Lean Startup with Katie Careless

Innovative, passionate and whipsmart, Katie Careless is one of those leaders who really lives and breathes her values. We discuss what first sparked her interest in systematic innovation, how she’s embraced lean startup to help organisations innovate with purpose and clarity, and her the key tools she’s developed to drive that clarity. Katie also shares a story of what goes wrong when clarity goes out the window.

Katie Careless is an Innovation Consultant who helps organisations thrive in uncertainty. She is an experienced coach, and loves helping leaders to build strategic innovation portfolios and innovators to get from idea to impact. As co-Founding Partner of Yellow Cat, Katie applies her combined experience of corporate transformation and knowledge of innovation approaches to help people build innovation at scale in their organisations. You can tweet Katie @Optimisticorca.

Vision and strategy with Dr Spencer Holt

In this enlivening chat with Spencer Holt we explore why clarity of vision is so critical for leaders, their teams and their organisations. We discuss how to ensure that clarity continues, why strategic priorities play such a critical role, and how helping your team feel the essence of your vision can energise them to shape the future. We explore how resistance can offer valuable data, and Spencer shares a story about how even the best intentions can fall short without clarity of vision and priorities.

Dr Spencer Holt is an experimenter and thought leader with endless passion for helping people to reach beyond their potential, both personally and professionally. An expert in learning and development, he is Head of the Commercial Learning Innovation Centre at AstraZeneca, and host of the popular leadership podcast, Small Things Make A Big Difference.

Clarity of ambition with Jodie Lowe

We so enjoyed this conversation with Jodie Lowe on clarity of personal and professional ambition. It was fascinating to hear how Jodie’s own non-linear experiences have shaped her approach to personal development at MoneySuperMarketGroup. We also explore how we can gain greater clarity on what really matters to us, why we need to think about progression rather than just promotion, and how learning and development teams can support people to be more fulfilled professionally and personally.

Jodie is a leader in Learning and Development. She currently works with MoneySuperMarket Group where her groundbreaking approach has helped to put employees in control of their own development. Jodie is passionate about giving people the freedom to explore their personal strengths and interests both inside and outside work. She is also a qualified coach, a Strengthscope practitioner and loves to use positive psychology to help people to be their best.

Clarity of conviction with Abdul Shayek

Courageous, inspiring and enlivening are just some of the words we’d use to describe theatre director and arts leader, Abdul Shayek. We recorded this episode of Clearer is Faster at the height of urgent demands for racial justice, a pandemic and a looming crisis for the arts. So it felt even more prescient to learn how clarity of conviction has continued to shape and drive Abdul as an individual, an artist and as a leader for his industry.

We talk about how Abdul’s personal life has created clarity in his work, why it’s more important to clarify what matters than how you’ll achieve it, and how clarity of conviction can help you navigate extremely choppy waters. (Listen out for some evocative seafaring analogies!)

Abdul Shayek is the newly appointed Artistic Director & Joint CEO of Tara Arts. Founded in 1977, Tara Arts was the first Asian, Black and ethnically diverse-led theatre company in the UK, and has an award-winning theatre in Wandsworth. Tara Arts delivers world-class productions and works with a range of partners, from the grassroots to cultural powerhouses. 

Abdul was previously founding Artistic Director & CEO of Fio, where he directed productions like Swarm to critical acclaim. Most recently, Abdul directed and toured The Orchard of Lost Souls, Death and the Maiden by Ariel Dorfman, and Athol Fugard's The Island. Abdul is also an opera director with the ENO and WNO, a Clore Fellow, and sits on several boards and steering groups for cultural institutions. In 2020 Abdul co-founded the Wales Race and Culture Task Force to address systemic racism in the Welsh arts sector.

You can tweet Abdul, find him on Instagram and Facebook, and find out more about Tara Arts on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. You can also follow the Wales Race and Culture Task Force on Twitter.

Creating clarity in innovation with Sheri Hussain and Emily Reilly Vale

In the latest episode of Clearer is Faster we talk about creating clarity in innovation with Sheri Hussain and Emily Reilly Vale. Sheri and Emily live and breathe innovation every day in their work at the cutting edge of clinical practice and medical oncology for a global biopharmaceuticals company.

We explore why innovation thrives on clarity rather than certainty, how to hold on to your vision while innovating at pace, and how failure creates a fantastic opportunity to gain clarity. Emily and Sheri also share a few tips on how individuals, teams and organisation can instil greater clarity into their approach to innovation.

Sheri Hussain has a PhD in cancer therapeutics, and started off in men’s health before focusing on lung cancer. She now works on the cutting edge of medicine, and thrives on the in-depth scientific discussions that are part of her role, as well as the impact of life-changing medicines.

