How Might We...?

The Innovate Crowd

Supporting purpose-led leaders make a bigger impact Having outcome focused chats with guests from different areas, exploring how might we questions. Discussing the issues and potential ways to overcome them. Supporting leaders in all businesses make a bigger positive impact.

  1. 12/09/2025

    How Might We Build Trust Internationally

    In this episode, we ask a simple question with complex answers: how do you build trust across borders, cultures, and systems? Scott is joined by three voices with lived, global experience. Fahd shares how his teams serve families across Pakistan and the diaspora, and why trust is the real product when support is delivered from afar. Douglas reflects on leading across regions and why celebrating what is right with the world changes how we partner. Geoff brings two decades on global boards, arguing that trust starts with how we listen, engage, and follow through. Together they cover: Culture, context, and why “one message fits all” fails. Media noise, facts, and the human habit of de-humanising “the other.” Practical habits that travel well: clear expectations, empathy, openness, and delivery. Ideas like Ubuntu, and why being there for each other builds credibility over time. The role of data and technology, and why human experience still decides outcomes. If you lead teams, sell across markets, or simply want to work well with people who are not like you, this conversation will help. Listen in for practical ways to earn trust—one interaction at a time.   Geoff Linkedin Profile https://www.linkedin.com/in/geoffsearle/ Douglas Linkedin Profile https://www.linkedin.com/in/douglaslines/ Fahd Linkedin Profile https://www.linkedin.com/in/fahd-khan-406bb835/       Transcript - Generated by AI and may not be 100% accurate    Hello and welcome to the latest edition of How Might We, and this time we're talking about how might we build trust internationally and at the time we are. I think that's a very interesting subject. And with me on this podcast is one of my regular guest, Jeff, another Douglas, who's been on many times and for the first time, and welcome is Fard. Welcome to the podcast gentlemen who would like to introduce themselves first. I think Fard should introduce himself first. Okay, there we go, please, Fard. Alright, so thank you for having me, onto the podcast. my name is Fahard and I'm the CEO of, two companies. One is, Mosen and the other is Moja. Moha is a private 9 1 1 service, or a private 9, 9, 9 service. in third world countries you typically don't have. very efficient systems, that work. So I have to make a private 9, 9 9, solution for the people of Pakistan in and through this company, we've, helped save more than 15,000 lives and, handle more than 55,000 events, globally. The other company is Mosin Mosin, is, very relevant to the topic today because, Mosin is all about helping, expat and overseas Pakistanis look after their families back home and making sure that they're looked after safe, provided for and everything. The typical challenge that we're trying to address is, establishing trust with the people who are sitting outside of Pakistan. They're looking for a service provider who basically look after their families like a surrogate child. So, you can imagine nobody wants to stand in unless they can trust them. So, it's very relevant to the topic today. Okay. Thank you very much and welcome. So, Douglas, do you wanna go next? Thank you, Scott, and it's, wonderful to, to see everybody again and far just amazing, , what you're doing in that region. And looking forward to having a conversation together today. And thank you, Scott, for including me. I said my name is Douglas Lyons. I'm a co-founder and director of IBM Group Limited based in London, and, have been so for a number of years. And Jeff and I are business partners and good friends. As, yourself, Scott and Fahd. So I think this is a collection of amazing people, but amazing friends, with these real trusts. So really looking forward to wonderful conversation from all the perspectives this afternoon. Okay, thank you very much. And last but not least, Jeffrey. Thank you young man.  Geoff Hudson Sill, independent non-executive director for the last 20 years on, global technology companies. senior executive, C-suite executive on both publicly listed and privately listed companies. author of seven books, regular thought leader and also, co-founder and and director with Douglas, as I said on on IBM group and group of companies. Okay. Welcome gentlemen. we're gonna talk today about how, how do we or how might we build trust internationally, which I think with the way that's [going on, especially geopolitically, and trade wise is quite an interesting topic. And, as far as you said, even in business, how do we build trust internationally that, especially the business you are doing with. Looking after people for expats or people abroad, and they're trusting you to deliver services and things from them, from afar, from a distance. I think, I think one of the things that we, we, so trust is a very expansive, very overreaching sort of word, but it is so fundamental in nature. It starts, from almost childbirth, where, where a child is, is, brought into the world and, he grows up in the cradle in the arms of people that he grows up trusting. And, and when you look at children for the first four or five years of their lives, they're very trusting people. And somehow along the way. the world, sort of starts taking that away. It starts chipping away at, at all of those things. And I think one of the major things that we would wanna discuss, today is how do we raise a whole society and then, through that, create,  a system where trust can be established along all lines so that when it, when, when a child or a person finally reaches into the business realm or into, into adult life, their people, who other people can actually trust. Interesting. I'd like the concept you said about as, as a child we basically trust and it's nearly unconditional in the amount we trust our children. or sorry, our children trust, us as parents and we trust our parents or guardians and say the experience that we have erodes that level of trust We have. As, as human beings. Doug, what do you think? I guess it depends also how you are brought up., everyone has a different story in that regard. So trust can be broken at a very young age. Trust can be broken at a teenager level, or even, even at an adult level, right, when you think about it. So you are engaging in different experiences, in your life journey, if you think about that. Yep. Doug, I think when you start talking about this, like to. Talk about things from a different perspective. And, you'll remember the mid nineties in business where, in England particularly you would have the queen's, expert export award for companies that were looking to export their products and services globally and internationally. And it, there were very few companies really doing that very well. I remember working for a company that did it well, continually won this award, but it was an unusual one because it was a case of there in in England there were a lot of companies that were afraid to do international business. was never afraid of that. And always looked to take our products and services, across country, across culture, and across boundary. When it was a very primitive thing to do, you know, we've just won a contract in United States, or we've just won a contract in Africa. We've just won a new contract in Malaysia or Japan or in China. The, in the nineties, that wasn't really happening. And then things started to evolve. I mean, I've worked in 121 countries around the world, successfully in my career to date. enjoyed it. But what was the fascination for me was that I am English and I had the ability to be able to go cross border, cross culture. And what you understand, even at that level in the mid nineties, was you were not going to succeed with that unless you built collaboration, unless you built trust. We are failing on those points. And if you look at, we've talked about this before, Scott, but if you think about what is the process of trust starts with effective listening. Doug and I, you know, we do a lot around empathy mapping. We do a lot around, why you need to have, what creates a curious mind, but more importantly, what is compassion? And then when you start leading compassion, you start bringing into understanding. And then you start moving into communication, which then obviously builds outcome, which builds purpose and trust. Now, if you start looking at what creates the curious mind, you can have as many curious minds as you want, but unless you have the ability to engage, and right now I would say we're at the worst point in the world's history for the ability to engage. Productivity issues have never been so disastrous than what they are today. 8.8 trillion at the last count with a Gallup report, which is about 11% of GDP, which is more than Amazon, apple, and Google's turnover all put together. Houston, do we have a problem? I think we have no old jokes aside, and I know Douglas has got some very strong points that he'd like to add to this, but I do think that if we look at what we were doing in the nineties, and I think it was our famous Winston Churchill. And it was I must add this. walked into, a meeting and, they said, one of the persons said, do we have a conclusion yet on the war? And he said, well, I don't think it's gonna last more than five days. Why do you say that? Well, we've only got five bottles of RA on the side. And that would say to me that Winston wants a conclusion in five days. And I would say right now we need a conclusion. When it comes to war, we've got massive problems. Geopolitically war is not helping trust, it's actually fragmenting our relationships, international relationships, our ability to actually communicate with others because everything is so transactional. And you know, and I know that transactions transactional. Relationships have a very short lifespan when it comes to longevity. Anyway, I've said enough. I wanna open up now, Douglas. Mm, thank you Jeff. I was

