The Leader's Kitbag

Today we’re joined by Melanie Chevalier, the Founder and CEO at Creative Culture. Mélanie has built her career on challenging the status quo of internationalization and traditional models to offer a much more effective and qualitative approach by bringing local cultures back to the fore to feed globally-led initiatives. 

A proud award winner of the 2021 Female Frontier’s Championing Change category, which celebrates women constantly pushing the boundaries of equality, gender balance, and making dynamic changes within their work. Mélanie is very active in promoting Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, and has developed innovative initiatives to allow brands to successfully navigate complex inclusion pieces within an even more complex and diverse multicultural environment.

With over 15 years of industry experience in transcreation, cross-cultural communications and strategy, Mélanie has been advising international brands such as Barclays Wealth, GSK, Johnson & Johnson, L’Oréal Luxe, Maserati, and Urban Decay… to name just a few.

Besides cross-cultural matters and transcreation, her passion is her two gorgeous bilingual boys and the art of getting things done. We discussed how her leadership style, and the services her company provides, have both been shaped by her international upbringing. We also spoke about her approach to getting the right balance between achieving success at work and enjoying all that life has to offer.

Please also take just a few minutes to rate and review the show wherever you listen. If you then send a screenshot of your review to me on [email protected], I’ll send you complimentary access to my online, Weekly Planning Protocol course.

This week we have a very different episode talking about a very different topic. When my amazing assistant suggested this week's guest, I didn’t immediately see how her area of expertise – and passion – would fit with this show. But it was largely due to my ignorance on the topic.

The more I thought about it, and having recorded this episode, I realized there is a huge link.

So, let me introduce Sharon MacArthur.

Sharon is the owner of Miss Menopause which was formed 4 years ago in response to the lack of information about menopause in the workplace. Sharon works face to face and online around the country with organizations larger and small.

She has appeared on BBC Breakfast, ITN News and Victoria Derbyshire and is a regular on BBC Radio Newcastle taking about the subject of menopause. Sharon is on a mission to educate everyone about this life event and believes that ignorance can no longer be an excuse.

Prior to founding Miss Menopause, Sharon worked as an executive coach to senior leaders, and before that she held senior positions herself. She is very well placed to be talking to leadership teams about the menopause, how it affects productivity and the number of women in c-suite positions.

As you listen to this episode, all I would say is keep an open mind, as you’ll get a lot from this episode and see why the menopause is a subject leaders should have some awareness of.

Links mentioned:

Miss Menopause: https://www.missmenopause.co.uk  

Ben’s Free Leadership Mini-Course: https://mailchi.mp/b3d5c50adb91/10_4_10

Pauline Paterson is an award-winning entrepreneur and beauty expert with over 25 years experience in the hair and beauty industry. She’s an Export Champion, as appointed by the Department of Trade UK for her success in exporting globally, today Pauline helps other brands build their export business. 

In 2013, alongside husband Johnny, Pauline launched her own brand, Dr.PAWPAW, a multi-purpose lip, skin and hair range that harnesses the power and benefits of PAWPAW – or papaya fruit -  and is suitable for the whole family. 

Dr.PAWPAW has become a globally regarded, multi award-winning brand and is now available internationally in over 35 countries.

A champion of giving back, and sustainable, clean beauty, Pauline manages production and NPD to ensure that Dr.PAWPAW is always improving and building on their core ethics, whilst also spreading her positivity and infectious enthusiasm by leading Dr.PAWPAW with the day to day management of a growing team.

Links Mentioned:

DrPawPaw: https://www.drpawpaw.com 

Friendworks: https://bit.ly/3Hyh9dL

As a friend of this podcast you can get a 5% discount on the cost of FRIENDWORKS by quoting the code BENMORTON5. To quantify how FRIENDWORKS could help your business they have a cool LEAD CALCULATOR on their website.

Ben’s Free Leadership Mini-Course: https://mailchi.mp/b3d5c50adb91/10_4_10  

In this episode we’re joined by Shona Flemming who is the CEO of ScotsCare, the charity for Scots in London and the CEO of Borderline – the only charity in London specifically set up to support homeless Scots.

Shona is originally from Glasgow where she worked for Social Services until moving to London in 2002. At that time, she joined ScotsCare, who in 2009 partnered with Borderline to provide a range of services for vulnerable Scots across London.  

