As Kevin would say, radical change has already happened. It's now about individuals and organisations catching up and learning to embrace the possible. In this podcast, he discusses with out host, Neil Almond, his ideas around occupational philosophy, creating chaos in businesses and how appraisals should be dumped and kicked into touch.

Kevin has a passion for shaking up the way organisations are led and is an advocate of dismantling the hierarchies within them, so that teams run from the bottom up. 

In this episode, Sarah challenges the myth that millennials are demanding different conditions from the rest of us, suggesting that you’d be hard pressed to find a member of Generation X who is asking questions about how they could flourish more effectively in the workplace. Millennials may be shaking things up, but actually it's potentially all of us who benefit.

Sarah also talks about the importance of vulnerability in Leadership and shares some Positive Psychology-inspired interventions that individuals and organisations can make in order to foster the conditions in which workers can flourish, grow and tap into their full potential.

Sarah has vast experience of working as a coach and consultant within organisations, and this shows through in the practicality of her comments. Leaders don’t need to know all the answers, but the behaviours they model are reflected through the organisation.  

Much of this insight was earned during James’ time as CEO of The School for Social Entrepreneurs, an organisation he founded alongside Michael Young, Lord Young of Dartington (perhaps best known for founding organisations such as Open University and the Consumers Association). Michael was arguably one of the finest social thinkers of the last century and Neil wanted to use this opportunity of talking to James to also tease out any lessons we can glean from the late master.

Equally important to our project research are lessons from James’ current adventures as a social and environmental leadership consultant.

Neil’s friendship with James goes back to 1999, when he was a student at the school setting up Kikass. Neil later became a visiting tutor for the SSE and an action learning set facilitator.

Our guest, Giles Gibbons, has literally written the book about Good Business (albeit a while ago) and for the past 20 years has run a hugely impactful company of the same name. Giles works with businesses and charities to help them use their power to positively impact the world socially and environmentally. He also argues that this ‘good’ purpose can offer the resilience for organisations to remain current and relevant in our evolving world.  

Based on his experience, Giles talks to Neil about his thoughts on how “listening” businesses are typically the ones staying ahead of the game. He also outlines the importance of organisations opting for a more open and agile approach, as opposed to businesses solely focussing on meeting last year's targets.

Having a foot in both the commercial sector and in the charity sector gives Giles a unique perspective on how businesses could become a force for good in the world – if indeed they aren’t already.

In this episode we talk to Marcus Harris about how to put yourself in the way of opportunity in these changing times and embrace change and transformation with an excitement and verve that frees you to reinvent yourself in ways you’ve never previously imagined.

Marcus introduces us to his concept of “breaking the vase” - a metaphor for throwing aside the tight barriers we tend to build around us. Marcus explains that from breaking this vase comes true adaptability, unlocking the opportunity for regrowth, regeneration, and perhaps even intergalactic domination. He suggests that defining ourselves by either our pasts, or indeed our futures is limiting. Instead he calls for us to create completely new problems to release new energy. We hope you enjoy the show.

John is a radical thinker capable of conceptualising change at multiple levels and weaving modalities such as NLP, applied psychology, memetics and system’s thinking to take our understanding of change to a deeper level. It was typical of him, for instance, when asked the question ‘how does change happen?’, to respond “But what is change anyway?”.

John loves to play with paradox and mind-melting complexities, such as, “How do you harness unconscious skills, giving that they’re unconscious?”, in a way that never ceases to intrigue us.

In this podcast, John explores how to build momentum in change projects, particularly for larger scale changes. He breaks down ways you can look beyond the often-misleading surface structure of an organisation, and how to untangle some of the most difficult of problems that can arise within large teams. We are guided through Richard Hawkins’ Meme Theory, with John explaining why it’s is so relevant in the changing world around us today.

Susan has had a very successful career as an author of twenty-two books in the relationship field. She is also a coach, facilitator, agony aunt and, ultimately, a long-standing muse of ours here at 91 Untold.

During this episode, Quilliam educates us on how our attitudes towards romantic relationships have shifted and, in some ways, intensified, since much of the western world’s movement towards a post-Christian society. Neil and Sue also draw the parallel between our attitude towards relationships and our attitude towards organisations. Are we looking for divine fulfilment within our job roles too, or is this just a substitute from a lack of religion in our culture?