The Human Revolutionaries Show - HR, Leadership, Well-Being and Culture stories in the news

Blaire Palmer
  • 5.0 (1)
  • MANAGEMENT
  • UPDATED WEEKLY

Fresh thinking about work, leadership, culture and well-being with authors and industry expert, Blaire Palmer. Don't you sometimes wish you had the opportunity to sit with leaders in the HR world and just pick their brain? What's the new thinking in their area of expertise? How are they solving problems that you're facing in your business? What do they think you should be thinking about?In this show Blaire Palmer draws on more than 20 years of her own experience as a leadership and organisational culture authority and speaks to other experts in the field about their work, the solutions they are finding to today's challenges and their advice for all of us in the field of People and potential. Don't forget to subscribe so you don't miss the latest news and conversation!

  1. 11/14/2025

    Being yourself, with Jo Rzymowska MBE

    Welcome back to the HR show!  In this final episode of this short season exploring the link between health and leadership and I spoke to Jo Rzymowska, MBE. Jo is an Inspirational Leader & Speaker, an Executive Advisor and a NED for Hays Travel. A travel industry expert she has worked with Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, Universal Studios, Thomas Cook and Royal Caribbean Cruises, culminating as Celebrity Cruises’ Vice President and Managing Director, EMEA. In this interview we discuss holistic health and wellbeing - how being true to ourselves impacts our health.  We discuss -  - Her early days growing up as "an outsider"  - How we (our generation) colluded with the prevailing culture - wanting to get on, perpetuating behaviour we now realise was unacceptable - Whether there is a place for DEI policies and development today - How she came out and began being truly herself at work - How to navigate being inclusive and the fear of saying ‘the wrong thing’. - What it was like getting recognised with an MBE - What makes someone a brilliant ally - How to be more true to yourself If you are interested in diversity, leadership styles or want her to speak at your event, moderate your event or advise your business, you can find her on LinkedIn  Her book will be out in Spring 2026 - follow her so you can grab that when it is published! If you want to discuss having me speak at your upcoming event please contact my manager, Diana Stoney diana@behindthemic.co.uk   To find out more about my work with leaders and helping organisations through change, visit https://www.thatpeoplething.com/ And I'm on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/blairepalmer/ I hope you enjoyed the show. Please feel free to share it with anyone you think might find it valuable!

    54 min

  2. 11/07/2025

    Stepping back, with Kathy Sharkey

    In this season of the show, diving into the importance of health and wellbeing as an integral part of leadership.  Work is killing us. Sure, fewer people die on construction sites or factories but it is killing us nonetheless...just much more slowly.  Kathy Sharkey and I have worked together since her days as an HRD - first when she was a delegate on one of our programmes and later as a colleague running leadership programmes together.   She is now working as a consultant and spending more time at leisure. And it’s since she slowed down professionally that she’s discovered what work was doing to her health.  In this conversation we discuss - How poor health when you’re a leader is normalised. The challenge of joining in with ‘team fitness’ activities when you don’t want your colleagues to see you look sweaty or wearing a swim suit.The concept of forced jollity!The Worth It metricWhy she decided to step back from her high level career as right hand person to the CEORethinking how your later career might have to look different to the way it looks nowHow orgs need to think about the health of their workforceHow a health scare woke her up to her physical health and the results she’s seeing since she made some big changesYou can connect with Kathy on LinkedIn You can connect with me on LinkedIn too My website is https://www.thatpeoplething.com/ And to book me to speak at your event, contact my manager - Diana Stoney - diana@behindthemic.co.uk

    54 min

  3. 10/31/2025

    How sport and leadership overlap...and how they don't! With Mark Francis

    Welcome back to the show.  In this season of the Human Revolutionaries Show, I'm specifically diving into the importance of health and wellbeing as an integral part of leadership. Today's guest is Mark Francis, from Uspire Group. New Grandad Mark dedicates his spare time to working with leaders to help them step-change their businesses. He's a mental coach in individual and team sports and splits his time between Switzerland, California and the English South Coast. I particularly wanted to talk to him because of the links between sport and leadership...and also to understand which lessons don't translate to the corporate world.  We discuss -  How we can see leadership in you even if you don’t!The split between dictatorial, personality based leadership versus collaborative enabling leadershipWhat leaders work on in order to growFixed mindsetLessons from working with sportspeople (and what we shouldn’t take from professional sportspeople) The difference between sports teams and many commercial teamsOur own recent journey to better healthThe post-lunch lullHow our physical wellbeing impacts our performanceFinding meaning in asking questions versus having answers And much more.  To find out more about Uspire visit their website You can also connect with Mark on LinkedIn For me, LinkedIn is the best option https://www.linkedin.com/in/blairepalmer/ or drop me a line on blaire@thatpeoplething.com to discuss booking me for your next event or helping you with upgrading the quality of leadership in your organisation, particularly during times of change.  Our website is www.thatpeoplething.com And my agent is Diana Stoney diana@behindthemic.co.uk

