The Leadership Tales Podcast with Colin Hunter

Andrew Prior is a consultant, mentor and systemic team coach who supports and accompanies leaders and teams in transforming themselves and their organizations. He has worked for Motorola and other high tech companies for over 15 years in various different leadership roles. Today he is creating an international community that learns and practises horizontal leadership to generate meaningful and sustainable development for people, organizations and society.In today’s episode you’ll learn about various leadership styles, vulnerability as strength, and how to work in today’s VUCA world.Links mentioned:Team Alchemy

Kristoffer Carter is the CEO and founder of Epic Leadership, a training organization for conscious leadership, which has created a daily meditation practice for thousands. He is the author of the new book Permission to Glow— A Spiritual Guide to Epic Leadership, which guides his coaching of Fortune 100 executive leaders at Amazon, AT&T, eXp Realty, Edward Jones, and many more.In today’s episode you’ll gain insights into how a daily meditation practice can increase your productivity and ability to think creatively.Links mentioned:ThisEpicLife.com

Tammy Heermaan began her career in the research field twenty years ago when she wrote a paper for her masters which focused on the then current state of workplace relations and conditions for women in the workplace. The study honed in on four different nations; England, America, Germany and Japan. Now, twenty years on, Tammy has revisited the topic in her new book ‘Reframe Your Story’ to see what, if anything, has changed for women in the workplace. In today’s episode, you’ll gain insight into how vulnerable conversation around equity and inclusion can increase retention and attraction in your teams.Links mentioned:TammyHeermann.comReframe Your Story

Today’s guest is someone you will have come across if you work in the sector of coaching or leadership. Karen Wright is a highly experienced executive coach and author of two books. She started her career in the FMCG industry and she founded her coaching company, Parachute Executive Coaching, more than 25 years ago. Karen has very clear and concise opinions when it comes to coaching. In this episode, we discuss coaching certifications, what makes a good coach, different types of coaching, and the concept of the accidental alpha, a phrase that Karen coined when she went through a period in life when she had suddenly become the main financial provider for her family.Links mentioned:International Coaching Federation‘The Advice Trap’ by Michael Bungay Stanier‘Manifesto for a Moral Revolution’ by Jacqueline Novogratz‘How to Begin’ by Michael Bungay Stanier‘Permission to Glow’ by Kristoffer Carter‘The Complete Executive’ by Karen WrightMichael Port’s company, Heroic Public Speaking‘The Accidental Alpha Woman’ by Karen WrightKaren’s company, Parachute Executive CoachingKaren Wright on LinkedIn

Ela Ben-Ur is founder of Innovators Compass, a design thinking tool which enables people to tap into their natural abilities and improve their business and family lives. Ela worked 13 prior years at renowned innovation firm IDEO where she led and coached teams, facilitated for clients, and co-founded IDEO’s Leadership Studio for developing project leaders. In today’s episode, you’ll learn how embracing person-centered thinking can increase your impact as a leader. Links mentioned:innovatorscompass.org

Sara Milne Rowe is one of the UK’s leading Performance Coaches, working with CEOs, senior leaders and teams, often in high challenge situations so they can stay strong, keep learning and deliver their best. Sara founded her award-winning company, Coaching Impact, in 2008 and works with a variety of organizations Including Creative & Media, Financial, Pharmaceutical, Legal and Education.In today’s episode Sara shares her insights on leadership and how using the ‘SHED Method’ (Sleep, Hydration, Exercise, Diet) as a foundation can influence one’s impact as a leader.Links mentioned:Coaching ImpactCoaching Impact LinkedInBetter Under Pressure Podcast

Judy Ditchfield is an actor and corporate roleplay specialist. As an individual intent on working as an actor for the first 18 years of her career, Judy Ditchfield has spent the last 20 years in the corporate world and is loving it. Starting off as a business roleplay actor and facilitator, Judy started to see the power of performance and how the entertainment world paralleled the business environment; both require strong communication skills, hard work, discipline, listening skills and feedback.These facets of work have all become powerful tools on her mission to create space for people to thrive. In today’s episode we gain insights into the striking benefits of workplace roleplay, empathy in leading, and how the pandemic has affected mental health.Links mentioned:Roleplay Website

