The Ambition Podcast: Recent Episodes
Association of MBAs
Every Wednesday, The AMBITION Podcast delves between the columns of AMBA's own award winning magazine by bringing you insights and thought leadership, in the form of an engaging discussion with a guest speaker.
This series is essential listening for Business School leaders, students & graduates and aspiring leaders, looking to keep up to date with the opportunities and challenges facing the sector as well as the latest trends in business.
Like many of you during the summer months, the AMBITION Podcast will be taking a well earned holiday.
The show will return in the autumn, but if you miss us during this break, you can listen to all our episodes at your leisure.
From all of the podcast team, have a great summer and see you soon.
On this episode of The AMBITION Podcast, we spoke to Yetunde Hofmann. Yetunde has worked in the HR departments of some of the world’s largest companies but now has a portfolio career – working with black women in organisations to help break through the concrete ceiling.
Yetunde discusses some of the main barriers facing black women reaching the top management positions and some of the key changes managers can make to become more inclusive leaders.
With the popularity of cryptocurrency on the rise, The AMBITION Podcast was keen to speak to Gabriele Musella, CEO and Co-Founder of Coinrule, a company which aims to make cryptocurrency an option for everyone through increasing automation.
Gabriele tells us how his company is revolutionising the cryptocurrency sector, as well as how he has created an unusual culture in his company, with regular happiness checks on employees.
The past two years have completely disrupted how we are used to doing work. While we have settled into a ‘new normal’ and adjusted to a hybrid way of working – old habits die hard, and hybrid solutions can come with their own difficulties.
George Karseras is an expert on creating and nurturing hybrid teams, and has recently released a book entitled, Build Better Teams: Creating Winning teams in a Digital Age. He came on The AMBITION Podcast to share his expertise on how to induct new members onto hybrid teams, how to manage tension at work to be constructive and how to foster a culture of trust within hybrid teams.
From recessions to leadership defections, cyber security threats, terrorism events, kidnappings, earthquakes, floods, tsunamis, and political disputes – Brian Hartzer has managed companies through them all.
Brian joined us on The AMBITION Podcast to give advice on how to stay calm when faced with a crisis. He also speaks about how to keep your team calm during a calamity, but more than that – keeping them happy and engaged through a crisis to achieve a positive result.
Risk, change, learning to fail, agility, volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity, are topics we regularly talk about on The AMBITION Podcast.
But when it comes to the crunch and change impacts on us, it’s all too easy to let our human flaws allow us to put our heads in the sand. So, how can we break the cycle and be proactive in the face of unprecedented change?
Steven Goldbach, Principal and Chief Strategy Officer at Deloitte and co-author of Provoke: How Leaders Shape the Future by Overcoming Fatal Human Flaws, explains how leaders can become more proactive in their approach to business.
‘Invest in yourself’ is the advice that Ximena Aleman, winner of the Entrepreneur of the Year at the AMBA & BGA Excellence awards 2022, gives on this episode of The AMBITION Podcast.
Ximena won this sought-after accolade because of her business Prometeo OpenBanking – a company revolutionising banking in Latin America. Ximena came on the podcast to talk about how she is pushing for more diversity in the fintech industry, her MBA at the Facultad de Administración y Ciencias Sociales, Universidad ORT Uruguay and her plans for expanding her business.
In this special episode of The AMBITION Podcast, we spoke to Shameen Prashantham about the benefits of large corporates working with entrepreneurs and start-ups.
Shameen is particularly focused on how these partnerships could help further the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. He gives advice from his new book Gorillas Can Dance on how these partnerships can navigate their different sizes and potentially different cultures to create benefits for both organisations.
AMBA & BGA’s MBA Leadership Award winner, Theresa Grant, joined us on this week’s episode of The AMBITION podcast. We spoke to Theresa about her 43 years of work in local government and being awarded with a prestigious Order of the British Empire or OBE.
During our conversation, Theresa explains what it takes to be a considered a great leader and her experiences whilst completing her MBA at Manchester Metropolitan University Business School, Manchester Metropolitan University.
Meet the winner of the AMBA MBA Startup of the Year 2022 award, Sotiris Ptochos.
Sotiris is passionate about leaving the world in the best condition possible and co-founded his organisation PEOPLE Technology Solutions (PEOPLE) to tackle one of the industry’s where change is essential to fight against climate change – the transportation industry.
Sotiris joined The AMBITION Podcast to talk about his experience doing his MBA at Athens University of Economics and Business, and how he is changing the world for the better.
AMBA’s MBA Student of the Year 2022, Monique Farquharson joins us on today’s episode of The AMBITION Podcast, to discuss her varied career and how she epitomises her life motto, ‘fail fast, learn fast’.
Monique has gone from teacher to business developer, to entrepreneur and then consultant. Earlier this year, she won the coveted title of MBA Student of the Year. We spoke to Monique to hear more about her global career and how she thrived on her MBA programme at Aston Business School.
As much as mental health is being pushed to the forefront of business literature and conversation, it is still often stigmatised and seen as awkward to bring up.
Michelle Morgan came on The AMBITION Podcast to help us have these awkward but essential conversations about our mental health. She speaks from personal experience of how damaging not having these conversations can be, and offers advice to managers who want to create an environment where employees can feel safe to have discussions around their mental health.
On this special episode of The AMBITION Podcast, we’re celebrating AMBA reaching the huge milestone of 60,000 student and graduate members.
AMBA welcomes students and graduates from AMBA accredited Schools to join its membership proposition, which encourages members from all over the world to connect and gives them access to career development opportunities, thought leadership and events with top business leaders.
To mark the occasion, we spoke to Enoch Opare Mintah - our 60,000th member.
Enoch embodies the values and principles of AMBA membership with his passion for lifelong learning, responsible management, and equality. Enoch joined the podcast to talk about his experience of doing his MBA at The University of Liverpool Management School and his passion for making learning inclusive and fair.
How can employers break the link between pressure and stress and turn pressure into growth, engagement, and performance?
Workplace stress not only causes lost sleep, but research shows that in the UK alone, stress is also triggering almost half of the workforce to look for an alternative job. Despite becoming a more mainstream topic, changing employer attitudes to mental wellbeing is still overdue.
