Leading Between the Lines: Recent Episodes

alterniq inspired growth

We're delighted to bring you Series 3 of Leading Between the Lines.

We've got a fantastic series lined up with a set of guests who are all doing great things at fast-growth organisations. Each individual we speak to offers fantastic insights into the importance of retaining top talent, creating a strong company culture, providing development opportunities for team members, and everything else in between.

If you're after some inspiration and want to hear from leading professionals in the people development world then you will not want to miss this series!

Episodes will be released fortnight

This week on Leading Between the Lines Rosanna Machado speaks to the Head of People at Rise at Seven, Daniella Dacey.

Rise at Seven is an award-winning digital, social, content, and SEO specialist in the UK that was founded in 2019 by Carrie Rose and Stephen Kenwright. Carrie and Stephen have received many personal accolades for their achievements, and the organisation now has 100 staff across their offices in Sheffield, London, and Manchester, whilst the company is also expanding into New York.

Danni explains the fantastic balance the team has struck between working hard and enjoying life, adding that the leadership at Rise at Seven really take a serious interest in the wellbeing of their people.

Danni was inspired by her CEO Carrie Rose as a female leader and she really felt an affinity with her philosophy and the agency itself. She outlines how the organisation has prioritised diversity and inclusion, telling us about some of the initiatives they are developing to create a culture where people feel like they belong.

She adds that “Culture” is not just a buzzword at Rise at Seven, and that it's something that really holds value. Daniella talks about the impact that the right culture can have on a company and explains the role HR plays in bringing that culture to life.

Like any scale-up, change is inevitably happening very fast. Although she embraces change, Danni also addresses that this can be difficult and explains how she coaches her teams through any type of change, offering a nice insight into her leadership skills.

And as always with Rosanna's episodes, we find out what Danni would change about her job if she could wave that magic wand!

It’s that time of the week again as we return with another episode of our Leading Between the Lines podcast! This week’s guest is Marie Krebs, the People Experience lead at Learnerbly. Founded in 2016 by Rajeeb Dey MBE, Learnerbly is a Performance Enablement Marketplace that puts learners in the driving seat for their own development so they get to upskill in what they need to perform.

Marie moved country to start work at Learnerbly, and she discusses how the organisation is perceived as a disrupter in the L&D market. Marie delves into the ‘bottom up’ culture at the business and offers some insightful thoughts about what she believes Learnerbly’s true power is.

According to Marie, Learnerbly provides an opportunity for people to take ownership of their growth and performance, and she knows that a learning culture paves the way for high-performance. She also encourages clear guidance from leaders within the organisation.

Learnerbly recently revised their company values and Marie outlines exactly why this was necessary, speaking about the refreshing approach to constructive feedback they are cultivating.

Aside from her role within Learnerbly, Marie has also co-founded an ever-growing online slack community called ’People Stories’. She tells us how this came about, where it is now, and what it means to her. To round off this fantastic episode, Marie talks to us about her values and provides her top takeaways, which we think are just fantastic!

It’s that time of the week again, and we’re back with a brand new episode of Leading Between the Lines. This week our executive coach at AIG, Rosanna Machado is chatting to Irma Dambrauskė, the Director of People at TransferGo. TransferGo is an international money transfer company that allows you to send money at high speeds, low costs and with no hassle.

The company was founded by Daumantas Dvilinskas, Justinas Lasevicius, Edvinas Sersniovas, and Arnas Lukosius in 2012, and they now have over 300 employees in five main locations across Europe, with a number of people working remotely.

When Irma joined TransferGo three years ago the people team only had 4 members. However, that team, and Irma’s role, have expanded and she now drives change and improves and builds the company culture. Irma talks about how she thrives within a fast growth organisation, explaining why these types of business are attractive to her as an individual and a leader.

Speaking about her role, Irma explains how the organisation prioritises their people, enabling them to innovate and grow sustainably. The company’s reliance on trust, and its general people-first attitude, resonates strongly with Irma, as these values are extremely important to her as a leader. Irma outlines how these aspects of a company’s culture can unlock engagement and creativity in people, but she also warns us of the possible negative outcomes of this when not guided on an individual basis.

Irma also touches on the importance of a strong learning culture, the future of hybrid businesses, and gives us her magic wand wish and her number one top tip for people directors.

Are you ready for another new episode of Leading Between the Lines? This week we chatted to Thomas Forstner, the People Director at contract automation platform Juro. Juro are an award-winning client of ours, and we're honoured to have worked with Thomas and their leadership team including their founders Richard and Pavel.