Since then, Shona has been involved in managing and developing ScotsCare’s and Borderline’s client services to meet the complex needs of Scots in London. What’s more, during her time at ScotsCare, she’s worked at every level in the organisation… from being on the very front line, to now being the Chief Exec.

This topic – how you move between roles and manage those people who were once your peers – is one of the things we explored in this episode.

We also spoke about the challenge of switching off when you’re so passionate about what you do, some of the leadership lessons she’s learned throughout her career and some of the mistakes she’s made along the way.

On top of this we touched on mental health in the workplace and how that links with homelessness and her thoughts on the most important qualities leaders need to demonstrate right now.

Links mentioned:

ScotsCare: https://scotscare.com  

Borderline: https://www.borderline-uk.org  

Ben’s Free Leadership Mini-Course: https://mailchi.mp/b3d5c50adb91/10_4_10

We’re joined by Lesley MeGregor, the Managing Director of the Health & Care division of the Eric Wright Group. Lesley joined the Eric Wright Group (a profit for purpose organisation) in September 2021, as Managing Director of its Health & Care business, which works in partnership with the NHS and Local Authorities to support the delivery of clinical services across the North West of England. 

Prior to this, Lesley worked for the Community Health Partnerships (CHP) where she worked for eight and a half years, six of which she held the position of Regional Property Director across the North West, North East and Yorkshire.

In this episode we spoke about Lesley’s experiences of stepping into more and more senior roles, some of the mistakes she made along the way, how her style changed over the years, how she sought out and responded to feedback… and the value she has always taken from having great mentors and pausing to reflect.

Links mentioned:

‘Big Money Energy’ by Ryan Serhant: https://amzn.to/3Ke8P4L  

Leave a review on Apple Podcasts to get free access to The Weekly Planning Protocol online course: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-ben-morton-leadership-podcast/id1525858260  

Ben’s website: www.ben-morton.com

In this episode we’re joined by Jane Finette who is an author, a leadership expert and the Founder and Executive Director of The Coaching Fellowship, a nonprofit organisation dedicated to the development of young women leaders in social change.

Prior to this she was a Big Tech executive at Mozilla and eBay who has dedicated her life to achieving equality for women — empowering them to create impact across the world.

Jane’s passion, expertise, and two decades of experience is anchored at the intersection of technology and human potential. At her core, she empowers individuals and communities to solve the world's largest, most persistent, and perennial problems.

Jane is the author of the book ‘Unlocked — How Empowered Women Empower Women’, a referendum on women's inequality and a toolkit for levelling the playing field for women and girls. It’s part inspiration, part practical guide.

‘Unlocked’ was written to encourage and empower women to take action into their own hands, and to reach gender equality in our lifetime.

We spent a lot of time discussing authentic leadership and how we can learn from others whilst being true to who we are and what we stand for.

We went back to her time at Mozilla and looked at creating a culture, empowering and leading people when they don’t actually work for you and as you would expect, we explored her mission to level the playing field for women in the world of work.

Links:

The Coaching Fellowship: https://tcfs.org  

Jane’s book – Unlocked: https://amzn.to/3nd54SX

Brendan Pavey is the Executive Head Teacher at North Bridge House Schools. Brendan has twenty-five years’ experience as a teacher and in the last decade, as a headteacher, working across a range of age groups in both single sex and co-educational environments. 

Since joining North Bridge House Senior School as headteacher in 2017, Brendan has seen the school achieve record results year-on-year and secure a prominent ranking in the Sunday Times Results tables, whilst instilling a forward-thinking approach to teaching and learning… some of which we talk about in this episode.

Whilst we’re talking about leadership within the school setting, everything that Brendan shares can be applied to leadership in any setting. We cover decision making with partial information and huge levels of uncertainty, we look at creating a culture where people feel safe to share ideas, and the leadership lessons he learned steering schools through the COVID 19 pandemic.

Links Mentioned:

Turn That Ship Around: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqmdLcyES_Q  

Leave a review on Apple Podcasts to get free access to The Weekly Planning Protocol online course: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-ben-morton-leadership-podcast/id1525858260  

Ben’s website: www.ben-morton.com

Welcome to season four and episode 65 of the show! Today I’m joined by Meredith Bell who is the co-founder and President of Performance Support Systems, a global software company providing assessment and development tools for the workplace. Meredith is an expert in leader and team communications, the author of two books, and the host of the Strong for Performance podcast. 

She’s spent the past 30 years working to create products and books that help people master communication skills. Alongside this, she has a deep understanding of what organisations can do to ensure that the knowledge imparted during workplace learning and development programs stick – tactics that we can also apply ourselves to ensure that what we hear on a podcast gets applied!

