Middle management is often a challenging position to be in - especially the firs time. Being promoted can feel great until you realise that the new level requires skills that you don't yet have, but your new position comes with a set of expectations that you know what you're doing! Unsurprisingly, middle managers experience high levels of stress and burnout within systems that often do not provide the level of personal or professional development support that is actually needed.And that is why Lisa Robyn Wood - the Middle Management Coach - does what she does.In this fabulous conversation Lisa gives us her perspective on the challenges of middle management, as a former middle manager, and now coach to those in middle management. Lisa strongly believes that middle management shouldn't be sh*t and she is on a mission to equip middle managers with the competencies and confidence to manage up and down with ease.Her observations of women in middle management and their unique challenges are especially interesting.If you'd like to know what kind of middle manager you are, Lisa has also created a quick quiz which gives you your profile and areas for development which you can access HERE.

Money - it's a topic vital to business but something that we avoid thinking strategically about, especially when we accidentally become business owners.If you started a business as a side hustle, something to just add to paying the bills but then over time realised you're actually pretty good at making money, but never really started out with a clear strategy - then Nikki is the person you need to talk to.In this episode I have a fantastic conversation with Nikki Hageman - founder of The Numbers Quarter - a business designed to help business owners achieve their financial goals and create sustainable, profitable businesses.I just loved this conversation and Nikki is so knowledgeable about all things finance - we have a good chat about Tax and the things we need to consider when running a financially viable business.

In this episode I chat with the fabulous Jessica Wiggins - a former legal executive now coach - about the challenges of achieving leadership in a male-dominated profession; the toll it took on her body and her heart, and why she now spends her time helping other people create the life and business of their dreams.You can link in with Jessica here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jesswiggins/

In this episode I speak with Catherine Withers, senior NHS leader and self-worth coach about her journey from high functioning burnout to coach.What resonates so much is the perception Catherine experienced from others, that because she was high functioning, high achieving and hugely competent nobody thought that she would or could be affected by burnout.This conversation serves as a reminder to us all that we need to prioritise self care especially if we are strivers and high functioning. We also need to avoid buying in to other people's perceptions and make time to connect back to ourselves.Catherine shares her top tips for anyone who, after listening to this conversation, thinks they may be on the verge of burnout.You can connect with Catherine further here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/catherine-withers-861b86b5

Dr Amanda Potter is the award-winning founder of Zircon a talent consulting business and co-founder of BeTalent.com a platform which hosts talent assessment, development and coaching self reflection and psychometric products, AND she is the host of the fabulous Chief Psychology Officer podcast which is definitely worth a listen.  She is a Chartered Business Psychologist, researcher and international speaker with over 20 years experience. Amanda's expertise and interest covers: talent identification and assessment, succession planning, performance management, executive coaching, development planning, talent process validation and assessment audits. In this conversation we talk about the importance of resilience, decision making and strengths in leadership, and how we can raise our game to make us better more resilient leaders. Amanda also debriefs me on my scores on the measures she created - heads up, rebelliousness features in there somewhere!This is such a rich conversation with lots of practical tips on how to build your resilience.You can link in with Amanda here.

Have you bought into other people's notions of how you should run a business, only to find that you have lost the love for it? In this conversation I talk with Susanna Reay about how to create or pivot a business so that it plays to our uniqueness and we can love it again. Susanna Reay is an award-winning business mentor, visual strategist, speaker and writer, who’s been making business make sense for small business owners for 20+ years. Susanna brings a unique perspective to business thinking, informed by her background in business strategy and design, her interest in psychology and strengths as a creative visual thinker. Her mission is to help the unseen be seen, heard and respected.Susanna's online training programmes and book has supported hundreds of service-led business owners to amplify their message using her trademarked Sparkle Frameworks®. Her specialty lies in her unique ability to take anything complicated, dissect it and put it back together in such a way that's easy to understand and implement. And because of this, her clients gain clarity and receive amazing results in the shortest amount of time. Susanna believes that running a business should be fun, empowering and led with integrity.Winner of Strictly Come Speaking's Speakers Award 2023, CEO Global 100 Business Mentor UK 2023, Finance Monthly’s Global Coaching Awards 2022, CEO Today Executive Coaching Awards 2022 and recognised by Disruptors Magazine as “One to watch in 2022”.More about Susanna Reay: https://susannareay.com/about/

In this episode I talk with Kerry Ashby - former director of nursing, florist and creative business coach, about how to harness the power of your inner Rebel to create a business that reflects who you are, and not what other people say you need to be.Kerry talks about the transition away from senior level employment through reconnecting with a passion that also bolstered her wellbeing: floristry. We discuss the challenges, the need for guidance, and the need for self-belief.You can connect with Kerry through her website. To take my 'What kind of Lady Rebel Leader are you?' quiz click this link.

In this episode I speak with Regina Bergman about how she views legacy, it's relevance to business and how we can create businesses that leave a legacy.Regina reflects on her personal journey through which she became motivated to impact relationships by helping individuals solve business problems with 'Save a Business: Save a Marriage' her motto.We talk about viewing legacy as a generational impact, and the intergenerational ripples that business success can lead to outside the financial metrics we may be drawn to focus on.We also talk about the challenges of shifting our perspectives within our business to view it as an entity  separate from us, but the fundamental importance of doing so if we are to create a legacy business.You can LinkIn with Regina through this linkYou can take my 'What Kind of Lady Rebel Leader are you?' Quiz through this link.

