As the world gets hotter, how is it changing our brains? In this episode of The Evolving Leader, co-hosts Jean Gomes and Scott Allender are joined by neuroscientist and author Clayton Aldern to explore how environmental shifts (especially climate change) are quietly reshaping our minds, behaviours, and capacity for decision-making. Drawing from his acclaimed book The Weight of Nature, Clayton explains how heat, trauma, and ecological instability are influencing everything from memory and empa...

In this episode of The Evolving Leader, Jean Gomes and Scott Allender are joined by renowned philosopher and theologian Alister McGrath to explore one of the most timeless and urgent questions: Why do we believe? Drawing on insights from his new book, Why We Believe: Finding Meaning in Uncertain Times, McGrath reflects on the nature of belief, the human need for meaning, and how our convictions shape who we are and how we lead. The conversation takes us from McGrath’s early journey through sc...

What if leadership isn’t just about performance, but about character? In this episode of The Evolving Leader, we’re joined by Dr. Ed Brooks, Executive Director of the Oxford Character Project and co-editor of the new book The Arts of Leading. With hosts Jean Gomes and Emma Sinclair, Ed explores how cultivating human character, hope, courage, humility, and clarity, can provide the deep stability today’s leaders urgently need. We discuss the difference between optimism and hope, why virtu...

In this compelling episode of The Evolving Leader, we sit down with Mike Mears, former CIA leadership head and author of "Certainty: How Great Bosses Can Change Minds and Drive Innovation." Mike shares powerful insights from his extraordinary career – from his days as a combat platoon leader and nuclear missile commander to his transformative work at GE and the CIA. Discover how his relentless curiosity led him to question conventional leadership practices, the pivotal moments that reshaped h...

It's no secret that the world is changing rapidly (perhaps faster than many of us appreciate) and this demands a new kind of leadership. But is your ego holding back your ability to evolve and lead effectively? In this episode, co-hosts Jean Gomes and Scott Allender are in conversation with business philosopher, consultant and author of ‘Ego Flip: How to Reset Your Leadership Life’, James Woodcock. The conversation goes beyond theory, exploring practical ways to understand your own perspectiv...

In this bonus episode of The Evolving Leader, host Jean Gomes speaks with Damian Lowe, a senior software engineer at Symphony AI. They discuss how many of us have moved beyond the initial reactions to services like ChatGPT towards a current phase focused on experimenting, learning, and building. Damian shares that for programmers, AI tools like large language models (LLMs) are already providing a tangible 10-20% productivity gain for tasks like code suggestions and reviews, noting that both t...

This week on The Evolving Leader is a double celebration – after more than 4 years and 190 episodes, we are thrilled to release our first in-person episode where co-hosts Jean Gomes and Scott Allender (usually sat thousands of miles apart) were together with guest, the renowned science writer Caroline Williams. Long term listeners will remember that we spoke to Caroline way back in season 2, and we are so pleased that Caroline agreed to come back and talk to us again, this time about her work...

In this episode of The Evolving Leader podcast, co-hosts Jean Gomes and Scott Allender talk to Nicky Lowe. Nicky started her career working for a Silicon Valley tech company during the lead up to Y2K, where the financial rewards were great but for many their own wellbeing was secondary. After having her first child Nicky experienced burnout on her return to work, as she says ‘underestimating the psychosocial factors that impact women - especially mothers in the workplace’. Nicky became ...

During this episode of The Evolving Leader podcast, co-hosts Jean Gomes and Scott Allender discuss the pervasive issue of misinformation and its implications for society with Professor Sander van der Linden. Sander is Professor of Social Psychology in Society in the Department of Psychology at the University of Cambridge and Director of the Cambridge Social Decision-Making Lab and has also held posts at Princeton and Yale University. His research interests centre around the psychology of huma...

In this bonus episode of The Evolving Leader podcast, host Scott Allender talks to Enneagram Practitioner, Leadership Consultant, and Author Stephanie Barron Hall. During the episode, Stephanie explains what the Enneagram is, how people new to the Enneagram might approach it and how it can be applied to teams in the workplace. Stephanie is the author of 'Enneagram In Real Life - Find Your Type and Take Steps Toward Growth' Further reading from Stephanie Barron Hall: Get your copy of E...

