Sally Henderson with Pete Markey on relaunching Boots when the business had lost its confidence and what it taught him about how trust gets a team through high stakes

Pete Markey is the former CMO of Boots and president of ISBAR, with 30 years spent across British Gas, One Tel, More Than, Post Office, Aviva, TSB and Boots, every role defined by coming into new sectors and driving change.In this episode of The How of High Performance, he shares what it was like to arrive at Boots post COVID when the business was underperforming and marketing had lost the confidence of the organisation, and the relationship he built first before he pitched for a single penny more.Pete talks about recruiting nine fellow CMOs to learn improvised comedy for charity and what that taught him about carrying too much of the high stakes yourself, why he believes there's no room for politics when the stakes are real, and what playfulness in the executive context actually looks like when it's done well.About the ShowThe How of High Performance is a podcast hosted by Sally Henderson, High Stakes Leadership Mentor, Author, TEDx and Keynote Speaker with 26 years of experience mentoring senior leaders.Why you lead gets all the attention, but it's HOW you lead that makes the real difference, especially when the stakes are high and the pressure is permanent.Every episode, Sally talks with a leader who has been tested in leadership and in life, with guests spanning C-suite business, Olympic sport, academia and the military, and asks them to share what they learned about their HOW under pressure.Please follow or subscribe and leave a review on Apple Podcasts - it helps other senior leaders find the show.Sally's book The How of High Performance is available at amazon.co.uk and from all good bookshops.Visit sallyhenderson.co.uk or connect with Sally on LinkedIn.