Leaders come and leaders go, quite often without knowing why they succeeded - and why they failed.<br /><br />Debate rages as to what leadership is, what makes it work well - and why failure happens all too often.<br /> <br />Leadership Listening gets inside the soul and stories of leaders of all kinds – public and private sector, ‘not for profit’ - those who lead well, and those who hit the leadership wall.<br /> <br />Hosted by Lawrie Philpott, outspoken and highly experienced – his approach is informed by decades of coaching, working with over 300 C-Suite executives and more than a 100 leadership teams across the globe. Hear his perspective on leadership and analysis of leadership failure.<br /> <br />If you’re already a leader, or on your way to the C-Suite, in HR, coaching, or academia, there’s bound to be something for you - even disagreement!<br /> <br />Join us - let’s take leadership to a better place
Leadership Listening
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Podcast Overview
Leaders come and leaders go, quite often without knowing why they succeeded - and why they failed.<br /><br />Debate rages as to what leadership is, what makes it work well - and why failure happens all too often.<br /> <br />Leadership Listening gets inside the soul and stories of leaders of all kinds – public and private sector, ‘not for profit’ - those who lead well, and those who hit the leadership wall.<br /> <br />Hosted by Lawrie Philpott, outspoken and highly experienced – his approach is informed by decades of coaching, working with over 300 C-Suite executives and more than a 100 leadership teams across the globe. Hear his perspective on leadership and analysis of leadership failure.<br /> <br />If you’re already a leader, or on your way to the C-Suite, in HR, coaching, or academia, there’s bound to be something for you - even disagreement!<br /> <br />Join us - let’s take leadership to a better place
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Publishing Since
6/18/2025
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Recent Episodes
July 26, 2026
Operational Leadership: Lessons from PwC’s COO - with John Berriman
Lawrie Philpott of Philpott Black and host of the Leadership Listening podcast talks with John Berriman about leadership grounded in execution, drawing on Berriman’s career as a PwC audit partner, founder of its cybersecurity advisory practice, board member, and UK firm COO with 1,400 reports, plus later work as global COO at global law firm Norton Rose Fulbright and Chair of national learning disabilities and autism charity MacIntyre. Berriman describes formative influences, his “completer-finisher” operational mindset, and what makes bosses difficult or effective, emphasising understanding people and motivating them. He explains COO pressures in a partnership - profit variability, budgeting, communication, technology spend, service reliability, and crisis tracking during 9/11 and the London bombings - along with methods to enforce operational discipline via strategy, thresholds, and accountability. They discuss misconceptions about PwC, judgment versus intelligence, complexity in large organisations and nonprofit governance challenges (especially funding and staffing). 00:00 Intro00:46 Meet John Berriman03:01 Early Influences04:57 Operational Mindset09:23 Handling Tough Bosses14:12 Mentors Who Backed17:11 COO Pressures28:17 Discipline In Partnerships34:47 PwC Misconceptions39:58 Judgment Versus Intelligence47:05 Lessons From The Top51:49 Nonprofit Leadership Realities55:14 Closing Questions Contact the show! Email: podcast@leadershiplistening.com Head to https://www.leadershiplistening.com/ to explore more videos and search for key topics Watch this episode on YouTube! https://youtu.be/Fe8cN3vlUmg Podcast episode: 17 ✅ Subscribe Here: www.youtube.com/@LeadershipListening?sub_confirmation=1 📱 Follow Us On Socials:Instagram: / https://www.instagram.com/leadershiplisteningLinkedIn: / https://www.linkedin.com/company/leadershiplistening/Bluesky: / https://bsky.app/profile/leadershiplisten.bsky.social SUBSCRIBE, SHARE & JOIN US IN TAKING LEADERSHIP TO A BETTER PLACE
April 26, 2026
Why traditional leadership playbooks no longer apply - with Nik Gowing
Lawrie Philpott of Philpott Black and host of Leadership Listening talks with Nik Gowing, veteran BBC World News presenter and author of Thinking the Unthinkable, about leadership, disruption, and a darkening world. Nik shares his core research findings — that most leaders are dangerously unprepared for the speed and complexity of modern disruption — and maps out his prescient warnings from 2009 and 2018. He argues the world is entering a period of fundamental instability driven by AI-driven unemployment, geopolitical rupture, weakened institutions, and the collapse of long-held assumptions about prosperity. He calls on leaders to think the unthinkable, break from zombie orthodoxies, and upskill for an era where traditional playbooks no longer apply. Together they examine why politicians and civil servants struggle to speak truth to power, how Trump has distorted truth and inspired imitators globally, the concept of corporate mendacity, and the leadership lessons embedded in Nik's most memorable journalistic moments — including the fall of the Berlin Wall and the announcement of Princess Diana's death. They close with what universal leadership traits will matter most for the rest of this decade. 