The Leader's Kitbag

This week's episode is a little different from usual in that it's a recording of Ben appearing on the Evolve To Succeed Podcast hosted by Warren Munson.

It's a really rich leadership discussion that touches on lots of different topics, so it really is a leadership smorgasbord! Ben talks about his experience in Iraq and having to ask two soldiers to risk their lives in the most horrendous way in order to save hundreds. He also talks about resilience, values, being a leader versus doing leadership, and much more.

** SPECIAL OFFER - Emerging Leaders Programme**

We have a new online Emerging Leaders Programme that we're offering for between £9.99 - £19.99 depending on the number of licenses purchased in support of International Youth Day on 12th August.

You can find out more about the programme via the link below, and then contact Ben at [email protected] to find out more and buy licenses for your team.

https://benmortonleadership.thinkific.com/courses/emerging-leaders

We want to hear from you! 

Whether it’s a leadership question for Ben, some feedback on the show, or a guest suggestion, we’d love to hear from you. Whatever the reason for getting in touch, you can easily do it by clicking the link below that Ben will personally review.

https://www.ben-morton.com/feedback/  

You can also use this link if you’d like to come on the show for 5 minutes to talk about your favorite episode; we love having listeners on the show!

Resources mentioned in this episode:

10-4-10 Mini Course: https://mailchi.mp/b3d5c50adb91/10_4_10   

Ben’s Website: https://bit.ly/BenMortonLeadership

Mentioned in this episode:

Quick one before you go:

To support International Youth Day on 12th August, my team and I have created a new Emerging Leaders Programme for the under 25s.

In these ‘Shorts’ episodes of my podcast, I’ll be selecting my favourite moments from previous episodes. This one comes from Episode 57 with General David Petraeus, a Partner with the global investment firm KKR and Chairman of the KKR Global Institute, which he established in May 2013. In this clip, he talks how he was able to focus on the bigger picture whilst he was leading coalition forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. 

FREE RESOURCES

Ben’s FREE 10-4-10 Leadership Programme: https://bit.ly/FREEleadershipmini-course 

Ben’s website: https://bit.ly/BenMortonLeadership 

LISTEN TO THE FULL EPISODE HERE

https://www.ben-morton.com/general-david-petraeus-strategic-leadership-big-ideas/  

SHOW LINKS

‘Grant Takes Command’ by Bruce Catton: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0316132403 

Jonathan Reynolds is the founder and CEO of Mindful Life, Mindful Work. It’s a US-based leadership development company providing services that address the intersection of self-awareness and team performance.

Since 1997, Jonathan has trained extensively in the discipline of mindfulness, and his work with leaders and teams emphasizes simple and practical ways to improve performance, efficiency, and workplace cultures by integrating mindfulness sensibilities.

What I personally love about his approach is that whilst they can teach mindfulness and meditation in the corporate marketplace, this tends not to be what they actually do. When you listen to this episode, you’ll know exactly what I mean by this. Jonathan shares a brilliantly simple approach for starting meetings more intentionally and effectively, without it taking up extra time – or being weird in any way!

We want to hear from you!

Whether it’s a leadership question for Ben, some feedback on the show, or a guest suggestion, we’d love to hear from you. Whatever the reason for getting in touch, you can easily do it by clicking the link below that Ben will personally review.

https://www.ben-morton.com/feedback/ 

You can also use this link if you’d like to come on the show for 5 minutes to talk about your favourite episode; we love having listeners on the show!

Resources mentioned in this episode:

Ben’s Website: https://bit.ly/BenMortonLeadership

‘Atomic Habits’ by James Clear: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1847941834

‘The Meaning Revolution’ by Fred Kofman: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0753548585/

‘Crime and Punishment’ by Fyodor Dostoyevsky: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0140449132/ 

Guest Links:

Mindful Life, Mindful Work: https://www.mindfullifemindfulwork.com/

In these ‘Shorts’ episodes of my podcast, I’ll be selecting my favourite moments from previous episodes. This one comes from Episode 52 with Leadership experts Debbie Cohen and Kate Roeske-Zummer, co-authors of ‘Humanity Works Better’. In this clip, they talk about embracing vulnerability and how leaders don’t have all the answers. 