Peter Lederer is the chairman of The Edinburgh Military Tattoo. He has also been chairman of Gleneagles, one of Scotland’s leading high-end hotels and host of the G8 summit in 2005, as well as being involved in the early years of The Four Seasons hotel chain in Canada. Peter shares his struggles with dyslexia, and how he learnt to embrace hands-on learning in the hotel trade.In today’s episode you’ll learn what it’s like to run a luxury hotel and how these standards can inform your own leadership style.Links mentioned:Peter Lederer on LinkedIn

Henry is an Invited Agitator & Chief Peacemaker to the C-suite. As CEO for Dynamic Results and an Amazon Top-10 author and global speaker, he’s delivered over 12,000 hours of Executive Coaching in the C-Suite and 3000 hours of Change Management/Strategic Implementation services. A five-time CEO with one failure under his belt, Henry smashes myths about high-performance leadership.Listen in to gain insight into encouraging innovation, how emotional intelligence can improve your teams, and the pros and cons of remote working.Links mentioned:[email protected] [email protected]

Brian Beckcom is one of the United States’ leading trial lawyers. For over 20 years Brian has taken pride in helping victims of injustice and unfortunate circumstances to live the life they deserve to live. He is also a philosopher, computer scientist, philanthropist, and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu practitioner.Listen to today’s conversation to gain insight into how working and leading from a place of compassion can positively affect your people and your bottom line. Links mentioned:Lessons From Leaders YouTubeBrianBeckcom.orgVBAttorneys.comInstagramTwitterFacebookLinkedIn

Today’s guest is Bill Treasurer. Bill is the founder of Giant Leap Consulting, a courage-building company, and the author of the international bestseller, Courage Goes to Work. Bill’s courage-building workshops have been taught to thousands of executives in twelve countries on five continents. For over two decades, Bill has worked with leaders from such renowned organizations as NASA, Saks Fifth Avenue, The Home Depot, UBS Bank, Spanx, Lenovo, and eBay. Listen to this podcast to learn how to keep developing as a leader, embrace risks in business, and navigate the new world of hybrid work.Links mentioned:www.BillTreasurer.comGiant Leap ConsultingCourage Building  

Today’s guest is Dr. Stephen Drawford. Stephen is a coach, speaker, and consultant, on a mission to help business leaders unlock their full potential.  He began his career in the non-profit world, but quickly realized that he could have a greater impact on the  community by helping for-profit companies to discover their mission and desired impact and align them to  achieve success by clarifying their message and their focus.For the last twenty years Dr. Crawford has been instrumental in developing and training thousands of leaders  seeking to improve their leadership skills. As a motivational speaker and trainer, he has delivered inspiring  messages to businesses, conferences, Universities, and workshops to thousands of audiences all over the  nation and in 13 countries.In today’s podcast you’ll learn how to bring about positive social change in your business, maximize profits for your teams and start giving yourself permission to succeed.Links mentioned:The Experience Leadership PodcastExperienceLeadership.com 

Zack Hudson is a leader that has a heart for developing others. He is the founder of Passing the Baton Leadership Resources where his written content and podcast are picked up in 162 countries on a weekly basis. Zack also leads the talent management, leadership development, and career pathing functions for Kindred at Home’s 45,000 associates, the largest in-home health care company in the US, which was recently acquired by Humana.   Striving for and modeling a healthy work-life balance, Zack enjoys life’s adventures. He has skydived, survived a running of the bulls, chest bumped a whale shark, and is an ultra-marathon runner among other things. Zack and his family live in Atlanta, GA.  Listen in to gain insight into time management, embracing hybrid workflow, and reaching your full potential as a leader. Links mentioned:Passing The Baton Leadership PodcastZackHudson.com Zack Hudson LinkedIn

Maureen Finn is a globally savvy transformational leader with a passion for activating talent – particularly leadership talent at Takeda Pharmaceuticals. She excels at partnering with the business to create an actionable people development strategy aligned with business goals. Maureen resides in a Boston suburb, is an avid Red Sox fan and spends time in the summer on Cape Cod.Listen in to understand how creating a value system can benefit the teams you manage, and how to develop an authentic leadership style.Links mentioned:Potential Squared

Doug Shapiro and Deborah Tranelli join Colin for a conversation on roleplay in the corporate environment.As a versatile actor and career coach throughout the United States for over 25 years, Doug is an expert at creating multiple realistic characters for a corporate environment.  As a business role player for Potential Squared, he takes great pride in being a vehicle for our clients’ growth in realistic role-plays and recent clients include Accenture, Akamai, Takeda, NYSE and HSBC.  Deborah Tranelli is an award winning actor, singer, recording and voiceover artist based in the US. In 2014 she added Business Role Player for Potential Squared to her CV and has participated in over 100 sessions to date. She considers it a great privilege to be part of creating supportive and challenging learning environments for clients with P2's talented coaches, facilitators and her fellow BRPs. Listen in to learn the benefits of role playing job roles and how it can help to create effective teams.Links mentioned:Potential SquaredDougShapiro.comDeborah Tranelli

