Shows
Leading 4 Life "Stories"E93 - Guests: Amy Lane, Artistic Director of Copenhagen Opera Festival and a Freelance Opera & Musical Theatre DirectorI'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text MessageMy guest this week is Amy Lane, the Artistic Director of Copenhagen Opera Festival and a Freelance Opera & Musical Theatre Director. Amy and I met by pure chance whilst sat next to each other on a flight from Copenhagen to London. We had a fantastic conversation and I knew immediately that she would be a perfect guest for the podcast.We talk extensively about opera and the great work that Amy is doing to make the art form more accessible to th...2025-05-111h 39Leading 4 Life "Stories"E92 - Personal Stories: Afghanistan - Part 5 - The Longest Day!I'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text MessageWithout a shadow of a doubt, losing people that work for you, and who die in the pursuit of the work you preside over, is the toughest thing for any leader to deal with. Whilst many commanders on operations have had a great many more casualties to deal with than me, the memory of the loss of the two airmen from 3 Squadron, Royal Air Force Regiment during my time in Afghanistan will stay with me for ever.This is an episode t...2025-05-0428 minLeading 4 Life "Stories"E91 - Themes: Mentoring & CoachingI'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text MessageHaving been mentored myself, and having mentored a great many others over the years both formally and informally, I have always been conscious of the value of mentoring. When I received some executive coaching and subsequently added coaching qualifications to my own repertoire a few years ago, I became equally conscious that the two disciplines are often muddled and confused by many.In this thematic episode, I aim to provide some guidance both to those looking for coaching and mentoring and t...2025-04-2733 minLeading 4 Life "Stories"E90 - Personal Stories: ReflectionsI'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text MessageThis episode is best viewed on video (link below). It was filmed in an outside environment using an Apple iPhone 16 Pro and Apple AirPods Pro. As a result the audio quality is a rather variable as the camera shots change. Apologies for this; I'm sure this limitation is due to my amateurish skills rather than the equipment's capabilities!I haven't done a video episode of the podcast for quite a while and so I thought this would be a good opportunity to...2025-04-2011 minLeading 4 Life "Stories"E89 - Guests: Onyinye Udokporo, Founder of Enrich Learning and Author of "Dyslexia & Me"I'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text MessageMy guest this week is Onyinye Udokporo, a 26 year old entrepreneur who has already achieved more than many do across their lifetime. A genuine force of nature, Onyinye started her first business, Enrich Learning, when she was just 12 years old, and has continued to build that company into a highly successful and still growing entity that is making a real difference to young people who need additional educational support.Onyinye is the author of "Dyslexia & Me", an excellent handbook that not o...2025-04-131h 23Leading 4 Life "Stories"E88 - Personal Stories: Afghanistan - Part 4 - Visits, Visits & More Visits!I'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text MessageOne of the dominant features of my time in Afghanistan was the volume of senior visits to Kandahar Airfield. This was mostly positive aspect in that in provided a great opportunity for senior visitors to see at first hand the outstanding work that the thousands of personnel on the base were doing on a daily basis. However, it did throw up some challenges and, in this short episode, I try to highlight some of those as well as emphasising th...2025-04-0624 minLeading 4 Life "Stories"E87 - Guests: Russell Wardrop, CEO & Co-Founder of KWC GlobalI'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text MessageMy guest this week is the incredibly charismatic and engaging Russell Wardrop. Russell is the Co-Founder and CEO of the training and development company KWC Global, formally known as Kissing with Confidence, which celebrates its 25th anniversary this year.I am privileged to work with KWC Global as an associate and first met Russell when I was a participant in one of his courses whilst I was working at Deloitte. Without doubt, the company has a very special and highly memorable tr...2025-03-302h 06Leading 4 Life "Stories"E86 - Themes: Flexibility!I'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text MessageSome events in my life this week caused me to have to be pretty flexible as I prepared to get this week's episode released, and so I thought that a thematic episode, focused on "flexibility" would be a logical output from those events.Flexibility is, without doubt in my view, one of the key traits of a good leader. There are many reasons you will need it, and many ways you can demonstrate it. My aim this week is to provide a...2025-03-2319 minLeading 4 Life "Stories"E85 - Personal Stories: Afghanistan - Part 3 - Out on Patrol!I'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text MessageOne of the most interesting aspects of my tour in Afghanistan was the opportunity to get outside the base perimeter and patrol with the Royal Air Force Regiment. This wasn't just gratuitous on my part. I believe passionately that leading by example is crucial as a commander and I needed to put some "skin in the game" alongside those that I was asking to take very significant risks. I also needed to conduct key leader engagement with local tribal elders and so...2025-03-1638 minLeading 4 Life "Stories"E84 - Guests: Howard Burton, former RAF pilot and British Airways Senior Training CaptainI'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text MessageMy guest this week is my friend and former RAF colleague, Howard Burton. Howard and I served together on the Jaguar Force way back in the 1980s and then our paths diverged significantly. After a very successful career as an operational front-line pilot, Qualified Weapons Instructor, and instructor pilot on the Jaguar Conversion Unit, Howard left the RAF to join British Airways where he subsequently spent some 37 years before retiring late in 2024. Within BA, Howard flew a multitude of different aircraft typ...2025-03-092h 00Leading 4 Life "Stories"E83 - Personal Stories: Afghanistan - Part 2 - Herding the Cats!I'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text MessageI continue the account of my time as Commander Kandahar Airfield in this week's episode, and I focus on the challenge that I faced with cohering a wide range of national contingents of vastly different sizes and with often very different agendas and priorities. Given my responsibility for all the life support aspects of the base, principally logistics, force protection and any infrastructure that was not single-nation specific, this was a crucial role to ensure the safety and security of all o...2025-03-0231 minLeading 4 Life "Stories"E82 - Themes: Is Your Glass Half Full or Half Empty?I'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text MessageAs you will hear when you listen to this episode, a couple of recent events have led me to dive into the topic of optimism versus pessimism this week. My intent is to get you to do a bit of self-reflection and consider whether you are a glass half full or a glass half empty type of person.Neither is right or wrong, but it is important to understand where you are on the optimism / pessimism scale both for you own w...2025-02-2326 minLeading 4 Life "Stories"E81 - Personal Stories: Afghanistan - Part 1 - Setting the SceneI'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text