Thomas was previously a guest on Series 2, and we wanted to catch up and see how the company has progressed in the last 12 months. We were delighted to hear that since he was last on the show, Juro has been named the best London start-up to work for by Tempo and they have since received £23 million in investment.

Thomas has been promoted to People Director, and he offers up some truly fantastic insights into why Juro received such an accolade, so it's no surprise why investors are keen to jump on board.

Thomas discusses the challenges of being promoted to the board from within, and also outlines the company’s core values - energy, clarity, and results. He goes on to explain what work needs to be done to execute these values, specifically with senior leaders.

Thomas goes on to talk about dealing with conflict within teams and discusses the importance of "being more human". We finished up the interview by asking Thomas about his top three takeaways. And when you consider he's the People Director for London's no.1 company to work for, we were as excited as you were to hear what he had to say.

We’re back with another brand new episode of our Leading Between the Lines podcast! And this week we’re talking to Lily Fisher, the Senior People Partner at Omnipresent. Founded in 2019 by Matthew Wilson and Guenther Eisinger, Omnipresent is a B2B SaaS platform that makes it quick, simple, and easy to hire and manage remote teams anywhere in the world. Omnipresent is a global company that employs around 300 people in over 50 countries.

Finding her passion in HR, Lily is driven by supporting and helping people within the organisation. Having previously worked in start up and scale up businesses, Lily is right at home at Omnipresent, where she loves the responsibilities that come with working for a fast paced, rapidly growing company.

Despite only being with Omnipresent for a few months, Lily is already dealing with management training, revamping the onboarding process, and working on the team’s health and wellbeing. She is very passionate about mental health in the workplace and in this episode she outlines the importance of talking to others if things get tough. Drawing on her own personal experiences, Lily believes that having a coach or a therapist is vital to mental health and she would love to see mental health first aiders operating within organisations.

It’s time for another brand new episode of the Leading Between the Lines podcast, and this week, Rosanna, our series co-host and executive coach at alterniq inspired growth, chats with Felicity Winkley, the People Director at online stationery company Papier. Founded in 2015 by Taymoor Atighetchi, the fast-growing London-based company, who opened a New York office this year, is an e-commerce brand whose stationery collections invite people to uncover the possibility of a blank page.

Having worked in FinTech previously, Felicity enjoyed the change and the challenge when she joined Papier last year. Full of confidence and enthusiasm about her work, Felicity is open and honest about the challenges they’re facing as they scale beyond start-up and how these challenges are being met. Felicity is not shy about identifying areas where the company needs to improve, and outlines how having a strong brand identity and mission can impact company values and employee culture at work.

Felicity also talks about being comfortable not knowing everything, which is very handy at a fast growing company where many people are learning as they go. She also feels that one of the most important factors to success in the workplace is the ability to provide and receive negative feedback in a constructive manner, finding the right balance of positive and negative. We then delve into what a “no blame culture” means at Papier, and why this is so important for the psychological safety of their people.

But how does all this tie in with Gong Bath Meditation? Tune in to find out!

Leading Between The Lines is back with a brand new series! And to kick things off we’re chatting to Ben Francis, the People Operations and Infrastructure Lead at one of the UK’s best rated startups, Infogrid. The company was founded in 2018 and they now have approximately 200 employees. Infogrid provides end-to-end connected sensor solutions designed to make buildings smarter.

Ben’s team deals with the systems and processes of the people experience, which is vital as their team is growing super-fast adding around 20% more people each month. Ben tells us that the company is investing a huge 20% of its financial resources in the people function to help the company continue to grow effectively. And despite some people being stretched, the needs of the team are being met. What’s more, each member of the team has equity in the business to help it scale and the CEO wants everyone to feel they have a true sense of ownership.

Ben’s driven by leaving the world in a better place than the way he found it, and he states the importance of learning, saying that he believes people should “get better at learning”. He also stresses the importance of being driven by more than just money, saying that the senior team at Infogrid could be on the beach in the Bahamas already. So why aren’t they?

Listen to today’s episode to find out.

It’s time for another episode of the Leading Between the Lines podcast. This week we’re speaking to Brij Palicha, the Director of Learning & Development at Snyk. Snyk is an innovative tech business that was founded in 2015 by Guy Podjarny and has over 800 employees operating globally. They provide a developer-first cloud-native security tool that covers multiple areas of application security. Snyk’s value tripled in 2021, and the company was recently valued at 8 million dollars.

