What can a career spanning Concorde, the Airbus A380, Innovate UK and Academia teach us about confidence, curiosity and leading through change?

In the latest episode called, Space Shuttles, Curiosity and the Importance of Small Opportunities, I’m joined by Sir Iain Gray for a fascinating conversation about the four chapters of his career—from engineering at British Aerospace and senior leadership at Airbus UK to becoming the first Chief Executive of Innovate UK, joining Cranfield University and building an active portfolio career.

Sir Iain shares candid insights on:

✈️ Leaving behind the comfort of technical expertise
🔍 Why curiosity—and the courage to ask questions—drives innovation
🤝 Leading people whose expertise differs from your own
🚪 Recognising the small, unexpected opportunities that can shape a career
🔄 Why stepping out of your comfort zone is so important
🤖 Why we should engage with AI as a tool rather than fear it

If you are considering a career change, stepping into an unfamiliar role or wondering how to stay adaptable in a fast-changing world, this episode offers practical advice from an extraordinary career.

📩 If you have a funny work‑related story or want to get in touch with the show, contact us at: ⁠⁠dogatestrategy@gmail.com⁠⁠

🎞️ Created and Produced by YRAG Productions

Change is something we all experience — sometimes by choice, and sometimes when life or work simply shifts around us.

In a Special International Edition of the show, we are treated to two special guests. Juli Miller joins the show as a guest panellist.

Juli shares her perspective on the challenges facing the US job market and speaks openly about a major career change, including how she navigated the emotional side of that transition.

Keeping the change theme going, our special guest is, Marion Eppinger, founder of HR Passionista, and she talks about how we can all handle change with a little more confidence, honesty and humanity.

Marion brings warmth, experience and practical insight from her international HR career, sharing why real change is about much more than plans, processes and big announcements. Together, the conversation explores why people can struggle with uncertainty, how leaders can build trust, and why listening, involvement and empathy matter so much when organisations are asking people to move forward.

It’s a thoughtful and very human conversation about work, leadership, resilience, AI and the future and the enduring importance of human skills such as judgement, creativity, trust-building and the ability to help others help themselves.

📩 Got a funny work‑related story? Send it to ⁠dogatestrategy@gmail.com⁠

🎞️ Created and Produced by YRAG Productions

In this special episode called, Never Lose Hope, Gary Cox and David Johnson are joined by Kateryna Valian for a deeply human conversation about resilience, displacement and the courage it takes to rebuild a life more than once.

Kateryna’s story begins in Donetsk in 2014, when armed occupation changed daily life overnight and she made the difficult decision to leave her home for Kyiv. What she thought might be a temporary move became the start of a much longer journey, as she adapted to a new city, new work, and the painful reality that going home was no longer simple.

Kateryna then shares how life changed again in February 2022, when she recognised the sound of bombing in Kyiv and the full-scale invasion forced her to face displacement for a second time.

This episode also explores the practical and emotional realities of starting again: learning a new job market, rebuilding confidence, being separated from her husband in Kyiv and living with grief.

Throughout the conversation, Kateryna speaks with remarkable honesty and positivity, describing how support from ordinary people, including her UK host Jane, helped her take the next steps towards independence and work.

Never Lose Hope with Kateryna Valian is a moving reminder that behind every headline are individual people making impossible choices, finding unexpected kindness and trying to build a future one day at a time.

To support Kateryna, you can contact her on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kateryna-missiga-valian.

📩 Got a funny work‑related story? Send it to ⁠dogatestrategy@gmail.com⁠

🎞️ Created and Produced by YRAG Productions