The Inspiring Future Leaders podcast, hosted by author, coach and consultant Kellie Lucas, is a regular show that explores the components of current and future business models, cultures, people and leadership styles to inspire and motivate leaders to be more human, connected, socially minded and ultimately more successful. Let's ACT! to make work better so that organisations and people thrive!
Inspiring Future Leaders
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31 episodes
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Podcast Overview
The Inspiring Future Leaders podcast, hosted by author, coach and consultant Kellie Lucas, is a regular show that explores the components of current and future business models, cultures, people and leadership styles to inspire and motivate leaders to be more human, connected, socially minded and ultimately more successful. Let's ACT! to make work better so that organisations and people thrive!
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8/31/2021
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Recent Episodes
June 25, 2026
Episode 30: Lead with meaning w. Angela Rixon
<p><strong>About the episode</strong></p><p>In this episode, Kellie sits down with Angela Rixon, Founder of The Centre for Meaningful Work and author of Meaning Over Purpose, to explore what human-centred growth really means and why meaning, not just purpose, is the missing piece in most workplace strategies. </p><p>Angela traces the idea back to a pivotal moment in her HR career when a colleague asked why growth conversations always centred on cost cutting rather than on people, a question that shaped her Five Pillars of Meaningful Work: autonomy, mastery, connection, impact and purpose. </p><p>The conversation moves through how leaders can build a bridge between organisational purpose and individual meaning, why coaching has replaced telling as the most effective leadership behaviour in a world where no one leader has all the answers and how to be intentional about connection in hybrid and distributed teams. </p><p>Angela closes with a reminder that leaders need to put their own oxygen mask on first and that meaningful change at work, like everything else, starts small.</p><p><br></p><p><strong>Key Takeaways</strong></p><ul><li><strong>Growth doesn't have to mean cost cutting.</strong> Angela's career turning point came when a colleague asked why no one had considered growing the business through its people instead of through acquisitions or layoffs, a question that became the foundation for her work on human-centred growth.</li><li><strong>Meaning and purpose are not the same thing.</strong> Purpose is the external mission an organisation sets, while meaning is the felt, daily experience employees have of belonging, growth and autonomy. Angela argues organisations have over invested in purpose statements while ignoring meaning.</li><li><strong>The Five Pillars give leaders a practical framework.</strong> Autonomy, mastery, connection, impact and purpose can be applied first to leaders themselves, then to individuals and teams, to spot where energy is being gained or lost.</li><li><strong>Leaders don't have all the answers anymore and that's okay.</strong> Complexity, pace and AI mean leaders are often guiding change they don't fully understand themselves, which is why coaching has overtaken telling as the most useful leadership behaviour.</li><li><strong>Connection in hybrid teams has to be intentional.</strong> Office osmosis was never evenly distributed in the first place, so leaders need deliberate mechanisms such as drop-in coffee sessions, more frequent one to ones and more creative formal communication to recreate what used to happen by chance.</li><li><strong>Start small and protect your own oxygen mask.</strong> Angela's closing advice is to look after yourself as a leader first, then begin building meaningful work one small step at a time, starting with a simple question to your team: why does your work matter to you?</li></ul><p><br></p><p><strong>About Angela</strong></p><p><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/angelarixon/" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">Angela Rixon</a>, founder and CEO of <a href="https://thecentreformeaningfulwork.com/" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">The Centre for Meaningful Work Ltd</a>, is an award-winning leadership strategist, executive coach and culture-transformation specialist with over 25 years of experience. A former Partner at EY and Director at CGI and Mercer, she is recognised internationally for pioneering research and frameworks that close the Purpose-to-Meaning Gap™, enabling organisations to embed meaning into leadership, culture and performance. </p><p>Her Amazon best-selling book <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/9781788607841-strategic-blueprint-lasting-engagement/dp/1788607848" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">Meaning Over Purpose</a> explores the “Purpose-to-Meaning Gap” – the disconnect between what an organisation says and what its people actually feel. Challenging the assumption that purpose alone drives engagement, she provides leaders and executives with a practical blueprint for embedding meaning into the very DNA of their organisations.