Cutting Through with Natasha Plowman

Richard Mahoney, chairman and owner of Camden Town Women's Football Club, joins Natasha Plowman on Cutting Through. A former accountant who built and sold his own practice, Richard talks about walking away from finance to take on a football club at the bottom of the English pyramid — and the ten-to-twelve-year plan to take it to the top.

They cover what twenty-five years of working with entrepreneurs and sports executives taught him about tenacity and consistency as the real markers of lasting leadership. The genuine overlap (and the real differences) between running a business and running a club, and the extraordinary growth story of English women's football since the FA's fifty-year ban was lifted. Plus: Wrexham, Ted Lasso, and a very close encounter with Jason Sudeikis.

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Cutting Through is powered by Spinning Red and produced by Kleiner Studios

Lucy Newcomb has spent 25 years recruiting corporate affairs leaders and building the next generation of talent in Australia. She joins Natasha Plowman on Cutting Through from Sydney to explore what it takes to build a corporate affairs function that lasts.

They talk about why business strategy has to come first, how aligning comms to the operating model changes everything, and why measurement only matters when the numbers ladder up to what the business is trying to achieve, especially focusing on what AMEC is doing to move the industry beyond a focus on big, meaningless numbers.

They also get practical about supporting junior talent: from needing leaders who listen to mentors outside your own function. The role long-term relationships with recruiters play in careers that aren't linear. Plus Lucy's view on ageism and the role of AI in recruitment.

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Cutting Through is produced by Kleiner Studios for Spinning Red. Rate and review so more people find our conversations.

Gary George is a technology and operations director with over 36 years leading teams through two major scale-ups into the billions. He joins Natasha Plowman on Cutting Through to unpack why leadership that works at 60 people falls apart at 6,000.

They trace how top-down messages get lost in translation as companies grow. How the "Chinese whispers" effect and siloed departments who chase their own bonuses make employees feel like "a cell on a spreadsheet."

Gary shares the story of a managing director who put a number on a whiteboard to make an entire leadership team understand the true cost of a meeting, and why policies, from travel class to performance monitoring, shape whether people trust their leaders. They close on why fear is blocking AI adoption, and why leaders need to name it head-on rather than let the chatter around it grow.

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Cutting Through is produced by Kleiner Studios for Spinning Red.

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Lorna Cobbett, founder and CEO of Blue John and creator of the AI platform GREY, joins Natasha Plowman to make the case that the talent system is broken, and that fixing it starts with responsible leadership.

In this episode: why the label "high performer" no longer means what it used to, how the UK's Employment Rights Act is forcing a rethink of hiring and probation, why culture is built bottom-up not top-down, and Lorna's push for a Youth Possibility Programme to open real opportunity to young people locked out by nepotism and CV-driven hiring.

This is Cutting Through — the show that treats communication as the lever for solving leadership's messiest problems, produced by Kleiner Studios.

Lorna Cobbett, founder and CEO of Blue John and creator of the AI platform GREY, joins Natasha Plowman to make the case that the talent system is broken — and that fixing it starts with responsible leadership.

Full episode out 25.9.2026

This season of Cutting Through is all about leadership — what it means, who gets to claim it, and why there's no single definition that fits everyone. Host Natasha Plowman is joined by Alan Newton, a former founder of 11 years in B2B tech and 14 years in senior events industry roles, now coaching and advising founders and entrepreneurs.

Alan and Natasha explore what leadership looks like when no one's watching, why age and experience are underrated in leadership conversations, the tipping point founders hit as their businesses scale, and how fear and ego shape the way we lead. They also dig into gender and leadership, the overused idea of "toxic" leadership, and why calling emotional intelligence a "soft skill" undersells how hard that work really is.

Guest: Alan Newton, founder of Newton Squared, coach and advisor to founders and entrepreneurs.

Alan spent 11 years co-founding and scaling a B2B software business from zero to £5M+ revenue across the UK, US and Canada—built on 14 years of SME leadership before that. He now works as a fractional COO, strategic adviser and executive coach, helping founders and leaders blend mindset, discipline and practical skills to grow without burning themselves—or their teams—out. He also runs Men Under Pressure, a private, practical coaching offer for men carrying significant pressure at work, at home or in the decisions they cannot keep postponing. Alan is currently writing a book and building a coaching framework on fear, decision-making and what really holds ambitious people back when they try to build something bigger than themselves.

