How to find your spark, tell your story and position your brand ‘you’. A conversation with Taryn Weeks, founder of Sparkz Marketing

About This Episode

In this episode I am delighted to be in conversation with John Edwards, Director General, Regions Group, at the Department for Education, UK. 

John and I were invited to be in conversation by and for the annual Transform Applied Leadership Summit, held virtually this year on 8th March 2024. The title of our conversation Understanding Ourselves and Understanding Others - a leadership perspective is the title of the summit.

(For listeners who don’t know about Transform Applied Leadership I share their details at the end of the podcast, along with ways in which you can connect with John.)

John and I delve together into: 

1. How becoming a leader is all about finding your own leadership 
2. The alignment between who we are, how we lead and why we lead, and what it means to be an authentic leader
3. The importance of being aware of individual and collective leadership behaviour and the impact that it has on others 
4. 360 degree leadership and measuring our leadership achievements through the successes of others

John’s three key encouragements for leaders looking to grow their leadership identity, build greater confidence and understanding in their leadership behaviours.

1. We never need to create our leadership approach, or copy it from others - we just need to find it, observe it and look after it
2. We don’t need to worry about making time for DOING leadership, only for THINKING ABOUT leadership - it’s not an extra job, it’s how we do the job we have
3. Listen to others but trust your instincts - there is no right answer

How to connect with John Edwards on LinkedIn

The Transform Applied Leadership Summit happens annually and is designed to stimulate new ways of thinking and behaving in our leadership. Delegates come from education and reflect upon their own leadership, have conversations with other leaders, and to hear speakers from different backgrounds.

To find out more about the Summit, and Leadership Applied the leadership study and research; the leadership experts and about the Future Engage Deliver approach to leadership developed by Steve Radcliffe do go to the website:

https://www.transformapplied.co.uk/leadership-applied

Contact Anni Townend  
anni@annitownend.com
www.annitownend.com

About John Edwards

Having started out as a secondary school maths teacher, I’ve had the privilege to work in schools, local government and now central government - but still, when asked what I do, the word ‘teacher’ is the first word that comes to mind.  11 years in three schools was followed by 14 years working in three different local authorities, responsible for the full range of education and skills functions in largely urban settings.  I now head up the Department for Education’s Regions Group, covering improvement, intervention and capacity-building for schools, children’s social care and SEND through 9 regional teams.

I am proud to have grown up and lived all my life in the north - for more than 20 years in Sheffield where my wife and I both work and where my kids have grown up.  We have one rule in our house: there’s always time for a hug.  When neither working nor hugging, I love watching cricket, riding my bike and walking on the beach or in the hills.

About This Episode

In this episode I am delighted to be in conversation with Tanya Shadrick - author of The Cure for Sleep: her memoir of a late waking life, a story of breaking free, and making a more creative life; Tanya is founder of the Selkie Press; editor of the Wainwright Prize-listed Wild Woman Swimming.  She is a community builder of writers and storytellers through Substack where she writes, and invites you to share your stories.

We delve together into: 

What it takes - and costs - to build an authentic life of one’s own, while continuing to honour our roles within families, workplaces, and communities.

And explore four key themes:

1. The voices around us - and the beliefs that we form about ourselves and our abilities because of what is praised or punished.
2. Our Size and Shape - and how related to beliefs about ourselves, and our abilities, we (perhaps) make ourselves smaller
3. Work - and how writing about work is central to Tanya’s storytelling
4. The importance of service, of finding the best in ourselves, and each other, for the good of others, and to deliver use and meaning to others

Three key encouragements

1. Look how far you’ve come… We can forget how hard we once found things that are now a core part of our senior roles - public speaking, say, or preparing a visual presentation for stakeholders or investors. Write 500 words from the you of now to the twenty-something you once were, starting out. Be in dialogue. Remember the vivid details. It releases a kind of energy that helps us be better mentors and encouragers to our graduate staff and our career returners. 
2. A list of what you love…  spend an hour making a list of 100 things you love about your work life. It will seem impossible to get anywhere near that number. Your first few items might seem so simple, so insufficient - just a list of obvious things: the salary, the pension, the status, the holiday allowance. But as you persist, the process starts to yield surprising results - by the time you get to around sixty, or eighty, most people find themselves remembering their deepest values, their fiercest ambitions and so on.
3. How do you talk about your job to those you don’t work with?  This is a very different exercise from crafting ‘an elevator pitch’ and its purpose is deeper, broader. Having a simple, authentic way to speak with quiet pride about what you do is one of the most useful ways to connect with other people - it extends to them the possibility of sharing what matters to them too: whether that’s their paid work, their passion, or an unpaid voluntary role.

