There’s no right or wrong way to define success - it looks different for everyone. What matters is that you're able to define it for yourself.

So, what does it take to get on and succeed in corporate affairs? What should you look to define and focus on, and what (and who) should you avoid? Do professional qualifications help or is it all about learning at the knee of a master? 

When we started thinking about this episode I had the words of Baz Lurman ringing in my ears - that offering advice is a form of nostalgia, fished from the past, where you paint over the ugly bits and recycle it for more than its worth. Ouch.

We’ll try not to do that.

Please leave us a 5 star review if you enjoyed this episode or let us know what you think via social media or email [email protected]

This edition of The Little Questions podcast is presented by Andrew Brown and Matt Young.

Apella partner Andrew Brown is a former Director of Communications and Public Affairs at Ageas Insurance. He has more than ten years’ experience leading the corporate affairs functions for global firms across a range of regulated and unregulated sectors, developing considerable experience in issues, crisis and change management. Formerly Director of Communications at Drax Group plc and Group Corporate Affairs Director at Regus plc.

Matt Young is an Apella partner with 25 years of experience in corporate affairs. He was Corporate Affairs Director at Lloyds Banking Group, part of the senior team which rescued the bank and rebuilt its reputation following the financial crisis. Formerly communications director at Santander UK and board member of the BBA.

Find out more about Apella Advisors at www.apellaadvisors.com and you can get in touch by emailing [email protected]

This episode has been produced by The Podcast Coach.

The joys of the annual financial reporting season are upon us.

This is something that most of us in Comms get involved with at some point – whether that’s setting up media calls, fretting over internal messages, or just working out which picture of the CFO to use.

For many of us, financial reporting is the equivalent of the PR hamster wheel. You never really get off. Once the ink is dry on the analyst notes or the media commentators have passed judgement, you’re on to the next cycle. It’s all a bit breathless.

We’ve talked about financial reporting before on our Podcasts. But as it’s the season for many PRs – inhouse and agency – we thought we’d delve into the subject again. And this time we’d like to dig a little deeper into the cottage industry that brings together PR, Comms, Finance, Legal and Secretariat to work in perfect harmony – or not.

Joining Matt Young on the reporting hamster wheel are fellow Apella Partners, Andrew Brown and Anthony Silverman.

Please leave us a 5 star review if you enjoyed this episode or let us know what you think via social media or email [email protected]

This edition of The Little Questions podcast is presented by Matt Young and guests Andrew Brown and Anthony Silverman.

Apella partner Andrew Brown is a former Director of Communications and Public Affairs at Ageas Insurance. He has more than ten years’ experience leading the corporate affairs functions for global firms across a range of regulated and unregulated sectors, developing considerable experience in issues, crisis and change management. Formerly Director of Communications at Drax Group plc and Group Corporate Affairs Director at Regus plc.

Our second guest this time is Apella partner Anthony Silverman who specialises in advising global boards and executive teams with complex reputational needs. Recent clients include RBS, UBS, Atlas Merchant Capital, Nomura, Pension Insurance Corporation, FirstRand and Nando’s. He is also a former Senior Managing Director at Teneo in London.

Host, Matt Young is an Apella partner with 25 years of experience in corporate affairs. He was Corporate Affairs Director at Lloyds Banking Group, part of the senior team which rescued the bank and rebuilt its reputation following the financial crisis. Formerly communications director at Santander UK and board member of the BBA.

Find out more about Apella Advisors at www.apellaadvisors.com and you can get in touch by emailing [email protected]

This episode has been produced by The Podcast Coach.

Podcasts are arguably the stand out media phenomenon of the recent years, with the most popular pulling in millions of followers, outstripping mainstream broadcasters in terms of reach and impact.  

But, how do you actually start something with no one there to listen? How do you avoid screaming into the void? What to talk about? Should you have guests? Can you really go 100% DIY or do you need some professional help? The things to ponder are endless.

We’ve an admission to make here at Little Questions Towers. We’ve had a bit of help along the way. 