Emily Reilly Vale is a pharmacist who, in addition to her passion for oncology, has a keen interest in organisational psychology and bringing about creative solutions. She’s currently undertaking a MBA to strengthen not only her knowledge and skills in business and leadership, but also her creative and innovative practice.

Crafting Clarity with Dr Eve Poole

What an invigorating delight it was to chat to Eve Poole, author of Leadersmithing. Eve is endlessly insightful, very funny and, appropriately, gloriously clear!

During the height of the Covid-19 lockdown in UK, we discussed why crafting clarity is essential in a VUCA world, how to do so even in uncertainty, and why crafting clarity is a continuous process. We also explore why leaders are made and not born, and how our persistently gendered perceptions of leadership prevent organisations from thriving. (And, of course, creating additional work for the women leading them.)

Dr Eve Poole is the Third Church Estates Commissioner for England, and Chairman of the Board of Governors at Gordonstoun. She has a BA from Durham, an MBA from Edinburgh, and a PhD in theology and capitalism from Cambridge. She is the author of several books, including Leadersmithing, which was Highly Commended in the 2018 Business Book Awards. Eve taught leadership at Ashridge Business School for 15 years. Before that, she worked for the Church Commissioners and for Deloitte Consulting, where she specialised in change management. She is a regular contributor to Thought for the Day for BBC Radio Scotland. You can tweet Eve @evepoole.

Clarity in teamwork with Jennifer Allen and Sofia Liasi

Jennifer Allen and Sofia Liasi are more than just a team. Together, they’ve created the culture and structures that enable teams to work with clarity, transparency and unity while enabling each member to bring their whole self to work.

In this episode of Clearer is Faster, we explore:

• What clarity looks and feels like in the context of teamwork

• The pinch points where clarity falls away in large organisations, and what they can do about it

• How to build teams with clarity at their core, whether you’re working within a team or leading it

Sofia Liasi and Jennifer Allen are changing what leadership looks and feels like at one of the largest multinationals in their industry. They also deploy this entrepreneurial streak beyond the day job through their own ventures. As friends, colleagues and now business partners they think, live and breathe teamwork that's grounded in clarity – whether it's between themselves or in the teams they've co-developed.

Clean Communication with Carrie Bedingfield

Practical, down-to-earth and inspiring, Carrie Bedingfield is a model of Clean Communication. It’s perhaps not surprising, then, that this was one of the first principles she developed in her work helping companies build fast, transparent, high trust ways of working in an unpredictable world.

In this episode of #ClearerIsFaster we explore:

• What Clean Communication actually means

• How it can transform meetings into drivers of clarity and value instead of mess and confusion

• Practical actions to implement Clean Communication on a daily basis

Carrie Bedingfield develops and tests ways of working that match the complex ways we work in the 21st century and helps companies break out of ‘command and control’ and industrial era though her company Onefish. She specifically works on things like meetings, email, how budgets are made and other infrastructure that our working culture is engrained in. Carrie is doing a PhD in systems engineering at Cambridge University exploring meetings in particular.

Tweet Carrie @cbedingfield, Onefish @onefishcomms, and talk redesigned meetings @lomomeetings.

Messiness at work with Morgan Holt

Life is messy. So how do we navigate the mess and should we even embrace it?

In our latest episode of #ClearerIsFaster, we talk messiness, how it manifests at work and what it means to show up as human beings in pursuit of clearer and richer lives with coach and strategist, Morgan Holt.

Morgan is business and leadership coach at thecoach.co, helping leaders clarify their style to build an effective business and culture. He is also global chief strategy officer and managing director at FITCH, the experience design agency behind some of the world’s most ambitious brands.

Clarity of purpose with Sarah Butler

What does it mean to pursue your purpose in life? How do you begin? How do you cope with failure – and with success? And is the joy in the journey rather than the destination?

In this enlivening chat with novelist Sarah Butler we explore all this and more, including why doing is the first step to being, how to approach your purpose as a landscape, why we all need to play, and why being willing to fail is key to success.

Sarah is a novelist whose work explores ideas of home, belonging, identity, family, and urban landscapes. Her first two novels, Ten Things I’ve Learnt About Love (2013) and Before The Fire (2015) were published by Picador in the UK and with fourteen international publishers. In November 2018, she published a novella, Not Home, written in conversation with people living in unsupported temporary accommodation in Manchester. Her new novel, Jack and Bet, will be published by Picador in Spring 2020. 

You can tweet Sarah @SarahButler100, and find out more about her writing here and work in literature and regeneration here.

Communication under pressure with Dr Matt Boardman

What happens when you have just 10 minutes to build a rapport, get to the heart of the problem and deliver potentially life changing news? How do you show up with humanity to every conversation every day? How do you look after yourself while looking after others?

