WB-40

On this week’s show, Julia and Nick meet Matthew Knight to discuss freelancing, community-building and the shifting economics of self-employed work. Matthew, self-employed since the age of 15, runs several communities supporting freelancers, with particular focus on mental health, strategy professionals and those new to self-employment. The conversation explores how the freelance market has evolved […]

On this week’s show, Nick and Julia meet Phil Clark to discuss the surprisingly complex world of technology procurement, and why it’s a profession almost nobody plans to enter but many find genuinely engaging once they do. Phil walks through procurement’s longstanding branding problem and CIPS’s efforts to fix it, including the QCD (Quality, Cost, […]

On this week’s show, Matt and Nick meet Chengwei Liu, professor of strategy and behavioural science at Imperial College, London, to discuss the role of luck in decision making — and why we routinely underestimate it. Chengwei traces his own serendipitous path from consulting in Singapore to a PhD at Cambridge, and explains why so […]

On this week’s show, Matt and Lisa meet Dan Bowsher to discuss Good Enough Chats, his podcast focused on men’s mental health through lived experience. Dan founded Good Enough Chats following his own experience of burnout, anxiety and depression, which left him feeling profoundly isolated. His podcast deliberately features ordinary men — not celebrities or […]

On this week’s show, Matt Ballantine and Julia Bellis meet Sian Basker, co-founder of Data Orchard, to discuss what data maturity actually means for organisations — and what a decade of benchmarking data reveals about who’s doing it well and why. Sian explains how Data Orchard‘s assessment tool, now used by nearly 20,000 people across […]

On this week’s show, Matt and the team meet Shaline Manhertz and Kristianah Fasunloye to discuss their business partnership, which began formally in 2018 when Shaline’s cancer diagnosis forced a pivot from individual business plans to joint working. The conversation explores how their partnership survived extraordinary pressure by rejecting the conventional 50/50 model in favour […]

On this week’s show, Matt and Nick meet Alexander Feick, Vice President of eSentire Labs, to discuss his book “On Trust and AI” and why organisations need fundamentally different approaches to govern AI systems. Alex explains that whilst traditional computers multiply human intent predictably, generative AI acts more like an autonomous agent capable of creating […]

On this week’s show, Lisa and Julia meet Emma Bruce, Software Engineering manager. The conversation explores the often-overlooked transition from individual contributor to engineering manager, examining why technical excellence doesn’t automatically translate to management success and what skills actually matter when leading teams. Emma discusses the historical lack of training for engineering managers and how […]

On this week’s show, Lisa Riemers and Chris Weston meet Sharon O’Dea to discuss digital nomadism and the evolution of remote work. Sharon shares insights from her decade-long journey as a digital nomad, including her recent seven-week stint in Japan, where she worked from locations ranging from traditional coworking spaces to foot spas in town […]

What if most organisational problems aren’t unique at all—and treating them as if they are is exactly what’s holding you back? Mark Earls joins Matt and Lisa to challenge how we think about innovation, time, and human behaviour in organisations. From why you should prototype multiple solutions before perfecting one, to the critical difference between […]

On this week’s show, Chris and Julia meet Claudia Plen McCormack and Mia Serra to discuss their newly formed leadership training company, Surface Deep, and their approach to “deep inclusive leadership.” Both late-diagnosed with ADHD, Claudia and Mia draw on their experiences of burnout and masking in corporate environments to help organizations move beyond superficial […]

What happens when you bring together data geeks and sports enthusiasts? In this fascinating episode, Matt and Nick are joined by John Carney to explore the hidden world of sports analytics and the surprising role of randomness in athletic competition. John dives deep into the intersection of probability, statistics, and sports performance, revealing how data […]

On this week’s show, Matt and Lisa meet Tris Oaten to discuss whether writing tools actually matter—and the answer might surprise you. While musicians have interfaces like Ableton and sequencers that fundamentally reshape their creative output, Tris argues that writers’ real tools are invisible: patterns of thought, environmental context, and the mental associations we build […]