FREE RESOURCES

Ben’s FREE 10-4-10 Leadership Programme: https://bit.ly/FREEleadershipmini-course 

Ben’s website: https://bit.ly/BenMortonLeadership 

LISTEN TO THE FULL EPISODE HERE

https://www.ben-morton.com/debbie-cohen-kate-roeske-zummer-on-why-humanity-works-better/  

SHOW LINKS

Humanity Works website and book details: http://www.humanityworks.com 

Book Competition Survey: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/JBCR52M 

Rachel is a multi-skilled executive with a fascinating journey that led her to the managing Director role at Thompson. She left university with a singing degree, started at Thompson as the office manager, worked up across various roles before completing a management buy-out with her colleagues – and then took on the MD role. 

Her personal journey comes with a track record of driving business growth, is characterised by her energetic, empowering leadership style and commitment to doing things differently. Rachel is also passionate about driving on cultural issues, women's rights and mental health. 

I know I’m always going to be biased folks, but this really is a great episode. I’m sure you’ll be able to relate when I say that sometimes a person’s biography and the experience of the person themselves can be two different things. This is absolutely not the case with Rachel.

Everything in her bio is what you get when you talk to her, which you’ll appreciate when you listen to this very real, very honest conversation. I know that you’re going to get a lot of value from this episode and will instantly warm to this week’s fabulous guest.

Get In Touch

Whether it’s a leadership question for Ben, some feedback on the show, or a guest suggestion, we’d love to hear from you. Whatever the reason for getting in touch, you can easily do it by clicking the link below that Ben will personally review.

You can also use this link if you’d like to come on the show for 5 minutes to talk about your favorite episode; we love having listeners on the show!

Resources mentioned in this episode:

10-4-10 Mini Course: https://mailchi.mp/b3d5c50adb91/10_4_10   

Ben’s Website: https://bit.ly/BenMortonLeadership

Rachel Cook’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachelecook/ 

The InsideOut LeaderBoard ® 2021: https://inside-out.org/leaderboard/

Mentioned in this episode:

If you enjoyed this episode:

I recommend episode 28 with Brian Dow, CEO and MD of Mental Health UK and ReThink Mental Illness. In the episode he talks about what leaders can do on a very practical level to look after the mental health and wellbeing of their team and themselves. You can find the episode here: https://www.ben-morton.com/episode28/

In these ‘Shorts’ episodes of my podcast, I’ll be selecting my favourite moments from previous episodes. This one comes from Episode 43 and my interview with Colonel Caroline Woodbridge-Lewin, MBE of the British Army. In this clip, she gives some brilliant advice for women taking on senior leadership positions and she has succeeded in a male-dominated world. 

FREE RESOURCES

Ben’s FREE 10-4-10 Leadership Programme: https://bit.ly/FREEleadershipmini-course 

Ben’s website: https://bit.ly/BenMortonLeadership 

LISTEN TO THE FULL EPISODE HERE

https://www.ben-morton.com/colonel-caroline-woodbridge-lewin-mbe-leadership-skills-and-building-resilience/ 

SHOW LINKS

Connect with Caroline:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/caroline-woodbridge-lewin-mbe-5aa73048/ 

Book: Who’s In Your Personal Boardroom: https://amzn.to/2UfPCtM 

Sarah Walker-Smith is the CEO of Ampa, the Chief Exec of Shakespeare Martineau, a Governor at Nottingham Trent University and holds a number of other key roles. She is also my first ever returning guest having first appeared on the show in December 2020 for episode 16. I said back then that I’d love to get Sarah back on the show, and I’m delighted that we’ve managed to make it happen.

This isn’t just a rerun of episode 16 though, it’s an incredibly rich episode in so many ways. We spent a lot of time talking about how to lead effectively in the current business climate and how we can prepare ourselves, and our teams, to respond to whatever un-planned and unforeseen events hit us next.

We spoke about really taking care of our teams to get the best from them in a hybrid working environment, and what it takes to become a Times Top 100 employer.

We then got into some super-tactical discussions around letting go of tasks that we should no longer be doing ourselves, and how to get the most from working with an Executive Assistant.

We want to hear from you!

Whether it’s a leadership question for Ben, some feedback on the show, or a guest suggestion, we’d love to hear from you. Whatever the reason for getting in touch, you can easily do it by clicking the link below that Ben will personally review.

https://www.ben-morton.com/feedback/  

You can also use this link if you’d like to come on the show for 5 minutes to talk about your favourite episode; we love having listeners on the show!

