Awaiting Approval

Cat How has built one of the most talked-about branding agencies on two continents. She is Co-founder and Executive Creative Director at How&How, D&AD Jury President 2026, and has been recognised among the 100 Women to KNOW in America and 100 Most Influential Creative Leaders in 2025.In this episode, Cat joins Adam for a relaxed, very human conversation about the reality of creative leadership. She shares how an English Literature degree led to design criticism, then to retraining as a graphic designer, moving across the world, starting multiple businesses, and finally building How&How into a global branding agency with studios in London and LA.Cat talks candidly about the highs and lows. From selling a first business and opening a Lisbon studio that later had to be sunsetted, to the joy of rebranding Wild Things, a vegan candy, that helped fast-track a founder’s five year plan into six months. Along the way she returns to a simple mantra that runs through her life and work: go big, or go home.Adam and Cat also dig into the tension between AI and craft, how to stay curious without losing your ethics, and why throwing great dinner parties is a legitimate leadership skill. If you care about brand, brave work and building community around what you do, this one will hit home.In this episode, we cover:* How Cat went from English Lit graduate to global branding ECD* The story behind How&How and building studios across countries* Sunsetting the Lisbon office and what it taught her about leadership* The Wild Things project and taking a health food product into skate culture* How AI is reshaping client expectations and creative practice* Why “go big or go home” is more than a design school slogan* The power of hosting and community outside workCat on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cat-how-0499b9149/ How & How: http://www.how.studio===This is Awaiting Approval. A podcast about the messy, human side of creative leadership.Hosted by Adam Jennings - a creative leader with three decades of experience leading teams and projects for global brands including Microsoft, Salesforce, 20th Century Fox, Paramount Pictures, Ancestry, Dolby, BBC and many more - this show features honest, unscripted conversations with the leaders shaping design, storytelling, and innovation today.These are the conversations you don’t hear in keynotes. The ones about imposter syndrome, trust, failure, confidence, and finding your voice as a leader.Whether you’re just stepping into creative leadership or you’ve been at it for years, Awaiting Approval is your place to feel seen, challenged, and encouraged.Awaiting Approval is a Cordial Fox production.Hosted by Adam Jennings.Produced by Adam Jennings & Jasmin Egner.© Cordial Fox Limited, 2025.Ready to level up your leadership with real, honest support?Join the next cohort of Supercharged Creative Leaders - my flagship four-week programme for creative leaders who want clarity, confidence, and a community that gets it.✅ Small groups (just 6 per cohort)✅ Weekly live sessions with me and your cohort✅ Async access to me and your cohort via a private Slack community✅ Invitation to join my alumni community once you’ve completed the programme.Previous attendees have gone on to win major pitches, land new roles, get promoted and step into leadership with more purpose and presence.🚀 Learn more and apply here: https://www.growwithadamjennings.com Get full access to Grow With Adam Jennings at growwithadamjennings.substack.com/subscribe