Brij has worked at Snyk for two years. He has previous experience with larger public and private sector companies and has also worked in management consulting. In this episode he discusses the differences between working for a large corporate firm and a fast-growth startup business. He emphasises how important it is for fast-growth companies to employ people who have a hunger for change and are driven by doing things differently.

As well as discussing how Snyk has coped during the pandemic, Brij also talks in-depth about learning and development within business both from a face-to-face and remote perspective. He also outlines how he believes learning and development should be approached and what it should aim to achieve for employees.

On a personal level, Brij explains how working at different companies in a range of countries, whilst being surrounded by lots of smart people, has set him up well in his career. He ends by saying that he would be really proud if he could look back on his life and see that he had had a positive impact on someone's life.

This week’s episode of Leading Between the Lines brings us together with Michael Hamilton, founder of Hamilton Specialist Referrals, one of the UK and Europe’s leading veterinary hospitals.

It’s special. Why? Because not only is Michael one of the best veterinary surgeons in the world, he also has a passion and a skillset around developing people that makes HSR an irresistible combination.

Where technical excellence is a given, leadership and people management are valued and implemented to a level where the overall experience is off the scale.

Michael talks openly about the development and opening of the hospital in 2018 with his wife Clare (“the Steve Jobs of the operation, she does things I can’t do”) and their attitude of “I don’t care what’s been done before, if we can do it better we will”.

It’s highly unusual to find someone with such technical ability who has an equal passion for developing people - “my major thing is to help my guys achieve what they want to achieve in their careers”.

Michael is humble, talented and passionate. If you don’t do anything else today listen to this, it’s, well, you decide how good it is…

In this week’s episode of the Leading Between the Lines podcast we sit down with the Head of People and Culture at Joint Academy, Sara Stjernquist. Founded in 2014 by father and son Leif and Jakob Dahlberg, Joint Academy is the world’s first successful digital osteoarthritis treatment app. The app connects patients with physiotherapists for one-to-one treatment, offering progress tracking, video exercises, and lifestyle guidance.

Sara is an accredited “agile people coach” with 10 years of experience working in HR. She talks to us about how she operates within her current role and discusses her plans for the future, explaining what she feels are the most important things to keep hold of as a company grows.

Like all businesses, Joint Academy faced its challenges throughout the pandemic. However, Sara believes that the company’s adaptability has been a key factor in helping them move forward and grow during that time. Sara also goes on to explain what attributes she feels a good leader needs.

On a more personal note, Sara tells us that providing a sense of belonging and purpose in the workplace is what drives her in her role.

It’s a Leading Between the Lines first this week as we feature the first American company to appear on the podcast. In this episode we sit down with Rosy Bellorini, the Head of Talent at Process Street.

Founded in 2014 by Vinay Pantakar and Cameron McKay, Process Street provides an innovative platform that helps businesses manage their team's recurring checklists and procedures. The company is entirely remote with colleagues checking in from all across the globe.

Rosy is a smart and enthusiastic individual who is passionate about her role, and loves the fact that she’s trusted to do her job no matter where she is. In this episode Rosy takes us through some of the processes involved in recruiting for a remote company, outlining the differences between the approaches used in the USA and Europe. She stresses that when working with employees based in different time zones, it’s vital that you have the right mindset and an open mind towards technology.

Rosy has a passion for people that extends beyond the workplace. She tells us how she has empathy for people from all backgrounds and shares how her own experiences have shaped her thoughts around equality in the workplace.

It’s that time of the week again, as we’re back with a brand new episode of our Leading Between the Lines podcast. This week we chatted with Michael Laws, Head of Talent at Pleo, an innovative fintech company co-founded in 2015 by Jeppe Rindom and Niccolo Perra. Based in Copenhagen, Pleo offers an online spending-solution and smart company cards that empower thousands of businesses across Europe.

Michael is in charge of recruitment at Pleo and very much reflects the values of trust and authenticity that the company exhibits. He has a humble and authentic approach, both to the way he works and his outlook on life. Despite having been with Pleo for less than a year, Michael’s already having a big impact.

Michael talks about his recruitment process, stating that he’s a big fan of references and a more traditional interview style in order to gauge competency. He’s going to be utilising his recruitment strategy a lot in the coming months as Pleo are aiming to double employee numbers by this time next year!