    1h 4m
  2. 01/08/2025

    How Might We Align Sports Innovation With Leadership and Trust

    Welcome to How Might We Align Sports Innovation With Leadership and Trust, the podcast that explores bold questions at the intersection of leadership, innovation, and trust. In this episode, we’re diving into a powerful question: How might we align sports innovation with leadership and trust? Joining me are two exceptional guests bringing insight from two very different—but deeply connected—worlds. Dr. Beatrice Constandache is a specialist in sports medicine with a career spanning elite athletics, Olympic-level performance, and cutting-edge research into energy, emotion, and innovation in sport. She is currently a member of the medical committee of the International Association of Ultrarunners and founder of the Luce Innovations Medical Academy. Also with us is Geoff Hudson Searle, an international bestselling author and seasoned executive with over 30 years of experience in design-led innovation and trust-based leadership. Geoff brings deep business insight and a compelling vision for how human intelligence, collaboration, and emotional connection can transform both teams and organisations. Together, we explore what business can learn from elite sport—from team culture, emotional intelligence, and resilience, to the power of energy, empathy, and trust. It’s a wide-ranging conversation that challenges conventional thinking and offers a fresh take on high performance—on and off the field.   Dr. Beatrice Linkedin Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-beatrice-constandache-2650639b/   Geoff Hudson Searle Linkedin Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/geoffsearle/   --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------   Transcript: This is AI generated and may contain errors   [00:00:00] Hello and welcome to the latest edition of How Might We, in this episode is how might we Align sports innovation with Leadership and Trust? And I've got two guests with me today, one of my regular guests, which is Jeff Hudson Cell and a new guest, which is Dr. Beatrice. So welcome both of you to the podcast and would you like to introduce yourselves? Who would like to go first? Thank you so much. Welcome. Thank you so much. My Hi everyone. My name is Dr. Ris Constantia. I am a sports medicine specialist with experience in rugby medicine, athletics, medicine. I've worked with Olympic athletes and now I am currently a member in the medical committee of Ultra Running International Association. And I founded the Loose Innovations Medical Academy currently [00:01:00] supporting the elite athletes and sports medicine to bring up the innovations in in this area. Okay, lovely. Thank you very much. It'll be, and Jeffrey, would you like to Thank you. Thank you, sir. Thank you. Jeff Hudson, sell 30 years plus global international seasoned executive in independent non-executive director for the last 20 years, around two separate businesses in the UK specializing in consultancy growth and design led innovation and trust. I'm an author of seven books, sorry, international bestselling author of seven books and public thought leader and speaker. Okay. We could, we've gotta get the international bestselling, haven't we? We can't. We're just not bestselling. We are in, we're Global. We remember. You remember that was what I was saying to Oak when we spoke last round. Yes, I remember that from Oak. Yeah. Hilarious. Hilarious. I was the only one who was not an author. So the whole list. So Dr. Beatrice, welcome and welcome to the podcast. [00:02:00] Thank you so much for having me. Oh, you're more than welcome. . So from your experience and obviously working through all the sports and bringing sports innovation, how do you think that would transpire into the business world and leadership? I think that throughout the years I've saw the struggles of the athletes at the highest level of sports Yeah. And the medicine level also there . and I would like here to give the microphone, to Jeff so to say overdue there, Jeffrey. Excellent. Thank you, sir. So I've got a couple of school of thoughts on this. Okay. So I have worked with sports professionals around the world. In fact, one of my very good friends was an NBA basketball championship. And he, when he left basketball, he transferred over to the business world and became a very successful c-suite executive in a Fortune 100 company a after his sports career. So [00:03:00] I've had the chance to actually spend quality time with. True professionals from sports. I've also looked at sports coaching. So if I look at sports coaching that really innovated the world my favorite coach of all time is Vince Lombardi. And I, he was the most successful NFL coach in the world. So successful that the rugby world particularly the All Blacks decided in their wisdom that they wanted to improve their percentage. They used the Lombardi methodology and no big surprise there was an 84% percentage win as a direct result of using the methodology and the techniques and the ideas. Good friends of mine have written books on and around the mindset of sports professionals. Why mindset is so important and why innovation is so important. And I think that, we're constantly looking in leadership at the moment about, reinventing [00:04:00] leaders taking the possible to the impossible. We're looking at, we're looking at very clever techniques around design-led innovation. We're looking very carefully at the way people behave in organizations. We've looked at touching on people, productivity, culture, psychological wellbeing. But one thing that sports professionals need to do cont consistently is they need to work as a team. If they don't work as a team, they don't perform. And when you look at the business world, we're constantly looking at dissemination of people in organizations. We're constantly looking at separate businesses that don't communicate with one another. They don't collaborate with one another. They don't speak and communicate in the way that you need to. , There's so many moving parts here, but the question I pose is that, with the clever things that. Dr. Beatrice is doing right now, particularly on and around sports medicines. It's all linked to better [00:05:00] performance. I look at, I don't just look at sports, I look at the military and, if you heard Oakland when he spoke the last time we were on, honor, respect, trust it's a military, but in certain degrees of collaboration, you look at team sports and then you look at the business team. But actually, I'd like to hear more about team sports. I've talked a lot about the business side and what I think the alignment is, but Beatrice has had direct. Experience with this, and love to hear about some of her experiences in working across, looking and how do you prescribe new medicine? What is the research behind this? What's the alignment? I think that'd be fascinating to hear. Jeff, I might, I must say I absolutely agree with your important aspect that you mentioned. In a team, in sports team, it's crucial to have this mindset, but from a empathic side of side of view. [00:06:00] Point of view. Why? Because we are humans. We all have emotions, whether we are women or men. We both have this movement in our body that our emotions are energy in movement and not also we have to be energized on the field, but we need to control our emotions also. And who can do better than that? I think the doctor has the most important role to, to bring this up. And when a pa, when a athlete come, came to me I als al always tried not to see only the medical aspect but also the emotions that he had because a lot of a lot of athletes are dealing with emotions and nobody tells them how to deal with these emotions. That's extremely important. Is emotional intelligence also in sports no one talks about. Yeah. And what you said that someone needs to collaborate, we need [00:07:00] human intelligence. Yes. Human emotional intelligence, that's another level. And that in in elite sports has some has some, not so great points. We need to come there also with resources. And there's a lot of, there's a lot to talk about also the innovations in this aspect as human approach. Not very few times have I seen the actions. Can I question on that? 'cause I think that's a really good conversation about what you bring up about emotional intelligence. As an example. I'm not really sure how it works in a rugby team, but in NFL we, we have the quarterback, I imagine it's in rugby, it's the captain of the team. But you see the captain of the team in rugby or the quarterback in NFL, there, there's gonna be a game plan. Okay? There's a play. They have to make a play if they're not using their emotional intelligence and if they're not communicating, it doesn't matter how risky. That play is that they're going to make [00:08:00] for to try and win the ball and actually go further down the field. Communication has to be vital because two things can happen, failure and lose the ball, or more importantly, have a severe injury which could take out team members as a direct result of taking something on that's too risky. So that empathy, listening, collaboration, exactly has to ab is effectively a, an ethos within the team spirit because they have to be working together and believe in the captain and believe in whatever decision he's making for, on behalf of the team that it's right. And that's that, and that his view here is about winning at all costs. Absolutely. And athletes when they come to compete, they have to forget everything. What they're going through. Their most important thing is winning on the field, and that does an Olympic athlete, Olympic team athlete. So that's what it takes to [00:09:00] be resilient, to have a high motivation and to thrive. Whatever the conditions are the same for everybody, is just, some are winners and some cannot focus en