Contact Tanya via her website, for writing resources, and podcasts:

www.thecureforsleep.com
https://tanyashadrick.substack.com/

To contact Anni Townend
anni@annitownend.com
www.annitownend.com

About Tanya Shadrick

I first heard of Tanya through a friend that I met some years ago via Instagram. Knowing my love of life writing, and of memoir, she asked me if I had read, and did I know Tanya Shadrick.  I didn’t. However the title of her book excited me, I wanted to know more about her, and about her writing. I read the book over a matter of days, snatching moments in my day to read, and was inspired by her openness and generosity of spirit. More recently she has shared via Substack and Instagram her experience of being with her mother at the end of her life, and her death. Tanya writes beautifully, poetically and is an inspiration to us to wake up, to make time to find and be creative, and to share our stories. 

Welcome and welcome back to Leaders in Conversation with me, Anni Townend, the podcast that helps you to grow confidence and courage your leadership.

I created this series of candid conversations for leaders to share their inspirational leadership stories, weaving together the threads of their life - the people, places and experiences that have shaped them and made them the leader that they are today. 

They offer valuable insights and rich experience to help and inspire you on your own unique leadership journey. If you are not already please do subscribe to the podcast, review and share it. Thank you!

About This Episode

In this episode I am delighted to be in conversation with Moses Tai Founder and CEO African Development Choices (ADC), Author of ‘There Is Shade’ and Speaker.

We delve together into the working culture of African Development Choices, in particular how they encourage community and reflect who they are in what they do: 

• Seeking and giving input, raising awareness of choice
• Showing and taking initiative as part of sustainable change
• Commitment to the organisation and its purpose through building belief and hope, and working together

Moses’ Three Key Encouragements to Leaders 

1. Develop a strong vision 
2. Recruit and retain talented people 
3. Build well structured teams

Connect with Moses Tai, and find out more about African Development Choices

www.linkedin.com/in/mosestai

https://mybook.to/TISHADE

https://africandevelopmentchoices.org/

To listen to other Leaders in Conversation with me Anni Townend go to my website, www.annitownend.com

A big thank you to my support team at the Conscious Marketing Group for helping me with all the marketing of the podcast, to Coco O’Brien for the wonderful intro and outro music, for the lovely design, and for the excellent editing and sound production.

To contact me Anni Townend do email me on anni@annitownend.com visit my website www.annitownend.com, subscribe to my newsletter and follow me on LinkedIn.  I look forward to connecting with you, thank you for listening.

About Moses

My mission with the podcast is to be in conversation with people who have a passion and purpose (no matter how small or large), and, who want to make a difference through their leadership, and to give them a way of sharing their story to inspire, confidence, care and courage in you the  listener - far and wide. So when Taryn Weeks of Sparks Marketing suggested that Moses would be a great guest I contacted him, and bought a copy of his book ‘There Is Shade’. Moses is an inspiring leader, a passionate voice for sustainable change. 

Welcome and welcome back to Leaders in Conversation with me, Anni Townend, the podcast that helps you to grow confidence, care and courage in your leadership.

I created this series of candid conversations for leaders to share their inspirational personal leadership stories, weaving together the threads of their life - the people, places and experiences that have shaped them and made them the leader that they are today.

They offer valuable insights and rich experience to help and inspire you on your own unique leadership journey. If you are not already please do subscribe to the podcast, review and share it. Thank you!

About This Episode

In this episode I am delighted to be in conversation with Roger Mortlock, Chief Executive Officer, CPRE, the countryside charity. 

Together we delve into what it means to lead:

• A heritage organisation, being open
• In a federated structure, being humble
• A campaigning organisation, being brave

ROGER’S THREE ENCOURAGEMENTS TO LEADERS

1. Do it your way - learn from the leaders who help you grow as a person as well as a leader
2. Find and honour that which gives you joy at work, what you love - give yourself space to flourish as well as face into the challenge
3. Keep making the time and space to imagine the future

To contact Roger

LinkedIn: Roger Mortlock

Website:  www.cpre.org.uk


About Roger Mortlock

I first met Roger some twenty years ago and have had the privilege of partnering with him, and the teams he has led and been part of over the years.  

To listen to other Leaders in Conversation with me Anni Townend go to my website, www.annitownend.com

A big thank you to my support team at the Conscious Marketing Group for helping me with all the marketing of the podcast, to Coco O’Brien for the wonderful intro and outro music, for the lovely design, and for the excellent editing and sound production.

To contact me Anni Townend do email me on anni@annitownend.com visit my website www.annitownend.com, subscribe to my newsletter and follow me on LinkedIn.  I look forward to connecting with you, thank you for listening.