On this episode of The AMBITION Podcast, Lesley Cooper, CEO of Working Well joins us to talk about her passion for helping companies, both large and small, to manage workplace pressure in a way that facilitates growth and development for individuals’ teams and leaders, instead of energy and performance debleating stress.
If evidence and activism alone aren’t accelerating the change we urgently need, what will?
This is the question Neil Gaught asks, as he campaigns for business to do better for our planet.
Neil is the creator of the business thought of the ‘Single Organizing Idea’ and the author of CORE The Playbook: The Single Organizing Idea and CORE: How a Single Organizing Idea Can Change Business for Good.
In today’s episode of The AMBITION Podcast, Neil shares his optimism for the future of the planet and how he thinks MBAs need to be at the forefront of the environmental challenge.
Steven D’Souza is a world-renowned author, educator, and speaker. He has written five bestselling books and joined us on The AMBITION Podcast, to speak about his most recent publication, Not Being.
The book is not your usual business book as its interspersed with poetry and personal stories on transformation and identity.
Steven talks about how we need to act as a collective, rather than individuals to be able to survive in the ‘new normal’ business world.
People make up organisations, so why is it that employees are still not treated as the most important asset in business?
Simone Fenton-Jarvis joins The AMBITION Podcast to teach us how to create workplaces which are centred around the ‘human’.
Simone is the Workplace Consultant Director at Relogic and is an expert on making organisations thrive. She explains the key ingredients for making a human-centric workplace and some of the first steps needed for creating a culture where employees can bring their authentic selves to work.
To live in today's world, you need money; yet the majority of people do not have access to it.
The formal financial system is taken for granted, but it represents the barrier to financial inclusion. To discuss this worrying phenomenon, we are joined by Erlijn Sie, author of Reimagining Financial Inclusion.
During today’s episode of The AMBITION Podcast, Erlijn shares insights from her book, which includes stories from 13 game changers who are thinking outside of the financial box.
She explains how these organisations are acting on behalf of the excluded people that are unable to live their lives to the fullest and are seeking to revolutionise the financial sector.
Erlijnoffers her thoughts on how we can all be part of a better financial future for everyone.
Today’s guest on The AMBITION Podcast; Lynn Yap, has certainly had a varied career – from lawyer to investment banker and now mentor.
Lynn shares her experiences and offers advice on how to change jobs and industries successfully.
During our discussion, she gives us insights from her new book, The Altruistic Capitalist, and presents the mindsets that leaders should develop to have a positive impact on the planet, as well as people.
Lynn speaks about how leaders need to develop mindfulness, curiosity, and grit in order to solve social problems, at the same time as being successful in business.
In this episode of The AMBITION Podcast, Tim Hassett, CEO of the Unlimited Group speaks about his organisation’s unique Human Understanding Lab and the power of data in advertising.
Tim explains how surrounding himself with neuroscientists, research practitioners, trend analysts, creatives, data scientists and behavioural scientists has made the Unlimited Group stand out in the market.
He also offers his predictions for the future of advertising in the next five years.
Is your HR department outdated?
Current common grievance structures in organisations can lead to animosity on both sides, even when the issue has been resolved – but does that have to be the case?
David Liddle, author of Transformational Culture, spoke to The AMBITION Podcast about his belief that HR departments should be reconfigured into a People and Culture Function, with a focus on restorative justice. He also explained why he thinks that wellbeing, engagement and inclusion at organisations should be amalgamated as a single, unified discipline (WEI).
In this special episode of The AMBITION Podcast, sponsored by Saleforce.org, Julio Villalobos, CXO Strategic Advisor, Education Cloud at Salesforce.org, discusses the current state of higher education and how he expects it to transform in the future.
During the conversation Julio outlines the challenges and opportunities with which he expects Business Schools to grapple as we move into the ‘new normal’; and offers his own insights on how Covid-19 has revolutionised student recruitment.
Salesforce.org is committed to supporting the education community through the technology, workforce development, and lifelong learning initiatives needed to drive equitable access to education for all.
For more information on Education Cloud by Salesforce.org please head to www.salesforce.org/highered/
Are you happy or not?
It’s a question we get asked as consumers constantly, for example, have you ever gone through airport security and been asked to rate the service through a series of different buttons, ranging from happy to sad?
In this episode of The AMBITION Podcast, we spoke to Miika Mäkitalo, CEO of HappyOrNot, which is the company behind these buttons and many more initiatives, helping organisations to gain feedback from their customers.
Miika explained the ways in which HappyOrNot has implemented initiatives to keep employees up to date on the latest skills and nurture a culture of lifelong learning.
Paul Szyarto, founder of PS Group Holdings spoke to The AMBITION Podcast to give us a glance into the future, with his predictions for how the investment market will look in the next five years and what digital disruptors we should all be braced for.
Alongside his investment advice, Szyarto gives guidance on how everyone is an entrepreneur at heart and how to survive the often-gruelling hard work it takes to succeed when starting your own business.
On this episode of The AMBITION Podcast, Paulina Tenner, entrepreneur, angel investor and newly-published author, describes how she went about starting her successful business, GrantTree, which helps start-ups and other organisations, such as Monzo, secure government grants. GrantTree is anything but an ordinary company, one of their many innovations they’ve introduced includes, allowing employees to choose their own pay.
Paulina also introduces her new book Laid Bare: what the business leader learnt from the stripper, explaining how embracing your wild side in business can be the key to being a successful leader.
The definition of happiness is unique to everyone.
The things that make us happy in our jobs can vary from work-life balance, work security, to taking satisfaction from 'a job well done'.
But sometimes, when the world is so turbulent, it’s hard to be happy... especially in times like these.
To gain a more scientific view of happiness, we invited Tia Graham onto The AMBITION Podcast, Tia is an 'inspirationist' and the Founder of Arrive At Happy, a company with a mission of inspiring transformation through the science of happiness and neuroscience.
Tia talks about her brand-new book Be a Happy Leader and explained how happiness can create transformation in organisations and drive growth and employee retention.