    59 min
  3. 19/12/2024

    How Might We Impact Leaders Mindset

    Introduction   Welcome to How Might We, the podcast that explores transformative ideas and strategies for leadership. In this episode, we delve into how leaders can cultivate impactful mindsets, featuring two exceptional guests: Geoff Hudson Searle, an international business leader, author, and keynote speaker with extensive global experience, and Oakland McCulloch, a retired Army officer with over 40 years of leadership expertise spanning combat, peacekeeping, and boardroom operations. Together, they bring a wealth of insights into the power of trust, collaboration, and mindset in shaping leadership. From the challenges of modern communication to the erosion of institutional trust, this conversation examines practical ways to build connection, foster community, and lead with purpose in a rapidly changing world. Get ready for an engaging discussion on the privilege of leadership, the importance of curiosity and care, and actionable strategies to create meaningful impact in organisations and beyond. Let’s dive in!   Transcript   Scott: [00:00:00] Hello, welcome back to the latest edition of how might we, and this edition, we're talking about how might we impact leadership mindset and joining me are Jeff Hudson Searle and Oakland McCulloch. I know you've been on some of the other episodes, both of these people have been on before, so it's going to be an interesting discussion. But for those who don't know you gentlemen, if you'd like to introduce yourselves to the audience and who would like to go first. Oakland: Oh, please. I'm glad to be back. Thanks, Scott. And thanks, Jeff, for inviting me to come back. I live here in the United States. I retired from the army after 23 years on active duty. You got over 40 years of leadership experience in combat, peacekeeping operations, disaster relief operations, and in the boardroom. And now I'm just a keynote speaker. I go around and talk about leadership and success. And as we talk about a lot, Jeff, trust. Absolutely. [00:01:00] I'd Geoff: like Oakland: to know Geoff: though, you're an international keynote speaker these days, aren't you? That's right. Right. Just Scott: in front of that. Okay. It lets yourself down. You're not just a keynote speaker. You Geoff: are international. Yes. It's like Scott: a man of wisdom. Right. And Jeff. Geoff: I'm myself. Yeah ex banker city bank head of commercial finance. That's where I started really my career and actually my, my formal education, really anything else 10 years around the world, launching fortune, 100 bands, C suite executive and CEO of both. Public and privately listed companies. International. Sorry, international. Very international. I've worked in over 121 countries in the world. I'm also an independent non executive director and chair of Remco. I've been doing that for the last 17 years. in my independent capacity. I'm currently on the executive board of two companies, one a metaverse company out of Australia, London and also one an AI sustainability [00:02:00] business which is very much based on Europe, UK, and also in MENA. I'm also an author of seven books and this family movie Discussion really highlights is going. I hope we'll highlight some of the important issues around, you know, collaboration, community, partnership and very much, you know, trust and what we do today. Scott: Okay. Welcome gents. So, and you didn't say you're an author as well. Oakland: Yeah. Yeah, I am. I've got one book out. I'm not as good as Jeff, but I got one out. You are? Talks about leadership and you know, and one of the things I always tell people is, You know, I don't mention theory at all in my book or in my talks. I talk about everyday things that everyday leaders can do to help improve their leadership ability and empower the people they have the privilege to lead. And it is a privilege to be the leader. And unfortunately as Jeff and I have talked about several times, it's too many leaders today have [00:03:00] forgotten that it's a privilege to be the leader and you see the results. Scott: Okay, well, you've got one more book than me, so I'm on zero, so you're okay. No books. I keep getting told I should write one, but I haven't got around to it. Okay, so before we came on here, we were talking, I think the word that came out that interested me quite a lot was community, sort of leadership through community and what that means globally. And obviously, We'll be talking about all the elections that are happening in 2024, and they're all settled down now, so during 2024 into 2025, the results of those elections are going to become apparent and the new governments are coming into shape. So how does that sort of pan into what we're talking about, the impacts of leadership and mindset? Yeah. So, I mean, let me kick this off. Oak and I were having lunch recently and we, we did talk about this and I think it's an incredibly important subject. Firstly, it's like, you know, when I start to think about community, I start to think about events that come through the [00:04:00] calendar. Geoff: So we can always talk about Christmas, we can always talk about Thanksgiving, and we start talking about You know what community is. I mean, with that is a set of values, right? You know, if you look at Thanksgiving in the U. S. for instance, you start to talk about gratitude. Well, gratitude shouldn't be reserved just for Thanksgiving. It should be something that's actually provided, given, and shared throughout the whole calendar year. Where we're failing in, in certain areas is our inability to be able to embrace community, embrace collaboration, embrace, embrace ideas, sharing. ideas, sharing, sharing perspectives and, and doing that in a meaningful way. You know, the, the erosion of trust in, you know, is a big subject. And, you know, I've, as you know, I've been studying that now for the best part of 30 years, but what I'm finding with trust, it's just getting worse and worse without actually starting to build it. Even in a small way, we [00:05:00] start to actually build community, which then has got an impact. You know, there are a lot of moving parts when I start talking about this, but you know, community is something that, you know, what Oak said earlier, you know, it's a privilege to lead. Well, to me, it's a privilege and an honor. And also I, I, I feel the same about my friends. I feel still the same about, you know, my close associates. My business associates and and the people that I share with. It's an honor and a privilege to actually work with people with integrity and and we have to start looking. I mean, I don't know what you think about that. But for me, I think we need to get back to that community matters and it matters. It's not a soft subject. But if we can start getting community right, we can start getting societal right, and therefore we can start sharing with one another in the physical 5D and not treat each other, you know, in a transactional way, which I feel that we are [00:06:00] doing an awful lot, where life is too transactional, and it's not about the human experience and community and the good things that can actually come from actually setting precedence over something like a community. Oakland: Yeah, I absolutely agree. I think the part of the problem is that we don't have that conversation. Because we have gotten that we all have something in common you know, whether it's our morality, our values, our culture, whatever it is, but, you know, one of the things I always talk about is that the problem is, is that we concentrate on the things that we have different. instead of the things we have in common. And if you, if you start with what you have different, you're never going to get to what you have in common because arguments, disagreements, whatever. If we start with what we have in common and we work our way out to the things that we have different, then maybe we [00:07:00] can, at least we're never going to get everybody on the exact same sheet of music. That's not going to happen, but you can at least then make compromises based on what you have in common that maybe will benefit. The majority of the people can I ask you a question? Geoff: Can I ask you a question about that? Because I'm really fascinated whether you actually think, you know, fundamentally, it's how we communicate. I mean, we don't have to argue, do we? Because actually, we should be able to talk to one another. Oakland: Well, I think that the key is the definition of argument. If you go back to, you know, the founding fathers of America, they said that we have to have arguments. That that is different than having quarrels, you know, I guess, you know, debate, argument, whatever, however you want to define that community demands that we have those debates and those arguments about the things [00:08:00] that that are going to affect all of us, and we got to do that in a civil way and I don't see that happening. Is Geoff: technology, is technology still that blocker do you think where we're not actually. You know, as I said, we're not in the human experience of being able to communicate, collaborate and be more of the community from a communication point of view. I mean, I, I would say I'm quite a good yeah, I'm, yeah, I'm not a hundred percent, but I would tell I'm, I'm quite a good communicator. You know, I'm, I'm very proactive, but you know, there's a lot of people that don't even return messages. They don't, they don't respond. They believe that, you know, technology is kind of the only way that they want to operate. Send me an email and I'll decide whether I want to respond to that, you know. And Carl Honor he wrote the book In the Praise of Slow. And he's kind of the part of the slow movement. And he's all about, we've got to spend more time with one another. I mean, [00:09:00] you know, people can pass on this e

