Diary of a CLO

In this episode I'm joined by Richard Reis, entrepreneur and founder of Spark, an AI dating site where real people form real relationships with AI bots. Yes it feels slightly uncomfortable, right? In 2024 Richard set out to experiment with AI and aimed to start a new company every 2 weeks, totalling 25 start ups across the year. But he stopped at number five: Spark. We dig into the ethics of AI dating, what problems it's solving for people and what the future holds for both Spark and AI more broadly. Enjoy! Thrive Richard Reis

If you’re interested in why the future of work is human, then this episode is for you. I’m joined by Perry Timms, Founder & Chief Energy Officer, and number 1 most influential HR thinker of 2023. In 2024 Perry was was given the Lifetime Achievement Award from WorldBlu for service to self-managed and democratic, freedom-centred work. We cover why purpose-led work is so important, and what the future has in store at the crossroads of HR & L&D. Enjoy! Thrive Perry Timms

In this episode I’m joined by Radhika Dutt, author of Radical Product Thinking and co-creator of the radical product thinking framework which is a free downloadable toolkit which helps organisations systematically build world-changing products. We talk about the intersection of product and learning, and how learning teams could always do well to think like product developers. Enjoy. Radical product Thrive

In this episode I’m joined by Craig Hamill who has been in the L&D industry for over 20 years and has been in both vendor side and in-house roles. We cover what’s going on in the industry right now, but also dive deeper into what can be a taboo subject for some people and organisations: male mental health. Craig is a great advocate of talking, building connections and sharing, and we talk about the benefits each of these can bring. Enjoy. Craig Hamill Thrive

In this episode I’m joined by Dean Jackson, Director of Global People & Culture (Digital Experience) at Coca-Cola Europacific. Dean has built a career in digital workplace technology, with a focus on people and culture. With a huge depth of experience and enthusiasm for people experience, Dean is a really forward-thinking leader, and recognises the nuances of the range of audiences he serves in his role. Myth busting. Desire for change. Culture creation. We cover it all. Enjoy. Dean Jackson Thrive

In this episode I’m joined by Margie Meacham, otherwise known as “the brain lady”. Margie effectively bridges the gaps between neuroscience, AI and instructional design to help people think more holistically about how and why they are designing learning. We cover all of that in this episode, and look at what the future might hold for learning experience design. Enjoy. Margie Meacham Thrive

In this episode I’m joined by Pauline Rebourgeon, Head of Learning Technology and Innovation at Ericsson. If you can imagine someone who epitomises what a successful L&D professional should look like, Pauline is your lady. With a role that intersects across innovation, technology and community-building, the work Pauline is doing - particularly in the AI coaching and skills space - is so inspiring. If you’re looking to hear from a forward-thinking learning leader, this episode is for you. Enjoy. Pauline's LinkedIn Thrive  

In this episode I’m joined by Dr Adrienne Milner, who is an expert in all things culture and policy change in the DE&I space. Her colleagues at UNTHINK affectionately call Adrienne the ‘DEI doc’ and she uses advanced statistics and qualitative methodology to help organisations and individuals show true impact in this space - something that is so needed right now. We dig into all of that and more. Enjoy. UNTHINK Thrive

In this episode, I’m joined by Jenny Muhlwa, a Leadership Consultant and Coach, and the creator of the world's first open programme for women to understand how they can lean into their strengths and show up effectively depending on what stage of their hormone cycle they are in. Being able to communicate effectively about what will work best for you, and planning your work life around your hormonal cycle is still a surprisingly novel conversation in today’s workplace. Listen in to hear us chat about how Jenny is changing this, and gain insight into how she is on a mission to empower all women at work. Enjoy. Thrive   Jenny is the founder of Bright Trainers, a leadership and coaching consultancy and creator of Empowered Energy, a programme which focuses on optimising impact by providing individuals with an understanding of their hormone cycle and how it links to leadership, productivity and overall well-being.  Website: www.bright-trainers.co.uk

In this episode I’m joined by Adam Horne, Co-founder of OpenOrg and People Metrics. Adam is pushing for more open and transparent working, particularly across people teams in the start-up space. As a new Dad for the third time, and a business founder by trade, Adam is no stranger to hard work and graft, but he also knows how important it is to get the people stuff right in order to impact business performance. We chat about all of this and more. Enjoy. Adam Horne OpenOrg Thrive

