Claire is the Chief People and Inclusion Officer at Co-op. Prior to the Co-op, she worked across Asda and Walmart for 23 years, setting up, establishing and leading the procurement team. As well as sharing learning and experiences with wider Walmart international markets to grow procurement support and influence, Claire also held a UK-based role leading the  US IT Sourcing team, working remotely with teams across four countries. Claire started her career as a factory accountant at Smith and Nephew, and shares her experiences in finance, procurement, and people management, highlighting the transitions and skills learned along the way.She emphasises the importance of adaptability and learning in different roles. During her time at Asda, we discuss the importance of culture, team dynamics, and explore her movement from finance to procurement, and more recently her transition into a people-focused role at Coop. She describes how her previous experiences influence her approach to this role.Our conversation touches upon the corporate culture at Asda and Coop, with Claire noting similarities in values and community focus. She also talks about the challenges and opportunities in aligning with corporate values. We then discuss the evolving nature of work, especially in the context of hybrid and flexible working arrangements. And explore how these changes impact team dynamics and leadership approaches. Throughout the discussion, Claire provides personal insights into her career choices, the importance of taking risks, and the value of understanding different facets of a business. She advocates for career breaks, reflecting on her own experience and the benefits it brought to her professional and personal life.Finally towards the end, Claire shares her excitement for upcoming projects and initiatives at Coop, particularly focusing on inclusion and belonging. She also briefly touches on her personal life, discussing her children and her impending 'empty nester' status.If you enjoy listening to this podcast why not check out some of the others in season 1 & 2. Or perhaps you fancy taking part yourself? If so why not get in touch. You can find me via LinkedIn or Twitter

After trail blazing in flexible working within their organisations, Chloe Fletcher and Laura Walker came together as a jobsharing pair in 2021. After repeatedly being asked to share tips and advice, and realising the gap in knowledge of the benefits and practicalities of jobsharing, The Jobshare Revolution was born.They now offer inspiration, advice and consultancy support to help organisations to drive gender equity through jobsharing. Alongside this, they continue their Senior Finance role as a jobsharing pair.After starting her career at Deloitte, Laura joined Asda as an entry level management accountant and progressed to Senior Director over a 10 year period including roles in Accounting, Commercial Finance and Head of Internal AuditAs an advocate for social justice, Laura is hugely passionate about her roles as  trustee and treasurer of both Citizens Advice Leeds and Older Citizens Advocacy York. She is also believes in sport for mental health and spends most of her free time running and cycling.Chloe trained on the Cadbury Finance Graduate Scheme and progressed rapidly through the ranks, ultimately leading the Supply Chain finance team. She joined Asda to lead Ambient Logistics Finance and had a varied career, including Finance Director for George Clothing.Chloe led the "Free Range Finance" programme to transform flexible working at Asda - which sparked a passion to do more. Outside of work, Chloe is a huge advocate of wellbeing and self development - as the Trustee of a mental health charity and a personal development coach.We discuss the ins and outs of jobsharing from the perspective of the individuals themselves, for managers and employers, and tackle some of the myths about the higher cost, lower productivity and difficulties in how to appraise two different people sharing the same job. It's a fascinating discussion and one in which I became even more of an advocate for flexible working weeks and jobsharing as a way of keeping highly motivated and skilled workers in the economy for longer. It is mainly women who will benefit, due to childcare and maternity leave - but jobsharing is for everyone and every role. I wish them the best of luck as they embark on this new venture together, they want to change the world for the better, and I can't wait to see how they get on. If you enjoy listening to this podcast why not check out some of the others in season 1 & 2. Or perhaps you fancy taking part yourself? If so why not get in touch. You can find me via LinkedIn or Twitter

Where do you start, when you interview your own dad. An inspirational leader and coach in his own right, albeit a university lecturer and football team coach, rather than the type I normally interview.Lucky to survive his birth, his aunt Agnes nursed him for the first three weeks of his life, then fortunate to survive a heart attack when just 44, he is 80 tomorrow. His own father died when he was six, and as a result he lived a fairly solitary life with few friends, until he went to university in Belfast, where he met my mum (she's my next interview). He was awarded an OBE for services to science, and throughout a glittering career was a world-leading, actually still is a world-leading chemistry professor. A friend of the earth, he is an inventor of catalysts that take nasty things out of pesticides and petrol and diesel engines. A pioneer in the research around hydrogen and until Covid closed him down - he was exploring the role of biofuels to power large vehicles.There's so much more I could say, but instead, why not grab a cuppa and take a listen. If you enjoy listening to this podcast why not check out some of the others in season 1 & 2. Or perhaps you fancy taking part yourself? If so why not get in touch. You can find me via LinkedIn or Twitter