    54 min
  4. 10/10/2024

    Ho Might We Create Inclusive Leadership

    This episode I have three distinguished guests chatting about inclusivity and leadership. My guests are Mark, Gary and Douglas - see below for more details about them Mark Freed  Mark Freed, a trailblazer in diversity and inclusion, co-founded E2W over two decades ago when he left a successful fintech career to become the type of husband and father that he always wanted to be. Mark grew E2W to become a community with a reach of more than 15,000 women in Financial Services, aiding institutions with best-practice recruitment and retention of diverse talent. Wishing to accelerate change, Men for Inclusion was born, and Mark shares his own lived experience as to why inclusion benefits all men, providing more opportunities and breaking free from outdated stereotypes. Mark's distinctive voice is not just heard within this community. He’s a vocal advocate for workplace inclusivity, and recently provided evidence to the UK Government Treasury Select Committee during their 'Sexism in the City' inquiry, and collaborates on initiatives like the Women in Finance Charter and the Diversity Project. Mark brings a refreshing perspective to the industry, making him an engaging and insightful commentator for journalists seeking a fresh take on diversity, allyship, recruitment, and workplace culture.   Gary Ford Gary Ford worked as a technologist within Financial Services for over 35 years. He was a Managing Director at JPMorgan where he co-founded their male allies programme for Women in Technology. The programme was rolled out to thousands of men globally and was ultimately launched across the whole firm. For the last 10 years Gary has actively promoted gender equality. He’s been the male ally advisor to Women On The Wharf, and was a winner of the WeAreTheCity Rising Star award in the Men for Gender Balance category. In 2020, he co-authored his first book, 'The Accidental Sexist: A Handbook for Men on Workplace Diversity and Inclusion’ (Rethink Press), showcasing his commitment to fostering inclusivity in workplaces. Gary’s not just a co-founder; he's a driving force behind Men for Inclusion, bringing a wealth of experience and a passion for creating transformational culture change. A compelling and knowledgeable industry commentator, Gary provides insights and data that will interest those fostering inclusive workplaces through DEI employee engagement and inclusive leadership.   Douglas Lines Douglas Lines is a digital first leader with a successful track record of growing and transforming businesses as well as innovating and commercialising new digital business models including successfully launching a global EdTech start-up amongst others. Douglas has been enabled by building a design thinking school in collaboration with Duke and Stanford Universities, appreciating the application of new technologies and having mastered business model innovation and cultural transformation practices. A purpose led and values driven senior business leader, executive committee member with substantial global commercial experience, operating principally in financial services. Pedigree business acumen underpinned by successful delivery of large complex transactions & portfolio managed businesses from > £1m to £8bn. Highly articulate communicator, C-Suite negotiator & influencer; comfortable engaging with all stakeholders. Motivated mentor & people leader who removes barriers to delivery & celebrates team successes, empowering personal goal development & cohesive team service delivery.   Mark's LinkedIn Profile - https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-freed-3a496a6/ Gary's LinedIn Profile - https://www.linkedin.com/in/garypford/ Douglas's LinkedIn Profile - https://www.linkedin.com/in/douglaslines/ Men for inclusion website - menforinclusion.com IBEM website - https://ib-em.com/   Transcript   Scott: Hello and welcome to the latest edition of how might we and I've got with me , this week, we've got Douglas, Gary and Mark, and we are going to discussing how might we create inclusive leadership, . And that's not just related to work, but leadership in general and communities, ourselves, our families and with us. So welcome, gentlemen. How are we all today? Mark: Great. Scott: All good. Doing Mark: good, doing good. Scott: I'll give you a hint. We're audio. So nodding doesn't help. We are on audio. So the people need to listen to us, but there we go. Okay. So welcome gentlemen. So if we'd like to go in around Robin, just a quick introduction about yourselves. And then we will start the discussion. So as we've had a quick chat, we'll do it in the same order as before. So Gary, would you like to go first? Yeah, thanks, Scott. Gary Ford [00:01:00] former technologist within the financial services industry previously a managing director at JPMorgan Chase author of a book, The Accidental Sexist, and the co founder of Men for Inclusion with Mark. Okay. Thank you very much. And a nice segue into you, Mark, if you want to introduce yourself, please. Mark: Hi. Yeah. Mark Freed. So joint founder of Ment for Inclusion with Gary. A long career in financial technology and Turned to become a passionate supporter of gender equality 25 years ago when I left Credit Suisse to set up a firm called E2W which has been at the forefront of promoting gender equality in financial services for the last 25 years. Scott: Thank you. Welcome. And Douglas again, welcome back. Douglas: Thank you, Scott. Always great to be back with you. And my name is Douglas Lyons. I am a financial services executive of 25 years experience having been at the helm of a large corporate bank and commercial bank. And [00:02:00] absolutely a people leader. I think over that span of that career, I have witnessed and learned a tremendous amount from, from all the teams I've been privileged to work with and the leaders I've been privileged to work with. I am an international thought leader on a number of areas, an author of a book on innovation. I'm a subject matter expert in business model innovation. But I'm equally a thought leader around executive leadership and the skills and capabilities of executive leadership into the future. And again, that very important topic that you mentioned of both inclusion and trust. I am a founder of RBEM Group Limited based in London, and I currently reside in London. Scott: Okay. Welcome back, Douglas. I'm sure we'll have another interesting and fruitful discussion. So, Gary, the title of your book, Accidental Sexist. Tell us a little bit about it. Gary: Yeah, sure. I mean so I guess that my kind of, you know, starting point for this [00:03:00] is whilst I was at JPMorgan, I started getting involved in kind of gender equality and diversity inclusion initiatives by being asked to sponsor women in technology, which was a gender group that JP Morgan set up to attract and retain more women in technology, a sector that traditionally struggles with gender and arguably still does. And so I certainly found myself in a room with about 50 women. I was often the only man, a deeply uncomfortable experience, if I'm honest. And we were trying to explore why it was that women didn't want to work in tech. So I began to hear kind of additional barriers that women were facing, which up until that point had been completely invisible to me. And I thought of myself as a decent leader. I was a managing director there. I had around 250 or 300 people working for me. I thought I knew how to do it yet. There was things happening that I was frankly not seeing. So and I thought if I'm not seeing it, I'm sure there's plenty of other men that, you know, equally blind to some of these additional challenges.[00:04:00] So we set up a male allies program alongside a guy called Stephen Koch. So when I left JP Morgan, I kind of thought this male allies idea could be interesting to other, other people. So. The Accidental Sexist was born out of that. I met a woman called Dr. Jill Armstrong, who was our third collaborator in the book, and I think, Douglas, you may have had the same experience. Like the, the writing a book, you know, as a, you know, as, as a group is a really, really rewarding experience. So and Jill brought a lot of academic research to that book. She, she'd done a three year research program onto gender equality, diversity, inclusion at Cambridge University. So the book's about kind of three things. The first is this fact that women face additional barriers in the workplace. And actually women of color face, face them even more. Which echoed, you know, the, the female experience when I was at J. P. Morgan. But Generally speaking, the fact is that most of these barriers are kind of quite unintentional, right? Most, [00:05:00] most managers, leaders in the workplace go into work. In fact, most colleagues in the workplace go into work most days and they want to do the right thing. But because we are brought up to think in very deeply gendered ways, these, these, these mistakes often get in the way. And it's not unlike unconscious bias. We just think accidental sexism is a better reframing because We can learn from mistakes, right? And we can, you know, we can look to improve and, you know, when we make them, which even now Mark and I often call each other out when we make these mistakes, because you, you, you just do, you have to kind of recognize that if the intention is good, then we, we need to help people learn from them. So that's the first part is really just identifying the fact that there's extra barriers. The second thing is about what Steven and I learned from trying to roll out a male allies program. There weren't a lot of. Kind of, you know obvious references at the time. And then the final half of it is like, you know, how all the kind of things we picked up from running that [00:06:00] program, but about the things, the practical things you can do, which actually

