About Time - with Chris Nichols

I worked with Karen Blincoe when she led Schumacher College at Dartington, Devon. Karen invited me to join her, and Programme Director Toni Spencer, in co-creating and facilitating the Schumacher Certificate in Sustainable Education. We had a wonderful group from all over the world, and it was a joy to work with Karen on that programme.Karen has done so many rich and wonderful things, in the UK, Denmark and beyond. This is a lovely conversation, and I do hope you enjoy it.Karen has provided some links to her work and to references she makes during the conversation, and these are below.Links and Credits:Photo: SILVERS: Yolanta C. Siuhttps://www.schumachercollege.org/www.thesilvers.dkhttps://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-10023-9https://www.karenblincoe.dk/

Professor Patricia Riddell is a neuroscientist. She teaches and consults widely, and is a coach and author too. She spends a lot of her time dispelling the many airport management book myths and overclaims about brains and how they work. Tricia brings science to centre stage, helping leaders to get clearer on what we do know, what we don’t know, and why each of these matters. She does all of this in a wonderfully clear and engaging way, making brain science practical and applicable to leaders and coaches.I loved our conversation and Tricia’s generosity in sharing her links and inspirations too. I do hope you enjoy this one as much as I did.Links:University profileshttps://www.henley.ac.uk/people/professor-patricia-riddellhttps://www.reading.ac.uk/pcls/staff/patricia-riddellNeuroEffective Leadership bookhttps://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/mono/10.4324/9781003534563/neuroeffective-leadership-patricia-riddell-ian-mcdermottNeuroscience of Leadership Coaching bookhttps://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/neuroscience-of-leadership-coaching-9781472911124/The course I run with Ian McDermott at ITS on Applied Neurosciencehttps://itsnlp.com/applied-neuroscience-programme/

I first met Isabel when she came on a certificate programme at the legendary Schumacher College, where I was teaching with Chris Seeley and Toni Spencer. Isabel was already a highly accomplished leader and pioneer, particularly in the arts and education, and it was a delight to see her take her talents into a new field.Over the past ten years she’s co-created and led the South Devon Bioregional Learning Centre, which is now a flourishing and influential hub and part of an international network and shared learning spreading the practices and ideas.It’s a fascinating podcast, I hope you get as much from the episode as I did, and from Isabel’s links via the bioregion web page here : www.bioregion.org.uk 

I have known Professor Barbara Banda for many years - since we worked together at Ashridge (we started around the same time and had many opportunities to work together).I’ve admired Barbara all that time, and was delighted when she wrote her book The Model Black, which is packed with stories and insights. I was delighted to feature Barbara and her book on a GameShift pop-up event back in December 2022.This is a more personal conversation, about the book and about the life experiences and journey behind it.  Barbara’s energy and passion leap out in this podcast. I loved recording it, and I hope you’ll enjoy it every bit as much as I did.Links to the book, the previous podcast and to Barbara’s own webpage are below.The Model Black: https://www.routledge.com/The-Model-Black-How-Black-British-Leaders-Succeed-in-Organisations-and-Why-It-Matters/Banda/p/book/9781032060545The December 2022 Podcast:https://gameshift.co.uk/how-to-have-a-good-conversation-about-race-at-work/Barbara’s webpage:https://www.barbarabandaconsulting.co.uk/

I first met Charlie Calkin a few years back working on a project together, and I was simply bowled over by how good she is. Charlie is one of the leading UK practitioners in restorative justice, and restorative practice more generally. Her work is in demand more and more in organisational settings, and in social and political and policy circles, and I can’t think of much that’s more important than this. It’s a wonderful, rich and timely conversation. I do hope you enjoy it, and enjoy this connection to Charlie and her work.

I came across Professor Sarah Williams through social media, when she posted a comment about her aspiration that the international strategy of BNU (Buckingham New University) would be a decolonial one, setting it apart from many traditional university international strategies.  This fascinated me, and I immediately asked Sarah to come on the podcast to say more about this. It was a fascinating topic too - but we didn’t limit ourselves to that one theme. In the end we explored Sarah’s personal story, how she became an academic in the first place, and how she moved into leadership roles.This episode will be of interest to anyone with a keen eye on what universities are doing to create difference, from the past and from each other. It’s also a great one for folks interested in how people grow into leadership roles and continue to learn once they’re in them.I really enjoyed meeting Sarah, and I hope you do too.

I only recently met Professor Laura Peters. We met when I heard about her move to West Dean, and knew I had to invite Laura onto the series because of the unique nature of West Dean and her role there. I fully confess my bias here - I think West Dean is terrific, does such amazing work in arts and conservation, and is a stunning beautiful place as well. So when I had the chance to talk to Laura I was delighted.It’s a lovely episode, featuring the story of West Dean, but also Laura’s personal story as a senior academic leader, what shapes her leadership and how she came to lead in the way she does. She also shares insights into making a move from one top role to another, which will be of interest to leaders on the move anywhere.I was thrilled to do this one, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

I worked with Dr Margaret Gearty on the wonderful MSc in Sustainability and Responsibility when it moved from Bath to Ashridge, and I have respected and loved her work on “learning histories” ever since. This is a terrific episode, tracing Margaret’s personal journey from being one of the very few women designing micro-processors in Silicon Valley in the boom years, to becoming an action researcher in ecology and organisations, to becoming a poet and more. It’s personal, gentle and full of insights - and Margaret generously mentions many of her current and past inspirations and has provided links to her writings where you can follow up as deeply as you wish.  Delightful stuff, I do hope you enjoy it.

I’ve known Miles Cherry for a long time. He’s the founder of React, Acting for Business, and I started working with Miles and his team of actors during my Ashridge time, as much as 25 years back.Working with these actors has been transformational for me - seeing the power of rehearsing conversations first hand, and also the visceral experience of people facing their fears and learning to overcome them and flourish.  In this podcast Miles tells his own story, of being an actor and discovering the impact of role play in leadership development. It’s a tremendous story full of leadership and entrepreneurial insight. Wonderful stuff, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.Link to the React website: www.react.co.uk

Derek Walker has a job he loves and a role that is as rare as it is vital and radical. He’s the Future Generations Commissioner for Wales, with the role of holding to account the entirety of the Welsh government in its responsibilities to consider the interests of future generations. I first met Derek at Anthropy 2025 at the Eden Project, and knew that he’d be a fascinating guest on About Time - after all, he has taken on one of the most long term thinking roles anywhere.This is a terrific conversation with someone passionate about the role they do and the importance of doing it well for a future much bigger than himself. I hope you enjoy it.Here’s a link to the webpage of the Office of the Future Generations Commissioner: https://futuregenerations.wales/