Curious Leadership with Dominic Monkhouse

Today’s guests are Carla Cringle and Imogen Pudduck, co-founders of FizzPopBANG Ltd. Their tagline, “making people whistle on their way to work,” says all you need to know about these two upbeat people. They met 15 years ago when they worked together at Red Bull as Head of Brand and Head of HR. Carla and Imogen realised that to have a truly amazing brand that consumers fall in love with, you need infectiously passionate and loyal people that drive that ethos forward. Today, a strong business “plan” is no longer good enough to drive success. They left Red Bull to share their collective knowledge and inject a little sparkle into the working lives of others. Together they created FizzPopBANG, a small but beautifully formed consultancy specialising in brand employee engagement. On today’s podcast: The power of brand ambassadors How to empower people to make brand decisions when you’re not there Why you should show, not tell, what you are as a business Culture is the common denominator of your business. The importance of brand values Culture is built from within, and it’s based on a million different things Links: One thing done well David Hieatt JFDI - podcast

Today’s guest is Professor Moran Cerf, a neuroscientist and business professor at the Kellogg School of Management and the neuroscience program at Northwestern University. He holds a Ph.D in neuroscience from Caltech, an MA in Philosophy and a B.Sc in Physics from Tel-Aviv University. Moran has had a varied work history, prior to his academic career, he spent nearly a decade in industry, holding positions in computer security (as a hacker), pharmaceutical, telecom, fashion, software development, and innovations research. Now he’s interested in how we can use the brain to leverage better business opportunities. He is currently teaching MBA students how to change behaviour, how marketing works and how people think and make decisions. He is a firm believer that social engagements are more powerful than the addictive lure of drugs or our devices, and his goal is to make the world a more optimistic place. Listen to hear him talk on today’s podcast about: How his work addresses questions such as: "How are conscious percepts formed in our brain?" Why social interactions are so important to our brains Why his goal is to make the world a more optimistic place Your brain is a storytelling machine Why we only have control over 15% of our brains, and that doesn’t include the decision-making part How to beat an addiction to social media Links: The Stroop Test Steven Pinker - Enlightenment Now

Today’s guest is Aga Bajer, better known as the Culture Strategist. She helps companies cultivate a better culture in order to bring their vision to life. Aga does this through working with organisations and teams that want to keep evolving to remain at the top of their game. She helps senior leadership teams and individual leaders to cultivate a culture that fuels great work, drives achievement of mission-critical goals and enables positive change. Her overall mission is to help organisations harness the power of culture, to create a world where people love showing up to work. On today’s podcast: Learn about her book, Building and Sustaining a Coaching Culture Learn about her podcast, CultureLab with Aga Bajer How her childhood growing up behind the Iron Curtain in Poland set her on this current path Why she can’t pinpoint which country she loves living in the most What motivated her to leave the corporate world and set out on her own Links: Book: Building and Sustaining a Coaching Culture Podcast: CultureLab with Aga Bajer

Today’s guest on The Melting Pot is John Housego, a proud Cornishman now living in Scotland. John’s background is in engineering and he spent 22 years with W L Gore & Associates. During his time with the company he discovered a passion for developing employee ownership more widely as a business model for the health and welfare of the staff, but also because of the benefits it can bring to company resilience and performance. For John, personal growth at work for all members of the team is incredibly important, as is the culture within that organisation. Throughout his time as a leader with W L Gore & Associates, he learned to become more self-aware, understood how his actions affect others and also found ways to build stronger teams through effective learning and appreciation for EQ. On today’s podcast: The impact leaders have on employee performance The sensitivity to team dynamics when things begin to shift in the workplace Why employers should work to develop employee ownership more widely The importance of company culture, values and goals to employees Why having an associate ownership programme works so well at W L Gore & Associates Links: https://www.gore.com/

Today’s guest is Neal Gandhi, CEO of Panoply, a world-class creative technology group. Configured as a lean, fluid and ego-aside family of complementary tech-focused companies, Panoply collaborates with brave organisations, both at home and abroad, to ensure their participation in tomorrow—and beyond. For Neal, collaboration is key to success. It is one of the tenets of Panoply—their team is collaborative to the core. Panoply assembles the right experts from across the group of companies to solve complex business problems. It help clients challenge assumptions, adapt to change, and activate technology-led innovation that ultimately drives positive and practical outcomes. Panoply champions autonomy and individuality in its companies, whilst remaining tightly bound by their shared approach at the end of the day. Join us today as Neal talks about: Why Panoply floated just 2 years after incorporating Why the Panoply M&A journey is atypical What the Panoply vision for the future looks like How Panoply grew so quickly Why Olly Rigby was Neal’s perfect business partner Why Panoply is like a murmuration of starlings Why RPA is the future The benefits of nearshoring Links: https://www.thepanoply.com

