

School your face 

Being your authentic self - Keeping it real  

As it's Armed Forces Week we have an excuse to have a chat with a couple of female veterans who just happen to be our lovely friends - the amazing Lt Col Wendy Faux MBE and the equally wonderful Lt Col (retd) Sally Purnell. Despite having given you all an episode on Not Saying Sorry, Bobby and Bridge do think they need to offer an apology as there are probably a whole load of acronyms that are going to pop up during this episode which will make you think WTF (look there’s another one!). They really tried to pull together a Glossary but…it didn’t happen. If it really makes little sense, get in touch. Otherwise, sit back and listen to the regaling of tales from a bunch of ladies, who go back a long way and have MUCH to say about their time serving in the Army and all that happened after.

While we have your attention we'd really appreciate if you could vote for MTALJ in the British Podcast Awards https://www.britishpodcastawards.com/voting

Links

British Army ranks explained

The 2004 Tsunami

Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Ruth Bader Ginsburg in her own words

Tina Turner - Simply the Best

Dame Julie Walters

Dame Julie Walters in action

The Rani of Jhansi, a symbol of resistance to British Rule in India – Legacies of Slavery in Glasgow Museums and Collections

Begum Hazrat Mahal: The Revolutionary Queen of Awadh

Mary Seacole

To War with Whitaker( Wartime Diaries of the Countess of Ranfurly: Amazon.co.uk

The Countess of Ranfurly

Not just a wife! - Wendy Faux

Wendy Faux photography

Join Bobby and Bridge as they embark on a fascinating journey, analysing why loneliness seems to have reached epidemic proportions across the young, the old and whatever the in between looks like. What is at the root of loneliness? How does it affect leadership? And then most importantly, what can we start to do to bridge the gap of loneliness, seeking to rebuild our social muscles in a world that feels more disconnected than ever.

Links

Jonny Sun: You are not alone in your loneliness | TED Talk

Kio Stark: Why you should talk to strangers | TED Talk

Richard Renaldi | Touching Strangers Index

Robert Waldinger - Research on Loneliness

Robert Waldinger - Loneliness Kills

Vivek Murthy: How To Solve the Work Loneliness Epidemic (forbes.com)

Kingsley Aikins - The Networking Institute

Braving the Wilderness: The Quest for True Belonging and the Courage to Stand Alone: Brené Brown (Amazon.co.uk)

The Friendship Formula: How to Say Goodbye to Loneliness and Discover Deeper Connection: Kyler Shumway (Amazon.co.uk)

You couldn’t make these things up. Join Bobby and Bridge as one of them spends more time on mute coughing themselves inside out and not practicing self-care when they are meant to be talking about self-compassion and resilience. I ask you…the hypocrisy!! And in spite of all that, here is another episode full of personal anecdotes, scientific research, and practical strategies for embedding self-compassion into everyday life. Enjoy…cough, splutter, gasp!

Links

10 Powerful TED Talks on Resilience, Empathy, & Compassion - mind remake project

Operationalizing Kindness at Work: This Is What Kindness Looks Like | LinkedIn

Self-Compassion Will Make You a Better Leader

Discover the Empowering Videos Featuring Dr Kristin Neff

Self compassion exercise (with apologies about the bath scene)

“It wasn’t me; it was her!” Are we listening to the words of a 5-year-old or an adult work colleague throwing you under the bus??! Both.

Blame just comes all to easily in the workplace to help us escape from discomfort, pain, anger and the like. But what happens when a leader takes true accountability for the part they played? When they have their teams do a deep dive into lessons learned when things go wrong

Come and join Bobby and Bridge as they track through the science of blame, their experience of blame cultures and practical advice on how to change an organisation’s narrative to one of accountability.

#nipitinthebud

Links

Brene Brown short on Blame

Project Retrospectives: A Handbook for Team Reviews: Norm Kerth

How To Stop the Blame Game

Creating a Culture of Accountability, Not Blame - Michael Timms (including Table showing Culture of Blame v Culture of Accountability)

Blame Culture Is Toxic. Here's How to Stop It. - Michael Timms

Oh they SO wanted to behave Disgracefully in this episode and then decided that perhaps they weren’t quite old enough yet?

So, instead Bobby and Bridge are here considering our aging workforce. What are the stages of life you witness at your dinner table when the family gets together? And then how does that extrapolate to a business? How do you cater for the spectrum of ages in a workforce and how they look at and interact with the world and each other?

Turns out this is a great topic…whatever your age. Come and have a listen.

Links

Richard Rohr - Falling Upwards

Falling upwards book

Harnessing the power of age diversity

Gentelligence: The Revolutionary Approach to Leading an Intergenerational Workforce : Megan Gerhardt, Josephine Nachemson-Ekwall, Brandon Fogel (Amazon.co.uk)

Article on Aging

Helena Clayton | Leadership or eldership?

The Elders | Independent global leaders

Ethical Leadership Why You Should Create a “Shadow Board” of Younger Employees (hbr.org)

Warning by Jenny Joseph - Scottish Poetry Library

Silos, Barriers, Walls … doesn’t matter what you call them, if they take hold in an organisation … EVERYTHING seems to get that little bit trickier – communication channels, processes, procedures and above all relationships.

So, join Bobby and Bridge as they do a little bit of ranting and a whole lot of chatting about how to deal with Silo Working. Do Silos ever work in an organisation? And what can you do rather than deconstructing a whole organisation in an attempt to get rid of them. That’s where the Bridge comes in. Over to you Bridge!!

Links

NextMapping | The Future is Human | Cheryl Cran

Future of work - No more silos

Breaking down silos - Cheryl Cran

Making Silos Work for Your Organization (hbr.org)

“I wonder if today’s the day I get found out”. “Oh…I was just lucky to get this job”. “I feel such a Fraud”.

Do any of these little mutterings ever take up residence in your self-talk?

Join Bobby and Bridge as they try and fathom which comes first your self-talk or the environment that helps create it. Is there a cure? And if not what strategies do we have to work with this phenomenon?

Links

The Secret Thoughts of Successful Women : Valerie Young

Amy Cuddy: Your body language may shape who you are

Stop telling Women They Have Imposter Syndrome

The Authority Gap : Mary Ann Sieghart

Ted Talk - How to close the authority gap

Why imposter syndrome doesn't exist

Tim Wilson - Redirect video

Wowzers…when you decide to get going on the topic of Belonging and Inclusion, you just find out how much we still need to learn and how far we still need to go. THIS, however, is no reason not to make a start.

So, join Bobby and Bridge as they make THEIR start in contemplating what it feels like to Belong BE INCLUDED.

Links

How to overcome our biases. Walk boldly towards them : Verna Myers (TEDx)

Micro-messaging-final.pdf (utsouthwestern.edu)

The quiet discrimination of microinequities: A Q&A with Adjunct Professor Mary Rowe | MIT Sloan

Micro messaging: Why Great Leadership is Beyond Words : Stephen Young (Amazon.co.uk)

9 Ways Leaders Can Build A Culture Of Belonging (forbes.com)

The Key to Inclusive Leadership (hbr.org)

Microaffirmations