Original Thinking Podcast

This episode will be hosted by Dr Simon Hayward, Honorary Professor of Leadership at Alliance MBS, CEO of Cirrus, and Managing Director and global lead on leadership and culture at Accenture.

Drawing on his extensive experience consulting with leading UK and international organisations, Simon will describe his and others’ research into the leadership attributes needed in this post-pandemic world, in line with the dramatic changes the pandemic has brought in terms of the changing skills required, hybrid working and the rapid digitisation of organisations of all types. He will address the business requirements for greater agility, innovation and purpose-led cultures, and the implications for leaders internationally and future priorities for executive education.

This episode will be facilitated by David Holman, professor of organisational psychology at Alliance MBS.

This episode will be hosted by Emma Banister, Professor of Consumption and Society at Alliance MBS.

It is well-established that products and brands serve as social tools, providing means of communication between individuals and their social worlds. However, one of Emma’s key research interests lies in what consumers resist, what they shy away from, and how these more negative or rejected aspects of consumption inform identity projects

Emma will draw on a number of her studies related to identity and (dis)tastes. In particular she will focus on a recent paper that explored ‘identity refusal’ in relation to young people who do not drink alcohol, yet refuse to be marked out by their non-participation in what is often an important cultural practice.

This episode is facilitated by Dr Judy Zolkiewski, Professor of Marketing at Alliance MBS.

To celebrate the launch of Organising care around patients Manchester University Press and Alliance Manchester Business School are hosting a live panel discussion, asking how care can be better organised around the needs of patients.

Joining authors Naomi Chambers, Professor of Healthcare Management at AMBS, and Jeremy Taylor, Director for Public Voice at the National Institute for Health Research, the discussion will be chaired by Alastair McLellan, Editor of the Health Service Journal, with Professor Kath Checkland and Dr Habib Naqvi as panellists. 

Organising care around patients is not for the fainthearted. Naomi Chambers and Jeremy Taylors have curated twenty-five accounts from people who agreed to tell the story of what happened when they or their loved ones came into contact with the NHS. The authors defy you not to laugh or cry, or hold your breath in disbelief, at some point when reading this book.

In these true and compelling accounts, we learn the experiences - good and bad - of people grappling with birth and death, caring for loved ones, living with mental illness, coping with long-term conditions, and struggling in older age. This book is a call to action aimed at healthcare professionals, managers and politicians: a manifesto for more patient-centred care.

These stories show the NHS at its very best - and also when it falls significantly short. Patients or carers currently battling with the system will derive some hope and encouragement, and clues about what to expect, what to ask for, and from whom.

This podcast will be hosted by Dr Simon Hayward, Honorary Professor of Leadership at Alliance MBS, CEO of Cirrus, and Managing Director and global lead on leadership and culture at Accenture.

Drawing on his extensive experience consulting with leading UK and international organisations, Simon will describe his and others’ research into the leadership attributes needed in this post-pandemic world, in line with the dramatic changes the pandemic has brought in terms of the changing skills required, hybrid working and the rapid digitisation of organisations of all types. He will address the business requirements for greater agility, innovation and purpose-led cultures, and the implications for leaders internationally and future priorities for executive education.

This event will be facilitated by David Holman, professor of organisational psychology at Alliance MBS.

As the economy shows promising signs of recovery, Tony Danker, the CBI’s Director General, will set out why the choices we make now will define the decade to come, in this latest Vital Topics event from Alliance Manchester Business School.

Building on the CBI’s ‘Seize the Moment’ economic strategy for the UK, he will argue that the economic rebound could well be temporary; that private sector investment is locked up, not let out; and that Britain risks losing out to international competitors if we don’t fix this now. If business and government work together and make the right choices, this can be a truly breakthrough decade for the UK and its people.

 Tony joined the CBI as Director-General in November 2020. His career spans a range of roles in business, media and government. Before the CBI, Tony was the first CEO of Be the Business, a business-led movement created to transform UK’s productivity founded by a group of FTSE-100 Chairmen and the former Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne. From 2010-2017 Tony was International Director, then Chief Strategy Officer, at Guardian News & Media.

For two years before that, he was a Policy Advisor HM Government (2008-10), joining the Cabinet Office and HM Treasury. Tony’s early career was at McKinsey & Company (1998-2008) in London and Washington DC where he worked for 10 years.

This event will be facilitated by Professor Dame Nancy Rothwell, FRS, President and Vice-Chancellor of The University of Manchester.

Sponsored by DWF and Capita, Vital Topics is Alliance MBS' series of prestigious business lectures, bringing powerful ideas and original thinking to audiences from the Manchester city-region and beyond.

In the unique and challenging world of a global pandemic, the resilience of local services and businesses has been critical to maintaining successful operations for response organisations, providers of essential local services, and critical infrastructure.  

In this, the third in a three-part series of podcasts co-produced with the British Standards Institution (BSI), we examine the human aspects of the pandemic and identify organisational learning for psychological health and wellbeing of staff. From developing safe working practices and managing psychosocial risks - to access and inclusivity, we will look at a range of emerging lessons and standards that contribute to the longer-term goal of strengthening our resilience to future shocks.

