Leading Professionals

Laura Empson
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Oct 2, 2023 • 36min

Steve Varley: Profiting from sustainability

Laura and Tony speak to Steve Varley, EY’s first Global Vice Chair for Sustainability. They find out how he was inspired by Greta Thunberg to try to build a bridge between environmentalism and capitalism, and the skills he used to make this happen.  He explains how he created this role in EY to place sustainability at the heart of the firm’s business, and how he mobilised both colleagues and clients to build a significant sustainability practice.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Sep 28, 2023 • 5min

Welcome Back

Welcome back to Leading Professional People, the podcast that explores the most crucial leadership questions currently facing professional organisations. For this third series, Professor Laura Empson, who has dedicated almost 30 years to researching professionals and professional service firms, will be joined by a new co-host, Tony Hall, Lord Hall of Birkenhead, the former Director General of the BBC. Laura and Tony’s guests include a fascinating selection of senior leaders from professional organisations, including EY, Slaughter & May, Spencer Stuart, INSEAD, the BBC, and MI6.Join them to explore the challenges, confusions, frustrations, and elations that make professional organisations so difficult to lead and so fascinating to understand. Follow this podcast so you never miss an episode. Find out more at lauraempson.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Jul 26, 2021 • 31min

Leadership in the spotlight

Empson & Morley speak to Tony Hall, Lord Hall, about his time as Director General of the BBC, and his many other high-profile roles. They examine what it is like to lead complex organizations with multiple groups of stakeholders under intense public scrutiny. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Jul 12, 2021 • 27min

Leadership value chain

How do you build better leaders in a professional service firm? Empson & Morley speak to Russ Hagey, Worldwide Chief Talent Officer of Bain. They explore Bain’s self-reinforcing leadership development system, and the way “insurgency” is both encouraged and controlled to strengthen the system. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Jun 28, 2021 • 33min

Ethics and leadership

Why do professionals do bad things? Empson & Morley speak to Professor Brooke Harrington of Dartmouth College, in the USA. They explore the factors which drive some professionals to behave unethically, and the organizational and societal factors which encourage it. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Jun 14, 2021 • 34min

Extreme collegiality

What is collegiality and how does it work in practice? Empson & Morley speak to Jill Ader, Chair of executive search and leadership advisory firm Egon Zehnder. They examine how to create an environment of mutual support, cultural consistency, and equality among peers. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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May 31, 2021 • 35min

Leadership duets

Barry Devereaux and Catherine Deane, Managing Partner and Chair of leading Irish law firm, McCann Fitzgerald, discuss the effectiveness of dual leadership structures in professional firms. They highlight the importance of having a support system, the significance of dual roles in leadership, and navigating leadership during the pandemic. They also provide advice for firms transitioning to a dual structure and emphasize the importance of conflict resolution and role dynamics in leadership partnerships.
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May 17, 2021 • 30min

Post-pandemic Professionalism

How can leaders help their professionals prepare for the challenges and opportunities of post-pandemic professional work? Empson & Morley explore this theme with Nick Owen, Chair of Deloitte UK. They consider how hybrid working is calling into question some well-established “truths” about the nature of professionalism. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Mar 22, 2021 • 35min

Collaboration in a Cold Climate

How do you create and sustain collaboration when you no longer meet each other face to face? Empson & Morley discuss this with Kirsten Edwards-Warren, Executive Vice President EMEA for Compass Lexecon. They examine the distinctive culture, systems, and structures the firm has developed to encourage collaboration and how it continued to thrive during the pandemic. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Mar 8, 2021 • 33min

Global versus Local

Philip Davidson, Global COO of KPMG, discusses achieving alignment in a global organization. They explore the tension between autonomy and belonging, referral and quality issues, the role of a global COO in a federated partnership, and mechanisms for consistency and accountability.

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