Award-winning author and business executive Margaret Heffernan has written extensively about uncertainty. Her book Uncharted: How to map the future became an instant bestseller and featured on Bloomberg’s Best Books of 2021 list. Her most recent book Embracing Uncertainty: How writers, musicians and artists thrive in an unpredictable world outlines how creatives use ambiguity to stimulate innovation and novel ideas.

In this episode, Jen, Dom and Cat chat with Margaret to her views on the power of conversation. In ambiguous and chaotic work landscapes, convening group discussions to hear diverse perspectives and harness collective intelligence is a new leadership meta-skill.

About Margaret Heffernan

Dr. Margaret Heffernan produced programmes for the BBC for 13 years.  She then moved to the US where she spearheaded multimedia productions for Intuit, The Learning Company and Standard&Poors. She was Chief Executive of InfoMation Corporation, ZineZone Corporation and then iCast Corporation, was named one of the “Top 25” by Streaming Media magazine and one of the “Top 100 Media Executives” by The Hollywood Reporter. 

The author of six books, Margaret’s third book, Willful Blindness : Why We Ignore the Obvious at our Peril was  named one of the most important business books of the decade by the Financial Times. In 2015, she was awarded the Transmission Prize for  A Bigger Prize: Why Competition isn’t Everything and How We Do Better, described as “meticulously researched…engagingly written…universally relevant and hard to fault.” Her TED talks have been seen by over 13 million people and in 2015 TED published Beyond Measure: The Big Impact of Small Changes. In 2020, she published Uncharted: How to map the future, which quickly became a bestseller and was nominated for the Financial Times Best Business Book award, was one of Bloomberg’s Best Books of 2021 and was chosen as the “Medium Best of the Best” business book. 2025 saw the publication of Embracing Uncertainty: How Writers, Musicians and Artists Thrive in an Unpredictable World, described as ‘a timely, insightful book….Heffernan highlights what it takes to excel in turbulent times.’

In 2024, she was inducted into the  Thinkers50 Hall of Fame, in recognition of her lasting impact on management thinking.  She is a Professor of Practice at the University of Bath, Lead Faculty for the Forward Institute’s Responsible Leadership Programme and, through Merryck & Co., mentors CEOs and senior executives of major global organizations. She chairs the board of DACS and is a parish councillor.

Find Margaret on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/margaret-heffernan-ab5205/

Margaret’s website:                   https://www.mheffernan.com/

Margaret on Substack:             https://heffernanm.substack.com/

Margaret’s TED talks:

https://www.ted.com/talks/margaret_heffernan_the_human_skills_we_need_in_an_unpredictable_world

https://www.ted.com/talks/margaret_heffernan_the_dangers_of_willful_blindness

The range of challenges confronting businesses today are constant, complex and deeply entangled. There is no rule book for this level of ambiguity and business leaders must grapple with the unknown on a daily basis. This requires an entirely different mindset and the ability to make sense of and interpret novel situations as they arise.  

In this episode, Jen, Dom and Cat chat with coach and futurist Louise Mowbray about the rapidly evolving future of work and the skills required to successfully navigate it. Access to trusted networks of individuals with alternative viewpoints is a must for those organisations looking to successfully futureproof and survive the coming years.

Communication, connection and community have never been more needed in business today.

About Louise Mowbray

Louise is the Founder of Mowbray by Design, the Future-Focused Conscious Leadership Consultancy. She specialises in The Future of Work and Leadership, working with clients across the sectors at the intersection of futures, technology, innovation, transformation and purpose-driven business.

Louise is a leadership advisor, coach, strategist and futurist, the author of Relevant: Future-Focused Leadership, and a co-author of Uncertainty: Making Sense of the World for Better, Bolder Outcomes. She is a sought-after keynote speaker, an occasional visiting lecturer for business schools and a regular guest on podcasts, panel discussions and live events.

In earlier career chapters, Louise worked for listed organisations in the investment banking, technology and executive search sectors, co-founded an executive search firm and was MD MENA for a British luxury lifestyle company. She has lived and worked in the UK, the UAE and South Africa and works with clients around the world. 

Find Louise on LinkedIn:                   https://www.linkedin.com/in/louisemowbray

Mowbray by Design:                         https://mowbraybydesign.com

Relevant: Future-Focused Leadership: https://amzn.eu/d/e677nfv

Relevant Substack:                            https://louisemowbray.substack.com

Key blogs

Sensemaking: Making Sense of Non Sense: 

https://louisemowbray.substack.com/p/sensemaking-making-sense-of-non-sense

The Information Overload: 

https://louisemowbray.substack.com/p/the-information-overload

As economic, societal and environmental conditions deteriorate, social tensions are escalating. Some politicians use fear to fuel their own extreme agendas and it’s increasingly popular to blame others for the ills of the world. Nationalism and discrimination are at their worst in decades. This has significant negative impact on workplace cohesion as many feel increasingly marginalised. 

