Episode 1 S4: ‘ Igniting your business ‘

Andrew has spent 22 years with Bidfood primarily developing the Food Logistics business in the UK, as well as businesses in Turkey, the Middle East, the Baltics and Spain. He became CEO of Bidfood in 2014, and sits on the global leadership Foodservice Group within Bidcorp, Bidfood’s parent company.

Andrew also has responsibility for Bidcorps other businesses in the UK, Bidfresh (fruit and veg, fresh meat and fresh fish wholesalers), Bidcorp Manufacturing business, and  Snowden and Bridge Imports business. Prior to joining Bidfood Andrew’s career began at Coca-Cola Enterprises, where he worked his way up from Graduate Trainee to Trading Director of the wholesale division.In 2020 Andrew put his knowledge, insight, and personal style into his first management book ‘Ignite Your Business’ about which the Chairman of Barclays – Sir Ian Cheshire – said “Andrew has used his extensive experience to write that rare thing – a practically useful business book. Read, Learn and Act!”

Episode 7 S3: How to make big changes in a big company.

Becky Hogan (pictured) is currently the Talent & Learning Director, and Cheryl McKown is the Apprenticeship Manager for Bupa Global and UK. Cheryl has over 15 years’ experience in talent development, she has worked with charity and further education organisations across the world to develop programmes that create links with local communities and businesses to drive innovation in learning development. Becky reckons she has the best job on the Bupa People Executive Team as she gets to work on everything and anything from Employer Brand, Employee Listening, D&I, Resourcing and Apprenticeships day to day. Cheryl and Becky look forward to sharing Bupa’s story and contributing to industry transformation in further education.

Episode 6 S3: How to bring purpose to your organisation.

Chris is the Founder and CEO of Purpose Led Performance. He is an experienced CEO and MD and has led organisations that have achieved incredible growth. Chris has worked in the education, employability, disability, and criminal justice/rehabilitation sectors.
Chris has held senior leadership roles in four Joint ventures involving the private sector (Deloitte, Capita, and MAXIMUS), the voluntary sector (CGL and St. Giles Trust) and the public sector (Remploy and Staffordshire County Council).
In the policy and public service sphere, Chris has worked extensively with the Government and Ministers and participated in and chaired influential committees with the CBI, British Services Association (BSA) and the Employment Related Services Association (ERSA). Chris is also an experienced Non-Exec Director and has been the Chair of a charitable foundation.

Episode 5 S3: Wake up to your potential.

Nicole is an Organisational Psychologist with over 25 years of international experience working with individuals, teams and organisations to achieve their potential. She is also a business entrepreneur, selling her Insights business before working with Dr Stewart Desson to build Lumina Learning.
Nicole is a Director of Lumina Learning Global and as well as supporting the business and clients in the UK, she is responsible for Lumina’s growth in South Africa. She is also a co-founder of The Growth Project – a charity committed to “helping those who help” while building business leaders connect to social purpose. Nicole’s passions include her family, dancing, painting and being a catalyst to wake people up to take accountability and master relationships  

Episode 4 S3: How technology is changing leadership.

Mark’s primary focus is to be the “oil and glue” in helping clients to optimise people, process and technology performance through effective change and transformation.  

His aim is to work himself out of a job short-term and long-term by helping clients build capabilities, confidence and commitment for improved performance, self-sufficiency and resilience – all delivered with care

With over 30 years’ experience in the financial services as a practioner and consultant in a range of leadership roles in strategic, operational, technology, consultancy, sales and marketing positions he brings a combination of industry domain experience and transformation expertise.

He has supported a broad range of clients including start-ups, regional and global insurers and reinsurers on a range of projects including formation, acquisitions and disposals, offshoring, process and technology transformation, operating model implementation and cultural change.

Episode 3 S3: How to introduce sustainability into your workplace.

Abigail is passionate about social innovation and work that leads to lasting positive change in people’s lives all over the world.

She is the Director of Quaggy Development Trust as well as the Founder and CEO of Little Bee Community works with charitable organisations and responsible businesses to enable them to operate more sustainably.
Her contribution to this is to apply her creativity, business acumen and fundraising expertise to ensure that initiatives are well planned, resourced, branded and measured, maximizing opportunities for their continued growth and sustainability.

Episode 2 S3: How to lead a tech team.

Sam is a software developer, hooked since the age of about 10, starting out with a ZX Spectrum and never looking back. Since then he gained a degree and worked his way through Softwire, McKinsey, LShift, Lumi (a startup) and now Tesco.
He is a Head of Software Development, leading a team of 30+ developers building Quote API, which is responsible for pricing baskets of goods across Tesco, including the surprising complexities of promotions and tax.
He takes pride in having a happy and capable team, delivering real impact that is seen by most of the people in the UK, even if they don’t know it.

Episode 1 S3: How to turn around a struggling organisation.

Kim Gieske’s early career was spent in financial recruitment in London, Hong Kong and Tokyo.
After that worked as HR Manager for Harvey Nichols, Knightsbridge and HR Director of Soho House Group.
As HR Director of Planet Organic she was part of the team who transformed the business from loss making to profitability. She created a robust HR strategy that focused on culture, talent attraction and learning.
She has an Executive MBA, a Masters in Strategic HRM, an ILM Level 7 in Executive Coaching and is a Chartered Fellow of the CIPD.

Episode 9 S2: How to be a better middle manager

In our final episode of Season 2, we talk to management consultant Melanie Eusebe, who has over 20 years’ experience leading strategic transformation initiatives for global brands. Melanie is passionate about discovering and encouraging role models and inspiring a new generation of exceptional business leaders. Melanie and Clare discuss working in a modern, inclusive and diverse world.

