About Time

About Time is an unfiltered journey into the remarkable stories of the people that are addressing some of the worlds biggest challenges.

Chris sits down with some of the most fascinating people he knows on a curiosity driven journey to learn lessons and discover insights that we hope will make an impact on those that listen.

The Philippa Hardman One: A 20 Year Collaboration

In this first episode of the Project 65, About Time podcast, Chris Nichols and Philippa Hardman discuss their long-standing collaboration in strategy engagement. They reflect on their work together, innovative approaches to strategy implementation, and the impact of their practice over the years. They also look ahead to future conversations and guests.

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The Geoff Mead one - the richness of story

This episode features Chris in conversation with author, educator and master story-teller Geoff Mead. Geoff and Chris have often worked together over the past twenty or more years. Chris explores with Geoff the roots of his practice, and its links to the therapeutic and leadership development worlds, and dives into Geoff’s latest work on writing, identity and the remaking of possibility.

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The Michael Chaskalson One: Wake Up!

In this episode Chris spends time with long time colleague Michael Chaskalson, buddhist teacher and mindfulness practitioner. Michael is a writer, consultant, coach and academic, and author of many books. His work brings the wisdom of buddhist practice together with the latest work in physiology and neuroscience, to help leaders and teams be more fully human and effective in turbulent times. Michael’s latest research and writing explores the importance of the move from being mindful to being wakeful. It’s vital stuff.

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The Helen Sieroda One: Deep work, limitless possibility

In this episode of the About Time podcast, Chris Nichols is in conversation with Helen Sieroda, a leadership expert and coach. They discuss Helen’s journey through eastern philosophy, psychosynthesis psychology, her coaching philosophy, the impact of her master’s degree, and the importance of action inquiry in leadership development. Helen shared her insights on purpose in business, the challenges of B Corp certification, and the significance of paying attention to the world around us. The conversation also delves into the concept of sub-personalities in leadership and the importance of finding joy in the work we do. Helen reflects on her writing practice and the personal growth that comes from embracing discomfort and creativity.

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The Alex Steele One: Exploring organisations and leadership with the mind & heart of a jazz musician

This episode finds Chris in conversation with his old friend and colleague Alex Steele. Alex is a professional jazz musician as well as being a visiting Professor and Fellow at business schools and universities. He is a coach and an academic specialising in environmental matters. This episode takes a playful deep dive into Alex’s work, including its roots in his family where music was the first language. Alex talks about how his jazz improvisational work helps leaders in organisational life to develop deep and heartfelt collaboration skills that allow them to work differently with uncertainty. This episode concludes with a lovely piece of jazz improv from Alex at the keyboard.

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The Roger Kneebone One: Surgery, improvisation and the infinite richness of knowing

In this episode, Chris Nichols talks to Professor Roger Kneebone, who has been a surgeon, a GP, a medical educator, a harpsicord player (and maker) and explorer across many frontiers. Roger and Chris first met during Roger’s engagement fellowship at The Wellcome Trust, and from there dived into many adventures in looking at the world through richly different lenses. Roger’s book, Expert, is one of Chris’ favourite pieces of writing on the subject of expertise, and in particular the improvisational edges that it embraces. This episode includes a treasury of references and links, kindly provided by Roger, which we have included in the show notes. Roger also talks about his latest work, using artful collaborations and simulation to address the problem of knife crime.

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The Mark Harmer One – The way of the frog and the sound of one tail wagging

Chris and Mark first met during the Ashridge MSc in Organisational Consulting, when Chris was struggling to find colleagues who could bear his love of ambiguity and improvisation. Mark immediately struck Chris as someone who rejoices in creating experiences to explore the unknown. In this episode Chris and Mark explore the roots of Mark’s work, from being a professional musician to his time as a sound engineer, and the joy of weaving his worlds together when he developed his form of organisational work called Grounded Creativity. This was a form of musical constellation inquiry, that Chris and Mark took into organisations as diverse as the NHS, Lufthansa, Beiersdorf, financial services and many more, to help address systems changes when the use of words was just not sufficient for the job.

