The Ben Morton Leadership Podcast
By Ben Morton
Through inspiring interviews with senior leaders he looks at the tactics, tools and philosophies that will enable you and your teams to reach your full potential.
Are you ready to become the very best, most authentic leader that you can be?
The Ben Morton Leadership PodcastJan 24, 2021
Ep 029 – Carola Becker, The Nutrition Coach
Carola is a forward-thinking Nutritionist and Fitness Instructor with a focus on brain health and performance. As well as running her own business, she works as our in-house nutritionist at Ben Morton Leadership. I’m very grateful to have gotten to know over the past few years.
She has been delivering cutting edge, inspirational and engaging talks on Nutrition and Lifestyle for leading organisations in the UK and Europe, including the European Athletics Coaching Association.
She works with corporates and individuals so they can shape rewarding food and lifestyle routines, for a greater feeling of wellbeing and readiness for every challenge life throws at them. I can personally recommend Carola’s services as she was instrumental in preparation for riding the entire Tour de France route for charity in 2019.
Carola is also part of the complementary therapy team at University of Exeter and runs award-winning Wellbeing Retreats in amazing locations in the UK, north Africa and the US.
Links Mentioned:
Find out more about Carola’s work: https://www.carolabecker.com
Find out more about Ben’s work: https://linktr.ee/BMLeadership
Ep #028 – Brian Dow. CEO and MD, Mental Health UK and ReThink Mental Illness
I’m excited to have Brian Dow on the show today. He is the Chief Executive of Rethink Mental Illness, and the Managing Director of Mental Health UK – a coalition of four charities across the UK. Brian is also Co-Chair of the National Suicide Prevention Alliance.
Episode Overview
I’m so pleased to be able to share this episode with you as mental health is such an important topic, more so now than ever.
He began his career as a broadcast journalist in Scotland, moving to the BBC in London. He has spent 20 years in the voluntary sector with organisations including Shelter, the School Food Trust and the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health.
In this candid conversation we explore what leaders can do on a very practical level to look after the mental health and wellbeing of their team and themselves.
Personal Leadership Mastery
Check out my brand new online course, Personal Leadership Mastery, designed to help you and your team play at your best in the new normal, post-covid world. And remember to use you Friends of the Podcast discount code and save 30% on the regular tuition cost. Sign-up for the course here for just £139.00 with discount code 'FRIENDS21'.
#LeadOn
Links Mentioned:
- Personal Leadership Mastery: https://benmortonleadership.thinkific.com/courses/personal-leadership-success-system
- Clic: https://clic-uk.org
- Mental Health UK: https://mentalhealth-uk.org/?gclid=Cj0KCQjwrsGCBhD1ARIsALILBYpAuuuEpaue5jZAkpZ8cqF0DaMdm5VhcCOWgjR9TOku8Iu7BVMlyTwaAnf9EALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds
- ReThink Mental Illness: https://www.rethink.org/?gclid=Cj0KCQjwrsGCBhD1ARIsALILBYrLNxY45k4D1hT-1EnzsQWIFSUCSWL4qPVDQmfeO7IBhOPmQUJ4sRAaAkYcEALw_wcB
Ep #027 – Peter Cheese. Chief Executive, CIPD
Today’s guest is Peter Cheese, CIPD’s Chief Executive. He writes and speaks widely on the development of HR, the future of work, and the key issues of leadership, culture and organisation, people and skills.
Episode Overview
Peter is a Companion of the Institute of Leadership and Management, the Chartered Management Institute, and the British Academy of Management. He is a visiting Professor at the University of Lancaster and sits on the Advisory Board for the University of Bath Management School.
Prior to joining the CIPD in July 2012, he was Chairman of the Institute of Leadership and Management and a member of the Council of City&Guilds. Up until 2009 he had a long career at Accenture holding various leadership positions, including a seven year spell as Global Managing Director – leading the firm’s human capital and organisation consulting practice.
In this episode Peter talks extensively about the future or work, making work more human and how we mustn’t go back to normal post-COVID19. He shares the challenges and problems of the pre-COVID19 workplace – better than anyone I’ve heard – and gives some incredibly insightful advice for us all going forward.
Personal Leadership Mastery
Check out my brand new online course, Personal Leadership Mastery, designed to help you and your team play at your best in the new normal, post-covid world. And remember to use you Friends of the Podcast discount code and save 30% on the regular tuition cost. Sign-up for the course here for just £139.00 with discount code 'FRIENDS21'.
#LeadOn
Ep #026 – Marvyn Harrison. MD, BELOVD
Episode Overview
Marvyn Harrison's leadership experience as the founder and driving force behind Dope Black CIC – an educational and healing platform designed to improve the outcomes of black people – has seen him become the voice of the Black community across the UK, US, and African continent.