MessageHaving thought I was leaving the operational world behind me when I handed over my command of RAF Coningsby, only a little more than a year later, in January 2008 I found myself getting on an aircraft to head to Afghanistan as the incoming Commander of Kandahar Airfield, one of (at that stage) only two strategic airfields in the country.There are a huge number of great leadership points and operational experiences that I want to cover in this chapter of my c...2025-02-1631 minLeading 4 Life "Stories"E80 - Guests: Rory Underwood, England Rugby's record try scorer, former RAF pilot, founder and CEO of WingmanI'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text MessageAnother week and another great guest on the show. Rory Underwood is probably best known for his amazing skill on the rugby pitch. He represented England for 12 years, and still holds the try scoring record for an England player with 49 tries from 85 international appearances for his country. Rory was also a highly successful Royal Air Force pilot and, having followed that path myself, I marvel at his ability to deal with the challenge of flying training at the same time as pla...2025-02-091h 59Leading 4 Life "Stories"E79 - Guests: Robert (Cujo) Teschner, former USAF F15 / F22 pilot, Founder & CEO of the VMax GroupI'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text MessageRecording my guest for this week was one of the most fun conversations I have had in a long time. Robert (Cujo) Teschner is a former US Air Force F15 and F22 fighter pilot, who now runs the VMax Group of leadership trainers in the US. Cujo is a bestselling author and a prize winning speaker and when you listen to this interview you will realise why! Discovering he had serious colorectal cancer at the age of only 39, his life transformed dra...2025-02-021h 21Leading 4 Life "Stories"E78 - Personal Stories: Back to the Classroom!I'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text MessageIt's always very hard giving up a great job and moving on from RAF Coningsby was no exception. The blow was softened a bit by the fact that I went from there to the Higher Command & Staff Course and subsequently to the Royal College of Defence Studies, so 2007 was, for me, definitely a year of "back to the classroom"!In this personal stories episode, I aim to give you a flavour of these two amazing training opportunities which, whilst very different, w...2025-01-2630 minLeading 4 Life "Stories"E77 - Personal Stories: Commanding Officer, Royal Air Force Coningsby - Part 8 - The Final ChapterI'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text MessageSupport the showThank you for listening! If you value the content I produce, please consider supporting the show financially by becoming a member at https://www.patreon.com/leading4life/ or clicking the "Support the Show" link above.You will have the choice of becoming a Supporter, a Champion or a Patron of the show and any contribution you feel able to make will be hugely appreciated.You can find more about me here:...2025-01-1928 minLeading 4 Life "Stories"E76 - Guests: John Peters, former RAF pilot, Gulf War Prisoner of War, Founder and Owner of Monkey BusinessI'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text MessageWARNING: This episode contains graphic descriptions of torture and interrogation as well as frequent bad language.My guest this week is John Peters. John flew Tornado GR1 aircraft as an RAF pilot and was shot down and captured on his very first operational mission during the Gulf War of 1991. He was subsequently held as a Prisoner of War for 7 weeks, during which time he was brutally interrogated and tortured on a routine basis. The traumatic pictures of him (and oth...2025-01-121h 32Leading 4 Life "Stories"E75 - Guests: Douglas Rattray, Managing Director, Fugitives' Drift Lodge & Guest House, South AfricaI'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text MessageWe kick off Season 3 of the show with a fascinating guest who has an amazing family story and who lives in a fabulous part of the world. Oh, and he has a lot of great perspectives on leadership too!!Doug Rattray is the Managing Director of Fugitives' Drift Lodge & Guest House in the province of Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa. Set right between the famous Anglo-Zulu war battlefields of Isandlwana and Rouke's Drift, Doug and the team at Fugitives' Drift specialise in...2025-01-051h 12Leading 4 Life "Stories"E74 - Themes: Review of 2024I'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text MessageI'm sure you have much better things to do over the holiday period than listen to lengthy podcasts from me! Consequently, this is a short but hopefully sweet review of Leading 4 Life "Stories" across 2024. I provide some personal thoughts about the journey so far and some detail of the number of personal stories, thematic episodes and guest interviews before giving just a few of my personal highlights from what has been a fabulous set of guests across the year.I...2024-12-2915 minLeading 4 Life "Stories"E73 - Personal Stories: Commanding Officer, Royal Air Force Coningsby - Part 7 - The Typhoon DisplayI'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text MessageFor this, my final personal stories episode of 2024, I thought I would continue the series of tales from my time as Station Commander of RAF Coningsby and cover the development of and the challenges we faced with the Typhoon Display.With a brand new, very high profile, and very high performance aircraft, it was obvious that we would need to put together an airshow display so that we could properly demonstrate the Typhoon's performance and potential to the British public and...2024-12-2235 minLeading 4 Life "Stories"E72 - Guests: Flight Lieutenant Colin Bell DFC, WW2 Mosquito PilotI'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text MessageOver the time I've been hosting this podcast, I've been very privileged to have a wide range of wonderful guests; however, this week's guest is an extremely special one even by those high standards.Flight Lieutenant Colin Bell DFC, is a World War 2 Mosquito bomber pilot who is rapidly approaching his 104th birthday! He is one of only very few World War 2 veterans still alive today and is still incredibly fit and active for a man of his great age.2024-12-151h 33Leading 4 Life "Stories"E71 - Personal Stories: Commanding Officer, Royal Air Force Coningsby - Part 6 - HM The Queen's Birthday FlypastI'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text MessageOne of the most memorable events of my entire RAF career was having the privilege of leading the flypast to mark Her Majesty The Late Queen Elizabeth II's 80th Birthday in 2006.We flew a 49 aircraft flypast, the largest for many years, with a formation of Typhoons as part of the event for the very first time. Aspects of the event, including a short interview with me and part of the mass briefing, were filmed for the documentary series "Monarchy: The Royal F...2024-12-0833 minLeading 4 Life "Stories"E70 - Themes: The Power of DebriefingI'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text MessageIt's been some while since I did a thematic episode so I thought this would be a good topic to introduce, and to hopefully stimulate some thought and maybe even some discussion. Debriefing is the topic and the reason I titled this episode as "The Power of Debriefing" is that I truly believe it is a game changing activity that is, unfortunately undertaken far too little in the commercial world. Through explanations of how the military, and the Royal Ai...2024-12-0123 minLeading 4 Life "Stories"E69 - Guests: Professor Richard Sullivan, Professor of Cancer and Global