Welcome and welcome back to Leaders in Conversation with me, Anni Townend, the podcast that helps you to grow confidence and courage your leadership.

I created this series of candid conversations for leaders to share their inspirational leadership stories, weaving together the threads of their life - the people, places and experiences that have shaped them and made them the leader that they are today. 

Together we delve into what they really care about, their values and beliefs, their passion and purpose and how they live and weave these through their leadership every day, in all that they do. 

They offer valuable insights and rich experience to help and inspire you on your own unique leadership journey. If you are not already please do subscribe to the podcast, review and share it. Thank you!

About This Episode

In this episode I am delighted to be in conversation with Febronia Ruocco, Strategic Insights Professional, Executive Coach and Mentor

We delve and explore together leadership values and skills, and the importance of these in Febronia’s life, leadership, insights and mentoring work. In particular the values of:

1. Integrity
2. Collaboration
3. Honesty
4. Empathy

Febronia’s three encouragement to leaders:

1. Bear in mind that people have gone through very difficult times: the pandemic, the economic crisis. 
2. Be kind with your feedback, with your encouragement, with your guidance, be supportive, have empathy for your teams, and try to instil in them a sense of safety so that they can come and they can share their views and perceptions freely. 
3. And also, if you have time, please do some mentoring. There are lots of young people out there at universities and schools, at the beginning of their jobs, who really could do with a guiding hand.

How to contact Febronia

LinkedIn: Febronia Ruocco

About Febronia

I first met Febronia through LinkedIn - she not only liked my podcast, but also commented, and messaged me personally. Febronia has her own podcast weekly roundup of the best listens, and it is a huge honour to have been chosen by her more than once! She is a Strategic Insights Professional and Executive Coach. And she is also a Leadership and Career Mentor for Undergraduates at Durham and Lancaster University. After several exchanges via LinkedIn we arranged a call and discovered that we shared similar passions, and had some shared experiences. I am delighted that she agreed to be my guest, and to share her leadership story.


To listen to other Leaders in Conversation with me Anni Townend go to my website:
www.annitownend.com/podcast

A big thank you to my support team at the Conscious Marketing Group for helping me with all the marketing of the podcast, to Coco O’Brien for the wonderful intro and outro music, for the lovely design, and for the excellent editing and sound production.

To contact me Anni Townend do email me on anni@annitownend.com visit my website www.annitownend.com, subscribe to my newsletter and follow me on LinkedIn.  I look forward to connecting with you, thank you for listening.

Welcome and welcome back to Leaders in Conversation with me, Anni Townend, the podcast that helps you to grow your confidence and courage as a leader.

I created this series of candid conversations for leaders to share their inspirational leadership stories, weaving together the threads of their life. 

They offer valuable insights and rich experience to help and inspire you on your own unique leadership journey. If you are not already, please do subscribe to the podcast, review and share it. Thank you!

About This Episode

In this episode I am delighted to be in conversation with Meera Craston, a highly experienced senior leader and executive coach; and co-founder of Next Brave Move. Meera is committed to supporting individuals, teams and organisations to thrive, demonstrate their impact and bring about positive change.

Together we delve into:

1. How understanding and embracing your heritage can enable you to more fully connect with your passion and purpose; 
2. How tuning into your strengths and into what comes naturally to you can open up new possibilities for exploring your leadership;
3. The beauty of the ‘reset’, and how discovering and using your ‘reset function’ can help you in re-evaluating and ‘course correcting’ your leadership as you go along.
4. The importance of having a support network who act as ‘thinking partners’ to help you stay ‘on course’. 

Meera’s three key encouragements for leaders:

1.  At times when you feel stuck, there’s something very valuable about taking stock and weighing up whether you are holding onto an old narrative that was once very valuable but over time has become less relevant and is no longer serving you well 

2.  Be true to yourself and recognise that careers do not need to be linear and that it’s never too late to change direction and build new dreams

3.  Creating space and being brave and exploratory can often lead to the most amazing opportunities.

A huge thanks to Meera for sharing so much of herself, her  thoughts, insights and experiences.

To find out more about Meera and Next Brave Move, find, follow and contact her at: 

LinkedIn

• https://www.linkedin.com/in/meeracraston/

WEBSITE

• www.nextbravemove.com 

EMAIL

• meera@nextbravemove.com 

To contact me Anni Townend, do email me on anni@annitownend.com

ABOUT MEERA

Meera is a deeply purpose-driven senior leader and executive coach, and co-founder of Next Brave Move. She is committed to supporting individuals, teams and organisations to thrive, demonstrate their impact and bring about positive change. 