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The Phoebe Tickell One: On imagination activism and creating possibility

Phoebe Tickell describes herself as a renegade scientist, systems thinker and social entrepreneur. Chris describes her as a world shifting human dynamo! Chris and Phoebe first met at Schumacher College in Devon. Phoebe is the founder of Moral Imagination, an organisation that helps to bring about an ecological shift in society and consciousness through the power of imagination. This episode explores this work, the amazing range of foundations and influences that underpin her work, and look at where the amazing energy of Phoebe may take it next. This is a great episode for anyone needing to see how, even in dark and troubling times, the power of imagination breathes light and possibility into making something new and better possible.

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The Minni Jain One: Flow and the language of water

Minni Jain is a pioneer in participative work around river restoration and in the indigenous wisdom around living waters. In this episode Chris and Minni explore the roots of her work, and her connection to Satish Kumar, to Tagore, and to Schumacher College. Then they dive into the work of The Flow Partnership and its work worldwide, as well as the new award winning book Minni has written with Philip Frances, The Language of Water.

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The Helena Clayton One: Working with love in organisations

Helena Clayton is a coach, facilitator, writer and podcaster, whose work will be well known to many people in the organisational development and learning fields. Chris and Helena have known each other for a long time, through a shared interest in love in organisational work. In this episode Helena talks about how her work on love came into being, and Helena shares reflections on how her Love Lab experiments have developed. The episode also take a look at the notion of endings, and hospicing, and the place of love in handling “good enough” endings.

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The Kai Peters One: Leading universities in a shifting world

Kai Peters was the CEO of Ashridge throughout much of Chris’ time there, and has since played a range of higher education leadership roles. In this episode,Chris and Kai reflect on the Ashridge story, on the challenges facing higher education today, and on the future of business schools. Kai also shares some of his reflections on the skills and attributes needed in top university leadership in a world of AI, shifting geopolitics and societal change.

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The Steve Clark One: Shifting the language of cancer

Chris Nichols first met Steve Clark at Anthropy 25 – a gathering of social change-makers at the Eden Project organised by John O’Brien. Chris was blown away by Steve’s personal story around his stage four cancer diagnosis, and how he has harnessed his experience to lead social change through education, activism and patient participation. In this episode Steve and Chris explore this story, and take a deep dive into shifting the language around cancer care, palliative care and more. It’s a powerful, personal and positive episode.

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The Salt Path One: Chris Nichols and one very long and silent walk

In 2016, following a traumatic departure from work he loved, Chris Nichols took a long walk, covering the South West Coast Path as a solo silent walk during the season from May to September. In this closing episode of Series One, Philippa Hardman leads Chris through a reflection of his reaction to the Raynor Winn book The Salt Path, and the new film of the same name, drawing out Chris’ reflections on his walk. The reflections draw together some of the themes of this first series of the About Time podcast.
 

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The John Higgins One: Doing rigorous work on voice and space

John Higgins has been a friend and colleague for many years, and we are blessed that he is our research partner at GameShift. John has produced some of the most powerful and vital research to influence the organisational, leadership, HR and OD fields over the past few years. This conversation gave us the chance to go behind the content of his writing to explore the foundations – why this work matters to John, the influences that have shaped his work, and the experiences that make it possible.

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The Edward Peck One: Unleashing open strategy at Nottingham Trent University

Edward Peck was Vice Chancellor of NTU for ten years, before standing down in July 2025 to become Chair of the office for Students. Edwards tenure saw NTU soar in the league tables, with the University winning many awards, including University of the Year. In this episode Edward, and GameShift’s Philippa Hardman, reflect on the participative approach to strategy making and action that formed the cornerstone of Edward’s approach. GameShift worked with NTU through two complete strategic cycles, and the relationship between Philippa and Edward was a crucial part of the work. This conversation explores the how and why of taking this approach, and draws out lessons that will be of value to others planning participative (or open) strategy work in their university or other organisations.

