Episode Summary

In this episode, Nicola Hunt speaks with Vish Alluri, co-author of The Enlightened Manager, about an approach to management rooted in the teachings of the philosopher, Jiddu Krishnamurti. They discuss self-understanding and deep questioning as the foundation for effective management. Vish argues that true leadership requires personal clarity of mind and an awareness of life as a whole.

The conversation concludes with an exchange on the role of artificial intelligence in management, with Vish emphasizing that AI cannot read between the lines or replace human intelligence and that leaders must have clarity within themselves to guide others effectively.

Key Topics Discussed

• The art of questioning and why discovering your own questions is more important than the answers themselves.
• The life and philosophy of Jiddu Krishnamurti, including his rejection of organized belief systems
• Why understanding your own mind is a prerequisite for understanding and managing others
• Key management tools: The "tool of negation" and the "mirror of relationship"
• Focusing on the process ("eye on the ball") rather than being consumed by outcomes
• 'Coffee darshan' and the importance of a daily refreshment to pause for reflection and connection
• A critique of business schools for providing "symptomatic solutions"
• The role of spontaneity and why acting without expectation prevents disappointment
• The limitations of Artificial Intelligence, including the concern that our brains could decay if we don’t use them enough.

Featured Guest

Vish Alluri – Co-author with Harry Eyres of The Enlightened Mananager. As a tech entrepreneur in 1988 Vish founded IMISoft. In 1999 he went on to found communication platform IMImobile which was acquired by CISCO in 2021.

Vish is currently the Secretary of the Krishnamurti Foundation India where his role is to assist the foundation’s work to preserve and disseminate the teachings of J. Krishnamurti, responsibility of Schools in India for education of children, rural outreach work.

Resources Mentioned

• The Enlightened Manager co-authored by Vish Alluri (available on Amazon)
• A Meeting by the River by Christopher Isherwood
• The Future of Humanity in the Era of AI (booklet)
• "The Good, The Bad, Ugly and the Danger of AI" (article by Vish Alluri)

In this episode, Nicola Hunt speaks with Steve Cockram, co-founder of Giants Worldwide, about his latest book The Voice-Driven Leader. Together, they explore why leadership must evolve for the digital age, how diverse voices unlock team performance, and why self-awareness is the foundation of relationally intelligent leadership. Steve introduces the Five Voices framework and explains how leaders can create environments where every voice is heard, valued, and effectively deployed.

Key Topics Discussed

• Why leadership skills must change in the digital, complex world of work
• The shift from individual performance to agile, collaborative teams
• The Five Voices framework and how each voice contributes to team success
• How leaders unintentionally silence voices—and how to prevent it
• The role of self-awareness in becoming a voice-driven leader
• Generational differences, resilience, and their impact on workplace dynamics
• Balancing high support and high challenge to develop people effectively

Featured Guest

Steve Cockram – Co-founder of Giants Worldwide, leadership coach, speaker, and co-author of The Voice-Driven Leader

Resources Mentioned

• The Voice-Driven Leader: How to Hear, Value and Maximise Every Voice on Your Team, by Steve Cockram and Jeremy Kubitschek
• Five Voices website and resources
• The Five Voices app and AI coaching tools

We talk to communication expert, international keynote speaker and transformational coach, Ravi Rajani, about his new book, “Relationship currency: five communication habits for limitless influence and business success”.

In Relationship Currency, Ravi uncovers the five communication habits you can embody to influence, inspire, and ignite change in your prospects, partners, customers, and team through building meaningful business relationships that matter.

We explore:

• How to ask conscious questions and why they are important.
• Why Ravi believes that we all have the innate superpower of charisma.
• True authenticity vs faking it.
• How to create story-worthy questions.
• Why imperfection equals connection.
• Why the suits Ravi wears have a far deeper significance!
• Key take-aways from the book that listeners can implement right away.

Relationship Currency is available from all major book sellers and from: www.theravirajani.com/book

In this episode of What Matters, we dive into the new book from Deloitte’s Geoff Tuff (Global and U.S. Sustainability Leader for Energy, Resources, and Industrials) and Steven Goldbach (Principal, Sustainability leader, Deloitte US), Hone: How Purposeful Leaders Defy Drift.

Hone builds upon the authors’ two previous books Detonate (2018), which challenged readers to blow up outdated playbooks; and Provoke (2021), which focused on creating future advantage by spotting risk early. This third book addresses the daily work of staying on track once you've positioned yourself for advantage.

• What exactly is ‘drift’ and why is it all too easy for organisations to lose their edge in times of massive transformation?
• How can the way in which a kitchen knife is sharpened deepen strategic insight?
• What is the connection between how our nervous systems work and management systems?
• What do four artisans - a chef, a documentary filmmaker, a nautical photographer and a Canadian rock band all have in common?
• What can sailing teach us about navigating change?

In our conversation, Tuff and Goldbach make a compelling case for the power of purposeful, continuous, human-centred improvement – something that’s so much more appealing than the often-brutal top-down corporate transformation!

Workplace pressure can be detrimental to growth, development and wellbeing. In this episode of What Matters, we discuss wellbeing at work, including the issues of fear-based cultures and psychological safety.

Lesley Cooper is a management consultant with nearly 30 years of experience in the design and delivery of employee wellbeing programmes. In 1997, she founded WorkingWell, an award-winning specialist consultancy.

Other issues we explore include:

• What employers can do to help people manage stress and pressure at work?
• The leadership skills that can help to mitigate a stressful environment.
• How to move to positive high energy emotions and strong performance.
• Self-awareness, resilience and self-regulation.
• The importance of building trust and creating a culture of openness.

Lesley is also the co-author with Vicky Smith of Brave New Leader: How to Transform Workplace Pressure into Sustainable Performance and Growth. Built around incremental, achievable steps, Brave New Leader covers the tools, mindset, and courage required to turn a damaging tide of pressure and fear into enhanced engagement contribution, fulfilment and wellbeing.

Being happy at work can sometimes feel out of reach, but my guest today on What Matters, Lord Mark Price, believes that it's one of the most important things we can strive for.

Mark is an expert in improving leadership and organisational culture. He is the former Managing Director of Waitrose and Deputy Chair of the John Lewis Partnership. He has also served as UK Minister of State for Trade and Investment, President of the CMI, Chair of Business in the Community and is currently a non-executive director of Coca-Cola. He is the founder of workplace happiness platform, WorkL, which measures the Sunday Times best places to work list.

In this podcast, we discuss the book, its ground-breaking Charter, Mark’s belief that it’s our responsibility to be happy at work and how his inspiration goes back to his first day at John Lewis as a graduate.

Work Happier is published by Kogan Page and available from Koganpage.com and all online book platforms.

We talk to Wilf Blackburn, who describes himself as "a serial CEO" and who is also the author of the recently-published book, Optimal Leadership Reflections of a Serial CEO.

Shaheena Janjuha-Jivraj is an academic, author and keynote speaker. Her work addresses creating inclusive cultures to strengthen the retention and promotion of women into leadership roles. She works with public organisations, NGOs and private business leaders globally including FTSE100, Fortune 500 to help them transform their cultures and work on specific interventions that strengthen gender diversity on the workplace.

We talk to transformation expert and author, Bree Groff, about her new book, “Today Was Fun, a Book About Work (Seriously)”, and discover that the solution to improved performance might simply be injecting more joy into the hours we spend at work.

The second part of our interview with Daniel Snell, co-founder of management consultancy, Arrival, looking at some of the issues affecting managers and leaders today, such as productivity and performance.