Podcasts about Sainsbury

In this episode, Gordon speaks with Heana Thakur, Head of Marketing for Argos Marketplace at Sainsbury's. Heana shares her unconventional career journey from discovering her passion for data-driven marketing in agency life to leading one of Sainsbury's largest transformation projects. Together, they explore career-defining decisions, the importance of great managers and company culture, what makes marketing genuinely valuable to customers, and why curiosity and critical thinking matter more than ever in the age of AI.Tune in to hear how Heana built a career by embracing uncertainty, following the data, and staying relentlessly customer-focused—from agency life to leading one of retail's most exciting transformation projects.

Amir Rasekh, Managing Director of Nectar360, joins That's What I Call Marketing to discuss customer insight, retail media, AI-powered measurement and how agentic commerce could change the way people shop.This episode explains how retail media has evolved from loyalty data, targeted coupons and direct mail into a sophisticated, measurable channel spanning in-store, onsite and offsite media.In this episode, we cover:– Why customer insight remains the foundation of effective retail media– How Nectar360 connects loyalty, insight and retail media in one customer-focused system– Why brands hold retail media to a higher measurement standard than traditional channels– How Nectar360 measures incrementality and multi-touch attribution across omnichannel campaigns– How its AI-powered Pollen platform makes campaign planning, creative production and measurement faster– What agentic commerce could mean for retailers, marketers and customer decision-making– Why AI should support better human relationships rather than remove the people involvedAmir also shares early results from Pollen, including 2.5 times more incremental sales from omnichannel campaigns and evidence that retail media can influence the middle and upper parts of the marketing funnel, rather than acting only as a conversion channel.The conversation also explores an important tension for marketers: technology can make retail media simpler, faster and more measurable, but clients still expect strong relationships, expertise and human judgement. A useful listen for marketers interested in customer insight, retail media, marketing measurement, AI in marketing, incrementality, omnichannel strategy and the future of commerce.Timestamps00:00 Introduction01:27 Amir Rasekh's career in retail and Sainsbury's04:34 Building an insight-led culture05:00 What Nectar360 does today06:06 Why retail media suddenly became so prominent07:18 The fundamentals of retail media08:52 Why measurement expectations are increasing10:28 Introducing Nectar360's Pollen platform12:15 Are marketers rigorous enough when testing campaigns?13:33 How AI accelerated retail media technology14:21 AI audience building, creative scoring and production14:38 Cutting creative production from weeks to 90 seconds14:59 Early results from omnichannel retail media16:10 Retail media as a brand-building channel17:05 How customer shopping behaviour is changing18:00 What agentic commerce means for retail20:03 Will consumers shop through ChatGPT and AI agents?22:16 Why physical stores still matter24:00 How Nectar360's teams are using AI25:16 Building AI literacy across an organisation25:47 Why clients do not want technology to replace people26:04 Closing thoughtsThat's What I Call Marketing is the podcast for marketers who care about brand, B2B, creativity, effectiveness and the future of the profession.Follow the show for more conversations with CMOs, marketing leaders, agency leaders, professors, authors, thinkers and practitioners.Find more episodes at: https://www.thatswhaticallmarketing.comThis Cannes Sessions episode is produced in partnership with The Digital Voice.Find out more at: https://www.thedigitalvoice.co.ukThat's What I Call Marketing is where marketers come for real conversations about brand, B2B, creativity, effectiveness and the future of the profession.Hosted by Conor Byrne, the show features conversations with CMOs, marketing leaders, agency leaders, authors, thinkers and practitioners about what good marketing looks like in practice.Listen, follow and find more episodes at: https://www.thatswhaticallmarketing.comConnect with Conor on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/conorbyrneirl/If you enjoy the show, please follow, subscribe and leave a review. It helps more marketers find the conversations. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

00:00 - Diljit is representing our history 05:30 - You can't criticise Diljit for what he does for Sikhs 07:55 - It's hard to watch Sikhs attacking Sikhs 11:50 - The Khalra family have only just given their permission 13:40 - What's the price you're willing to pay for truth? 16:10 - KPS Gill and the government 20:25 -Satluj was taken down within 48 hours24:28 - This story is a human rights breach 26:15 - These stories leave scars on people's mental state28:20 - Why is the Indian government so scared of people talking about 1984? 33:00 - Media blackouts, piracy and PlayStation 37:40 - The conversations move on quickly40:50 - This is the biggest genocide post 198442:15 - Indy was racially abused in Sainsbury's Follow Us On:Tik Tok - https://bit.ly/indy-and-dr-tik-tokInstagram - http://bit.ly/indy-and-dr-instaFacebook - http://bit.ly/indy-and-dr-facebookSpotify - http://bit.ly/indy-and-drAlso available at all podcasting outlets.#satluj #panjab95 #diljitdosanjh #diljit #honeytrehan

Our HostsLily Smith enjoys working as a consultant product manager with early-stage and growing startups and as a mentor to other product managers. She's currently Chief Product Officer at BBC Maestro, and has spent 13 years in the tech industry working with startups in the SaaS and mobile space. She's worked on a diverse range of products – leading the product teams through discovery, prototyping, testing and delivery. Lily also founded ProductTank Bristol and runs ProductCamp in Bristol and Bath.Randy Silver is a Leadership & Product Coach and Consultant. He gets teams unstuck, helping you to supercharge your results. Randy's held interim CPO and Leadership roles at scale-ups and SMEs, advised start-ups, and been Head of Product at HSBC and Sainsbury's. He participated in Silicon Valley Product Group's Coaching the Coaches forum, and speaks frequently at conferences and events. You can join one of communities he runs for CPOs (CPO Circles), Product Managers (Product In the {A}ether) and Product Coaches. He's the author of What Do We Do Now? A Product Manager's Guide to Strategy in the Time of COVID-19. A recovering music journalist and editor, Randy also launched Amazon's music stores in the US & UK.

A fun musical has just opened at the Arena theatre called Something Rotten and it is being presented by the Waterfront Theatre School. In People of Note this week, Rodney Trudgeon spoke to the founder and director of the Waterfront Theatre School, Delia Sainsbury who founded it with her husband Keith Galloway 34 years agao. People of Note – Sunday at 6pm and again on Thursday at midday. Brought to you by PTP. And Agatha Christie's thrilling play The Murder of Roger Ackroyd opens at Theatre on the Bay this week.

