What do you do when the worst thing imaginable happens to your five-year-old, and the support you desperately need is 50 miles away?

In this episode, Simon welcomes Odette Mould, founder of Harry’s Rainbow. When her son Harry died suddenly from an asthma attack, Odette didn’t set out to build a charity - she simply refused to let other families face the same lonely void. Fourteen years later, Harry’s Rainbow is a thriving Milton Keynes lifeline offering respite breaks, peer support, and emergency grants to hundreds of bereaved children and their families.

We trace the journey from a mother’s heartbreak to an MBE at Buckingham Palace, the relentless focus on gratitude that keeps her going, and the quiet strategy that turned personal tragedy into systemic change.

What You’ll Learn

- From Heartbreak to Mission: How one family’s unimaginable loss became the driving force behind a charity that’s supported hundreds of grieving children.

- Gratitude as Strategy: Why Odette chooses to “switch a positive from a negative” every single day and teaches her children the same discipline.

- Building What’s Missing: The practical steps (and sheer determination) it took to create local, accessible bereavement support where none existed.

Odette is living proof that the most powerful strategies aren’t born in boardrooms - they’re forged in the crucible of love, loss, and an unbreakable refusal to look away.

What if the key to driving lasting transformation isn’t more tools, but more belief?

In this episode, Simon Crowther sits down with Patrick Kealey, Vice President of Global Operational Excellence and Quality at Benchmark’s Precision Technologies division. With decades of experience leading transformation across aerospace, energy, and electronics, Patrick shares how true operational excellence is built - not just through systems like Hoshin Kanri and lean frameworks, but through trust, data, and a clear vision of the future.

What You’ll Learn

Winning Hearts and Minds: Why trust, patience, and listening are essential to building credibility and inspiring change.

Data as a Storytelling Tool: How data can paint a compelling picture of what’s possible and turn resistance into belief.

Sustaining Improvement: How to build cultures that problem-solve naturally, avoiding tick-box lean and embedding transformation.

Patrick’s journey is a powerful reminder that behind every great transformation are people - people who see, believe, and act. Data may light the way, but belief is what keeps everyone moving forward.

What if the real driver of strategy wasn't frameworks - but emotional intelligence?

In this episode, Kate Leto - product leader, coach, and author of Hiring Product Managers: Using Product EQ to Go Beyond Culture and Skills joins us. With over 20 years of experience at startups, scale-ups, and global brands like Yahoo and Moo.com, Kate has seen first-hand how strategy often fails not from lack of plans, but from a lack of people skills.

Together, Kate and Simon explore the human side of strategy - why self-awareness, empathy, and emotional intelligence are essential for leaders navigating ambiguity and conflict.

What You'll Learn

Product EQ in Practice: How emotional intelligence transforms hiring, team building, and leadership.

Values That Work: Why co-created values matter-and how to make them live in daily decisions.

Self-Awareness as a Meta-Skill: Why knowing yourself is the foundation for strategy, conflict management, and influence.

Kate's insights remind us that the strongest strategies aren't just built on processes-they're powered by people who understand themselves and each other.