    1h 8m

  4. 10/24/2025

    Lessons from Illness, with Jeannette Linfoot

    This week I'm talking to Jeannette Linfoot. She is a highly experienced corporate CEO turned Entrepreneur with over 30 years of global expertise. She is a mentor and provides individuals and boards with strategic advice, backed by her 'Brave, Bold, Brilliant' ethos, to help them foster high-performance and drive tangible results. She’s also deeply committed to diversity and inclusion, and champions initiatives like Balance the Board and Everywoman in Travel. She is the host of the 'Brave, Bold, Brilliant' podcast, reaching audiences in 120+ countries and is an energising and inspirational leader.  I wanted to talk to her about her recent brush with illness and what it taught her about her long term health and what really matters in her life.  We discuss:  How her health scare had a disproportionate effect on her approach to her healthThe vital importance of a team and building relationshipsWhat being unwell revealed about herself, others and what matters in lifeBeing imperfectly perfect versus trying to be perfect all the time...and much more.  You can find Jeannette on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeannettelinfoot/ Her website is https://www.jeannettelinfootassociates.com/ Her YouTube Channel is https://www.youtube.com/@braveboldbrilliant Her podcast is called Brave, Bold, Brilliant https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/brave-bold-brilliant/id1524278970  If you want to discuss having me speak at your upcoming event please contact my manager, Diana Stoney diana@behindthemic.co.uk   To find out more about my work with leaders and helping organisations through change, visit https://www.thatpeoplething.com/ And I'm on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/blairepalmer/

    54 min

  5. 10/17/2025

    Our broken system, with Arina Cadariu

    In this episode, which continues a season of shows focused on our health and wellbeing as leaders, I am talking to Dr. Arina Cadariu.  Arina is a physician, educator, and public health expert with more than 30 years of experience spanning academic medicine, high-acuity inpatient care, public health leadership, and translational systems work. She founded Health In Context as a space for scientific integrity, narrative precision, and biologically grounded education, outside the noise of clinical commodification, consumer trends, and flattening metrics.    After defecting from communist Romania in her early twenties, she rebuilt a life and career through medical education in Germany, postgraduate training at Yale, and years of leadership in teaching hospitals and health institutions across the U.S. and Europe.   She holds a Master of Public Health in Chronic Disease Epidemiology from Yale and an MD from the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg.    She spent more than two decades teaching at Yale as an Assistant Clinical Professor, mentoring medical students and residents in clinical reasoning, decision-making under uncertainty, and whole-person care.  However, as you’ll hear in this interview, she became increasingly disillusioned both by the conventional approach to healthcare and by the claims being made by many self-professed health experts online.  In this conversation we talk about her journey for clues about why she feels as she does about our approach to health and our healthcare systems. She shares the shocking insight that her most successful VIP patients - founders, execs, leaders - have the worst health She talks about the importance of ‘agency’ and to what we should expect from the society we live in She explains which clients do particularly well to break their habits around their health We discuss the consequences of double or triple tasking And how we can use health data badly…or well Arina's website is https://health-in-context.org/ Her LinkedIn is here If you want to discuss having me speak at your upcoming event please contact my manager, Diana Stoney diana@behindthemic.co.uk   To find out more about my work with leaders and helping organisations through change, visit https://www.thatpeoplething.com/ And I'm on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/blairepalmer/

    1h 25m

  6. 10/10/2025

    Talking physical fitness with my Personal Trainer, Lee Brooks

    Welcome back to Season 3 of the Human Revolutionaries show! In this show I explore the future of work, leadership, organisational change and wellbeing, sharing my own ideas based on 25 years of experience as a coach, confidante to leaders, consultant and keynote speaker.  I'm also talking to experts in their field to challenge my own views and some of the myths that feed unhealthy and unhelpful strategies and assumptions in business.  This season I really wanted to focus on health, in the broadest sense starting with the basics of phsycal health.  My guest is Lee Brooks, a personal trainer and online coach with over 20 years of experience helping people transform not just how they look, but how they live and how they feel. He specialises in working with women who’ve tried everything — or think they have — and are completely worn out by the cycle of yo-yo dieting. Through his coaching programme, Body Solutions, and his signature approach, The Body Reset Method, Lee helps women reclaim their energy, confidence, strength, and long-term health — and finally lose weight in a way that actually lasts. There are no extreme diets. No obsessive routines. Just real, sustainable change that fits real life. His approach is smart, straight-talking, and genuinely life-changing — because it’s built for real people who are ready for more.  He's my trainer and I have found the impact on my life is transformational. In this episode we talk about -  How he got started...because he didn't like his body  How we rationalise our current situation…even if it’s making us unhappy  The difference between body fat loss and weight loss Protein and tracking macros What’s wrong with dieting and what reverse dieting is Why Lee encourages people to lift weights Sleep and recovery And becoming the future version of you.  You can contact Lee on instagram @leebrooksofficial and @callmebrooksy to find out more about his programme.  For me, LinkedIn is the best option https://www.linkedin.com/in/blairepalmer/ or drop me a line on blaire@thatpeoplething.com to discuss booking me for your next event or helping you with upgrading the quality of leadership in your organisation, particularly during times of change.  Our website is www.thatpeoplething.com And my agent is Diana Stoney diana@behindthemic.co.uk

    1h 22m
  7. Hima Vaghani: Tapping the power of diversity!

