What Matters

Episode SummaryIn this episode, Nicola Hunt speaks with Vish Alluri, co-author of The Enlightened Manager, about an approach to management rooted in the teachings of the philosopher, Jiddu Krishnamurti. They discuss self-understanding and deep questioning as the foundation for effective management. Vish argues that true leadership requires personal clarity of mind and an awareness of life as a whole.The conversation concludes with an exchange on the role of artificial intelligence in management, with Vish emphasizing that AI cannot read between the lines or replace human intelligence and that leaders must have clarity within themselves to guide others effectively.Key Topics DiscussedThe art of questioning and why discovering your own questions is more important than the answers themselves.The life and philosophy of Jiddu Krishnamurti, including his rejection of organized belief systemsWhy understanding your own mind is a prerequisite for understanding and managing othersKey management tools: The "tool of negation" and the "mirror of relationship"Focusing on the process ("eye on the ball") rather than being consumed by outcomes'Coffee darshan' and the importance of a daily refreshment to pause for reflection and connectionA critique of business schools for providing "symptomatic solutions"The role of spontaneity and why acting without expectation prevents disappointmentThe limitations of Artificial Intelligence, including the concern that our brains could decay if we don’t use them enough.Featured GuestVish Alluri – Co-author with Harry Eyres of The Enlightened Mananager. As a tech entrepreneur in 1988 Vish founded IMISoft. In 1999 he went on to found communication platform IMImobile which was acquired by CISCO in 2021.Vish is currently the Secretary of the Krishnamurti Foundation India where his role is to assist the foundation’s work to preserve and disseminate the teachings of J. Krishnamurti, responsibility of Schools in India for education of children, rural outreach work.Resources MentionedThe Enlightened Manager co-authored by Vish Alluri (available on Amazon)A Meeting by the River by Christopher IsherwoodThe Future of Humanity in the Era of AI (booklet)"The Good, The Bad, Ugly and the Danger of AI" (article by Vish Alluri)

In this episode, Nicola Hunt speaks with Steve Cockram, co-founder of Giants Worldwide, about his latest book The Voice-Driven Leader. Together, they explore why leadership must evolve for the digital age, how diverse voices unlock team performance, and why self-awareness is the foundation of relationally intelligent leadership. Steve introduces the Five Voices framework and explains how leaders can create environments where every voice is heard, valued, and effectively deployed.Key Topics DiscussedWhy leadership skills must change in the digital, complex world of workThe shift from individual performance to agile, collaborative teamsThe Five Voices framework and how each voice contributes to team successHow leaders unintentionally silence voices—and how to prevent itThe role of self-awareness in becoming a voice-driven leaderGenerational differences, resilience, and their impact on workplace dynamicsBalancing high support and high challenge to develop people effectivelyFeatured GuestSteve Cockram – Co-founder of Giants Worldwide, leadership coach, speaker, and co-author of The Voice-Driven Leader Resources MentionedThe Voice-Driven Leader: How to Hear, Value and Maximise Every Voice on Your Team, by Steve Cockram and Jeremy KubitschekFive Voices website and resourcesThe Five Voices app and AI coaching tools

We talk to communication expert, international keynote speaker and transformational coach, Ravi Rajani, about his new book, “Relationship currency: five communication habits for limitless influence and business success”.In Relationship Currency, Ravi uncovers the five communication habits you can embody to influence, inspire, and ignite change in your prospects, partners, customers, and team through building meaningful business relationships that matter.We explore:How to ask conscious questions and why they are important.Why Ravi believes that we all have the innate superpower of charisma. True authenticity vs faking it. How to create story-worthy questions. Why imperfection equals connection. Why the suits Ravi wears have a far deeper significance! Key take-aways from the book that listeners can implement right away.Relationship Currency is available from all major book sellers and from: www.theravirajani.com/book

In this episode of What Matters, we dive into the new book from Deloitte’s Geoff Tuff (Global and U.S. Sustainability Leader for Energy, Resources, and Industrials) and Steven Goldbach (Principal, Sustainability leader, Deloitte US), Hone: How Purposeful Leaders Defy Drift. Hone builds upon the authors’ two previous books Detonate (2018), which challenged readers to blow up outdated playbooks; and Provoke (2021), which focused on creating future advantage by spotting risk early. This third book addresses the daily work of staying on track once you've positioned yourself for advantage.What exactly is ‘drift’ and why is it all too easy for organisations to lose their edge in times of massive transformation?How can the way in which a kitchen knife is sharpened deepen strategic insight?What is the connection between how our nervous systems work and management systems?What do four artisans - a chef, a documentary filmmaker, a nautical photographer and a Canadian rock band all have in common? What can sailing teach us about navigating change?In our conversation, Tuff and Goldbach make a compelling case for the power of purposeful, continuous, human-centred improvement – something that’s so much more appealing than the often-brutal top-down corporate transformation!