Today’s guest is Tristan White, CEO of The Physio Co. For 10 consecutive years, The Physio Co has ranked as one of Australia's 50 Best Places to Work. Today we find out how he has achieved that. The Physio Co exists to help Australian seniors stay mobile, safe & happy, and since its inception in 2004, The Physio Co has grown from just one person with a vision to change seniors health care forever, to today where The Physio Co has more than 150 team members and delivers over 300,000 physiotherapy consultations per year. Tristan regularly shares his journey through his blog Culture is Everything and latterly through his book of the same name, as well as his podcast, Think Big, Act Small. On today’s podcast: How he grew his team to 150 Why he set his 10-year goal to have treated 2 million seniors What new goal they’ve just set for the next 10 years His journey to date as well as some of his pitfalls The challenges he faced early on hiring people The importance of finding the sweet spot between being a friend and a boss Why he chose to write his book The different types of culture businesses can have What he wishes he knew earlier on in his career Links: Blog - Culture is Everything Book - Culture is Everything Podcast - Think Big, Act Small

Today we talk to Andy Fletcher, a chartered accountant with a MBA from London Business School, who is also responsible for making spectacular family theatre events happen in unique spaces. With an eclectic business path behind him, Andy shares his career to date and how he came to be responsible for In the Night Garden Live (amongst others). In the Night Garden Live was his first production with partner Andy Collier, and it has toured the UK in its own inflatable theatre since 2009. Now in its 10th year, In the Night Garden Live is considered one of the UK’s favourite family events and with audience figures standing at well over 1 million, as well as a whopping 4.8 out of 5 stars based on 12,844 parents’ reviews, no other show holds a torch to this one. Join us on today’s podcast to hear Andy talking about: Why he chose to get involved with such a complicated production as In The Night Garden. His reason behind opting to use the airline ticketing model to sell theatre tickets. Why he believes their ticketing model is the ticketing model of the future. The difference between their two productions: In The Night Garden and Bing Bunny (as well as dropping a bombshell that they have another production in the pipeline). Why it’s so important as a small business owner to be a jack of all trades. The importance of investing in great staff. Links: In the Night Garden Live Bing Live Show

Today’s guest is Danielle Chiel, an Australian entrepreneur who founded KOCO (Knit One Change One). Danielle, through KOCO, is seeking to change lives one hand-knitted garment at a time. She currently employs 200 Indian ladies from various villages in India, to hand-knit garments for her; but her dream is to expand the business and employ 10,000 women. KOCO hand-knits garments for global fashion brands - they produce fashions and homewares that customers love, by working with women in the rural villages in the south of Tamil Nadu. At the same time as giving these ladies employment, KOCO provides them with an education and all the training they need, in order to become world-class handknitters. On today’s podcast learn: Where Danielle’s love for knitting came from. How she is building a women’s only business which is hand-knitting the world together. How she started after she swore never to go back to India after a disastrous holiday there. Where you can find out more information about the lady that hand-knitted the jumper you are wearing. Why consumers have to drive the necessary change in order to strip back the strict confidentiality agreements that brands insist on, to reveal where their clothing is made. The trials and tribulations of getting a new business off the ground in a country that doesn’t speak your language. Links: KOCO

Husband and wife team Caspar and Nichola Craven are an intrepid pair of entrepreneurs. Caspar is a long-time entrepreneur and former managing director at a technology business, and Nichola was a criminal barrister for 12 years before joining forces with Caspar. Caspar decided that what was holding him back in business was that he wasn’t focusing enough time at home. So, he took what he was learning in his business--having a purpose, having core values, having goals--back into his home life, which lead to the couple’s decision to take the family sailing around the world for two years. Listen as they both share their story and how they’ve created a new business working together to coach entrepreneurs in the importance of focusing on family first to enjoy the journey, working together as a team toward a common goal. On today’s podcast: A family first mentality “Nothing ever happens without a deadline” Values-based approach in business and at home The benefits of spending quality time with family Don’t defer happiness Links: The Brave You Where the Magic Happens: How a Young Family Changed Their Lives and Sailed Around the World CasparCraven.com

David Hieatt, CEO of Hiut Denim, is best known for giving purpose (and their jobs) back to the jeans makers in Cardigan, Wales. 400 Grandmasters (as David calls them) lost their jobs in 2002 when the jeans factory they were working in closed down. David felt a huge responsibility to give these skilled workers an opportunity to put their skills to use again as he had first hand experience, from growing up in the Welsh Valleys, of the devastating impact that huge job loss has on a community. The town hadn’t just lost their identity, they were losing £1m per week from their economy. Fast forward to 2018 and having spent nothing on a marketing drive, David got extremely lucky when Meghan Markle wore a pair of Hiut denim jeans and overnight Hiut were flooded with orders, resulting in a three month waiting list. David’s business philosophy of ‘create influence and a purpose driven business’ had paid off. Hiut Denim was firmly established on the fashion map for crafting long lasting, well made jeans. As well as creating a high end jeans label, David is also the co-founder of the Do Lectures - the idea behind these being a simple one: people who Do things, can inspire the rest of us to go and Do amazing things too. Tune in to hear: The enormous potential of the compound effect The value of persistence and the impact of improving yourself by 1% each day Purpose-driven brand growth How to make a return on luck Why naivety is a good quality in entrepreneurs Links: Do Open Do Purpose Do Lectures Hiut Denim