Within the business Michael’s mission is to make people feel valued at work, placing emphasis on trust and keeping employees engaged. He sees these as core values that aid staff retention. Not motivated by status or position, Michael tells us all about what really matters to him and how he’d prefer to be remembered.

We’re back with another episode of the Leading Between the Lines podcast! In the hot seat this week is Maria Campbell “VP of People” at Griffin, a fintech startup that provides banking service solutions for companies that want to offer financial services products.

Griffin was founded in 2017 by David Jarvis (CEO) and Allen Rohner (CTO). The company is currently seeking regulatory approval from the PRA and FCA in order to become the UK's very first platform bank.

Maria has vast experience within her field and gives us her outlook on people management, explaining why storytelling and adaptability are so important to the role. She also believes that people management requires a unique skill set, meaning that it shouldn’t be in everyone’s career progression plan. She adds that for most people it in fact constitutes a career change!

Working in two male-dominated fields at once, with Griffin being both a tech and finance company, Maria champions women in both industries. She tells us all about how she wants to bring about positive change for gender diversity in the workplace, being one of few on any exec team, she feels there is still work to be done to reflect the society we live in.

We also get a glimpse into how Maria gets gratification from day-to-day life, and she opens up candidly about her struggles with mental health.

It’s time for another Leading Between the Lines podcast! This week we’re chatting to Bedford Thomas, “Head of Employee Experience” at innovative electric vehicle manufacturer Arrival.

Founded in 2015 by Dennis Sverdlov, Arrival is now approaching 2000 employees. Based in London, the company is a truly global business operating in a number of countries including the U.S., Germany, Israel, and Russia.

Arrival ensure that radical change is at the forefront of all they do. This approach not only drives the business forward, but also filters through to all aspects of their day-to-day, particularly within the People Experience Team. The company takes a progressive “lead” rather than “manage” approach, with no obvious hierarchy in place, meaning all employees have a voice.

In this episode Bedford talks about the importance that Arrival puts on their “Microfactory” approach. He explains that each time they set up a new factory, they hire from within that community to help build a connection to the business and its mission.

He also speaks about building the best work culture and employee experience possible, whilst striving to make a radical impact at the company. Bedford ends by outlining exactly what it is that he wants to be remembered for during his lifetime.

We’re back with another episode of Leading Between the Lines. This week we spoke to Carl Martin, People Development and Engagement Lead at Farewill. Founded in 2015 by Dan Garrett and Tom Rogers, Farewill is the UK’s largest will writing service. In the last couple of years the company has raised over £100m for charity, featured on the front page of a national newspaper, and expanded their team from 25 to over 100 people.

Carl is an NLP qualified coach with a real passion for helping people reach their full potential. In this episode Carl discusses Farewill's broader mission to shift the narrative around talking about death, telling us how this key factor helps with employee retention.

Farewill has a strong belief in coaching for execs and employees alike, and Carl goes on to tell us about the company’s desire to cultivate a meaningful growth culture whilst ensuring that people come first.

Carl also talks openly about his own personal struggles with anxiety and how he is dealing with it. He is refreshingly open and honest in the episode, which we found to be very inspiring.

In this week's episode of Leading Between the Lines, we hear from Olya Yakzhina, the Head of People at Switchee as she speaks to our head coach Peter about aspects of culture, recruitment and the employee experience.

Founded in 2015 by Adam Fudakowski, Ian Napier, Ed Warrick and Russ MacMillan, Switchee is an enterprise insight solution combining a smart thermostat with an analytical platform to provide safer and better housing for some of the largest landlords in the UK.

As the Head of People at Switchee, Olya knows the importance of a strong culture. She says that the culture of a company should be figured out before anything else. Her goal is to make the employee experience amazing for everyone, everywhere. As Switchee continues to grow, Olya will work to analyse skill gaps in the culture and employees. Listen in to hear how she plans to do so!

In today’s episode of Leading Between the Lines, Peter speaks to Gabriela Matias, the Head of People at Thriva Health. Thriva was founded in 2015 by Hamish Grierson, Eliot Brooks and Tom Livesey. Thriva’s mission is “to help you live healthier for longer,” and they do just that by providing regular health tests and checks through the mail.

On the people side of things, Gabriela works to support the employee experience and journey of growing and developing while working at Thriva. She tells us about how she supports, enables and upskills managers with a personal touch.

