— Latest insights
-
- Leadership
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.
•
7 mins
•
Edward Ryder
-
- Leadership
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.•
7 min read
-
- Adventuring
- Mindset
What business leaders can learn from an adventure mindset.
Adventurer Simone Talfourd reveals how business leaders build resilience, drive innovation, and unlock growth by embracing uncertainty and taking action.•
5 min read
-
- Founder Stories
- Innovation
Spot the opportunity. Build the business. Back yourself.
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…•
5 Minutes
-
- Founder Stories
- Leadership
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.•
6 min read
-
- AI & Business
- Brand
- Marketing
The future of marketing – and why it isn’t just about AI
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…•
-
- Leadership
- Mindset
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: what does growth actually feel like for someone working inside an SME? Luke Wiseman gave us exactly that…•
5 minutes
-
- CSR
- Not For Profit
From seaweed to scale: building a new kind of business
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…•
5 minutes
-
- Leadership
- Not For Profit
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…•
6 Minutes
-
- Adventuring
- Leadership
- Mindset
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…•
5 minutes
-
- 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….•
6 minutes
-
- Innovation
- Leadership
- Quality
- Technology
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…•
4 minutes
-
- 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…•
7 minutes
-
- AI & Business
- Brand
- Founder Stories
- Innovation
- Leadership
- Marketing
- SME
Spot the gap. Build the business. Stay ahead.
What The Soundproofing Store can teach us about spotting an opportunity, building competitive advantage and continuing to evolve At our November 2024 Connect Over A Cuppa, we heard from Phil Lyons, then Technical Sales Manager at The Soundproofing Store, about the journey of a Yorkshire business that spotted an opportunity early and then spent the next decade…•
5 minutes
No Spam. Just Yorkshire Care.