Before we get into the episode, let me share an offer with you. I’m giving away complimentary access to my online Weekly Planning Protocol course.

In order to access the course, simply leave a review of the show on Apple Podcasts and email a screenshot of the review to me at [email protected] and we’ll get your access details sent across to you. As it’s not always obvious how to do this, we’ve included a link to the show in the show notes: simply click on the link, scroll down and you’ll see a leave a review button.

Let’s get back to this episode in which we delve deep into the incredibly important, but little practiced skill of listening for us as leaders. I really enjoyed my conversation with Meredith, whilst also feeling somewhat pressured to ensure I was really listening to what she was saying. 

Links Mentioned:

Meredith’s Website: https://growstrongleaders.com 

Meredith’s latest book, Connect With Your team: https://amzn.to/3eThw5Z  

Review the Ben Morton Leadership Podcast on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-ben-morton-leadership-podcast/id1525858260

I’m delighted to be able to bring you an interview with one of my leadership heroes, Jim Kouzes.

Jim Kouzes is the coauthor with Barry Posner of the award-winning and best-selling book ‘The Leadership Challenge’, now its 6th edition with over 2.8 million copies sold.

‘The Leadership Challenge’ was selected by Soundview Executive Book Summaries as one of the Best Leadership Books of All Time, named one of the 100 Best Business Books of All Time by 800-CEO-READ, chosen by FastCompany as one of the 2012 Best Business Books of the Year, and has been on the Wall Street Journal bestseller list multiple times.

There are many more accolades and awards for the book than I have time to mention. I also use the research from the book at the start of every leadership programme I run.

Jim is also an experienced executive. He served as president, then CEO and chairman of the Tom Peters Company from 1988 until 2000. Prior to his tenure at TPC he directed the Executive Development Center at Santa Clara University from 1981 through 1987.

In this episode, we explore what he has learned about leadership from a life dedicated to the topic. I was so grateful to be able to ask Jim many of the questions that occurred to me as I read and re-read the book over the past 8 years, focussing on how we can practically apply the lessons.

I know that you are going to love this episode, but before we get into the episode, let me share an offer with you. I’m giving away complimentary access to my online Weekly Planning Protocol course.

In order to access the course, simply leave a review of the show on Apple Podcasts and share a screenshot on Instagram, Twitter or LinkedIn – tagging me in the post – and we’ll get your access details sent across to you. As it’s not always obvious how to do this, we’ve included a link to the show - simply click on the link, scroll down and you’ll see a leave a review button.

But now, without any further delay, please enjoy this fascinating conversation with a genuine thought leader – Jim Kouzes.

Links Mentioned:

Buy the Leadership Challenge on Amazon: https://amzn.to/30qbC8T  

The Leadership Challenge Website: https://www.leadershipchallenge.com  

Review the show on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-ben-morton-leadership-podcast/id1525858260  

Ben’s website: https://www.ben-morton.com  

In this episode we are joined by Jozef Opdeweegh. Jozef is an international C-suite executive, with experience that spans the Atlantic and an outlook to match. Drawing on over twenty years experience in developing companies in North America, the UK and mainland Europe, he’s an author and thought leader on the critical relationship between the values we live by and the value we create.

Born to a family of educators in Belgium, it was only natural that Jozef would be raised to embrace a diversity of knowledge, experience, and challenge. Throughout a lifetime of service, he’s lived by a philosophy that’s based on principles of respect, trust, and opportunity for all.

In this episode we explore value-based leadership and Jozef’s belief that it is totally possible to create value for shareholders whilst operating in a fair and equitable manner for the other stakeholders.

We also had an in-depth conversation around how we as leaders can create an environment where the best idea wins, as opposed to just the ideas from those who naturally have the loudest or strongest voice.

On top of all that, Jozef shared some fantastic tips to recruit people whose values really fit with those of the organization.

Before we get into the episode, let me share an offer with you. I’m giving away complimentary access to my online Weekly Planning Protocol course.

In order to access the course, simply leave a review of the show on Apple Podcasts and share a screenshot on Instagram, Twitter or LinkedIn – tagging me in the post – and we’ll get your access details sent across to you.

Links Mentioned:

• Find out more about Jozef’s work: https://josopdeweegh.com/  
• Find out more about Ben’s work: https://linktr.ee/BMLeadership