Neil Nugent is a professional chef and food innovation expert, having left school at 16 and worked his way up through professional kitchens in his home town, then London, then across the world.He then entered the retail sector, innovating new food ranges at Asda, then Waitrose, Morrisons and Iceland. He now develops his own range of food  - Panku - that is sold in many of the major grocery retailers. He also works alongside Gino D'Acampo personally selecting food ingredients from Italy.Neil is passionate about food, but also reflective on the skills and experience he's had throughout his career and how it has stood him in good stead.Working hard, working through adversity, but always seeking to have fun and be kind to people. "Have a bit of fun and be kind, don't get angry or fall out with people, give everybody a chance and it will all come back to you in the end."Asda taught him a lot about how to manage people, and how to manage himself. Since then his career has twisted and turned through a variety of retailers, and enabled him to build his own successful business, which keeps him occupied and inspired. He loves food as much today as he always had.  If you enjoy listening to this podcast why not check out some of the others in season 1 & 2. Or perhaps you fancy taking part yourself? If so why not get in touch. You can find me via LinkedIn or Twitter

Dave Barber is an experienced internal comms professional and colleague engagement expert. He cut his teeth in retail, having studied supply chains and worked his way through various logistics roles at Asda.Seeking a change of scene, he took a maternity role cover in the colleague comms department and immediately found his passion for internal comms. After leaving Asda six years ago he set up his own consultancy, taking the plunge into self-employment, while helping companies with their own communications strategies. He also founded the LinkedIn networking group the Asda Underworld, which now boasts over 500 former employees who meet both virtually and in the real world (normally upstairs in the Adelphi for those in the know). Dave is a charming guy, and in great demand from former colleagues who saw him operate at Asda and now want him to do for their new organisations, what he did previously. But to do so, companies also need to adopt the same approach to listening and hearing what colleagues think, rather than relying on one way communication.    If you enjoy listening to this podcast why not check out some of the others in season 1 & 2. Or perhaps you fancy taking part yourself? If so why not get in touch. You can find me via LinkedIn or Twitter

Stuart is the chief people officer at Zenith the UK's leading independent leasing, fleet management and vehicle outsourcing business. He's also a qualified business and executive coach.He joined Zenith from Virgin Health Care, where he was chief people officer before transitioning to chief operating officer. He has also held senior people roles at Costcutter, Morrisons and Asda.He joined Asda at the tender age of 16 working on the shopfloor where he learned the importance of good people management, involving people in decisions, respecting their opinions. Stuart says people make or break teams. You don't have a strategy or culture or products or services without people. Asda was both challenging and caring - it had a ruthless focus on performance, but also cared about its people. He was pushed really hard to deliver, but when his dad passed away he was flown down to the south coast to be there in person when it really mattered. Retailers tend to be customer-centric, but Asda was very grounded and down to earth and kept things simple. They truly value colleagues at every level - something Stuart has taken with him into every business. At the time it gave him real confidence at a young age to have an opinion and a point of view. He's most proud of the work he's done at Zenith on diversity, particularly on women in leadership. Taking inspiration from people like Emma Fox and Amanda Cox (both previous guests on Coach Class).If you enjoy listening to this podcast why not check out some of the others in season 1 & 2. Or perhaps you fancy taking part yourself? If so why not get in touch. You can find me via LinkedIn or Twitter