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The Bill Critchley One: A radical voice in organisational consulting

Bill Critchley was Chris Nichols teacher on the Ashridge MSc in Organisational Consulting and Change, and for many years a colleague in Ashridge Consulting. In this episode Chris invites Bill to share some of his life story – including the influences that shaped his work and the challenges and triumphs of bringing a gestalt perspective into the work of a business school. It’s a wonderful and rich conversation delving into a pivotal period in the development of a truly radical consulting practice that ran itself according to the principles it taught and espoused. It’s both a piece of oral history of the field, and a totally contemporary take on what matters in organisations today.

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The Fiona Tilley One: Facilitating deep learning

I first met Dr Fiona Tilley (or just Tilley, as I know her) as a participant on the Schumacher College Certificate in Education for Sustainability, a course I taught alongside Toni Spencer and Karen Blincoe many years ago. Tilley arrived having stepped away from her role as a business school academic. She has a doctorate and a CV full of publications and research. And when she arrived, she’d run out of road within the confines of business school academic roles. She was looking for something that gave her space for a deeper exploration. This conversation explores the place of space and facilitation in transformative learning, both from Tilley’s experience of that pivotal time in her life, and from her subsequent work as one of the most experienced facilitators of deep explorative journeys, taking people deep into renewed relationships with themselves and the wider living world.

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The Jean Boulton One: Diving into the Dao of complexity

Jean Boulton is the real deal when it comes to working with complexity. She’s got a PhD in quantum physics, an MBA, and an MPhil from Bath University – entitled The Complexity Turn: Narrative, Science and Utility. She’s written a lot, including two major books about complexity in organisations, and in wider life. Jean is a terrific teacher and communicator, and makes it possible for people outside the science field to understand some of the most difficult concepts that are becoming essential elements of organisational understanding. In this conversation we talk about Jean’s work, particularly her latest book The Dao of Complexity, about using it in practice, and about Jean’s life journey that brought her to writing such an exciting and pivotal book.

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The Rob Hopkins One: The power of imagination

Rob Hopkins is something of a legend for his work in creating the Transitions Town movement. But there’s much more to know. In recent times his focus has been on the power of imagination and creativity. He has written two books on this, and is a powerful workshop facilitator and speaker. In this episode I was delighted to ask Rob to talk about some of his roots and influences, and to share some of his hopes for the future of the work.

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The Victoria Hurth One: Purpose and governance

I’ve known Dr Victoria Hurth for a long time. When we met she was doing her PhD at Exeter. She’s subsequently been a full time academic, and more recently has moved into freelance “pracademic” roles. I’ve always been blown away by her capacity to handle massive creative and organisational workloads. She’s a teacher, a writer and a convener / collaborator on the globe governance stage. In this episode we talk about the roots and origins of her work, and what keeps her going. We talk about her work on the new ISO, and her forthcoming book Beyond Profit. It’s a fascinating conversation and I hope you enjoy it.

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The Stephen Gould One: Heritage, renewal and the power of place-making

Stephen Gould was the MD of family brewer and pub owner Everards for many years, and I first met him through my work with the ALMR (the pub and hospitality trade body, known these days as Hospitality UK). Stephen these days is a non-exec, being Deputy Chair of Everards and serving on several other boards. He has always been a purpose led leader, based on his christian faith, and also an inherent belief in the importance of people and trust. In this episode we talk about that way of leading, and about how it enabled the re-invention of a heritage brewing company into a place based community offering, linking commercial success to partnership and place. It’s a fascinating story.

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The Giles Hutchins One: Putting future fitness at the heart of everything

I’ve known Giles Hutchins for a long time. When we first met, Giles was in the process of leaving his mainstream consulting role to become a freelance writer and speaker. He moved to Devon, and we had many opportunities to walk on the moor and talk about our mutual work (at the time I ran the sustainability MSc at Ashridge and also taught at Schumacher College). In the years since, Giles has become one of the leading authors in the field of regenerative and future fit business. He is an acknowledged expert and speaker, and now hosts life changing gatherings on his farm. He tells some of this story, and speaks about his own origins and influences in this episode. It’s a wonderful and rich conversation.

