Is your child about to start school? Are you nervous about how you'll manage this important transition, alongside juggling work? In this special episode of the Leaders With Babies podcast Verena speaks to three Leaders Plus Fellows for their advice on managing the transition to Primary School. Including how to effectively communicate with your employer and partner, as well as other practical tips from parents who have been through it themselves. Our guests Dr Suhana Ahmed - Consultant Psychiatri...
Dec 01, 2020•42 min•Season 3Ep. 46
Our guest this week is the inspirational Dr Funke Abimbola MBE , a multi-award winning lawyer, C-suite advisor, public speaker, TV contributor, diversity leader, as well as the Chief Executive Officer at the Austen Bronte Consultancy. Dr Abimbola was one of the initial speakers at the 2018 Leaders Plus House of Commons launch event, where she spoke in front of 40 babies and 60 leaders sharing her experience of being a mum whilst at the same time being a General Counsel, the most senior lawyer in...
Nov 24, 2020•47 min•Season 3Ep. 45
It is easy to imagine that post Covid-19 the flexible working argument is solved, however many line managers, senior leaders and employers still have deep-rooted fears around losing control or a perceived lack of performance. So how can we change their minds? What are the right arguments to help them to think differently? Our guest today is HR Director James Lloyd and he is incredibly honest (which makes for a really thought provoking conversation) about the fact that initially, he inwardly crin...
Nov 17, 2020•34 min•Season 3Ep. 44
Sometimes you need more than a career mentor, you need a sponsor! In this episode of Leaders With Babies, we focus on finding a sponsor and why exactly they are so crucial for your career. So what is a sponsor? A sponsor is a senior leader who advocates for you, believes in you, and champions you at work and the evidence is very clear that having a sponsor makes a massive difference for the career progression of parents. Plus, it's also very helpful for when you need to have those tough conversa...
Nov 10, 2020•43 min•Season 3Ep. 43
This week we are delighted to welcome back HR Director and Leaders Plus Mentor Laura Harrison to the podcast. Laura, who previously featured on episode 13 (sharing with us her thoughts on flexible working and building relationships, do check it out if you haven't already), joins us again to look in detail at part time working for senior roles and offer practical advice for listeners keen to cut down their hours. Just how can we make working part-time work effectively? Ensuring we're not working ...
Oct 27, 2020•35 min•Season 3Ep. 42
Our guest this week is Becky Maxwell, a part-time Emergency Medicine Consultant and Clinical Chair of the Division of Diagnostics and Therapies at the University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust , as well as the Co-Chair of RCEMLearning (the Royal College of Emergency Medicine e-learning website). Becky shares really honestly the reality of juggling her portfolio career in emergency medicine alongside raising her two-year-old son. Including her advice for leading in a crisis, ma...
Oct 20, 2020•42 min•Season 3Ep. 41
Our guest this week is Lori Mihalich-Levin, a US-based lawyer, author, and the founder of Mindful Return, which supports parents on their return to work after having children. When Lori Mihalich-Levin returned to work as a lawyer after having her second child, the stresses of her job combined with the demands of taking care of a baby and a toddler initially proved overwhelming. Determined to channel her experience into something positive, she created Mindful Return to help other parents transiti...
Oct 13, 2020•35 min•Season 3Ep. 40
Our guest this week is the writer, tv presenter, and author of the new book “Solo: How to Work Alone and Not Lose Your Mind,’ Rebecca Seal. Rebecca chats with us about how to thrive when working from home, including how to set boundaries successfully and why working long hours actually damages your productivity. She shares the latest research on how best to lead your team remotely, plus why it's essential that all parents get enough recovery time from work AND from parenting. You can buy Rebecca...
Oct 06, 2020•45 min•Season 3Ep. 39
Our guest this week is a trailblazer in the legal profession who has proven that it's absolutely possible to work part-time in a senior role. Chris Bryant is a partner at the international law firm Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner, where he has a busy role focusing on Antitrust and Competiton, alongside heading up the firms Brexit task force. He does all of this in 3 days per week, something that is still uncommon in the legal sector. So how exactly does he make it work as a partner in a law firm on ...
Sep 29, 2020•39 min•Season 3Ep. 38
Our guest this week is the political activist Sophie Walker, the founding leader of the UK's Women's Equality Party and the current CEO of the Young Women’s Trust , who do brilliant work supporting young women across the UK. Sophie is a powerful change-maker and force for good and in this episode, we discuss how to drive change in the face of adversity and how we can all turn angry energy into real, tangible change. She shares why hope is "the ultimate act of defiance" when it comes to activism,...
