The Courageous Leaders Podcast

In this week’s episode I speak to Nadya Powell, co-founder and partner of award-winning, culture change business Utopia.Tune in now to hear us chat about equality and diversity in leadership and business, and what we can all do to create more equal, diverse andinclusive spaces.Nadya shares her thoughts and experiences about why acknowledging your own biases should be about awareness and not shame, and is theultimate form of self leadership.Key takeaways include:● Why we need to rip up the leadership rule book and question everything you think you know● Why leaders shouldn’t always have a vision further than 6 months ahead● How to proactively address equality, diversity and inclusion in your leadership● Practical ways to navigate leadership when expectations are at an all time high● The four types of work we should all be doing, including one many of us won’t be prioritisingNadya also co-founded Millennial Mentoring - an initiative to link leaders with aspirational talent so they could benefit from diversity’s wisdom - The Great British Diversity Experiment - a social experiment to prove once and for all the link between creativity and diversity - and The So White Project - an initiative to reverse the lack of diversity in commercial photography.Nadya is a contributing author of Creative Superpowers and is also on the advisory board of the London Philharmonic Orchestra.Follow Joanna Howes and The Change Creators:website: https://www.thechangecreators.comlinkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joannahowes/👍 Stay inspired by joining our YouTube community! Click the link, hit the subscribe button, leave a comment, and never miss an episode. Your support helps us empower courageous leaders like you!https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2kZ-x8fDHKEVb222qpQ_NQ 🚀 Elevate Your Leadership:Book a call for transformative leadership and team coaching:Website: https://thechangecreators.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joannahowes/ → Join our newsletter for courageous leadership insights and advice. 👉 Subscribe here: https://the-change-creators.kit.com/1a5f3c9e54

In this week’s episode I speak to Ricardo Wolff, Executive Creative Director at Innocean Berlin.Tune in now to hear us chat about how to remove the fear from taking leaps of faith, and having the self trust to back yourself to keep movingforward.Ricardo also shares his thoughts about why he believes that you’re never put up against a challenge that you are not ready to face and why the human idea will always be more important than anything else.Key takeaways include:● A mindset shift on quitting, that will help you move forwards instead● The difference between jumping without knowing and taking an informed leap of faith● The pros and cons of hybrid working versus office based workingRicardo’s work has dug metals of all weights and colours at top industry festivals for clients such as Volkswagen, Ikea, Smart, Billboard Magazine, Reporters Without Borders, HP, Anne Frank House, Kia and others.The spot for Smart, "Shock", was nominated Germany's best ad of 2017. Two years later he won the country's first Titanium Lion with "The Uncensored Playlist" for Reporters Without Borders. And just recently, the project "Printed by Parkinson's" for Charité Berlin brought Innocean their first D&AD Yellow Pencil and Gold Lion in the network's history.Useful links:Follow Joanna Howes and The Change Creators:website: https://www.thechangecreators.comlinkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joannahowes/👍 Stay inspired by joining our YouTube community! Click the link, hit the subscribe button, leave a comment, and never miss an episode. Your support helps us empower courageous leaders like you!https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2kZ-x8fDHKEVb222qpQ_NQ 🚀 Elevate Your Leadership:Book a call for transformative leadership and team coaching:Website: https://thechangecreators.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joannahowes/ → Join our newsletter for courageous leadership insights and advice. 👉 Subscribe here: https://the-change-creators.kit.com/1a5f3c9e54