In this episode, Chris and Nick continue discussions about the world of interim management and welcome Rebecca Fox to discuss her extensive experience across public and private sectors. Rebecca shares candid insights about the realities of interim work, emphasising that there’s no time for a hundred-day plan—it’s all about a day-one approach. She explains how […]

This week Matt welcomes back Lisa alongside guest Matisse Hamel Nelis to chat about their upcoming book “Accessible Communications: Create Impact, Avoid Missteps and Build Trust.” The duo spent 18 months crafting what sounds like a much-needed guide to creating digital content that actually works for everyone – not just the mythical “average user” that […]

Welcome back to the WB 40 Podcast! In this episode (334), Chris and Julia sit down with special guest Duncan Stott, an interim CIO extraordinaire, to really dive into the high-stakes world of interim management. We explore how the role of the CIO has completely changed, especially since COVID brought tech to the forefront and […]

In the first WB 40 Podcast of our 10th Season, Lisa and Julia delve into the critical, yet often overlooked, area of internal crisis communication with expert Alison Arnot. Alison emphasizes that the biggest misconception about crisis communication is its external focus, arguing that employees feel crises personally and are crucial to an organization’s recovery. […]

While AI tools promise to revolutionise work, the reality is far more complex – and unequal. Guest Susi O’Neill shares her research into “inclusive AI,” revealing a stark 25% gender gap in workplace AI adoption, with women significantly less likely to use these tools than men. Income plays a massive role too: those earning over […]

On this episode, Matt, Lisa and serial entrepreneur Rufus Evison delve deep into the challenges and potential dangers of current Generative AI, particularly Large Language Models (LLMs). Rufus argues that LLMs inherently lack three crucial tenets: they are not correctable (corrigible), transparent, or reliable. He asserts that LLMs are “none of the three” and have […]

On this week’s show, Chris, Lisa and Michelle dive deep into Agentic AI, exploring how it differs from traditional automation and current AI tools. Chris explains that while regular agents follow basic rules (like a thermostat) and AI agents respond to commands (like Alexa), Agentic AI systems work autonomously toward outcomes – they’re proactive, learn […]

On this week’s show Julia and Matt interview Matt Cockbill, an executive search consultant specializing in hiring tech leaders for over 20 years, A fundamental challenge for organisations is finding experienced leaders to navigate the new wave of AI and generative technologies. While the possibilities are vast, Matt emphasises the crucial need for leaders to […]

On this week’s show Matt and Michelle are joined by Professor Nancy Doyle to talk about her new book, and what we can all learn about better leadership. You can find Nancy’s book here https://uk.jkp.com/products/learning-from-neurodivergent-leaders

On this week’s show Lisa and Matt talk with community builder and poet Janice Whyne about her work, the need to understand culture to work with communities, and the power of peer mentorship amongst many other things. You can find out more about Janice on her website here: https://janicewhyne.com/, and more about Luminary Bakery here: […]

On this week’s show Chris and Michelle are joined by data specialist Tia Cheang to talk about increasing diversity in the field.

On this week’s show Lisa talks to Matt and Nick about their ongoing literary project, Random the Book. You can follow the progress of their writing (or not) at randomthebook.com

On this week’s show, Matt and Lisa are joined by Tom Whitwell, the designer of modular synthesisers and synthesiser modules. You can find out more about Tom’s work at https://www.musicthing.co.uk/ Tom mentioned this article from Andrew Chen about Vibe Coding: https://andrewchen.substack.com/p/predictionsthoughts-on-vibe-coding And here is Lisarbie:

On this week’s show Matt and Julia are joined by writer and poet Rishi Dastidar. Find out more about Rishi and his work at rishidastidar.com

On this week’s show Chris and Nick meet with Ali Farahani to talk about how he coaches technology leaders, and the need to move away from anger…

On this week’s show we meet with communication expert Julian Treasure to talk about his new book Sound Affects. You can pre-order the book here: https://geni.us/SoundAffects