So in this episode the tables are very firmly turned! My recent guest and impact superstar Pam Herries asked to interview me - she had some really good, juicy questions that I think help you to get a better sense of who I am, what motivates me and why Lady Rebel Leader.If you're intrigued to know which 'kind' of Lady Rebel Leader you are - you can take the quiz on my website https://www.ladyrebelleader.com.

"I want to help people build businesses our children will be proud of" is the statement that captured my heart in this episode. Pam Herries, is a business coach, purpose and impact mentor who is the embodiment of living with purpose.In this interview we discuss all things purpose, what it is, why it is important in business and in life more generally and Pam gives insights into how she lives on purpose every day, and why she created her Purpose Prompts.You can connect with Pam at hello@purposeprompts.co.uk, or visit her website at https://www.purposeprompts.co.uk where you can purchase a pack of purpose prompts for £25.

Trust is the cornerstone of effective leadership and organisational/business achievement, and yet it can be so hard to lead from a position of trust.In this episode I have a fabulous conversation with the Leadership coach, trainer and consultant and CEO of Mind Values Leadership - Emma Canter.Emma draws on her many years experience in corporate leadership, her current business experiences of working with executives as well as her personal experience of self-leadership and motherhood to this  inspiring conversation which covers:Why trust is important for successHow to build trustThe trust equationIncreasing diversity on executive boards. To connect with Emma further visit her website: www.mindvaluesleadership.co.uk

In this episode I talk with the truly inspiring Dr Joanna Martin, founder of One Of Many - a global women's leadership and training organisation designed to help all women connect with their inner leader and create positive change in their lives and the lives of others (www.oneofmany.co.uk).If you've not joined Jo's facebook community of nearly 10,000 women then you're missing out on what I believe is a really unique online environment, which is genuinely warm, welcoming and collaborative.It was my experience of this group alone that made me want to speak with Jo about community and collaboration as a leadership position - one that diffuses the power of the individual and shares it among the collective.This is a really insightful interview by Jo, with some key lessons for any of us wanting to create or ignite an online community that is active and creates change in the world.

There are hundreds of ways of managing our time; pomodoro techniques, time blocking etc and in many cases when we get our heads around them and in a routine they can work well. However, more often than not we start well but struggle to maintain them over time. This is ironically because life has a habit of getting in the way.We each face myriad pulls on our focus, attention and time, but for some, what underlies our struggle to maintain time management routines, is our relationship with other people. If we have people pleasing tendencies, then with the best will in the world we may struggle to boundary our time, because as with most of our other boundaries, we have difficulty in holding them in a way that sustains us.In this episode I explore this issue and provide some suggestions on how to help create time boundaries that work.

2022 seems to be the year that keeps on giving and I know that I, as so many of us, have had my fair share of unexpected and challenging things to deal with. And why is it that they all seem to come along at once?!In this solo episode I talk about stress, and introduce some techniques to help you deal with the in-the-moment feelings of anxiety that can arise.Take a listen and create your own safe haven to decompress in.

Imagine a world where the inherent qualities of an introvert are understood, valued and encouraged in the education system, in the workplace and in society.  This is the vision of this episode's guest - Joanna Rawbone, founder of Flourishing Introverts.Many of us (myself included) are introvert in nature, and this reflects our default settings with regards to what energises us and what drains us. Introverts have had lots of bad press and are often viewed as too quiet, disengaged or withdrawn and are often overlooked figuratively and literally.  Joanna is on a mission to help introverts embrace their gifts, and to challenge the extravert bias in society.In this conversation we talk about how to lead as an introvert, but also how to create workplaces that are inclusive from a dimensional introvert-extravert perspective.This was a genuinely educational conversation, and if you'd like to know what kind of introvert you are I suggest that you pop on over to Joanna's website and take her highly informative quiz.https://flourishingintroverts.com/

As a psychologist and coach, helping people embark on a change process is something I routinely do. However, what frustrates me is the narrative in the coaching world that there are shortcuts, that change is easy, and that if you find it hard you're somehow to blame.Inspired by the process of metamorphosis that butterflies go through, this episode focuses on some of those challenges - the 'goo' of change that has to happen before you emerge transformed.My main points emphasise:The role of the relationship between you and your coach/mentor/therapist - if it doesn't feel right to you, then it probably isn't right for you.The fact that our brain is wired for no-change, to keep you safe and that is why change can be so difficult.Changing behaviour is changing identity and that too can feel very scary, but when we link it to who we want to become it can be very motivating.If you're embracing personal change and finding it hard, just remind yourself that you're doing great, every small step is a step in the right direction, and even if you stop taking them, you will already have made progress, and you can go back to making progress at any point. Consider all of your pauses lessons - what do they teach you about how you need to progress?

What on earth does sales have to do with leadership I hear you ask? Well you definitely need to listen to this episode to find out! When we are leading a vision, a project, a family we need to be able to communicate authentically, without over-confidence or manipulation (eek) and this is the focus of this conversation. The fabulous Annie P Ruggles runs the Non-Sleazy Sales Academy (www.anniepruggles.com) and helps people to communicate from their soul. It is in part down to Annie that Lady Rebel Leader came about as an energy/brand/concept/mission and so it is only apt that she is my first guest.This is a high vibe episode which contains many practical tips about using social media in a way that sits with who you really are in order to grow your networks, connections and reach.