Martin Benefer has a passion for human development and loves to help people achieve their potential, both personally and within their career.He's a Professional Certified Coach (PCC), with a Postgraduate Certificate in Business & Personal Coaching and over 1,000 hours of coaching practice, supporting more than 300 clients.  He's also a Coaching Tutor at Barefoot where he trains new coaches, and occasionally, like me, turns up to new training courses, which is where we met. A couple of weeks ago we attended a Barefoot course called Psychology for Coaches: Existential, Developmental and Buddhist with Julian Humphreys.A three week course, each session covered a different area of psychology, with an hour or so of pre-reading required in advance. In this podcast Martin and I reflect on what we learned, what we rediscovered, what stuck with us and what's still swirling around.Martin has a background in health and wellness, is a Registered Nutritionist (RNutr) and has degrees in Sport Science (BSc) and Human Nutrition (MMedSci).​He also practices martial arts.  He compares coaching to what he learned many years ago from martial arts: if you're sparring and your focus is on what you're about to do (and not them) you're probably about to get hit!The tendency as new coaches to plan, prepare and focus on your notes means you're not focused on them. He's always found the best preparation is be present, everything else just gets in the way. Trust that you know what you need to know. If you enjoy listening to this podcast why not check out some of the others in season 1 & 2. Or perhaps you fancy taking part yourself? If so why not get in touch. You can find me via LinkedIn or Twitter

Ben Cooke is a highly accomplished coach and agile delivery professional with more than 15 years experience. He helps businesses, teams and individuals to respond to an ever-changing  business environment through coaching, training, consultancy, mentoring and facilitation. Outside of his client work, he is also a long-distance runner, and is interested in electronic music and contemporary art, having once had to build online ticketing sites for the likes of the Arctic Monkeys. In this podcast we talk about what it means to be an agile coach and how the world of coaching informs his consultancy work.  Ben has supported organisations across a wide range of industries, in both the private and public sectors. He's worked with start-ups to scale-ups, to global household names. 'Borrrowing the client's watch to tell them the time' is a jibe often thrown at consultants, but in Ben's experience sometimes clients really do just want to you to tell them what time it is. Speaking of time, I recorded this back in April and it's taken me a whole month to edit and post it! So apologies about that lovely listener.If you enjoy listening to this podcast why not check out some of the others in season 1 & 2. Or perhaps you fancy taking part yourself? If so why not get in touch. You can find me via LinkedIn or Twitter

Jayne is a coach, author and burnout retreat organiser and host. She is also the author of Burnout to Brilliance and the Co-Founder of Balanceology, specialising in the prevention and recovery of workplace burnout.With 15 years experience specialising in burnout prevention, recovery and culture change consultancy, Jayne is a fellow recovering burnee (is that a word?).  She experienced burn out herself while working at a major UK corporation - the BBC. Since launching her practice in London’s Harley Street, she's helped hundreds of individuals recover from burnout and numerous organisations prevent absenteeism due to chronic stress.  She's lived and worked in Belgium, Germany, Japan, Spain and the UAE.  But now lives in Bristol near the sea which allows her to host 121 and team sessions, bringing nature into her restorative work with clients. ​Jayne has helped numerous organisations prevent burnout absenteeism, presenteeism and leavism.  She also supports businesses looking to transition from their existing hierarchal management structure to more sociocratic system using the adoption of models such as Holacracy, Teal and Sociocracy.In this podcast we compare notes on burning out early in our careers and what has brought us both to coaching.  It really felt like a meeting of minds, so much so that our conversation has continued since, with me taking to poetry of all things...If you enjoy listening to this podcast why not check out some of the others in season 1 & 2. Or perhaps you fancy taking part yourself? If so why not get in touch. You can find me via LinkedIn or Twitter

Frances Lee-Rogers is the founder of Butterfly Development, a professional coaching organisation.She's spent the best part of 18 years working in HR for large corporate companies across several industries, including Professional Services, Aerospace, Logistics and the Public Sector. She holds a Postgraduate Diploma in HR and Employment Law, and is qualified in Psychometric and Personality Testing (SHL).In the latter part of her HR career Fran supported Directors and their leadership teams to help them implement change. She also has experience supporting high profile organisational wide projects in highly ambiguous circumstances, so understands the pressures on senior executives and their teams.​"Helping individuals and teams develop has always been a passion of mine so it was a logical next step for me to set up my own business focusing on helping individuals and groups achieve their potential through coaching."In this podcast we discuss how Fran approaches coaching, and how her dog walking business that she set up after leaving corporate life taught her a lot about reflecting and being in nature. Three words define her approach, discover, transform, fly - much a like a butterfly. Fran cares passionately about sustainability and doing her bit to make the planet a better place for her nieces and nephews in the next decade. She describes herself as a persistent optimist. Listen in to find out why.If you enjoy listening to this podcast why not check out some of the others in season 1 & 2. Or perhaps you fancy taking part yourself? If so why not get in touch. You can find me via LinkedIn or Twitter