Health at King's College London & Guy's Comprehensive Cancer CentreI'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text MessageMy guest this week is Professor Richard Sullivan, the Professor of Cancer and Global Health at King's College London (KCL) & Guy's Comprehensive Cancer Centre. Richard has been a doctor since the early 1990s during which time he has increasingly focused on cancer as a specialism such that he is now globally renowned, and it was a real privilege to speak to him at length for this episode.As well as his own leadership journey, we discuss in some detail the health s...2024-11-241h 43Leading 4 Life "Stories"E68 - Personal Stories: Commanding Officer, Royal Air Force Coningsby - Part 5 - Flying the Typhoon!I'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text MessageIn this instalment of my personal stories, I continue to recount my time in command of Royal Air Force Coningsby and, this time, I focus on flying the Typhoon. This was an incredibly special time in my career as being charged with bringing a completely new RAF capability into service was an enormous privilege. It was also quite daunting as, having spent all my previous flying tours in the nuclear strike, ground attack or reconnaissance roles, switching to air de...2024-11-1734 minLeading 4 Life "Stories"E67 - Guests: Vice Admiral Paul Bennett CB OBE RN (Rtd), National President of the Royal British LegionI'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text MessageGiven that this episode will be first published on Remembrance Sunday 2024, my guest this week could not be more appropriate. Vice Admiral Paul Bennett had a stellar Royal Navy career, with multiple warship commands, culminating in a 3* role in NATO's Allied Command Transformation HQ in the USA.As the title makes clear, Paul is now the National President of the Royal British Legion and, in that capacity, he has a key role in the annual remembrance commemorations both in the Royal A...2024-11-101h 18Leading 4 Life "Stories"E66 - Guests: John Cordle, former US Naval Officer, Human Factors Engineer & Sleep AdvocateI'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text MessageMy guest this week is John Cordle, a former US Naval Captain who still works closely with the US Navy as a Human Factors Engineer and is based in the eastern United States.I met John through episode 43 of the podcast when I interviewed Keith Green and we discussed his book, "Black Officer, White Navy". As you will hear in the episode, John became friendly with Keith following the Black Lives Matter protests in the US, and we had a great d...2024-11-031h 23Leading 4 Life "Stories"E65 - Guests: Hardeep Dhanjal, Professional International Speaker, and Mindset CoachI'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text MessageMy guest this week is Hardeep Dhanjal, a professional international speaker and mindset coach based in Copenhagen, Denmark.I first met Hardeep when he was engaged as the motivational speaker to kick off a workshop session that I was subsequently facilitating for Deloitte Denmark. I was hugely impressed by his inspirational story and I'm delighted that he accepted my invitation to come on the podcast. I'm equally delighted that my initial reaction to bring him on as a guest wa...2024-10-271h 19Leading 4 Life "Stories"E64 - Personal Stories: Commanding Officer, Royal Air Force Coningsby - Part 4 - Flying the Spitfires and Hurricanes of the Battle of Britain Memorial FlightI'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text MessageOne of the greatest privileges of my RAF career was being able to fly as a fighter pilot on the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight (BBMF) for the 2005/2006 display seasons whilst I was in command of RAF Coningsby.This was a truly unique opportunity and one that I will always cherish because it was simply so special to be able to fly these wonderfully iconic aircraft, and get a bit more appreciation for what the WW2 generation of pilots went through...2024-10-2033 minLeading 4 Life "Stories"E63 - Guests: Steve Fletcher, Founder and CEO of The Leaders' ClubI'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text MessageMy guest this week is Steve Fletcher, the Founder and CEO of The Leaders' Club (www.theleadersclub.org).I first met Steve almost exactly 10 years ago when I was transitioning out of the Royal Air Force and another colleague suggested I join The Leaders' Club. I joined immediately and, since then, Steve and I have become good friends and, more recently, colleagues since I am now a Director and the Deputy CEO of the Club myself.As Steve explains i...2024-10-131h 18Leading 4 Life "Stories"E62 - Personal Stories: Commanding Officer, Royal Air Force Coningsby - Part 3 - Building the Typhoon Force!I'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text MessageContinuing the story of my time in command of Royal Air Force Coningsby, this episode focuses on aspects of the buildup of the Typhoon Force. In the 20 years since I was privileged to command this great base, it is amazing to see how much the Typhoon has progressed not only as an individual military aircraft, but also as an immensely capable force within the overall RAF structure. I am immensely proud of the work that my team did in th...2024-10-0629 minLeading 4 Life "Stories"E61 - Personal Stories: Commanding Officer, Royal Air Force Coningsby - Part 2 - The Leadership Challenge!I'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text MessageIn this second part of the story of my time in command of Royal Air Force Coningsby, I focus on some of the specific leadership dynamics and organizational structures of the base. The episode builds on Episode 59 and sets up a series of further episodes that will cover, inter alia: the build of of the RAF's Typhoon Force; flying the Typhoon; flying the Jaguar; flying the Spitfires and Hurricanes of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight; UK Quick Reaction Alert; and...2024-09-2933 minLeading 4 Life "Stories"E60 - Guests: Simon Reid, Head Teacher, Christ's Hospital School, HorshamI'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text MessageMy guest this week is Simon Reid, the Head Teacher of Christ's Hospital, a 900 bed independent boarding school, near Horsham in West Sussex, UK.Previously the Head Teacher at another famous independent school, Gordonstoun in Scotland, Simon has been at Christ's Hospital for the past 8 years and will step down at the end of the Sumer Term in 2025. Having spent all his adult life in education, this was a fascinating conversation as we discuss Simon's personal leadership journey and a wide r...2024-09-221h 09