Today’s guest is an experienced Senior Managing Director with a proven track record of managing large scale BPO Operations, Transformation and Technology projects. Andy Clark has extensive experience of managing Global Operations complex projects together with all aspects of financial performance. He is passionate for talent and leadership development programs and has thrived by building successful teams.In today’s podcast you’ll gain insights into engaging with your teams in a meaningful way, embracing innovation and creating uniform success across multiple operations and cultures.Links mentioned:Andy Clark’s LinkedIn

Today’s guest is a seasoned talent development specialist. Lauren Rollins has spent her entire career in the Learning and Development space. She has a passion for helping individuals and leaders continue to grow and evolve, becoming more effective in their roles as they apply new models/methods and try new and more innovative ways of working.In today’s episode, Lauren discusses balancing work and family, getting your team on board with new ideas and initiatives, and the parallels between teaching children and developing adults. Listen to this conversation to learn about making fundamental changes in your career, developing self-confidence, and bringing about real change in your teams.Links mentioned:Lauren Rollins’ LinkedInAkamai Technologies

Linguist and lover of language, Robert Wylie is a self-proclaimed Interior Designer manqué with an aesthetic allergy to Draylon, professional Critical Reader who never grasped the Rules of Capitalisation, Poet, Occupational Psychologist and inveterate Collector of Beautiful Oddities. Robert worked closely with me as the editor for ‘Be More Wrong’, and his amazing creative flair is truly inspiring. Join our conversation as we discuss his process for writing poetry, dealing with his Parkinson’s diagnosis, and finding inspiration – and the art in his house. Whether you want to write a book or simply find your true voice, there is something for everyone in this conversation. Links mentioned‘Think Like a Rocket Scientist’ by Ozan VarolRobert’s Instagram

How can we best challenge our ideas? Today’s guest, Andrew Webster, shares how Design Thinking has been instrumental in his growth as a leader. As ExperiencePoint’s Vice-President of Transformation, Andy is the leading catalyst for innovation — lending expertise, drive and imagination to ExperiencePoint’s many clients as he helps them champion their transformative journeys. The world-leading innovation capability-building company helps organizations build the skills and conditions for innovation to thrive and become self-sustained.I had a great time speaking with Andrew and learning about how to think like a scientist, being aware of your biases, test-to-learn approaches and how ExperiencePoint’s Design Thinking has helped deliver social good through their projects.  Links mentionedJames Clear‘Think Like a Rocket Scientist’ by Ozan VarolExperiencePoint

Today’s guest has over twenty years of experience as an executive coach, leadership consultant, trainer, team builder and business consultant. Winnie da Silva has been a solopreneur for the last 16 years, working with hundreds of leaders at all levels from the C-Suite to newly established leaders in over a dozen industries in Fortune 500 companies to start-ups. Winnie also hosts the podcast, ‘Transformative Leadership Conversations’ where leaders share their stories of overcoming challenges and how they persevere through adversity.Listen to this conversation to learn how to take on multiple roles as a coach and consultant, practice emotional intelligence, and how Winnie learned to make a real difference with her work by taking on new challenges.Links mentioned:Transformative Leadership PodcastWinniedaSilva.com

Today’s guest is the author of ‘Clarity: Clear Mind, Better Performance, Bigger Results’. Jamie Smart is an internationally renowned writer, speaker, coach and consultant who shows individuals and organisations the unexpected keys to clarity; the ultimate leverage point for creating more time, better decisions and more meaningful results. In addition to working with a handful of coaching clients and leading selected corporate programmes, Jamie runs professional development workshops for business leaders, trainers, coaches and consultants.Listen to this conversation to learn how to develop a sense of clarity, how to lean into your intuition, and how we can all cultivate our innate creative talents. Links mentioned:JamieSmart.comJamie Smart LinkedInClarity: Clear Mind, Better Performance, Bigger ResultsThe Little Book Of ClarityThe Little Book Of Results

