The Longest Day Podcast Broadstairs Consulting

This week, Anne-Marie Imafidon is Leah’s guest on The Longest Day. She is a keynote speaker, presenter, and co-founder of Stemettes, the enterprise inspiring the next generation of women into STEM roles. 

As a leader, Anne-Marie is all things to all people: she will never ask someone to do something she wouldn’t or couldn’t do herself. One of the advantages of this approach is that trust, authenticity, and inspiration empower her colleagues to step up in their roles. Another is that it gives her, as a leader, gravitas because of the value she brings to the different spaces she’s in. 

Anne-Marie consciously does not have yes people around her, finding that her closest allies are her most critical ones. The reason for this is that she knows she’s human and not perfect. So having critical friends and reading the negative comments as well as the positive ones give her perspective. 

She reflects on how everyone has a sphere of influence. But she asks questions about what that means, what power looks like, the nature of the system and how it works, and what are the levers needed to bring change. As a leader she builds, measures, and learns. As a role model, she exercises her agency in the room and leaves things better than she found them.

In this week’s podcast, Leah welcomes Professor Lucy Easthope, the UK’s leading authority on recovering from disaster. During the COVID pandemic she advised the Prime Minister’s Office, governmental departments, and charities. She is author of When the Dust Settles: Stories of Love, Loss, and Hope from an Expert in Disaster. Her longest day was waiting for the invasion of Iraq while she was based at the mortuary. It was March 2003 and something old died in her but something new was born. There was a plan for the deceased soldiers, those bringing them back, the bringing of the coffins, a plan for their bereaved families, and the viewing of their loved ones. Her longest day resulted in making use of the plan that was needed from the outset. For Lucy, there is great power in working on the principle that we are the help others need. On her paternal side, given their strong Methodist faith, she grew up with believing that everyone was her neighbour. Many of the female matriarchs in her family were teachers and they always provided help. It is, therefore, unsurprising that at the age of 10, Lucy realised that emergency planning was going to be her speciality. Her advice to young people is to “get a good sense of you early on.” We need to come alongside the young and help them express what they are not and what they are. After all, who we are in our souls is vital.

Professor Fiona Ross CBE’s longest day was the day when an accounts misconduct by a senior member of staff transpired. Because she believed that a person’s exit from an organisation is important, she safeguarded the person’s dignity, confidentiality, and boundaries even if it meant that some thought she was to blame. Fiona took it well with equanimity as a leader. Since she was seen as “somebody who saw things through,” relationships were strengthened. As a leader, she values having people around her who are ready to challenge her. If she could have her time again, she would like to bring in more nurses around the policy making table.

This week’s episode’s guest is Zoiey Smale, senior inclusion, diversity, sport consultant and internationally acclaimed activist. Sport was Zoiey’s first love. She believes in what it can bring to the world. But her dilemma as a young woman in medical school at University of Oxford was whether to drop out and work in sport as a coach or carry on living a lie and not become her authentic self. The turning point was when she experienced at the training hospital the loss of a very sick patient under her and her team’s care. She tremblingly told her mother on the phone that she could not carry on becoming the doctor their family dreamed of and that she was going to work in sport instead. Coaching, for Zoiey, means getting the best from others and helping them become their best selves. She learnt this from coaching herself, channelling her inner fire, and stepping out of her comfort zone. This is critical at a time when there is an unacceptably low representation of Black women working in sports leadership making important decisions. Zoiey’s mindset is “if I can’t see it, I want to be it"! 

Leah talks to Alex Rieder on this week’s podcast. Alex is a retired, professional rugby player who played for Wasps. He works as an Account Manager for the IT company, Computer Centre. On Alex’s longest day he sustained a shocking and severely dislocated knee injury during a game. Thanks to the other team’s A&E specialist doctor, they were able to set his knee back in place on the pitch which saved his knee. Alex stoically quotes the film character, Rocky Balboa, it’s “not how many times you get hit but how many times you get hit and keep moving”! Alex was forced, however, to retire after multiple operations. Losing his rugby career at that stage was tough because he felt that it was short-lived as there was more to be achieved in the game. But he found that he had true resilience while overcoming the disappointment. With his support network of friends and family which make him laugh in challenging times, Alex exemplifies his own advice of growing from adversity, not letting it overwhelm you, focusing on the important things, and placing life into perspective.

Leah speaks to Dr Charlie Easmon MBBS MRCP MSc Public Health DTM&H DOccMed DFPH CTH FRSPH, an experienced doctor, entrepreneur and professional speaker, about his longest day while running a private business specialising in health screening and travel vaccinations for corporate and government clients. He talks about the importance of mentorship, the temptation to grow too fast and the challenges of delegation and getting culture right within the organisation. Charlie refers to being the only black kid at boarding school as well as how racism persisting in the NHS propelled him in his studies for a master’s in public health, a diploma in tropical medicine, and to become a member of the Royal College of Physicians.
Charlie speaks in schools on everything from mental health to the history of prejudice to pornography. In the episode, he highlights the prevalence of imposter syndrome, its origin and potential causes, and challenges young people to find senior folk longer in the tooth to support them in the difficult areas and advise them on how to deal with the many obstacles they will face.