Marvyn is the co-founder and VP of Strategy, Marketing and Sales of BELOVD Agency, a DEI consultancy working for the advancement of all intersections of humanity in the workplace and places of education. It’s Marvyn’s mission to help support businesses and organisations in their evolution to becoming more representative of the diverse cities they operate in and the dynamic consumers they serve.
This is a fascinating and enlightening episode that touches on some areas that we’ve not explored in previous episodes, as Marvyn talks about the similarities and differences of leading social enterprises or organisations in the charitable sector. One of the most insightful sections of the interview for me was what Marvyn shared around his own experience with therapy and emotional work, and how it can benefit all leaders.
Personal Leadership Mastery
Check out my brand new online course, Personal Leadership Mastery, designed to help you and your team play at your best in the new normal, post-covid world. And remember to use you Friends of the Podcast discount code and save 30% on the regular tuition cost. Sign-up for the course here for just £139.00 with discount code 'FRIENDS21'.
#LeadOn
Ep #025 – Dr Paul Brewerton. Founder, Strengthscope
I’m really excited about today’s episode and my interview with Dr Paul Brewerton, the Founder and now Chair of Strengthscope, not least because we both had great fun recording it for you.
Episode Overview
I’m a huge fan of the Strengthscope tools. If you’re not familiar with them, Paul and his team created them to solve the issues of lowered workplace engagement, productivity, meaning and stress, amongst other challenges at work today.
The Strengthscope platform works by helping individuals identify who they are when at their best, the qualities and strengths that make them different and how they can utilise these qualities in order to drive up their confidence, engagement with work, productivity and build better relationships with colleagues.
Paul is a Doctor of Psychology, serial entrepreneur, podcaster and executive coach. He’s committed to transforming people’s lives and creating more productive, more human and more sustainable organisations.
I think this is an incredibly timely episode as Paul shares his thoughts and tactics around how we can all stay motivated, energised and happy as we navigate our way through the pandemic. We also touch on Growth Mindsets; focussing on progress as opposed to perfection.
Let’s dive right into my interview with Dr Paul Brewerton.
Personal Leadership Mastery
Check out my brand new online course, Personal Leadership Mastery, designed to help you and your team play at your best in the new normal, post-covid world. And remember to use you Friends of the Podcast discount code and save 30% on the regular tuition cost. Sign-up for the course here for just £139.00 with discount code 'FRIENDS21'.
#LeadOn
Ep #024 – Richard Moriarty. CEO, Civil Aviation Authority
Today we’re joined by Richard Moriarty who has been the CEO of the UK’s Civil Aviation Authority since May 2018.
I've been working with an incredibly talented artist to create a set on fantastic visual summaries of the first five episodes. To grab the full set simply click this link, enter your details here and we'll fire them straight across to you via email.
Episode Overview
Richard Moriarty has been at the helm through some truly unprecedented times for the aviation sector with the drone attacks at Gatwick Airport, a number of failed airlines and the need to coordinate the largest repatriation operation since Dunkirk – and of course the impact that COVID19 has had on the sector.
There are so many fascinating insights and pieces of actionable advice from Richard. To quote Richard directly, he says that a lot of his current leadership approach comes from “the school of hard knocks”… and to quote a Chinese proverb, “the wise man learns from his mistakes, the wiser man learns from the mistakes of others”.
Please enjoy my interview with Richard Moriarty, CEO of the Civil Aviation Authority.
Personal Leadership Mastery
Check out my brand new online course, Personal Leadership Mastery, designed to help you and your team play at your best in the new normal, post-covid world. And remember to use you Friends of the Podcast discount code and save 30% on the regular tuition cost. Sign-up for the course here for just £139.00 with discount code 'FRIENDS21'.
#LeadOn
Ep #023 – Patricia Riddell. Consultant Neuroscientist
Today I’m joined by Professor Patricia Riddel, a Consultant Neuroscientist. Patricia specialises in how neuroscience can be applied to the business world, to support and extend our understanding of human behaviour.
I've been working with an incredibly talented artist to create a set on fantastic visual summaries of the first five episodes. To grab the full set simply click this link, enter your details here and we'll fire them straight across to you via email.
Episode Overview
Patricia provides access to Applied Neuroscience through customised training, consultancy and public programmes. She teaches at several business schools including Henley as well as running training programmes for organisations and businesses.
She is also an author having co-authored a book, written several book chapters and many academic articles in the areas of coaching and leadership. You can see why I’m so excited to have her on the show!
In recent years I’ve started to hear neuroscience findings being used more and more in the business world. I’ve also begun to realise that much of it is miss-quoted, miss-understood or out of date information.
With that in mind I focussed my conversation with Patricia Riddel on debunking a lot of the false information around neuroscience, and the practical ways in which we can use the real findings to improve our own productivity and become even better leaders for those that we serve.