Dan Pontefract is a leadership strategist, keynote speaker, best-selling author and he founded the Pontefract Group in 2014. The four books he authored, Lead.Care.Win., Open To Think, The Purpose Effect, and Flat Army are all critically acclaimed and best-sellers, which we explore on the show. I loved learning more about Dan’s leadership philosophy and the insights from his books and talks. In this episode we talk about servant leadership, how to be an off-the-grid leader, having empathy and his love for Black Licorice Medallions.Links mentioned‘Lead.Care.Win.’ by Dan Pontefract ‘Open To Think’ by Dan Pontefract ‘The Purpose Effect’ by Dan Pontefract‘Flat Army’ by Dan PontefractThe Tragically HipDan’s Website

Tracey Harrison is a business leader, a strategic change consultant and a passionate advocate of social inclusion and mobility. She has lived and worked in Manila, Paris and Texas, she describes herself as restless, a person who enjoys the novelty of the new, but thrives on bringing a degree of order to chaos. She enjoys working with businesses and individuals who share a similar purpose and whose passion for inclusion is heartfelt and action-driven.In this episode, I chat with Tracey about her passion for inclusion, building resilience and confidence for the next generation, getting out of reactive mode, asking for help – and what we can learn from Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.

Today’s guest is a perfect example of a team builder. Caustan De Riggs is a business coach who believes in the value of partnerships. He is an experienced enterprise relationship leader with a focus on helping organizations build new capabilities at scale. Caustan is the founder of ‘Comedians On Zoom’, a digital leadership support network based on improv comedy. Born out of the pandemic, ‘Comedians On Zoom’ utilizes the humor of comedians to foster communication and morale among teams.Listen to this insightful conversation to find out how Caustan has worked closely with Fortune 500 organizations in Financial Services, Life Sciences, and Consumer Packaged Goods. His expertise is in scaling impact, developing teams, and building customer-centered partnerships. Links mentioned:Comedians On Zoom YouTubeComedians On Zoom Instagram

Today’s guest is testament to the power of being a jack of all trades. Trond Undheim is a futurist, podcaster, investor, author, speaker, entrepreneur and former director of MIT Startup Exchange, based outside of Boston. He has helped launch over 50 startups. Trond hosts the podcasts Futurized, thought leadership on our emerging future, and Augmented, the industry 4.0 podcast.Listen to this conversation to find out more about being a jack of all trades, immersive learning, what we can learn from history, the power of conversations – and what he has learned after one year of podcasting.   Links mentioned:Colin Hunter’s interview on Futurized‘The Black Swan’ by Nassim Nicholas Taleb‘The Undoing Project’ by Michael LewisYegiiWhat the Net Can't Do by Trond Undheim ‘Disruption Games’ by Trond Undheim‘Future Tech’ by Trond Undheim‘Pandemic Aftermath’ by Trond Undheim

For someone that is conflict-avoidant, today’s guest Liane Davey has devised some powerful systems we can all use to help facilitate productive conflict at work. Liane is a New York Times Bestselling author of three books, including The Good Fight: Use Productive Conflict to Get Your Team. She is a regular contributor to the Harvard Business Review and has a Ph.D. in Organizational Psychology. She is also the co-founder of 3COze Inc., where she advises on strategy and executive team effectiveness at companies such as Amazon, Walmart, and Google. In this fascinating conversation, we dive into the power of constructive language, turning a weakness into a strategic advantage, embracing productive tensions – and why she is often referred to as the Water Cooler Psychologist.Links mentioned‘The Leadership Gap’ by Lolly Daskal‘You First’ by Liane Davey‘The Good Fight’ by Liane Davey‘Atomic Habits’ by James Clear‘Be More Pirate’ by Sam Conniff AllendeOn a Terrible Team? Maybe You’re Making It Worse by Liane Davey – HBRLianeDavey.comLiane’s LinkedIn

​​Today we’re joined by Andy Sleigh, the CEO of ClearScore, one of the fastest growing fintech businesses in the UK. He previously led Skyscanner’s Asian expansion, having started his career in strategy consulting at Accenture. A sports and travel addict, he has been lucky enough to live and work around the world, including in Beijing, Singapore, Edinburgh, and London. Tune in to this conversation as we explore his time working in asia, his huge learning curve and development when he joined Skyscanner, ‘waking up’ moments, lessons learnt from being a consultant, and why so many people seek recognition – when they should focus on being themselves.

In this trailer, I share the “why” behind The Leadership Tales Podcast and give you a taste of what you can expect to gain from the series. Enjoy!