Charity Ibhadon is a Global Product Director at WPP, where she leads the development of an AI marketing tool. With 15 years in product — including three formative years at ASOS during its high-growth heyday — she came to the discipline via a decade in investment banking and an executive MBA. She has operated at VP and CPO level, leading large international teams across consumer technology and media.We discuss:— Why the explosion of product frameworks, books, and LinkedIn benchmarks has made it harder, not easier, to feel like you're doing the job well — regardless of seniority— How the physical symptoms of burnout can masquerade as markers of success, and why high-achieving women in particular are vulnerable to that misreading— What it actually takes to recover: stepping away, finding what your body needs outside of work, and stopping short of making your job your entire identity— Why being genuinely enjoyable to work with is a more durable career advantage than any certification or methodology— How the Eisenhower matrix — do, defer, delegate, delete — can be a practical daily tool for protecting energy, not just a poster on a wall— The case for "happy high status": remaining calm and unflappable under pressure as a learnable leadership behaviour, not a personality trait— Why commercial curiosity — understanding what moves the business and staying interested in the world — will matter more for long-term product careers than AI certificatesChapters:0:00 Introduction 1:29 Charity's background 4:00 Why product feels harder than ever 6:34 Why fun at work matters 8:45 Recognising burnout 10:25 When burnout feels like success 12:13 Finding your way back 16:18 Fun as a strategic advantage 18:00 Staying calm under pressure 22:26 The "CEO of the product" myth 22:41 Mindset for a long career in product 24:45 Building resilience 26:35 Wrap-upReferencedEisenhower matrix | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Priorit...Charity's keynote at #mtpcon London |    • Product is Hard. It should still be fun: C...  Our HostsLily Smith enjoys working as a consultant product manager with early-stage and growing startups and as a mentor to other product managers. She's currently Chief Product Officer at BBC Maestro, and has spent 13 years in the tech industry working with startups in the SaaS and mobile space. She's worked on a diverse range of products – leading the product teams through discovery, prototyping, testing and delivery. Lily also founded ProductTank Bristol and runs ProductCamp in Bristol and Bath.Randy Silver is a Leadership & Product Coach and Consultant. He gets teams unstuck, helping you to supercharge your results. Randy's held interim CPO and Leadership roles at scale-ups and SMEs, advised start-ups, and been Head of Product at HSBC and Sainsbury's. He participated in Silicon Valley Product Group's Coaching the Coaches forum, and speaks frequently at conferences and events. You can join one of communities he runs for CPOs (CPO Circles), Product Managers (Product In the {A}ether) and Product Coaches. He's the author of What Do We Do Now? A Product Manager's Guide to Strategy in the Time of COVID-19. A recovering music journalist and editor, Randy also launched Amazon's music stores in the US & UK.

Tampons in an Ice Cream TubIn this episode of Brand Growth Heroes, I'm joined by Tara Chandra and Susan Allen, co-founders of Here We Flo, the organic, sustainable period care brand turning one of the most shame-coded categories in consumer brands into something loud, funny, feminist and brilliantly visible on shelf. We talk about how two friends from LSE spotted a gap in women's intimate products, started with a period care idea in a Hackney flatshare, and built a challenger brand now stocked across major retailers including Boots, Tesco, Sainsbury's, Asda, Superdrug and Holland & Barrett.Here We Flo shows us the power of brand strategy to create value when the category ITSELF is broken. Tara and Susan didn't just create organic cotton tampons, pads and liners; they questioned why period care was hidden, clinical and functional when other parts of consumer life had already moved towards better materials, better design and better conversations. We cover packaging as a growth lever, why their ice cream tub became a “trolley magnet”, how they think about rate of sale rather than just chasing distribution, and why their mission now stretches across cycle care, bladder care and sexual wellness.What You'll Learn Why Here We Flo used packaging as their first “billboard” before they could afford media.  How starting in independent Hackney stores helped them build product market fit.  Why brand tone of voice matters so much in categories shaped by shame and stigma.  How they think about growing rate of sale with existing retail partners.  Why product reliability is non-negotiable in period care and bladder care. Key Topics Discussed Building a feminist challenger brand  Organic and sustainable period care  Packaging as a shelf strategy  Launching in independent retailers  Breaking into WHSmith Travel, Boots and Tesco  Making taboo categories emotionally accessible  Period care, bladder care and sexual wellness  Growing through rate of sale, not just distribution  Education on shelf and in-store communication  Sports partnerships, stigma and period confidence  Building a team of 31 women  Scaling towards 50–100% growth ambitions Like this episode? PLEASE share the love by sharing this episode with another founder building a challenger brand, a colleague or a mate who loves brilliant non-alcoholic drinks, or anyone trying to work out how to build a sharper, more focused growth model.Don't forget to FOLLOW or SUBSCRIBE to Brand Growth Heroes on your favourite podcast app, and even LEAVE A REVIEW - both of these actions make a MASSIVE difference to our mission to help more founders just like you.Join our community Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/brandgrowthheroes) LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/brand-growth-heroes/?viewAsMember=true) Youtube (https://www.youtube.com/@brandgrowthheroes)Find out more about the programmes and courses Fiona runs here (https://www.brandgrowthheroes.com/mini-mba-2026)AND Do you want to lean in to unlock value from AI? We have a whatsapp group -the  NextGen CPG WhatsApp group for founders leaning in to the value that a leadership approach to engaging with AI can unlock for businesses like yours. Do you want to join? *** A massive thanks thanks to Brand Growth Heroes' podcast sponsor -  Joelson, the commercial law firm ***If you're a founder, you already know how much energy goes into building the perfect product, creating standout branding and connecting with consumers.But scaling a CPG business also brings legal complexities that can make or break your growth journey - from contracts and regulatory compliance to protecting your intellectual property.That's why we're proud to partner with Joelson, the leading commercial law firm specialising in helping founders of scaling consumer brands.Joelson works with brands like Little Moons, Trip, Eat Natural, Bear Graze and Pulsin, and advised the innocent founders on their landmark sale to Coca-Cola - and still work with them at JamJar Investments today!Joelson is offering a FREE LEGAL CONSULTATION to all BGH listeners (mailto:hello@joelsonlaw.com) - we highly recommend you take them up on it!CREDITSThanks to our Sound Engineer Gyp Buggane at Ballagroove.com and all the rest of the Brand Growth Heroes team.

Episode 123 (04/07/26) – Unwanted feedback for Greg's music, Colin the Concierge, Steve O Hawking, YouTubers checking out Bruce Forsyth's old house, the return of the documentary 7 Up, the story of a great-grandmother who has been banned from all Sainsbury's and Argos stores, the director of 47 Ronin ripping off Netflix, Armie Hammer, Brian Gawkins (Football Manager), someone who spent £40,000 to go to the World Cup, the girl with 39 parasites in her brain, Craggy, recommendations, and a whole lot more!