Awaiting Approval Season 2 will premiere 4th December 2025.Yes, the podcast about the messy, human side of creative leadership is back. With 17 brand new episodes, 16 brand new guests, and one familiar face from season one!This season I talk with design leaders from Microsoft, Ancestry, Elsevier, Lloyds Banking Group, Vodafone, BMW, Rightmove, Shell, British Airways, HSBC and many more.*You can find out more in the Season Two full trailer that launched today! Listen to it here or watch it on YouTube🎙 Awaiting Approval – Season Two Schedule* S2E1 : Cat How - Fearless| Thursday 4th December| Go big or go home. Lead with courage and curiosity.* S2E2 : Christopher Nguyen - Momentum| Thursday 11th December| Make, ship, repeat. Control what you can control.* S2E3 : Anjali Gajera Patel - Resilience| Thursday 18th December| Adaptability with heart.* S2E4 : Hema Mehta - Courage| Thursday 25th December| Finding calm in chaos.* S2E5 : Venessa Bennett - Growth| Thursday 1st January| Trust your gut and evolve with change.* S2E6 : Joel Gill - Integrity| Thursday 8th January| Lead with humanity, learn through experience.* S2E7 : Angela Arnold - Grace| Thursday 15th January| Trust yourself and stay open to change.* S2E8 : Hardy Sidhu - Presence| Thursday 22nd January| Find balance in chaos, lead with love.* S2E9 : William Barraclough - Curiosity| Thursday 29th January| Keep learning, stay human.* S2E10 : Odeya Noble-Bougay - Light| Thursday 5th February| Leading through empathy and evolution.* S2E11 : Remya Ramesh - Balance| Thursday 12th February| Lead with kindness, keep your boundaries, and speak the language of the business.* S2E12 : Sandra González - Regeneration| Thursday 19th February| Design with conscience, lead with connection, and listen to your intuition.* S2E13 : Lucy Jackson - Discipline| Thursday 26th February| Reinvent yourself with honesty, instinct, and courage.* S2E14 : Dan Onufrishyn - Generosity| Thursday 5th March| Growth through giving back.* S2E15 : Lou Maxon - Care| Thursday 12th March| Kindness as craft.* S2E16 : David Sheldon-Hicks - Awareness| Thursday 19th March| Growth through reflection and presence.* S2E17 : Alberta Soranzo - Authenticity| Thursday 26th March| Embrace your messiness and lead with acceptance.So, a new episode - every Thursday.Simply search “Awaiting Approval” wherever you get your podcast fix (including YouTube).Let me know which episode you’re most excited about.*These organisations are not affiliated with the Awaiting Approval Podcast Get full access to Grow With Adam Jennings at growwithadamjennings.substack.com/subscribe

Bonus Episode – Season One Exclusive Cast Roundtable ConversationWelcome to this - a roundtable conversation with as many of the cast of Season One as schedules would allow. This is your once in a lifetime chance to sit in on a chat with exceptionally talented creative leaders from a myriad of disciplines including design, advertising, user research, user experience, product design, animation, industrial design, branding and even design hiring.And for those of you already tuned in to the Awaiting Approval podcast you’ll know this group has an unmatched pedigree, with client and partners names including Microsoft, Visa, Apple, Disney, Paramount Pictures, Saatchi & Saatchi, Expedia, LinkedIn, BP, Verizon, Twitter, Vodafone, Dell, Hasbro, Mattel and many more.So, without further preamble, and in alphabetical order, I’m very pleased to welcome to the table:Dr Chris ArnoldLaura BakerJane CookKevin FrankRashmi LopezKevin ParryRoger RohatgiBill SneboldCharmaine WylandDave ZaboskiThis is Awaiting Approval. A podcast about the messy, human side of creative leadership.Hosted by Adam Jennings - a creative leader with three decades of experience leading teams and projects for global brands including Microsoft, Salesforce, 20th Century Fox, Paramount Pictures, Ancestry, Dolby, BBC and many more - this show features honest, unscripted conversations with the leaders shaping design, storytelling, and innovation today.These are the conversations you don’t hear in keynotes. The ones about imposter syndrome, trust, failure, confidence, and finding your voice as a leader.Whether you’re just stepping into creative leadership or you’ve been at it for years, Awaiting Approval is your place to feel seen, challenged, and encouraged.Awaiting Approval is a Cordial Fox production.Hosted by Adam JenningsProduced by Adam Jennings & Jasmin Egner© Cordial Fox Limited, 2025.Ready to level up your leadership with real, honest support?Join the next cohort of Supercharged Creative Leaders - my flagship four-week programme for creative leaders who want clarity, confidence, and a community that gets it.✅ Small groups (just 6 per cohort)✅ Weekly live sessions with me and your cohort✅ Async access to me and your cohort via a private Slack community✅ Invitation to join my alumni community once you’ve completed the programme.Previous attendees have gone on to win major pitches, land new roles, get promoted and step into leadership with more purpose and presence.🚀 Learn more and apply here Get full access to Grow With Adam Jennings at growwithadamjennings.substack.com/subscribe