Personal Leadership Mastery
Check out my brand new online course, Personal Leadership Mastery, designed to help you and your team play at your best in the new normal, post-covid world. And remember to use you Friends of the Podcast discount code and save 30% on the regular tuition cost. Sign-up for the course here for just £139.00 with discount code 'FRIENDS21'.
#LeadOn
Ep #022 – David Brown. CEO, The Go-Ahead Group
Thanks for joining me for episode 22 of the show and my interview with David Brown, CEO of The Go-Ahead Group.
I've been working with an incredibly talented artist to create a set on fantastic visual summaries of the first five episodes. To grab the full set simply click this link, enter your details here and we'll fire them straight across to you via email.
Episode Overview
The Go-Ahead group is an international transport group and one of the UK’s leading public transport providers. They operate bus services across the UK, they are the largest operator of bus services in London as well as running services in Ireland and Singapore.
In addition, Go-Ahead’s rail operation is the busiest in the UK, responsible for over 30% of all train passenger journeys. They also operate rail contracts in Norway and Germany.
David Brown became the Groups Chief Executive in July 2011 and has now spent longer in post than is the average for CEOs of large UK businesses; something I asked him about during our conversation.
In this conversation we talk a lot about resilience, the challenges of stepping into more and more senior roles and how change is essential for sustained success.
Personal Leadership Mastery
Check out my brand new online course, Personal Leadership Mastery, designed to help you and your team play at your best in the new normal, post-covid world. And remember to use you Friends of the Podcast discount code and save 30% on the regular tuition cost. Sign-up for the course here for just £139.00 with discount code 'FRIENDS21'.
#LeadOn
Ep #021 – Tessa Clarke. Co-Founder and CEO, Olio
Thanks for joining me for episode 21 of the show and my interview with Tessa Clarke, who is the Co-Founder and CEO of Olio.
I've been working with an incredibly talented artist to create a set on fantastic visual summaries of the first five episodes. To grab the full set simply click this link, enter your details here and we'll fire them straight across to you via email.
Episode Overview
Olio is a free app tackling the problem of food waste by connecting neighbours with each other, and volunteers with local businesses, so that surplus food can be shared, not thrown away.
Since launching just over 4 years ago, 2.5 million people have joined Olio and together they’ve shared over 9 million portions of food.
Tessa started her career as a strategy consultant at Boston Consulting Group and then spent 10 years as a digital Managing Director in the media, retail and financial services sectors. She met her co-founder Saasha Celestial-One whilst they were studying for their MBAs at Stanford.
Tessa’s written bio describes how she is passionate about the sharing economy as a solution for a sustainable world, and about ‘profit with purpose’ as the next business paradigm, and this passion really comes across in this interview.
If you’re passionate about these things, and are interested to know more about the leadership challenges, and solutions, of running an early stage start-up then this is the episode for you.
Personal Leadership Mastery
Check out my brand new online course, Personal Leadership Mastery, designed to help you and your team play at your best in the new normal, post-covid world. And remember to use you Friends of the Podcast discount code and save 30% on the regular tuition cost. Sign-up for the course here for just £139.00 with discount code 'FRIENDS21'.
#LeadOn
Ep #020 – Andrew Southcott. MD, Captivate Group
Thanks for joining me for episode 20 of the show and my interview with Andrew Southcott, who is the Managing Director of Captivate Group.
Episode Overview – Andrew Southcott
Captivate Group is a multi-award winning collection of creative agencies providing connected thinking across social, design, PR, influencer, experiential and in-store retail. Andrew has been with the independent business for 6 years progressing from employee, to shareholder and finally to MD.
This episode came about after I stumbled upon a LinkedIn post that Andrew wrote summarising his first 90 days in post as the MD. So this episode really is a first hand, extremely current, conversation about what it’s like to step into the MD role. In our conversation we touch on his thoughts about the new role, along with what he practically did in those first days, along with his reflections several months in.
Without any further delay, please enjoy my interview with Andrew Southcott.
#LeadOn
Personal Leadership Mastery
Check out my brand new online course, Personal Leadership Mastery, designed to help you and your team play at your best in the new normal, post-covid world. And remember to use you Friends of the Podcast discount code and save 30% on the regular tuition cost. Sign-up for the course here for just £139.00 with discount code 'FRIENDS21'.
Links mentioned:
Be sure to grab your visual summaries here
Article: 'I got promoted to MD in the middle of a pandemic. Here is what I learnt.'
‘First 90 Days’ by Michael Watkins
‘Agencynomics’ by Spencer Gallagher
Ep #019 – Haseeb Ahmad. Country President, Novartis
Welcome to episode 19 of the Ben Morton Leadership Podcast and to my interview with Haseeb Ahmad.