Over the past two years – as we’ve grown accustomed to remote and now hybrid ways of working – cybercrime has been on the rise.
Research from Doherty Associates found that a small business falls victim to a hack every 19 seconds, and that a whopping quarter of employees have inadvertently been responsible for a cyber breach in their organisation.
As we move forward in this ever-uncertain new way of working, how can employers secure the buttresses of their cyber forts, and minimise their cyber risks?
On this episode of The AMBITION Podcast, Terry Doherty, CEO of tech firm Doherty Associates, teaches listeners how to build virtual armour in the battle against the cyber criminals.
A festive season update from the Ambition Podcast. Follow us across our social media platforms to take part in our '12 days of pod-mas'
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Stories are how humans connect. From folklore to fairy tales, throughout our history stories have always been a crucial way of adding meaning to life. Storytelling is often overlooked in business, but it can be used to create a powerful culture, as well as to enhance customer buy in. In this episode of The AMBITION Podcast, the co-founder and director of The Storytellers, Alison Esse, illustrates how her organisation has successfully transformed many well-known businesses through stories.
Dr Raman K Attri is on a mission to teach leaders how to attain excellence in a shorter time period.
He's an international expert on the science of speed in learning and performance and he joins this episode of The AMBITION Podcast to share techniques for increasing the speed and efficiency of your teams.
He also explains why it is essential to develop a unique and personal leadership style to set you apart and accelerate your own leadership journey.
Can you learn to become more emotionally intelligent or is it innate?
In this episode of The AMBITION Podcast, Dr Froswa' Booker-Drew, an authority on the subject of emotional intelligence, explains why having a high EQ is so important, and gives advice to leaders on what steps you can take to strengthen your skills.
She also shares advice on how leaders can build their social capital, for their own and their teams’ success.
Myrte Scheffer, Strategic and Trusted Advisor at Breeez and serial entrepreneur came on The AMBITION Podcast to explain how personal tribulations can kick-start an entrepreneurial journey. She discusses some of the challenges associated with being a serial entrepreneur, such as loneliness and shares how she overcame and learnt from these issues.
Having just returned from a motorbike trip around Spain, Myrte gives exclusive insight into how her trip and travel has impacted her business perspective.
Arranging fresh flowers became an important hobby for Talia R. Boone, but her access to fresh flowers dried up when the pandemic hit.
One significant phone call with a flower supplier led her to set up her own organisation, Postal Petals. The organisation sends high quality flowers to individuals to arrange themselves and has social activism at its core.
Talia shares her experience on The AMBITION Podcast, in setting up an organisation during a pandemic, how she integrates social justice into her flower business and, of course, about her favourite flowers.
Recent extreme weather events and the publication of the UN Climate Change Report issued a bleak wake up call for many on the realities of global warming.
Mats Lunberg, Head of Sustainability at Sandvik gives his take on climate change on this episode of The AMBITION Podcast. Fortunately, he is optimistic about the planet’s future and believes human action can result positive change.
Mats also shares what an average day in the life of his role looks like and some of the unique ways Sanviks integrates sustainability goals into its operations.
He also challenges listeners to see how long they can go without buying anything new.
The UK and America are both currently going through a ‘mass resignation’. More than four million people in the US alone quit their jobs in April 2021 and in the same month in the UK and Ireland, 38% of workers said they wanted to quit their jobs. Why is there so much movement in the job market at the moment?
Raj Subrameyer, leadership guru, career coach and tech expert joins The AMBITION Podcast to share some of his expertise on the recruitment market.
Raj also shares exclusive teasers from his bestselling book Skyrocket Your Career, which offers insight into Raj’s career journey and how those searching for jobs can stand out and stay motivated in today's recruitment market.
It is not just organisations that need brands. Individuals who want to be noticed and achieve success need to start building their own personal brands.
Krista Neher author of Launch Yourself, joined The AMBITION Podcast to introduce the idea of personal branding. She explains why it is so important to build a personal brand and how to do it using tools like social media.
Over the past 18 months, the world has moved into an unforeseen phase of remote, hybrid, and flexible working.
Chris Dyer, Founder of People G2, was ahead of his time when he pivoted his organisation to be fully remote back in 2009 and is now seen as an expert in remote working.
On this episode of The AMBITION Podcast, Chris speaks about his experiences in enabling organisations to work remotely, as well as delving into some of the key themes from his new book, Remote Work: Redesign Processes, Practices and Strategies to Engage a Remote Workforce – which looks set to be the playbook for remote working.
Are you getting the most out of your team or are you struggling to create a culture of trust, autonomy, and ownership?
In this week’s episode of The AMBITION Podcast, John Saunders, Founder at Forward Advisory Solutions shares his experience creating a team that allows for innovations to be generated and communicated. He gives some great examples of how he has used these techniques himself to create successful teams. John also gives exclusive insight from his new book, The Optimizer.
Shark diving and entrepreneurship are basically the same things, right?
Entrepreneur Rune Sovndahl thinks so. After Rune realised the cleaning industry needed transforming, he set up Fantastic Services alongside his business partner. Rune’s organisation has enjoyed great success using a franchise model and in a relatively short space of time, has been named the seventh best franchise according to Franchise Direct.
On this episode of the Association of MBA’s, The AMBITION Podcast, Rune spoke about starting his business, managing a global organisation during a pandemic, and… diving with sharks.
We’re all familiar with the term ‘digital transformation’; but this well-known idea is proving a challenge to some of our leaders and organisations with a recent study showing that nearly two thirds of digital strategies are failing. To investigate why this is the case and what can be done about it, The AMBITION Podcast spoke to Robin Speculand.
Robin’s pioneering work has been featured in media worldwide including BBC World and Forbes. He is a TEDx speaker and an educator for Duke CE, IMD, and an adjunct member of Singapore Management University and National University of Singapore. His new book World’s Best Bank: A Strategic Guide to Digital Transformation is number one in the leadership category on Amazon.
In his book and in this interview, Robin details the successful digital transformation at the Singaporean bank DBS – and puts practical points in place as to how other organisations can put world-class strategies in place to thrive in the digital age.