Bonus Episode – Behind the Mic with Adam Jennings, Creator and Host of Awaiting ApprovalWhat does it really take to make a podcast about creative leadership - without a production team, a marketing budget, or a safety net?In this special bonus episode, Adam pulls back the curtain on Awaiting Approval itself. Why it exists. Who it’s for. What it’s becoming. From a quiet idea shared with a partner, to charting in 12 countries and reaching thousands of listeners around the world - this is the behind-the-scenes story of how it all came to life.It’s a raw, honest reflection on what it means to start something before you’re ready. We explore the tension between perfection and progress, what leadership sounds like in 2025, and why “approval” is such a powerful concept - for creatives, leaders, and humans in general.This isn’t a pitch. It’s a pause. A moment to breathe, reflect, and reconnect with the why behind it all.This is Awaiting Approval. A podcast about the messy, human side of creative leadership.Hosted by Adam Jennings - a creative leader with three decades of experience leading teams and projects for global brands including Microsoft, Salesforce, 20th Century Fox, Paramount Pictures, Ancestry, Dolby, BBC and many more - this show features honest, unscripted conversations with the leaders shaping design, storytelling, and innovation today.These are the conversations you don’t hear in keynotes. The ones about imposter syndrome, trust, failure, confidence, and finding your voice as a leader.Whether you’re just stepping into creative leadership or you’ve been at it for years, Awaiting Approval is your place to feel seen, challenged, and encouraged.Awaiting Approval is a Cordial Fox production.Hosted by Adam JenningsProduced by Adam Jennings & Jasmin Egner© Cordial Fox Limited, 2025.Ready to level up your leadership with real, honest support?Join the next cohort of Supercharged Creative Leaders - my flagship four-week programme for creative leaders who want clarity, confidence, and a community that gets it.✅ Small groups (just 6 per cohort)✅ Weekly live sessions with me and your cohort✅ Async access to me and your cohort via a private Slack community✅ Invitation to join my alumni community once you’ve completed the programme.Previous attendees have gone on to win major pitches, land new roles, get promoted and step into leadership with more purpose and presence.🚀 Learn more and apply here Get full access to Grow With Adam Jennings at growwithadamjennings.substack.com/subscribe

Roger Rohatgi - Chief AI Officer (Former VP Global Head of Design at BP, with past work with brands such as Verizon, Twitter, MTV, Motorola Solutions, Oracle and more)What happens when a motion designer turned creative director becomes one of the world’s leading voices in Human-Centered AI?In this episode, Roger Rohatgi takes us on a remarkable journey from lifeguarding and cleaning gas pumps to leading multi-agent AI systems and 86,000-component design systems at global scale. We talk about the messy human side of creative leadership - how putting on gloves with your team changes everything, the power of “designing together,” and how the UX of today is shaping the AI of tomorrow.This one goes deep: responsible design, Synthetic Humans, social TV, the importance of feedback, and the personal moment that made his dad proud.He also shares what it means to be “already approved” - and why that idea might just change your whole career.You can connect with Roger on LinkedIn hereI'll be releasing an end of season 'thank you' next week - but for now, I want to say a huge thank you to Roger for ending Season One of Awaiting Approval Podcast with such insight, and thank you to every guest and listener who has supported the show. And a very special thank you to Jasmin Egner who through her support, patience and invaluable insight has helped make this podcast what it is. We’ve built something special together.Keep your eyes and ears peeled for a special season bonus episode dropping soon!Special thanks on this episode to Steve and Stu at Mantis Broadcast for their last minute help on my audio for this episode, and to Sam at Curzon Cinema for letting me film the pre-roll insert there. This is Awaiting Approval. A podcast about the messy, human side of creative leadership.Hosted by Adam Jennings - a creative leader with three decades of experience leading teams and projects for global brands including Microsoft, Salesforce, 20th Century Fox, Paramount Pictures, Ancestry, Dolby, BBC and many more - this show features honest, unscripted conversations with the leaders shaping design, storytelling, and innovation today.These are the conversations you don’t hear in keynotes. The ones about imposter syndrome, trust, failure, confidence, and finding your voice as a leader.Whether you’re just stepping into creative leadership or you’ve been at it for years, Awaiting Approval is your place to feel seen, challenged, and encouraged.Awaiting Approval is a Cordial Fox production.Hosted by Adam JenningsProduced by Adam Jennings & Jasmin Egner© Cordial Fox Limited, 2025.Ready to level up your leadership with real, honest support?Join the next cohort of Supercharged Creative Leaders - my flagship four-week programme for creative leaders who want clarity, confidence, and a community that gets it.✅ Small groups (just 6 per cohort)✅ Weekly live sessions with me and your cohort✅ Async access to me and your cohort via a private Slack community✅ Invitation to join my alumni community once you’ve completed the programme.Previous attendees have gone on to win major pitches, land new roles, get promoted and step into leadership with more purpose and presence.🚀 Learn more and apply here Get full access to Grow With Adam Jennings at growwithadamjennings.substack.com/subscribe

