SARDism‪s‬ SARD JV

Have you ever experienced a blank moment? Most people have.

This week we're joined by Giles Paley-Phillips, award-winning author and co-host of the Blank Podcast where he and Jim Daly speak to well-known people who share their personal moments of ‘blankness’ from writer's block, social anxiety, frustration and beyond. In this episode, Kevin Monk and Mariah Young chat with Giles about gratitude, compassion and how we're all human and can experience similar anxieties regardless of status or fame.


After spending a significant time touring the UK’s music scene, Giles Paley-Phillips found a passion as an author when his first son was born. He's written several children's books and, upon having his own bout of writer's block, decided to start a podcast with his friend Jim Daly covering these exact kinds of moments with celebrities and well-known people. Crossing over the 100th episode mark, Giles and Jim have spoken to many influential people and they have used their podcast experiences to write a new book ‘Blank’ due out in April 2021.

The NHS Tech Vision created by Matt Hancock is beautiful, but needs help ensuring its execution. So, how can SARD and other invested individuals make sure this happens?

Joe McDonald joins us on this episode of SARDisms to discuss his reignited hope that the vision can be brought to fruition. There’s a lot to think about in this episode, with Joe sharing the Professor Margunn Aanestad video that changed his life, several great book recommendations and a little nod to Simon Sinek’s leadership advice on becoming the ‘dancing man’.

Joe is the recently retired CCIO of Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust with 30 years of experience in child psychiatry. He has quite the digital legacy, having helped create the Great North Care Record which sets the bar for sharing health records in the UK. Joe might have been hoping for a quiet life but a serendipitous conversation on his first day of retirement has led to him joining forces with SARD to deliver an execution plan to deliver the NHS Tech Vision.

How will flexible working impact the future of businesses?

On this episode, we speak with Emma Stewart MBE, Co-Founder and Development Director at Timewise UK, a flexible working consultancy. She has contributed to numerous government task-forces, reports and initiatives, focusing on how to encourage more people who need to work flexibly into the workplace, shape the labour markets of the future and raise family living standards. Prior to co-founding Timewise and Women Like Us, Emma worked in a range of development roles across the private, civic society and social enterprise sectors and within documentary television.

Along with Kevin Monk and Mariah Young, Emma discusses what flexible working means and how businesses can really benefit from providing this type of supportive environment. Having two-way flexibility can not only enhance performance, but creates a partnership between employee and the company. This episode is pack full of excellent advice for not only businesses, but for employees to not be afraid to have these discussions with their employer.

'Be proud of our amazing NHS; be proud of our great nation. Together we can build a great nation and the most wonderful NHS. We all need the safest and the best NHS; together we can build a safe and best NHS. That is my 2021 New Year's wish.' - Dr Umesh Prabhu

In this episode, Kevin Monk and Mariah Young speak with Dr Umesh Prabhu about the challenges he's faced and what he's learned along the way.

As a former Medical Director, Dr Prabhu has seen many changes in the NHS over the years. He's worked diligently to make sure that safety of all patients remains paramount regardless of who, what, where or when. Dr Prabhu has a clear mission and has no problem challenging others to ensure the welfare of all of those who benefit from the NHS retains top priority.

The SARD family are lucky enough to have their very own trivia king, Christy Hinchliffe. We’ve been graced with his wonder to produce excellent pub-type quizzes that have proven to really get those brain juices flowing.

We didn’t want to keep Christy’s skill a secret, so we asked him to create a Christmas quiz where we could invite quiz enthusiasts to join us and compete! It was so well received, we’ve turned this into a SARDisms episode and the rest is history. We had so much fun and hope that you do too. This is bound to become a SARD tradition for future episodes.

Test your knowledge and let us know your score on Twitter @SARDJV and use #SARDQuizmas.

“Everything is interesting when you’re curious.”

Rory joins us for an informative chat covering a full gamut of topics. From the woes of procurement, to High Speed 2 scepticism, to the impact that ergodicity plays in our everyday lives, Rory and Kevin Monk have a lot to discuss in this rollercoaster of an episode. Grab your pen ready for the inevitable ‘mind quakes’ to come.

Rory Sutherland is the Vice-Chairman of Ogilvy Group UK and writes The Spectator’s Wiki Man column. He is also a best-selling author of ‘Alchemy: The Surprising Power of Ideas That Don't Make Sense’. Rory is widely known for his unique perspectives and brings a wealth of knowledge to the world of behavioural science.