Is the customer always right in the digital age? To answer this question and others, we speak to Professor Steven van Belleghem, author of The Offer You Can’t Refuse. Steven is widely regarded as one of Europe’s thought-leaders in the field of customer experience, having helped organisations including Google, Microsoft, and Disney. Steven gave us advice on how to play a role in your customers life journey and how to create a culture of customer centricity.
'Slow and steady wins the race', is a well-known saying, but does it apply when growing your business? Patrick Flesner warns against the fast-paced tech start-up culture which has arisen and is wary about investors pushing for this rapid growth. He gave advice from his new book, FastScaling: The Smart Path to Building Massively Valuable Businesses, on how start-ups should aim for sustainable high growth.
The past 18 months have been hard on everyone – but especially job seekers. In this episode of The AMBITION Podcast, we talk to Cel Amade and ask her how students leaving their universities can stay motivated when they are perhaps feeling forgotten by their institution after not being allowed on campus and now are facing a tough job market. Cel provides us with motivational advice on how to fail and how to keep a positive mindset.
Today we are delighted to be joined by Paul Hargreaves, CEO of fine foods wholesaler, Cotswold Fayre Ltd.
His organisation became one of the founding B Corporations or B Corps, which are companies which meet the highest standards of overall social and environmental performance and are known as the voice for business of the future, as businesses come to realise that their real purpose is to be a force for good.
In this episode, we speak about Paul’s new book, The Fourth Bottom Line: Flourishing in the era of compassionate leadership and discuss the connection between compassion and purpose, and their roles in the new normal of business.
Mark Roberts has an impressive 15 years as a professional footballer under his belt playing for teams such as Stevenage, Fleetwood Town, Cambridge United, Forest Green Rovers and Warrington Town, and he is using the skills he gained on the field to coach others. The AMBITION Podcast caught up with Mark to discuss how skills and values from sport can be cultivated for success in the business world.
Agility is a buzz word which is thrown around in professional circles but what does it mean?
Simon Hayward joins the AMBITION Podcast to tell us more about what being agile means to him. Simon gives some useful tips from his book, The Agile Leader: How to Create an Agile Business in the Digital Age, on how to increase your own and your team’s agility, as well as insights into collaboration and leadership.
At some point in our lives, we have all felt anger at a social issue but not known how to react, or felt powerless in the face of it. Our speaker, Steve Davis describes this as being ‘outraged to the point of paralysis’. Steve introduces some practical ways for everyone to be an activist, and shares some of the key themes of his new book, Undercurrents: Channelling Outrage to Spark Practical Activism.
According to the Institute for the Future (IFTF), 85% of the jobs that will exist in 2030 haven't even been invented yet. How do we prepare for these jobs when we don’t know what they are?
To find out Michelle Weise, author of Long Life Learning: Preparing for Jobs that Don't Even Exist Yet joined the AMBITION Podcast to investigate how we can successfully build a workforce which can thrive in these future jobs.
It is estimated that in the next decade, 70% of business and institutions will be powered by AI. We spoke to Sudhi Sinha, author of Reimagining Businesses with AI, to find out what the jobs of the future might look like, how to prepare for them, and how AI will impact our day to day lives.
In part two of our interview with Seán Meehan, author of The Customer Copernicus, he explains how being customer centric feeds into the ethics and sustainability of an organisation. We also ask, why organisations which were customer centric, would ever move away from this model?
Recent research shows only 24% of senior executives adopt a customer-led approach to running their business. Why is this approach not mainstream?
We ask exactly that to Seán Meehan, who has written a book on The Customer Copernicus – How to be Customer-Led.
In part one of this two-part podcast, we ask Seán to give some best practice examples of customer-led organisations.
On this week's episode of The AMBITION Podcast, we were joined by Amber Cabral, who is the author of Allies and Advocates: Creating an Inclusive and Equitable Culture.
We have a frank discussion with Amber, addressing issues such as privilege, safe spaces, performative allyship and much more.
This podcast is packed with actionable tips on how to create inclusive workplaces and how to be a better ally and advocate.
100% of high performers, 75% of women and 35% of men will have toxic leaders in their career.
So how can individuals spot this toxicity and how can they cope with it? More importantly, how can organisations ensure the right leaders are reaching management positions?
Berta Aldrich author of, Winning the Talent Shift, offers advice to both individuals and organisations for what to do if their workplace is toxic.
If you think that quantum physics and leadership theory have very little in common, then this episode is essential listening. Clive Hyland discusses how they are, in fact, intertwined and essential for increasing employee engagement.
Clive, who is author of the book The Quantum Way, guides the discussion, showing how physics and science can increase happiness and employee engagement.
What makes a leader impactful? And an even trickier question: what makes a leader impactful when they are leading online? We asked these difficult questions to our podcast guest Steffen Giessner. During the episode, he was able to explain the power of presence and how it can play a role in successful management. Additionally, Steffen spoke to us about his new book, which he cowrote with Antonie Knoppers and Milly Obdine, Leading with Presence: Fundamental tools and insight for Impactful, Engaging Leadership. Finally, he gave us some tips on how leaders could make use of this elusive notion of presence, especially when it comes to leading online.
Sandy Damm is a long-time AMBA member but, also excitingly, a new author. Sandy’s first book entitled, SME Globalisation, dispels the belief that going global is only for large well-established organisations. In this podcast Sandy takes us through some of the steps SME’s can take to expand on a global scale, while considering ethics and different cultures. He discusses some of the unique challenges that small organisations might face when going global and how to overcome them. Sandy also shares his experiences of being an AMBA member.
Self-confessed ‘Jack of all trades’, author, entrepreneur, podcaster and futurist Trond Undheim joined us on The AMBITION Podcast to help demystify the future. He took us through some of his predictions for the next few years, as well as giving us some insight from his new book, Future Tech: How to Capture Value from Disruptive Industry Trends.
This episode is a must-listen to for those who want to ensure they keep their skills up to date and who want to be future proofed for the changing nature of work.
