Monkey Business Podcast

By Transform Your Monkey MindBusiness Entrepreneurship

Monkey Business Podcast episodes

May 19, 2021Ram Gidoomal CBE: how from immigrant child to retiring from a multimillion role at 37 he’s raised billions of pounds for others to be truly rich.
Ram has a portfolio of interests in his ‘retirement’. He chairs a social enterprise helping farmers sell organic cotton. He is chair of Allia, which has helped hundreds of start-ups, small businesses and impact ventures to develop and grow, creating thousands of employment opportunities, and transforming communities; a non-executive board member of the Parliamentary Ombudsman; and other boards and vice president ships in the UK, US and Israel.
Ram shares with me what prompted him, age 37, to quit his super successful job, overseeing 7000 people across 15 countries, with a $200 million turnover, family business.
We discuss topics including:
How his faith and experience of growing up in one faith, being surrounded by another and converting to the one he felt called to has changed everything
That his close family, together with his faith, is his guiding star
What coming to the UK as a refugee was like
How the Bombay slum, filmed for Slumdog Millionaire years later, broke his heart wide open to helping the poor and disaffected
How he turned a ‘beggars banquet’ small fundraising project into charity Christmas Cracker which raised over £4 million and mobilised over 50,000 teenagers
Having six Asian sisters growing up in the UK he became acutely aware of culture clashes, prompting him to write his first book ‘Sari and Chips’ (subsequent ones include Chapatis for Tea, Reaching your Sikh Neighbour and Reaching your Hindu Neighbour – all to encourage greater multi-cultural understanding )
His faith journey from growing up in the Hindu faith surrounded by the Islamic faith and Sikh faith and then finding Christ.
Why he ran for Major of London in 2000 and 2004 when his manifesto; of six principles was voted on the public pre-election website as the No 1 for real policy change
Plus, his feelings about the plight of today’s refugees and poor
How he is now helping those in India affected by Covid and what YOU can do to help because his mantra is: “Don’t let what you cannot do stop you from doing what you can do”
His charity - South Asian Concern
And finally, why it delights him to be introduced as Dr, Dr, Dr!

Information on Oxygen for India appeal: https://southasianconcern.org/oxygen-for-india-amazing-response-and-on-going-needs/
49 min
May 06, 2021Susan Hallam OBE on how to navigate an MBO for your award-winning start-up & retire to pay it forward & up level your joy.
She is now a mentor and coach to high level tech companies, Fellow of the Institute of Direct Marketing, a Freeman of the City of London, chairman of Nottingham's Creative Quarter and deputy chairman of Nottingham Castle.
Susan shares how she set up the company because she loved what she did and was really good of it (plus she got tired of other people telling her what to do after years working for big blue-chip companies).
We discuss topics including:
How to hold onto the dream that entrepreneurs set out with - of being nimble and free to do what you want to do - while still managing the factors of a growing business and maintaining a positive home life and nurturing your kids

Where her drive, ambition and confidence come from and how she worked hard to translate being a great leader into being an excellent manager

Her top tips for navigating the bumps in the business road, including working out what you are not good at and delegating it with grace and managing down and being managed up

Why a Goldman Sachs and University of Oxford business development course changed her mindset entirely and made being a leader less lonely

How an American in England turned a master’s degree in information science into a pivot to be a leader in the new online world

What she and her husband/biz partner leaned from the book ‘Enough’

The mentors who made her and what mentoring is all about in terms of nurturing personal relationships