Sep 22, 2020•32 min•Season 3Ep. 37
This week on Leaders With Babies we're sharing something a little different - a recent panel discussion on motherhood, work, and identity. Lisa Ford, a Strategic Enablement Director of Nielsen , Jackie Mulryne, a partner at the law firm Arnold & Porter, and Toria Reid, an A&E Consultant at a busy Edinburgh hospital, are all Leaders Plus Fellows. In this honest discussion, they share openly their personal experiences of squaring their identity as women who are passionate about their work ...
Sep 15, 2020•37 min•Season 3Ep. 36
Recent figures have shown that significant numbers of highly educated women are leaving paid employment when they have children and our guest this week has written a brand new book examining the reasons why. Shani Orgad is Professor of Media and Communications at the London School of Economics and on this week's podcast she shares her research and the real-life stories she has heard of women for whom work simply doesn't work anymore. Having interviewed a range of professional women who quit thei...
Sep 08, 2020•51 min•Season 3Ep. 35
This week our guest is Dr Hayaatun Sillem CBE, the first female Chief Executive of the Royal Academy of Engineering, Hayaatun shares with us exactly what led to her being seen as a key person of influence, offering tips and practical steps for listeners on how you too can increase your visibility at work. It's clear she has worked incredibly hard to progress in her career and become a confident speaker, unafraid to use her voice to champion others, especially those from underrepresented groups i...
Sep 01, 2020•46 min•Season 3Ep. 34
My guest this week is Dom Holmes, Head of Employment Law, and a Partner at the International law firm Taylor Vinters . Dom is one of the few male partners in law to work part-time. As he and his team advise employers with extremely time-sensitive and complex employment issues, it is incredibly fascinating to hear how he manages to balance his incredibly busy role and parenthood, by working 4 days a week. There are lots of helpful reflections and practical tips in this conversation. Including use...
Aug 25, 2020•42 min•Season 3Ep. 33
Could a shorter 4-day working week or a shorter working day boost our productivity, improve our mental health, and increase our profitability? Our guest this week Alex Pang believes so. Alex is a former Silicon Valley tech-consultant and the author of an important new book titled 'Shorter', which is about how working less will revolutionise how companies get things done in the future. Writing from his own personal experience, Alex noticed during how on sabbatical from work he suddenly became so ...
Aug 18, 2020•47 min•Season 3Ep. 32
This week we welcome back Avivah Wittenberg-Cox for Part 2 of her insightful discussion on gender balance and increasing your impact at work. Avivah is an author, speaker, and CEO of 20-first , a leading global gender-balance consultancy that works with multinational firms on modern leadership approaches, supporting them to be more gender-balanced. In this follow up episode Avivah shares how she deals with perfectionism and workload, why being lazy and having a high impact really aren’t mutually...
Aug 11, 2020•23 min•Season 3Ep. 31
This week on Leaders With Babies, Verena is joined by the author and acclaimed speaker Avivah Wittenberg-Cox to discuss influencing senior leaders on gender equality at work. Avivah is the CEO of 20-first , a leading global gender-balance consultancy that works with multi-national firms on modern leadership approaches, supporting them to be more gender-balanced. With so many important discussion points it was impossible to cut the conversation and not lose any of the brilliant insight, so instea...
Aug 04, 2020•27 min
This week we welcome back Dr Maja Korica, Associate Professor of Management and Organisation at Warwick Business School to the podcast. In a follow up to episode 28 of Leaders With Babies , Dr Korica delves even further into what it takes to get ahead at work in the context of the new socially distanced, virtual environment. Including the best way to establish trust online. In this episode, you'll learn how to apply key research on networking to ensure you make a positive impression in a virtual...
Jul 28, 2020•37 min•Season 3Ep. 29
Our guest this week is Dr Maja Korica, Associate Professor of Management and Organisation at Warwick Business School. An anthropologist of the Business Elite, she researches how CEOs, Boards, and Senior Leaders really behave and why analysing in-depth the drivers behind their decision making processes. She was recognised by Thinkers50 in 2017 as "one of the management thinkers most likely to shape the future of how organisations are managed and led." In this episode, Dr Korica shares valuable in...
Jul 21, 2020•45 min•Season 3Ep. 28
Our guest this week is Dr Sue Black OBE, Professor of Computer Science at Durham University. Sue is a passionate advocate for more women in tech and has spent the last 20 years campaigning for more recognition and support for women in computing. This led to her founding BCS Women the UK’s first online network for women in tech, and #techmums, a social enterprise that empowers mums and their families through technology. On this week's Leaders With Babies episode, Sue shares her remarkable and oft...