Resources mentioned in this episode:

Ben’s Website: https://bit.ly/BenMortonLeadership

Episode 16 – Sarah’s first appearance on the show.

https://player.captivate.fm/episode/8bd42303-950b-4a09-95bd-5a6da9c4f3ef 

Episode 75: Rowe Hoffer | Leadership lessons from a world-class Executive Assistant.

https://player.captivate.fm/episode/ee419b1b-661a-4091-8da7-19a00bf4d887 

Guest Links:

Find Sarah on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-walker-smith-4708a5b/

Mentioned in this episode:

If you enjoyed this episode:

I recommend episode 75 with Rowe Hoffer, the Executive Assistant to Mitchell Bake – the Chief Executive Officer at Mozilla. She talks about unlocking the full potential and power of the senior executive and EA relationship. You can find the episode here: https://www.ben-morton.com/rowe-hoffer-advice-from-a-world-class-executive-assistant/

In these ‘Shorts’ episodes of my podcast, I’ll be selecting my favourite moments from previous episodes. This one comes from Episode 42 and my interview with Teg Dosanjh, the Director of Connected Services and Technology at Samsung Electronics UK, a role he’s held since 2016. In this clip, he talks about some exercises you can implement to help coach your team, including the power of one-to-one sessions. 

FREE RESOURCES

Ben’s FREE 10-4-10 Leadership Programme: https://bit.ly/FREEleadershipmini-course 

Ben’s website: https://bit.ly/BenMortonLeadership 

LISTEN TO THE FULL EPISODE HERE

https://www.ben-morton.com/episode42/ 

SHOW LINKS

Connect with Teg: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tegdosanjh/ 

Dr Lynda Shaw is an experienced entrepreneur, having owned 3 businesses. She holds a doctorate in cognitive neuroscience, specializing in unconscious processing of emotion and behavioral change.

She is also a professional speaker and works with senior leaders and their teams who want to better understand the science of change and development. Together they harness this power by recalibrating their thinking thus enabling others to do the same to work cohesively to reach organizational goals. 

In this episode, we spoke about Imposter Syndrome in great depth – looking at what it is, who it affects, and its prevalence. Dr. Shaw also got us playing a game of 'what if...' to consider the possibility that in some organizations, Imposter Syndrome could exist due to culture.

In addition to this, we also went off on some fascinating and loosely related tangents.

If you're someone who has ever experienced Imposter Syndrome, or you're responsible for leading others, this is an episode not to be missed.

We want to hear from you!

Whether it’s a leadership question for Ben, some feedback on the show, or a guest suggestion, we’d love to hear from you. Whatever the reason for getting in touch, you can easily do it by clicking the link below that Ben will personally review.

https://www.ben-morton.com/feedback/  

You can also use this link if you’d like to come on the show for 5 minutes to talk about your favourite episode; we love having listeners on the show!

Resources mentioned in this episode:

The Weekly Planning Protocol online course: https://benmortonleadership.thinkific.com/courses/weeklyplanning  

Ben’s Website: https://bit.ly/BenMortonLeadership

Guest Links:

‘Your Brain is Boss’ by Dr Lynda Shaw: https://www.amazon.com/Your-Brain-Boss-creativity-satisfaction/dp/1912300044 

‘Beat the Bullies’ by Dr Lynda Shaw: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Beat-Bullies-Brain-Herman-Homunculus/dp/0957145497/ 

Dr Shaw’s website https://drlyndashaw.com/

Mentioned in this episode:

My Weekly Planning Protocol Course

Do you struggle to proactively manage your time and find that your days are largely occupied with firefighting and just dealing with the closest, most important deadline? Then you might want to check out my Weekly Planning Protocol Course via the link below.

Check out the Weekly Planning Protocol Course here

In these ‘Shorts’ episodes of my podcast, I’ll be selecting my favourite moments from previous episodes. This one comes from Episode 48 and my interview with Emily Turnball, an energy coach and personal trainer based in Hertfordshire. In this clip, she talks about breaking slumps in your energy cycles and the power of pausing.  

FREE RESOURCES

Ben’s FREE 10-4-10 Leadership Programme: https://bit.ly/FREEleadershipmini-course 

Ben’s website: https://bit.ly/BenMortonLeadership 

LISTEN TO THE FULL EPISODE HERE

https://www.ben-morton.com/episode48/ 

SHOW LINKS

Connect with Emily: https://energisewithemily.com