Nailing her exit strategy

What retirement is really like!
41 min
April 01, 2021Ann Widdecombe, one of the most high-profile politicians of recent times, regards mindset as psychobabble. Listen to her outspoken views.
Former cabinet minister & MEP, a hit of Strictly Come Dancing at 63, author, newspaper columnist, speaker, panto star and one-time Opera singer, Ann is never dull or predictable. As a self-confessed ‘grumpy old woman’ who doesn’t follow social media this is a rare glimpse into what makes her tick. Agree with her or not, like marmite she is certainly unforgettable.
We discuss topics including:
How she never thought of herself as a woman MP but an MP who happened to be a woman and when one of Blair’s Babes (an influx of female MPs) bemoaned how rude the male MPs were, they missed the point that the men in parliament were just as rude to each other regardless of gender
That the minute you become aware of having a problem or issue then you empower it to be a problem or issue
How she overcame her family’s expectations of her as a child that she would be a homemaker and her brother would be the ‘success’.
That what defines us is really only our own views and beliefs.
Why of course all politicians are narcissists but that doesn’t mean you worship yourself, instead it means that you are driven by a belief in yourself and your ability to make a difference.
The moral chasm in the EU over the Covid vaccine
Dealing with the great moral issues of the day in politics where you can argue or reason with somebody, but you cannot rely on being able to change their minds
That fear in current times is leading to a curtailment of free speech and that there is a huge political duty on those at Westminster to make the cancel culture itself cancelled and empower free speech and civil liberties
The difference between holding a vigil and pulling down a statue: where the line to express freedom of speech and opposition should be drawn
How she feels about low conviction rates in crimes against women
Knowing when to quit – especially in politics
What fun being the comedy turn on Strictly Come Dancing was.
Why she went into the Celebrity Big Brother (and Victorian) House and what she learned there
Why you need to sometimes just go with your gut and expect the unexpected
And how a 5-hour bus journey in Ethiopia and a trip to hospital was very bonding!
39 min
March 19, 2021Chris Cook, Team GB Olympian, 2 x Commonwealth Champion swimmer on how a conversation by the poolside at 12 changed everything.
Now a mentor and coach to others Chris shares with me how that conversation made him focus on what really mattered: The two lengths he had to swim to win and how he did so.
Chris shares with me how he stayed focused and retained a sense of himself across 10 years of top competitive sport, how he got to the top and stayed at the top.
How he pivoted from this career into his current coaching gifts.

We discuss topics including:
How the fifth fastest swimmer at his school club in a UK town turned into a GB Olympian & Commonwealth Gold Medallist

That rather than wait for Divine intervention you just need to make a start

How he learned to balance his introverted and extroverted personality traits to be part of the Olympic ‘circus’ yet find the inner peace to keep him balanced

That sport can change lives for the better and what the trick is to stop it breaking you at the highest competitive level – learning and mirroring the best of his opponents including Michael Phelps II (the most decorated Olympian of all time)

Why he believes that resilience is an experience we have to move through and often it takes being broken to learn how to be fixed

How the real transformations start from within and why he has written ‘Emerge Stronger ‘on his wall

That telling stories and sharing his truth is the way to influence the next generation

What his Grandad said to him at 9 that stays with him to this day (and how it has altered the trajectory of his life and legacy)
Connect with me on LinkedIn and join the conversation
44 min
February 25, 2021From holistic health advisor to wholistic self living!
In this episode of Monkey Business, I am thrilled to be joined by Janey Lee Grace: top BBC UK radio presenter also on UK Health Radio. Her Alcohol-Free podcast and Sober Club community is changing the face of sobriety as something that is accessible for all - from the sober curious to those who have tried and failed to kick their addictions before.
Talking on the day after publication of her new book Happy Healthy Sober we discuss her five holistic health books and how her first book – Imperfectly Natural Woman – published 15 years ago knocked the Da Vinci code off the bestsellers list in the most unexpected of ways.
Janey also shares how she trailblazed holistic health hacks at a time when it was not seen as mainstream
Plus:
how she helps others to do and be the best they can be as that is the rule for herself

that all health changes and improvements have to be realistic, affordable and easy and this dictates all the advice and expertise she shares

how from a different background – with no safety net or prior experience - she went into a world of leading Pop and broadcasting in London in the 80s

that intentional parenting includes not delivering everything on a plate for your kids

a redefinition of ‘normal drinking’ led to the admission that ‘grey area drinking’ and the control of the ‘Wine Witch’ (that addictive voice in your head) can be broken

being sober is not boring or sad or makes you miss out and be less confident or attractive

that doing a TEDX talk is terrifying – even to a seasoned broadcaster

tips to smash the IMPOSTER SYNDROM

creating congruency and authenticity when you are a voice in the world of health and wellbeing is better for you, your soul and everyone around you

how to feel the fear and do it and not have a ‘vulnerability hangover’ about it the one question she would not want anyone to ask
Connect with me on LinkedIn and join the conversation
46 min
February 18, 2021Remembering not ruminating about the past
Mary Storrie, CEO and Founder of charity The Rosie May Foundation shares how the murder of her 10-year-old daughter led to a conscious decision to remember her memory not be ruined by the event.