At a time when a group of rich, white, middle-aged American men seem to be claiming that inclusion has gone too far, Michelle and Julia have a fabulous conversation with diversity consultant Liz Crutchley. You can find out more about Liz’s work at https://diversityrocks.co.uk/

On this week’s show the full crew are together to answer listener questions. Our shows of the year are as follows: Julia – Paul Clarke Lisa – Tim Plester, Timandra Harkness and James Eves Chris – Mark Bjornsgaard and Martin Sadler Michelle – Cat Barnard, Paula Brockwell, Tammy Watchorn and Katrina Collier Matt – Alice […]

On this week’s show Matt and Julia talk with critical futurist Johannes Kleske about how the future is as much of a way to deal with the present as anything else. You can find out more about Johannes and his work at https://johanneskleske.com/en/ Matt’s small collection of historical visions of the future is here: https://mmitii.mattballantine.com/2015/02/27/envisaging-the-future/ […]

On this week’s show Matt and Lisa are joined by actor, film director and self-proclaimed folknographer Tim Plester to talk about folk traditions, saving archives, and Doctor Who. You can find out more about the Doc Rowe film, and contribute to the crowdfunder at https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/docrowe You can watch Way of the Morris athttps://vimeo.com/ondemand/wayofthemorris Find out […]

On this week’s show, Michelle and Matt are joined by Victoria Dioh to talk about personal purpose and how we are trained to not follow it. Find out more at https://www.victoriadioh.com/victoria Michelle’s book is available for a few more days on Kindle for 99p – get it now here.

On this week’s show, Julia and Michelle meet with Clara Bettina Behrmann to talk about how psychological safety can become performative.

On this week’s show, Matt and Michelle meet Henry Oakes, co-founder of Pathfinder to learn how AI might be used to help project and programme managers to make connections they’d otherwise miss.

On this week’s show Lisa and Julia are joined by Gallup Certified Strengths coach (and, for full disclosure, Michelle’s partner) James Eves to talk about finding out what we are good at doing.

On this week’s show Matt and Lisa are joined by seasoned IT contractor Neil Millard who had written a book about how to work freelance. You can find out more about Neil’s book here:https://www.confident-contractor.co.uk/confident-contractor-the-book/

On this week’s show Michelle joins Chris and Lisa to talk about the experience of turning her book into an audiobook. You can get Good Girl Deprogramming exlusively on Audible here: https://www.audible.co.uk/pd/Good-Girl-Deprogramming-Audiobook/B0D9MKBDBW

On this week’s show Cat Barnard joins Matt and Michelle to talk about the ongoing debates about the future of work, the UK productivity challenge and whether it’s all just a problem of BIG.

On this week’s show Julia and Matt are joined by Mon Dessert’s founder Samina Courtin to talk about her journey from kitchen to supermarket, and the challenges of scaling physical product businesses. You can find out more about Mon Dessert at https://www.mondessert.co.uk/

Michelle’s got a new podcast, and here’s the first episode! If you’d like to hear more, you can find all the details at:https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/michelle-minnikin

On the first show of the Autumn, Matt and Michelle are joined by recruitment expert Katrina Collier to talk about her new book Reboot Hiring. You can find out more about her book at https://katrinacollier.com/reboot-hiring/ Katrina mentioned Benchmarcx – https://www.benchmarcx.io/refrkco (this is Katrina’s affiliate link), and also Sue Ingrams Disrupt HR talk https://vimeo.com/254246171 Matt talked […]

For the first time all five regular WB-40 hosts are in the same show! This week Chris, Julia, Lisa, Matt and Michelle answer questions about the IT job market, AI regulation, first jobs and more besides! Here’s the chart Tony Harper shared with us… That’s it for the Summer – we are back in September!

On this week’s show Michelle and Lisa are joined by polymath Minter Dial to talk about Artificial Intelligence, human self-awareness and the wonders of Padel tennis.

