Jennifer Fondrevay known as the 'MA Whisperer', is Andy Lopata's guest on this week's Connected Leadership Podcast. She is the author of the satirical book 'NOW WHAT? A Survivors Guide for Thriving Through Mergers and Acquisitions' and advises companies on the unexpected people challenges that may arise during the process. Jennifer outlines the stages employees may face during a merger including grief, putting a strain on relationships and uncertainty of the future. She emphasises the importance...
Mar 13, 2023•44 min•Ep. 181
'One on One Meetings are Underrated; Group Meetings Waste Time'. The title of Lawrence Krubner's book is the theme of this week's Connected Leadership Podcast. Lawrence discusses with Andy Lopata how meetings can be essential for some people but an inordinately inefficient way to get things done for others. If you invite fifteen people to an hour's meeting, you have to be sure the meeting is actually worth the fifteen hours of work lost. Too many large meetings are called to give out information...
Mar 06, 2023•49 min•Ep. 180
This week's guest on The Connected Leadership Podcast joins Andy Lopata from Switzerland. Daniela Landherr is the former Head of Talent at Google. She is now an Executive Coach specialising in psychological safety at work. Daniela's perspective is that our culture should accept that failure is OK; it is something you can learn from and develop. A leader who never makes mistakes is not a good leader because this means you never take a risk. Andy and Daniela discuss Fail Fests, meetings to discuss...
Feb 27, 2023•51 min•Ep. 179
This week’s Connected Leadership Podcast focuses on a very important topic for many leaders; the relationships that are integral to building strong partnerships Internal or external to your organisation, strong trusted relationships can be the difference between the success and failure of projects. Andy Lopata’s guest is very strong at building these partnerships in her role at Colgate Palmolive leading a group of scientific researchers. LaTonya Kilpatrick is also a passionate mentor for engagin...
Feb 20, 2023•42 min•Ep. 178
Andy Lopata's guest in this week's Connected Leadership Podcast comes from Holland and is a global speaker and stand up comedian. Tom Sligting discusses new ways of working or doing things that require adaptability and the problems this poses for business and business leaders. Business is changing so rapidly that leaders need to be adaptable or they will miss out. This can be uncomfortable, moving out of your comfort zone. Andy and Tom look at the role of your network in validating changes, givi...
Feb 13, 2023•46 min•Ep. 177
Steve Head is a global inspirational speaker, trainer and coach, much of his work is with the NHS in the UK helping leaders to be better and to achieve better results. But, unknown to many, for the past ten years he has also been a performance coach for the World Cup winning wheelchair Rugby League team. Steve tells Andy Lopata the story of how he helped the team to perform at their best. In a diverse team of male and female, able and disabled players, motivation was already strongly present. Th...
Feb 06, 2023•52 min•Ep. 176
A fascinating conversation in this week's Connected Leadership Podcast. Andy Lopata is joined from New York City by the 'courageous communicator' Renee Lee Rosenberg, to discuss ages, generations and the huge cultural differences between generations. In today's business world, there are often five generations working in the same place, with ages from 20 to 70+ and this is something that has to be addressed. Renee identifies five generations each having its distinct style: Traditionalists, Baby B...
Jan 30, 2023•44 min•Ep. 175
Andy's guest Bruce Y Lee has had an interesting and very varied career. Professor of Health Policy and Management at the New York City University School of Public Health, he is well known for his blogs and articles on science and health, questioning established ways of communicating facts and theories. Bruce takes complicated ideas and makes them simple and engaging. Andy and Bruce discuss how, despite some opposition, he is changing the tone of science writing, less serious and where appropriat...
Jan 23, 2023•49 min•Ep. 174
Andy's guest on this week's Connected Leadership Podcast is from the US. Debbie Heiser is the founder of The Mentor Project, a global project to bring mentoring and support to school and university students. The Mentor Project has successfuly brought together a volunteer community of high achievers across the spectrum. Andy and Debbie explore a new perspective on this subject, lateral mentoring. They compare hierarchical, lateral and reverse mentoring emphasising the need to both be a mentor and...
Jan 16, 2023•45 min•Ep. 173
Exploring the concept of happiness. Andy Lopata and the SUMO guy, Professor Paul McGee, discuss happiness and his new book 'The Happiness Revolution: A Manifesto for Living Your Best Life' by Andy Cope and Paul McGee. Lockdown has changed perspectives. The role of technology and social media in maintaining connections has been very important, but has also caused problems when it hasn't been used properly. A balance is required in identifying 'happiness', it doesn't always need to be goal orienta...