Gabriela hopes that in the future, Thriva will be known for their supportive and empathetic people leaders. Listen in to hear how Gabriela predicts Thriva will arrive at that destination through the power of imminent feedback and continuous learning.

After a two-week break, we couldn’t be more excited to share this week’s episode of Leading Between the Lines. We speak to France Bobet, the People Development Lead of Wolt, a Helsinki based food delivery company. Formed in 2014 by six co-founders, Wolt is currently headed by Miki Kuusi. They have grown to over 3200 employees, operate in 23 countries and have received over $900 million in funding with investors including Facebook and Twitter heads Mark Zuckerberg and Jack Dorsey.

Given the increase in need for delivery services during the pandemic, Wolt has expanded greatly in the fast-growing environment. They are soon introducing their own grocery stores, “Wolt Market.”

With their fast-increasing business and headcount, France has her hands full. She explains Wolt’s culture of human interaction and connection, as well as the company’s values which include the willingness to learn and to teach. France’s job responsibilities include handling all leadership and career development, as well as the engagement and performance management of Wolt’s more than 3000 employees. Hear how France was able to learn by doing while remaining true to Wolt’s values in such a fast-growing environment.

Today, we are pleased to talk to Napa Saengkrachang about her experience as Senior HR Manager at Oxford Summer Courses. She is an impressive rising influence in the industry and discusses with us the importance of adaptability and recognising progress.

Formed in 2010 by Harry Hortyn and Robert Phipps, Oxford Summer Courses prides itself on offering the experience of learning at a world class university to motivated students all over the world. They prioritise excellence and innovation and have expanded to offer courses remotely as well as in person since the pandemic.

Napa values the opportunities for direct personal impact that HR offers, and has taken advantage of spearheading using engagement surveys at Oxford Summer Courses to make direct change based on the needs of the staff. Since recording this, Napa has been headhunted by Taylor & Francis Group and is now working for them as a HR Business Partner.

She discusses how she believes in applying data and listening to company culture in order to “champion change.” Napa describes more flexible approaches to retaining top talent and how prioritising diversity really means making everyone welcome in the workplace. An up and coming voice in her field, Napa has some great insights about optimising personal development. Tune in to find out more!

In the tenth episode of series 2 of our podcast, Leading Between the Lines, we speak to David Frost, the Head of Learning and Development at Curve. Founded in 2015 by Shachar Bialick, Curve is a hyper-growth fintech aiming to simplify customers' finances by housing multiple accounts in one smart card and app.

Curve announced recently its valuation tripled, ahead of a record-breaking crowdfunding campaign. Additionally, Curve grew from 160 employees in June 2019 to more than 400 today.

From 2019 to March 2021, Curve has doubled their customers from one to more than two million (and is still growing fast) and the total value of the transactions processed on their platform has risen to over £2.2 billion within the same period.

Clearly Learning and Development then is a huge job for Curve, and David Frost tackles it with passion, energy and enthusiasm.

He is a highly innovative and commercial leader with extensive experience in Learning, Development and Talent Management. David has a strong track record of leading large, visible and impactful programmes in Global Learning, Leadership, Cultural Change and OD. He has experience over the past 15 utilising this knowledge, across both enterprise businesses and hyper-growth start-ups, including at Bowing, PatSnap and SHL.

David truly understands that the culture of a company influences the success of its employees and he discusses the differences he has noted between larger corporations and start-up ventures.

David believes in "elegant simplicity" when it comes to creating learning and development experiences and solutions, emphasising the need for true impact, intentionality and innovation. He has applied this approach within many areas of business, including leadership development programmes, orientation and career growth initiatives. Listen in to hear how he explains that "the spark of passion creates the fuel for innovation."

In our ninth episode of Leading Between the Lines, we meet Chief People Officer, Linda Höglund from Swedish based fintech company, Zimpler.

Founded in 2012 by Kristofer Ekman Sinclair and Johan Friis, Zimpler offers an account-to-account payment solution for companies that want a quick and simple way to provide incoming and outgoing bank payments for their users. The company is live in over 11 different countries and has over 80 employees. It is expected to double that headcount before 2022.

Having previously worked for Klarna, another Swedish fintech company, Linda tells us what attracted her to working for a scale-up company and why it was an easy decision to join Zimpler.