Workplace pressure can be detrimental to growth, development and wellbeing. In this episode of What Matters, we discuss wellbeing at work, including the issues of fear-based cultures and psychological safety. Lesley Cooper is a management consultant with nearly 30 years of experience in the design and delivery of employee wellbeing programmes. In 1997, she founded WorkingWell, an award-winning specialist consultancy. Other issues we explore include:What employers can do to help people manage stress and pressure at work?The leadership skills that can help to mitigate a stressful environment.How to move to positive high energy emotions and strong performance.Self-awareness, resilience and self-regulation.The importance of building trust and creating a culture of openness.Lesley is also the co-author with Vicky Smith of Brave New Leader: How to Transform Workplace Pressure into Sustainable Performance and Growth. Built around incremental, achievable steps, Brave New Leader covers the tools, mindset, and courage required to turn a damaging tide of pressure and fear into enhanced engagement contribution, fulfilment and wellbeing.

Being happy at work can sometimes feel out of reach, but my guest today on What Matters, Lord Mark Price, believes that it's one of the most important things we can strive for.Mark is an expert in improving leadership and organisational culture. He is the former Managing Director of Waitrose and Deputy Chair of the John Lewis Partnership. He has also served as UK Minister of State for Trade and Investment, President of the CMI, Chair of Business in the Community and is currently a non-executive director of Coca-Cola. He is the founder of workplace happiness platform, WorkL, which measures the Sunday Times best places to work list. In this podcast, we discuss the book, its ground-breaking Charter, Mark’s belief that it’s our responsibility to be happy at work and how his inspiration goes back to his first day at John Lewis as a graduate. Work Happier is published by Kogan Page and available from Koganpage.com and all online book platforms.

We talk to Wilf Blackburn, who describes himself as "a serial CEO" and who is also the author of the recently-published book, Optimal Leadership Reflections of a Serial CEO.

Shaheena Janjuha-Jivraj is an academic, author and keynote speaker. Her work addresses creating inclusive cultures to strengthen the retention and promotion of women into leadership roles. She works with public organisations, NGOs and private business leaders globally including FTSE100, Fortune 500 to help them transform their cultures and work on specific interventions that strengthen gender diversity on the workplace.

We talk to transformation expert and author, Bree Groff, about her new book, “Today Was Fun, a Book About Work (Seriously)”, and discover that the solution to improved performance might simply be injecting more joy into the hours we spend at work.

The second part of our interview with Daniel Snell, co-founder of management consultancy, Arrival, looking at some of the issues affecting managers and leaders today, such as productivity and performance.

Managers and leaders are in a state of perma-crisis and the pace of change is relentless. In this two-part podcast series with Daniel Snell, co-founder of management consultancy, Arrival, we look at some of the issues affecting managers and leaders today, including why DE&I initiatives are in decline, whether AI expectations are matching the hype, and why the disconnect between senior leaders and managers is growing.

Kamales Lardi is listed amongst the top 10 global influencers and thought leaders in digital transformation and top 50 women in tech influencers. Today we're talking about her latest book, Artificial Intelligence for Business.

An interview with Nathan Shearman, a qualified psychotherapist and counsellor at Red Umbrella, on what can be done to help improve the mental well-being of men in the workplace. Red Umbrella work in partnership with large employers to deliver bespoke mental health training and support solutions.

A beehive is the ultimate business case study of a complex organisation. This lens of perspective also helps to bring a fresh perspective to some of the most pressing challenges facing leaders today.In this episode, we talk to Philip Atkinson, author of Bee Wise: 12 Leadership Lessons from a Busy Beehive. An organisational coach as well as a beekeeper, Philip lifts the lid on what happens inside a hard-working beehive as we discuss this refreshing metaphor of working life.To learn more and get a copy of the book go to beewisebook.com or you can find it at all the usual online retailers.

Paul Hargreaves is an author, speaker and CEO of Cotswold Fayre, one of the UK’s leading speciality and fine food wholesalers. In this podcast we discuss the concept of extravagant generosity and explore key themes in his two books. We also dive into why Paul believes that people and planet must come before profit and why this approach is at the root of Cotswold Fayre and Flourish’ success.