Jon is a self-styled agile coach who works with teams, organisations and leaders so they can understand themselves better and improve the ways they work together.Offering 1 to 1 coaching, team coaching and facilitation, Jon is a professionally certified coach (ICF PCC) .He is also a passionate advocate of Agile Software Delivery, with substantial practical experience as a lead developer, Scrum Master, project manager, and software consultant for a variety of clients in the financial and IT services sectors as well as in the public sector.He provides highly interactive training courses and workshops including:Introduction to all things agileScrum master trainingFacilitation skillsVisual facilitationCoaching skills for managers/leadersIn this podcast we reflect on our recent Barefoot supervision, the power of spending time with like-minded professionals and the restorative nature of doing so. We also discuss Jon's superpowers, and what he feels is in front of him now. Jon was drawn into coaching by Geoff Watts, who alongside Kim Morgan (who I interviewed previously - season 1, episode 26) wrote 'The Coaches Casebook' - a must read for all professionally practising or budding wannabe coaches. Jon tends to be a creative coach, he uses visual facilitation and he uses Lego quite a lot, enabling clients or teams to reconnect with their inner child. He quotes fellow coach Sorrel (who I interviewed previously - season 1 episode 30) - who once said 'coaching is reconnecting people to the wisdom they had as children.' A lovely notion. Listen to the podcast to hear the rest of Jon's thoughts and our conversation together.If you enjoy listening to this podcast why not check out some of the others in season 1 & 2. Or perhaps you fancy taking part yourself? If so why not get in touch. You can find me via LinkedIn or Twitter

Joy Cosgrove a retail training consultant and coach. Based in Ireland Joy started off studying psychology, mentored by Dr Sharon Lambert - then did her PhD in Edinburgh before ending up in retail for major brands like Harrods and Selfridges. Sharon encouraged Joy to stop, listen and question - which led her to an addiction to coaching and opened so many doors. She is so thankful for that moment.Since graduating from Barefoot, Joy offers both personal coaching and group training. She has a couple of clients interested in divorce coaching, and people approaching retirement. She studied labels back in 2007 before the explosion of neurodiversity awareness - something that I have taken more notice of recently. In this podcast we reflect on the labels that people are given or they give themselves. And how we interact with them, how they can limit us, how we wear them.Joy is an extremely generous human which comes out in spades in this conversation. I reflect on when someone asked me at a meeting 'who are you?', rather than 'what do you do?'. it made me really think about we short-hand label ourselves with the things that we earn a living from. Joy thinks about how our value set emerges when you hear that question. Who are you? It cracks all of your brain open. Which brings us round to discussing the essays we need to write for the PD Cert in coaching at Chester Uni. Who are you as a coach?Listen to find out who we are...If you enjoy listening to this podcast why not check out some of the others in season 1 & 2. Or perhaps you fancy taking part yourself? If so why not get in touch. You can find me via LinkedIn or Twitter

With a background in additional support needs spanning 20 years, Jasmine Miller has first-hand knowledge, understanding and application of supporting neurodivergent children, young people and adults in an educational and community settings. She is a Barefoot Coaching Trained Coach and recently led a two-day workshop for Barefoot that I attended at the end of November. Over the two sessions we developed awareness and understanding of neurodiversity, considered inclusive working practices and environments. And thought about how we show up as colleagues and coaches to create the best space to think for everyone - but particularly those who are not neurotypical. We also considered what might limit us and help us to build relationships and maintain them. It really got me thinking about living in a neurotypical world, where the customs and norms are designed by the neurotypical majority and are widely understood by so many of us, but often hidden or subtle to others.  We also learned about over stimulation or autistic burnout - a concept new to me but one that immediately resonated. What allowances do we make for others when they are experiencing over stimulation? When perhaps even the journey to work might be exhausting. And in our coaching practices how avoiding open questions rather than relying on them is worth considering, as they can be hard for autistic people to answer and they can find the expansive nature of them overwhelming. Creating bitesize goals can also help move someone up one rung on the ladder, without necessarily focusing on the entire journey.  So much to learn and so much to reflect one. I hope you get as much out of the podcast as I did :)If you enjoy listening to this podcast why not check out some of the others in season 1 & 2. Or perhaps you fancy taking part yourself? If so why not get in touch. You can find me via LinkedIn or Twitter