Jason Giles - VP of Product Design at UserTesting (ex-Ticketmaster, AT&T, Microsoft)From laying carpets by day and playing synths by night to becoming a VP of Product Design at UserTesting, Jason Giles’ journey is anything but conventional.In this episode, we dive into his early struggles with imposter syndrome, how a supportive culture at Microsoft helped him rise, and why he believes some of the best design leaders come from the most non-traditional paths. Jason reflects on leadership as an act of service, what it means to be truly people-first, and how a chance encounter in a UK office reshaped his understanding of company culture. Now leading teams at UserTesting, he shares the lessons learned from building products with empathy, fighting for inclusion, and always staying just uncomfortable enough to grow.You can connect with Jason on LinkedIn hereThis is Awaiting Approval. A podcast about the messy, human side of creative leadership.Hosted by Adam Jennings - a creative leader with three decades of experience leading teams and projects for global brands including Microsoft, Salesforce, 20th Century Fox, Paramount Pictures, Ancestry, Dolby, BBC and many more - this show features honest, unscripted conversations with the leaders shaping design, storytelling, and innovation today.These are the conversations you don’t hear in keynotes. The ones about imposter syndrome, trust, failure, confidence, and finding your voice as a leader.Whether you’re just stepping into creative leadership or you’ve been at it for years, Awaiting Approval is your place to feel seen, challenged, and encouraged.Awaiting Approval is a Cordial Fox production.Hosted by Adam JenningsProduced by Adam Jennings & Jasmin Egner© Cordial Fox Limited, 2025.Ready to level up your leadership with real, honest support?Join the next cohort of Supercharged Creative Leaders - my flagship four-week programme for creative leaders who want clarity, confidence, and a community that gets it.✅ Small groups (just 6 per cohort)✅ Weekly live sessions with me and your cohort✅ Async access to me and your cohort via a private Slack community✅ Invitation to join my alumni community once you’ve completed the programme.Previous attendees have gone on to win major pitches, land new roles, get promoted and step into leadership with more purpose and presence.🚀 Learn more and apply here Get full access to Grow With Adam Jennings at growwithadamjennings.substack.com/subscribe

Join Dr. Chris Arnold, a pioneer in ethical marketing and neurodiversity advocate, as he uncovers how ADHD and dyslexia became his superpowers. He shares tales from Saatchi & Saatchi, revealing the art of persuading clients to embrace bravery over fear. Expect a lively discussion on the importance of creativity in leadership, innovative marketing strategies, and the decline of originality in digital media. With anecdotes about 21-foot condoms and glue-based billboards, Arnold delivers a powerful message to challenge mediocrity and embrace unique perspectives.