Mary explains how, following her daughter’s murder, she took her family away for Christmas in 2004 to Sri Lanka only to be hit by the Boxing Day Tsunami. Yet the survival of small palm tree, planted the day before on Christmas day in memory of Rosie May, became a sign of hope and led to the creation of a charity to help girls who had been orphaned as a result of the devastation.

She reveals how creating a registered charity with no experience was such a challenge that she went back to University in her 50s to study Global Studies, global citizenship identities and human rights. This became a new rite of passage and to her ‘coming out’ as a businesswoman determined to leave a legacy beyond her own lifetime.

Other topics include:
Pivoting from being a purely international charity as Covid forced the loss of 75% of the charity’s income overnight. Now serving the local community with a bright pink Tuk Tuk the charity is providing food, support, and connection.

How in Sri Lanka they have trained the first female Tuk Tuk drivers, breaking the gender barrier of it being a male-only occupation. In doing so they have enabled women to have a good income, high self-esteem and to support their families. Plus provide safe transport for lone female passengers.
35 min
February 04, 2021Become CEO of your own profile to stop being sidelined
Today I’m joined by the indefatigable Robin Farmanfarmaian
Robin is a Professional Speaker, serial entrepreneur, and angel investor in nanotech and cutting-edge AI software for pharma, creating a better future for our health. Her passion is patient empowerment as expressed in her first book: The Patient as CEO; How Technology Empowers the Healthcare Customer.
In this no-holds barred interview, Robin reveals how the tipping low point of her life - when due to ill health and medical misdiagnosis she was a shut-in her mid 20s on high levels of opioids – led her to wean herself off enough methadone to bring down a horse and take charge of her own health and life finding new pain doctors and a correct diagnosis of Crohn’s disease.
Candid at all times, Robin shares how she achieved thought leadership status in a traditionally male-dominated world.

We also learn how she:
can say no and set healthy boundaries (including positive ways to switch off and sleep soundly at night even when immersed in the world in which we live or planning for the future one dominated by A.I.).
went beyond being a shut-in to live life to the full, playing ice hockey for Boston University before joining the first consumer facing genetic testing company where she wrote the algorithms scientifically read your genes to allow correct preventive medicine.
trod a path to become an angel investor: co-founding companies in tissue engineering and cryopreservation.
found herself side-lined by the men in Silicon Valley, drew on her inner steel and the tenacity of an upbringing by strong women and decided to change the game to become a professional speaker, author and thought leader so no one could ignore her anymore.
leads by example, hones her entrepreneurial mindset, stays at peak physical and mental fitness and creates a living space that is perfect for her. And how she helps other women and pays it forward and can help you become the CEO of your own amazing life.
can help you extend your life as she is an expert on life extension and longevity

Connect with me on LinkedIn and join the conversation.
38 min
January 28, 2021Use curiosity to smash down iron curtains and be a female changemaker
My guest today is Andrea Gontkovicova. She is a leader as CEO of Philip Morris International across three Central European countries: Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia. She is also Slovakian Woman of the Year 2019, an experienced speaker, published author in two books, a wife and a mother to two sons.
Andrea joins me from her home in Prague where she has been homeworking for much of this year, although now the operation is starting to return to some office-based locations. She shares the learnings and challenges of this experience.
Don't be fooled by Andrea's humble demeanour. Behind it is an absolute tenacity and somebody who shares with us how she came from a humble country upbringing in Slovakia, a country behind the Iron Curtain where even a fruit for Christmas was a luxury. It was a childhood where a girl was not expected to amount to much and in which she couldn’t not even start to imagine the roles she plays today or the world in which she now lives.
We discuss topics including:
How she developed a thirst for knowledge and a desire to truly understand people and that speaking seven languages (to varying degrees of fluency) allows her to understand the culture, minds and hearts of diverse people.
What it is like to manage a business in a changing market across three different countries and cultures. Also, as only the first female CEO in such a role across all three countries.
Andrea also shares with us how she has managed to succeed in a largely male dominated world while keeping her sense of femininity, self and becoming a mother who finds time for her family.
She gives us insight into how her discipline and drive is balanced by her ‘inner voice’ so that she stays well in both mind, body and soul in order to achieve all she does. She shares her best mind hacks and physical regimens
What the key points of her book about Conscious Leadership are
What the details of the radical moves by Philip Morris International to move away from cigarettes to develop new, less harmful ways to deliver nicotine are
What being Slovakian Woman of the Year means.

