Management Today's Leadership Lessons

Management Today
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Management Today's Leadership Lessons podcast is aimed at entertaining, educating and inspiring people to be better leaders. The podcast delves into the world of leadership and management, bringing fresh insights, trends and advice to the ears of busy senior leaders. We interview CEOs, founders, authors, executive coaches, business professors and other experts to discover the real secrets to effective leadership. We also provide crucial insight into some of the biggest business stories of the day to help you stay ahead of the curve.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  1. Steph Edusei on tackling ‘imposter phenomenon’ and ‘taking up space’ as a Black leader

    30 OCT

    Steph Edusei on tackling ‘imposter phenomenon’ and ‘taking up space’ as a Black leader

    Steph Edusei’s leadership strategy can be encapsulated in two philosophies: “be a little bit naughty” and “push the boundaries”.  This mindset of challenging the status quo, paired with a commitment to compassionate, human-centred leadership, defines her career trajectory from the rigid NHS structure to the caring culture of the charitable hospice sector. Edusei spent almost 20 years in the NHS, where she experienced a culture of immense pressure, constant reorganisation and a sense of being a “small cog in a huge machine”. Her appointment in 2020 as CEO of St Oswald’s Hospice – a charitable hospice based in the north east – presented a stark contrast. Credits: Presenter: Éilis Cronin Producer: Inga Marsden Artwork: Jenny Hardy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    37 min
  2. How Inchcape’s CEO is navigating the ‘polycrisis’

    9 OCT

    How Inchcape’s CEO is navigating the ‘polycrisis’

    As the world grapples with an ongoing wave of global disruptions, which many have dubbed the “supply chain polycrisis”, automotive distributor Inchcape has been forced to adapt quickly. CEO Duncan Tait, who took the helm during the Covid pandemic, is putting his more than 30 years of tech experience to good use, steering the almost 180-year-old company through this turbulent period. On the latest episode of Leadership Lessons, Tait talks leveraging technology, understanding emerging markets, and driving long-term growth for Inchcape. Credits: Presenter: Éilis Cronin Producer: Inga Marsden Artwork: Jenny Hardy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    25 min
  3. Grayling PR’s CEO on leadership, agency growth, and the importance of DEI

    2 OCT

    Grayling PR’s CEO on leadership, agency growth, and the importance of DEI

    Visa, Birmingham City Football Club, and Grindr. What do these companies have in common? They're all clients of PR firm Grayling, headed up by CEO Heather Blundell, who will grace the stage as a speaker at this years' Women in Work Summit. In this week's episode, Blundell reflects on her career trajectory; from a rigorous start at Edelman, which she describes as SAS training, to taking on a managing director role at Weber Shandwick at age 29. Now leading Grayling, Blundell explains the strategic shifts she's driving, including the launch of Grayling Media, and discusses how the agency’s diverse client base serves as the perfect business case for why DEI is a business necessity, not just a 'tick box exercise'." Credits: Presenter: Éilis Cronin Producer: Inga Marsden Artwork: Jenny Hardy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    31 min
  4. McKinsey’s head of business building on why all leaders need to be innovators

    25 SEPT

    McKinsey’s head of business building on why all leaders need to be innovators

    New ideas are the engine of corporate growth, but all too often established businesses find innovation too cumbersome and too distracting from the day job – which means it’s the preserve of nimbler start-ups. Daniel Aminetzah is a McKinsey consultant on a mission to change that. The global co-leader of McKinsey Business Building wants companies to pursue new revenue streams and act more like start-ups, even in deeply traditional industries.  As he puts it: “We can allow ourselves to unleash our entrepreneurial muscle in many more contexts, including traditional corporates or professional firms. You don’t have to go to a garage and do it with another founder.” On the latest episode of MT’s Leadership Lessons podcast, Aminetzah explained how he helps firms upgrade their business building capacity. And despite the current macroeconomic uncertainty, he said many are ready to take the plunge. Credits: Presenter: Antonia Garrett Peel Producer: Inga Marsden Artwork: Jenny Hardy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    25 min
  5. Julian Birkinshaw: 'Established companies are way more resilient than people give them credit for'

    5 SEPT

    Julian Birkinshaw: 'Established companies are way more resilient than people give them credit for'