In this episode I’m joined by Dean Leak, Performance consultant and coach who has previously worked with team GB as a talent development manager, and now spends his time helping organisations to adopt a healthy high performance mindset. Dean is focused on improving decision-making, trust, belonging, and empathy amongst the teams he works with. This conversation is really insightful, and will help you to formulate how you think about high performance and empathy at work. Enjoy. Accelerate Thrive

Lee Chambers is an inspiration to many. As a black, autistic, disabled person he has faced his fair share of prejudice and discrimination and has oftentimes throughout his life been told that he won’t succeed. Determined to prove people wrong he became a successful entrepreneur. But whilst he was recovering from an unexpected hospitalisation due to a debilitating autoimmune condition, he moved from successful entrepreneur to stay-at-home-dad to active ally as his eyes opened to the hardships faced by women. We dig into all of that in this episode. Enjoy.

Erica is co-founder of Quantum Rise and you’ll often find her keynote speaking at learning and education conferences and events. Erica’s area of specialism is the future of work and skills, digital learning and challenging the quality of our education systems. In this episode, we dig into AI, as Erica is passionate about driving innovation and creating spaces for communities to learn together. As host of ‘AI for the Average Joe’ podcast, Erica is trying to demystify AI for L&D. We chat about all of that and more. Enjoy. Quantum Rise Thrive

In this episode, I’m joined by ex-Olympian Jack Green, who specialised in the 400m hurdles and represented Team GB in the 2012 and 2016 games. Jack retired at 28 and now spends his time involved in workplace wellbeing, mental health and coaching. After being diagnosed with depression, anxiety, bipolar tendencies and at one point being considered a risk to his own life, Jack has faced not only the physical battle of high-performance sport, but the mental impact too. In this conversation, we dig into all of that, and also uncover why goal setting should be hard and the cost involved in achieving your ambitions. Enjoy. Thrive Jack Green

In this episode, I’m joined by Henry Coutinho-Mason, a trend-watcher and a 'reluctant' futurist (his words, not mine!). Henry is the co-author of two books Trend-Driven Innovation and The Future Normal, and has spent his career identifying and analysing trends. Our conversation centres on Ai, future skills and what a new normal might look like for us. Enjoy. Thrive Henry Coutinho Mason

In this episode, I’m joined by Anamaria Dorgo, an L&D practitioner with a community-first attitude. As founder of L&D Shakers, and Head of Community at Butter, Anamaria epitomises giving back to the circles in which she operates. We uncover the thinking behind the communities, why it's important now more than ever to share openly with them, as well as some of the best practices for anyone wanting to set up a learning community themselves. Enjoy. L&D Shakers Thrive

In this episode of Diary of a CLO I’m joined by Dr Keith Keiting, who has had a rich and varied career in learning and talent development. Keith is currently a lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania - one of the only universities in the world to offer a doctorate in learning leadership, and is also the Chief Learning and Talent Officer at Archwell. Keith is currently pushing for greater change in the industry through his book: The Trusted Learning Advisor and strongly believes that L&D should be thinking more strategically. In this episode, we cover all of that and more and we put the learning world to rights at times, too. Enjoy. Thrive The Trusted Learning Advisor

Jayne is the Senior Vice President of Global Field Enablement at Salesforce and such a fabulous human being. Focused on a people-first approach and creating ‘playgrounds for growth’ Jayne shares how she encourages people to reflect on what they’ve learnt about themselves as opposed to about what they’ve learnt more generally, and creates safe environments for failure and resilience building. Enjoy. Thrive Salesforce

In this episode I’m joined by Tobias Balling, co-founder of Blinkist, a learning app that provides you bitesize explainers of a range of books. We chat about what led Tobi to founder life, some of the magic and pitfalls of working with other founders, and how you can construct meaningful learning experiences through microlearning. It’s a considered and humble discussion. Enjoy. Blinkist Thrive

In this episode I'm joined by Cathy Hoy who is the co-founder and CEO of CLO100, a learning programme that is dedicated to upskilling future learning leaders. It's something that is drastically needed across the industry and it's so exciting to watch this program evolve. I can’t wait to see the impact that is going to have on our community. Cathy is one of those people who you could talk to for hours as she has such a depth of passion and experience from leading learning and development teams at places like Soho House and Coca-Cola to Expedia and Tesco. She’s hugely curious about how we, as L&D professionals, can continually better ourselves. It’s a great conversation. Enjoy. CLO100 Thrive