So, joining Andrew this week, alongside Matt, from the other side of the microphone, making their Little Questions debut are our podcast gurus and erstwhile producers Ben and Rory, from The Podcast Coach.

Please leave us a 5 star review if you enjoyed this episode or let us know what you think via social media or email [email protected]

This edition of The Little Questions podcast is presented by Matt Young and Andrew Brown.

Apella partner Andrew Brown is a former Director of Communications and Public Affairs at Ageas Insurance. He has more than ten years’ experience leading the corporate affairs functions for global firms across a range of regulated and unregulated sectors, developing considerable experience in issues, crisis and change management. Formerly Director of Communications at Drax Group plc and Group Corporate Affairs Director at Regus plc.

Matt Young is an Apella partner with 25 years of experience in corporate affairs. He was Corporate Affairs Director at Lloyds Banking Group, part of the senior team which rescued the bank and rebuilt its reputation following the financial crisis. Formerly communications director at Santander UK and board member of the BBA.

Find out more about Apella Advisors at www.apellaadvisors.com and you can get in touch by emailing [email protected]

This episode was produced by The Podcast Coach

New Year’s Resolutions are an exercise in hope, where aspiration meets reality. As Oscar Wilde said: ‘Resolutions are simply cheques that men draw on a bank where they have no account.’ 

In the interests of trying to make 2023 just a tiny bit better, The Little Questions Podcast decided that we would try to help all our friends in the industry, by coming up with some New Year’s resolutions for businesses, sectors and individuals. Basically free PR advice given out by disgruntled middle-aged men. In Mick Herron parlance, the ‘Slow Horses’ of the Comms world.

Let us know what you think via social media or email [email protected]

This edition of The Little Questions podcast is presented by Matt Young and Andrew Brown.

Apella partner Andrew Brown is a former Director of Communications and Public Affairs at Ageas Insurance. He has more than ten years’ experience leading the corporate affairs functions for global firms across a range of regulated and unregulated sectors, developing considerable experience in issues, crisis and change management. Formerly Director of Communications at Drax Group plc and Group Corporate Affairs Director at Regus plc.

Matt Young is an Apella partner with 25 years of experience in corporate affairs. He was Corporate Affairs Director at Lloyds Banking Group, part of the senior team which rescued the bank and rebuilt its reputation following the financial crisis. Formerly communications director at Santander UK and board member of the BBA.

Find out more about Apella Advisors at www.apellaadvisors.com and you can get in touch by emailing [email protected]

This episode was produced by www.thepodcastcoach.co.uk

Christmas and the New Year are nearly upon us and it's the season of TV repeats and compilations. Our chance to laugh again at the things we laughed at just a few months ago. We’re no different at Apella Advisors. With our world leading sustainability commitments, reuse and recycle is our mantra, so we’ve produced our very own Little Questions Podcast Xmas highlights.

This is all our best bits from 2022.

Our thoughts on everything from the merits of having activist investors on your books to thinking about how to consider brain friendly changes through organisational transformations. From what a journalist wants from a Comms team to our favourite PR heroes and villains. 

Hopefully, faithful listener, you’ll agree with our choices. If you don’t, you can, of course, go back and relisten to all our previous episodes at your leisure!

We’d love to hear what you think. Get in touch on social media or email [email protected]

This edition of The Little Questions podcast is presented by Matt Young and Andrew Brown.

Apella partner Andrew Brown is a former Director of Communications and Public Affairs at Ageas Insurance. He has more than ten years’ experience leading the corporate affairs functions for global firms across a range of regulated and unregulated sectors, developing considerable experience in issues, crisis and change management. Formerly Director of Communications at Drax Group plc and Group Corporate Affairs Director at Regus plc.

Matt Young is an Apella partner with 25 years of experience in corporate affairs. He was Corporate Affairs Director at Lloyds Banking Group, part of the senior team which rescued the bank and rebuilt its reputation following the financial crisis. Formerly communications director at Santander UK and board member of the BBA.