Imagine a workplace Christmas party with no alcohol. For today’s guest, Alex Clapp, it has become a mission to show the world that we don't need alcohol to have a good time.In this podcast, Alex, a recovering alcoholic shares his journey and explains why the business he set up to organise non-drinking events, Claritee, is attracting so much attention.In this interview Alex:shares his personal transformational journey with alcoholexplains how and why Claritee events are so much fun, despite being alcohol freehighlights that he doesn’t support a prescriptive approach - it’s the principle of offering people a choice that mattersgives his predictions on the speed at which attitudes towards drinking will continue to changeClaritee was founded to fill a gap in the market for non alcoholic corporate events and training that focus on well-being whilst being fun, entertaining and challenging. It’s the first company of its kind to focus on hosting events that prove you don't need alcohol to have a good time.

In the second half of 2023, leading global executive search firm, Kingsley Gate, conducted in-depth conversations with over 35 senior executives and board members across 11 Latin American markets with FT Longitude of the Financial Times Group.The findings highlight that most senior executive participants not only believe that decision making is both a critical component of any leader’s mandate, but also that decision making does tend to look slightly different in a Latin American context.In this conversation with Aaron Mitchell Finegold, the Chief Marketing Officer of Kingsley Gate, we’re going to discuss key findings from this survey which builds upon their original global research also launched last year with the FT.

Julia Milner is a Professor of Leadership at EDHEC Business School and along with some colleagues, has conducted research that explores the underlying problems of micro-management and how employees can avoid it. We explore the various symptoms of micro-management with her and identify some strategies for dealing with it.

In this episode, we explore the Enneagram with Karl Hebenstreit, author of "The How & Why: Taking Care of Business with the Enneagram". The Enneagram is a personality model that describes people in terms of nine personality types, each with its own core motivations, fears and internal dynamics. The name derives from Greek (ennéa, meaning "nine" and grámma, meaning something "written" or "drawn"). The nine types are represented diagrammatically by the points of a geometric figure called an enneagram. In a business context, the Enneagram is used to gain insights into workplace interpersonal dynamics. The ability to take on another person’s point of view is a vital part of getting anything done successfully, and the enneagram offers an effective route to open people up to other ways of thinking.Karl Hebenstreit is a certified executive coach, leadership and organisational development (OD) consultant, author, and international speaker. He has more than 25 years of HR and OD experience across arrange of industries. As well as "Taking Care of Business with the Enneagram" (now in its third edition), Nina and the Really, Really Tough Decision.

If you are a woman over 40 and feel that ageism is stopping you landing a job despite your experience and qualifications, this interview with Nori Jabba, author of Keeping Your Seat at the Table, a Memoir and Guide on Regaining Confidence in Middle-age, is for you.

A conversation with Dr Amanda Nimon-Peters about her new book, "Working With Influence: Nine principles of persuasion to accelerate your career".

A conversation with Chris Paton about the new book, "Purposeful People, an anthology of 19 different personal stories about what it means to live a purpose-driven life".

We explore how the pandemic has transformed the delivery of training and development with corporate learning experts Jane Rexworthy and Nigel Paine.

We talk to Jeff Schwartz, a founding partner of Deloitte Consulting's Future of Work practice, about his new book, "Work Disrupted: Opportunity, Resilience, and Growth in the Accelerated Future of Work".

We talk to Wayne Turmel about his brand new book, "The Long-Distance Teammate", and discuss how you can become a really effective member of a remote team.

A conversation with historian and sociologist Dr. Rainer Zitelmann, about his new book "The Art of a Successful Life", exploring how we can all benefit from reading more and how to survive these testing times.

A conversation with leadership coach, Rosie Tomkins, about her new book "N-stinctive: The Power of Natural Intelligence" and the lessons all of us can learn from the natural world.

A conversation with Sandra Kelly, UK director of People 1st International, and corporate learning specialist, Nigel Paine, about the ways employers are supporting their people during the Covid-19 crisis and what HR and L&D professionals can do to prepare for the future.

We talk to business psychologist, Emily Cooke, about the mental health implications of the Covid-19 crisis and the mass move to home working and find out how an app can help support us.

With the coronavirus pandemic forcing millions of people to work remotely, who better to talk to about the implications of this sudden workplace revolution than Wayne Turmel, one of the early champions of remote working .

There is a stereotypical image that a charismatic leader is a confident extrovert. But as we find out from Nikki Owen, author of "Charismatic to the Core", you don't have to shout or show off to be charismatic.

A conversation with Isaac Getz, a Professor at ESCP Europe business school, best-selling author and a leading figure in the corporate liberation movement.