    54 min
  5. 18/07/2023

    How Might We Focus In Leadership

    My guests this episode are Geoff Hudson Searle, Douglas Lines and Oakland McCulloch. During the podcast we discuss focus in leadership, trust, psychological safety amongst other topics.   Corporate leaders today are measured by a new yardstick. The supreme test of a CEO and board of directors is now the value they create not just for shareholders, but for all stakeholders. The shift to stakeholder capitalism creates pressure for corporate leaders to try to satisfy a wide range of constituencies with different, sometimes conflicting interests and perspectives. Earning their trust is key to navigating this tricky terrain. Research shows that trust is the key to success. Yet growing distrust, cynicism and misinformation are eroding confidence in corporate impact and Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) claims. To prosper in the age of stakeholder capitalism, companies must actively cultivate the trust of employees, investors, customers, regulators and corporate partners: developing strategies to understand these stakeholders more intimately, implementing deliberate trust-building actions, tracking their efforts over time, and communicating openly and effectively with key stakeholder groups. We have entered the trust era: a time where (mis)information is omnipresent, individual perceptions reign supreme, and digital security and data privacy are constantly threatened. Now more than ever, stakeholders expect organizations to do the right things and do them well. These expectations range from entrusting an organization to safeguard one’s private data to requiring a company to have a strong stance on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues. Trust also drives performance. When stakeholders trust an organization, their behaviors will reflect that trust can affect more traditional key performance indicators that directly affect financial performance. Trust elevates customer and brand loyalty, which can lead to revenue. It enhances levels of workforce engagement, which can result in increased productivity and retention. And the data confirms it. Trustworthy companies outperform nontrustworthy companies by 2.5 times, and 88% of customers who highly trust a brand will buy again from that brand. Furthermore, employees’ Trust in their leaders improves job performance, job satisfaction, and commitment to the organization and its mission. Despite the data, however, many leaders and organizations still view trust as an abstract concept. Trust should be managed proactively because, when trust is prioritized and acted upon, it can become a competitive advantage. An organization that positions trust as a strategic priority—managing, measuring, investing in, and acting upon it can ultimately build a critical asset. No heroic leader can resolve the complex challenges we face today. To address the important issues of our time we need a fundamental change of perspective. We need to start questioning many of our taken-for-granted assumptions about our business and social environments.     Leaders serve as role models for their followers and demonstrate the behavioral boundaries set within an organization. The appropriate and desired behavior is enhanced through the culture and socialization process of the newcomers. Employees learn about values from watching leaders in action. The more the leader “walks the talk”, by translating internalized values into action, the higher level of trust and respect he generates from followers. To help bridge the trust gap we recognise that organizations need to work with each other and with wider society to identify practicable, actionable steps that businesses can take to shape a new relationship with wider society: a new ‘settlement’ based on mutual understanding and a shared recognition of the positive role that business plays in people’s lives. To create such a settlement, businesses need to see themselves as part of a diverse, interconnected, and interdependent ecosystem – one that involves government, regulators, individual citizens, and more. Trust within and across this ecosystem is key to its long-term sustainability and survival. That’s why trust needs to be restored to the heart of the business world.