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The Eve Poole One: On spanning worlds and making a difference

Dr Eve Poole is a speaker, writer, Chair and Chief Executive, and an old friend. We worked together at Ashridge for many years. These days she is based in Edinburgh and has worked as a Chair and Chief Executive of several fascinating organisations from Gordonstoun School to the Church Estates Commission. She is one of the few people I know who has been immortalised as an oil painting, and who is a regular guest on BBC Scotland. In this episode she shares some of her stories, and speaks about what inspires her to do the work she does. Time with Eve is always time well spent, and this episode is a lovely exploration of some worlds most of us don’t get to see.

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The James Aldridge One: Art and the living world

In this episode I talk to James Aldridge about his work as an artist. James was a long time friend and colleague of our mutual friend, artist, Dr Chris Seeley. In this episode James talks about how they first met, it involved art and socks. James also talks about his work, in community art making and in his own practice and how it helps to build awareness and connection to place and to the living world. He talks particularly about his Queer Rivers work, which is a powerful and wonderful (and now long lasting) exploration. A delightful conversation bringing to life James’ work and its importance.

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The Peter Shepherd One: Of groups and large families

Peter was a colleague in Ashridge Consulting, who subsequently did his doctoral work at the Tavistock NHS Trust. Peter is a massively experienced and skilled group consultant, and in this episode he talks about his doctorate (fascinating work embedded in a leadership team at a time of a shift, from an era of plenty to times of difficulty). It’s a consulting story of great relevance to all of us now, as the world, or at least many parts of it, move into more strained and stretching times. Peter is a generous teller of the story, sharing much about himself and why this work matters to him.

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The Cedi Frederick one: Addressing health inequalities by joining up systems

Cedi Frederick is one of my inspirations. I first met Cedi on a Chief Executives programme run by ACEVO at Ashridge 20+ years ago. Since then Cedi has been CEO and board member of numerous bodies in health and social care. Most recently his focus has been on Chairing an Integrated Care Board, and on working on bodies addressing racial and other inequalities in health in Lonon and beyond. It’s a fascinating journey, from being a child of the Windrush generation to becoming one of the leading figures in healthcare, by way of professional basketball. Time spent with Cedi is always time well spent – do have a listen.

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The Andres Roberts One: Creating a global fellowship

Andres was one of my students on the Ashridge MSc in SUstainability and Responsibility. He has since gone on to create the Bi-leadership Fellowship, which is a process to nurture deep connections and a shift in leadership around the world. It’s a fascinating story, and Andres tells it in his usual gentle way. But don’t be misled – this is pioneering and powerful stuff. A wonderful story, told by Andres as he prepared for a journey to Norway, amongst other things to visit the legendary mountain cabin of deep ecological pioneer Arne Naess. Just delightful.

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The Sue Pritchard One: Shifting the story on food and farming

Sue Pritchard is a farmer in Monmouthshire, and she also Chairs the Food, Farming and Countryside Commission – which has moved from being a temporary commission of inquiry to becoming a permanent voice in the policy and practice space around the relationship between land, food and farming. Sue is a passionate advocate for better – better food, better treatment of farming, better ecological practice – and she does not see these as separate. This episode is a wonderful weaving of personal worlds and policy imperatives.

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The Elizabeth McManus One: On practice, depth and poetry

I’ve known Elizabeth for some years, ever since we met working as collaborators on a joint Oxford Group – GameShift project. Elizabeth is a superb developer of people, as a facilitator and coach. She brings to her work a massive depth of experience in contemplative practice, and a passionate gentle focus on the sheer wonder of the question “what is this?”. In this episode we talk about her work, and how organisational work has now given way, mostly, to other forms of practice in art and poetry. If you’re at all interested in personal growth, in how things change, and the wonder of noticing how things are, then this is a conversation you’ll want to hear.