Episode 8 S2: How to mix data and entrepreneurship.

As CEO at Pivigo, Kim Nilsson is passionate about connecting data talent with companies who need tough questions answered. Kim speaks with Clare about how Data will revolutionise our lives and how to harness its power. 

Episode 7 S2: How to have tough conversations.

Evan is back in studio to speak about the importance of feedback. He explains how positive praise is both essential and constructive and how common it is within businesses, where there is little or no communication. Sometimes you can assume a certain team member is doing well, when that may not be the case. Clare and Evan consider better ways to communicate with team members.

Episode 6 S2: How to lead at speed.

Sophie Devonshire is an author and CEO at The Caffeine Partnership. In addition to setting up, growing and subsequently selling her own successful business, Sophie has consulted with global companies. Her new book about leadership, ‘Superfast’, has been shortlisted in the Business Book Awards.

Episode 5 S2: What will the workforce of the future look like?

Aidan is co-founder of JobLab, a fast-growing start-up, turning graduate recruitment on its head. JobLab connects talented graduates with tech companies, giving graduates the opportunity to pitch their skills, interests and experience. Clare and Aidan talk about the importance and impact of bringing young people into the workplace and reshaping recruitment processes to source the talent of the future.

Episode 4 S2: Where does business culture come from?

Jane is an award winning ICF MCC (Master Certified Coach), whose former clients include Deloitte, Bank of Montreal and KPMG. Jane and Clare discuss why building and nurturing a great culture is so important within organisations and the real value of things like mission and vision statements. 

Episode 3 S2: How we can get more women into leadership.

Sue Macmillan returns to the Leadership 2020 studio, to discuss the representation of women in leadership roles within large corporate firms. Sue raises concerns with Clare about reoccurring issues within this space, including the gender pay gap, fewer women in senior leadership positions and the business impact of diversity.

Episode 2 S2: How can finance help leaders

Paul is an accomplished senior finance professional with 15 years’ experience in Insurance and Corporate finance. Clare and Pauls discussion embraces his enthusiastic and innovative style of decision making within the finance sector. Finance is topic that can be hard to fully comprehend but throughout the episode Paul gives his expert advice.

Episode 1 S2: Leading on and off the pitch.

In our first episode of Series 2, Clare is talking to Crista Cullen. Crista is an experienced marketing director with a demonstrated history of working in the sports industry. After competing in the Beijing and Rio Olympics, achieving medals at both, she shares her passions from working with her charity Tofuati to setting up CCKC Consulting. She speaks with Clare about her journey, leading to an informative opening episode to the series. 

Episode 9 S1: How to make the most of an interview opportunity.

In our final episode of Series 1, Claire is talking to Nancy Scott, Managing Director of Why Apply, a company that advises clients on how to manage their talent and supports individuals on how to manage their careers.  Nancy talks about leadership and managing careers, drawing on her experiences of working in the charity sector, professional services and executive recruitment. She explains the ‘ins and outs’ of leadership management skills, as well as how you can apply skills to your everyday lifestyle to help you achieve higher positions within your job. Her advice is clear and concise but most effective when needed most.

Episode 8 S1: How to create a more diverse workplace.

Sasha works in parts of the “Labs” department of Softwire as a Project Manager for a variety of projects ranging from start-ups to government alphas. Her role as part of ‘Labs’ is very fluid and often works with the sales and pre-sales team on bids or takes on the role of User Researcher to conduct interviews in our Usability Lab. She is also the company’s Diversity Champion and works closely with the Directors and HR to improve diversity and inclusivity within the company, attending various events and establishing ways of improving our current culture and hiring process which we learn from this episode.

Episode 7 S1: How to motivate your team.

Victoria’s experience as a leader ranges from her current position as a CEO to The Royal Town Planning Institute to Head of Transport at the Greater London Authority.  Her leadership skills at the Institute set the standards of planning education andprofessional behavior that give planners a unique ability to meet complex economic, social and environmental challenges. Victoria talks about what it means to be a great leader within the public planning sector and how much of an impact it makes to the wider community and her follow colleagues. 

Episode 6 S1: How to lead a remote team.

Sean is an entrepreneur who is passionate about delivering brilliant vocational training that genuinely improves productivity, profitability, wages and progression. 
In this episode shares his expertise in the areas of training, business creation and evidence-based policy, to name but a few.  
Sean started his career in the employment support sector. Since then, he has designed and managed large-scale public service contracts both across the UK and abroad. He has also managed businesses turning over in excess of £75 million, directly and indirectly employing over 900 staff.

Episode 5 S1: How can leaders make better use of data?

Talent Intuition uses technology to grab hard data and research to gather people’s intelligence to help businesses reduce risk and make informed decisions.
Alison talks about her focus on bringing peoples data to the desktop so that companies can make better decisions and reduce their risk. Whether you are a global player looking to break into a new market, a business looking for an interim sales leader to bridge a talent gap or a start-up looking for business development advice they will work with you to help achieve your business objectives.

Episode 4 S1: How can you achieve work-life balance?

Mumsnet is the UK’s biggest network for parents has over 14 million unique visitors per month and has become an indispensable resource for parents. The company allows parents to swap advice and learn new ideas about parenthood. Sue talks about the importance of work-life balance, both for leaders and their teams, fathers and mothers alike. She also explores topics such as parenthood and returning to the workplace even with young children.

Episode 3 S1: What makes a good leader?

Peppy is a London-based health-tech company that connects new parents and employers with qualified lactation consultants, baby sleep coaches, postnatal depression therapists and much more.
Evan talks about what it means to be an effective leader, reflecting on lessons learned through his career in outsourcing, healthcare and global businesses.