Nicki Murphy has spent thirty-two years building River Group from a scrappy two-woman start-up into one of the UK's most enduring boutique creative agencies, surviving 9/11, 7/7, a bruising private equity deal, and a lawsuit that nearly bankrupted her before she'd even properly begun.

In this episode, Nicki shares the guerrilla marketing stunt that landed her first major client, why she sold her own business and then bought it back, and the leadership philosophy that's kept her team together through recessions, restructures, and an industry now being reshaped by AI.

She talks candidly about loneliness at the top, the Me Too experience that pushed her into entrepreneurship, succession planning in her sixties, and why she's about to climb Kilimanjaro for the Katie Piper Foundation.

A masterclass in resilience, reinvention, and building a business you actually want to stick around for.Contact Nicki here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicki-murphy-212665b/

Find The River Group Here: https://www.therivergroup.co.uk/

Support the Katie Piper Foundation: https://www.katiepiperfoundation.org.uk/

Work with James Summers: https://bloomcoach.uk/

James sits down with Simon Hayton-Williams, CEO of Adaptivist, to unpack 15 years of high-speed company building. Simon shares how a free tool built by one obsessive developer became a $100M ARR business, why brutal honesty with clients (even when it costs you the deal) builds lasting trust, and the exact headcount thresholds (100, 400, 1,000+ people) where everything breaks and has to be rebuilt.

They dig into:

Why Adaptivist's growth came from "earning the right" to plan for the future by first putting out fires

The emotional reality of acquisitions - and why founders often leave within two years

Simon's philosophy on delegation vs. co-creation, and why he refuses to hire "yes people"

Why he believes "all org charts are interim" and how his "greenhouse" model incubates new teams

Balancing 30+ years in software with scuba diving, sports cars, and single parenthood

Find Simon here:⁠ https://www.linkedin.com/in/simonwilliams/⁠

Find Adaptavist here:⁠ https://www.adaptavist.com/⁠

Find ScriptRunner here: https://www.scriptrunnerhq.com/

Find James here:⁠ https://bloomcoach.uk/⁠

What if modern corporate culture is solving the wrong problem? We often hear that employees need "purpose," but after 50 years of learning from indigenous communities in Papua New Guinea, Mongolia, and Kenya, explorer and Nomadic School of Business founder Anthony Willoughby argues that what people truly crave is relevance—the knowledge that they belong, that their contribution matters, and that they have a clear place around the collective campfire.

James sits down with Anthony to explore how ancient tribal wisdom can solve modern organisational chaos. Anthony shares his journey from buying a gold Rolex in 1970s Tokyo to pioneering "territory mapping", a visual, metaphor-driven framework that helps world-class companies, non-profits, and leaders strip away corporate jargon, build trust, and align their teams.

In this episode, you’ll discover:

Purpose vs. Relevance: Why traditional metrics fail to make people feel valued, and how indigenous societies naturally build belonging and contribution.

The Power of Territory Mapping: How drawing mammoths, rivers, and campfires helps organisations like Thomson Reuters, JLL, and the Gates Foundation clarify their real strategic threats and opportunities.

Lessons from the Maasai & Papua New Guinea: What authentic, non-arrogant leadership looks like, and why leaders must earn their "spear" rather than just assume entitlement.

Visual Storytelling Over Corporate Jargon: How tapping into pre-language, visual parts of the brain unlocks radical honesty and cuts through fakeness in business.

Building Sustainable Communities: How to move beyond short-term transactions and cultivate social cohesion within growing companies.

Whether you’re a founder looking to align your team or a leader seeking deeper clarity in an era of rapid AI disruption, this conversation offers a refreshing, grounded map for the journey ahead.

Connect with Anthony Willoughby: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/anthony-willoughby-a2757511/⁠

Nomadic School of Business: ⁠nomadicschoolofbusiness.com⁠ /⁠ ⁠⁠nomadicwisdom.ai⁠

Anthony’s TedX Talks: ⁠https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyrdTIKyYT4⁠ / ⁠https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CttVqsg6No⁠

Find James here:⁠ https://bloomcoach.uk/