We covered all this and more in our fascinating chat with the wonderfully open and curious Dr Matt Boardman. A management consultant turned GP, Matt shared his insights on how to communicate under pressure and some of the lessons business can learn from the doctor’s consultation room.

After a biology degree, Matt worked in media and management consultancy roles for seven years before retraining to study medicine. He is currently a GP at an innovative practice focusing on holistic patient care. In his spare time he can often be found on his allotment.

The power of connection with Paul Gilmore

What a pleasure to talk to the ever calm and considered Paul Gilmore about the power of human connection. Drawing on Paul’s expertise as an actor and communication coach, we discussed how to make the kind of impact you want, the allure of storytelling and why the simple (or not so simple) act of being present is the key to it all.

Paul has worked as an actor for over 25 years in theatre, TV and film. Driven by curiosity and a fascination of human behaviour, and countless hours of research into what makes a great communicator, he's used his skills as a theatre practitioner to help develop the communication skills of business leaders.

Paul has designed, facilitated and delivered key L&D, leadership and coaching programmes for over 50 companies since founding his Consultancy, Activation Business Theatre, in 2001. He is committed to helping others become the best version of themselves and realise their full potential.

Tweet Paul @PaulGilmore11.

Why language matters with Nick Parker

It was both a delight and a hoot to chat to Nick Parker of That Explains Things about language and tone of voice. We explored why organisations can struggle to be clear and what they can do about it, why we should all pay attention to tone of voice, how to avoid language as obfuscation and much more. Nick also shares the pitfalls of interviewing with your dog. Make of that what you will.

Nick is a joy to talk to, so much so that this is his second outing in a Chirp podcast. You can also catch him in our Innovation series from a few years ago.

Nick Parker runs an agency called That Explains Things. They help brands of all sizes find their voice, tell their stories — and explain their things.

He’s also the creator of Voicebox - a method to help brands and businesses sort out their 'tone of voice'. (Yes, it comes in a box.)

He runs workshops all over the world, and once wrote a book in praise of toast. 

Tweet him @nickparker.

Agility and adaptability with Lee Bryant

What a joy to feature the always interesting Lee Bryant in this week’s episode. Our conversation ranged from how organisations need to adapt in a VUCA world, to creating a coalition of the willing, to the causes behind a widescale breakdown in trust – and how we can rebuild it.

We had a few issues with the connection so hope you’ll forgive the odd sound glitch. We think it’s worth sticking with to hear Lee’s insightful, forthright and often funny comments.

Lee’s background is fascinating, and you can read about some it below. But if you ever get the chance to ask him more in person, grab it!

Lee Bryant is a technologist and organisational designer driven by a strong belief in the empowering potential of connected networks and systems. He has been playing with words and computers since the age of 10, and published his first code aged 11. Pre-Internet, he wrote and researched in the field of International Relations, working as a consultant for the Bosnian government in London and Sarajevo during the war, and later for specialist NGOs.

In 1996, he co-founded one of the first successful online agencies to focus on building online knowledge communities, and and in 2002, Lee and his team founded a new company, Headshift, to focus on the emerging area of social software applied to improving organisational effectiveness. Headshift was a pioneer of the European social software industry, and was acquired by a larger US firm at the end of the decade.

Since then, Lee has focused on the organisational design side of the challenge posed by digitisation, writing about and researching the future organisational operating systems and the role of automation in a post-management firm. He consults and collaborates with leading organisations around digital transformation, organisational development, agility and learning through his new company Postshift.

The Chirp Podcast: Collaboration with Britta Posner

We’re delighted to launch our new podcast series Clearer is Faster with an episode on collaboration with Britta Posner.

In this episode we discuss:

• What collaboration really means and why it’s not always the answer

• Why clarity is at the heart of collaboration and how you can recreate it when it’s got lost

• Tips to collaborate more effectively

• And one of Britta's best experiences of collaboration... which didn't turn out quite as expected

Britta Posner is the founder of The Collaboration Practice. Following an MPhil in Biological Anthropology at the University of Cambridge and almost 20 years in marketing communications, the question of how to optimise employee potential was always at the forefront of Britta’s mind. She believes that in most cases the potential is there waiting to be (re)discovered, and launched The Collaboration Practice to help organisations and individuals become who they are.

The concept of collaboration sits at the heart of The Collaboration Practice approach. They not only work closely with the best minds in this field, but also firmly believe that the principles of collaborative working can give your organisation a competitive advantage. Through their tailor-made consulting, coaching and training solutions, they support companies in overcoming silo mentality, implementing a strength-based approach and ultimately increasing their productivity.

Contact Britta Posner on Twitter @BrittaPosner, Insta @thecollaborationpractice, on LinkedIn or Xing.

Tweet us @chirp_song or drop Kamala a line directly.