Leadership lessons I learned before I was old enough to vote.
Working as a teenage tourism employee taught Edward Ryder that great leadership empowers people, fosters culture, and drives long-term commercial success.
-
-
Why curiosity is your secret weapon.
Challenging assumptions through curiosity helps business leaders unpick harmful internal narratives, unlock genuine insights, and drive meaningful organisational growth.
-
Building a business that can thrive without you.
Founder Johanna Leigh-Thompson shares how scaling a business successfully requires delegating decisions, embedding values, and building leadership capacity beyond yourself.
-
Good leadership when you don’t have all the answers
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…
-
Leadership | Marketing | SME
The view from inside: what it’s really like working for an SME
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…
-
When demand keeps growing but the money doesn’t
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…
-
Say yes, then work out how…
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…
-
Brand | CSR | Founder Stories | Leadership | Not For Profit
What if success isn’t just about profit?
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….
-
Building defence differently: robust, repairable and ready when it matters
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…
-
Brand | CSR | Leadership | Quality
Bettys & Taylors: quality, long-term thinking and doing business differently
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…