Coming up with an organisational strategy in an economic climate characterised by disruption is one thing. But how can organisations ensure that this strategy is disseminated to all areas of the business, and tackle the even harder task of getting employees to follow it? Costas Markides, a professor from London Business School, has written a book on just that, Organizing for the New Normal: Prepare Your Company for the Journey of Continuous Disruption. Costas came on the podcast to talk about how to not only ensure your employees know your strategy but actively work towards it, while creating a sense of constant urgency.
In this episode, we are joined by Minter Dial, author of You Lead – For the New Leaders of Tomorrow. In a wide-ranging discussion, we talk to Minter about leadership, transparency, culture, purpose, authenticity, as well as how to pivot when things go wrong, and avoid – or indeed embrace – unintended backlash.
Becoming your own boss is something most people daydream about but few achieve – that’s where Rob Kerr comes in.
Rob is on a mission to empower 10,000 people to launch their own businesses. On the podcast today, we talk about why he believes so strongly in the power of entrepreneurship and the value of innovation in society. Rob also gives some brilliant advice from his book, Project Future: 6 steps to success as your own boss.
Are you unmotivated? Procrastinating? Drained from giving to much of yourself to work? Unsure how to continue to lead employees who are working from home?
If so, listen in... Kevin Duncan’s new book The Intelligent Work Book: A visual guide to sorting out life and work, covers how to spot the signs of demotivation happening to yourself or to your team. We were lucky enough to have him on the podcast to give us some more detail on these, as well as some sneak peaks into some exciting future projects.
As we have become comfortably uncomfortable with the amount of change in the world, and as we move into a volatile, uncertain, and ambiguous 'new normal', the only thing that seems certain - is change itself.
Thankfully, our guest today Neil Usher is here to help us deal with living with uncertainty with his new book, Elemental Change: Making stuff happen when nothing stands still. We talk to Neil about how leaders can deal with change, to achieve the best outcomes for the future.
Stefano Maifreni is passionate about transforming small B2B businesses and helping them to expand, through his own business Eggcelerate. In this episode, Stefano shares his top tips on how to know if it is the right time to fulfil your dream of starting your own business. He also outlines his secrets for successful innovation and discusses the key trends he sees as being important for the future of business.
Ahead of the launch of her first book, Sheree Atcheson, Global Director of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion at Peakon, and Advisory Board Member for Women Who Code, came on the podcast to speak about how organisations' diversity and inclusion initiatives should account for intersectionality, be data driven, and work for everyone in the organisation. Sheree also talked about how we need to move from a ‘cancel culture’ to an ‘accountability culture’.
We were joined by Jens Schadendorf, author of GaYme Changer: How the LGBT+ Community and Their Allies Are Changing the Global Economy, to learn more about why it is imperative for the economy and society, that organisations embrace inclusivity and diversity initiatives. Jens shared some helpful insights into how individuals, organisations and even cities can become allies, and how no matter who you are – you can be a ‘GaYme changer’ in your organisation.
During times of strain and economic set back, the marketing budget can often be cut first by organisations. Dan White, author of The Smart Marketing Book: The Definitive Guide to Effective Marketing Strategies, explains why this may work in the short term but in the long term be damaging to both brand and business. Dan gives us a masterclass in marketing and brand building, with some tips on how to pivot for success in times of change.
Does the winner really take it all? Or does our ‘eye on the prize’ culture create harmful mentalities for employees? From Olympian; to diplomat; to speaker, coach, consultant and – most recently – author, Dr Cath Bishop has undoubtably experienced success in several areas. But what does success mean to her now? We discuss with Cath how organisations should redefine their definition of winning and success, to achieve better outcomes, as well as other themes from her book, The Long Win: The search for a Better Way to Succeed?
For this episode, we were joined by CEO and co-founder of AQai, Ross Thornley. Using AI, his company can measure individuals and team’s adaptability quotients, and use this to enhance the ability to deal with change. Ross shared his insight into how organisations could use this to tackle the ever-increasing problem of employee burnout, and how people can become more resilient in the face of change. He also shared some details about his new book, Moonshot Innovation: How you can positively impact a billion people.
We were joined by Matt Phelan, Global Head of Happiness and co-founder of the happiness index to talk about – you've guessed it – happiness.
Last year Matt wrote a book, Freedom to be Happy: The Business case for Happiness, and we were able to find out more about that during this episode. Matt also shared his stance on both the psychological and philosophical aspects of happiness; and how being happy can make a difference to one’s own self-worth, business success, and society in general.
Has working from home increased the amount of time you spend standing in front of the open fridge looking for a snack? Don’t worry you're not alone.
Snackcess is here to help. Snackcess sends personalised healthy snacks for companies to support employee wellbeing. We caught up with Sonny Drinkwater, co-founder of Snackcess, to hear about what it’s like starting up a business in the middle of a pandemic and why healthy snacks are the way forward, for the individual and the organisation.
Lockdown, social distancing, quarantines, and the ‘new normal’ are concepts we barely understood this time last year – but after almost a year in lockdown, since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic – what are the lessons leaders have taken from the past 12 months and how are they using this insight to move forward?
In this episode, we are joined by Atholl Duncan author of Leaders in Lockdown. For his book, Atholl interviewed 28 leaders from all over the world to gain their perspectives on business in the time of Covid-19. We found out his inspiration for writing this book and explored some of the key themes which emerged from the interviews.
Have you ever wondered if certain personality traits lead to more inclusive and diverse leaders or if you could construct the 'perfect' team based on personalities? Kimberly Nei, Director of Talent Analytics at Hogan Assessment Systems, shared her observations on Hogan’s latest research into this challenge, as well as defining some other personality traits which impact individuals, teams, and company success. Nei also talked through the opportunities and challenges for using AI in relation to personality testing from an ethical standpoint.
Shep Maher is EVP of Global Sales at Betterworks but his self-described job title is 'Servant Leader'. We spoke to Shep about what this unorthodox job title means to him and how he uses the philosophy behind it to get the most out of his team. Shep is also a sales expert, he describes the personality traits he sees as being essential to succeed in sales. We also spoke about how the very nature of sales is changing and what Shep predicts for the future of the role. This episode is full of great tips and insights for any future leaders as well as those wishing to get ahead in a career in sales.