Yet in contrast, scientific research shows the extent to which successful innovation – much needed in most organisations today – comes from diversity of thought. And different perspectives come, of course, from a rich diversity of lived experience. In this episode, Amraze Khan shares his experience of working in EDI and examines the increasingly urgent need for inclusion at work.

Amraze Khan (He/Him)

Amraze is the Head of EDI at Manchester Metropolitan University, where he leads the vision, supporting the University to become intentionally inclusive for its 4,500 staff members and around 40,000 students.

He has worked in EDI for nearly a decade, with experience in senior leadership roles across various industries comprising of the NHS, within Charities and Local Government. Prior to this, Amraze worked in senior communication roles in the NHS and Civil Service.

Outside of work, Amraze is a proud Yorkshireman, a carer, father to two cats, a Trustee at Rochdale Mind, an avid blogger, and podcaster.

Find Amraze on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amraze-khan-mcipd-miepd-94a1a56b/

With a significant proportion of the UK already struggling to access basic online tools and services, digital accessibility is a key issue too few business or political leaders are addressing. Without urgent attention to educate and inform, already disadvantaged and vulnerable people and communities will continue to fall behind and miss out on the benefits AI has to offer, not least in addressing social and societal inequality.

In this episode, Jen, Dom and Cat chat with Zoe Colosimo, COO of award-winning giving platform Neighbourly. They discuss what socially-minded organisations can do to address AI inequality and the opportunity for internal communication to help make a difference.

About Zoe Colosimo

Zoe is a founding member and the Chief Operating Officer at Neighbourly, an organisation dedicated to helping companies bring their brand purpose to life. Since its launch in 2014, Neighbourly has enabled businesses to make meaningful contributions to local communities through volunteer time, grants, and surplus products and built a network of over 45,000 local causes and 9000+ company offices and branches, creating nearly £1 billion in social value across the UK and Ireland.

Find Zoe on LinkedIn:            https://www.linkedin.com/in/zoecolosimo/

Neighbourly website:            https://www.neighbourly.com/

Ai123 resource hub:               https://hub.neighbourly.com/ai123-resource-hub

As multiple factors converge to create accelerating operating complexity and ambiguity for most organisations, leadership is under the microscope like never before. For his latest book, organisational psychologist and founder of APS Intelligence John Amaechi OBE explored a range of leadership techniques and found them to be eminently teachable skills, when thoughtfulness, integrity and effort are applied.

Amongst the most crucial skills identified for improved organisational culture and performance are listening and verbal communication.

Jen and Cat welcome John to this episode to examine the art of leadership communication and what it must now entail if organisations are to successfully navigate the ongoing disruption of the modern age.

Professor John Amaechi OBE: A Catalyst for Leadership Transformation

John Amaechi OBE is a world-renowned organisational psychologist, bestselling author, and Professor of Leadership at the University of Exeter Business School. As the founder of APS Intelligence Ltd., John leads a global team that transforms leaders and cultures by combining cutting-edge behavioural science with psychological insight. His bespoke programmes aren’t about quick fixes—they drive sustainable growth, ethical leadership, and organisational well-being.

Find John on LinkedIn:                                  https://www.linkedin.com/in/amaechi/

APS Intelligence website:                              https://www.apsintel.com/

As late-stage capitalism continues to prioritise profit over people and planet, we are never far from a breaking news event about corporate corruption, greed or misconduct causing turmoil for those impacted. But more often than not, internal wrongdoing will have taken place for months and years before whistles are blown and affairs are made public.  

In this episode, Cat and Jen chat with former police detectives Shaun Keep and Paul Adams. They set up Say-So after joining forces on a safeguarding assignment to review the public protection around vulnerable children and adults. They are passionate advocators for the need to create spaces where concerned colleagues can safely voice their concerns about mismanagement without fear of retribution.  

Say-So’s website: www.say-so.co.uk 

Shaun Keep is a public protection professional who served as a police detective for over 30 years. He specialised in child protection, anti-corruption and homicide investigations and has worked for four law enforcement agencies, the Church of England and a national Sports Organisation advising on and reviewing their policies and investigations into offences against the vulnerable.

He has been a 'subject matter expert' on a major transformation and development project in a large public service focusing upon attitudes towards vulnerable persons. He has been working to transform organisations in the 'speak up' space since 2017.

In 2015 Shaun was contracted to Surrey Police to assist build their investigation performance in the area of 'Public Protection' cases and this opened his eyes on a regional and national level to the extent of allegations of neglect and abuse against vulnerable adults.