Find out more about Apella Advisors at www.apellaadvisors.com and you can get in touch by emailing [email protected]

This podcast was produced by the www.thepodcastcoach.co.uk

For every Atticus Finch and Han Solo, there’s a Hannibal Lecter and Darth Vader.

Who doesn’t love a great hero or a terrifying villain? They are the protagonists that sit at the heart of every great story, of how we demonstrate the values that matter, define our morals and learn valuable lessons.

Arguably you can only become a great hero if you have a compelling villain against which you can strive: Without Voldemort, Harry Potter is just another young wizard; Without the Joker, Batman is just an angry ‘trustafarian’ killing time.

And given it's getting to that time of the year where we like to look back, we thought we’d have a look at our PR heroes and villains of 2022!

We’d love to hear what you think. Get in touch on social media or email [email protected]

This edition of The Little Questions podcast is presented by Andrew Brown, Jenny Scott and Matt Young.

Apella partner Andrew Brown is a former Director of Communications and Public Affairs at Ageas Insurance. He has more than ten years’ experience leading the corporate affairs functions for global firms across a range of regulated and unregulated sectors, developing considerable experience in issues, crisis and change management. Formerly Director of Communications at Drax Group plc and Group Corporate Affairs Director at Regus plc.

Apella partner Jenny Scott joins us again on The Little Questions podcast. Jenny has worked as Executive Director of Communications at the Bank of England and co-lead for Bank wide strategy. She was also Advisor to the Governor, and sat on the Bank’s executive committee and risk committee. Formerly Economics and Politics Correspondent for the BBC and Presenter of the Daily Politics, she is now Trustee of Pro Bono Economics.

Matt Young is an Apella partner with 25 years of experience in corporate affairs. He was Corporate Affairs Director at Lloyds Banking Group, part of the senior team which rescued the bank and rebuilt its reputation following the financial crisis. Formerly communications director at Santander UK and board member of the BBA.

Find out more about Apella Advisors at www.apellaadvisors.com and you can get in touch by emailing [email protected]

This podcast was produced by the www.thepodcastcoach.co.uk

 

Business has always had an urge to share some of its largess with those less fortunate. With clear roots in the ancient mediterranean civilisations, a line runs through renaissance traders, victorian industrialists to today's billionaires racing to give away their fortunes.    Aside from the warm fuzzy feeling they hopefully get, there is a clear strategic outcome. When companies connect effectively with external stakeholders through community projects they trigger a virtuous circle as employee motivation increases, driving performance and ultimately improving reputation.  Yet some argue that corporate responsibility programmes are meaningless propaganda used to protect reputations by distracting from irresponsible behaviour elsewhere.  So, where do you start? Who do you involve? How do you ensure what you are doing is rooted firmly in what your firm is trying to achieve?   To discuss this, Andrew and Matt are joined by Jane Rawnsley whois head of corporate responsibility at the global savings and investments giant, M&G.    The Little Questions podcast is presented by Matt Young and Andrew Brown. Matt Young is an Apella founder partner with 25 years of experience in corporate affairs. He was Corporate Affairs Director at Lloyds Banking Group, part of the senior team which rescued the bank and rebuilt its reputation following the financial crisis. Formerly communications director at Santander UK and board member of the BBA. Apella partner Andrew Brown is a former Director of Communications and Public Affairs at Ageas Insurance. He has more than ten years’ experience leading the corporate affairs functions for global firms across a range of regulated and unregulated sectors, developing considerable experience in issues, crisis and change management. Formerly Director of Communications at Drax Group plc and Group Corporate Affairs Director at Regus plc. We’d love to hear what you think. Get in touch on social media or email [email protected].   This podcast is produced by The Podcast Coach

On this episode of The Little Questions, we are talking about team structure and resources.

In previous editions we’ve spoken about starting out in a new role, and what needs to be your priority? More often than not, structure is right up there.

Getting it right early on will set up any leader for long-term success. But what is the right structure for the resource you have? Is there a ‘one size approach that fits all’?