It’s Election Week in the UK, and so Matt and Michelle speak with digital news veteran Kevin Anderson about how the interaction between journalism, technology and news media has changed over recent decades.

On this week’s show, Michelle and Chris are joined once again by OpenUK CEO Amanda Brock to talk new agendas for Open with new governments, remote working, diversity and AI in the Open Source world.

On this week’s show, Michelle and Chris meet with Martin Sadler to talk about his new book about being a CIO –Aspirationally Idle. You can get your own copy at https://aspirationallyidle.sumupstore.com/ Header image Roland TB-303. (2024, February 21). By Steve Sims – Steve Sims, CC0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=53932063

On this week’s show Matt and Lisa are joined by Ara Higueras to talk about her multidisciplinary background, her coaching and her book And how?

On this week’s show, Julia and Lisa are joined by photographer Paul Clarke to talk about AI, creativity, the value of creative work, art and taking great photos.

Continuing in our 8-year tradition of our Centennial editions of WB-40 not being an episode of WB-40, to celebrate 300 episodes of the show, here’s a totally different podcast for you. Career on the Cards is a pilot of a new podcast that Matt dreamed up a few months ago. On this first episode he […]

On this week’s show Matt and Lisa are joined by the multi-faceted Timandra Harkness to talk about her new book Technology is not the Problem.

On this week’s show, Julia and Matt are joined by Your Haven CEO and Founder Claire Barnett to talk about mental health fitness, technology and virtual reality. Claire mentioned the book Pixel Flesh by Ellen Atlanta. You can find out more about Your Haven here: https://www.yourhavenapp.com/

In episode 297 of the weekly podcast WB40, hosts Matt and Michelle, and guest Dr. Tammy Watchorn delve into themes of change, uncertainty, and personal development.

On this week’s show, Chris & Michelle talk to Richard Clarke from Secret Source about the role that happiness has in high-performing teams.

On this week’s show Chris and Lisa talk with Tina Lee Odinsky-Zec and Simon Carcagno from True Advance about the concept of “Thinking Partners” and how we need get more intentional about our collaboration. Lisa mentioned an article questioning the validity of Extroversion and Introversion – that can be found here. Machine-Generated transcript Chris: Hello […]

On this week’s show, Matt and Julia are joined by enough.store founder Paul Keaveny to talk about his design-led mission to reduce plastic waste in retail. You’ll be able to find out more soon at enough.store Matt mentioned two books – Wasteland and Material World.

On this week’s show, Matt and Julia are joined by Georgina Shute to talk about her business KindTwo and how she is helping leaders with ADHD to avoid burnout.

On this week’s show Chris and Michelle are joined by BillionMinds‘ Paul Slater to talk about organisations, leadership and delivering change.

On this week’s show, Lisa and Matt are joined by author Alice Sherwood to talk about what “In Real Life” means in 2024. Alice’s book Authenticity was published in 2022. You can read more about the Vice closures here.

On this week’s show Michelle and Chris talk with Paula Brockwell on her approach to helping organisations to better cultivate their own cultures. You can find out more about Paula’s business at https://theexproject.com/

It’s another episode of Ask WB-40, this week with Julia Bellis answering listener questions alongside Matt for the first time. Views on the year ahead, AI, leadership mentoring, mental models and what really happened when Julia got left adrift in the Pacific.

A special bonus episode for you as Lisa and Nick Drage host a conversation with Matt who has a new set of playing cards to flog. We talk about his Business Meerkat deck, and more broadly about the power of playfulness in work. Order your own set of the Business Meerkat cards at https://theplaycards.myshopify.com/collections/business-meerkat You […]

On this week’s show we are joined by Matt Webb to talk about taking his Poem/1 clock from idea to the bring of manufacture through a Kickstarter exercise. You can read more about Galactic Compass: On Ars Technica: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024/02/new-app-always-points-to-the-supermassive-black-hole-at-the-center-of-our-galaxy On Matt’s blog: https://interconnected.org/home/2024/02/15/galactic-compass And download from the App Store https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/galactic-compass/id6451314440 You can find the Poem/1 […]

On this week’s show Matt and Michelle are joined by Natalia Talkowska to talk about the importance of “the hook”, telling stories, creativity and other tales. You can find Natalia’s business at natalkadesign.com Matt mentioned his Business Meerkat cards (pre-order them here) and also the TBD Conference he is speaking at at the end of […]

On this week’s show, Chris and Julia interview Mark Bjornsgaard about his fascinating renewable energy and data hosting business Deep Green.