Dads And DaddiesJudson and Brian hookup with Bob LevineJudson receives some unwanted attention. Brian has “the talk” with his 8 year-old. Then, Bob Levine, celebrating 69 years as both drag icon Rose Levine and as a denizen of Cherry Grove, sits down with Judson and Brian at the Belvedere Guest House for Men as he prepares for Rose's Green Room 42 debut next month. Subject of the documentary “Roseland: The Ballad of Bob Levine,” Bob lets Judson and Brian in on the secret to his happy life, and recounts seven decades of gay history through the lens of Fire Island. To close, a listener asks what tips for visiting the Island our...2024-09-171h 05Leading 4 Life "Stories"E59 - Personal Stories: Commanding Officer, Royal Air Force Coningsby - Part 1!I'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text MessageThis is the first of several episodes charting one of the standout tours of my RAF career! It was the privilege of a lifetime to command Royal Air Force Coningsby, and there are a huge number of life experiences and leadership lessons that came from this single two year period in my career.In this initial episode, I set out my stall in terms of some of the big areas of interest and focus that set this role apart from everything I...2024-09-1527 minLeading 4 Life "Stories"E58 - Guests: Lord Graham Brady, Former Chairman of the 1922 CommitteeI'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text MessageAnother week and another amazing guest on Leading 4 Life "Stories. Lord Graham Brady was MP for Altrincham & Sale West from 1997-2024, and for the last 14 of those years he was also the Chairman of the Conservative Party's 1922 Committee, which is the committee of back bench MPs that, amongst other things, is responsible for electing the leader of the party. Graham stepped down from Parliament prior to the 2024 General Election and was subsequently ennobled as Baron Brady of Altrincham in the Government's di...2024-09-081h 13Leading 4 Life "Stories"E57 - Guests: Professor Michael Mainelli, Lord Mayor of LondonI'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text MessageIt was a great privilege this week to have Professor Michael Mainelli, the 695th and current Lord Mayor of London, as my guest on Leading 4 Life "Stories". Michael has had the most fascinating career, with a host of executive and non-executive roles on his CV, as well as his journey through the ranks of the City of London Corporation as an Alderman, Sheriff and now Lord Mayor.We had a really interesting and diverse conversation, and listeners will learn a great d...2024-09-011h 29Leading 4 Life "Stories"E56 - Guests: Rob Pepper, Principal of Art Academy LondonI'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text MessageLeading 4 Life "Stories" makes a return to guest interviews this episode with a fascinating session with Rob Pepper, internationally renowned artist and Principal of Art Academy London, a leading higher education art school based in the heart of the city.Rob is the first guest I have had from the creative industry world, and we had a great conversation about a wide range of issues including the obvious personal challenge Rob faces balancing continuing to produce his own art whilst running...2024-08-251h 32Leading 4 Life "Stories"E55 - Personal Stories: Group Captain Typhoon!I'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text MessageSo it was once again on to bigger and better things! This week's episode sees me move to the role of Group Captain Typhoon, a new job, in a new rank, in a new RAF Headquarters. I was now part of Number 1 Group, which was at that point located in "Bomber Harris' former headquarters building at RAF High Wycombe.This was an amazing tour on both a personal and professional level. Bringing a brand new aircraft into RAF service would have bee...2024-08-1829 minLeading 4 Life "Stories"E54 - Themes: Motivation!I'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text MessageMotivation is critical to success both for you personally and for any teams you may lead. In this thematic episode I share my thoughts on how I think about motivating myself and the teams I have been fortunate enough to lead. What works for you will probably be different to many around you and, in my experience, learning to recognise the key motivational elements in yourself and in your people is key to setting yourself and your team up for success.2024-08-1124 minLeading 4 Life "Stories"E53 - Personal Stories: RAF Strike CommandI'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text MessageThis week’s episode covers the first part of my post squadron command journey and my first (and only!) tour at RAF Strike Command. Being the Head of Briefing & Coordination was a fascinating 18 months that gave me a huge amount of insight into the workings of the highest levels of the RAF. It really sharpened my focus on the need for attention to detail and it was a great privilege to be able to be present at a huge range of ver...2024-08-0431 minLeading 4 Life "Stories"E52 - Themes: Technology!I'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text MessageAt the start of the week in which this episode was recorded, the world suffered what was arguably one of the most serious and significant cyber failures yet seen, when a poor quality Crowdstrike software patch caused mayhem in a wide range of industries right across the globe. By pure coincidence (at least I think it was coincidence!!), this same week saw my own personal iMac fail permanently and irrecoverably. Luckily my files are all stored in various cloud locations and I...2024-07-2826 minLeading 4 Life "Stories"E51 - Themes: Communicating with Impact!I'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text MessageIn this shorter than normal thematic episode, I start a conversation about "Communicating with Impact". There will be further episodes on this topic in the future but, for now, what I wanted to do was highlight some of the key things to think about when you are communicating as a leader. Style, timing, accuracy, format all matter when you are trying to land your message well and this episode shines some light on the key areas to think about, as well as...2024-07-2121 minLeading 4 Life "Stories"E50 - Guests: Air Chief Marshal Sir Stephen Hillier, Chair of the UK Civil Aviation Authority & Former Chief of the Air StaffI'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text MessageMy guest this week is Air Chief Marshal Sir Stephen Hillier, the current Chairman of the UK Civil Aviation Authority, and a former Chief of the Air Staff of the Royal Air Force. In another first for Leading 4 Life "Stories", this episode was recorded as an event for The Leaders' Club, with an online audience who were able to ask questions of Steve once the recording was complete.Steve and I joined the RAF and went through flying training at very m...2024-07-141h 00Leading 4 Life "Stories"E49 - Themes: Family & FriendsI'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text MessageSome recent personal issues have led me to produce this short episode on Family & Friends, largely because I think too many of us neglect these vitally important stakeholders in our lives. I know from my own experience that I could always do better at looking after my personal relationships; I never do enough and my best efforts to improve are often not as robust or meaningful as I would like them to be. I exhort all of you to do...2024-07-0712 minLeading 4 Life "Stories"E48 - Personal Stories: Squadron Command!I'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text MessageAfter more than 4 years on the ground, it was time to return to flying and this time as a Squadron Commander! Command of a front-line flying squadron is something that is pretty much at the top of the wish list for every career minded fighter pilot, and I was immensely privileged to take command of Number 6 Squadron at Royal Air Force Coltishall in July 1999.This episode covers the high points of that tour both from a flying perspective and, just as i...2024-06-3028 minLeading 4 Life "Stories"E47 - Guests: Ralph Arundell, former Army Officer & Henry Arundell, professional rugby playerI'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text MessageThis week's episode is a double first. It is the first time I have interviewed two guests at the same time, and those two guests happen to be father and son with two amazing life stories to share.Ralph Arundell is a former British Army officer with a distinguished career in the infantry, and who is now the Director of Operations at Harrow School. Henry Arundell is an elite level rugby player coming to the end of his third y...2024-06-231h 45