Lou Maxon - ECD at Maxon House (Acer, BMW, McDonald's, Lego, Lexus, Sothebys, etc)From crafting editorial layouts at Time Out New York to building immersive brand experiences for global giants, Lou Maxon’s career is rooted in curiosity, craft, and storytelling.In this conversation, Lou shares what it’s like to lead from a forest-bound studio on rails, why authenticity beats scale, and how his work has helped shape everything from sippy cup startups to sustainability campaigns. We talk about career pivots, design culture, the death of craft, and why the best creative leaders are more like conductors than commanders. This one’s a journey worth taking.You can connect with Lou hereThis is Awaiting Approval. A podcast about the messy, human side of creative leadership.Hosted by Adam Jennings - a creative leader with three decades of experience leading teams and projects for global brands including Microsoft, Salesforce, 20th Century Fox, Paramount Pictures, Ancestry, Dolby, BBC and many more - this show features honest, unscripted conversations with the leaders shaping design, storytelling, and innovation today.These are the conversations you don’t hear in keynotes. The ones about imposter syndrome, trust, failure, confidence, and finding your voice as a leader.Whether you’re just stepping into creative leadership or you’ve been at it for years, Awaiting Approval is your place to feel seen, challenged, and encouraged.Awaiting Approval is a Cordial Fox production.Hosted by Adam JenningsProduced by Adam Jennings & Jasmin Egner© Cordial Fox Limited, 2025.Ready to level up your leadership with real, honest support?Join the next cohort of Supercharged Creative Leaders - my flagship four-week programme for creative leaders who want clarity, confidence, and a community that gets it.✅ Small groups (just 6 per cohort)✅ Weekly live sessions with me and your cohort✅ Async access to me and your cohort via a private Slack community✅ Invitation to join my alumni community once you’ve completed the programme.Previous attendees have gone on to win major pitches, land new roles, get promoted and step into leadership with more purpose and presence.🚀 Learn more and apply here Get full access to Grow With Adam Jennings at growwithadamjennings.substack.com/subscribe

Kevin Parry – Stop-Motion Animator & Video Wizard (Clients include Disney, Laika and more)From hand-drawn frames to viral visual illusions, Kevin Parry has carved a unique path from the stop-motion stages of Laika to the scroll-stopping magic of social media.In this episode, Kevin reflects on learning animation with pencil and paper, creating one-to-two seconds of footage a day on features like Kubo and the Two Strings, and the rigging ingenuity that makes stop-motion breathe. We explore his early lessons in CG, the creative joy (and isolation) of working solo, and the moment he knew he had to call a redo on a weeks-long shot. Kevin shares his thoughts on AI-generated content, why clarity and wonder matter most, and what becoming a father taught him about creative success.You can connect with Kevin on LinkedIn here He’s also on Substack : Kevin Parry This is Awaiting Approval. A podcast about the messy, human side of creative leadership.Hosted by Adam Jennings - a creative leader with three decades of experience leading teams and projects for global brands including Microsoft, Salesforce, 20th Century Fox, Paramount Pictures, Ancestry, Dolby, BBC and many more - this show features honest, unscripted conversations with the leaders shaping design, storytelling, and innovation today.These are the conversations you don’t hear in keynotes. The ones about imposter syndrome, trust, failure, confidence, and finding your voice as a leader.Whether you’re just stepping into creative leadership or you’ve been at it for years, Awaiting Approval is your place to feel seen, challenged, and encouraged.Awaiting Approval is a Cordial Fox production.Hosted by Adam JenningsProduced by Adam Jennings & Jasmin Egner© Cordial Fox Limited, 2025.Ready to level up your leadership with real, honest support?Join the next cohort of Supercharged Creative Leaders - my flagship four-week programme for creative leaders who want clarity, confidence, and a community that gets it.✅ Small groups (just 6 per cohort)✅ Weekly live sessions with me and your cohort✅ Async access to me and your cohort via a private Slack community✅ Invitation to join my alumni community once you’ve completed the programme.Previous attendees have gone on to win major pitches, land new roles, get promoted and step into leadership with more purpose and presence.🚀 Learn more and apply here Get full access to Grow With Adam Jennings at growwithadamjennings.substack.com/subscribe

In this engaging conversation, Jane Cook, a seasoned Product Experience Design Leader with experience at Visa Europe and Hasbro, shares her creative journey from designing Barbie dolls to leading teams in diverse industries. She discusses the importance of mentorship over mere pixels, and how traditional practices like scribbling on walls fuel her creativity. The dialogue covers the evolution of design operations, the significance of inclusivity, and the pressures of leadership. Jane emphasizes a people-first approach and the need to nurture creativity within a demanding system.