Linda has her finger on the pulse when it comes to people development as she truly understands why taking care of people is so important to the growth of an organisation. She explains why she believes culture is built from the top down, the importance of aligned values, and is refreshingly honest about the areas of growth she is keen to help Zimpler improve on. Linda knows the key ingredients needed for building and maintaining a top team at Zimpler as well as a top team in her personal life. Listen in to find out what they are!

The 8th episode of our current series has arrived and we are very pleased to announce our special guest this week, Franziska Terzer who is VP of People Experience at Userlane.

Founded in 2015 by Felix Eichler and Hartmut Hahn, they provide interactive solutions for software rollouts and empower people to work complex software with ease. Userlane has seen impressive growth with over 28 million global users and a fast growing internal team. They have also recently been recognised by Forbes as a 'big money startup'.

As a people focused company, Franziska takes us through what this means when it comes to their own people. For her, it’s all about creating an employee experience that empowers and develops talent within the organisation. She is highly invested in the individual growth of people, and she explains why 1:1 coaching plays such a huge role in it. Her genuine passion for her job translates to an infectious energy that our podcast host and senior coach here at AIG, Peter Thorp, cannot help but notice!

But what is it that keeps Franziska up at night? Listen in to find out.

Founded in 2016 by Lucie Basch and Mette Lykke, ‘Too Good to Go’ has become the world's largest B2C marketplace for surplus food - with over 1000 employees in 16 different countries. In the seventh episode of our second series, we have the privilege of speaking with their Head of People and Culture, David Palliser.

Having trained originally as an actor, David has successfully transferred his incredible people skills and empathetic nature into his current role. Helping to solve “people puzzles” for managers and being the first person that potential recruits will meet, he prides himself on being able to put himself in the shoes of others.

As it becomes increasingly important to us that our work lives are in harmony with our personal beliefs, David takes us through how his own values have aligned with the company's. Part of this is the “passion for the mission” - not only for himself, but for all new employees. He also talks about why titles don’t matter, but that collaboration and being a team player is at the core of the culture he is helping to cultivate.

This episode is "too good” to miss!

Our guest for the sixth episode of the second series of Leading Between the Lines - a podcast series by alterniq inspired growth - is Lara Waycot. She is the Head of People at digital marketing agency, VERB Brands.

Founded in 2013 by Chris Donnelly, the company has seen incredible growth and success with offices around the world. They work with affluent and aspirational brands, such as Bugatti, Grosvenor, and Jimmy Choo. Chris and his business partner, Ben Askins, have been recognised for their achievements by being named in the ‘Forbes 30 under 30’ in the media and marketing category. Chris was also recently labelled ‘Britain's best boss’ in the press, after giving his employees a paid day off to go see loved ones following the lifting of the Covid-19 regulations.

Lara, a self-proclaimed introvert, is a key figure behind the scenes and is in charge of the entire employee journey. This includes personally coaching the heads of the business.

She speaks to us about engagement over happiness and the importance of being challenged in the workplace. As well as offering other insightful ways in which VERB recruit and develop their staff.

Lara is extremely self-aware and always puts people first, which is reflected in her passion for her job. An accredited coach and counsellor, Lara explains why she is a good listener. But what is it that makes her shudder? Listen to find out...

In episode five of the second series of Leading Between the Lines, we chat to Nick Gatenby - the Director of People at Source Group International.

Founded in 2015 by Gavin Tew and Lawrence Hargreaves, this fast-growing recruiter based in London counts Vodafone and Allianz among its clients. Originally focused on the tech sector, it has since expanded into life sciences, project management and executive search. The company has won many notable awards and in 2020 they were ranked 21st in the Sunday Times Fast Track 100.

Much like Source Group International, Nick is extremely driven and passionate about his work. He tells us about his philosophy and the methods he uses to truly understand people and help them achieve high performance at all levels. As well as explaining about 'the SGI way' - the values, culture and inclusivity shared by everyone at the organisation.

A family man away from the office, Nick also gives a delightful insight into what makes him tick.

In the fourth episode of series 2 of our podcast, Leading Between the Lines, we speak to Carly Ash.

She is Head of Heart at Influencer - an award-winning company founded in 2017 by Ben Jeffries and YouTuber Caspar Lee. Their mission is to build meaningful relationships between brands and creators.

Carly heads up the people department and is responsible for the entire employee experience at Influencer. She tells us about her passion for the role and how it has helped her; as well as the recent struggles in her personal life which have changed her outlook.

Carly is hugely inspirational and this is an episode not to be missed.