In this episode of the AJ Bell Money and Markets podcast, Charlene Young and Sarah Coles discuss the dash for cash ISAs ahead of allowance changes, what Andy Burnham could mean for your money, the financial side of marriage amid rumours around Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce, why July matters for the self-employed, and JISA performance data. Meanwhile, 16-year old Tilly joins them to share her perspective on what should be done about lost Child Trust Funds. Dan Coatsworth rounds up the week's market news, including updates on Associated British Foods, Sainsbury's and gold, and speaks to Paul Niven from F&C Investment Trust about what recent market movements mean for investors.   [00:09] Intro [01:29] Associated British Foods results [02:48] Sainsburys Update [03:54] Gold loses its shine [05:03] Interview Paul Niven, manager of the F&C Investment Trust [12:43] What Andy Burnham's approach means for your money [19:52] The dash for cash ISAs continues [24:02] July deadline for self-employed [27:12] Taylor Swift and the benefits of marriage [35:06] Tooth Fairy inflation [38:13] Junior ISA performance [42:14] Lost child trust funds

Vonny Laing is a user-centred design lead at the Student Loans Company, part of the UK government, where she oversees a service used by millions of people at every stage of their higher education journey. She has held roles spanning UX design, content design, and head of design across both public and private sectors, and completed an MBA specifically to earn the language of business — and with it, a seat at the table where design decisions get made. We discuss why designing from the majority inward produces invisible failures, how flipping to an underserved-first model creates a halo effect for all users, and why government service assessments make the happy-path approach structurally untenable. Vonny shares how a single day of guerrilla research at a further education college surfaced a critical gap between student loan payments and universal credit eligibility that years of data had never revealed — and why synthetic users can never replicate that. We also get into her "eat your greens" principle for designing across a user's whole life; the case for disaster thinking over happy-path optimism; how stories and verbatims move executives more reliably than dashboards; and why designers who learn to speak business become a secret weapon in any organisation.Chapters:(00:53) Welcome and introductions (01:23) Vonny background (02:10) Moving fast in the civil service (04:02) The UK government digital community (05:05) The pyramid model (07:03) Underserved versus edge case users (08:09) Designing at population scale (09:43) Service assessments and design accountability (11:01) Discovery research methodology (13:25) Finding users invisible in the data (16:22) Bridging gaps you cannot fix (18:42) Eat your greens: needs versus wants (20:07) Designing for users over time (21:04) Worst-case scenario thinking (22:11) Mining complaint logs and prioritising (25:47) Why synthetic users fall short (28:12) Where automated testing has a role (29:19) Leave the building: guerrilla research (33:03) Communicating research through storytelling (36:29) Why Vonnie did an MBA (39:03) Design's ceiling in organisations (42:04) Wrap-upOur HostsLily Smith enjoys working as a consultant product manager with early-stage and growing startups and as a mentor to other product managers. She's currently Chief Product Officer at BBC Maestro, and has spent 13 years in the tech industry working with startups in the SaaS and mobile space. She's worked on a diverse range of products – leading the product teams through discovery, prototyping, testing and delivery. Lily also founded ProductTank Bristol and runs ProductCamp in Bristol and Bath.Randy Silver is a Leadership & Product Coach and Consultant. He gets teams unstuck, helping you to supercharge your results. Randy's held interim CPO and Leadership roles at scale-ups and SMEs, advised start-ups, and been Head of Product at HSBC and Sainsbury's. He participated in Silicon Valley Product Group's Coaching the Coaches forum, and speaks frequently at conferences and events. You can join one of communities he runs for CPOs (CPO Circles), Product Managers (Product In the {A}ether) and Product Coaches. He's the author of What Do We Do Now? A Product Manager's Guide to Strategy in the Time of COVID-19. A recovering music journalist and editor, Randy also launched Amazon's music stores in the US & UK.

Recorded live at #mtpcon London, Lily sits down with Emily Tate — former MD of Mind the Product for a broad debrief on the day's themes. They cover why product and design may matter more in an AI world than ever before, how heritage organisations can navigate transformation without the luxury of greenfield conditions, and what it actually takes to get internal stakeholders on side. Emily also makes a case for why SaaS isn't dead, why positioning fundamentals haven't changed despite the AI frenzy, and why remote work is draining the fun out of product teams.Chapters0:00 — Intro1:00 — The state of AI in product: still an inflection point3:18 — AI is a technology, not a moat4:57 — Keeping the humanity in product work6:13 — Advice for PMs new to the industry8:38 — Why conferences need both practical and inspirational talks10:24 — How to start speaking: find your local ProductTank13:46 — You don't need a novel idea to give a great talk16:01 — Charity Ibhadon's talk: product is hard, but it should be fun16:19 — Remote work and the slow erosion of joy at work19:15 — Innovating inside heritage organisations21:39 — Stop trying to educate stakeholders about product24:06 — April Dunford on positioning: what AI changes, and what it doesn't27:00 — The SaaS-pocalypse myth28:47 — Predictions: 12–18 more months of heavy AI talk30:59 — Filtering signal from noise: where Emily reads31:40 — Eric Ries' Incorruptible and building companies that resist corruptionKey takeawaysIf your only moat is AI, you don't have a moat. AI is a capability, not a product. The question is how you're using it to serve customers better than you could before — not whether you're using it at all.Building is no longer the bottleneck — deciding what to build is. That shift makes strong product and design thinking more important, not less.Stop trying to teach stakeholders about product. Drop the methodology, use their language, show them something tangible, and bring them along in ways that make sense to them — not to you.SaaS has a defensible edge. Products built on experience across hundreds of customers carry knowledge that a single company building its own solution can't replicate. That's a positioning story worth telling.Positioning fundamentals haven't changed. Sprinkling AI on your messaging doesn't sharpen it. Outside of tech, leading with AI can actively damage trust.You don't need a novel idea to give a great talk. Your version of a familiar concept might be the one that finally makes it click for someone. Start at a local ProductTank.Don't try to be someone else on stage. Find your style by doing it. Authenticity beats borrowed charisma.Remote work is eroding team joy in ways we're not measuring. The informal moments that build relationships and make work fun don't happen on Slack or in back-to-back video calls — and the resulting friction is real.Featured links  Incorruptible by Eric Ries — https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/460881/incorruptible-by-ries-eric/9780241692028The Decision Stack by Martin Eriksson — thedecisionstack.comChristian Idiodi — Silicon Valley Product GroupApril Dunford — aprildunford.comFind your local ProductTank — producttank.comMind the Product — mindtheproduct.comOur HostsLily Smith enjoys working as a consultant product manager with early-stage and growing startups and as a mentor to other product managers. She's currently Chief Product Officer at BBC Maestro, and has spent 13 years in the tech industry working with startups in the SaaS and mobile space. She's worked on a diverse range of products – leading the product teams through discovery, prototyping, testing and delivery. Lily also founded ProductTank Bristol and runs ProductCamp in Bristol and Bath.Randy Silver is a Leadership & Product Coach and Consultant. He gets teams unstuck, helping you to supercharge your results. Randy's held interim CPO and Leadership roles at scale-ups and SMEs, advised start-ups, and been Head of Product at HSBC and Sainsbury's. He participated in Silicon Valley Product Group's Coaching the Coaches forum, and speaks frequently at conferences and events. You can join one of communities he runs for CPOs (CPO Circles), Product Managers (Product In the {A}ether) and Product Coaches. He's the author of What Do We Do Now? A Product Manager's Guide to Strategy in the Time of COVID-19. A recovering music journalist and editor, Randy also launched Amazon's music stores in the US & UK.