Haseeb is the Global Head of Value & Access and Commercial Development, and is Country President of Novartis UK, one of the world's leading Pharmaceutical Companies. In his role, he is a member of Novartis’ global Pharmaceutical Executive Committee.
Personal Leadership Mastery
Check out my brand new online course, Personal Leadership Mastery, designed to help you and your team play at your best in the new normal, post-covid world. And remember to use you Friends of the Podcast discount code and save 30% on the regular tuition cost. Sign-up for the course here for just £139.00 with discount code 'FRIENDS21'.
Episode Overview
Haseeb is also President and Chairman of the Board at the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry, through which he is an active contributor to the UK Life Sciences’ sector. He is also a board member of NHS England’s Accelerated Access Collaborative.
Haseeb has held numerous senior in-country appointments, including Managing Director of UK, Ireland and Nordics for Novartis Pharmaceuticals, Managing Director for MSD in Greece during the economic crisis, and global roles in Strategy, Operations, Sales and Marketing.
In this episode Haseeb talks candidly about his ongoing leadership journey, how in the early part of his career he focused on lighting a fire under people's feet, and how he now focuses on lighting a fire in their hearts.
Without any further delay, please enjoy my interview with Haseeb Ahmad.
#LeadOn
Links mentioned:
Personal Leadership Mastery by Ben Morton
‘The Leadership Challenge’ by Barry Posner and James Kouzes
‘Long Walk To Freedom’ by Nelson Mandela
Ep #018 – Edwina Dunn, OBE. CEO, The Female Lead
I’m absolutely delighted to be able to bring you this episode and my interview with Edwina Dunn, OBE.
I've been working with an incredibly talented artist to create a set on fantastic visual summaries of the first five episodes. To grab the full set simply click this link, enter your details here and we'll fire them straight across to you via email.
Episode Overview – Edwina Dunn
Edwina is one of the most successful leaders in the data industry, with a career of delivering transformational business change. She founded Dunnhumby with her husband in 1989, a company that revolutionised the world of retail and consumer goods when they pioneered the Tesco Clubcard and other global loyalty programmes.
Edwina is also the former Chairman at Starcount, a consumer insights and digital consultancy. More recently, she founded The Female Lead, a foundation celebrating the achievements and diversity of women; donating 18,000 copies of The Female Lead: Women Who Shape Our World to schools and universities across the UK and USA. In 2019 Edwina received an OBE for her services to data and business in the UK and is also on the Boards of both the Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation and the Geospatial Commission.
In this episode Edwina shares her experience of working in a male-dominated industry and her thoughts on how to overcome those. She also speaks about how you need to maintain the essence and culture of a business as it scales rapidly around the globe, and much, much more.
Please enjoy my interview with Edwina Dunn, OBE.
#LeadOn
Links mentioned:
Be sure to grab your visual summaries here
https://www.thefemalelead.com/podcast-1
The Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation
‘Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls’ by Elena Favilli and Francesca Cavallo
Episode #017 – Tim Shoveller. Regional MD, Network Rail
Welcome back to episode 17 of the podcast and my interview with Tim Shoveller.
Tim is the Managing Director of Network Rail’s North West and Central Region, a role that he started in June 2019 after moving from Stagecoach, where he was MD of the rail division. Previously, as MD of South West Trains, Tim led the development of the Alliance working with Network Rail. Earlier in his career, Tim was MD at East Midlands Trains from the start of the franchise in 2007.
I've been working with an incredibly talented artist to create a set on fantastic visual summaries of the first five episodes. To grab the full set simply click this link, enter your details here and we'll fire them straight across to you via email.
Episode Overview
I’m so pleased to be able to bring you this interview with Tim, as I’ve had the genuine pleasure of supporting him over the past year to build and develop his executive team, and personally, I rate him very highly as a leader… he’s also a genuinely lovely bloke.
In this episode we explore his approach to winning the hearts and minds of everyone in the organisation and how to harness the knowledge, passions and energy of everyone in the business, regardless of whether they are a train guard or in the exec team.
We also touch on trust, leading remote, unsupervised workers – which has always been the norm for network Rail, and much, much more.
So, without any further delay, please enjoy my conversations with Tim Shoveller.
#LeadOn
Links mentioned:
Be sure to grab your visual summaries here
Ep #016 – Sarah Walker-Smith. CEO, Shakespeare Martineau
Sarah Walker-Smith is the CEO of Shakespeare Martineau. She is the only female, non-lawyer CEO in the legal top 55 and was recently named as the UK’s most influential legal CEO on social media.
I've been working with an incredibly talented artist to create a set on fantastic visual summaries of the first five episodes. To grab the full set simply click this link, enter your details here and we'll fire them straight across to you via email.
Episode Overview - Sarah Walker-Smith
Sarah is a trained accountant having worked for PWC and Deloitte. She puts people at the core of everything she does, as well as the marketing and branding experience gained at Boots plc.