    1h 8m
  6. 28/10/2022

    How Might We Guide Our Mind for Success

    My guest is Adelaide Goodeve. Adelaide is an elite performance coach, who, within 10 years, went from nearly bedridden to Ironman athlete and go-to performance coach for some of the world’s best companies, leaders, teams and athletes. In this episode Adelaide talks about her journey and how brain training helped her, and how it helps people change mindsets to become elite performers. Adelaide's linkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adelaide-goodeve/ Adelaides's website: https://www.adelaidegoodeve.com/ ----more---- Transcript Scott: [00:00:00] Hello and welcome to the latest edition of How Might We, and we're gonna do something slightly different today. So what we're gonna do is we're gonna have a conversation and based on where we go with the conversation is how we going to. So we are going to name this show at the end of the recording. So my guest on this episode, it's Adelaide Goodeve. So Adelaide, welcome. Adelaide: Thank you so much for having me. I'm excited to be here. Scott: You're welcome. So we'd like to introduce yourself to the audience. Yes. Adelaide: My name is Adelaide and I'm an elite performance coach. I teach people how to reprogram their brains to tech the, to take their mindset to the next level and achieve their desired results, whether it's increased performance or enhanced happiness. Scott: Okay. So, Helping people think differently is, is and sort of reprogramming that, that aspect of the brain. So do you wanna talk me through that a little bit, what that means? [00:01:00] Adelaide: Yes. So our brain is plastic. So they used to think our brain was hardwired like an electric circuit. So once those pathways were laid down, they didn't think that they could change. So you're kind of stuck with the results you got, whether they were great or not so great, but they now know that it's actually very far from the truth and the brain is plastic. You wanna think about your brain like a muscle. The more you train one neuro pathway, the stronger and better and faster it is at its job, the less you train another neuro pathway. The weaker and weaker it becomes and the slur it is at its job. So if you're at the gym and you just worked out one arm, that one arm is gonna get super strong and then that other arm is gonna look like a noodle in comparison. And this is a bit like how your brain works. Cause if you were to train your left arm and it would, so it could catch up with your right arm. And this is how the brain works, is, is always strengthening the neuro pathways that you use the most, not necessarily the ones which get you the results you want, but it's saying, [00:02:00] okay, they're using, for example, energy and. In the morning the most. So this is the pathways that are gonna make really strong. We're gonna bring them closer together and it's gonna become easier for them to activate those feelings when thinking about the morning. And so it'll enhance those ones. But if we think of the morning and we're thinking dread the most, then it's going to strengthen and bring close together the neuro pathways for the morning and dread. So when we think about the morning, we're like, Ugh, my gosh, I have to get up so early. And we're kind of already in that. State, It's a bit like sheep in the field. You have this chief sheep and every single day he takes his team to the same patch of grass. And over time that pathway is eroded and it's more and more visible. It's deeper, and it's stronger in that ground. You can see it from space cause the grass is just not there anymore. And that path is very deep. It's a dirt path deep in the ground. Cause they're traveling it every single. But then one day that chief sheet kind of looks across the field and he goes, Wow, the grass of [00:03:00] there is so much greener. Like, I bet my sheep could thrive if I took them to that area. So in that moment, in less than a split second, he change, He changes the path that they follow, and now that new neuro pathway or that new pathway in the field, Is now becoming the stronger one. They're walking it more and more often, they're using it the most. That now becomes eroded away and you can see that pathway from space. The old pathway that they used to use is now taken back by nature and you can barely see it and it's very difficult to follow. And this is how the brain changes growth and develops as a result of how we use it and how we use it is determined by our language. Scott: Okay, so there's a phrase, I can't remember if it's when I coined or had a conversation with or read somewhere. It says, language guides the mind. Adelaide: Yes, a hundred percent. So the words we use are the architecture and structure, or by reality. Scott: Yes. Yeah. Cuz what we say is, and our brain can't tell the difference between [00:04:00] reality and I what we think either kind of, so we can be thinking about something in the future, but it hasn't happened. But our brain. We'll react as if we are in that situation. Exactly. Adelaide: So it can't tell the difference between what's real and what's imaginary and it can be play to our advantage. Mm-hmm. , we can accelerate using specific tools at that neuroplasticity. So if we can get results, which may take years in very. Well, I'm very in minutes sometimes actually. So for me, I had severe chronic fatigue syndrome, was how I became an elite performance coach. So I had severe chronic, oh, can't talk this morning, severe chronic fatigue syndrome for four years, and I learned how to. Fully recover by training my brain and I achieve that in three days and fully recovered. So the brain can get extraordinary results in very quick time by harnessing the power of neuroplasticity and the language you use so you can get the results you want. May have taken years or maybe results you never would've attained. Dawn told me to have it for the rest of my life. But you can use the [00:05:00] brain to get physical and the mental results you want. Scott: So mind over matter. Yes. Mind over matter. Mind over matter. Okay. So it's interesting to say about performance and happiness cuz in, I can't remember that. Sean, I think is his first name and I've and he's got a great Ted talk about happiness. Mm-hmm. , it says quite often we, we put happiness as the result of something where really happiness is the driver to give us results. Adelaide: Mm. Scott: I love that because we normally say, When I get this I'll be happy. But in reality you come up constantly chasing something. Whereas if you are happy. That is the secret source of success. A Adelaide: hundred percent. I always tell my clients they, Cause also, I feel sometimes, and in our culture as well, like to achieve something, you've almost gotta do it in this like very miserable way. And so what I tell my clients is, how can you achieve this result but in a more enjoyable way? In a way that you're actually happy and it changes the way we do things in a dramatic way just by asking that very simple [00:06:00] question. So I absolutely, as Ted tore, it sounds like when I should. Scott: I think it's Sean Arch and I think it is. I will find it and let you have it. I'll put it in the link of the thing cause it is, That'd be great talk. Cause it again, a bit like you, he talks about just I think there's four or five questions you ask self every day and within 21 days you look at life more positively and has been proven that, that sort of asking yourself those questions, which goes back to you about the mind Yep. And the language asking yourself, because you were hardwired to answer question. So Adelaide: you are, and it's a great way to train your brain actually. So in the morning I always get my clients to a morning routine and the brain, our kind of default is to look for the negative. And when we're constantly looking for the negative, it highlights it to you. Cause it's like, oh, she like, they want to see the negative. Well that's great. , I'll make it easier for them. And so it'll start to kind of take very small, maybe unhelpful things that happen throughout your day and make them into Mount Everest. But by asking yourself specific [00:07:00] questions, like Sean's saying, in this Ted toll, by the end of the bit, you are able to retrain your brain to to highlight you the positive stuff that's happen. In your life, the stuff that makes you happy and that makes those kind of mole hills into your Mount Everest, which is what you want. You wanna be able to see the positive stuff going on in your life and our society. With social media, with the news, it's constantly training your brain to look the stuff that makes you. Fearful or anxious or down. And by asking specific questions, especially in the morning, which is the perfect time to wire your brain, you want to really ensure that you are looking for the great stuff that's going on in your life, the stuff that's helping you achieve and create and cultivate the life that you really want to live. Scott: Okay, so that's, Yeah, cuz what we, what we notice, what we think about is what we notice. So like if you are thinking about buying a car and you think, Oh, quite fancy. I know say an Audi, whatever it is, or a a a mini, all of a sudden you notice minis. Just why? Just cuz I'm thinking about them. I [00:08:00] see them everywhere is cuz your brain says that's what you're interested in. So that's what I'm going to show. Adelaide: Yeah, exactly. No, it was a really funny thing. So this was about 10, maybe 10 years ago, and me and a friend were walking down a very quaint high street in London, and I was single, I was around in my early twenties, so I was single looking, you know, looking for the hot guy. Whereas my friend, she was in her mid thirties and desperately wanted a family. So walking down this high street in London, And she goes to me, she's like, Adelaide, there are so many yu