Jan 09, 2023•57 min•Ep. 172
In this episode of Connected Leadership Gold Andy Lopata interviews Kerrie Dorman, founder of the Association of Business Mentors and named the 'People's Mentoring Champion' 2019 and Vanessa Vallely OBE, International Motivational Speaker and Managing Director of WeAreTheCity, on the importance of mentoring for individuals, leaders and large organisations. What does a good mentoring relationship look like? Kerrie and Vanessa answer this question and go on to explain the distinction between mento...
Jan 02, 2023•49 min
In this episode of The Connected Leadership Podcast, Andy Lopata talks to Nigel Kershaw, Chairman of the Big Issue, Big Issue Invest and Big Issue Exchange. They discuss the startup of the Big Issue by Lord John Bird and its mission to get the homeless off the streets. Seen as a business solution rather than a charity, Andy and Nigel discuss the interdependency between the vendors and the teams and the relationships between the vendors and their clients. They also look at the obstacles they face...
Dec 26, 2022•48 min
The content for the next few weeks will be taken from the archives to re-visit some of the Connected Leadership Gold podcasts. Andy has some exciting news to share and introduces a previous guest on the podcast to talk about their upcoming collaboration in a new project for 2023. Listen to this short episode to hear the details!
Dec 21, 2022•11 min
This week in the Connected Leadership Podcast, Andy Lopata talks to Nikki Bush, Human Potential Expert, about what it takes to be a powerful and connected leader in a hybrid environment. Andy and Nikki discuss the importance of empathetic, engaging leadership that connects with employees. The importance of deep listening and an emotional presence even virtually for the retention of staff. Nikki emphasises a high-touch leadership style to improve the quality of conversations. In a hybrid working ...
Dec 19, 2022•47 min•Ep. 172
How can you be an effective leader when you are under pressure and stressed? Andy Lopata discusses this issue with Martin Laschkolnig, global inspirational speaker in self-esteem, serenity, motivation and inner peace. Leaders are not trained for crisis intervention but there are ways they can ease situations for teams and individuals. Martin suggests simple steps including support, comfort and where necessary, counselling. Also the acceptance of the importance of mental health issues and showing...
Dec 12, 2022•56 min
The theme of this week's podcast is 'Creating Authentic Connections'. Authenticity is a topic that comes up regularly and Andy Lopata invited this week's guest to look at different perspectives on the meaning of authenticity. Roxanne Derhodge is a certified psychotherapist and Forbes Business Council member. Her most recent book is 'Return on Relationships'. Roxanne believes that authenticity results from first understanding yourself and feeling good with who you are inside. Andy and Roxanne tal...
Dec 05, 2022•45 min•Ep. 170
One of the legacies of the pandemic is the prevalence of overwhelm and burnout. Dr Amy Bradley, a professor in leadership and management and a member of the prestigious Thinkers 50 and Dr Katherine Semler, Senior Partner at the global consulting agency Korn Ferry, describe this in their recent book as ‘Running on Empty’. In the workplace there are crises of confidence, pressure, a feeling of being thinly spread and in many cases zoom fatigue. We need to be conscious of the dangers and impact on ...
Nov 28, 2022•47 min•Ep. 169
Andy Lopata's guest on this week's Connected Leadership Podcast is Antoni Lacinai, Global Keynote Speaker and Workplace Communication expert. Antoni's expertise is looking at the internal culture of an organisation and how that affects how employees engage with clients, suppliers and external stakeholders. If a leader doesn't set the tone and create a supportive culture within a company, this can frustrate and affect performance. Command and control leadership, silos within a company, is changin...
Nov 21, 2022•50 min•Ep. 168
Andy Lopata's guest on this week's Connected Leadership Podcast is Matt Crabtree a corporate entrepreneur who worked with Barclays and other global companies but jumped ship, went freelance as a business consultant and then founded his company Positive Momentum encouraging other expert consultants to take the plunge. Matt and Andy discuss the importance of having the right support network and material backing before making such a change. Matt’s company gives guidance on taking a business-wide ap...
Nov 14, 2022•51 min•Ep. 167
Looking at relationships between leaders and their teams and between employees, Andy Lopata questions Scott Friedman and Paul ter Wal on their theories of employee engagement. They both believe that if leaders ensure their employees have fun and enjoy their time at work, they will perform better and produce better results. Objectives and core values need to be defined and employees held accountable. Changes in the workplace including hybrid working means that leaders have to listen and then act ...