</p><p><br></p><p>🔗 Connect with <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/minnajvaisanen/"></a><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/angelarixon/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferer">Angela</a> on LinkedIn, or email @ <a href="mailto:angela@thecenterformeaningfulwork.com">angela@thecenterformeaningfulwork.com</a> or <a href="mailto:angela@angelarixon.com">angela@angelarixon.com</a></p><p><br></p><p><strong>Also Mentioned</strong></p><ul><li>Meaning Over Purpose by Angela Rixon</li><li><a href="thecentreformeaningfulwork.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferer">The Centre for Meaningful Work</a></li></ul><ul><li>Gainsight and former CEO Nick Mehta, an early voice in human-led leadership</li><li><a href="www.letsflow.sg"><strong></strong>Let's Flow</a> A leadership mission and community, in partnership with <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/leahstockley/">Leah Stockley</a>, to make work better so that organisations and people thrive. Follow on <a href="https://linkedin.com/company/lets-flow-sg">LinkedIn</a> or DM Kellie to get involved</li></ul>
June 1, 2026
Episode 29: Clarity, Intent, Impact w. Tim Beattie
<p><strong>About the episode</strong></p><p>In this episode, Kellie sits down with Tim Beattie, founder of Stellafai and a consultant who has spent his career turning outcome-based thinking from a philosophy into a practical reality. </p><p>Together they explore what it truly means to lead with an outcome mindset, why visualising work unlocks shared understanding and how leaders can protect their teams from relentless organisational pressure while keeping themselves human in the process. </p><p>Honest and complete with practical ideas you can use tomorrow.</p><p><br></p><p><strong>Key Takeaways</strong></p><ul><li><strong>The outcome mindset in three words: clarity, intent, impact.</strong> When everyone knows why they're doing what they're doing and can see the difference it's making, work changes completely.</li></ul><ul><li><strong>A North Star needs a North Star metric.</strong> Aligning on direction is powerful. Agreeing on the single measure that tells you whether you're moving towards it is where real focus begins.</li><li><strong>Get it out of people's heads.</strong> Whether it's sticky notes, digital walls or a bowl of mood marbles, making thinking visible is one of the most underrated leadership practices there is. Shared understanding is the foundation of shared progress.</li><li><strong>The push-pull umbrella.</strong> A leader's most important job is protecting teams from the pressure pushing down from above. Creating the space for autonomy, mastery and purpose to exist.</li><li><strong>Most bad cultures aren't born of bad intent.</strong> People are promoted because they're brilliant at their jobs not because they've been developed as leaders. Changing culture starts with showing people what's possible.</li><li><strong>Silos are inevitable; enablement is the antidote.</strong> As organisations grow, someone needs to be focused on connecting the dots, breaking down communication gaps and keeping everyone aligned to what actually matters.</li><p><br></p></ul><p><strong>About Tim</strong></p><p>Tim Beattie is the Co-Founder of Stellafai, where he is building an operating system for outcome-based consulting. His work focuses on helping consulting, customer success and professional services teams anchor their work around measurable customer outcomes, visualise value and create stronger alignment between teams, clients and business impact.<br>Tim’s career has taken him through large-scale consulting and transformation roles at PwC, Deloitte, IBM and Red Hat, as well as smaller boutique consulting environments where culture, collaboration and customer value became central to his thinking. He is passionate about outcome mindset, visualising work, psychological safety and helping organisations move from activity and output to clarity, intent and impact.<br>Through Stellafai, Tim now works with boutique consultancies and enterprise customer success organisations to help them prove, scale and sustain the value they create with customers.</p><p>🔗 Connect with <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/tdbeattie/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferer">Tim</a> on LinkedIn.</p><p>🌐 Stellafai platform (free to use): <a href="www.stellafai.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferer">stellafai.com</a></p><p><br></p><p><strong>Also Mentioned</strong></p><ul><li><strong>Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us</strong> by Dan Pink</li><li><strong>Alistair Cockburn:</strong> Agile Manifesto author and source of the push-pull umbrella concept</li><li><strong>Deirdre Paknad:</strong> CEO of Workboard and originator of the outcome mindset definition Tim references throughout</li></ul><ul><li><a href="www.letsflow.sg"><strong>Let's Flow</strong></a>: A leadership mission, ACT! Leadership System and community, in partnership with <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/leahstockley/">Leah Stockley</a>, to make work better so that organisations and people can thrive. Follow on <a href="https://linkedin.com/company/lets-flow-sg">LinkedIn</a> or DM Kellie to get involved.</li></ul>