    56 min
  7. 14/10/2022

    How Might We Learn From History To Make Better Decsions

    In this Episode my guest is Brad Borkan. Brad has a great interest in how people and businesses build resilience. In this episode Brad shares his thoughts on how lessons from leaders of the past can help us make better decisions today. Brad's first book was the award-winning book: WHEN YOUR LIFE DEPENDS ON IT: Extreme Decision Making Lessons from the Antarctic. This book puts the reader right into the action of the life-and-death decisions made by early explorers. In it, we reveal unparalleled lessons in leadership, teamwork, and the sheer determination that can help all of us make better decisions in life. It won 1st Place in the Chanticleer International Book Awards for Insightful Non-fiction. Brad's second book, AUDACIOUS GOALS, REMARKABLE RESULTS: How an Explorer, an Engineer and a Statesman Shaped our Modern World, focuses on six epic achievements made by three extraordinary people, one of whom is Theodore Roosevelt and another is the great Victorian-era engineer, Isambard Kingdom Brunel. The book explains the mindset they each developed to make monumental impacts in their fields.   Transcript Scott: [00:00:00] Hello and welcome to the latest edition of How Mike We, And on this episode, I'm pleased to welcome Brad Balkin and we are gonna be talking about how might we learn from history, make better decisions. So, Brad, welcome. Would you like to introduce yourself Brad: please? Hi, Scott. Great to be here. Thanks for having me on your show. I'm Brad Borkin, as you said, and I've written two books that have to deal with history in terms of looking at great explorers and great people in history and great endeavors that were occurred in history and ask what can we learn from this? Focusing on the decision making side of these people and these endeavors. Scott: And I think, I mean, I like decisions cuz I think we've mentioned before when we're off air is decisions are basically the precursor to every action we. Brad: Yes, they're at the heart of, of everything. And one of the things when it came to the early [00:01:00] Antarctic explorers was there's lots of books written about them as people, about the expeditions, like what they ate and how, where they traveled and the challenges they faced. But actually up until the, the book that my coauthor and I wrote, no one ever looked at the decisions. And we looked at the life and death decisions, which were actually the most exciting ones because they all, they all came near death all the time, but they actually very rarely ever died. Scott: Well, I can't, I suppose dying only happens once, so Yeah, that's it. Brad: That's that's true. But, but they, but they came, they came, they faced all sorts of commodities and, and challenges and, and you know, these, these, you know, everything from frostbite, curvy to, to flowing, harasses and, and all sorts of things and that, but somehow they, they were sort of at one level sort of indestructible. Yeah. Scott: I think the interesting thing is, as I say, you make a, you make a decision. I think we've talked about this as well before, is, and basically you're trying to predict the future with a decision. Cause when [00:02:00] we don't know the outcome, until we actually make that decision and enact it. Brad: That's right. Yeah. And, and, and actually a good, good point is, is I retired from my main job in 2021 in, in July, 2021, which coincide with to launch my second book. And inflation was 2% and the stock market was slowly growing and the world was at peace. And a year later, you know, it seemed like a sane. Normal rational decision. Inflations at 10%, the stock market is down 25%, and the war, you know, at least Ukraine and, and Russia at war. And it's, it's just a complete un perhaps not predictable, but it's, it's the, the outcome of a decision that you, you don't know until you look back many years later on. What's that? A good decision or a bad decision? Scott: Well see, I, my view on decisions is I think the decision, we make decisions, and usually it's one of the, with the. Capabilities we have at that time, whatever they may be with the best [00:03:00]intentions for the outcome that we want this, that that's there. So I would say a decision either has the desire, Or unexpected outcomes. Brad: Yes. And I think one of the things that's exciting about life and about looking, whether you're looking at explorers or you're looking at, at his great people in history, is that you can't, no one could predict the future. And even for them, like, just like we can't predict the weather that well, we really can't predict what the outcome is. Whether you're heading to the South Pole and you're running outta food and you're trying to decide what do we do next? Or you're trying to build a Panama Canal and you're dealing with workforces, dying of yellow fever and, and all sorts of other engineering challenges and building the Panama Pinella. It's like you just, you, you make. Best decision you can. But one of the things we learned, my co-author and I figured out in looking at these great