During this episode of The Evolving Leader podcast, co-hosts Jean Gomes and Scott Allender are in conversation with Dr Marc Brackett. As the founding director of the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence, Marc is professor in the Child Study Center at Yale, and author of the best-selling book 'Permission to Feel'. Marc’s next book ‘Dealing With Feeling – Use Your Emotions to Create the Life You Want’ is due for release in September 2025. An award-winning researcher for 25 years, Marc has pub...

In this episode of The Evolving Leader, co-hosts Jean Gomes and Emma Sinclair talk to CEO and Executive Transition advisor Ty Wiggins. He advises leading companies on leadership transitions and executive onboarding to ensure the accelerated paths to effectiveness and is one of only a handful of people globally with a PhD in senior leadership transitions. Ty is the author of ‘The New CEO – Lessons From CEOs on How to Start Well and Perform Quickly’ (Wiley, 2024). Other reading from Jean Gomes...

During this episode of The Evolving Leader podcast, co-hosts Jean Gomes and Scott Allender talk to Professor Neil Lawrence. Neil is one of the world’s most influential thinkers on the future of machine intelligence and the implications of what it means to be human. He’s the DeepMind Professor of Machine Learning at the University of Cambridge and a Visiting Professor at the University of Sheffield. In his book ‘The Atomic Human’, he explores the differences between AI and human intelligence. ...

During this episode of The Evolving Leader podcast, co-hosts Jean Gomes and Scott Allender are in conversation with Anant Nyshadham who’s work includes studying the effectiveness of firms in developing countries with the intention of accelerating economic development. Anant is an associate Professor in the Business Economics and Public Policy area of the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan and a research associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research. He is also an af...

In this bonus episode of The Evolving Leader podcast, co-hosts Sara Deschamps and Arjun Sahdev are in conversation with Tricia Brouk.Tricia is a dynamic director, producer, author and speaker who specializes in empowering leaders to find their voice and tell their stories. She is also the founder of The Big Talk Academy, where she helps individuals master the art of public speaking and storytelling and over 30 years she has directed numerous award-winning films and theatrical productions.Know...

In this episode of The Evolving Leader podcast, co-hosts Jean Gomes and Scott Allender talk to Professor Deborah Ancona about the importance of X-teams. These are a brand of team that emphasizes external outreach to stakeholders, extensive ties, expandable tiers, and flexible membership. The resulting X-teams are not only are able to adapt in ways that traditional teams are not, but they actually improve an organization’s ability to produce creative ideas and execute them increasing entrepren...

To kick off 2025, we’re releasing a conversation that Evolving Leader co-hosts Jean Gomes and Scott Allender had with Mark Weinstein. Mark is a tech entrepreneur, contemporary thought leader, privacy expert and one of the inventors of social networking. His work around social media, privacy, AI, free speech antitrust and protecting children online is widely published in publications including the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Fox, CNN and the BBC (to name but a few). Mark has been...

Back in 2020, we released a two-part conversation (S1 Ep15 and 16) with neuroscientist Dr Lisa Feldman Barrett. We’re long-time admirers of Lisa’s work and were thrilled that she agreed to join co-hosts Jean Gomes and Scott Allender to discuss her work on The Evolving Leader podcast. It’s also clear that Lisa Feldman Barrett’s work is a big hit with our listeners as four years after release these two episodes continue to sit at the top of our listener chart, so here we’ve decided to pull them...

This week on The Evolving Leader podcast, hosts Jean Gomes and Scott Allender spend an hour with Salim Ismail. In 2011, Salim Ismail co-wrote ‘Exponential Organizations’, a book that has since been widely read by CEOs who are looking for a new way to navigate uncertainty and embrace disruptive technologies and business models. In 2023 Salim and his co-authors updated the book and during this conversation he talks to Jean and Scott about ‘Exponential Organizations ExO 2.0’.Salim is also the fo...

During this episode of The Evolving Leader podcast, co-hosts Jean Gomes and Scott Allender are in conversation with Dr Dacher Kelter. Dacher is a professor of psychology at UC Berkeley and the director of the Greater Good Science Center. His pioneering research focuses on the cultural and evolutionary origins of compassion, awe, love, beauty, power, social class and social inequality. He has over 200 scientific publications and has written several books, the latest of which is Awe - The New S...