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The Damien Page One: A new role pursued with a lifelong purpose

I’ve been a follower of Buckingham New University’s VC Damian Page ever since I started to see his crystal clear and provocative posts about leadership on LinkedIn. He’s someone who talks very openly about how he leads and his aspirations for the kind of university he wants BNU to be. I’ve also taken part in Damian’s on-line group for working class leaders in the sector, and through that saw his commitment to facilitating change by getting the best from people, whatever their origins. In this episode Damian talks in his characteristic open style about coming into the VC role, about the team and culture and how it works, and about his pragmatic preparation to create a university and a leadership team that can deal with whatever emerges as the next strategic challenge. It’s a fascinating and generous episode and I was delighted that Damian took the time to do this.

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The Rob Sexton One - Farming and food with nature at its heart

Rob Sexton is CEO of Yeo Valley, the west country based organic food producer, a family business based on sites near to its roots on a Somerset farm.  Regenerative work is right at the heart of what this brand is about, and Rob is the real deal when it comes to pursuing the meaning of regenerative farming into the wider food system. He comes from a farming family and his links to the land runs through everything he does. At the same time, he’s worked in the corporate world, including a spell at Enron, and carries with him lifelong lessons that run through his leadership and values. I’ve known Rob for many years now, and was delighted when he agreed to do this episode. This is a wonderful conversation, with a CEO with deep purpose in his heart, and a radicalism deeply grounded in the power of connection and place. I hope you enjoy it.

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The Jon Alexander One: The next edge

Jon Alexander is author of the book Citizens (https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/citiz…) – a book that has captured the imagination of people all around the world. I’ve known Jon for a long time, and I’ve been impressed by all he does. Which is why I am so excited about this podcast, which finds Jon right at the start of the next frontier … a new role at Harvard, a new book in the early stages of germination, and new forms of participation as Jon moves more into his role as a political theorist and societal catalyst. It’s a lovely, inquiring, exploring episode. I was delighted to have the chance to do it at this moment in the development of a new set of ideas and actions. I hope you enjoy it.

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The Steve Chapman One: the wisdom of trying stuff and seeing what happens

I love Steve’s work. He’s an artist, a workshop creator, a facilitator and so much more. I’ve known Steve for his constant exploring of new edges and new experiments. This is such a rich episode that I can’t give it a summary. I just want to say that this is one of my absolute favorites so far. A rich life story, the power of finding people who support and develop you, the courage to stand on stages and not know what comes next … not to mention an amazing podcast series of total silence. If Steve is already in your world you’ll love this. And if he isn’t someone you’ve come across, please do dive in and follow up the links. He really is an amazing human and I am delighted to know him.
 
Here’s some links to Steve’s work:
Shop: shop.canscorpionssmoke.com
Website: www.canscorpionssmoke.com
Instagram: www.instagram.com/stevexoh
Substack: https://stevexoh.substack.com/

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The Megan Reitz One - Spacious work

I’ve worked with Megan for years: we ran a brilliant simulation together and that experience was a period of growth and exploration for both of us. Since then, Megan has written some of the most amazing research and books, with co-authors like Michael Chaskalson and John Higgins, who have both been guests in this series. She is sought after as a speaker, facilitator and consultant, and I admire her greatly. I am delighted that we had the chance to do this episode before she went off on a summer break. It’s a lovely exploration of her research and writing, its roots and why it all matters so much to her. I do hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
 

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The David Petley One: Academic leadership and learning from landslides

Dave Petley is VC of Hull, and alongside his leadership role he maintains an active academic life in the field of landslides. He’s about to move – towards the end of the year – to become VC of one of the UK’s largest universities, NTU. I was delighted to get this chance to talk to Dave at this point in the year, as he prepares to leave his existing role well, to arrive well into the new organisation, and to handle conflicts of interest in the interim. It’s a fascinating conversation, about Dave’s background and what makes him who he is as a leader. He talks about how he’s led major changes at Hull, and built the right team to do it. He also talks about the importance of education and of the often unseen and under-appreciated complexity of being an academic leader. It’s a really fascinating chat – of value to everyone wanting to understand university leadership, and to folks interested in organisational leadership more broadly. And we take a look at landslides too, and what we can learn from them about organisational life. I hope you enjoy this one.