May 3, 2026
Episode 28: The human side of leading w. Minna Vaisanen
<p><strong>About the episode</strong></p><p>In this episode, Kellie sits down with Minna Vaisanen, Head of Revenue at Thrive Partners and passionate customer success leader, for a wide-ranging conversation about the future of leadership and work. </p><p>Minna brings a refreshingly practical lens to some big questions:</p><p>- why leadership hasn't kept pace with how work has evolved</p><p>- why creativity is the new gold dust in an AI-accelerated world</p><p>- what organisations can do, starting small, to close that gap. </p><p>Together, they explore the shift from task-oriented management to human-centred leadership, the foundational importance of values (done properly, not just posted on a wall) and why the single most important mindset shift for any new manager is moving from I to we. </p><p>Above all, this is a conversation that keeps coming back to what matters most: we are all human, all doing our best and that's exactly where good leadership begins.</p><p><br></p><p><strong>Key Takeaways</strong></p><ul><li><strong>We are all human and that's where leadership starts.</strong> Behind every framework and every transformation is a simple truth: we're all learning, all imperfect and all capable of doing a little better than yesterday. Leadership isn't about having all the answers; it's about showing up with the intention to grow.</li><li><strong>Creativity is the new gold dust and leadership hasn't caught up.</strong> As AI takes over routine work, what humans bring is creativity and creativity doesn't thrive in rigid, micromanaged environments.</li><li><strong>The single biggest shift when you become a manager: from I to we.</strong> A manager's success is measured by the team's success. Owning both the wins and the failures, without blaming the team, is where real leadership begins.</li><li><strong>Leadership 1-0-1 is still missing for most people.</strong> Most are promoted because they're good at their job, not because they've been taught to lead. It starts with one question: do you even want to lead?</li><li><strong>Values only work if they're lived, not laminated.</strong> Values need to be embedded in hiring, performance reviews and everyday decisions. A poster on a wall changes nothing.</li><li><strong>Organisational transformation doesn't have to be seismic.</strong> Think like a product roadmap; sequence your experiments, run controlled steps and bring your people with you.</li><li><strong>Done is better than perfect.</strong> 1% better today than yesterday still accumulates. Progress over perfection, always.</li></ul><p><br></p><p><strong>About Minna</strong></p><p>Believing that a squiggly career makes leaders more versatile, Minna's Customer Success career background in tech extends over 12+ years navigating the realms of early-stage start-ups to multinational corporations. Her global perspective is shaped through expatriate roles in the Middle East, Europe and Asia, coupled with visits to 65+ countries. Minna has led a number of transformation projects for multinational organisations in the Asia Pacific region and guiding initiatives resulting from global company mergers. In her previous roles as Vice President of Customer Success, Minna devised and executed a successful customer success strategy, contributing to company growth at early stage and scale-up organisations. Currently, as the Head of Customer Success and Operational Excellence at Thrive Partners, she plays a pivotal role in the organisation's customer-centric transformation. Her industry range extends from HR to the Learning and Hospitality Technology sectors. </p><p>Beyond her professional endeavours, Minna is a mentor, podcast host and a speaker, sharing profound insights at industry events to inspire and educate emerging talent.<br></p><p>🔗 Connect with <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/minnajvaisanen/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferer">Minna</a> on LinkedIn.</p><p><br></p><p><strong>Also Mentioned</strong></p><ul><li><strong>Motivation 2.0:</strong> the concept Minna references around shifting from task-based to purpose and creativity-driven motivation at work.</li><li><strong>Simon Sinek's </strong><strong>Start With Why</strong> : referenced in the context of building organisational values from the ground up.</li><li><a href="www.letsflow.sg"><strong>Let's Flow</strong></a>: A leadership mission and community, in partnership with <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/leahstockley/">Leah Stockley</a>, to make work better so that organisations and people thrive. Follow on <a href="https://linkedin.com/company/lets-flow-sg">LinkedIn</a> or DM Kellie to get involved.</li></ul>
31 total episodes available
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This podcast updates daily.
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