From next week, there is a new sound to WB-40. We are delighted to share that Julia Bellis, Lisa Riemers and Michelle Minnikin will join the team to share hosting duties with Chris and Matt. On this bonus show we share the thinking behind the changes, and the wonderful Nick Drage asks all of the […]

On this week’s show we are joined by psychologist and author Michelle Minnikin to talk about her new book, Good Girl Deprogramming. You can find out more about Michelle’s work at https://michelleminnikin.com/

On this week’s show we speak with Lisa Riemers about challenges of digital accessibility, and what to do about it. You can find Lisa’s collection of useful links here: https://lisariemers.com/index.php/2023/05/12/accessibility-resources/ and you can book to attend her talk here: We spoke with AbilityNet on Episode 208

This week’s guest is Equal Experts Psychological Safety Lead, Julia Bellis. We talk about the misconceptions associated with psych safety, building safety in client-facing teams, and the challenges of hybrid and global working, amongst many other things. A couple of books were mentioned: The Culture Map by Erin Meyer and The Fearless Organization by Amy […]

On this week’s show we are joined by Equal Expert’s Lewis Crawford to talk about his experiments in building autonomous teams of AI agents. AI Generated transcript follows… Matt: [00:00:00] Hello and welcome to episode 281 of WB40, the weekly podcast with Matt Ballantine, Chris Weston and Lewis Crawford. Chris: Well hello everybody, welcome back. […]

On this, the penultimate show of 2023, Chris and Matt answer audience questions about the year ahead… Automatically created transcript… Matt: at the beginning of 2023 on show 248 no less if you want to go back and listen to it. We did an episode where we thought about what might be the things that […]

On this week’s show we speak with Railsware CEO Yaroslav Lazor about moving from being a business building software for others to being a product company. You can find out more about their BRIDGeS framework here: https://railsware.com/bridges-framework/ Yaroslav mentioned Railsware’s products: Coupler.io: https://www.coupler.io/ Titan Apps: https://titanapps.io/ And they’ve listed some trusted resources to support Ukraine here: Show […]

This week we chat with Gavin Jones to talk through some of the challenges and opportunities when looking at collaborating and technology. You can find out more about Gavin and his work at: YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/MeeTime Website: https://www.meetimeservices.com LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/gavin-jones-meetime Episode Transcript… (any errors are the fault of the AIs) Matt: Hello and welcome to episode […]

On this week’s show we are joined by Al Doran to talk about some of the practicalities of supporting neurodiversity in the IT workplace.

This week’s guest, joining Matt and supply host Martin Sadler, is Milla Spence with whom we explore the idea of AI having rights. You can explore some of these themes further at: The AIRAI Website: https://ai-ari.org/ Ex Google Engineer Lemoine gets fired for claiming LaMDA is sentient: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-62275326https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/06/11/google-ai-lamda-blake-lemoine/ A report about Jefrey Hinton, the Godfather […]

There’s no WB-40 this week, but Matt is appearing on a new show called Compromising Positions, presented by Leanne Potter and Jeff Watkins. So here’s a preview of that show for you. You can find out more at https://www.compromisingpositions.co.uk/podcast

On this week’s show we are joined by Mark Taylor to explore the technology challenges behind building a brand new hospital. Show Transcript (automatically generated so treat with a little caution) Matt: Hello and welcome to episode 275 of WB40, the weekly podcast with me, Matt Ballantine, Chris Weston and Mark Taylor. Chris: Hello everybody […]