    07/13/2022

    Hima Vaghani: Tapping the power of diversity!

    Hi and welcome to the last show of Season 2 of The Human Revolutionaries Show! I'm taking a break over the summer and lining up some amazing new interviews for Season 3. But we're going out with a bang. Hima Vaghani is a thought leader and expert in leadership and DEI. She has had an international career spanning almost 30 years predominantly focused on advising organisations around the world on how they can create the conditions for their people to thrive and perform to the best of their abilities. Hima runs her own consultancy firm providing leadership and DEI consulting services and has a recently co-founded The Careers Company which helps individuals and organisations engage in careers conversations. Her specialist topic is inclusive leadership and cultures and how we need to go beyond the tactical initiatives around DEI to really tap in to the business benefits of diversity. Sometimes we lose sight of why we are trying to encourage diversity in organisations. We make it about the numbers...but in this conversation, Hima and I talk about how to get diversity that supports innovation and business success. We cover - * The diversity lens on the Great Resignation * The various life stages of women (and men) and whether companies are adapting to more than just the child-bearing years * Choosing between the professional career you WANT versus the career you feel OBLIGED to pursue. * Unconscious bias training * Hima's decision to 'go it alone' with her own business after corporate life * Her inheritance lessons! You can connect with Hima on LinkedIn And you can connect with me of course! If you haven't yet listened to the other shows in this series of the podcast, please feel free to go back through the archive! There are some amazing discussions and some really practical ideas for you to take away.  If you'd like to recommend a guest for Season 3, please drop me a line blaire@thatpeoplething.com  And do tell your colleagues and friends about the show too!

    42 min
  8. Laura Overton: Rethinking our thinking in HR

    07/06/2022

    Laura Overton: Rethinking our thinking in HR

    Hello and welcome back! This week's podcast guest is Laura Overton. Laura and I have both been judges for the HR Zone Culture Pioneers programme for a few years now and got to know each other a bit better earlier in the year when we both worked on the awards show which was broadcast live rather than happening in person due to the pandemic.  I really wanted to get her on the show because she always brings fresh ideas whenever we talk. Being judges means we get to see how we view the same story differently. Our scores are often very different! But the conversation that follows is always thought provoking and the final result represents a breath of opinions.  Laura Overton is an author, facilitator and award winning learning analyst dedicated to uncovering and sharing effective practices in learning innovation that lead to business value. She is known for leading a 15-year global research programme to uncover and share learning strategies that lead to business success.  In the last decade, Laura was the first woman to be awarded the Learning and Performance Institute’s prestigious Colin Corder Award for services to training and was the recipient of the inaugural elearning age Special Achievement award at the Learning Technology awards.  More recently Laura established #Learningchangemakers and is a co-founder of Emerging Stronger - a global initiative to support the changing world of workplace learning. On the show we discuss -  How HR professionals think about their valueMeasuring the impact of our workHow to have a more curious mindsetWhy HR needs to test ideas and approaches on ourselves before expecting others to jump on boardWellbeing and mindfulness for HR peopleYou can connect with Laura on LinkedIn. Here's the link to the Thinking Habits ebook https://www.go1.com/en-au/resource/5-new-thinking-habits-for-a-smarter-stronger-ld  Emerging Stronger for more resources https://emergentmasterclass.com/resources/  Learning Changemakers newsletter https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/learningchangemakers-6768177569251520512/ My piece on pay rises and the cost of living And of course you can also connect with me on LinkedIn! Please tell everyone you know about the show!

    45 min
See All (28)

About

Fresh thinking about work, leadership, culture and well-being with authors and industry expert, Blaire Palmer. Don't you sometimes wish you had the opportunity to sit with leaders in the HR world and just pick their brain? What's the new thinking in their area of expertise? How are they solving problems that you're facing in your business? What do they think you should be thinking about?In this show Blaire Palmer draws on more than 20 years of her own experience as a leadership and organisational culture authority and speaks to other experts in the field about their work, the solutions they are finding to today's challenges and their advice for all of us in the field of People and potential. Don't forget to subscribe so you don't miss the latest news and conversation!

Information