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The Narendra Laljani one: life and learning from a master of strategy

I’m thrilled to release this episode of About Time with Narendra Laljani. Narendra was a continuous influence during my years at Ashridge. It’s fair to say I learned the practice of strategy on many places, but I learned the teaching of strategy from Narendra. He was also the first person I knew to take a professional doctorate – his work on developing strategic leaders remains a powerful contribution to the work of growing top level strategic capability. This episode reflects the influences on Narendra’s work, and its impact and importance today. I do hope you enjoy it as much as as I did.

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The Peter Reason One: Life as inquiry

I’ve rarely worked with Peter Reason, but his work has been hugely influential on me and my life. As one of the pioneers of participatory methods of inquiry, in organisational life and elsewhere, Peter was a co-founder of the Bath MSc that I later co-led at Ashridge, and also of the doctoral action research centre there. Since retiring from Bath, Peter has focused on writing. He has made long and remote voyages in his small yacht, inquiring into his relationship with the more than human world, and currently focuses his work on conversations with rivers, asking what it is to meet rivers and other bodies of water as sentient beings. This is a lovely and wide ranging conversation, digging deep into Peter’s life, work and inspirations. Peter generously shares his writings via his webpage, to which there is a link below. I hope you enjoy this episode. The writing is available at peterreason.net

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The Beccy Speight One: on leading one of Europe’s largest nature focused charities

I’ve know Beccy Speight since her time at the National Trust. Since then she’s been CEO of The Woodland Trust and now leads the RSPB – one of the largest nature focused charities in Europe. Beccy is a leader who lives and breathes her passion for the work she does. This episode explores how she came into the role, and how she leads this astonishing organisation, which has a far broader portfolio of work than many of us will realise. It’s a fascinating conversation with a prominent leader of a major charity. I hope you enjoy it. There are so many links between this episode and others in this series including the Rob Sexton one, the Sue Pritchard one, and the Future Fit episode with Giles Hutchins, and many more. Link toRSPB video on Youtube: ReTurn    • RETURN – the incredible 50-year comeback s…  

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The Derek Walker One: Looking out for generations as yet unborn

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/

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The Miles Cherry One: the power of acting for business

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 React Website: www.react.co.uk

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The Margaret Gearty One: From microprocessors to eco-poetry

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.

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The Laura Peters One: Leading in the arts, leading as an art

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.

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The Sarah Williams One: Challenging the boundaries of tradition

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.

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The Charlotte Calkin One: The power and joy of restorative work

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.

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The Barbara Banda One: Brilliant work with brilliant energy

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-B…
The December 2022 Podcast https://gameshift.co.uk/how-to-have-a…
Barbara’s webpage https://www.barbarabandaconsulting.co…

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The Isabel Carlisle one: Placing bioregions centrally in thinking and action

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
 

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The Tricia Riddell One: Neuroscience - beyond the hype and myth

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.

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The Karen Blincoe One: Sustaining deep work over time

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.

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The Abbot Christopher Jamison one: contemporary lessons and ancient ways

I first met Abbot Christopher during the pandemic when he asked me to facilitate a conversation for a group of monks. It turned out to be one of those wonderful and rich experiences that become woven into the fabric of our lives. I have since worked with several communities of monks, and have gained huge respect for the Brothers and their life and work. Abbot Christopher is the inspiration behind the BBC series The Monastery, now 20 years ago. The community invited 5 laymen to experience 40 days of monastics life. It was a wonderful experiment and a great programme. Abbot Christopher also wrote the book, Finding Sanctuary. I think he, his work, and the Rule of Benedict has a lot to say about many issues in modern organisational life, and in society more widely. I loved having this conversation and I hope you find it fruitful.

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