Reworked

For Episode 7 of Reworked, Rachael talks to Jane Crombleholme, Head of Executive Education at the Alliance Manchester Business School, about the concept of anti-perfectionism and being 'just good enough' as a leader. Is it harder than ever to be a strong leader? Leadership must be authentic, inclusive and empathetic, all while delivering a high level of performance and results.Jane Crombleholme is the Head of Executive Education at the Alliance Manchester Business School, the oldest and largest in the UK, and the Chair of the Board of the NHS Stockport Clinical Commissioning Group. With her years of experience in management development, Jane is an advocate for a more relaxed (and therefore more authentic) take on models of senior leadership.The episode includes Jane's three-point plan for taking the perfectionism out of your leadership approach.Noticing, listening, and giving people the licence to make mistakes and learn from them are all key elements of this anti-perfectionist approach. It&apo

For Episode 6 of Reworked, Rachael travelled to Levenshulme in Manchester to look up an old friend who has turned her passion for workplace equality into real purpose. Joeli Brearley launched the Pregnant Then Screwed campaign three years ago as a forum for women to share their stories about how they were treated by employers while pregnant or returning to work after the birth of a child.I'm interested to hear Joeli's own personal story that gave her the impetus to get started. But also to understand more about how a passion becomes a project, how that project becomes a lobbying campaign with impact, and then a movement which captures the hearts and minds of working parents around the world.Joeli Brearley founded the Pregnant Then Screwed campaign after a personal experience of discrimination when pregnant with her first child. The campaign now operates internationally and lobbies for legislative and organisational modernisation to ensure recognition, respect and change for working mums and dads.Con

Rachael travels to Manchester to meet Phil Jones MBE, CEO of Brother UK, and to find out more about developing a company culture that is able to adapt to a fast-moving marketplace. As the landscape of work becomes ever more complex, how can you as a company ensure you have a workforce that is adaptable, resilient and diverse enough to make smart business decisions? Phil Jones MBE talks to Rachael about how to drive culture change, and the key values and behaviours needed to support a modern workforce. Do your people feel included enough to participate? Are they engaged to the level needed to boost innovation in a market as fierce and fast-paced as tech?Phil shares personal insights and examples of the changes he made – large and small – that have seen Brother UK named as one of the Times Top 100 places to work, as well as an Investors in People Platinum Workplace. Connect with Phil on Twitter.You're listening to Reworked, the EW Group podcast on workplace culture.For more on EW Group and the work we do t

EW Group MD Rachael Wilson travels to Rome to speak to Italian business leaders about their diversity and inclusion plans."If you compare Italy now to 20 years ago, we've changed very very quickly. Companies are creating a new inclusive approach in order to transform diversity into business opportunity. It's a reality that's growing fast." Emelia Garito, TEDxRomaLast week, Rachael was invited to speak at a conference in Rome hosted by EW Group's Italian partners, Diversity Opportunity. These are divisive times in Italy: the general election the day before the event had ended in a hung parliament.Against such an uncertain backdrop, Rachael wanted to get a sense of the efforts that Italian businesses are making to adapt perspectives around diversity, and to address barriers to inclusion.What she found was a genuine belief that diversity represents a source of team empowerment and business innovation.As the only Brit in the room, Rachael took the chance to speak to a number of guest

EW Group MD Rachael Wilson hosts demographic change expert Aaqil Ahmed for a special event in London to discuss the business opportunities for growth that are linked to changing customer demographics. This special episode was recorded live in front of an audience at Henry Wood House in London.Aaqil is the former Head of Religion and Ethics at the BBC and Commissioning Editor at Channel 4, and is now a Professor of Media at the University of Bolton. He specialises in working with businesses to pinpoint new opportunities to expand their reach in response to demographic change and the increasing need for cultural literacy."Cultural literacy comes from understanding the basics of what somebody believes in, and how they live their life, and therefore understanding that there may be certain things that they may do differently that we have to find a way of making it work. That may be in the language we would use as broadcasters, or the way we would try and sell or position ourselves as businesses to those peopl

EW Group MD Rachael Wilson travels to Paris to talk to HR and inclusion specialist Marianne Constans about driving cultural change within organisations. Marianne is closely involved in the growing intrapreneurship movement across Europe. Intrapreneurship is the concept of using entrepreneurial skills to lead innovation or change within a large organisation, whether that means products, processes or working cultures."An intrapreneur is someone with entrepreneurial skills within a big organisation who spots an opportunity for change or innovation and then leads that change no matter what." Marianne Constans Marianne provides a fascinating insight based on her own experience of implementing change around diversity and inclusion within the FTSE100 company Imperial Brands in Bristol.To learn more about the intrapreneurship movement, check out these links:The book Marianne co-wrote on the subject (currently only available in French)The League of Intrapreneurs - a community of intrapreneurs based in London

EW Group MD Rachael Wilson talks to former Royal Marines Lieutenant Colonel Chris Paton about the importance of trust in managing teams at work.During his time in the armed forces, Chris Paton was responsible for advising on Afghan Strategy and plans to the Cabinet Office and National Security Council. He also saw active service in a wide range of places including Northern Ireland, Kosovo, Georgia, and Afghanistan. Chris has since founded the business wargaming consultancy Quirk Solutions, and specialises in working with public and private companies to stress-test their strategic plans.Connect with Chris on Twitter.You're listening to Reworked, the EW Group podcast on workplace culture.For more on EW Group and the work we do to build inclusive cultures, follow us on Twitter.