Coach Class

In this episode I speak with Sarah Ramsey (Trustee) and Gareth Pierce (CEO) of Forget Me Not Hospice. While the conversation is centred on children’s hospice care, it also offers leadership insights into motivation, culture, and values—core themes that resonate across business, charity, and personal growth.

1. Purpose-Driven Leadership & Motivation

Both Sarah and Gareth transitioned from corporate careers into the hospice sector, driven by a desire to make a meaningful impact. Gareth describes how every decision, conversation, and meeting is directly linked to h...

Owen Eastwood is a world-renowned performance coach, author of the bestselling book Belonging, and a passionate advocate for the power of connection and shared purpose. His work draws on the Māori concept of Whakapapa, emphasising the importance of understanding our place within a lineage and creating environments where individuals feel they truly belong.

Owen has worked with some of the world’s most elite teams—from the English national football team to the South African cricket team, as well as military leaders and even ballet dancers. In this podcast we explore how his unique approach helps teams...

In this episode of Coach Class, I sit down with Leah Spears, Head of Brand at Paddy Power, to discuss her career journey and the lessons she’s gathered along the way. 

With over 20 years of experience, Leah shares how her childhood dream of working in television transformed into a passion for marketing, eventually leading her to roles at Brazen PR, a long tenure at Asda, where she embraced an entrepreneurial culture that encouraged creativity and risk-taking.

Leah reflects on her time at Asda as “more than a job…a second home,” where she learned from insp...

In this episode of Coach Class I'm thrilled to be joined by James Sills, a freelance choir leader, vocal coach, and author of the inspiring book Do Sing. In his work, James advocates for the transformative power of singing, not only as a form of creative expression but as a remedy to the stresses of modern life. 

His book encourages readers to overcome their inhibitions, find their voice, and experience the joy of singing—whether alone or as part of a community. 

In the conversation we dive into his journey, the benefits of singing for heal...

In this episode of the Coach Class I chat with Dr. Bob Gomersall, a prominent entrepreneur, founder of Surpass Assessment, and chairman of Advanced Digital Innovations. Bob takes us through his fascinating journey, starting from his early days as a physics teacher to becoming a successful business leader, and now an author. His reflections provide valuable lessons on innovation, entrepreneurship, and the importance of finding purpose in work and life.

Bob begins by sharing his passion for physics and how it shaped his early career. After studying at the Universities of Durham and Bristol, and working at...

In a double-header, I sit down with Nathan Atkinson and Kevin Mackay from Rethink Food, a transformative initiative dedicated to removing hunger as a barrier to learning in schools. With a focus on innovative educational approaches and community-driven solutions, Nathan and Kevin share their journey from classroom teachers to founders of a movement that addresses food insecurity and poor nutrition among young people in the UK.

Key Themes Discussed:

Hunger as a Barrier to Learning: Nathan's commitment to eliminating hunger as an obstacle for students began after witnessing firsthand the impact of food...

In this episode of Coach Class, I catch up with Simon Eyles, Managing Director of Betty's. We discuss Simon’s professional journey, leadership insights, and his transition from various food industries to his current role.

Simon reflects on the overwhelming scale and energy when he joined Asda compared to his previous roles, emphasising how each position, from beer and dairy to chips and chocolate, followed his passion for food. 

He credits many mentors for shaping his leadership style, highlighting their exceptional listening skills and supportive nature. Key figures who invested time in understanding and developing his...

Boasting over two decades of executive leadership across various sectors, Chris is now at the helm of Corkcicle, a brand known for its innovative and eco-friendly lifestyle products. Under his stewardship, Corkcicle has seen a remarkable 50% growth over the last three years,  while maintaining a sharp focus on sustainability.

Previously, as a senior leader at LLBean, Chris spearheaded a team of over 2,000, driving significant advancements across e-commerce and retail channels, both domestically and internationally. His expertise in global retail, strategic marketing, e-commerce, and international business is matched by an inspiring leadership style that fosters unity, innovation, and g...

Joy Cosgrove is a UK and Ireland based Retail Learning Consultant & Personal Coach. She has years of hands on experience in the training room and on the shop floor, and I had the pleasure of training with her at Barefoot. 

She is also the proud mum of three lovely kids, one of whom is a talented and powerful young woman. Who, as it happens has Down Syndrome.

I was struck by a post Joy shared on LinkedIn the other day - a powerful film of a young woman with Downs ordering a margarita at a b...

Rosie and Claire first met over a lunch where they shared their stories about belonging, culture, leadership and coaching. Their ambitions were to create cultures where people felt they didn’t have to be something they weren’t, they were confident to speak up and contribute and leaders brought out the best in their people. Toegther they founded Flying Iguana.

In this podcast we cover various topics related to leadership, team dynamics, coaching, and personal growth. Both Rosie and Claire have a wealth of experience in HR and team facilitation across different industries, including the music industry, tele...

Professor Ralph Tench is the Director of Research for Leeds Business School and the elected President and Head of the Board of Directors for the European Public Relations Research and Education Association (EUPRERA). 

He was one of my tutors at Leeds Met back in 1994, having left the field of journalism and advertising and ventured into academia. The girls loved him, the lads loved him, everyone loved Ralph. 

In this podcast we reflect on the last 30 years (nearly), and how he helped me get my first job, was my tutor for my dissertation - and no do...

In a follow up to the podcast I recorded with my dad last October, in this episode I am pleased to introduce you to 'the mother, 'Josie Burch, my mum, whose life story is a testament to resilience, compassion, and the indomitable spirit of believing in yourself. 

Our conversation is rich with personal anecdotes and pearls of wisdom, as we delve into the experiences from her upbringing in Dunmurry Northern Ireland, to her impactful work in social causes, offering invaluable insights into the essence of leading a purposeful life.

Josie's early life in a working-class f...

In this, my 50th podcast, I welcome back Steve Smith, who was my first guest on Coach class nearly three years ago. Steve shares valuable insights into leadership and life,  being your authentic self whether you're washing the car, buying a bagel or appearing on stage as the CEO of Maine's most famous brand L.L.Bean. With a break from the norm, we also take questions from Coach Class listeners who admire Steve or were positively influenced by him when he was at Asda and Walmart - like Gal who asks what his book will be about, Tope w...

Tony Page is a turnaround specialist and an expert in solving distress situations particularly for private equity-backed businesses. He is also a transformative leadership mentor and coach.

He started his career as a fresh produce buyer at Sainsbury's. But really cut his teeth at  Asda in the mid 90s and early naughties. 

In our podcast he reflects on those early days describing how Asda's culture of freedom and rule-breaking inspired him. 

"Asda just gave you that ability to break rules. And I hadn't realised how many rules I enjoy breaking". Looking back he rec...

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 wa...

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...

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...

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 a...

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...

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. Y...

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.

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 cons...

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 chr...

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...

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...

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. 

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 w...

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 b...

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 s...

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...

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 A...

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...

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 t...