In this episode of Eat Sleep Wine Repeat, Janina is joined by Natalie Christensen, Chief Winemaker at Yealands, to explore one of the world's most recognised wine regions: Marlborough in New Zealand. Together they dive into the differences between the Wairau Valley and Awatere Valley, uncovering how climate, soils and geography create remarkably different expressions of Sauvignon Blanc. From aroma compounds and winemaking decisions to sustainability, sub-regionality and the future of New Zealand wine, this episode is packed with insights for anyone looking to learn about wine, deepen their wine education, understand wine grapes and discover why Marlborough deserves to be considered alongside the great wine regions of the world. There is also plenty of inspiration for wine travel, with Natalie sharing what visitors can expect when exploring the stunning Yealands vineyards on New Zealand's South Island. Shownotes 03:12 – Discovering Marlborough — Natalie introduces New Zealand's most famous wine region and explains what makes the Awatere Valley so unique. 04:15 – Vineyard location matters — how close Yealands' vines sit to the dramatic coastal cliffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean. 07:17 – Awatere vs Wairau Valley — temperature differences, diurnal shifts and how climate shapes wine styles. 08:20 – Why Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc is so intense — sunlight, climate and natural vineyard conditions behind its famous aromatic profile. 09:47 – Thiols and methoxypyrazines explained — the aroma compounds that define Sauvignon Blanc and how winemakers influence them. 11:40 – Can Sauvignon Blanc age? Exploring the surprising ageability of Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc and how its character evolves over time. 14:26 – Understanding the Yealands range — from the flagship Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc to Reserve, Single Vineyard and the iconic L5 Block. 16:04 – Tasting Yealands Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2025 — Janina's tasting notes and what makes this classic New Zealand wine style so appealing. (Retails around £10: Asda, Sainsbury's, Tesco, Morrisons, Ocado) 17:10 – What makes the Reserve different? Natalie explains the vineyard selection and winemaking decisions behind the Yealands Reserve Sauvignon Blanc 2024 (Retails around £12.50: Sainsbury's, Tesco, Ocado, Morrisons, Waitrose) 20:44 – Expression of grape or expression of place? Why Sauvignon Blanc may be one of the best wine grapes for showcasing terroir. 22:07 - Tasting Yealands Estate Single Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc 2024 (Retailer: ND Johns - £15.50) 25:41 – Tasting Yealands Estate L5 Block 2024 — Yealands' most coastal vineyard site and a Sauvignon Blanc that truly captures a sense of place. (Retailer: ND Johns - £19.45) 33:09 – Yeast selection and fermentation — how different yeast strains influence flavour, texture and aromatic expression. 33:21 – X5 and Delta yeasts — the strains most commonly associated with enhancing Sauvignon Blanc's signature aromatic profile. 37:07 – Babydoll sheep and sustainability — the famous miniature sheep helping manage the vineyards naturally. 38:39 – Sustainability beyond the sheep — cover crops, biodiversity and vineyard practices that improve both wine quality and environmental outcomes. 39:49 – Carbon-positive ambitions — how Yealands is reducing its carbon footprint through renewable energy, lightweight bottles and innovative logistics. 41:55 – Sauvignon New Zealand 2027 — Natalie shares details of the upcoming international celebration of New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc. 42:56 – The future of Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc — sub-regions, site-specific wines and the rise of boutique producers. 43:50 – Wine travel in New Zealand — what visitors should experience when exploring Yealands and the Awatere Valley. 44:53 – The White Road Tour — scenic viewpoints, wildlife, vineyards and one of New Zealand's most memorable winery experiences. 45:52 – Why visiting vineyards changes everything — how standing among the vines transforms your understanding of Sauvignon Blanc. 46 :37 – One final takeaway — why Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc is far more diverse than many wine lovers realise.  

Lindsey Jayne is an independent product adviser and coach, and former chief product officer at the Financial Times. She began her career at the Government Digital Service, where she stumbled into product management by chasing someone down a corridor holding a MacBook that actually worked. What followed was 15 years moving through startups, scaleups, and ultimately one of Britain's most storied media institutions.Chapters00:00 — Introduction01:08 — Lindsey's origin story: from a broken government laptop to product management02:48 — Why product managers burn out: accountability without authority05:34 — Influencing stakeholders using discovery skills07:19 — What leaders can do to clear the way for their product teams08:44 — Stakeholder mapping: the influence and interest framework09:41 — Recognising burnout signals in your team at scale11:16 — Balancing passion and sustainability: when enthusiasm becomes a pattern14:16 — When to transition from individual contributor to product leader16:24 — Product reviews and cross-team knowledge sharing18:42 — How to communicate effectively with senior stakeholders20:40 — Career-defining advice: you don't have to die on every hill21:43 — Half your job is landing the product, not just building it22:25 — The most common mistake junior product managers make24:05 — How to tell your story after a difficult or toxic company exitOur HostsLily Smith enjoys working as a consultant product manager with early-stage and growing startups and as a mentor to other product managers. She's currently Chief Product Officer at BBC Maestro, and has spent 13 years in the tech industry working with startups in the SaaS and mobile space. She's worked on a diverse range of products – leading the product teams through discovery, prototyping, testing and delivery. Lily also founded ProductTank Bristol and runs ProductCamp in Bristol and Bath.Randy Silver is a Leadership & Product Coach and Consultant. He gets teams unstuck, helping you to supercharge your results. Randy's held interim CPO and Leadership roles at scale-ups and SMEs, advised start-ups, and been Head of Product at HSBC and Sainsbury's. He participated in Silicon Valley Product Group's Coaching the Coaches forum, and speaks frequently at conferences and events. You can join one of communities he runs for CPOs (CPO Circles), Product Managers (Product In the {A}ether) and Product Coaches. He's the author of What Do We Do Now? A Product Manager's Guide to Strategy in the Time of COVID-19. A recovering music journalist and editor, Randy also launched Amazon's music stores in the US & UK.