Connect with me on LinkedIn and join the conversation
35 min
January 12, 2021Resisting being normalized makes for the perfect referee or Chair.
Wanda Goldwag, an English girl with a strange name resisted being ‘normalized’ in her teens & now is an empathetic chair or ‘corporate referee’ as she likes to refer to it. This is a special conversation with someone I’ve held in high regard for over 25 years.

Wanda specialising in chairing entrepreneurial businesses, governance and regulation. She is an advisor to Smedvig Venture Capital, a member of the QC appointments panel and a Non-Executive Director of the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust and associate non-exec of the Whittington Hospital.

Recently Interim Chair of LEASE - the Leasehold Advisory Service and Chair of the Financial Services Consumer Panel and Chair of the Independent Uniform Network Code Modification Panel in the Gas Industry. She is an in-demand public speaker and can draw on so much more including her experience in the 90s when I first met her. Firstly, as Head of the DMA (Direct Marketing Association) and then as MD of BA subsidiary Air Miles.

We discuss topics including:
How the daughter of a survivor of the Holocaust grew up an English girl with a strange name yet experienced early discrimination and learned that she was ‘different’ and this instilled grit and determination in her.
How coming out at age 14 was seen to be so unusual that people tried to ‘fix’ her for her own good and how she held onto her truth and true identity.
Why transparency in business is so important and a value she will never compromise on.
What data teaches you about making good decisions and why being in the non-glamourous ‘poor relation’ industry of direct marketing - at a time when all the ad execs were flying to exciting places for photoshoots - was the making of her.
Why she spent a weekend in Bristol going through mailing bags to find all the deceased recipients despite it not being her mess up but because she believes in doing the right thing.
What chairing such difficult meetings as those at the Performing Rights Association have taught her about being getting over her personal feelings to be a fair referee, able to balance out such disparate interests as senior lawyers and commercial people vs the poets and maniacs who wrote some of the greatest music of all time.
How you recruit for senior roles - such as to the Queen’s Council – when you are trying to differentiate between the brightest barristers there are; people with brains the size of planets and all quite different.

Connect with me on LinkedIn and join the conversation.
35 min
January 12, 2021 How near death broke the ‘do more to be more’ hamster wheel.
Michael O’Brien shifted a near death experience to being his ‘last bad day’ & got off the ‘do more to be more’ hamster wheel that was the hallmark of his life as a successful sales professional and Marketing Director. Despite outward success he was burdened by much of the same stress that you and your team feel every day. He was doing more and more to chase happiness and this depleted him of energy, enthusiasm, and inspiration.

His recovery after the cycling accident was the catalyst to the seminal shift that changed his perspective, mindset, and actions. It put him on a path to create better tomorrows at work and in life, and sparked an executive career progression, which was instrumental to finding happiness and passion for business leadership development. Plus, a bestselling book about his Last Bad Day that not only shares his story but gives hope and inspiration to everyone else caught up in the trap of do…..

We discuss topics including:
How by making subtle shifts you can avoid the SUV that came for Michael

How to get off the ‘do more to be more’ hamster wheel and find true happiness and peace

That all events in your life are neutral until you label them

How to take the rocks out of your victim backpack and find lightness and joy

What the true burdens that we need to shift in society are today: economic inequality/racial inequality/environmental health/ our health and how Covid is the reminder that we all need to work on this

How current adversities are all about not being able to breathe and what to do about them

How to wake up, make a shift, write a new script for your life and make it happen

Why you need to be mindful about what you are consuming

How crafting a dating ad when in the Ad business let to him meeting his wife

Why we all need a Peloton as shift is a team effort

Connect with me on LinkedIn and join the conversation.
37 min

About Monkey Business Podcast

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Award-winning therapist, coach and author Rosalyn Palmer digs deep into the mindsets of those who have succeeded and failed, in both business AND the business of creating a balanced life.

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Monkey Business Podcast

Monkey Business Podcast episodes

About Monkey Business Podcast