Engage for Success

Guest: Sarah Perugia: Executive Leadership Master Coach, Speaker and Podcaster Sarah Perugia has more than twenty years’ experience developing leaders across global organisations, including Amazon, Meta, Vodafone and Hugo Boss is an. Her work blends rigorous coaching practice with an unusual foundation: before moving into leadership development, Sarah trained and worked as a professional actor. This gives her a distinctive perspective on presence, confidence and storytelling, and how these skills shape trust, engagement and influence across every level of an organisation. Sarah hosts The Whole Truth: Leadership Stories, a podcast exploring the human side of leadership, and is known for her warm, story-rich approach to helping leaders navigate pressure, visibility and change. She is particularly passionate about women in leadership, drawing on years of experience coaching high-performing women who, despite their capability, often feel unseen, under pressure or at risk of stepping back from opportunities. Her work is rooted in positive psychology, evidence-informed coaching and a whole-person philosophy that builds sustainable confidence rather than performative “executive presence”. In this conversation, Sarah will share how leadership presence – the ability to be fully seen and heard – can be a powerful catalyst for confidence and progression, and how her journey from stage to boardroom has shaped her understanding of what authentic presence looks like in practice. Sarah will also discuss why so many talented women are quietly disengaging or opting out, the invisible pressures they are carrying, and the practical actions organisations can take to support them better. From cultures that encourage women to use their voice, to leadership habits that foster belonging and psychological safety, Sarah will offer a grounded and hopeful look at what helps women not only stay, but thrive and lead with impact. Join us as we discuss what truly drives connection, trust and engagement for women in today’s workplaces. Host: TBC

Guest: Chris Dyer: Best Selling Author and Keynote Speaker Chris Dyer is a keynote speaker, four-time bestselling author, and former CEO recognized by Inc. Magazine as the #1 Leadership Speaker on Culture. His latest book, *Moments That Matter* (2026), builds on his 7 Pillars of Culture framework used by organizations including General Motors and MetLife. Chris has built five companies that made the Inc. 5000 list and advises leaders on culture, remote work, and the future of AI in the workplace. In this episode, we’ll be talking about the idea behind his new book, Moments That Matter. Culture isn’t built in mission statements or annual reviews. It’s built in the small, everyday moments where leaders either show up or don’t. I’ll share practical ways managers can recognize and act on those moments to drive real engagement, plus what I’ve learned from building five Inc. 5000 companies about the habits that separate thriving cultures from ones that just look good on paper. Join us as we discuss the small moments where leaders show up, or don’t. Host: Jo Moffatt

Guest: Markus Draeger: Author of ‘Leading Beyond Results’ What if everything you know about business success is holding you back? In Leading Beyond Results, discover why the old equation of talent plus hard work is no longer enough—and how the relentless pursuit of short-term wins is quietly sabotaging your team’s long-term potential. Drawing on powerful lessons from elite sports, science and psychology, this book reveals the hidden traps of today’s result-obsessed culture and offers a bold new blueprint for sustainable, high-performance organisations. Packed with real-world examples and actionable insights, Leading Beyond Results challenges leaders to rethink how they motivate, develop, and energise their people. Learn why chasing KPIs and pushing for overtime leads to burnout, how to unlock the untapped potential in every employee, and what it takes to build a culture where performance thrives naturally—without sacrificing well-being. Whether you’re a CEO, HR leader, or manager ready to break free from outdated playbooks, Leading Beyond Results is your essential guide to building teams that win the right way. Stop managing for the scoreboard. Start developing for sustainable performance. Markus Draeger is an executive coach and sports psychology expert who helps organisations move beyond managing results to developing performance. After a successful corporate career spanning more than 20 years—including global transformation roles in marketing and consulting—he completed an Executive Master ’ s at Oxford Saïd Business School and founded Beyond Results GmbH. Drawing inspiration from elite sport, he supports leaders, HR teams, and executives in building cultures where performance, health, and sustainability go hand in hand. Markus is a sought-after speaker known for his engaging analogies between locker rooms and boardrooms. He lives in northern Germany with his wife and daughter. Join us as we discuss the hidden traps of today’s result obsessed culture. Host: Jo Dodds