Tim Harford investigates some of the numbers in the news. This week:(00:31) Claims have circulated on the internet that Europe sees a particularly high number of deaths from heat waves, especially when compared to the US. Can we really compare the statistics, and is air conditioning a silver bullet?(06:59) Sainsbury's are making the switch from brown to white eggs, on the basis of claims about their carbon footprint - but how do you work this out? We talk to an egg man about eggs. A lot.(13:56) Are Conservative MPs frit? That's what a Labour MP thinks after a recent PMQs saw no Conservative backbenchers ask a question. Are they really afraid to ask Keir Starmer a question? Or is it just probability?(19:20) In a series full of Welsh twists, another Welsh twist; have we been guilty of drastically underestimating the area of Wales by failing to account for its majestic mountains and plunging valleys? Topography is top of mind for our top team.More or Less is the programme that looks at numbers and statistics in news and in life. We're always looking for questions from listeners - you can contact us on moreorless@bbc.co.uk.Guests:Gary Ford - policy advisor at the British Free Range Egg Producers Association Dr Laura Graham - computational and spatial ecologist at the University of Birmingham Dr  Jen Visser Rogers - statistician and chief scientific officer at Coronado Research.Special guest appearance:Elis JamesPresenter: Tim Harford Series Producer: Tom Colls Reporter: Lizzy McNeill Producers: Nathan Gower, Josh McMinn Editor: Richard Vadon Programme Coordinator: Brenda Brown Sound Engineer: Neil Churchill

Tim Harford investigates some of the numbers in the news. This week:(00:31) Claims have circulated on the internet that Europe sees a particularly high number of deaths from heat waves, especially when compared to the US. Can we really compare the statistics, and is air conditioning a silver bullet?(06:59) Sainsbury's are making the switch from brown to white eggs, on the basis of claims about their carbon footprint - but how do you work this out? We talk to an egg man about eggs. A lot. (13:56) Are Conservative MPs frit? That's what a Labour MP thinks after a recent PMQs saw no Conservative backbenchers ask a question. Are they really afraid to ask Keir Starmer a question? Or is it just probability? (19:20) In a series full of Welsh twists, another Welsh twist; have we been guilty of drastically underestimating the area of Wales by failing to account for its majestic mountains and plunging valleys? Topography is top of mind for our top team.More or Less is the programme that looks at numbers and statistics in news and in life. We're always looking for questions from listeners - you can contact us on moreorless@bbc.co.uk.Guests: Gary Ford - policy advisor at the British Free Range Egg Producers Association Dr Laura Graham - computational and spatial ecologist at the University of Birmingham Dr  Jen Visser Rogers - statistician and chief scientific officer at Coronado Research. Special guest appearance: Elis JamesPresenter: Tim Harford Series Producer: Tom Colls Reporter: Lizzy McNeill Producers: Nathan Gower, Josh McMinn Editor: Richard Vadon Programme Coordinator: Brenda Brown Sound Engineer: Neil Churchill

What does it actually take to build a brand that survives the modern internet? In this episode, we sit down with Ankit, a seasoned marketing agency founder, to pull back the curtain on the messy, unglamorous reality of Indian business.Ankit Saraf is the Founder of Meraqi Digital, one of Eastern India's leading and fastest-growing independent digital marketing consulting agencies based in Kolkata. A visionary marketer, Ankit holds a Master's in Advertising and Design from the University of Leeds and brings over 13 years of cross-continental experience to the table. Before turning entrepreneur, he spent nearly a decade in London working with top-tier global agencies, leading highly impactful digital portfolios for iconic multinational giants including Budweiser, AB InBev Global, Sainsbury's, Procter & Gamble, and Olay. Driven by a desire to bring world-class marketing standards and international work culture to his hometown, he returned to India in 2016. Launching Meraqi Digital under challenging circumstances with an initial capital of just ₹20,000 in a small room, Ankit scaled the business rapidly, crossing ₹1 crore in revenue within 2.5 years. Today, he leads a robust, multi-award-winning team of over 40 digital natives, orchestrating digital transformations and growth strategy mandates for heavyweights like the RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group, WOW! Momo, Emami Group, and ITC Limited.From the toxic trap of chasing short-term viral trends to why legacy "boring" businesses quietly make the most money in India, this conversation is a masterclass for every modern founder, D2C marketer, and next-gen family business owner. If you are tired of surface-level startup advice and want real, data-backed insights on what actually drives sales and consumer sentiment, this episode is for you.Key Takeaways From This Episode:The Quick Commerce Illusion: Why the highly visible D2C brands you see all over social media are secretly bleeding money under the hood, while unsexy traditional businesses are booking massive profits.The Pan-India Scaling Trap: Why burning limited capital to target all of India on day one is a recipe for failure, and how to successfully build hyper-local validation first.Next-Gen Family Business Friction: A practical, zero-BS guide for young founders on how to introduce digital marketing to traditional parents without disrupting the legacy systems that already work.The "Fickle" Modern Marketer: Why chasing every single internet algorithm trend is ruining brand identity, and how legacy giants maintain deep consumer connections over decades.The Reality of AI in Agencies: How artificial intelligence is actively changing agency workflows, why it excels at boring data crunching, and why it will never replace raw human creative emotion.