Sarah looks to challenge the norm in the legal sector and wider business world. She is passionate about levelling the playing field, encouraging everyone to bring their authentic selves to work.
A self-professed ‘geek’, Sarah loves learning and is currently exploring the relationship between leadership, purpose and trust. Sarah strongly believes that ‘good business’ is both purposeful and profitable, often with one leading to the other.
Recognising the importance of life beyond work, she enjoys writing, directing and performing in musical theatre productions, which she believes develops many skills that help in her role as a CEO.
I absolutely loved my conversation with Sarah for the energy, authenticity and leadership insights that she brought to the interview. Please enjoy my interview with Sarah Walker Smith, CEO of Shakespeare Martineau.
#LeadOn
Links mentioned:
Be sure to grab your visual summaries here
Article: As business leaders, now is the time to hold our nerve…
Article: Leading through crisis - do we now need to ‘END with Why’?
‘The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People’ by Stephen Covey
‘Start With Why’ by Simon Sinek
‘The Infinite Game’ by Simon Sinek
Episode #015 – Lesley Everett. Founder and CEO, Walking Tall
Welcome to episode 15. In amongst the interviews with MDs and CEOs, I’m also working hard to bring you interviews with subject matter experts who can help us all be even better leaders for the organisations and individuals that we lead.
In season one we heard from my good friend and physiologist Professor Greg Wells, and my team and I are working hard to bring you a Professor of Applied Neuroscience. In another episode we’ll have an excellent nutritionist, and in today’s episode we have Lesley Everett.
I've been working with an incredibly talented artist to create a set on fantastic visual summaries of the first five episodes. To grab the full set simply click this link, enter your details here and we'll fire them straight across to you via email.
Episode Overview
Lesley is an internationally recognized professional keynote speaker and specialist on Leadership Branding and The Personality of the Brand, known for her content-rich, engaging and practical advice and delivery.
Lesley has presented her Walking TALL System in 28 countries across 5 continents.
She is a published author of 3 books including her latest one, ‘Corporate Brand Personality’. She is an Executive Brand and Brand Management Coach with a client list that includes Salesforce, Deloitte, ASDA/Walmart and JetBlue.
Lesley is also the founder and CEO of Walking TALL Training & Consulting, Inc., with offices in the US and UK. She has created a methodology for Personal Branding that has inspired audiences for the past 16+ years.
In this episode we explore what we actually mean by Personal or Leadership Brand, some of the key things we need to be thinking about, and the particular nuances we need to be considering whilst working from home on endless Zoom and Teams calls.
So without any further delay, please enjoy my interview with Lesley Everett.
#LeadOn
Links mentioned:
Be sure to grab your visual summaries here
As listeners of the show, get 15% off her her online Walking TALL programme here: https://walkingtall.lpages.co/public-programs-partners/
Episode #014 – Dan Hawley. MD, PLB Group
Welcome to Season Two of my podcast!
I’ve been blown away by the overwhelmingly positive response that we got to the first season. Thank you so much for your kind words support, feedback and all of the social media shares.
And most importantly, thanks for listening to the show.
I’m so excited about Season Two as we have some incredible guests already confirmed for the show. I know that you’re going to love listening to them, you’re going to learn loads from them and I think you’ll be pretty inspired too.
But that’s enough about the future…
In this episode, I’m joined by Dan Hawley, MD of PLB Group.
I've been working with an incredibly talented artist to create a set on fantastic visual summaries of the first five episodes. To grab the full set simply click this link, enter your details here and we'll fire them straight across to you via email.
Episode Overview
Dan joined PLB in 2000 after starting his career as a Futures Trader, and began running the business as Managing Director in 2007. Dan leads an established yet entrepreneurial company who specialise in innovation within the retail sector. He works with some of the world's most loved brands, has a committed team and works relentlessly hard to encourages a positive, inspirational working environment
As always, we covered so much ground in our 30 minute conversations including things such as the human element of leadership, creating your own luck in business, as well as what it takes to make some bold, strategic decisions early on in your tenure as MD that will stand you in good stead.
#LeadOn
Links mentioned:
Be sure to grab your visual summaries here
Episode #013 - Ben Morton 0n the Greg Wells Podcast
Welcome
... to episode number 13 which is a recording of my interview with Professor Greg Wells on his podcast, which you should definitely add to your podcast play list. Greg is my go-to guy for all things human performance and regularly has some very cool and incredibly inspiring guests in his show. You can check it out here as well as listening to Greg on episode 010 of my show.
Episode Overview
This interview came about after Greg and I spent a cold January morning walking across London together talking about leadership, personal introspection and human performance. As a result, we decided to interview each other on our respective podcasts in a hope that you would learn and benefit from the conversations that we had.