Guest: Sharon Grossman- psychologist, TEDx speaker, and expert in behavior change and workplace culture. Dr. Sharon Grossman has spent years helping burned-out executives recover in 90 days, only to watch their environments wipe out the progress. She moved upstream, working with leaders to fix the systems that quietly fuel turnover and burnout. With 32% of employees quitting due to toxic culture, the stakes couldn’t be higher. Sharon teaches leaders how to use simple daily habits that cut turnover by 20 percent or more, protect millions in replacement costs, and create a culture where people stay because they want to. Most companies treat culture like a New Year’s resolution. They invest big once a year in training events, leadership retreats, or engagement programs, then wonder why nothing sticks. The problem isn’t the content; it’s the approach. Research shows people forget 70% of new information within 24 hours without reinforcement, yet we keep spending millions on one-time events instead of daily practices. In this episode, she’ll share why the “daily deposit” approach, investing just 15 minutes every day in five simple habits, produces exponentially better results than annual investments. She’ll discuss how frontline leaders (who account for 70% of employee engagement) can systematically create belonging, achievement, and relevance through structured Daily Dialogues, why “preaching not teaching” is the key to behavioral change, and how one hospital reduced turnover from 49% to 8% in two years without changing pay or benefits. Join us as we discuss why the daily deposit produces better results. Host: TBC

Special Guest: Dave MacDonald, Better Together Group One short month after his twins were born, Dave MacDonald was unexpectedly fired and found himself urgently seeking income through side hustles and temp jobs, just to put food on the table. This struggle to provide for his own family ignites his passion to help essential blue-collar workers find enjoyable and dependable employment. Nearly 30 years later, Dave’s dream is fully realized: he serves as the Owner and President of Better Together Group, the parent company of three unique staffing agencies. Better Together Group was built on Zig Ziglar’s belief that if you help enough others get what they want, you will eventually receive what you want, too. Their mission is twofold: to help their clients boost productivity and profitability by hiring the right people, and to ensure that job candidates can feed their families and fulfill their ambitions. Dave studied Organizational Management at Concordia University of Chicago, but like a true bootstrapped business owner, credits his expertise to the school of hard knocks! He is active in several trucking associations across Canada, and his proudest achievement by far was welcoming his children into Better Together at their request! His daughter, Hannah, celebrates her dad by saying “he always has and always will put the people first”. Join us as we discuss why every company should be teaching people how to WTF – Work Hard, Tell the Truth, & Finish the Job. Host: Andy Goram

Guest: Matthew Olenuik: Public Sector Transformation Advisor Governments around the world launch major programs with the promise of transformation — but far too often, those projects spiral out of control, deliver only a fraction of what was intended, or collapse entirely. In this episode, we’ll explore the deeper causes behind public sector project failures, including cultural resistance, poor oversight, and political misalignment. Most importantly, we’ll focus on how leadership behavior — not just tools or frameworks — can be the decisive factor in turning high-risk projects into successful ones. Matthew Oleniuk is a former senior executive in the public service who spent over 15 years providing oversight of high-stakes government projects and reviewing billions in public spending. He now advises public service leaders on leadership behavior, oversight, and project risk through his platform The Risk Insider. He is also the creator of the free Project Health Check tool, helping teams catch trouble early and deliver what matters. Join us as we discuss the reason why big government projects fail. Host: Jo Moffatt

Special Guest: Lei Wang :🎙️Leadership Speaker A former corporate professional turned adventurer, Lei now works as a leadership speaker and executive coach helping individuals and teams unlock bold ambition and resilience in the face of uncertainty. In this episode, Lei will share actionable strategies for building mental strength, shifting perspective in adversity, and reigniting motivation when challenges seem overwhelming. Drawing from both high-altitude extremes and boardroom dynamics, Lei will deliver powerful insights on how to reframe discomfort, find meaning in effort, and lead with courage when the path ahead feels unclear. Join us as we discuss Lei’s experience climbing the highest peak on each continent and skiing to both the North and South Poles. Host: Jo Moffatt

Guest: Louisa Hogarty- Group HR Director and Non Executive Director What does it take to transform workplace culture in one of Britain’s toughest sectors? Louisa will share how Noble Foods, a fourth-generation family business achieved something remarkable: consistent improvement across all eight pillars of employee engagement while navigating the agrifood industry’s perfect storm of skills shortages, an ageing workforce, and mounting pressure for sustainability. Noble Foods reduced colleague turnover from 62% to 35%, increased their Best Companies Index score by over 20 points, and returned to profitability—all while their people reported higher engagement than ever before. But this isn’t a story about quick fixes or expensive programs. It’s about systematic cultural change built on listening, investing in people at every level, and ensuring that purpose and performance go hand in hand. Louisa will share how Noble Foods embedded their TO CARE values across every site, developed leaders from within, created genuine belonging, and proved that in challenging times, culture becomes your greatest competitive advantage. Join us as we discuss Cultural Transformation. Host: Jo Dodds