On Friday 29 January, AMBA & BGA will announce the winners of The AMBA & BGA Excellence Awards 2021.
This year, the MBA Leadership Award is a new award which will honour alumni from AMBA-accredited Business Schools who have been making an impact in the business world following their graduation. The award recognises the work of these alumni through their achievements, performance and recognition.
David Woods-Hale took some time out to talk to four of the six finalists: Alforde Charumbira, who graduated from UCT Graduate School of Business, University of Cape Town; Ashwanth Gnanavelu, who graduated from Kent Business School, University of Kent; Ivan Syreyshchikov, who graduated from Graduate School of Management, Saint Petersburg State University; and Oare Ehiemua, who graduated from ESADE Business School, Ramon Llull University.
They shared their stories of how their MBAs put them on the career path to where they are now, and tackled the challenging question: what does it take to be a stand-out MBA leader in the modern world?
On Friday 29 January AMBA & BGA will announce the winners of The AMBA & BGA Excellence Awards 2021. The MBA Student of the Year award recognises students who have shown exceptional career potential and who AMBA believes can act as ambassadors for the high quality of accredited MBAs and the opportunities these programmes provide for students from a wide range of different personal and professional backgrounds.
Continuing her series of interviews with shortlisted finalists, Ellen Buchan spoke to Ramiro Agustin Costa from Universidad del CEMA; Leon Lloyd from Business School, Manchester Metropolitan University; and Mital Thanki from the School of Business, University of Leicester, to find out a bit more about the finalists and what winning this award would mean to them.
On Friday 29 January AMBA & BGA will announce the winners of the AMBA & BGA Excellence Awards 2021. One of the most coveted categories, the MBA Student of the Year award plays a pivotal role in supporting AMBA’s pledge to promote the MBA degree as the leading international business qualification.
Ellen Buchan caught up with Koshy Alexander from IE Business School; Kayee Au from AUC School of Business, The American University in Cairo; and Ciara Close from UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School, University College Dublin, to find out a bit more about the finalists and what winning would mean to them.
Stephen Frost is an expert in inclusivity and diversity and author of Building an Inclusive Organization: Leveraging the Power of a Diverse Workforce. We spoke about some of the challenges and opportunities that the Covid-19 pandemic presents for inclusivity and diversity initiatives in recruitment and in remote working. We also spoke about Stephen’s incredible career to date and his role in the London Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Michele Schneider has had an amazing career taking her from teacher to market trader and now Director of Education and Research and author. She spent 13 years as one of the few female members of several New York Commodity Exchanges in the World Trade Centre. We spoke to Michele about the state of the markets, and the volatility we’re experiencing, her views on the trends set to impact the markets over the coming years, and we also find out more about her new book, Plant Your Money Tree: A Guide to Growing Your Wealth.
We then spoke to David Ssegawa, a judge for the MBA Leadership award, as part of the AMBA & BGA Excellence Awards. David gave some hints on what he will be looking for from the winning entry and shared some background on his career, from his current role as Global Chief for People and Culture at Living Goods, to other roles he has had at Oxfam, African Development Bank, Unilever and Coca-Cola.
Rita Monteiro describes herself as being on her seventh career path in her eighth country. We were keen to talk to Rita about how her MBA led her from roles in small businesses to securing a career at one of the largest companies in the world – Amazon. She took the time to explain some of the initiatives she's working on, her role as Head of Sustainability at Amazon Japan, which will help the company hit its carbon neutral target by 2040.
Our editor Edward Holmes, provides an update on the Ambition Podcast during the holiday season.
AI has hit the front pages again recently, with algorithms for exam results and facial recognition at protests having a – let's say – mixed critique in the news. We spoke to Rob McCargow, Director of Artificial Intelligence at PWC, to gain a deeper understanding of AI and his thoughts on the future of digital disruption.
Personal branding is more important than ever, with extensive information being available about ourselves online and a desire for authenticity in the workplace. We spoke to personal branding expert, Dr Geraint Evans, to find out how to stand out from the crowd and create your desired brand. We also asked him how to use social media to enhance your career and how to use your brand for success in the current recruitment climate.
If the check in desk and duty free are synonymous with airports, so is the children’s ride along suitcase – Trunki. In this episode, we caught up with the Founder of Trunki, Rob Law, who is well known as an innovator, entrepreneur, and Dragon’s Den star. We also took the opportunity to chat about his new book 65 Roses and a Trunki, which tells his own personal story of bravery and resilience. Rob gave us his take on what resilience and overcoming challenges means to him, as well as how organisations can get more creative and fun despite global challenges.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has taken centre stage in 2020, playing a vital role amid the Covid-19 pandemic. With the situation changing quickly, as new information is emerging about the virus daily, how is WHO keeping this information up to date and ensuring it is disseminated correctly and quickly to its worldwide stakeholders? We spoke to Gaya Gamhewage, Head of Learning and Capacity Development at WHO, about how she has been dealing with these challenging times, while also creating the new WHO Academy.
This special edition of the AMBITION Podcast, kindly sponsored by S&P Global Market Intelligence, investigates Environmental, Social and Governance strategy – and why, now more than ever, it has become imperative for investment in resilient and sustainable corporate and community ecosystems.
Back in February 2020, at the AMBA & BGA Excellence Awards, 16 MBA graduates from Mannheim Business School scooped the coveted award for Business School Impact on Community and Society.
The team’s project objective was to create, publish and promote a children’s book focused on creating an awareness of unity, diversity, and integrity in young children, as they are still innocent and not influenced by thoughts such as racism. Its secondary objective was to encourage children to read more books.
Their book, entitled ‘Wo ist Amir’, is aimed at children aged four to eight, in kindergarten and in the first year of primary school. We spoke to Sahil Karmani, Lillian Pkyiu, and Shrishti Gupta to find out more about how they came up with the idea for the book and where they plan to take their project in the future.
Nia Watkin Jones talks all things higher education in this episode of the AMBITION Podcast. Offering her expertise from her role as MBA Assistant Director at Alliance Manchester Business School, she discusses international student recruitment, corporate partnerships, alumni relations and staying ahead of the curve with technology in MBA programmes.