In the third episode of this series, we speak with Alex Jones. Alex is head of talent at City Pantry - a corporate catering delivery service.

Occupying a unique space in the food sector, it’s perhaps no surprise that the company was acquired by Just Eat for £16 million in 2019.

Alex reveals his process for attracting, retaining and developing talent; as well as what he looks for in a potential new employee.

In this refreshing and varied interview, he discusses his passions both at work and in his personal life. Alex approaches all aspects in an upfront and honest way and offers a great insight into how a young and fast-growing organisation is looking after its people.

This latest episode features special guest, Alex Anderson. She is the People Operations Manager for fast-growing tech accessories company, Mous.

Mous was founded by Will Mullen, James Griffith, Lucy Hutchinson and James Day in 2014 and after an award-winning and record-breaking crowdfunding campaign, their Limitless iPhone case was launched in 2017. It raised a total of $2.5m.

The company has enjoyed huge growth since then and now employs over 70 people at their bases in the UK and China.

Alex joined the company in 2019 and has played a key role in that growth. In this episode, she gives details and insight into how she built an entire talent management department from scratch.

She is also a huge advocate for positive mental health in the workplace and explains how she promotes this at Mous, just as she does in her personal life.

We're delighted to say that Leading Between the Lines is back for a second series and in this first episode, we're speaking to Thomas Forstner.

Thomas is the Head of People and Talent Lead at Juro - a fast-growing start-up company which has doubled its employee numbers since he joined just over a year ago.

Founded in 2016 by Richard Mabey and Pavel Kovalevich, Juro is a contract automation platform that helps legal counsel and the teams they enable to agree and manage contracts in one unified workspace.

Their clients include, Deliveroo, Secret Escapes, and Babylon Health.

Thomas discusses his move from a large corporate firm into a smaller start-up company and how he does things differently to attract and retain top talent.

We also get a glimpse into the more challenging areas of his work - such as women’s health, religion and neurodiversity - as well as his personal goals and aspirations.

It's great to be back and sharing more inspirational business insight with you.

In the final episode of the present series, I (Peter Thorp) summarise the major takeaways from our interviews with Paul Aggett, my fellow coach at alterniq inspired growth.

Hear how each of our guests give us exceptional insights into the way they are managing their professional and personal lives in these unpredictable and testing times, with particular reference to;

Leadership
Mental health
Resilience
Empathy
Courage
Creativity

All our guests give us something unique and special to them and this episode wraps it up to illustrate just how much we’ve learnt during the series.

With special thanks to everyone I’ve interviewed, it was such a pleasure.

Today’s guest brings 25 years of international marketing and sales experience back home with one fundamental aim, to improve the lives of others.

David Preston, co-founder of Realise, a specialist event services and training agency, has harnessed everything his work in the UK, USA, France and Asia has taught him to help those finding their way to achieve their potential.

In a world now where David does what he does more for the love of it rather than money, his enthusiasm, attitude to life and insights are inspirational.

Listen to David as he shares;

How the pandemic has changed his leadership style and the way he mentors others
Why he is determined to give back to the next generation
His unique talent development philosophy
The importance of keeping your best people
How the apprenticeship scheme can really work
How to build a talent pipeline
Why coaching is so important at all levels, especially with senior leaders

In this week’s episode Meera Raikundalia talks candidly about moving from Nairobi to London in 2006 when she was 13 years old.

An Asian girl in a family that had its own attitude towards racism and the conflict it created across the dinner table.

Listen to Meera explaining exactly why and how she became so committed to inclusion and diversity and how she put her values into practice.

Still only 27 years old, Meera is an inspirational woman with wisdom way beyond her years.

Hear Meera talking about;

What it was like to be an Asian girl sent to school in London
Why she argued with some of her family about racism
How Cardiff University played a major part in her development
Why she immersed herself in developing black talent as an Asian
Setting up a car repair website for women and what it taught her
How Black Young Professionals (BYP) was born and has exploded in numbers and impact
Why influential multi-national companies are taking notice and supporting BYP

Meera’s passion and enthusiasm are infectious and she is a great example of a talented, committed individual creating traction in the inclusion and diversity arena.

This is an impressive listen…

In this week's podcast episode, we speak to Edward Poland, Co-Founder of Hire Space.

From UNESCO speech writer to MP’s right-hand man at the 2010 general election was a logical progression but how did standing in an empty school kickstart the idea for Hire Space?

