

Leading Professionals
Laura Empson
Welcome to Leading Professionals. Join Professor Laura Empson as she talks to senior leaders from some of the world’s most successful professional organisations about the crucial issues they are currently facing.Each episode reveals the realities that lie beneath the ‘professional’ veneer these highly successful organisations, and their leaders, present to the outside world. Laura uses insights from her lifetime of researching and advising professional organisations to uncover and make sense of the complex, messy and surprisingly emotional challenges of leading professionals, and to identify key learning for all professionals.If you are a professional in a leadership role – or if you simply want to understand your work and your organisation better – then you have come to the right place. Be ready to explore new ideas, challenge your assumptions, and learn to see your world a little differently.Click the subscribe button and to be the first to get episodes of Leading Professionals as soon as they drop. About Professor Laura EmpsonLaura is widely recognised as one of the foremost thinkers in the fields of leadership and professional service firms. She has been conducting academic research into professional organizations for more than 30 years and acts as an advisor to the leaders of many of the world’s most successful professional organizations. Her focus is always on turning academic insights into practical action.She is Professor in the Management of Professional Service Firms at Bayes Business School, University of London, and Professor of Leadership and Organization at Copenhagen Business School. She also holds Research Fellowships at Harvard Law School and Cambridge University. Her most recent book is Leading Professionals: Power, Politics, and Prima Donnas (2022).Website: https://www.lauraempson.com/Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@LeadingProfessionalsLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/professor-laura-empson-69820773/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Nov 3, 2025 • 35min
S4 EP4 - Considering the Future: How AI and Private Equity Will Change Professionals' Work
Guest: Michael Izza CBE, CEO (former) of ICAEWFor almost 20 years, Michael led the ICAEW, with more than 200,000 members in almost 150 countries. So he has a distinctively long-term and global perspective on the accounting profession. Focusing on the interrelated changes of Gen AI and PE ownership, Laura and Michael explore: What is already happening and what changes lie ahead?Website: https://www.lauraempson.comYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@LeadingProfessionalsLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/professor-laura-empson-69820773/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Oct 20, 2025 • 32min
S4 EP3 - Electing Leaders: How to Choose Your Leaders and How To Get Elected
Guest: Michael Ensser, Chair of Egon ZehnderLaura asks Michael: Why does a world leading firm of leadership consultants choose to elect their senior leaders, and how do their elections actually work? They discuss what really goes on behind the scenes of professional service firms’ carefully stage managed leadership elections. Website: https://www.lauraempson.comYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@LeadingProfessionalsLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/professor-laura-empson-69820773/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Oct 6, 2025 • 34min
S4 EP2 - Doing the Right Thing: How to Make Ethically Tough Decisions
Guest: Georgia Dawson, Senior Partner of FreshfieldsIf you are a lawyer you may be able to guess why Laura asks Georgia to explore the challenging theme of professional ethics with her.In a complex commercial, social, and political environment, how do you balance the competing interests of multiple stakeholders?How do you decide, what is the 'right' thing? And then, how do you make sure you do it? Website: https://www.lauraempson.com/Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@LeadingProfessionalsLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/professor-laura-empson-69820773/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sep 22, 2025 • 43min
S4 EP1 - Leading in Uncertain Times: How to Respond to Geopolitical Change and AI Disruption
Guest: Fabien Curto Millet, Chief Economist of Google. Fabien joins Laura to discuss how he and his team of economists anticipate, analyse, and understand the scale of change with which Google must contend. How does he lead his team of professionals, and manage himself, during these uncertain times? And what does he remember from when Laura taught him Strategy at Oxford 25 years ago?Website: https://www.lauraempson.comYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@LeadingProfessionalsLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/professor-laura-empson-69820773/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sep 15, 2025 • 5min
S4 EP0 Welcome to Leading Professionals
Professor Laura Empson introduces key topics and guests from the upcoming series. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dec 11, 2023 • 28min
David Bickford: Spies as professionals
What are the parallels between the worlds of espionage and professional services? Laura and Tony talk to David Bickford, previously General Counsel to MI5 and MI6, about his role as the agencies’ Legal Director and Under Secretary of State. They explore how to build trust when professionals are working remotely, how to collaborate when knowledge is shared on a need-to-know basis, and how to stop powerful professionals from going rogue. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Nov 27, 2023 • 35min
Katherine White: Leading discretely
Katherine White, the first Chief Talent Officer of Spencer Stuart, talks about the challenges of leading professionals in senior roles and how she discreetly brought about change. They discuss the importance of HR expertise in professional firms, establishing credibility, and the growth of the leadership field. She also shares her experience of being an outsider in an organization and the importance of building credibility and understanding the culture.

Nov 13, 2023 • 36min
Gianpiero Petriglieri: Coming out of the psychological closet
Gianpiero Petriglieri, a top management thinker, discusses the importance of addressing hidden emotions in professional organizations. They explore the blending of professionalism and emotional expression, the impact of post-COVID workplace dynamics, grief and anger in the workplace, psychological dynamics of professionals, and the importance of authenticity in leadership.

Oct 30, 2023 • 35min
June Sarpong: Leading as an outsider
June Sarpong, the BBC's Global Director of Creative Diversity, discusses disruptive change, quick decision-making in a slow environment, and the impact of an outsider perspective in leadership. She highlights the importance of data-driven decisions, adding diverse voices to key decision-making bodies, recognizing different leadership styles, and embracing diversity to drive organizational change.

Oct 16, 2023 • 39min
Chris Saul: Subtle power
Former Senior Partner of Slaughter and May, Chris Saul, delves into the use of subtle power in leadership. Topics include building consensus, maintaining independence, navigating loneliness in leadership roles, shaping board meeting agendas in soft industries, firm identity and strategy, and exploring consensus in leadership dynamics.