In this episode Greg asks me about my take on Servant Leadership, draws out some stories about leading under extreme pressure in Iraq and how as a leaders we know when to lead from the front and when to lead from behind. We also dig into personal values, the power of a simple check-list and lots, lots more.
So without any further delay, please enjoy my interview on the Professor Greg Wells Podcast
Visual Summaries
Be sure to grab your visual summaries o the first five episodes of my podcast here.
#LeadOn
Episode #012 - Professor Greg Wells.
Welcome,
to episode number 12… will is a little different to what you’ve heard so far.
In this episode I interview my good friend Professor Greg Wells, who by his own admission, is obsessed with optimizing human performance and health. As a scientist and performance physiologist, he has dedicated his career to exploring and researching human limits and making that science understandable and actionable.
I've been working with an incredibly talented artist to create a set on fantastic visual summaries of the first five episodes. To grab the full set simply click this link, enter your details and we'll fire them straight across to you via email.
Episode Overview
Greg served as a tenured Associate Professor of Kinesiology at the University of Toronto and he’s currently a scientist in Translational Medicine at the Hospital for Sick Children.
Greg has also worked as the Director of Sport Science for the Canadian Sport Centre where he acted as a physiologist for more than 200 international level athletes. Professor Greg wells is the CEO and founder of Wells Performance, a global consulting firm on a mission to elevate how we live our lives at work and in life.
In this episode Greg translates some of the latest research into sleep, exercise and nutrition into actionable things we can all do to improve our own performance and health, along with that the of the teams and organisations that we lead.
So, without any further delay…enjoy my conversation with Professor Greg wells.
Visual Summaries
Be sure to grab your visual summaries here.
#LeadOn
Episode #011 - Graham Brown. MD, Lush Handmade Cosmetics, North America
Welcome
... to episode number 11 and my interview with Graham Brown who is the Managing Director for Lush Handmade Cosmetics in North America.
I've been working with an incredibly talented artist to create a set on fantastic visual summaries of the first five episodes. To grab the full set simply click this link, enter your details and we'll fire them straight across to you via email.
Episode Overview
Graham has been with Lush in Canada for 24 years, since the brand first launched there in in 1996. The bulk of his experience was in production and supply chain, or as he describes it, every that happens pre-retail, before eventually moving in the Managing Director role.
In this episode Graham shares his thoughts around the importance of intentionally and authentically creating your own leadership style and identity, as opposed to copying that of someone else.
He also speaks candidly about feeling nervous that he wasn’t up to the job, or wasn’t enough to be the MD and how he managed these emotions and kept them in check. On top of all this, Graham shares a number of very granular tactics and practices that he uses to structures his days and play at his best.
And just when I thought we were done, he threw in his thoughts on the importance of being really intentional, there’s that word again, around working on your marriage or relationships out of work….which we’d do well to listen do as his just celebrated 24 years of marriage.
So, without any further delay…please enjoy my interview with Graham Brown…which I know you’re going to love.
Visual Summaries
Be sure to grab your visual summaries here.
#LeadOn
Episode #010 - Andy Page. Former CEO of Otsuka Pharmaceuticals, UK & Europe
Welcome
... to episode number 10 and my interview with Andy Page who is the former CEO of Otsuka Pharmaceuticals, UK and Europe.
I've been working with an incredibly talented artist to create a set on fantastic visual summaries of the first five episodes. To grab the full set simply click this link, enter your details and we'll fire them straight across to you via email.
Episode Overview
Andy is now a director of Koru, an organisation which - as the name suggests - is dedicated to enabling growth and new opportunity. Andy provides consultancy, strategic challenge, advice and implementation support to facilitate the development and delivery of innovative, accessible and affordable healthcare solutions.
The over-riding theme of my conversation with Andy is the power of relationships and building trust. Andy describes how his overseas assignments taught him to really understand the subtleties of different cultures and the need to get to know people and understand what motivates them. As he says himself, just getting the job done, isn’t what gets most people out of bed in the morning.
And in addition to all of these we dive into leading a cultural change programme, authenticity as a leader and leading yourself before you can lead others.
So without any further delay, please enjoy my conversation with Andy Page.
Visual Summaries
Be sure to grab your visual summaries here.
#LeadOn
Episode #009 - Sam Seaton. CEO at MoneyHub
Welcome
... to episode number 9 and my interview with Sam Seaton who is the CEO of MoneyHub, an award-winning digital financial tool for customer-centric organisations and a leading player in the field of open banking.
I've been working with an incredibly talented artist to create a set on fantastic visual summaries of the first five episodes. To grab the full set simply click this link, enter your details and we'll fire them straight across to you via email.
Episode Overview
Sam has worked across a diverse mix of organisations, from global advisory firms such as Towers Watson, to innovative financial forecasting businesses, yet her unwavering ambition to make financial advice and information accessible to all remains constant.