In this week’s episode, I speak to Mel McVeigh, VP Product, Commerce & Consumer Brands at Conde Nast.Tune in now to hear us chat about the importance of being resourceful, creating human connection,s and the problems with recruitment in thecurrent climate.Mel also shares her thoughts about how technology has changed the way we operate, but why it’s important not to put all decisions in the context of technology.Key takeaways include:● How to set new team members up for success● How to help people experience change● How to embrace imperfectionism● Why you need to prioritise downtime● Why a really good team is like a jazz band● How to balance being there for your team and delivering results● The difference between growth stress and burnout stressMel leads the digital portfolio of brands: Vogue, GQ, Conde Nast Traveller, Architectural Digest, Allure, Glamour. She is also responsible for theglobal commerce product portfolio across affiliate and unified shopping experiences and native checkout.Mel has worked in various publishers and commerce companies in her career including, Photobox, Telegraph, Mr&MrsSmith, Lonely Planet and TimeOut.  Senior executive with a creative director’s mindset, with a background and side career in art photography. A leader who transforms businesses, team and cultures to drive commercial performance.Useful links:Follow Joanna Howes and The Change Creators:website: https://www.thechangecreators.comlinkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joannahowes/👍 Stay inspired by joining our YouTube community! Click the link, hit the subscribe button, leave a comment, and never miss an episode. Your support helps us empower courageous leaders like you!https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2kZ-x8fDHKEVb222qpQ_NQ 🚀 Elevate Your Leadership:Book a call for transformative leadership and team coaching:Website: https://thechangecreators.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joannahowes/ → Join our newsletter for courageous leadership insights and advice. 👉 Subscribe here: https://the-change-creators.kit.com/1a5f3c9e54

Lizi Hamer, the Executive Creative Director at Octagon APAC and co-founder of No2ndPlace, excels in using sport for social change. In this engaging conversation, she highlights the advantages of practicing radical candor in feedback. Lizi discusses the importance of inner resilience, particularly for women in male-dominated industries, and shares insights on balancing boundaries in hybrid work environments. Her passion for storytelling shines as she encourages embracing glitches and setbacks as opportunities for growth, fostering diversity in leadership.

Episode 33 of series 4 is now LIVE and I had the pleasure of talking to Neil Cooper, Executive Creative Director for Critical Mass in EMEA and APAC.Tune in now to hear us chat about the importance of aligning people to your vision, giving people responsibility to create change and the importance of hiring people and creating work that’s reflective of the world we live in and why that needs to be absolutely ingrained in everything we do.Key takeaways include:why the word culture should be bannedwhy some people shouldn’t be leaderswhy how you think matters more than the end resultFollow Joanna Howes and The Change Creators:website: https://www.thechangecreators.comlinkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joannahowes👍 Stay inspired by joining our YouTube community! Click the link, hit the subscribe button, leave a comment, and never miss an episode. Your support helps us empower courageous leaders like you!https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2kZ-x8fDHKEVb222qpQ_NQ 🚀 Elevate Your Leadership:Book a call for transformative leadership and team coaching:Website: https://thechangecreators.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joannahowes/ → Join our newsletter for courageous leadership insights and advice. 👉 Subscribe here: https://the-change-creators.kit.com/1a5f3c9e54

Episode 32 of series 4 is now LIVE and I had the pleasure of talking to Emma Shuldham, Managing Director at ITB Worldwide.Tune in now to hear us chat about embracing change, stepping away from work for maternity leave and the role of human insight in data.Emma speaks inspiringly about how she empowered her team to effectively do her role whilst she was away and then how she worked with them once she returned to navigate and define what roles looked like once she returned.Key takeaways include:how to effectively support parents in the workplacehow to navigate the growth and expectation management of your teamhow to use your values to shape who you work withFollow Joanna Howes and The Change Creators:website: https://www.thechangecreators.comlinkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joannahowes👍 Stay inspired by joining our YouTube community! Click the link, hit the subscribe button, leave a comment, and never miss an episode. Your support helps us empower courageous leaders like you!https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2kZ-x8fDHKEVb222qpQ_NQ 🚀 Elevate Your Leadership:Book a call for transformative leadership and team coaching:Website: https://thechangecreators.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joannahowes/ → Join our newsletter for courageous leadership insights and advice. 👉 Subscribe here: https://the-change-creators.kit.com/1a5f3c9e54

Episode 31 of series 4 is now LIVE and I had the pleasure of talking to Jim Rothnie, Regional Growth Director – Europe & UK, McCann Worldgroup and Chief Growth Officer – EMEA, Craft WW. Tune in now to hear us chat about why working on a pitch is the best way to learn at speed, and the things you need to think about when deciding who to put on your pitch team.Jim speaks beautifully about the importance of human connection in growth and how to respond to failure, to turn those dark moments into ones of light and success.Key takeaways include:Who should be on a pitch teamHow to flip your mindset on growthThe ability to turn failure into successFollow Joanna Howes and The Change Creators:website: https://www.thechangecreators.comlinkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joannahowes/👍 Stay inspired by joining our YouTube community! Click the link, hit the subscribe button, leave a comment, and never miss an episode. Your support helps us empower courageous leaders like you!https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2kZ-x8fDHKEVb222qpQ_NQ 🚀 Elevate Your Leadership:Book a call for transformative leadership and team coaching:Website: https://thechangecreators.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joannahowes/ → Join our newsletter for courageous leadership insights and advice. 👉 Subscribe here: https://the-change-creators.kit.com/1a5f3c9e54