After a little break from doing this podcast, I thought I'd change tack and start a new 'season' of episodes by speaking to someone I've had the pleasure of actually coaching.I find the process of interviewing people an opportunity to reflect and learn about the benefits of coaching people, not just for them but for me as a coach. Tony lives in Bentonville in NW Arkansas, so all of our sessions together were conducted over Zoom. I remember our first encounter clearly as I'd just received some upsetting news via email literally one minute before our meeting began.It was a really important lesson in how to be ready to coach, how to give someone your undivided attention and to be prepared, not just in terms of having the skills required, but also being in the right frame of mind.I'm pleased to say the session went well and was followed by five other meetings one of which we conducted on the phone as he walked through nature. Metaphor became an important part of our coaching sessions, as a means to unlock deeper thinking.Six months on, and Tony is still applying a lot of the good thinking he did during our time together. If you enjoy listening to this podcast why not check out some of the others in season 1 & 2. Or perhaps you fancy taking part yourself? If so why not get in touch. You can find me via LinkedIn or Twitter

When I was a senior director at Asda (mid management position with a US job title) I was fortunate enough to realise I was entitled to executive coaching. I seized the opportunity and after selecting three potential coaches from a long list of ten, I picked Jonathan Bowman-Perks.After an initial chemistry call with JBP and my then boss Chris McDonough I then embarked on a journey that helped change my life. Six two hour face to face sessions in his coaching apartment in London. Me being me, and Asda being Asda, I managed to stretch them out over a whole year, rather than the standard six months. But what I learned about myself and the power of a great question and the use of metaphor literally empowered me to take charge of my own destiny.Some of the conversations we had together are as vivid now - nearly seven years on, as they were back then. Precise observations, challenging my limiting assumptions, the use of story and biology. Forcing me to confront how I viewed myself, and the impact of the words I chose to describe myself.Jonathan taught me so much, I will always feel a sense of gratitude to him and of course to Asda for paying for it! I left Asda a few months after completing my coaching journey. The right move for me, and ultimately the company - so it wasn't wasted money. I left on good terms having helped restructure an entire part of the business, which meant my role was obsolete.  Anyway, have a listen to this 20 minute chat and see for yourself what a fascinating person Jonathan is - and how his application of Nancy Klein's Time to Think principles are so powerful. If you enjoy listening to this podcast why not check out some of the others in season 1 & 2. Or perhaps you fancy taking part yourself? If so why not get in touch. You can find me via LinkedIn or Twitter

Dr Anne Gregory has been Professor of Corporate Communication at the University of Huddersfield since September 2014. She joined the University from Leeds Beckett University where she was Director of the Centre for Public Relations Studies. While at Leeds Beckett, she also completed a three year term as Pro Vice Chancellor.Anne was one of the tutors and course leaders at Leeds Beckett (formerly Leeds Met) when I studied there in the mid 1990s.She was also the one who had to validate my sandwich year work placement in London at Building Design Partnership. I think I still hold the record for the shortest official placement, having been made redundant on the second day of my actual placement. Stuck in a rented house in Leytonstone (pre smart phone / home internet) I was firing off letters trying to get a job. Eventually opting for temporary work via Office Angels on Oxford Street in the centre of London. I was rewarded for my effort in the finance department of BDP - but being curious and a little cheeky asked if I could meet the PR team while I was there. Pleading poverty and sharing my misfortune of losing my placement, managed to blag a maternity cover role managing the 35mm slide desk. The rest is history.Anne has always held the view that communication is strategic, it is what organisations are all about. Translating the vision of the CEO, communicating with the communities in which they operate. Comms is right at the heart of that - making vital connections. Orgs move forward due to certain conversations. It means comms pros are in every bit of an organisation - they are the go to people. Embedded into the fabric of the organisation. We reflect on what it was that set some students apart from others. A hunger for wanting to know what was going on, what worked and what didn't. An insatiable curiosity and the ability to think through things and make a contribution. Someone who understands issues and has a mindset that says: how am I going to address those issues? Anne's advice on life is do what makes your heart sing, because that is where your passion will be. Have the bravery to do what makes your heart sing. Thanks to Anne I found that communications is what makes my heart sing. If you enjoy listening to this podcast why not check out some of the others in season 1 & 2. Or perhaps you fancy taking part yourself? If so why not get in touch. You can find me via LinkedIn or Twitter