How do teams strike the balance between working functionally and being able to create fun and friendly relationships with one another? We asked Marco Buschman just that and he was able to give us some insight from his new book, The Connection Quotient: How a culture of understanding transforms teams and organisations, to give us an answer. During the interview, Marco was also able to give some advice to leaders on how to successfully manage teams in a virtual working environment.
Did you struggle to buy pasta at the start of the lockdown? We spoke to circular economy expert Amir Sharif from the School of Management, University of Bradford about how Covid-19 threatened food security around the globe and how our listeners could contribute to a more circular and sustainable future.
Sustainability and a move away from 'fast fashion' is a hot topic for today's climate-conscious fashionistas. Business graduate Natalia Kalali shares the fascinating story of how she launched her own sustainable fashion brand, La Milla. She also talks about some incredible –albeit inconvenient – truths around the dangers of 'fast fashion' and some useful tips on how to shop for clothes in a more sustainable way.
Are Business Schools doing enough to produce ethical and sustainable leaders that will be able to deal with the current and future business environment? We put that challenging question to Geoff Moore, who teaches sustainability, business ethics and corporate responsibility at Durham University. In this episode, Geoff shares some fascinating views and his opinions on how the Covid-19 pandemic might have an impact on the ethics of organisations, for better or for worse.
Tania Easton is a consultant on Business School strategy, communication and accreditation. In this interview, she discusses potential strategies for Business Schools 'beyond accreditation' and the further implications accreditations can have on decision making, programme content and the overall strategy of a Business School.
In this episode of The AMBITION Podcast we take some time out to catch up with Udo Richson winner of AMBA's MBA Student of the Year 2020. Find out how he managed to get the very most out of his MBA at IE Business School, and how he started his own charity helping refugees acclimatise to life in Austria. Udo also shares his views on the pharmaceutical sector in which he now works.
Bernard Marr is an international best-selling author, keynote speaker, futurist, and strategic business and technology advisor. The AMBITION Podcast caught up with him to gain his perspective on the topic of AI and its implications for the future of commerce and Business Schools.
This episode of The AMBITION Podcast features interviews with Joël McConnell, Executive Director of Marketing, Recruitment and Admissions at Imperial College Business School, Imperial College London, and Sarah Seedsman, Executive Director, Engagement, Insights and Consulting at Media Minds Global. Joël shares his perspective on equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) and why organisations should be investing in EDI. Sarah then shares some relevant insights on the powers of social media and how Business Schools can leverage their social media channels for success when they communicate to all stakeholders.
In this episode of The AMBITION Podcast we hear from Sharon Cunningham, Co-founder of Shorla Pharma LTD, and Stephanie Mullins, Managing Head of Practice at BlueSky Education. As the winner of AMBA & BGA's Entrepreneurial Venture Award 2020, Sharon shares her own perspective of completing her MBA at UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School and the innovation that led to her creation of her company. Stephanie tackles the challenging issue of how Business Schools can communicate their distinctive attributes to the press.
The AMBITION Podcast has landed. Season one begins with an in-depth interview with Will Dawes, former Research and Insight manager at AMBA. Will discusses his career background and research findings from AMBA's latest ground-breaking research into technology in management education and outward-looking business strategies, and 'the business of Business Schools'.
Paul Kearns wrote a game-changing article for AMBA's magazine AMBITION back in November 2018 about the need to re-think the purpose of capitalism and the corporation. It also called for a complete re-design of the MBA to shift into a total stakeholder value way of teaching. We caught up with Paul to find out how his research had expanded since the article was published, and how his organisation the Maturity Institute was working with organisations to nurture more sustainable business models.
Josep Franch, Dean of ESADE Business School, and AMBA & BGA board member, shares his experiences of how ESADE Business School has continued to thrive during the challenging times caused by Covid-19, and outlines some of the innovative strategies the school is putting in place to continue to provide a word-class experience for students.
The importance of soft skills and behavioural strengths, in both admissions and student development within programs, is becoming increasingly recognised. During this special edition of The AMBITION Podcast, sponsored by ETS, Jay Bryant Strategic Advisor and Liaison for ETS to the Business Schools in the Western and Midwestern US, hosts a discussion on assessing behavioural strengths for Business Schools. Jay is joined by Dr Patrick Kyllonen, Distinguished Presidential Appointee at ETS, and Paula Amorim, Head of Admissions at IESE.
Ian Hawkings is Director of Business School Services at Carrington Crisp and a person with his ear close to the ground in terms of trends and issues in business education. Ian outlines his views about the future of the higher education sector and whether he thinks that Business Schools are evolving their offerings enough to keep up with the wants and needs of both students and their future employers. In this episode we are also joined by Harry Tucker – which is a name which you might recognise from Dragons Den. He is the entrepreneur behind P L A N E industries. Harry details his journey from the Den to where he is today, the creative mindset that led to the growth of his organisation, and his opinions on why sustainability is so central to him and the business.
Ben Renshaw started his career as a violinist but nine books later, he has established himself firmly as an expert on personal development. Ben focuses on unlocking people's potential to be the best they can be. We spoke to Ben about his new book Being: The Six Principles for Leading in an Age of Fast Change, as well as how managers can lead their teams to success, especially in the time of remote working. Ben also shared his advice on how to unleash your passion and discover your purpose. He offers encouragement on how to reach your goals: be happy and let being the person you want to be, guide you towards your ambitions.
Anthony 'Tas' Tasgal, is an award-winning author, and took some time away from his writing desk to talk about his new book, InCitations: Discovering a world of inspiration through quotes, words, and expressions. During the interview, Tas puts forward a few of his ideas on storytelling, as well as his thoughts on the value of creativity in organisations.
With more and more Business Schools focusing on diverse and innovative forms of teaching and learning, Antonella Moretto, Senior Assistant Professor at MIP Politecno Milano, talks about the growth and development of open programmes, specialist programmes and the tech innovation being spearheaded at her Business School. She also shares her views on her own area of research – supply chain management – especially in light to how supply and demand might be transformed in the future in the wake of Covid-19.