That purpose-driven ambition became very apparent, very quickly in our conversations which lead me to ask Sam about whether a sense of purpose, or knowing your why, is truly important for leaders or is it just hype.
Alongside that we get deep into the weeds discussing resilience, tenacity, and deliberately putting yourself in positions where you feel deeply uncomfortable.
For me, the most interesting part of our conversation was Sam’s methodology for deciding when to stick with a plan and when to change tack.
So, having tee’d up another great episode…please enjoy my conversation with Sam Seaton.
Visual Summaries
Be sure to grab your visual summaries here.
#LeadOn
Episode #008 - Andy Long. CEO, Pentland Brands
Welcome
...to episode number 8 and my interview with Andy Long who is the CEO of Pentland Brands.
I've been working with an incredibly talented artist to create a set on fantastic visual summaries of the first five episodes. To grab the full set simply click this link, enter your details and we'll fire them straight across to you via email.
Episode Overview
As Andy says himself in the opening minutes, you’ve probably not heard of Pentland Brands, but you’ll almost certainly have heard of at least one of their brands which include Speedo, Berghaus, Canterbury of New Zealand and Endura…to name a few.
In this episode we dig into the what it takes to become the first non-family CEO of a family run business and how to successfully transition to leading those people who used to be your peers.
We also explore authenticity, humility and servant leadership…which are emerging as strong themes amongst the leaders I’ve interviewed on your behalf. And on top of all that, Andy also talks about the importance of managing your energy so you’re ready for the high impact moments and the need to be appropriately selfish…whilst still being of service to those that you lead.
Enjoy my conversation with Andy Long.
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Episode #007 - Richard Stevens. MD at Plymouth City Bus
Welcome
...to episode number 7 in which I’m joined by Richard Stevens who is the Managing Director of Plymouth City Bus, a 45million pound turnover business employing 850 people, operating 350 buses and serving tens of thousands of people.
I've been working with an incredibly talented artist to create a set on fantastic visual summaries of the first five episodes. To grab the full set simply click this link, enter your details and we'll fire them straight across to you via email.
Episode Overview
I first met Richard around five years ago when I visited his Head Quarters in Plymouth and was immediately blown away by the incredible culture he had built, and the results that it was delivering.
Whilst many of us have read articles about incredible cultures at organisations like Google, Innocent or Zappo’s few of us have experienced stand out culture for ourselves. Plymouth City bus, is by far, the best example I’ve personally seen, first hand, of the true power of vision, values and team charters.
This episode is packed full of wisdom and insights around service based leadership, an unwavering commitment to always acting unconditional positive regard for others and how to create a team charter that actually makes a real world difference.
I know you’re going to love this episode, so without any further delay…please enjoy my conversation with Richard Stevens.
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Episode #006 - Shelley Butler. CEO, Dovico
Welcome
...to episode number 6 in which I’m joined by Shelley Butler who is the CEO of Dovico, a Canada based company that builds time and cost tracking tools.
I've been working with an incredibly talented artist to create a set on fantastic visual summaries of the first five episodes. To grab the full set simply click this link, enter your details and we'll fire them straight across to you via email.
Episode Overview
My conversation with Shelley went really deep, really quickly and you’ll sense from my reaction that I was somewhat caught off guard by her scale of her openness and vulnerability.
Shelley spoke a lot about leading with love, ensuring your team mates are ok and that your direct reports know that you’ve got their back. This episode may challenge you at times and it may test some of your assumption and beliefs…which I think is fantastic.
So, having teased you enough…enjoy my conversation with Shelley Butler.
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Episode #005 - Nigel Miller. MD, Active Learning Group
Welcome
...to episode number 5 in which I’m joined by Nigel Miller who is the Managing Director of Active Learning Group and Chairman of Outlook Expeditions. I first met Nigel back in 2006 and worked for him for 5 years as his Group HR Director and was delighted when he agreed to come on the show.
I've been working with an incredibly talented artist to create a set on fantastic visual summaries of the first five episodes. To grab the full set simply click this link, enter your details and we'll fire them straight across to you via email.
Episode Overview
As always, we covered a lot of ground in a short amount of time, digging into things such as the importance of always learning and adopting a growth mindset. Nigel shared his thoughts on why it’s so critical for leaders to surround themselves with great people, his belief that leaders don’t need to have all of the answers and why our calendar is the most important tool for us to master.
So, without any further delay, enjoy my conversation with Nigel Miller.
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Episode #004 - Conor Pierce. Corporate VP UK and Ireland, Samsung Electronics.
Welcome
...to episode number 4 in which I’m joined by Conor Pierce who is the Corporate Vice President UK and Ireland at Samsung Electronics.