Leaders in Conversation with Anni TownendLeading 4 Life – a conversation with Susie Ballentyne, Independent Psychologist and Bob Judson, Keynote Speaker, Podcaster, Leadership Facilitator and CoachAbout This EpisodeIn this episode I am delighted to be in conversation with my two guests, Susie Ballentyne an Independent Psychologist and Bob Judson, a fellow podcaster, facilitator, leadership coach, and keynote speaker.We delve together into: The importance of continually developing your skills as a leader, both individually and as part of a team.The value of both mentors and coaches to leaders.The challenges of building, leading and inspiring teams in today’s complex and convoluted working environment.The really key requirements of a good leader.2024-06-1837 minLeading 4 Life "Stories"E46 - Themes: Lifelong Learning and Investing in YourselfI'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text MessageIn a slight break from normal procedure, I've recorded this episode on video whilst I was on the road with Deloitte University this week. It's shorter than many of my episodes but the content will hopefully resonate with you as it is an important topic. Lifelong learning and taking the time to invest in yourself are incredibly important for anyone's development, especially those that are in leadership roles. Making space in your busy diary to upskill yourself, or simply to refresh you...2024-06-1611 minLeading 4 Life "Stories"E45 - Guests: Matt Lindley, Pilot, Company Founder, & Motivational SpeakerI'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text MessageAs the UK celebrates Pride month, my guest this week is Matt Lindley. Matt is a former RAF pilot who spent the majority of his military time on 32 (The Royal) Squadron at RAF Northolt near London, where he was an instructor pilot and captain on the HS125 VIP transport aircraft. In that role, he routinely flew the UK's most senior VIPs including HM The Late Queen Elizabeth II, the Prime Minister and many others from the Royal Family and the UK Government.2024-06-091h 24Leading 4 Life "Stories"E44 - Personal Stories: Desert Life!I'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text MessageIn this episode, I return to my personal RAF journey and share my experience of living in the Saudi Arabian desert whilst commanding the RAF detachment on Operation Southern Watch (to mission to police the southern Iraqi no-fly zone) in 1998. Life in a tented encampment during the Saudi Arabian summer was extreme to say the least and I had a huge amount of very valuable experiences, some funny, some challenging, that really marked out this 5 month deployment for me as a t...2024-06-0235 minLeading 4 Life "Stories"E43 - Guests: Reuben Keith Green, US Navy (Retired)I'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text MessageMy guest this week is Reuben Keith Green, a former US Navy surface warfare officer and the published author of "Black Officer, White Navy". As the book title suggests, Keith's life in the US Navy was a challenging one and, since leaving the Navy in 1997, he has devoted the majority of his time to trying to improve the situation that black members of the US Navy face on a routine basis. This interview discusses Keith's personal journey at length, including the di...2024-05-261h 16Leading 4 Life "Stories"E42 - Personal Stories: The Joy of Flying - Part 2!I'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text MessageBack in Episode 33 I started giving a full description of some of the aspects of military flying that dominated the flying part of my RAF career. As I got into the episode I realised that I had rather more to say about this than I originally thought and so I didn't get through all the things that I originally planned to cover. This episode is consequently the next chapter of very flying specific personal stories, and I talk in some detail ab...2024-05-1933 minLeading 4 Life "Stories"E41 - Themes: Dealing with Adversity!I'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text MessageTrigger Warning! Whilst it doesn't go into detail, this episodes touches on the death of work colleagues and family members including children.With this, my first thematic episode in a while, I address the difficult topic of "Dealing with Adversity!" Whether personal or professional, really challenging situations, especially those involving the injury or death of family members or work colleagues, can be extremely hard to deal with. The problem can be even more acute if you are in a lea...2024-05-1229 minLeading 4 Life "Stories"E40 - Guests: Mary Walter, US Talk Radio HostI'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text MessageMy guest this week is Mary Walter, a TV and radio broadcast personality, and a podcast host, based in New Jersey, USA. Mary and I have known each other for many years and I was really keen to tap into her Talk Radio experience to get some new perspectives not only on her own career and journey, but also on the US more generally. As I anticipated, this is an episode with plenty of laughs but also a wide range of se...2024-05-051h 22Leading 4 Life "Stories"E39 - Personal Stories: Staff Duties!I'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text MessageIn some respects ground tours or "flying a desk" are the things that aircrew are conditioned to dislike the most; however, as you will hear in this episode, that wasn't really the case for me and, although I always loved flying, I also thoroughly enjoyed my time on the ground.This episode covers my ground tours as a squadron leader, starting with my first tour in the UK Ministry of Defence, then on to the Joint Service Defence College at Greenwich...2024-04-2828 minLeading 4 Life "Stories"E38 - Guests: Juliet Kennedy, Former Operations Director at National Air Traffic ServicesI'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text MessageI am delighted to be joined this week by Juliet Kennedy. Juliet very recently completed more than 8 years as the Operations Director at National Air Traffic Services, the capstone of an entire 43 year career within the world of Air Traffic Control.Juliet speaks very candidly about her love of a job that many would consider extraordinarily stressful but which she simply thrived on. She is very clear that it is the outstanding people within the air traffic world that make it wh...2024-04-211h 09Leading 4 Life "Stories"E37 - Guests: Nick Anderson, Former RAF pilot and Senior Captain with Virgin AtlanticI'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text MessageMy guest this week is Nick Anderson. Nick is one of my original flying instructors from my own time in the Royal Air Force's flying training system, and spent his whole working life in the world of aviation. He spent 19 years in the Royal Air Force as a fighter pilot and advanced flying instructor, followed by an outstanding and longer 25 year career in Virgin Atlantic, eventually becoming one of Virgin's most senior captains on the Airbus A340. Nick is als...2024-04-141h 32Leading 4 Life "Stories"E36 - Guests: Liz McConaghy, the "Chinook Crew Chick"!I'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text MessageIt was an absolute pleasure to interview the effervescent and award winning Liz McConaghy for this week's episode. Author of the outstanding autobiographical book "Chinook Crew Chick", Liz is the longest serving female Chinook crewman, and during her 17 year RAF career, she completed an unbelievable 2 flying tours in Iraq and 10 in Afghanistan. She accrued some 3000 hours in the Chinook and flew in some incredibly tough roles, including a lot of Medical Emergency Response Team (MERT) work, recovering injured and sometimes dead soldiers from th...2024-04-071h 19Leading 4 Life "Stories"E35 - Guests: Bishop Graham James, Former Bishop of NorwichI'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text