Host/Facilitator:

David Powell – Humanitarian and Conflict Response Institute (HCRI), University of Manchester

Speakers;

Dave Adamson – Lead Standards Development Manager, British Standards Institution

Professor Duncan Shaw – Alliance Manchester Business School, Humanitarian and Conflict Response Institute (HCRI), University of Manchester

Roisin Jordan - Project Co-ordinator in Recovery, Renewal, Resilience, University of Manchester

Sally Swingewood – Committee Manager, ISO/TC 283 Occupational health & safety management, British Standards Institution

Jean Hewitt – Buro Happold & Senior Lecturer at University College London

In partnership with the British Standards Institution.

Hosted by Claire-Marie Boggiano, Lurig Change & Development.

Looking to make new connections and speak with other inspiring and aspiring business people?

Brush up on your people skills and join us online for the networking event of the month! Speak to like-minded business women for an amazing online event. Discuss your ideas, share your knowledge and your expertise. Prepare your digital business cards and make new connections in an informal setting.

This month we will be joined by Helen Pankhurst, a women’s rights activist, an international development practitioner working mainly in Ethiopia for CARE International, a Professor at MMU and the Chancellor of the University of Suffolk.

Helen is the convenor of the Centenary Action Group and of GM4Women 2028 and is the granddaughter of Sylvia, great granddaughter of Emmeline Pankhurst, leaders of the British suffragette movement. To reflect on the progress since the struggle for the vote, in 2018 she wrote Deeds Not Words, the Story of Women’s Rights, then and Now.

In the unique and challenging world of a global pandemic, the continuity of local services and businesses has been critical to maintaining successful operations for response organisations, providers of essential local services, and critical infrastructure.

In this, the second in a three-part series of podcasts co-produced with the British Standards Institute (BSI), we examine the contribution of standards to resilience planning, business continuity, and city resilience in terms of how we can recover and renew in the aftermath of Covid-19. Our speakers will share views on the key opportunities for enhancing continuity and resilience of organisations, cities, and wider systems.

Panel:

Introductions and welcome from Professor Duncan Shaw (University of Manchester) and Dave Adamson (British Standards Institute)

Dave Adamson – Lead Standards Development Manager, British Standards Institute (“Standards for resilience and continuity”)

Professor Caroline Field – Associate Director Arup, Energy Sector Lead, Resilience Shift. Chair BSI City Resilience Standard Committee and ISO Urban Resilience Committee (“Resilience of Urban Systems”)

Russell Price – Chair of Continuity Forum and Cyber Risk & Insurance Forum (“The important relationship between risk and resilience in evolving real-world capabilities”

Rob McFarlane – Deputy Director, UK Civil Contingencies Secretariat (“What place does assurance have in improving Integrated Emergency Management?”)

Hosted by David Powell - Humanitarian and Conflict Response Institute (HCRI), University of Manchester

In partnership with the British Standards Institution

Sponsored by: EPC

Recent corporate scandals and the response of some corporations to the pandemic have brought attention back to the role of auditing in restoring trust to business. The government has submitted proposals aiming at strengthening corporate governance for major UK companies and reforming the way they are audited.

The expressed key objectives of the proposed reforms are to restore public trust to business, ensure responsible corporate governance, empower stakeholders and keep the UK legal framework at the forefront of international best practice.

This podcast brings together two academic experts in the areas of auditing and corporate governance from Alliance Manchester Business School and a Manchester-based partner and London-based director from auditing and consulting firm PwC. They will present their views on the proposals, the current state and future of the auditing process and profession as well as the implications to the UK corporate governance framework from Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) considerations.

Panel:

Daniel Brydon, Partner, Assurance in Financial Services, PwC

Christopher Humphrey, Professor of Accounting, AMBS

Jayne Kerr, Director, Audit Strategy & Public Policy, PwC

Brendan O’Dwyer, Professor of Accounting, AMBS

Host: Konstantinos Stathopoulos, Professor of Accounting & Finance, AMBS

In partnership with PWC.

Covid-19’s duration, and the intensity of measures taken in responding to it, have brought major disruptions with lasting consequences.

Health precautions have redefined our relationship to mortality and death, not least by disrupting the rituals that enable societies to overcome major trauma. Those not directly affected by mourning are often affected by isolation, by difficult or unbearable living conditions, the breakdown of relationships, and the disappearance of faces – those indispensable human landmarks that are now hidden behind masks. The extent of the resulting psychological, social and economic damage is still gradually emerging.

Societies invent ways of remembering the dramatic moments they have experienced in order to re-establish forms of coexistence and acknowledge places forever altered by tragedy. Commemorating the current crisis also requires finding appropriate ways to recognise the true value of roles and service that have proved to be essential to communal life, yet receive so little recognition.

In this podcast, we will consider how we will collectively remember the Covid-19 pandemic. Our speakers will review lessons from history about building resilience through coproduced commemoration. They will also discuss key considerations for policymakers and communities in planning to recognise the enormous losses caused by Covid-19, but also the collective effort to sustain responses to the crisis and support communities most affected by it.

Panel:

Professor Ana Carden-Coyne – University of Manchester

Professor Norio Maki – University of Kyoto

Associate Professor Ronald Schumann - University of North Texas

Assistant Professor Elyse Zavar - University of North Texas

Host David Powell - Humanitarian & Conflict Response Institute, University of Manchester