I've been working with an incredibly talented artist to create a set on fantastic visual summaries of the first five episodes. To grab the full set simply click this link, enter your details and we'll fire them straight across to you via email.
Episode Overview
Conor is an incredibly energetic and results driven leader with an impressive track record of leading transformation and turn-arounds in several regions, all within the telecoms industry.
We got to dig into his approach for leading these transformations in this episode, with a really vivid metaphor of Conor being helicoptered onto a listing tanker in the middle of the ocean, during a raging storm and having to provide hope and direction to the crew.
Alongside that we also discussed the need for continual learning and deep introspection as a leader, the belief that his job is to make himself redundant and his strategies for managing his energy and keeping a sense of perspective.
I know you’re going to love this episode, so without any further delay…please enjoy my conversation with Conor Pierce.
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Episode #003 - Tracey Woodward. Director of Innovation and Sustainability at Sheridan&Co
Welcome
...to episode number 3 in which I’m joined by Tracey Woodward who has worked within the Beauty Industry for over 30 years on brands such as Clinique, Estee Lauder, Donna Karen, Aveda and Urban Retreats at Harrods and Harvey Nichols before becoming the Global CEO for Aromatherapy Associates and the Refinery.
I've been working with an incredibly talented artist to create a set on fantastic visual summaries of the first five episodes. To grab the full set simply click this link, enter your details and we'll fire them straight across to you via email.
Episode Overview
In this episode Tracey talks about her belief that a leaders job is to listen more than you talk, look for the potential in others and find opportunities for them and how ultimately as a CEO, you’re just one piece of the puzzle.
At the end of the episode, just as we were finishing up, casually dropped in another brilliant pearl of wisdom around being the Athlete in your own life and having a duty to yourself to the live the best possible life.
I know you’re going to get so much value from this episode, so without any further delay…please enjoy my conversation with Tracey Woodward.
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Episode #002 - Phil Jones. MD, Brother UK
Hi there, I’m Ben Morton and welcome to my podcast.
The aim of the show is to really dig into the art and science of leadership through interviews with MDs, CEOs and other senior leaders. In doing so, I’m going to try and decode and identify all of the things that we can do to become even better leaders for our organisations and those that we have the privilege and responsibility to lead.
I've been working with an incredibly talented artist to create a set on fantastic visual summaries of the first five episodes. To grab the full set simply click this link, enter your details and we'll fire them straight across to you via email.
Episode Overview
In this episode, episode number 2, I’m joined by Phil Jones who is the Managing Director of the UK arm of the multi-national Information, Communication and Technology Manufacturer - Brother.
I first met Phil around six years ago and was immediately struck by his passion for leadership and building a great culture that makes others feel safe whilst enabling them to perform at the highest level. When I started thinking about launching this podcast, I knew that I had to have Phil on the show and I’m delighted to have him as my first guest.
In this episode, which was recorded early on in the COVID-10 lockdown, we covered a lot of ground including things like leading in a crisis and the importance of being clear on your personal vision, mission, values and guiding principles. We also look at life goals, horizon scanning and dropping the mask.
So, without any further delay, enjoy my conversation with Phil Jones.
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Episode 001 - Ben Morton. Founder of Ben Morton Leadership
Welcome
...to the very first episode of the Ben Morton Leadership Podcast.
This episode was the brainchild of my good friend, Mike Williams, who suggested we open the first season by him interviewing me. During our conversation I share a little of my own leadership journey going from the battlefield to the boardroom and some of the lessons I've learned along the way.
We discuss the power of values alignment between us as individual leaders and the organisations we work for, and how I found myself working within the wrong company because I didn't ask enough questions of my potential employer at the interviews. In addition to this, we dig into the some of leadership models, frameworks and books that have shaped me as a leader, along with the tools, tactics and routines I use today.
In short, Mike asks me all of the questions that I ask the guests that come on the show.
I really hope that this episode helps you get to know me a little moire and gives you a flavour of what to expect from the podcast.
I've been working with an incredibly talented artist to create a set on fantastic visual summaries of the first five episodes. To grab the full set simply click this link, enter your details and we'll fire them straight across to you via email.
Season One Preview
I'm incredibly excited to be launching Season One of the Ben Morton Leadership Podcast on Tuesday 15th September 2020.
My team and I have been working incredibly hard to get some great guests on the show as well as continually improving and optimising how we record them to bring you a series of high quality interviews. We've already interviewed people like Conor Pierce, Corporate VP Samsung Electronics UK and Ireland, Samantha Season, CEO of Money Hub, Nigel Miller, Group Managing Director of Active Learning Group and Shelley Butler, CEO of Dovico.
In this three minute preview, I give you a little taste of what's to come in season one.
You can join my mailing list by clicking here, and I'll send you an email with a link to the first three episodes on the 15th September when we launch, plus some more free, bonus resources.
Take care,
Ben
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