On this week’s show we are joined by Lifecycle Software’s Kelvin Chaffer to talk about his own career from developer apprentice to CEO, and how they have built a business around developing new talent. Transcript (Auto generated so treat with a little caution…) Matt: Hello and welcome to episode 274 of WB40, the weekly podcast with […]

On this week’s show we are joined by Matt Webb to talk about his approach to invention with emerging technologies. You can subscribe to the AI Clock mailing list for updates and to find out about the upcoming Kickstarter here: https://aiclock.substack.com You can find out more about Acts Not Facts, Matt’s new product invention studio […]

Running a start up consulting business and running a software start up are closely related, but require quite different approaches. On this week’s show we meet Simon Bos who is doing both…

Another episode of Matt & Chris answers listener questions. Topics this week include dealing with toxic workplaces, the advantages of Cloud, blanket calls back to the office, and obscure programming languages…

On this week’s show we are joined by open source initiative Soundscape’s Jarnail Chudge. You can find out more about the work at https://soundscape.services/ You can download the iOS app from https://apps.apple.com/us/app/soundscape-community/id6449701760

On this week’s show Chris and Matt talk about the applicability of automation software produced by the likes of Microsoft (and how it’s becoming more useful). Chris’s original article can be found here: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-2023-year-tactical-automation-business-chris-weston-/

On this week’s show, you can hear Matt reflecting on the things that made an impact on him from last week’s Nudgestock festival in London. You can see all the talks he mentions linked from his blog article here:

It’s another round of Ask WB-40, where this week Matt & Chris take on listener questions about careers in technology, tech hype cycles, and (inevitably) AI amongst others.

On this week’s show we are joined by Henry Coutinho-Mason to talk about the art and science of trend-spotting.

On this week’s show we are joined by Christian Hunt who talks about how he brings Behavioural Science approaches into the world of compliance. You can find Christian’s book here: https://www.human-risk.com/humanizing-rules-book

On this week’s show we are joined by Alistair Doran to talk about the way in which the traditions of work and education get in the way of accessing the superpowers of the neurodiverse. If you would like to chat with Alistair about your own experiences of neurodiversity at work, he’d be delighted to speak. […]

On this week’s show we are joined by Tom Somers from Skenariolabs to talk about data in the world of the built environment.

On this week’s show we are joined by Matt Mower. You can find him on LinkedIn here, and the AgendaScope website can be found here.

On this week’s show we are joined by Caroline Carruthers to talk about her new Data Maturity research. You can get your own copy of the Carruthers & Jackson report here: https://carruthersandjackson.com/data-maturity-index/ The video Matt mentioned is here.

On this week’s show we are joined by Qualyfi’s Neil Marley to talk about upskilling the next generation of technologists.

This week we are joined by the inventor of Radical Knowledge Management Stephanie Barnes. She is a knowledge management consultant and artist with over 30 years of experience. In her consulting practice (Entelechy) she focuses on aligning people, process, and technology to not only help organisations be more efficient and effective with what they know, […]

On this week’s show we are joined by Nick Drage who tells us about his experience building games to use in businesses.

In this week’s marginally self-indulgent episode, Chris interview’s Matt about his new product, The PlayCards. If that’s piqued your interest, why not register for one of Matt’s free intro workshops here, or buy a pack of the cards to treasure forever here. WB-40 listeners can get a £5 discount with the code WB40 at the […]

We have another episode of Ask WB-40, with some cracking questions again coming from the audience. If you’d like to get an invite to the show’s Signal Channel, just drop us a line on Twitter.

On this week’s show we are joined by Sireesh Nallanthighal from The Car Crowd to talk about his career transition from the steady corporate life into the fast lane of a tech start up/scale up.

On this week’s show we are joined by Templfy’s Christian Lund to talk about the ways in which software companies account for the latest and greatest tech hypes. In Matt’s introduction he mentioned the work of extreme grumpiness from Chris King. It’s here: https://noscootersrequired.substack.com/p/the-frog-who-asked-for-nothing