About Time - with Chris Nichols

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/

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 to RSPB Video on YouTube: Return

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCl8QdQ9ZaBT65tF1yOmbMBQ

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

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. 

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. 

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.

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.

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 favourites 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/

Jon Alexander is author of the book Citizens (https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/citizens-jon-alexander/7315064?ean=9781912454884) - 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.

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.