MessageThis episode is being published on Easter Sunday 2024 so an interview with a senior figure in the Church of England seemed highly appropriate, and I am delighted that my guest for this episode is Bishop Graham James, the former Bishop of Norwich.Bishop Graham and I first met back in 2001 when I had the privilege of flying him in a Jaguar from RAF Coltishall, where I was the Officer Commanding Number 6 Squadron at the time. He is a really lovely and v...2024-03-311h 22Leading 4 Life "Stories"E34 - Guests: John Volanthen GM, Cave Explorer and Cave Rescue ExpertI'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text MessageI feel immensely privileged to have had the opportunity to interview John Volanthen for Leading 4 Life "Stories". His name might not be immediately familiar to you but I am sure that the cave rescue of the 12 children and their football coach from a flooded cave in Northern Thailand in 2018 might ring some louder bells. John, together with his dive partner Rick Stanton, were the first to find the children and their coach, when hope was fading that they would survive, and bo...2024-03-241h 13Leading 4 Life "Stories"E33 - Personal Stories: The Joy of Flying - Part 1!I'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text MessageFlying has been a huge part of my life and career and in this personal stories episode I do my best bring some elements of that to life for those that have never had the good fortune to experience military flying in any form. It's very much my personal recollections of what I have flown, where I have flown and some of the specific flying disciplines that I think are of particular interest. I talk about low flying, supersonic flying and fo...2024-03-1728 minLeading 4 Life "Stories"E32 - Guests: Mandy Hickson, RAF Tornado Pilot, Author, Keynote SpeakerI'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text MessageThis week's episode was a real joy for me as it is an interview with fellow fast-jet pilot and former RAF Officer, Mandy Hickson. Mandy was one of the very first women to go through RAF flying training and was the second female Tornado GR4 pilot. She had an extremely active 17 year RAF career, and is now the bestselling author of "An Officer, not a Gentleman", and a highly acclaimed motivational speaker whose talents are in demand all over the world.2024-03-101h 33Leading 4 Life "Stories"E31 - Themes: Hearts & Minds!I'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text MessageIn this thematic episode I address the vitally important topic of "Hearts & Minds"! This is such a crucial element of leadership, as without the support of, and proper engagement with your team, you will always struggle to succeed as a leader.I cover a wide range of topics that I believe are important to the establishment and maintenance of great relationships with the members of your team. These range from the simple act of saying "thank you" for a job well do...2024-03-0330 minLeading 4 Life "Stories"E30 - Personal Stories: Operations Over Iraq!I'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text MessageDuring both my first command tour as a flight commander on Number 54 (Fighter) Squadron (covered in Episode 27), and subsequently during my squadron command tour as the Officer Commanding Number 6 Squadron, I spent a good deal of time flying on operational reconnaissance missions in the No-Fly Zone north of the 36th parallel in Iraq.This episode is very much a personal account of that operational flying and consequently contains rather less leadership tips than many of my previous episodes. However, I hope i...2024-02-2543 minLeading 4 Life "Stories"E29 - Guests: Steven Moore, Former US Congressional Chief of Staff and President of the Ukraine Freedom ProjectI'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text MessageThis week, Leading 4 Life Stories goes international and my guest is Steven Moore, a former US Congressional Chief of Staff, and now President of the Ukraine Freedom Project. Steven is a highly experienced political strategist, international social entrepreneur and public opinion researcher, who has a wide range of really interesting perspectives on both the US political situation and the wider world of geopolitics. Given the very current challenges facing the world at large and the US in particular, this w...2024-02-181h 04Leading 4 Life "Stories"E28 - Guests: Chief Constable Jo Shiner, Chief Constable of Sussex PoliceI'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text MessageMy guest this week is Chief Constable Jo Shiner, the ninth Chief Constable of Sussex Police and the first female officer to hold the role. Jo is a career police officer having served for over 30 years initially in Norfolk and Kent before moving to Sussex as the Deputy Chief Constable in late 2018. She was subsequently selected to be the Chief Constable in July 2020.During her long career, Jo has carried out a very wide range of policing roles and has also he...2024-02-111h 14Leading 4 Life "Stories"E27 - Personal Stories: Command!I'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text MessageHaving returned to the RAF after my exchange tour with the German Air Force, this personal stories episode reflects on some of the aspects of my first command tour as a Flight Commander on Number 54 (Fighter) Squadron at RAF Coltishall. Returning to the Jaguar in this more senior role was an absolute delight and I relished the challenges it brought both in flying terms (with a number of new skills to learn), and in respect of the leadership responsibilities I now h...2024-02-0428 minLeading 4 Life "Stories"E26 - Themes: Teamwork - Trust, Empowerment & Delegation!I'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text MessageIn this thematic episode I tackle a set of topics that crop up a lot when I do leadership development training with groups and individuals. Using some examples of what I have learnt along my own journey, I provide a range of thoughts, tips and techniques that should help leaders to develop their team members better and, in the process, create more headspace and thinking time for themselves.Too often I have seen leaders fail to delegate or empower t...2024-01-2826 minLeading 4 Life "Stories"E25 - Guests: Steve Brown, Futurist, AI Expert, Entrepreneur and AuthorI'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text MessageThis week is a little different to normal as I combine a thematic issue with a guest interview and discuss the whole topic of Artificial Intelligence with Steve Brown.Steve is a leading expert on generative AI, autonomous AI assistants, digital transformation, the future of work, and how advances in AI will shape the future of education, business and society. He is a published author and speaks globally to a very wide range of corporates and media outlets on all things A...2024-01-211h 10Leading 4 Life "Stories"E24 - Guests: Jonathan Bowman-Perks, Podcast Host and Executive CoachI'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text MessageThis week's guest is Jonathan Bowman-Perks, a fellow podcast host and coach with a long and extremely successful track record in both. Jonathan is a former Army officer who had a long and distinguished career before moving to the private sector. Since he made that jump, his career has gone from strength to strength, with time at PWC, IBM and Penna before setting up his own leadership development and coaching business. Jonathan's "Inspiring Leadership" podcast has a significant global following and I w...2024-01-141h 40Leading 4 Life "Stories"E23 - Personal Stories: Life with the LuftwaffeI'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text MessageWith this first episode of Season 2 of the podcast, I return