Reflections from our talk with entrepreneur Rebecca Pick At our May 21st 2026 Connect Over A Cuppa, I was joined by entrepreneur Rebecca Pick, and there were several things from Rebecca’s story that really stayed with me. It was a story about spotting an opportunity, having the determination to pursue it, building the right people around you…
Reflections from Connect Over A Cuppa with Andy Sherratt of SPA Professional Academy Ask someone about the future of marketing today and I suspect it won’t be long before two letters appear in the conversation: AI. Understandably so. Artificial intelligence is changing how we create content, analyse information, understand customers and communicate with them. But…
Reflections from our December 2025 Connect Over A Cuppa with Claire Bennett of Common Purpose At our final Connect Over A Cuppa of 2025, we welcomed Claire Bennett from Common Purpose for a conversation about leadership. Common Purpose is an organisation I have a particular connection with. Many years ago, I took part in one of its…
We often hear the story of a growing business from the perspective of its founder or owner. At Connect Over A Cuppa September 2025, I thought it would be interesting to look at that journey from another perspective:Â what does growth actually feel like for someone working inside an SME? Luke Wiseman gave us exactly that…
What Câr-y-Môr can teach us about purpose, perseverance and turning an ambitious idea into a viable business Some businesses start with a product. Others start with an obvious gap in a market. Câr-y-Môr started with something considerably bigger: an ambition to bring coastal and rural communities together to restore the sea, improve the soil and…
Reflections from Connect Over A Cuppa July 2025 with Angela Ellis, CEO of The Advonet Group Running any organisation involves making choices about where to invest time, money and people. But what happens when the people you serve need more from you at precisely the same time as the resources available to help them are…
What rowing the Atlantic taught Rosalind Chaston about curiosity, challenge and discovering what you’re capable of. At our June 2025 Connect Over A Cuppa, we were joined online by Rosalind from Atlantic Escapade for a story that was rather different from our usual business presentations. I had actually first met Rosalind some time earlier at The Armchair…
Reflections from Connect Over A Cuppa 20th March 2025 with Cat Hyde, co-founder of Seagulls Reuse One of the reasons I started Connect Over A Cuppa was to hear from people who have built organisations in very different ways. We often talk about successful businesses in terms of turnover, growth, profitability or an eventual sale….
Reflections from our February 2025 Connect Over A Cuppa with Damian Walsh of Wraith Defence At our 20 February 2025 Connect Over A Cuppa, we heard from Damian Walsh, Chief Commercial Officer of Wraith Defence, about the realities of trying to build a new UK defence manufacturing business at a time when the geopolitical environment was…
At our December 2024 Connect Over A Cuppa, we were especially pleased to welcome Paul Cogan, Collaborative CEO at Bettys & Taylors Group. Partly because it gave us the opportunity to look behind the scenes of one of Yorkshire’s most recognisable family businesses, and partly because Paul arrived with a considerable selection of Bettys and…
