Spoken

Dr Eliza Filby continues to crush it, we can’t wait to see where she goes now that she’s completed Goalhanger’s Creator Accelerator programme 🚀🚀

A pleasure to work with Jamil Qureshi, who's yet again done a fantastic job for Astellas Pharma. No surprises there!

Delighted to be in Dublin today at the fabulous Clontarf Castle, speaking for the Ireland and Benelux team from Astellas Pharma. A pleasure to open their second talking about 'creating a culture of growth in a time of change'. Thank you to Harry Whitbread at Spoken for getting us together, and Katya Korotaeva for all the organising #pharma #biotech #highperformance

Our incredible Lyndsey Simpson has been making waves around the world with her new Sunday Times bestseller, The Age Rebellion! It’s time to retire the term “retirement.”

What a privilidge to be in the room with such fantastic insight

What if you became addicted to the feeling of being way out of your depth? You might become unstoppable. The Tempest Two have built their resilience by voluntarily choosing to do seemingly-impossible things, whether it be rowing across the Atlantic or climbing El Capitan. By deliberately putting ourselves in situations that are uncomfortable, demanding or unfamiliar, we become more accustomed to challenge itself. Over time, that response can become less overwhelming and more manageable. There’s research backing their approach too. In 2019, a study into the anterior mid-cingulate cortex (AMCC), a part of the brain associated with willpower, tenacity and our response to stress, suggests that it can be strengthened through doing things we would instinctively avoid (https://lnkd.in/eWTeQh9J). This doesn’t require extreme challenges: it can be exercising when you don’t feel like it, getting outside in bad weather, or having the difficult conversation you’ve been putting off. Resilience isn’t an innate trait, it’s a muscle. 💡Tom Caulfield & James Whittle

For many business leaders, understanding Gen Z can feel unnecessarily complicated.   NextGen Strategy Consultant Jenk Oz, FRSA argues that much of the confusion comes from trying to make an entire generation neat, predictable and easy to define.   Gen Z spans people at very different stages of life, with their priorities, pressures and purchasing decisions evolving rapidly. Treating them as one homogenous audience risks missing what actually matters.   What can look like inconsistency is often something much more familiar: people changing their minds, reassessing what they value and working out who they want to be.   For leaders, the challenge may not be finding the perfect label or formula for Gen Z. It may be building organisations, brands and cultures that are responsive enough to evolve with them. 💡Jenk Oz, Founder & CEO of Thred Media

As September brings fuller calendars and heavier workloads, confidence can take a knock; no matter how senior or experienced you are. Professor of Financial Economics and author of "Ignite" Neeltje van Horen reminds us that progression often brings greater complexity. As our careers advance, the decisions become harder, the stakes get higher and the answers less obvious. Yet it’s easy to misread that challenge as evidence that we’re somehow less capable. The real skill is learning to separate what we know from the stories we tell ourselves. Doubt may be real, but the conclusion that we’re underqualified, out of our depth or simply not good enough does not necessarily follow. Sometimes confidence feels harder precisely because the work matters more.

The best leaders don’t cling to the plan. They stay committed to the outcome. For The Tempest Two, adaptability has been essential to taking on challenges that ranged from rowing the Atlantic to climbing El Capitan as complete beginners. Their approach is deceptively simple: Assess. Adapt. Action. For leaders and teams, the lesson is just as relevant. Strategy rarely unfolds exactly as expected. Priorities shift, conditions change and new information emerges. The advantage lies not in predicting every obstacle, but in recognising change quickly, adjusting intelligently and keeping momentum. Because adaptability isn’t about abandoning the goal. It’s about knowing when the route needs to change. The Tempest Two speak on resilience, adaptability, high-performing teams and what it takes to turn ambitious goals into action. Tom Caulfield James Whittle