Links:

www.newtonsquared.com

https://www.linkedin.com/in/alanrnewton/

https://www.tiktok.com/@alanrnewton77

This season of Cutting Through explores leadership unfiltered. Host Natasha Plowman talks to Philippa Hann, CEO of Paradigm Norton Financial Planning, about her unlikely journey from equity partner and litigation lawyer to leading a B Corp, employee-owned financial planning firm.

Philippa shares why she walked away from a successful legal career with nothing lined up, how curiosity became the foundation of her leadership style, why weekly one-to-ones and radical transparency transformed her company's culture, and how she's building what one colleague called "an emotionally healthy firm." They also discuss her book, The Fault Lines of Finance, and the question at its core: why do good people do bad things with other people's money?

Guest: Philippa Hann, CEO of Paradigm Norton Financial Planning and author of The Fault Lines of Finance.

Buy the book where ever you buy books from:

Amazon

Waterstones

Cutting Through is produced by Kleiner Studios for Natasha Plowman and Spinning Red

This season onCutting Through we explore leadership unfiltered. Host Natasha Plowman talks to Kate Steele, a 25-year stalwart of communications and business strategy across agency and client-side roles, about what really separates strong leaders from the rest.

Kate shares why great leaders are brilliant at synthesising signals from every direction, how fear and territory-defending sabotage teams, and how cultural context shapes leadership in ways we rarely talk about honestly. From collaborative versus competitive workplaces to leading across borders. We dig into the broken time-based economics of agencies and professional services, why not everyone who wants a leadership role is suited to one, and what human leadership looks like in a world increasingly shaped by AI.

Guest: Kate Steele, communications and business strategy leader with over 25 years of agency and client-side experience.

Cutting Through is brought to you by Spinning Red and is a Kleiner Studios production

Series 3 has asked how can we cut through with humanity in the age of AI and today we bring a lens from behavioural science expert Si Elliott.

His book Customer Experience Thinking is a must read for everyone wanting to navigate and build deeper commercial relationships.

In this episode we discuss:

• Behavioral Science in Marketing: How emotional decision-making is needed to drive both commercial and business marketing , requiring empathy alongside technology adoption.
• AI and Automation Ethics: Are we at risk of two-tier service models; the role of humans for high-empathy tasks and mitigating AI bias
• Customer Experience Innovation: Si shared insight form St. Louis Soccer Club’s tech-enabled stadium which blends digital tools and personal service for seamless fan engagement
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Silos in many business are the block for aligned strategies and sustainable growth - how can we use a human lens to cut through them?
• Leadership and Human Skills: Empathy, listening, and communication are crucial to maintain human connection - regardless of AI
• Young people and future work: Si shares how he works with building young people’s confidence and critical thinking. Setting them up for the future.

Cutting Through is powered by Spinning Red and sponsored by Antiquoted. Produced by Kleiner Studios

Like and subscribe - season 4 will be out soon.

With a background in applied mathematics and product development, Aleksandra, founder of Apricity Lab, brings a unique perspective to our topic for season 3 - how to cut through with humanity in the age of AI.

The discussion ranges from discussing a human-centered AI focus, where AI should enhance human capability and redesign work, not replace jobs. So we can prioritise long-term human involvement.

To successful AI integration which combines automation with employee upskilling. Which Aleksandra shares insight of IKEA's strategy that saved €13 million and boosted customer value.

We discuss the frustration that customers (ok it is Natasha venting!) have when there is insufficient human interaction in AI development that leads to poor customer experiences.

A long-term vision is essential and companies must view AI impacts over medium term of 2-5 years. Upskilling is a priority now for both sustainable growth and value generation over perceived short-term efficiency gains.

Ultimately, clear communications are needed about AI's role in augmenting human work to prevent talent loss, which can then reduce fears and promote trust, moving discussions beyond the polarised views we are seeing today.

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Cutting Through is powered by Spinning Red and sponsored by Antiquoted - where you can find real people, real voices, real experts for your events, podcasts and media. Breaking the cycle of the same voices, panels and perspectives.
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