Shaun's personal experience of the care sector has been entirely positive with his mother receiving almost 10 years of good quality domiciliary care, sheltered accommodation care and finally nursing home care. Shaun believes this should be the norm.

His work in creating a safe and trustworthy means for staff to speak up has led to an ever growing understanding of how important it is, in any business sector, to hear from and listen to employees concerns.

impacted. But more often than not, internal wrongdoing will have taken place for months and years before whistles are blown and affairs are made public.  

In this episode, Cat and Jen chat with former police detectives Shaun Keep and Paul Adams. They set up Say-So after joining forces on a safeguarding assignment to review the public protection around vulnerable children and adults. They are passionate advocators for the need to create spaces where concerned colleagues can safely voice their concerns about mismanagement without fear of retribution.  

Find Shaun on LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/shaun-keep-b9554828/  

Paul Adams  is a safeguarding professional having spent 30 years in the police Service as a detective specialising in major crime investigation. Specialist skills include interview techniques around suspects, victims, survivors, vulnerable adults and children. The managements and tasking of sensitive information has also been a consistent part of his detective career. Since retirement he has worked for National Crime Agency under CEOP (Child Exploitation & online Protection) and Surrey Police reviewing safeguarding and public protection around vulnerable children and adults.

Paul has also been an approved foster carer to young children in Berkshire, whilst running his own children's fostering charity to try and improve the outcomes and development of children who find themselves in care. Paul is passionate about people being able to "speak up" particularly foster children and foster carers having a voice and being heard, within children's social care. This was one of the main reasons he started Say So.

Find Paul on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-adams-pop-charity/ 

Since the start of 2025, DEI initiatives across the board have been deprioritised. This has left many people, most acutely those in already vulnerable groups, feeling marginalised and anxious. This level of anxiety undermines organisational performance and fuels the already spiralling mental health crisis.  

In this episode, Dr. Christopher Owen draws on his decade of experience in LGBTQ+ inclusivity consulting and his research into systemic oppression to share with internal communicators stories can be used to create more inclusive, connective and engaging work environments that boost organisational performance.  

About Dr. Christopher Owen

"If we want to make a difference, then we need to do things differently - I’m here to show you how."

As the founder of Coliberate, Christopher Owen (he/they) offers inclusivity and liberation coaching, consulting, speaking and training to individuals, groups and organisations seeking to improve their impact for positive social change.

A 2024 Northern Gamechanger, Christopher has a PhD in intersectional systemic oppression and Black feminisms, with over a decade of experience in LGBTQ+ inclusivity and consulting. They have presented to thousands internationally and published on intersectionality, identity, social change, queer resistance, and inclusive practice, with his second book now forthcoming from Routledge Education.

For more, please visit: coliberate.co.uk

Find Christopher on LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/thecjowen/  

As time hurtles by at lighting pace, there is scarcely a second to take stock and breathe. Across the world, work seems increasingly harried and fraught and it’s taking its toll on engagement and organisational performance.

In this episode, Dom, Jen and Cat talk with Megan Reitz and John Higgins about their most recent research report, Permission to pause: Rediscovering spaciousness at work. They look at what it is, and why it’s a business-critical issue.

Against a rising tide of stress anxiety and burnout, spaciousness is the one permission we should all be granting ourselves, not least if we stand any chance of resolving society’s most pressing challenges.

To find out more go to www.johnhigginsresearch.com, www.radicalod.org, and www.meganreitz.com

About Megan Reitz

Megan is Associate Fellow at Saïd Business School, Oxford University and Adjunct Professor of Leadership and Dialogue at Hult International Business School. She focuses on how we create the conditions for transformative dialogue at work and her research is at the intersection of leadership, change, dialogue and mindfulness. She is on the Thinkers50 ranking of global business thinkers and is ranked in HR Magazine’s Most Influential Thinkers listing.

Megan has written a number of books, most recently Speak Out, Listen Up which is the second edition of her bestselling book Speak Up, with Financial Times Publishing. Speak Up was shortlisted for the CMI Management Book of the Year 2020.

Megan is a contributor to Harvard Business Review and MIT Sloan Management Review. She has presented her research on the BBC and CNBC. Her TED talk on the topic of employee activism has been viewed more than one and a half million times.

She is mother to two wonderful teenage daughters who test her regularly on her powers of mindfulness and dialogue.

Find Megan on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/meganreitz/

Megan’s website: https://www.meganreitz.com/

About John Higgins

John is a widely published researcher and author who for many years has been exploring, with Megan Reitz, what it takes for truth to be spoken to power at work – and how this shapes workplace activism. Their work has appeared in the Harvard Business Review, Sloan Management Review and the European Business Review – and on various public platforms, from Radio 4’s ‘The Bottom Line’ to Brene Brown’s ‘Dare to Lead’ podcast.