to the personal stories and give an account of my time on an exchange posting flying the RF4E Phantom with the German Air Force, the Luftwaffe. It was a fascinating time not least because of the political changes that occurred during my 2 1/4 years with the Germans. In that time, the Berlin Wall fell, German reunification became a reality, and the Cold War ended. As a direct consequence, the tour was...2024-01-0734 minLeading 4 Life "Stories"E22 - Review of 2023I'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text MessageGiven that I strongly suspect you will have better things to do than listen to me on New Year's Eve when this podcast becomes available, I have made it a reasonably short episode and focused on providing a review of 2023 and this first season of Leading 4 Life "Stories".The episode provides a short summary of the episodes so far as well as my own thoughts on the high points and plans for the future. If you are new to the podcast, it...2023-12-3123 minLeading 4 Life "Stories"E21 - Themes: Gratitude & Keeping In TouchI'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text MessageAs this episode goes live on Christmas Eve 2023, I thought I would keep it very short and to the point.I have had a good deal of time to personally reflect over the past couple of weeks and that thinking time has allowed me to focus on some things that are hugely important at this time of year. Speaking for myself, I know that I should say "thank you" a great deal more and that I should also make much more t...2023-12-2413 minLeading 4 Life "Stories"E20 - Guests: General Sir Richard Barrons, Former Commander of UK Joint Forces CommandI'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text MessageThis week's guest is General Sir Richard Barrons, the former Commander of Joint Forces Command (one of the 6 UK Chiefs of Staff) and now the Co-Chairman of Universal Defence & Security Solutions, alongside a portfolio of other private sector roles.Richard commanded at every level in the British Army and saw a huge amount of operational service in just about everything from the Cold War to Afghanistan. He has a huge amount of leadership and historical knowledge, and some strongly held views a...2023-12-171h 30Leading 4 Life "Stories"E19 - Themes: Work / Life BalanceI'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text MessageThis might just be the most important episode of this podcast I have released to date because it tackles the vitally important topic of "work / life balance". In my experience this is something that is very regularly talked about, especially by very busy people but also much too often either ignored or given too little priority, often by those same very busy people.In this episode I make no secret of my own personal challenge with handling this, but I also s...2023-12-1031 minLeading 4 Life "Stories"E18 - Personal Stories: ReconnaissanceI'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text MessageAt the conclusion of a short first operational flying tour at RAF Brüggen in Germany, this episode discusses my move to RAF Laarbruch, another Germany base, and my transition to the reconnaissance role. As a now "experienced" Jaguar pilot, this was a pivotal point in my career since reconnaissance was a role that would dominate a significant proportion of my remaining time in the cockpit. I aim to give the listener a sense of the challenge, complexity, but also fun we...2023-12-0329 minLeading 4 Life "Stories"E17 - Guests: Komeil Alibai, Founder & CEO of MYKA HoldingsI'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text MessageMy guest this week is Komeil Alibai, founder and CEO of MYKA Holdings, a private equity and venture capital business focusing on clients from a variety of industries.Komeil has a fascinating personal and business background and shares some terrific insights during the interview. He and I first met during our coaching qualification training with The Coaching Academy. I subsequently had the pleasure of coaching Komeil, and he is kind enough to allow us to discuss the value of that coaching du...2023-11-261h 28Leading 4 Life "Stories"E16 - Guests: Howard Wheeldon, Commentator, Broadcaster and AnalystI'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text MessageMy guest this week is Howard Wheeldon, who is best known as a political / defence commentator and analyst in recent years, but who had a fascinating and long career prior to moving into that realm. It was a really interesting and wide ranging discussion, which highlights Howards extremely impressive breadth and depth of business experience; I very much hope you enjoy it.As you will hear from the introduction to this edition this is a particularly poignant episode for me because, a...2023-11-191h 30Leading 4 Life "Stories"E15 - Guests: Baroness Dido Harding, Former Executive Chair of NHS Test & Trace, & Chief Executive of Talk Talk Telecom GroupI'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text MessageMy guest this week is Baroness Dido Harding, who is probably best known for her role as the Executive Chair of NHS Test & Trace during the Covid-19 pandemic, and for her role as the CEO of Talk Talk when they went through a significant cyber attack. However, there is much more to Dido than those two roles. She has a fascinating business, public service and personal background and, in this really interesting interview, she openly shares a great deal about her h...2023-11-121h 41Leading 4 Life "Stories"E14 - Themes: Attention to DetailI'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text MessageI am conscious that in last week's episode I covered a lot of ground and didn't always provide a lot of detail. As such, in this episode I blend some personal flying stories with the theme of "Attention to Detail".I talk through the challenge of mastering the detail required to safely and effectively operate a single-seat Jaguar on a typical front-line ground attack sortie and, where appropriate, I link this to what I have seen in the business world, especially i...2023-11-0529 minLeading 4 Life "Stories"E13 - Personal Stories: The Front LineI'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text MessageWith this episode I continue the personal story of my flying career and discuss the completion of my training on the Jaguar Operational Conversion Unit and the move to the RAF front-line on 17(F) and then 14 Squadron at RAF Brüggen in Germany.As you will hear, this was a really pivotal time in my flying career and I absolutely loved the excitement, challenge and pressure of being on a front-line Jaguar squadron when the Cold War with the Warsaw Pact w...2023-10-2931 minLeading 4 Life "Stories"E12 - Guests: Lord Mark Sedwill, Former Cabinet Secretary, Head of the UK Civil Service & National Security AdvisorI'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text MessageMy guest this week is Lord Mark Sedwill, former Cabinet Secretary, Head of the UK Civil Service and National Security Advisor.Mark had an amazing public sector career in the UK Diplomatic and Civil Service and is now on his next chapter with a portfolio of big private sector roles. His huge experience made him a great subject for this podcast and this is a fascinating interview with an absolute wealth of terrific leadership insights that I am sure you will e...2023-10-221h 27Leading 4 Life "Stories"E11 - Guests: Rear Admiral James Morse, President & CEO of the Rabdan Academy, United Arab EmiratesI'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text MessageMy guest for this episode is Rear Admiral James Morse RN(Retd), the President and CEO of the Rabdan Academy in the United Arab Emirates.James and I know each other well from our military days having been at the Royal College of Defence Studies together back in 2007. He subsequently commanded the UK's Joint Service Command and Staff College and that undoubtedly positioned him extremely well for his current role, which he has held since 2016.Raban Academy is a f...2023-10-151h 23