Having worked as an evaluation, impact and policy design specialist for two decades, she is a strong advocate of evidence-based (and pragmatic) decision making, who understands the challenges of leadership, consultancy and making sense of complexity.

Her recent experience includes leading the UK Evaluation Society as its inaugural Executive Director, and prior to this, co-leading Ipsos UK's Policy and Evaluation Unit. This involved strategic, operational & commercial responsibilities, and leading the people, talent development, and cultural aspects of the Unit.

Looking forwards, her evolving portfolio of work brings together her leadership, consulting, and evaluation experience, and her longstanding interest in re-imagining the dynamics of work-life, effectively navigating transitions, and exploring the intricate evolution of mission and identity.

Welcome and welcome back to Leaders in Conversation with me, Anni Townend, the podcast that helps you to grow confidence, care and courage in your leadership.

I created this series of candid conversations for leaders to share their personal inspirational leadership stories, weaving together the threads of their life. 

They offer valuable insights and rich experience to help and inspire you on your own unique leadership journey. If you are not already please do subscribe to the podcast, review and share it. Thank you!

About This Episode

In this episode I am delighted to be in conversation with Martin Glover, HR Director for Morton Fraser - Martin is an advocate for fairness, equity and leadership development…..

Together we delve into:

1. 1. What he really cares about, his values and beliefs, his passion and purpose - who, what and where have shaped him -  and how he lives these through his leadership : 
   2. Why as leaders of organisations we should be prioritising Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging;
   3. Why targets in Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging aren't helping us get to where we need to be in organisations
   4. And ask - Does improving diversity mean that inclusion and belonging will follow?

Martin’s three key encouragements for people looking to develop their leadership, and to lead intentionally and deliberately for diversity, inclusion and belonging.

1. Think about the experience you are trying to create in your organisation - what do you want people to think and feel about your business 
2. Hire for the why (the Vision) this ensures people are aligned to what your organisation is trying to achieve 
3. Develop your own curiosity for difference in people and think about the value broadened outlooks like this can add to what you are trying to achieve

To find out about more about Martin, about the firm, find and follow him on: 

www.morton-fraser.com

LinkedIn: Martin Glover

To listen to other Leaders in Conversation with me Anni Townend go to my website, anni@annitownend.com

A big thank you to my support team at the Conscious Marketing Group for helping me with all the marketing of the podcast, to Coco O’Brien for the wonderful intro and outro music, for the lovely design, and for the excellent editing and sound production.

To contact me Anni Townend do email me on anni@annitownend.com visit my website www.annitownend.com, subscribe to my newsletter and follow me on LinkedIn.  I look forward to connecting with you, thank you for listening.

About Martin

I first met Martin when he worked for a different organisation, and was thrilled when he contacted me at his next company to talk about leadership, and then when he moved to Morton-Fraser I moved with him! I think of myself very much as a Leadership Partner, and Martin is a true partner, a fantastic builder of relationships, he is passionate about inclusivity and diversity, and about community.

Welcome and welcome back to Leaders in Conversation with me, Anni Townend, the podcast that helps you to grow confidence, care and courage your leadership.

I created this series of candid conversations for leaders to share their inspirational leadership stories, weaving together the threads of their life. 

Together we delve into what they really care about, their values and beliefs, their passion and purpose and how they live and weave these through their leadership every day, in all that they do. 

They offer valuable insights and rich experience to help and inspire you on your own unique leadership journey. If you are not already please do subscribe to the podcast, review and share it. Thank you!

About This Episode

In this episode I am delighted to be in conversation with Justin Russell, Former Chief Inspector of Probation, a role that he finished in the Autumn of 2023 on the challenges and satisfactions of leading in the public sector.

Together we delve into:

• His experience of Senior leadership in the Civil Service – the challenges and satisfactions of sharing the vision setting space with politicians and other parts of government
• Operational versus Policy leadership in the Public Sector - why most top civil service jobs go to policy specialists and why intellectual leadership is prioritised over emotional leadership in Whitehall.
• Justin’s personal career challenge - as someone who loves policy detail and evidence - of getting the balance right between being ‘Hands off and hands on’, of being on the balcony versus being on the dance floor. 
• The challenge of engaging colleagues in an era of hybrid working – and how does remote working make leadership more or less easy / more or less satisfying? 

Justin’s three key encouragements for leaders, whatever the sector they are working and leading in:

1. Pay attention to your impact! Don’t underestimate the shadow you cast  - or the difference it can make…………
2. Say yes when people ask for help with career advice or mentoring – and don’t be afraid to ask the people you admire for their help too. What goes around always comes around.
3. Always keep yourself anchored by asking yourself first what is the right - fair and just -  thing to do when faced with a leadership or policy challenge – but don’t beat yourself up too much if that can’t be fully delivered. Leaders have to be pragmatists as well as idealists.