Gal Shivtiel is MD at Great Ideas Group, he's an entrepreneur, ex-retailer, and a wanabe vet. He started his career while on a year out from school working for The Yorkshire Post in ad sales, but with a focus on retail. He got his first company car, and a taste for the working life and decided to stick at it.Which eventually led him on to Asda, where he started in marketing but moved into trading - heading up the dairy division.Gal was one of the first senior leaders I knew at Asda to give me praise via my boss's boss. Which had a big impact on me at the time as I hadn't appreciated at that point that he even knew who I was.His networking and connecting skills are renowned - so much so that many years later I spotted him (having returned from four years in Australia at Coles, and three years in China for Walmart) 'walking the floors' of Asda House. Gliding around the building, checking in with various people, putting credit in the bank with them, and seeing how they were.Gal was also one of the first people I observed saying yes first, and figuring it out after. He was prepared to take risks. He treated his move to Australia like a holiday - imagining being there for two months, to see if he liked it. What's the worst that can happen?He has an infectious aura around him, but he is also extremely sharp and astute. Blending his charm with an absolute focus on the customer, be that a shopper in store, or a consulting client. Best advice he's ever had? There's a couple of things that spring to mind, education is the best investment you can ever make. And you've always got to be confident you're going to do the best you can but sometimes you'll make mistakes.If you enjoy listening to this podcast why not check out some of the others in season 1 & 2. Or perhaps you fancy taking part yourself? If so why not get in touch. You can find me via LinkedIn or Twitter

Emma Fox is CEO at Berry Bros. & Rudd, Britain's oldest wine and spirit merchant, having traded from the same shop since 1698. Today the company has offices in Japan, Singapore and Hong Kong, a Wine School and an exclusive fine wine and dining venue in London's St James's, and they hold two Royal Warrants for H.M. The Queen and H.R.H. The Prince of Wales.However Emma's career started out in brewing. Having worked in a Victoria Wine off-licence to pay her way through university, she snapped up the opportunity on her first graduate role to manage a shop within Bass called Augustus Barnett. A baby buying role then emerged in wine, which led to her completing the wine and spirits training, and at the tender age of 23 saw her flying solo around the world to exotic places like Argentina, Chile and New Zealand. She reflects on the fact that working hard through uni, combined with an opportunity that presented itself like running an off-licence could be considered 'lucky'. But one goes hand in hand with the other. She knew what questions to ask at the interview for the role, as she had worked in an off-licence. Her career has taken many paths since, including working for Asda, Walmart Canada, Halfords and TOFs (Original Factory Shop), but it has now gone full circle - albeit the quality of the wine at Berry Bros is a bit better than it was back then.The thing that draws all of the organisations together is the team of people she's worked with, and how they get things done and have fun. A real sense of getting things done willingly and well through others (something she learned from Asda legend Archie Norman), and taking the role seriously but not yourself. Enabling people to have fun at work is really important to Emma. She has never really had a masterplan for her career, but she was always been driven and determined without knowing what the end result would be. She always wanted to do new roles and experience new things, which enabled her to spread her wings within large organisations like Bass and Asda.She was prepared to take the risk on ex-pat assignments without worrying too much about what the next step was. She preferred to enjoy the now.The best advice she's had was from David Cheesewright who ran Walmart International at the time. She'd been passed over for a couple of promotions, and was a little frustrated. He asked for five minutes and said he had a real opportunity for her - he wanted her to be his logistics director.  Her first response was she didn't think she could do it as she'd never done logistics.But what he wanted was her transferrable leadership skills, not logistics experience - it was about the how not the what. It was a real penny drop moment for Emma and something she uses all the time when speaking to women leaders in particular. Say yes and figure it out after. By pushing herself out of her comfort zone it made her a better general manager - adding to her marketing and buying skills - making her a more rounded leader, which has held her in good stead ever since.It was a risk, not knowing how she would cope - but a great lesson in life.The gift she would give her younger self would be to be a bit more patient and be a bit calmer. Back then she was know as the Tasmanian Devil.She recalls that great phrase: "To go fast go alone, to go further go together." Bring people with you, and manage the urge to do everything now. Wise words. If you enjoy listening to this podcast why not check out some of the others in season 1 & 2. Or perhaps you fancy taking part yourself? If so why not get in touch. You can find me via LinkedIn or Twitter

