Conscious Leaders with Ruth Farenga Conscious Leaders

Emily comes across as a very calm, measured, and humble CEO – one that does not feel that we need unnecessary pressure. She is committed to connecting with employees and organically growing their business in sustainable ways.
She attributes a lot of stability in her childhood to the resilience of her mother who always worked full time, did a PhD part-time and travelled around the world sharing her research. Consequently, Emily always had a strong belief in herself. She feels lucky that being a woman in tech never got in her way.
In the early days, Emily was very much a ‘number two’ – a supporter to her husband as they grew their software development business, Ghyston. She focused on bringing up their 3 children and worked part-time in the business. But a time came when her husband had an opportunity outside of Ghyston. Emily decided to step up to the CEO role but she was determined to do it her own way moving from 3-3.5 days a week!
Indeed, she wants her employees to have a sustainable lifestyle, one that enables sustainable growth in business too. She is now 4 days a week and I would say, it feels central to her success.
You will take away:
How to run a ‘dinner forum’ to gain participation from employees
How to balance as a part-time CEO
The company holiday and blending work and life outside of work
Leading with flexibility
Profit-sharing with employees

Welcome to the 2023 Conscious Leaders Podcast Highlights Episode. If you don’t know me already, I’m your host, Founder of Conscious Leaders, Ruth Farenga.
Quite apparently to us all, 2023 has been a year where all the implications have joined into a perfect storm. A year when we desperately need great leaders to look up to and help us navigate a path. And, leaders have continued to step up - and I have been there to hunt them down and hack into their brains so you can learn from their philosophy and practice.
Personally, 2023 has been the year I have been settling in Stroud near Bristol having moved here a year ago. It is not easy meeting people somewhere new but I am starting to feel a bit more at home having made a few friends, gone to some gigs and moved into a co-working space called Spacehoppers. If you’re in or near Stroud in the UK – come visit – it’s a great home from home as an office space.
Besides the usual coaching programmes for leaders, 2023 has been the year that we released the Next Level Leadership Scorecard – a free tool that accompanies the Next Level leadership book to allows you to benchmark yourself against the top nine traits and behaviours of great people leaders. The ones featured in the book. Go to our consciousleaders.org.uk and register for emails if you want to hear more.
We are also collecting data for a ‘State of Leadership in tech’ report to be released in 2024….so if you’re a senior leader in technology or you know one – help us by asking them to complete. Visit consciousleaders.org.uk for more info.
Right ok, enough of all of that - onto our podcast highlights for 2023!

Melanie has always been an achiever. She rose through the ranks of young innovative companies and then to a big role at Google before arriving at LinkedIn as a Senior Product Director.
Her story is full of highs and lows. When COVID hit she went through her own burnout, realising that her own striving was a way of finding her own safety (having experienced a lack of safety for part of her childhood). Emerging from this low, she was able to get support and rebuild a robust structure for her wellbeing. She shares in detail how she protects her mental health through strong boundaries.
She has been on a journey of living her values which are; ‘live with balance’, ‘lift others up’ and ‘realise my visions’. When asked to present about herself and her strategy at interview for LinkedIn, she led with these values and how they support herself and those around her.
In terms of team support, she is keen that people she works with develop personalised plans around ‘what builds them up, drains them and their ultimate career aspirations’. All with the goal of creating meaning for what they are doing now (as opposed to always wishing you were promoted to the next level).
You will take away:
Generating value and meaning beyond work
Dealing with burnout
Developing individualised plans for both performance and wellbeing with team members
‘Project Castle’ – her vision for a future outside of technology

Tom Hall has had a host of leadership roles in publishing and education and now works as GM at Lego International Education where he is a stand out leader in corporate.
He is a huge advocate of cultivating more presence in his leadership and he explains how he consciously works on that through strong intention, meditation, and exercise.
He is also keen to open himself up to his team and did that quite explicitly through running an offsite at his home comprising downtime, business strategy and time with clients. He finds that intentional face to face time creates much more connections and upfront, constructive work conversations.
You will take away:
Safety and directness through vulnerability
How to build presence in leadership
How to run an offsite at your house
Putting your head above the parapet as a leader

At 24, is wise beyond his years. He has built software development company that places students in organisations – Hatless studios. He is passionate about human psychology (our function and dysfunction), the ‘stories we tell ourselves’ and finding our purpose.
He thinks very deeply about people and how we can more connected at work. He reads widely particularly around philosophy including stoicism and seeks to apply that approach to himself and supporting young people to ‘weave and not drift’ in their lives.
Chris is keen to point out that pain and struggle is integral to being a leader and that holding this kind of difficulty, knowing that it will pass, is key.
You will take away:
Good ‘pain tolerance’ as a leader
His take on how Gen Z can find their way
Power and claiming it (not shirking it)
Shallow vs deep pleasures

Flavilla was raised in the ghetto of Paris – starting in a 2-bed flat with her single parent mum and 4 other siblings, it was a difficult start.
But she evolved through education, self-teaching and commitment a vision of something better moving through careers in events, fashion and into branding and marketing. It became clear to her quite quickly that she wanted to run her own show so her agency, ‘3 colours rule’ was born.
Her energy is infectious so you cannot help leaving this episode with a new spring in your step and an optimism for the future.
You will take away:
Broadening our minds through diversity
Working effectively with Gen Z
Advocacy for black women in tech
Catching difficult stuff early
Cultivating a collaborative culture