Nov 07, 2022•56 min•Ep. 166
Andy Lopata's guest on this week's Connected Leadership Podcast is former Red Arrows pilot and Executive Officer, Dan Lowes. After years as a fighter pilot in the RAF, Dan attended the prestigious Top Gun School testing new weapons systems, before being accepted as a Red Arrows pilot. He is now a high performance coach sharing the lessons he learned about working with teams to help leaders and others become the best they can be. Dan shares insights on how the Red Arrows integrate new pilots into...
Oct 31, 2022•1 hr•Ep. 165
After a turbulent few weeks in politics, Andy Lopata shares his interview in 2018, for his book ‘Just Ask’ with the current UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly. Andy wanted to explore whether we allow our politicians to be vulnerable and authentic. Or, is every slip, every doubt and every marginal turn magnified? For James there is in politics a ‘massive disincentive to show any kind of vulnerability, any kind of weakness, or any lack of knowledge’. The confrontational nature of Westminster poli...
Oct 24, 2022•1 hr 16 min•Ep. 164
Rebecca Morgan joins Andy Lopata to discuss Psychological Safety in this week's Connected Leadership Podcast. Rebecca has worked with the biggest companies in Silicon Valley, including Google and LinkedIn, looking at leadership practices with a particular focus on a culture that allows people to be vulnerable, to admit mistakes and to be comfortable in speaking up with a different approach without being penalised. Teams should not fear challenging the prevailing narrative. But, skills are needed...
Oct 17, 2022•43 min•Ep. 163
Andy Lopata's guest on this week's Connected Leadership Podcast is Ben Brabyn former Royal Marine, ecosystem expert and crowdfunding pioneer. During a wide ranging and successful career, Ben developed an interest in network structures and communication between teams and internal networks. In the early days of technology and the internet he recognised the importance of connecting with a vibrant network and created the first crowdfunding platform changing methods of charity fundraising Comparing h...
Oct 10, 2022•47 min•Ep. 162
Elliott Ferguson is the President and Chief Executive of Destination DC and Chairman of Tourism Diversity Matters, looking at race and racism in the hospitality industry. Elliott joins Andy Lopata in a frank, open discussion of how as leaders we should lead conversations about race and how we can manage the feelings and emotions close to this topic. His own experiences as a black leader in the corporate world in the US, the rise of BLM, George Floyd and other significant events have made him ver...
Oct 03, 2022•54 min•Ep. 161
Andy Lopata's guest on this week's Connected Leadership Podcast is Ray McGrath a senior technology executive and coach for senior leaders. The discussion is about executive loneliness, an unwanted lack of connectedness and how big an issue this is in business. There exists a sense of isolation as a leader and there is a need to have critical friends, where a leader can be completely authentic and able to talk about the challenges and issues that arise. Ray uses stories to illustrate his experien...
Sep 26, 2022•58 min•Ep. 160
Andy Lopata talks to a remarkable woman in this week's Connected Leadership Podcast. Anna Wardley is an endurance swimmer, charity fund raiser and all round adventurer. She was voted 'Inspirational Woman of the Year' in 2013 and has a global list of swims she has completed including the English Channel and round the Isle of Wight. Anna stresses the importance of connections and the support of the people you have around you. A relatively late starter, her first cross channel attempt was in her th...
Sep 20, 2022•1 hr•Ep. 159
Andy Lopata's guest on this week's Connected Leadership Podcast is Julia Hobsbawm OBE, speaker, entrepreneur and author of 'The Nowhere Office' book and podcast. A topical subject about changing working patterns and the impact on professional relationships. WFH has existed since the dawn of technology and the internet but the shifts and trends before the pandemic have now become reality. What does this mean for leaders and organisational behaviour? Julia sees it as the most important moment in t...
Sep 12, 2022•51 min•Ep. 158
On the day a new UK Prime Minister is announced Andy Lopata talks to Simon Kuper, Financial Times columnist and author of 'Chums: How a Tiny Caste of Oxford Tories Took Over the UK'. A contemporary of Boris Johnson, David Cameron, Michael Gove and others at Oxford in the 1980s, Simon explains the culture that existed especially in the Oxford Union. 12 of the 16 post war PMs (including today's winning candidate) were Oxford graduates. The Union Debating Society in the 80s was dominated by Tories ...
Sep 05, 2022•57 min•Ep. 157
In this final episode of the trilogy looking at the effects of humour in business, Andy Lopata's guests are Jeremy Nicholas, world esteemed keynote speaker and news and sports presenter on radio and television, and Tim Gard, US renowned speaker and MC. Jeremy and Tim talk about their own personal journeys and how important humour has always been for them. Both of them see humour as the foundation of everything, looking for the funny in all they do. Within this framework, they factor in the audie...
Aug 29, 2022•1 hr•Ep. 156
