If you ever thought that putting profit before people is a sustainable business strategy, you need to listen to this episode.

Nikki Gatenby, CEO of Search Listening and Chief Growth Officer of PropellerNet, tells us the story of building one of the most profitable agencies in the country…and they are consistently ranked in the best places to work in the UK as well.

Nikki couldn’t be any more Maverick if she tried and, in this episode, she shares some of the transformational practices that PropellerNet use…and the commercial impact of these. She also tells us what it was like to share this people-first philosophy in her best-selling book SuperEngaged.

Nikki breaks every stereotype of what you might imagine a business leader needs to be like. She is warm, humble and extremely heart-centred. She also walks her talk at every step.  Just SuperInspirational.

Why putting people before profit makes complete commercial sense

The journey from seeing the underbelly of the creative sector in London to leading one of the best places to work in the UK

Why giving people time and space specifically to learn drives innovation

Putting life first rather than putting the client first leads to better service, creativity and, ultimately, money

How to encourage people to bring their whole selves to work

The oddest and most productive conversation an MD can have with a new employee

The intersection between people’s dreams and your business plan

Why Propellernet refuses to grow bigger than 60 people…and it may not be what you think!

Why the obsession with business growth can be destructive

The 3 top things that any Scale-up Founder can implement to get the best from their people

A different approach to feedback that can change the nature of performance conversations

Why the people with the loudest are often the least courageous!

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Hanna Naima McCloskey is both an inspirational and awesome human being. As the Founder and CEO of Fearless Futures, she is seeking to put social justice, equity and equality at the heart of the business agenda.

So many people are now talking about diversity and inclusion, but we are seeing many ineffective initiatives, committees and training that barely scratch the surface.

Hanna and Fearless Futures give business leaders a true experience of what it is like to experience inequity and prejudice. It is only from that place, she contends, can we really design organisations for true inclusion.

As a person, Hanna is warm, smart and wise beyond her years. As a startup founder, she is focused and purposeful. For me, this is one of the most important episodes that I have ever been part of. Hanna really does blow the lid off what you think diversity and inclusion are.

Why dealing with inequity and inclusion is the transformative path to leadership

How you can be a startup founder and fundamentally create social change

Acknowledging that the world is unequal is the real starting point of diversity and inclusion (D&I)

Most diversity and inclusion work doesn’t address the root causes of the issues that it sets out to address

Never understand the power of a few courageous agitators to create fundamental change in organisations

Webinars on unconscious bias are NOT the way forward

Why you can’t look at diversity and inclusion by looking at gender, race etc as separate issues

How to REALLY approach D&I as a transformative subject that does actually change things

Why Fearless Futures never engage in business case conversations for the work they do with organisations

How Hanna lives her own values as a leader in her own organisation

Why this is one of the most important podcasts that you will listen to this year

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Justin Billingsley defies convention. It would be very easy to make assumptions about someone who is one of the most senior people globally in a multinational advertising group. Whatever picture that brings to mind, Justin is NONE of that…and is a true Maverick.

As the CEO of Publicis DACH and Publicis EMIL, Justin runs a multi-billion dollar business. But, he walked into our interview, took off his converse trainers and chatted with me as if I had known him for years. It couldn’t have been more refreshing experience.

In this podcast, Justin discusses his journey as a Maverick and how he has risen to the ranks of being a global business leader, all while staying true to himself.

What impressed me most about Justin is just how down-to-earth, humble, geeky and personal he is. He is also immensely smart. If you work in corporate but long to be more true to yourself, this is a must listen.

Even in corporations, you can be disrupting and entrepreneurial

What is your one-word equity?

What it takes to reach the top of one of the world’s largest and most successful companies

The challenges and opportunities of moving your family and moving to China

How as a Maverick, you have to be able to embrace ambiguity

Despite technology, it is still important to do business by looking people in the eye by being there in person

In the age of information and technology, staying analogue is what keeps Justin organised

As a founder, know your weaknesses and staff up around that

The challenges of integrating family life and self-care and with being a global business leader

How even global leaders have the people that inspire them

When looking for inspiration, read outside of your immediate area of interest…it stimulates creativity and lateral thinking

Assume that you are not an imposter! That holds more people back than almost anything else…

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So much success depends on ignoring the advice and opinions of others and figuring out what really works for you.  That saves time, energy and an awful lot of angst as Tara McMullin, the CEO and Founder of The What Works Network and extremely successful podcast of the same name, has discovered.

For over 10 years, she has been facilitating honest conversations about running and growing a small business and answering the no. 1 question small business owners want to know is: What works? (in marketing, hiring people, selling more, driving results etc).

What I love about Tara is that she is extremely grounded and relatable, yet incredibly inspiring and wise.  Tara describes herself as a "natural introvert but digital extravert" and she hits that sweet spot where purpose meets the practical, where the big picture meets pragmatic action.

In this episode Tara shares her experience of what has worked for her in building her business, growing as a person and leader and really discovering what authentic success means for her.

• Why being a Maverick ultimately means being true to your own values

Every now and then, someone comes along who is so genuine and authentic that it is hard not to be instantly enrolled in them.  That was the case for us at Mavericks Unlimited with Josh Connolly. 

Josh is a speaker, coach and spokesperson for the National Association for Children of Alcoholics, who spends his time passionately advocating the power of authenticity, resilience and acceptance.  These aren't just concepts for Josh, they are born out of hard-earned experience and an extraordinary journey through life with extreme ups and downs.  He also speaks about mental health and why so much of the current debate on this topic is focused on completely the wrong thing.

The thing that I love about Josh is that he speaks so openly and authentically about emotions and feelings that many of us have but are afraid to bring out into the open.  More than that, he speaks with courage, acceptance and compassion. 

Josh is a true model of what it is to fall down, do the inner work and, ultimately, thrive as a person doing incredible work in the world.

• The difference between how we see our lives and what is actually happening

Very often the best way to learn how to perform at peak efficiency is to learn exactly how not to do that...then reverse it.  That is exactly what our guest this week, Nick Elvery, has done.

Nick is a peak performance coach whose journey includes a foray into deep addiction, getting clean and sober and then having the motivation to learn and apply EVERYTHING he could find to become a peak performer.  Because of where he has come from, Nick is possibly an even bigger maven (or is that geek?) around biohacks and performance techniques than I am.

This interview is so full of tips, techniques and biohacks, that if you don't take something from it, I will want to know why!  Nick is so generous with his knowledge expertise and wisdom that there is something here that everyone can learn.

• The journey from addiction to peak performance

Change is difficult, but if you want any degree of success, you can't keep doing the same thing over and over again.  At some point, you have to take a risk and do something different.

That is the core message of our guest this week, Ray Richards.  Ray is the CEO of the Brighton-based tech company Do Something Different and is very much a Maverick in his own right.  DSD's mission is to help people create sustainable change in their lives by mixing up their routine and taking small steps or "do's" to expand their behavioural flexibility.  It is this behavioural flexibility that is the key to reaching our goals.

In this episode, we talk about what you can do to build your own behavioural flexibility, how you can deal with the unknown and bring the people who matter on the journey with you.

What I love about Ray is that he is extremely grounded, laid-back and pragmatic.  Although he believes that change it simple, it is not easy and he is dedicated to making it easier.

• The definition of insanity is...

The Do Something Different website

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