00:00 Intro00:53 Introducing Nik Gowing03:21 A Dark And Sinister Prognosis07:44 The End Of Stability And The Pinball World10:19 Leaders Failing To Grip The Enormity13:19 Upskilling For A New Reality16:24 Civil Service And Public Sector Failure17:26 Thinking The Unthinkable In Government20:11 Trump, DOGE And Decimated Public Life22:39 Zelensky As A Leadership Model24:35 Leaders On Camera — Credibility Under Pressure27:12 Media Adversarialism And Being First Fast Flawed29:13 Leadership Fitness And The 2500-Hour Year33:08 Bravery, Opportunism And Real-Time Leadership36:16 Flattery As Diplomacy — The Washington Weekend37:09 Post-Truth And The Distortion Of Facts41:39 Corporate Mendacity And Deliberate Distraction45:28 Most Memorable Journalistic Moments47:32 The Fall Of The Berlin Wall48:56 Announcing The Death Of Princess Diana52:28 Universal Leadership Traits Across Cultures57:37 Cynical Or Hopeful About The Future59:25 Closing Questions Since 2014 Nik has been founder and director of the Thinking the Unthinkable project - https://thinkunthink.org/ Using interviews with, and access to, the highest levels of business, public service and governments the ongoing and dynamic project reveals candidly why so many leaders at every level face new difficulties adapting to the scale of unthinkables and unpalatables. Contact the show! Email: podcast@leadershiplistening.com Head to https://www.leadershiplistening.com/ to explore more videos and search for key topics Watch this episode on YouTube! Podcast episode: 16 ✅ Subscribe Here: www.youtube.com/@LeadershipListening?sub_confirmation=1 📱 Follow Us On Socials:Instagram: / https://www.instagram.com/leadershiplisteningLinkedIn: / https://www.linkedin.com/company/leadershiplistening/Bluesky: / https://bsky.app/profile/leadershiplisten.bsky.social SUBSCRIBE, SHARE & JOIN US IN TAKING LEADERSHIP TO A BETTER PLACE
April 12, 2026
Leading with resilience and purpose in the charity sector - with Julie Bentley
Lawrie Philpott of Philpott Black and host of Leadership Listening talks with Julie Bentley, Chief Executive of Samaritans. Julie shares her journey from a working-class upbringing in Essex, to discovering her calling through charity work, and building a distinguished career leading the Suzy Lamplugh Trust, the Family Planning Association, Girl Guiding, Action for Children, and now Samaritans. She reflects on what changes across different organisations and what stays constant in her leadership style, how to handle intense media scrutiny and online trolling as a woman in public life, and why the hardest weight in leadership is always the people — staff, volunteers, and service users. Julie explores what the CEO of Samaritans learned about truly listening, why leaders rarely admit what support they actually need, how to lead with moral compass under public scrutiny, and the delicate balance between transparency and necessary boundaries. She discusses the relentless financial pressures facing the charity sector, what shaped her leadership through mentors and feedback, and a pivotal lesson about power that changed how she leads. 00:00 Intro 03:51 Early Life and Background 05:21 Finding A Calling Through Charity 06:54 Leading Across Different Charities 08:16 What Has Changed in the Workplace 09:20 What Stays Constant in Leadership 11:32 Media Scrutiny and Public Life 12:58 Online Trolling and Resilience 16:14 What Feels Heaviest in Leadership 18:58 Connecting the CEO With Volunteers 23:48 Why Volunteers Are the Backbone of Society 25:27 Supporting Volunteers Through Difficult Work 26:15 Learning About Listening 26:50 Listening to Hear, Not to Respond 29:10 The Power of Leaving Space 30:40 What Support Leaders Need but Rarely Admit 32:31 The Importance of Praise for Leaders 35:38 Leading When Every Decision Is Judged Publicly 36:02 Anchoring Leadership to a Moral Compass 38:28 Are we in a Post-Moral-Compass World? 40:09 Sensitivity, Transparency and Necessary Boundaries 42:25 Bounded Transparency in Practice 44:07 Hard Financial Decisions in the Charity Sector 46:32 What Has Shaped How Julie Leads 47:02 Mentors, Peers and Feedback 48:42 The Power CEOs Hold and What to do with It 49:33 Closing Questions Contact the show! Email: podcast@leadershiplistening.com Head to https://www.leadershiplistening.com/ to explore more videos and search for key topics Watch this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/RKq07VFBicc Podcast episode: 14 ✅ Subscribe Here: www.youtube.com/@LeadershipListening?sub_confirmation=1 📱 Follow Us On Socials: Instagram: / https://www.instagram.com/leadershiplistening LinkedIn: / https://www.linkedin.com/company/leadershiplistening/ Bluesky: / https://bsky.app/profile/leadershiplisten.bsky.social SUBSCRIBE, SHARE & JOIN US IN TAKING LEADERSHIP TO A BETTER PLACE
17 total episodes available
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- What is Leadership Listening?
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This podcast updates daily.
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This podcast is available on 4 platforms including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and more. You can also use the RSS feed directly.
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Yes, this podcast regularly features guests.
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