Episode 30 is a milestone we’re celebrating by bringing to you the essence of our most listened to episodes. Over the past 9 months, we’ve spoken to some of the most inspiring people from the Creative industry, who’ve all shared with us what Courageous Leadership means to them. We have had such a vast variety of different answers from having clear values and living by them, removing fear from the equation to being vulnerable and showing humility. And there is no right or wrong answer, it’s all of those things and so much more! The next clips are just a few golden nuggets of many we’ve put together for you, to bring inspiration into your life. You’ll be hearing from:Nils Leonard - Founder of Uncommon Creative Studio; Brie Stewart - Creative Director + Content and Social Specialist based in Melbourne;Harjot Singh - Global Chief Strategy Officer @ McCann; Anna-Louise Gladwell - MD @ Analog Folk and Shaun McIlrath - Global CCO of Iris;Full episodes are available to listen on all your favourite podcast platforms.Follow Joanna Howes and The Change Creators:website: https://www.thechangecreators.comlinkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joannahowes👍 Stay inspired by joining our YouTube community! Click the link, hit the subscribe button, leave a comment, and never miss an episode. Your support helps us empower courageous leaders like you!https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2kZ-x8fDHKEVb222qpQ_NQ 🚀 Elevate Your Leadership:Book a call for transformative leadership and team coaching:Website: https://thechangecreators.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joannahowes/ → Join our newsletter for courageous leadership insights and advice. 👉 Subscribe here: https://the-change-creators.kit.com/1a5f3c9e54

Episode 29 of series 4 is now LIVE and I had the pleasure of talking to Julia Arenson, Head of Creative Operations at Specsavers Agency.  In this episode we chat about why you don’t always have to be climbing the ladder and why we need to move away from demanding experience to get a role.Julia speaks wonderfully about how she reframed her anxiety of feeling trapped in a role into a springboard for where she wanted to go next, and how she has learned to have a mindset to just do it, and work it out as you go. Key takeaways include:The value of people centred leadership and opportunitiesThe need to be comfortable with disruptionThe importance of how you talk to someone and the words you useFollow Joanna Howes and The Change Creators:website: https://www.thechangecreators.comlinkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joannahowes/👍 Stay inspired by joining our YouTube community! Click the link, hit the subscribe button, leave a comment, and never miss an episode. Your support helps us empower courageous leaders like you!https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2kZ-x8fDHKEVb222qpQ_NQ 🚀 Elevate Your Leadership:Book a call for transformative leadership and team coaching:Website: https://thechangecreators.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joannahowes/ → Join our newsletter for courageous leadership insights and advice. 👉 Subscribe here: https://the-change-creators.kit.com/1a5f3c9e54

Episode 28 of series 4 is now LIVE and I had the pleasure of talking to Gareth Turner, Founder of Big Black Door and former Head of Marketing at Weetabix. In this episode he shares so many golden nuggets from his wealth of experience in the creative industry, including when his team unleashed the multi award winning “Beanz on Bix” campaign that broke the internet in the process!Key takeaways include:Why indecision is more stifling than the wrong decisionThe need to separate the creative idea from the executionHow to find ways to be more resilient and find your own wayFollow Joanna Howes and The Change Creators:website: https://www.thechangecreators.comlinkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joannahowes/👍 Stay inspired by joining our YouTube community! Click the link, hit the subscribe button, leave a comment, and never miss an episode. Your support helps us empower courageous leaders like you!https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2kZ-x8fDHKEVb222qpQ_NQ 🚀 Elevate Your Leadership:Book a call for transformative leadership and team coaching:Website: https://thechangecreators.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joannahowes/ → Join our newsletter for courageous leadership insights and advice. 👉 Subscribe here: https://the-change-creators.kit.com/1a5f3c9e54