About Justin

Justin is the former Chief Inspector of Probation, a role that he finished in the Autumn of 2023. I had the privilege of partnering with him and his leadership team over a short period of time during 2023. Together we introduced the Future-Engage-Deliver approach to leadership, created by Steve Radcliffe to help the team get clear on their shared future, build bigger relationships with each other, and to deliver more now and later through others. 

His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation’s mission is to deliver ‘High quality probation and youth justice services that change people’s lives for the better’, their focus is on how the probation does things and on how probation makes a real life difference in the lives of the people they work with – something that has been a passion for Justin throughout his career.

Contact Justin via LInkedIn, on Justin Russell, where he posts regularly.

Welcome and welcome back to Leaders in Conversation with me, Anni Townend, the podcast that helps you to grow confidence and courage in your leadership.

I created this series of candid conversations for leaders to share their inspirational leadership stories, weaving together the threads of their life - the people, places and experiences that have shaped them and made them the leader that they are today.

Together we delve into what they really care about, their values and beliefs, their passion and purpose and how they live and weave these through their leadership every day, in all that they do.

They offer valuable insights and rich experience to help and inspire you on your own unique leadership journey. If you are not already please do subscribe to the podcast, review and share it. Thank you!

About This Episode

In this episode I am delighted to be in conversation with Jane Mather, Make-up Artist and Personal Stylist

We delve together into: 

1How truly understanding our ‘uniqueness’, and our ‘values’, can help us shape our personal style and achieve our goals

2How translating our ‘values’ and defining our non-verbal communication skills helps us hone our personal style for success

3 The importance of showing compassion to and being empowering of others.

Three Key Encouragements

1. 1. The first step in honing your personal style is to identify your ‘core values’ - really knowing what’s important to you.
2. The second step is understanding your impact and personal presence - addressing any concerns about your personal style to help you achieve your goals.  
3. The third step is taking a ‘leap of faith’ in and for yourself and in others!  You never know what opportunity might present itself or what you might discover!

Learn more about Jane through her website:  www.janemather.co.uk, where you can also subscribe to her newsletter.

Or follow Jane on Instagram: @janemather_makeupstyle

To listen to other Leaders in Conversation with me Anni Townend go to my website, www.annitownend.com

A big thank you to my support team at the Conscious Marketing Group for helping me with all the marketing of the podcast, to Coco O’Brien for the wonderful intro and outro music, for the lovely design, and for the excellent editing and sound production.

Welcome and welcome back to Leaders in Conversation with me, Anni Townend, the podcast that helps you to grow confidence, care and courage in your leadership.

I created this series of candid conversations for leaders to share their inspirational personal leadership stories, weaving together the threads of their life. 

Together we delve into what they really care about, their values and beliefs, their passion and purpose and how they live and weave these through their leadership every day, in all that they do. 

They offer valuable insights and rich experience to help and inspire you on your own unique leadership journey. If you are not already - please do subscribe to the podcast, review and share it. Thank you!

About This Episode

In this episode I am delighted to be in conversation with Beto Funari. Together we delve into: 

1. Acting as a humanist leader: Why human leadership matters to people feeling valued, enabled and motivated to contribute and create a better future, to learn and develop their potential; and how to do this through leading with empathy, actively listening, fostering diversity and inclusion 
2. Balancing Profit and Purpose: How balancing purpose and profit is at the heart of building a compassionate and prosperous business whilst financial success is essential it should not come at the expense of human well-being or ethical principles. 
3. Adopting a Customer-Centric Approach: How adopting a Customer-Centric Approach helps in understanding and meeting customer’s needs, through building trust and loyalty and through delivering high-quality products or services. 

Three Key Encouragements

What are your three key encouragements for leaders looking to build hope and optimism?

1. Cultivate Empathy and Deep Listening in your own leadership, be a role model to others and encourage them to cultivate empathy and deep listening, and open communication;
2. Prioritise People through continuous learning and development;
3. Balance Profit, Purpose, People and (Ethical) Principles, commercial success is essential however never at the expense of People and ethical Principles, have a Purpose that is bigger than Profit and includes People this will ensure sustainable success

To contact Beto, do so through LinkedIn, Roberto Funari.

To listen to other Leaders in Conversation with me Anni Townend go to my website, www.annitownend.com

To contact me Anni Townend do email me on anni@annitownend.com visit my website www.annitownend.com, subscribe to my newsletter and follow me on LinkedIn.  I look forward to connecting with you, thank you for listening.