Live from the floor at Blue Yonder ICON 2026, host Gaven Simon sits down with Tab Dayani to discuss the critical intersection of sustainability, logistics technology, and global supply chains. As regulations tighten and businesses move past surface-level marketing, Tab breaks down how global leaders like Sainsbury's and Pepsi are embedding environmental metrics directly into their daily planning and execution workflows. Tune in to hear how the newly rebranded Logistics Emissions Calculator (LEC) is changing the game, why the financial business case for ESG remains bulletproof, and how companies can optimize for the planet without sacrificing profitability. --------------------------------------------------------------------------Would you like to be a guest on our growing podcast? If you have an intriguing, thought provoking topic you'd like to discuss on our podcast, please contact our host Jim Frazer or Our Producer Tom CabotView all the episodes here: https://thesustainabilitypodcast.buzzsprout.com

Local news from Chester, including Mid Cheshire Line Music Train is transport reimagined, Chester hospital NHS teams help prepare for emergencies, Chester FC confirm key dates for 2026/27 season, Sainsbury's to stop selling brown eggs in major eco shake up, All you need to know ahead of Midsummer Watch Parade, History of Mecca bingo building as first super cinema. (Duration: 2:25:20)

Our HostsLily Smith enjoys working as a consultant product manager with early-stage and growing startups and as a mentor to other product managers. She's currently Chief Product Officer at BBC Maestro, and has spent 13 years in the tech industry working with startups in the SaaS and mobile space. She's worked on a diverse range of products – leading the product teams through discovery, prototyping, testing and delivery. Lily also founded ProductTank Bristol and runs ProductCamp in Bristol and Bath.Randy Silver is a Leadership & Product Coach and Consultant. He gets teams unstuck, helping you to supercharge your results. Randy's held interim CPO and Leadership roles at scale-ups and SMEs, advised start-ups, and been Head of Product at HSBC and Sainsbury's. He participated in Silicon Valley Product Group's Coaching the Coaches forum, and speaks frequently at conferences and events. You can join one of communities he runs for CPOs (CPO Circles), Product Managers (Product In the {A}ether) and Product Coaches. He's the author of What Do We Do Now? A Product Manager's Guide to Strategy in the Time of COVID-19. A recovering music journalist and editor, Randy also launched Amazon's music stores in the US & UK.

Cover Host Alex is joined by Comedian Tom Sainsbury to chirp about Tom's gig as a Bird Call Competition judge at FAM this weekend, and Tom's upcoming dance show, Sharp Teeth, next month.  

El fracaso del caza europeo expone la debilidad de la defensa de la UE en un momento en el que Europa trata de dotarse de mayor soberanía en defensa. Airbus y otras siete empresas aeroespaciales y de defensa habrían propuesto una alianza para sustituir el fallido proyecto franco-alemán del avión de combate. El Consejo de Estabilidad Financiera publica un informe en el que propone un conjunto de doce pautas para que los bancos, aseguradoras y gestoras de activos adopten la inteligencia artificial en su operativa de forma responsable. Algunos de los minoristas más grandes del Reino Unido como Marks & Spencer, Sainsbury's y Tesco planean escribir al primer ministro instándolo a abordar la crisis del desempleo juvenil. Y La UE inicia su propia investigación en el proceso de fusión entre Paramount y Warner Bros. Bruselas sigue así los pasos del Reino Unido que ha anunciado este martes su propio proceso para esclarecer si la operación cumple o no las leyes de competencia en el país. Entrevistamos a Joaquín García, experto hipotecario de Wypo, para analizar la decisión de tipos de mañana jueves del BCE y cómo puede afectar a hipotecados, ahorradores y consumidores.

In 2025, Cannes Lions was dampened by controversy after three awards were withdrawn over fabrication of case studies and concerns around their legitimacy.DM9's “Efficient way to pay” was retracted after the DDB agency was caught using AI to fabricate news coverage and misleading the jury. Two others Lions were also removed from the agency. In response, Cannes Lions updated the entry process and introduced a set of "integrity standards" to ban agencies for up to three years that submit "wilfully false" campaigns.Campaign's UK editor Maisie McCabe recently spoke to Cannes Lions on the new awards process and "necessary" reset to the standards. In this episode, Campaign's editorial team discuss how the awards will be different this year, both for those that have entered and the juries that are judging them, and what the industry makes of the changes. Plus, the team reveal how the Cannes Lions is making efforts to reduce bias in the judging rooms. Hosted by tech and multimedia editor Lucy Shelley, this episode includes McCabe, creativity and culture editor Gurjit Degun and reporter Eszter Gurbicz. It was edited by Haymarket's producer Inga Marsden.Further reading:Cannes Lions retires Creative Company of the Year AwardDecade-old Sainsbury's ad used in Gut's 2024 Media Grand Prix-winning case studyCannes Lions entries rise 'reflecting strong global participation'Icaro Doria steps down as co-president and CCO of DM9 following Cannes controversyAdland's ‘New Year's' resolution should be to revive its integrity at Cannes LionsMaybe Cannes Lions isn't capable of picking all of the best work Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How do you like your eggs? Brown or white? Sainsbury's has announced it's switching to white eggs for environmental reasons.With high prices for energy and fertiliser but not for their crops, and after another dry spring, we ask how arable farmers in the UK are doing.Presented by Charlotte Smith and produced by Beatrice Fenton.