For the last year and a half, John and Megan have been looking at the concept of spaciousness, and what it takes for organisations to marry a more spacious mode to enrich an over-focus on tasks and busy doing.

Alongside this John has written two books, alongside Mark Cole, which critique the taken for granted assumptions about what counts as good organisational management and leadership.

John’s website: http://www.johnhigginsresearch.com

The report: https://static1.squarespace.com/static/597729cbcf81e0f87c7f6c61/t/677b9b9a26a22a7351dce717/1736154022120/SpaciousnessREPORT_90pp_FULL.pdf

Articles: https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/create-mental-space-to-be-a-wiser-leader/

https://hbr.org/2025/02/how-to-give-yourself-more-space-to-think

Gallup’s 2025 State of the Global Workplace research reveals a drop in global engagement for only the second time in twelve years. In particular, it shows a sharp drop in manager engagement. This is particularly concerning at a time when all organisations need unity, cohesion and goodwill to combat increasingly challenging market conditions.

Shetal Joshi has been a lifelong advocate for the soul of business since the start of her career in the late 1990s. As Head of Internal Communication and Employee Engagement, she’s a firm believer in the value of active listening and hearing what’s on people’s minds as they go about their day-to-day business.

In this episode, Jen, Dom and Cat chat with Shetal to discover more about the soul of business and its link to colleague engagement, purpose and high performance.

About Shetal Joshi

Shetal Joshi is a seasoned internal communications and employee engagement expert with over 20 year of experience shaping strategic communication frameworks across global organisations.

Currently serving as the Head of Internal Communications and Employee Engagement at Ørsted UK, Shetal has established internal communications as a strategic enabler, driving employee trust, culture and belonging. She partners closely with executive teams, leading global transformation and change projects, and has been instrumental in enhancing the visibility of senior leaders and strengthening employee connections.

Prior to her role at Ørsted, Shetal led internal and external communications at RAPT Dev London, where she developed strategic communication initiatives to engage frontline employees and external stakeholders. She also spent over 18 years at BT Group, where she held senior roles in internal communications, change management, and brand alignment, supporting major campaigns and diversity initiatives.

Shetal is an Accredited Life Coach with the Association of Coaching and a Mental Health First Aider, demonstrating her commitment to personal growth, resilience, and wellbeing. She is a Fellow of the Institute of Internal Communications (IoIC) and has contributed to the development of the IoIC Charter for AI. Shetal’s expertise in influencing executive narratives, stakeholder engagement, and employee voice makes her a trusted advisor in navigating change and fostering organisational alignment.

In addition to her professional achievements, Shetal is a former Board of Trustee Member for Sands, The Baby Loss Charity, where she supported diversity and inclusion in maternal health. She was honoured with the Sheila McKechnie Amplifying Voices Award for her advocacy work in highlighting disparities in Asian baby loss.

Shetal brings a wealth of knowledge in leadership communications, change management, and employee engagement, making her an insightful and inspiring speaker.

Find Shetal on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shetal-joshi-fiic-62318b1/

As economic conditions deteriorate, fears of redundancy and anxiety regarding the cost of living once again grip the UK. Financial wellbeing is a key pillar of wider health and wellbeing. Sadly, it’s often overlooked by employers striving to tick the box of colleague wellbeing in the most efficient way possible.

Having struggled with debt through his twenties and thirties, Peter Komolafe is today a qualified financial advisor. He has harnessed his personal experience to help ordinary people create financial security through positive financial habits. In 2020, he founded Conversation of Money (a YouTube Channel and weekly Podcast) to have conversations he wished someone had had with him when he was younger.

Following his delivery of a compelling session at the IoIC festival in 2023, in this conversation, Jen, Dom and Cat chat with Peter about the link between financial wellbeing and engagement and explore how internal communicators can help alleviate monetary worries.

About Peter Komolafe

Peter Komolafe is a best-selling author, award-winning content creator, financial expert, and TV presenter with 18 years’ experience in the financial services industry. He’s worked across retail banking, corporate banking, and wealth management with some of the UK’s top institutions, including NatWest, MetLife, St. James’s Place, and Investec.

In 2020, Peter launched Conversation of Money, a platform that’s helped tens of thousands of people make smarter financial decisions through engaging videos and podcasts. His YouTube channel has over 60,000 subscribers, more than 4 million views, and he’s become a trusted voice in the media, regularly appearing on shows like Lorraine, Steph’s Packed Lunch, and Channel 4’s Secret Spender, as well as Sky News and major national papers.

Find Peter on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/peterkomolafe/

Peter’s website: https://peterkomolafe.com/

Peter’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/conversationofmoney

Peter’s podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/4cry36NzOhlsg7R2uuhDAp