After all the fun in the last episode, you have fair warning that during this one, we get technical and applied.

The Little Questions podcast is presented by Matt Young and Andrew Brown. 

We’d love to hear what you think. Get in touch on social media or email [email protected].

Matt Young is an Apella founder partner with 25 years of experience in corporate affairs. He was Corporate Affairs Director at Lloyds Banking Group, part of the senior team which rescued the bank and rebuilt its reputation following the financial crisis. Formerly communications director at Santander UK and board member of the BBA.

Apella partner Andrew Brown is a former Director of Communications and Public Affairs at Ageas Insurance. He has more than ten years’ experience leading the corporate affairs functions for global firms across a range of regulated and unregulated sectors, developing considerable experience in issues, crisis and change management. Formerly Director of Communications at Drax Group plc and Group Corporate Affairs Director at Regus plc.

If you'd like more information about Apella Advisors, visit apellaadvisors.com

This podcast is produced by www.thepodcastcoach.co.uk

Why are people in the world of comms so misrepresented in popular culture? 

Why do the PRs in TV, movies and books come across as either evil manipulators of the truth or champagne guzzling airheads? 

This really is a first world problem of a third order magnitude and yet, PR does have a PR problem doesn’t it? If for no other reason than we want to continue to attract smart, thoughtful and talented people to our industry, then perhaps we need to have a think about how we are portrayed by our friends in the media.

The Little Questions podcast is presented by Matt Young and Andrew Brown. 

We’d love to hear what you think. Get in touch on social media or email [email protected]

Matt Young is an Apella founder partner with 25 years of experience in corporate affairs. He was Corporate Affairs Director at Lloyds Banking Group, part of the senior team which rescued the bank and rebuilt its reputation following the financial crisis. Formerly communications director at Santander UK and board member of the BBA.

Apella partner Andrew Brown is a former Director of Communications and Public Affairs at Ageas Insurance. He has more than ten years’ experience leading the corporate affairs functions for global firms across a range of regulated and unregulated sectors, developing considerable experience in issues, crisis and change management. Formerly Director of Communications at Drax Group plc and Group Corporate Affairs Director at Regus plc.

This episode was produced by www.thepodcastcoach.co.uk

This week, we welcome Deborah Hulme from Minerva Engagement to the Little Questions Podcast to discuss organisational and cultural change in business.

Communicators are often asked to play a prominent role in supporting organisational change programmes but, as many of us know, they can be complex and fiendishly difficult to get right. Two thirds of transformation projects fail, taking longer and costing more than business leaders anticipate, and change done ‘to’ an organisation is rarely as effective as change done ‘with’ an organisation. 

While communications is never solely responsible for the success or failure of transformation programmes, there are pitfalls to under-communicating a powerful vision for change, just as there are to over-communicating a poor one.

So what makes organisational and cultural change so difficult? And what could we in comms do to help the firms we work in and with do it better?  

With us to answer these questions and more is our special guest this week, Deborah Hulme, the founder of Minerva Engagement & The Neuroleader Academy. Deborah has been instrumental in delivering change and transformation across a range of large multinational organisations. Combining the latest learnings from science with a deep understanding of the realities of effective practical application, Deborah works with businesses to access the potential that lies within every organisation, team and individual.

This edition of The Little Questions podcast is presented by Apella Partner, Sam Bevans. Sam has almost 20 years’ experience in campaign strategy and delivery across a diverse range of clients, including AstraZeneca, Capita, Drax Power, Nationwide, UBS, and Volkswagen.

Sam is joined by Apella Partner Andrew Brown who is a former Director of Communications and Public Affairs at Ageas Insurance. He has more than ten years’ experience leading the corporate affairs functions for global firms across a range of regulated and unregulated sectors, developing considerable experience in issues, crisis and change management. Formerly Director of Communications at Drax Group plc and Group Corporate Affairs Director at Regus plc.

Find out more about Apella Advisors at www.apellaadvisors.com and you can get in touch by emailing [email protected]

This podcast was produced by The Podcast Coach.