    American author F. Scott Fitzgerald famously wrote that: “The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function.” This is also, according to dean of Ivey Business School Julian Birkinshaw and ex-Pearson CEO John Fallon, who have co-authored a new book on established companies in an age of digital change, a good definition of the mindset needed to navigate this kind of disruption. You can think of it, Birkinshaw told MT’s Leadership Lessons, as “being paranoid and pragmatic at the same time”. “So you have to have a certain level of paranoia that any new technology could be something that will make your life very difficult, that will be a threat. The pragmatic bit says, ‘we've lived through many, many rounds of digital changes…Most of our big organisations are still with us’.” To be more precise, as of 2020, only 35 of the Fortune 500 cohort from 1995 - when the internet revolution was really getting underway - had gone bankrupt. Today, its constituents that didn’t exist in 1995 number only 27. The prevailing narrative about established firms, Birkinshaw says, casts them as “relics of a bygone era” - dinosaurs pitted against the unicorns and other fleet-footed disruptors of the digital era. But this narrative, he and Fallon argue in Resurgent: How established organisations can fight back and thrive in an age of digital transformation, ignores many of the inherent strengths that have made these companies market leaders. For many organisations, haunted by the fear of falling victim to their own ‘Kodak moment’, the temptation when faced with a new technology might be to react quickly to counter the perceived threat. Not only, however, are the firms that fail to adapt to digital disruption “the absolute exception” that proves the general rule (namely that “big companies are way more resilient than people give them credit for”), but it’s important to recognise that people tend to overestimate the speed of change and executives therefore often have more time than they might think to work out whether, when and how much to invest in a new technology. Credits: Presenter: Antonia Garrett Peel Producer: Inga Marsden Artwork: Jenny Hardy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    26 min
  6. AI’s impact on professional services and getting employees comfortable with change

    21 AUG

    AI’s impact on professional services and getting employees comfortable with change

    On this week’s episode, MT’s editorial team discusses the impact of AI on professional services and the role of psychological safety in business transformation. Is AI coming for your job? If you’re a consultant that question might have been hard to shake in recent months, after a slew of headlines warned of the impact on the profession and data showed that the Big 4 scaled back their entry-level hiring programmes last year – by as much as 33% in KPMG’s case (compared with 2023). It’s clear that AI is squeezing employment in professional services firms, London Business School professor Michael Jacobides wrote in a recent piece for MT. He suggests, however, that “the death of the firm is greatly exaggerated”. We consider his argument. Humans, famously, are uncomfortable with change - but transformation, by definition, requires us to disrupt what’s familiar. That tension is at the heart of many large-scale organisational change projects, and could be one reason why the success rate for such initiatives remains dismally low. In a recent piece for MT, Lesley Cooper outlines the role of company culture in driving innovation, engagement, and in helping employees to get comfortable with the unfamiliar. We discuss how leaders can create a psychologically safe environment. Credits: Presenters: Éilis Cronin and Antonia Garrett Peel Producer: Inga Marsden Artwork: Jenny Hardy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    8 min
  7. CBI CEO: “We’re backing UK businesses to ensure they’ve got what they need to invest and grow”

    7 AUG

    CBI CEO: “We’re backing UK businesses to ensure they’ve got what they need to invest and grow”

    In 2023, the CBI became embroiled in a well-documented sexual misconduct crisis, which saw the exodus of a number of its member companies. Two years on, and with its former chief economist Rain Newton-Smith at the helm, the organisation is once again a trusted voice for businesses and is actively working with the UK government to boost business optimism and confidence. On this week's episode, Rain sat down with myself and MT's senior staff writer Antonia Garrett Peel to discuss what can be done to unlock business growth, how the government can support UK businesses in navigating new trade relationships, and her advice for stepping into a new and difficult role. Credits: Presenter: Antonia Garrett Peel and Éilis Cronin Producer: Nav Pal Artwork: Jenny Hardy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    28 min
  8. Leading transformation and obstacles to women’s career progression in professional services

    31 JUL

    Leading transformation and obstacles to women’s career progression in professional services

    In this week’s episode, we discuss how to elevate your business transformation abilities and the obstacles to women’s career progression in professional services. Ever heard of a ‘wicked problem’? Identified by two social scientists, Horst Rittel and Melvin Webber, in the 1970s, these are problems that are difficult or impossible to solve because of the numerous interlinked challenges they present, which are often in flux, may be contradictory, and involve multiple decision-makers. In a recent piece, MT columnist Chris Dalton argues that ‘wicked problems’ are one reason why business transformation is seldom straightforward. With the failure rate for such projects notoriously high, we bring you Dalton’s advice to support leaders in their organisational change endeavours.  It may be 2025, but the number of women in M&A and professional services who feel their path to the C-suite has been hindered by sexist bias and discrimination is startlingly high (as many as one in three in the US). That’s the sobering picture revealed by a survey by CIL Management Consultants, which also cited imposter syndrome as a hindrance to career progression for women working in professional services. Éilis Cronin discusses her interview with CIL partner Tabitha Elwes, who offered her thoughts on how companies within the industry can support women as they climb the corporate ladder. Credits: Presenters: Antonia Garrett Peel and Éilis Cronin Producer: Inga Marsden Artwork: David Robinson Links: https://www.managementtoday.co.uk/five-personal-practices-art-business-transformation/mt-columnist/article/1927141 https://www.managementtoday.co.uk/imposter-syndrome-lack-role-models-shape-womens-careers-professional-services/interviews/article/1926495 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    9 min
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Management Today's Leadership Lessons podcast is aimed at entertaining, educating and inspiring people to be better leaders. The podcast delves into the world of leadership and management, bringing fresh insights, trends and advice to the ears of busy senior leaders. We interview CEOs, founders, authors, executive coaches, business professors and other experts to discover the real secrets to effective leadership. We also provide crucial insight into some of the biggest business stories of the day to help you stay ahead of the curve.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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