This week, Defra confirms England’s Sustainable Farming Incentive will reopen for applications on 30 June – but only for some farmers, and with questions over budget. Farm business adviser Katie Hilton explains the key changes in SFI 26, including land use caps, no-till rules and revised payment rates. We also examine a High Court ruling which could mean lower meat inspection charges for abattoirs, processors and livestock producers. And royal recognition for Open Farm Sunday which celebrates its 20th anniversary – we find out why even small events can help reconnect the public with farming. Podcast guests: * Katie Hilton, director, Cheffins* John Royle, NFU chief livestock policy adviser* Rachel Risdon, Devon farmer and Open Farm Sunday host Chapters 00:53 – Sustainable Farming Incentive12:59 – High Court ruling on meat inspection charges17:18 – Why small abattoirs matter to livestock farmers24:19 – Listener feedback on Red Tractor reform27:32 – Farmers Weekly Podcast Live at Cereals30:23 – Sainsbury’s white eggs and trailer safety33:53 – Market prices36:16 – Open Farm Sunday celebrates 20 years40:23 – Why public engagement matters43:11 – Closing remarks Useful links Sustainable Farming Incentive guidance Cheffins National Farmers Union Association of Independent Meat Suppliers British Meat Processors Association Food Standards Agency Open Farm Sunday LEAF Tilly Pass trailer safety Farmers Weekly stage at Cereals This episode of the Farmers Weekly Podcast is co-hosted by Johann Tasker, Louise Impey and Hugh Broom. Edited and produced by Johann Tasker. We love to hear from you: - Contact or follow Johann: linkedin.com/in/johanntasker/ Contact or follow Louise: linkedin.com/in/louise-impey-95470b20b/ Contact or follow Hugh: linkedin.com/in/hugh-broom-9b11906a/ For Farmers Weekly, visit fwi.co.uk or follow linkedin.com/company/farmers-weekly To contact, sponsor or advertise on the Farmers Weekly Podcast, email podcast@fwi.co.uk. In the UK, you can also text the word FARM followed by your message to 88 44 0. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dave Martin has spent more than two decades in product leadership, with a string of C-suite roles, a couple of exits and a book, The Product Momentum Gap, to his name. He is also dyslexic and ADHD, and has built a career while masking the effort it takes to "think normal". In this episode he makes the case that the advice handed to neurotypical leaders often fails the roughly half of tech workers who are neurodivergent, and lays out a practical playbook for landing your message, leading the room and progressing without pretending to be someone else. Chapters00:00) Welcome, and Dave's background in product(02:03) "I've been masking it": faking thinking normal(02:37) The meeting where your idea is ignored, then credited to someone else(03:28) AI as a "spell check for influence"(04:07) The myth that growth requires pretending to be neurotypical(05:15) Why standard leadership advice fails neurodivergent leaders(06:45) Executive presence, signal presence and signal drift(07:57) Is this universal, or specific to neurodivergence?(09:48) From "dumb kid" to writing C++ at ten(11:27) When a word processor flipped his Fs to As(13:24) The trap: leading with detail(15:42) The boardroom moment that gets you labelled "not strategic"(17:05) Designing for re-tell: what the room repeats when you leave(18:19) Three mistakes that kill your influence(19:36) The CALM framework(21:32) Authority and the signal prep exercise(22:14) Three questions: outcome, one-line recommendation, re-tell(24:44) "Minutes not months": seeding the line that gets repeated(26:56) Learning: vulnerability and psychological safety(28:27) Momentum, well-being and burnout(31:21) Why burnout is a leadership fault(32:01) Mia's story: the head of product who wanted to be CPO(34:20) Recognising the trigger and practising signal prep(37:06) When stakeholders started calling her strategic(38:31) The opposite trap: abandoning detail entirely(39:22) Why some leaders step back into IC roles(41:16) Free training and AI as your spell checker for influence(42:26) Closing thoughtsKey takeaways— Authenticity is not the goal; deliberate communication is. Dave's central provocation is that "be your authentic self" assumes everyone in the room thinks the way you do. For a leader who sees patterns instantly and works in deep, hyperfocused bursts, behaving authentically can mean failing to explain the obvious and struggling to empathise with those who need the journey, not just the destination.— The symptoms are universal, the tax is not. Everybody's message gets lost in meetings. What separates neurodivergent leaders is the cognitive cost of noticing that drift and correcting it. As Randy and Dave agree, the tools discussed here help everyone, but the impact is far larger for those paying the higher tax.— Leading with detail is the career trap. The very trait that makes someone an exceptional individual contributor, the ability to go deep and surface every edge case, can sink them in the boardroom. — Answer a strategic question with edge cases and you are labelled "not executive" with alarming speed, and undoing that label takes months of work.— CALM is the alternative. Clarity, authority, learning and momentum, delivered calmly. Authority comes from being clear on the outcome and the ask, asking for support and guidance rather than permission, and not feeling obliged to justify every edge case.— Signal prep is the practical tool. Three questions: what do I need from this room; what is my one-line recommendation; and what will they repeat when I am not in the room. A bonus question for higher-stakes meetings asks what the room feels now and how you want them to feel when you leave.— Design for re-tell. Dave's example of a leader who reduced a lengthy objective to "minutes not months for our customers", and repeated it, is the clearest illustration. That phrase, not someone else's reframe, is what got repeated in the room afterwards.— Well-being underpins momentum. Dave nearly named the framework around well-being. Without a sustainable pace, leaders cannot lead, and the unprocessed meeting that keeps you awake at 3am is a momentum problem. He frames widespread tech burnout as a leadership failure, because leaders set the expectation.— AI is a spell checker for influence. Just as a word processor turned Dave's Fs into As without changing his brain, AI tooling can help neurodivergent leaders translate their thinking into the right language for the room, supporting the communication without doing the thinking or the judgement for them.Our HostsLily Smith enjoys working as a consultant product manager with early-stage and growing startups and as a mentor to other product managers. She's currently Chief Product Officer at BBC Maestro, and has spent 13 years in the tech industry working with startups in the SaaS and mobile space. She's worked on a diverse range of products – leading the product teams through discovery, prototyping, testing and delivery. Lily also founded ProductTank Bristol and runs ProductCamp in Bristol and Bath.Randy Silver is a Leadership & Product Coach and Consultant. He gets teams unstuck, helping you to supercharge your results. Randy's held interim CPO and Leadership roles at scale-ups and SMEs, advised start-ups, and been Head of Product at HSBC and Sainsbury's. He participated in Silicon Valley Product Group's Coaching the Coaches forum, and speaks frequently at conferences and events. You can join one of communities he runs for CPOs (CPO Circles), Product Managers (Product In the {A}ether) and Product Coaches. He's the author of What Do We Do Now? A Product Manager's Guide to Strategy in the Time of COVID-19. A recovering music journalist and editor, Randy also launched Amazon's music stores in the US & UK.