Jul 14, 2020•50 min•Season 3Ep. 27
This week Verena is joined by Anita Kerwin-Nye, Director of Strategy and Engagement at YHA. Anita is passionate about calling out inequality and has had an interesting and varied portfolio career in the charity and education sectors, moving effortlessly between consultancy and senior leadership roles. In this episode, she shares her expert advice on going freelance and charging what you're worth, as well as her best tips on how to lead authentically, particularly in the charity sector. There's a...
Jul 07, 2020•40 min•Season 3Ep. 26
The Coronavirus crisis and period of prolonged lockdown has posed some unique challenges for dual-career couples, many of whom are now juggling two busy workloads as well as homeschooling. To help couples manage their family's needs both at home and work and grow together during this stressful time we welcome back to the podcast Dr Jennifer Petriglieri. Jennifer is an Associate Professor of Organisational Behaviour at INSEAD in France and the author of the brilliant book Couples That Work . Regu...
Jun 30, 2020•39 min•Season 3Ep. 25
It's fair to say our guest on this week's episode has been on the frontline of the fight against Covid-19. Dr. Suhana Ahmed is a Consultant Psychiatrist who leads an inpatient ward for the elderly. Sadly many of her patients have caught Covid-19, and some tragically have lost their battle. In this frank discussion, Dr. Ahmed shares how leading in a crisis such as the Coronavirus Pandemic has forever shaped her as a leader. The key learnings she has discovered during the past 8 weeks, as well the...
Jun 23, 2020•47 min•Season 3Ep. 24
This week on Leaders With Babies Verena is joined by Professor Rosie Campbell, Professor of Politics and Director of the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership at King's College London. Professor Campbell shares her insight on parenting whilst in a leadership role, plus we explore what the latest research tells us about career progression for women. There's also an important discussion on the impact of Covid-19 on gender equality at work , including the potential negative impact of Lockdown on ...
Jun 16, 2020•41 min•Season 3Ep. 23
It's fair to say that Paul Fisher, Associate Fellow and Programme Director of the Oxford Programme on Negotiation at the Saïd Business School , is an expert when it comes to the art of negotiation and persuasion. Paul kindly shares his expertise when it comes to successful negotiation at work, including how best to structure your argument when requesting things like pay rises, flexible working, and training opportunities. He also shares the clear framework you can use to improve your chances of ...
Jun 09, 2020•46 min•Season 3Ep. 22
Managing workloads in senior roles can be challenging at the best of times, but with the added stress of full-time childcare during the Coronavirus Pandemic lockdown, ALL parents are feeling the strain. To launch Series 3 of the Leaders With Babies Podcast we are sharing our recent panel discussion (hosted by Leaders Plus and Doyenne) where we discuss managing teams, managers, and home life during lockdown. Listen to a range of inspirational speakers who each have taken a different approach to m...
May 28, 2020•53 min•Season 3Ep. 21
This past week has been life-changing for all of us and like many other parents, we wish to ensure that our children do not bear any long term scars from this turbulent and unsettling period. On this week's podcast, we are doing something a little different and we are sharing the audio from our recent webinar with Dr. Martha Deiros Collado , which focused on talking to young children about Coronavirus. Dr. Martha is a clinical psychologist supporting children who go through severe illness and tr...
Mar 22, 2020•1 hr 28 min•Season 2Ep. 20
Our guest this week is Alexandra Marks CBE, Deputy High Court Judge and Retired Partner at Linklaters LLP . In this powerful discussion, we look at maternal instinct and whether pursuing a career impacts your maternal bond with your children. We talk about social expectations of mother's, as well as the realities of being a female partner with children at one of the most prestigious law firms in the country. Plus, Alexandra shares the best advice she has ever received and her top tips for managi...
Mar 17, 2020•43 min•Season 2Ep. 19
On episode 18 of Leaders With Babies Verena is joined by fellow entrepreneur Kath Austin. Kath is the CEO and founder of the fast-growing, multi-award-winning company Bee Bee Wraps , who create sustainable, reusable beeswax food wraps. Kath is a mother of two and talks openly about what it takes to start your own business, including how she juggles her successful start-up with raising her girls. She shares the highs and lows of taking the business from her kitchen table to shop shelves, includin...
Mar 10, 2020•42 min•Season 2Ep. 18
This week Verena chats to Sam Bethune who, along with her job share partner at the time, spearheaded the Flexible Working Network at HSBC . Sam (a previous Fellow of the Leaders Plus Fellowship Programme ) shares her incredible story of how working in a job share at HSBC led to them setting up the flexible working culture at the organisation; including how the process actually emerged organically, how they were able to get senior leader buy-in and the exact steps they put in place to originally ...
Mar 03, 2020•38 min•Season 2Ep. 17