Inspiring Leadership with Jonathan Bowman-Perks MBE#283: Air Vice Marshall Bob Judson RAFBob Judson served for 34½ years in the military, rising from front-line fast-jet pilot to being a member of the Royal Air Force’s Senior Leadership Team and an Air Vice-Marshal. He flew the Jaguar, Phantom, and Typhoon, and had the privilege of displaying the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight Spitfires & Hurricanes for 2 years whilst he was the Station Commander of RAF Coningsby. In a military career that saw him shift from being on Quick Reaction Alert as a 21 year old in the Cold War with an atomic bomb on the bottom of his Jaguar, through serving on...2023-10-101h 10Leading 4 Life "Stories"E10 - Guests: Jenna Littler, former Senior Vice President at BurberryI'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text MessageMy guest for this episode is Jenna Littler, former Senior Vice President at Burberry and now an independent consultant and advisor to the fashion, beauty and luxury goods industries.Jenna has had already had an amazingly diverse and highly successful career and, by the time she left Burberry, she was one of the most senior women in the business. She spoke to me at length about the opportunities and challenges she has faced and this was a fascinating and re...2023-10-081h 50Leading 4 Life "Stories"E9 - Guests: Philipp Nattermann, Senior Partner & CFO at McKinsey & CompanyI'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text MessageMy guest for this episode is Philipp Nattermann, a Senior Partner and CFO at McKinsey & Company.Having originally been born in East Germany before the fall of the Berlin Wall, Philipp started his working life as an academic in the USA, Philipp joined McKinsey in 1999 and has been there ever since. He speaks very candidly on a whole range of issues and offers some terrific leadership insights that I am sure you will find both interesting and valuable.2023-10-011h 08Leading 4 Life "Stories"E8 - Themes: Personal Resilience & Self CareI'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text MessageWith this episode I return to thematic issues and focus on personal resilience and self care.I chose to cover this theme now partly because of the recent World Suicide Prevention Day, but also because I recently delivered a workshop on this topic to a client and it landed really well, so I thought it would also be useful to those that listen to this podcast. Personal resilience is a critical attribute for any leader, and a good leader a...2023-09-2425 minLeading 4 Life "Stories"E7 - Personal Stories: Flying TrainingI'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text MessageTrigger Warning: This episode contains discussion of aircraft accidents and fatalities.In this episode I continue my personal story as I finish officer training and move into the Royal Air Force's flying training system. I'm extremely conscious that I could easily have filled an episode or more with each segment of the flying training system, since I learned so much about myself as I was going through it so, depending on the feedback this episode generates, it may well b...2023-09-1732 minLeading 4 Life "Stories"E6 - Guests: Phil Crossman, Former MD of Honda UKI'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text MessageMy guest for this episode is Phil Crossman, a friend of mine for nearly 20 years and the former Managing Director of Honda UK. Phil spent his entire career in the motor trade, and has huge experience with a number of manufacturers, culminating with some 17 years at Honda. He has a vast amount of leadership experience and the interview covers a range of topics that I'm sure you will find interesting. There are some great and amusing car stories, and Phi...2023-09-101h 05Leading 4 Life "Stories"E5 - Guests: Susie Ballentyne - Co-Founder of Leading 4 LifeI'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text MessageThis episode I am delighted to be able to introduce and interview Susie Ballentyne, my co-founder and partner within Leading 4 Life.Susie and I have known each other since 2011, when we worked together in the UK Ministry of Defence. She is a social psychologist / behavioural scientist, and has a long background in working with the government as well as in the private sector. She is in the final stages of completing a PhD and has huge research experience and academic knowledge of...2023-09-031h 16Leading 4 Life "Stories"E4 - Guests: General David Petraeus US Army (Retd)I'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text MessageThis episode I was very privileged to be able to host General David Petraeus US Army (Retired) as my very first guest on the podcast. It is the first of what will be many interviews in the future and, in every case, I will seek to get the best leadership thoughts, tips and advice from those that are generous enough to give me their time for an interview.Even a cursory glance at General Petraeus’ career history will reveal wha...2023-08-271h 21Leading 4 Life "Stories"E3 - Themes: The Loneliness of CommandI'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text MessageTrigger Warning: This episode contains emotional details about premature birth, neonatal death and serious illness.With this episode I dive straight into the topic of the week and focus on "the loneliness of command". Command roles, when you are at the pinnacle of an organisation, can be immensely rewarding but they come with their share of challenges. Who can you talk to when the going gets tough? Who provides you advice when you want to test your thinking and idea...2023-08-2025 minLeading 4 Life "Stories"E2 - Themes: Credibility, Self-Awareness, & Imposter SyndromeI'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text MessageIn this, my second episode, I initially outline in more detail the 3 types of podcast episodes I will be creating. You will be able to see the specific type in the title; either Personal Stories, Themes or Guests and, each week, more detail will be provided here to give you an outline before you listen to the episode itself.This thematic episode will focus on Credibility, Self-Awareness, and Imposter Syndrome. To establish some credibility of my own, I give yo...2023-08-1327 minLeading 4 Life "Stories"E2 - Themes: Credibility, Self-Awareness, & Imposter SyndromeIn this, my second episode, I initially outline in more detail the 3 types of podcast episodes I will be creating. You will be able to see the specific type in the title; either Personal Stories, Themes or Guests and, each week, more detail will be provided here to give you an outline before you listen to the episode itself.This thematic episode will focus on Credibility, Self-Awareness, and Imposter Syndrome. To establish some credibility of my own, I give you a short synopsis of my whole career, from young 18 year old RAF Officer Cadet, through to...2023-08-1327 minLeading 4 Life "Stories"E1 - Personal Stories: BeginningI'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text MessageIn this first episode of Leading 4 Life "Stories", I talk briefly about what I hope you will get from my podcast as future episodes roll out on a weekly basis, but the majority of this episode is very personal. I realise that your time is precious and that you have a lot of choice about what to listen to in this very crowded market, so I wanted to give you a much deeper insight into my background and the early stages o...2023-08-0629 min