decisions and great people, was that it's not about making the best decision, it's [00:04:00] about having the resiliency to recover from a bad decision. Scott: Okay. And I suppose that's, especially when you're talking about the, the extremes in which they were doing the Panama Canal and the and the explorers is they are extreme. And I imagine that a decision has an impact and you can see that quite quickly. And then you have to say, make a recovery decision or a Brad: another one. Right. But that's true in modern life as well. I mean, in a sense like we all have to make the, we all make decisions about jobs and houses and cars and all the things that we do in our, in our day to day lives, relationships, all sorts of things. And you can strive to make the perfect decision by, I've got a friend who tr want to buy a car, and he spent years, several years analyzing, looking at websites, trying to find the perfect car. as opposed to just going, buying a car and being like, Oh, if it's not the one for me, I'll just sell it and buy another one. It's you can't it. We have so many tools at our disposal to make perfect decisions, or we think we can make perfect decisions that we're actually [00:05:00] better off making a decision and it might be the right one. As time will tell, or it may be not a good one, but there are many different ways to recover from, from a not good decision, Scott: I suppose, making. Well, the other thing I'll say is not, deciding not to do anything is a decision in itself. Brad: That's right. That's right. Yeah. And, and there's some famous quote from Teddy Roosevelt about something like, you know, the something to the effect of the best thing is to make a decision, and the worst thing you could do is just not make a decision. It's, it's that to make. The, It's better to even make the wrong decision than to make no decision. Cause at least then you're taking action that you're not being Scott: on the path, aren't you? Something's happening. You've got momentum, right? Brad: And if you're on that path and it's wrong, As happened with Panama Canal, you can start making, making the right decision. So what? Yeah, the interesting thing with the Panama Canal was that the question was do you build a sea level canal? Basically you build a big trench and let the Atlantic Ocean of Pacific Oceans fill it. Or do [00:06:00] you build a, a canal with locks as the p Panama Canal exist today? And they started out with this idea, well, you just build a big trench and. Dig across Panama and across all the swamps and the jungles and the rain forest and you big build this big trench. And, and it, and the problem was, it was the wrong decision. You just couldn't, they, the. The soil of the clay, the, the very wet, dense material earth that's there, that kept the more they dug, the more they had landslides. I was just destroying the work they were doing. And they had, And what they found was that, So let's go back on the original decision and say that was the wrong decision. We try to the wrong decision, now we've gotta go to build locks. And they end up building 12 locks, each lock being like a thousand feet long and you know, three times bigger than any lock ever built in the world. And they built 12 of them in 19, you know, in the years between 1910 and 19 four. . [00:07:00] So it's looking at a decision and saying, Okay, now we've got, make the wrong decision. Now it's gonna cost a whole ton of effort and money to to, to correct it, but we will correct it, and they were successful. Scott: So in your view of all these, the, the people that you've done, they've all not been afraid to make decisions and actually enact on something and then say, Oh, that's not quite worked out properly. And then made have say, the resilience then to make corrective. Brad: Exactly, exactly. You saw that, we saw this in Antarctica a lot. Mm-hmm. that there's a wonderful decision that Shackleton had to make. He was, so this is his first expedition that he led in Antarctica, and it's lesser known than the expedition where the ship got sunk. Ice and got crushed in the ice and, and sunk and, and called the endurance expedition. And this was called the Nero Expedition. And he and four men as part of this expedition left base [00:08:00] camp, and they were treking to the South Pole and they got to roughly from the coastline to the South Pole was about. 800, 850 miles. They got to within 103 miles of South Pole and realized they were running out of food and they were either, they had this choice, which is they had choice of either we go forward. And we probably dial all the way back. Almost certainly we'll die because we don't have any food together. Sch back and we don't have any, There's no communication methods. There's nothing that they can call back th

    56 min

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Supporting purpose-led leaders make a bigger impact Having outcome focused chats with guests from different areas, exploring how might we questions. Discussing the issues and potential ways to overcome them. Supporting leaders in all businesses make a bigger positive impact.