A few weeks ago, AMBA reached a milestone in its history by recruiting its 50,000th MBA member – Pablo Espinosa Almenara. Pablo is an MBA candidate at Alliance Manchester Business School as well as Growth and Innovation Leader at Arcadis, which is a built asset design and consultancy firm, behind projects including Burj Khalifa in Dubai, the London Bridge Railway Station rejuvenation, and the design of the Australian Grand Prix track. We caught up with Pablo to find out a little bit more about his thoughts on innovation, sustainability, ethics, and the future of business.
MBA and DBA graduate Anino Emuwa is the Founder and Director of Avandis Consulting and a vocal advocate for the progression for female leadership – a topic which she has raised up the agenda of the World Economic Forum at Davos earlier this year. In this episode you will hear about Anino's work in campaigning for women to reach leadership positions, and her views on the challenges - and future - of the diversity and equality discussion.
In this episode of the AMBITION Podcast, we speak to author, consultant, researcher, and speaker, Efosa Ojomo. During our conversation, we find out more about his book; The Prosperity Paradox: How Innovation Can Lift Nations Out of Poverty and learn about Efosa's passion for entrepreneurship and innovation to progress economic development.
In this episode of The AMBITION Podcast, we hear from Lise Hammergren, Executive Vice President for BI Executive at BI Norwegian Business School and Nick Barniville, Associate Dean for Degree Programmes and Director of the EdTech Lab at ESMT Berlin. Nick discusses how ESMT is committed to creating responsible leaders and his role as part of the EdTech team. Lise then talks about how Business Schools can collaborate with one another to achieve for better student experience.
This episode of The AMBITION Podcast features an interview with Zita Zoltayne Paprika, Dean of Corvinus Business School in Budapest, Hungary. In this exclusive interview, she discusses why it’s essential that Business Schools encompass lifelong learning among their offerings, and the opportunities and challenges this form of education presents.
The AMBITON Podcast explores sustainability in Business Schools and in business itself. We spoke to Hanna Leena Pesonen, Dean and Professor of Corporate Environmental Management at the University of Jyväskylä School of Business and Economics, to get the sustainability prospective from a Business School. She spoke about some of her own research into sustainability and the challenge facing Business Schools to come up with a solution to climate change. We then spoke to Claudine Blamey, Head of Sustainability and Digital Strategy, Argent, and Former Interim Director of Sustainability at EasyJet to get a more corporate perspective. We asked her how to even begin to lead the sustainability agenda at large organizations.
In this episode of The AMBITION Podcast, we speak to two leaders from QUT Graduate School of Business, Queensland University of Technology, Australia. Glen Murphy, MBA Director, tells us about the school’s first online MBA cohort and some of the successes the programme has had since then. Bob O'Conner then discusses how QUT and the higher education industry have changed over the course of his 15 years at the institution, and how he sees the sector evolving in the future.
This episode of the AMBITION podcast is sponsored by Canvas by Instructure. We spoke to Melissa Loble, Chief Customer Experience Officer and Account Management at Instructure, about what Business Schools might look like in the future and what technological innovations she sees as being particularly vital to the sector.
How can Business Schools make the most of the new technology available to them? The AMBITION Podcast investigates. First, we speak to Chris Dixon, Head of IT Partnering and Innovation at Lancaster University Management School, about the launch of Ask LU, Lancaster University’s student chatbot companion. Chris explains that this is just the beginning of what voice technologies could do for student experience. Margherita Pagani, Professor of Digital Marketing and Director of the AIM Research Centre on Artificial Intelligence in Value Creation at Emlyon Business School then discusses her predictions for how education 4.0 will change the postgraduate business education sector.
The AMBITION Podcast speaks to Norbert Csizmadia, President of the Board at the Pallas Athéne Innovation and Geopolitical Foundation (formed by the Central Bank of Hungary) about the importance of maps in the 21st century. Himanshu Rai, Director of the Indian Institute of Management Indore (IIM Indore) then discusses how Business Schools can build a community for faculty and students alike, and how he uses social media to do that at IIM Indore.
In this special edition of The Ambition Podcast, sponsored by GMAC, the team interviewed Rahul Choudaha, Director of Industry Insights and Research Communications at GMAC. Rahul examines how the Covid-19 pandemic has impacted Business Schools, in terms of demand and strategy.
The luxury market is very specific, with its own codes, values, language, and audience. It’s also a market that continues to evolve, as brands and consumers change the way they operate. This makes partnerships between academic institutions and luxury companies extremely valuable. Patti Brown, MBA Director at ESSEC Business School, shares her insights on ESSEC's luxury MBA programme and the opportunities for students within it.
In this episode of the AMBITION Podcast, sponsored by Barco, Ellen van de Woestijne, Global segment marketing director at Barco, shares her thoughts on how technology is making an impact on the higher business education sector. She also reflects on the challenges and opportunities she has witnessed in Business Schools moving their courses online.
In this special edition of the AMBITION podcast, sponsored by Peregrine Global Services, we speak to Steef van de Velde, Chairman of AMBA's International Accreditation Advisory Board and Professor at Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University. He discusses the current trends in higher Business Education and what innovations in the sector he is particularly interested in. Then we speak to President and CEO of Peregrine Global Services, Olin Oedekoven who examines what the 'new normal' could mean for business and Business Education and how Business Schools are responding to the challenge.
To launch Season Two of The AMBITION Podcast, we were pleased to catch up with Bodo Schlegelmilch, Chair of AMBA & BGA's International Management Board and Professor of Marketing at WU Executive Academy. He spoke about some of the radical innovations in management education he sees for the future of the sector and some of the changes he sees Business Schools having to make in order to remain viable.
Welcome to the Ambition Podcast.
At AMBA we are believers that lifelong learning doesn’t just take place in the classroom, so we are bringing you a podcast full of insights and tools aimed to help you in your professional life. Each week, join David Woods-Hale and Ellen Buchan as they delve into the pressing issues facing business leaders today.
If you’d like to learn more about the podcast visit associationofmbas.com/podcast and don’t forget to subscribe, to get the latest episode as its released.