Ed is a bright guy who is always looking to find an original angle. In this episode we get to know;

How he set up one of the most successful event platforms in the UK
What his involvement in politics taught him and how he has used it to good effect
How the steep learning curve of 2020 pandemic has enabled Hire Space to be even more creative
What Ed has learnt about himself and his leadership capacity and how he has changed his approach with his team
The importance of team culture at Hire Space and their approach to remote working

A fascinating discussion with a leader whose business was stopped in its tracks in March and who has worked tirelessly to find new and different ways to make it happen ever since. He’s back only stronger.

When you’ve been sitting there, either quietly or chatting away to the stylist, have you ever thought how running a hair salon is a licence to print money?

If you have, think again.

In this episode we talk to award winning hair stylists Chloé Hervé and Pont Smith, co-founders of bebop, about what really goes into making it work both in the chair and behind the scenes.

It’s a real eye opener, especially when we discover both Chloe and Pont have their own disabilities to deal with.

This is an inspirational story about leadership and success when we discuss how Chloe and Pont;

• Train their anxiety and other disabilities to become superpowers for them

• Lead their team with transparency, kindness and gratitude

• Use their differences to create the perfect combination

• Support the needs of each other and their staff to build an award winning business

• Overcome every obstacle by determination and the extra creativity bestowed upon them by their disabilities, or rather, ‘extra abilities.’

• Feel truly at one with themselves when they are behind the chair making people happy

An amazing account of how disability can facilitate a level of talent, creativity and success that is off the scale.

Being told a teacher's skills were “non-transferable” was red rag to a bull.

Faris went on to use the understanding and awareness he obtained in the North London classroom to develop great careers at Centrica and Ernst and Young. He tells an amusing story with regards to his students that helped him understand how he saw himself was certainly not how others saw him!

In 2019 he set up his own consultancy firm, Shiageto, which was growing fast until we hit COVID like a brick wall. So, how has Faris coped and what parts of his unique business strategy, IQ x EQ x FQ = Success, is he using to not only survive but prosper?

An enlightening story of resilience, individuality and self belief...

In this episode Faris talks openly about;

How his learning in the classroom has equipped him for business success
How to use emotional intelligence as a survival tool
What “IQ x EQ x FQ = Success” really means and how it works
The essential differences between working for a corporation and running your own business
Leadership and flexibility, the critical relationship

In our latest podcast, 'From the Sofa to Success', we speak to Lee Marples - the co-founder of creative marketing agency, Think3.

Lee shares his struggles with his mental health and discusses his journey from being unable to get off the sofa, to running a two-time award-nominated company just two years later.

At a time when many people are experiencing difficulties because of the pandemic, Lee shows what can be achieved through determination, resilience, and a desire to fulfil your dreams.

We hope that those listening are inspired by Lee's story - and anyone experiencing similar issues can relate to what he says and it can help them overcome their own challenges and adversity.

In this podcast we cover:

Mental health
Work/life balance
Diversity in the workplace
Importance of company culture
Resilience

In this week's episode, 'Women on Top', we talk to Clare Ward, Founder and CEO of Clare PR, a public relations company with an all woman top team, specialising in the construction industry.

Being told she would never walk was the first challenge in Clare’s life when pure determination and self belief enabled her to defy the odds and prove the experts wrong.

This resilience has been a constant in Clare’s life to date and she shows no sign of slowing down!

Clare’s sense of humour and “old fashioned values” are a powerful combination as she explains exactly why respecting others is not just ‘nice to have’ in business but essential for success.

This is a great listen and Clare’s enthusiasm and attitude to life in general will leave your heart pumping.

Enjoy Clare talking about:

How her life began and why her Mum was so important
Why and how she set up her business
Working with an all woman top team·
How she has dealt with challenging times in business, including the current pandemic
Where she is going next

We take a look into what it takes to lead both yourself and your teams remotely, with our special guest, Andy Punter.

Andy is the Area Legacy Manager for Cancer Research UK and has been leading remotely for many years.

He shares with us what works for him and provides an in-depth insight into how to get it right both for yourself and others, as more and more people are now working away from the office.

An author and podcaster himself on this subject, Andy's insights are fascinating, there is something for everyone.

In this episode we discuss:

The key differences
Top tips
Healthy habits
Self-management
Working with top performers

A short introduction into what you can expect from the new series and what we are aiming to achieve from it - especially during the current climate. As described by podcast host and senior coach at alterniq inspired growth, Pete Thorp.