Dom Smales is an entrepreneur and social media pioneer having founded a talent management agency called Gleam Futures that spotted and developed YouTubers to become brands in their own right.He started his career in media sales, selling ad space in magazines and on radio - learning the value of media. He also got a taste for talent management. Following a health issue he chose to start his own business, a social media consultancy, which led him to discover two sisters (aka Pixiwoo) who were make-up artists, but also had started creating 'how to' video tutorials on YouTube. He says he was lucky to meet them at just the right time, as he was also working with Chanel and was able to to connect the two. He realised the entertainment platform they'd created was only going to grow, and there was an opportunity to connect other content creators to brands who wanted to collaborate, and ultimately benefit from what  they had. Part of his manifesto when he set up on his own in 2010 was to work with people he liked. His vision for the community of YouTubers he built was to enable them to have a sustainable career, not just a hobby.Dom had a real eye for talent. They needed to have a work ethic, the creativity and charisma. His role was to connect the dots for them, so they could use the tools they already had.  The ingredients of his success? He knows and likes people. He spotted talented people who he knew would be brilliant at their jobs - be they creators, or talent managers. So what's next? He's fascinated by the next wave of subscriber networks for content creators on platforms like Twitch, Patreon and Only Fans. Dom is extremely humble, generous and gracious. An inspirational leader, who not only spotted an opportunity, but built an entire community of content creators that has paved the way for social media influencers ever since.If you enjoy listening to this podcast why not check out some of the others in season 1 & 2. Or perhaps you fancy taking part yourself? If so why not get in touch. You can find me via LinkedIn or Twitter

Sorrel Roberts is a professionally and academically accredited coach, passionate about harnessing the benefits of coaching to assist organisations and individuals in realising their potential.Her work focuses on three key areas:Coaching for professional developmentCoaching skills developmentSupporting working parentsIn this podcast we both reflect on a Barefoot training course we attended together: Working on Nature from the Inside Out.Working with nature in the natural environment is becoming an increasingly popular coaching approach. Coaches and supervisors are stepping out in the natural environment and engaging with nature as they walk and talk with coaching clients. But there are also ways to bring nature into every coaching conversation, be that inside a room, or down the end of a Zoom.Hosted by Jackee Holder (see biog below), the four hour workshop was a brilliant introduction to using nature in your coaching practice or supervision. We learned how bringing nature in can bring the unconscious into the conscious, and got the opportunity to try free form reflective writing, we conjured up memories of places that we go to, that when you are there help you feel energised, and we used words from nature to enquire as to how we were each arriving - what's the weather like in your head? - and we considered what the various seasons mean to us.For me personally it was wonderful to get an injection of Barefoot-ness having completed the PG Cert course in July. Although I'm still in touch with my cohort of peers, it was great getting back into the classroom to be inspired by a new topic, and to meet more of the Barefoot family of coaches. Sorrel was struck by the space the Jackee creates in her workshops, and feels it is both a balm and a boost, but also the nature from the inside out and the reconnection with leaving the house each day for a short walk. Sometimes in the coaching industry we sell or live on the idea that change has to be hard - but for Sorrel the metaphor of the changing seasons helped remind us that change is inevitable, it is natural and that things will change and emerge into something else.Sorrel felt quite poetic about Autumn, the leaves are falling, some things are decaying, but also nutrients are being added to the ground. We finished the day with a 121 coaching session where we used an image of a tree, via a Zoom call, as the prompt for a discussion. Even in 15 minutes we both found it really illuminating how resourceful the metaphor became for our coachees. Noticing more and more about the tree, its roots, its surroundings, the shape of the trunk and that opening up different and interesting thinking.I'd highly recommend this course to fellow coaches looking for some inspiration, and of course the opportunity to do some personal development while meeting more of the Barefoot family. 10/10.About Jackee HolderJackee is the author of four non-fiction titles, 49 Ways To Write Yourself Well, The Journal Journey Guidebook, BeYour Own Best Life Coach, Soul Purpose and co-author of two unique illustrated writing maps, Writing With Fabulous Trees: A Writing Map For Parks, Gardens and Other Green Spaces (2016) and Rewilding The Page: The Urban Forest Writing Map.JackeIf you enjoy listening to this podcast why not check out some of the others in season 1 & 2. Or perhaps you fancy taking part yourself? If so why not get in touch. You can find me via LinkedIn or Twitter