(Rec: 11/11/20) A treehouse, a flat-selling power play, an arson threat, and Roland Bird goes to Sainsbury's. Join the Iron Filings Society: https://www.patreon.com/topflighttimemachine and on Apple Podcast Subscriptions. Get a 7-day full access free trial and pay for 10 months up front for the price of 12 if you like a bargain. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Barry O'Reilly is an entrepreneur, author, and founder of Nobody Studios, an early-stage venture studio focused on building AI companies. Over the last six years he has worked with founders, executives and enterprise leadership teams to rethink how organisations operate in the age of generative AI, while simultaneously building and launching companies inside the studio model.A former startup advisor and executive coach, Barry has spent the last several years studying why most AI transformations fail despite enormous investment. Through his coaching and advisory work with leaders from companies including American Airlines, Skyscanner, and Slack, Barry has developed practical frameworks for improving decision-making, reducing administrative overhead, and increasing what he calls "decision velocity".In this episode, Barry explains why AI adoption fails when companies focus on tools instead of behaviour change, why judgment is becoming the most important human skill, and how teams can use AI to improve collaboration rather than replace people.Key takeaways — Most AI transformations fail because organisations start with tools instead of behaviours. Installing AI software does not change how people work, make decisions or collaborate. — The most effective AI use cases amplify a person's natural way of working. Barry realised he produced better writing by talking through ideas and using transcription tools instead of forcing himself into traditional writing workflows. — Capturing meetings, conversations and decisions as structured data creates long-term organisational intelligence. Every interaction becomes a reusable asset that improves preparation, follow-through, and future decision-making. — Leaders must role-model AI adoption themselves. Organisations see better outcomes when executives openly experiment with tools, share lessons learned, and create psychological safety around adoption. — Decision velocity matters more than raw productivity. Teams improve when they arrive prepared, make decisions faster, reduce reversals, and spend more time solving meaningful problems instead of handling administration. — AI should be used to challenge thinking, not replace it. The most valuable prompts ask for blind spots, alternative scenarios, and pressure tests rather than definitive answers. — Teams working with AI outperform individuals working with AI. Barry cites research showing that collaborative ideation with AI produces significantly stronger outcomes than isolated use. — Productivity gains are meaningless if they simply create more exhaustion. The real opportunity is creating space for reflection, slow thinking, and better judgment. — Judgment is the critical human capability organisations cannot outsource. If people stop exercising judgment and rely entirely on AI-generated answers, they gradually erode their ability to make decisions under uncertainty.Chapters 1:03 — Building AI companies at Nobody Studios 3:16 — Why AI transformations fail 5:05 — The danger of focusing on tools 6:35 — Discovering natural workflows with AI 8:51 — Turning conversations into data assets 12:02 — Measuring successful AI adoption 13:14 — Why leaders must role-model behaviour change 18:39 — Decision velocity as a leadership metric 21:33 — Escaping administrative overload 23:02 — Why leaders need time to think 26:54 — What CFOs are worried about 28:08 — Can AI replace startup teams? 29:45 — Why distribution still matters most 33:13 — Capturing and synthesising ideas with AI 34:38 — Using AI to challenge your thinking 37:11 — Avoiding top-down AI-driven strategy 39:00 — Why teams plus AI outperform individuals 42:31 — The problem with AI-generated certainty 43:12 — Preserving human judgment 44:55 — Hiring for judgment and decision-making 47:19 — Final reflections on leadership and AIOur HostsLily Smith enjoys working as a consultant product manager with early-stage and growing startups and as a mentor to other product managers. She's currently Chief Product Officer at BBC Maestro, and has spent 13 years in the tech industry working with startups in the SaaS and mobile space. She's worked on a diverse range of products – leading the product teams through discovery, prototyping, testing and delivery. Lily also founded ProductTank Bristol and runs ProductCamp in Bristol and Bath.Randy Silver is a Leadership & Product Coach and Consultant. He gets teams unstuck, helping you to supercharge your results. Randy's held interim CPO and Leadership roles at scale-ups and SMEs, advised start-ups, and been Head of Product at HSBC and Sainsbury's. He participated in Silicon Valley Product Group's Coaching the Coaches forum, and speaks frequently at conferences and events. You can join one of communities he runs for CPOs (CPO Circles), Product Managers (Product In the {A}ether) and Product Coaches. He's the author of What Do We Do Now? A Product Manager's Guide to Strategy in the Time of COVID-19. A recovering music journalist and editor, Randy also launched Amazon's music stores in the US & UK.

In Part 1, John Fargher took us back to the beginning, exploring the early days of AgriWebb and the farming families who backed a young ag tech company long before the rest of the industry could see what it would become. If you haven't listened to that one yet, we recommend starting there.  In Part 2, the story gets bigger.  Because beneath the global partnerships and the rapid growth, this episode is really about how farming families move from recording the past to actually getting ahead of it.  At the centre of it all is still the farm business itself. The producer who knows their country better than anyone but is making critical decisions without the right information in front of them. The family navigating rising expectations around data, sustainability, succession, and performance, often without the tools or support to do it confidently.   John talks openly about the gap between what is possible and what most farming families are actually doing, and how AgriWebb's direct to farm model is closing that gap every day. Their collaboration with Figured takes it even further, finally connecting the operational and financial picture of a farm business in one place, so that the decisions being made on the ground are backed by the numbers that matter.  In this episode, we explore:  How AgriWebb's two-part business model works and why the enterprise model is unlocking value for farmers in ways the industry has never seen before  The Sainsbury's and ABP partnership, six years in, 500+ farms, and results th

Dan Ciruli is VP and General Manager of Cloud Native at Nutanix. A computer science graduate of UC Berkeley, Dan spent a decade in engineering before pivoting to product management in 2003, a role that barely had a name when he started. Since then he has held product leadership positions at EMC and Google, where he was part of the team that helped create Kubernetes and open source Google's cloud infrastructure.He was a founding member of the OpenAPI Initiative and a steering committee member for the Istio service mesh project, and has spent the last two decades with one foot in commercial product development and one in the open source community.In this episode, Dan explains why open source is not a charity exercise, how companies actually make money from code they give away for free, and what product managers get wrong when they tell their engineers to avoid it.Key takeaways— Open source is not crowdsourcing from individuals — much of the contribution comes from companies investing on the clock, because broad adoption benefits everyone more than proprietary lock-in.— The CNCF succeeded because it created a neutral space where the largest and smallest organisations felt equally safe contributing and consuming. That structure — not the code itself — is what made cloud native computing universal.— Being a product manager in open source requires the same core instinct as any other PM role: understanding the why. The difference is that your engineers may work for a competitor, and your roadmap is not entirely yours to control.— AI is multiplying the capability of both good actors and bad actors in open source security. The answer is not to slow adoption but to keep a credible human in the loop — someone with accumulated trust, judgement and accountability.— Before open sourcing your own work, be clear on how your company will make money, articulate it concisely for leadership, and then find at least one other organisation — even a competitor — willing to join you. A consortium signals a standard. A solo release signals a gamble.Chapters1:16 — From engineering to product management3:11 — Bridging open source and commercial work5:05 — The origin of Kubernetes at Google6:35 — How Nutanix embraces open source7:16 — The crowdsourcing misconception8:51 — Why the CNCF changed everything11:25 — Building a defensible moat in open source12:13 — The business models behind free code14:18 — Managing roadmaps you don't fully control15:04 — When your competitor writes your code16:04 — The CEO who wore his secrets around his neck18:13 — Developing an open source strategy19:37 — The one question every PM must ask22:44 — What is the CNCF?23:34 — AI, open source and the security arms race29:45 — Chop wood, carry water: the human in the loop31:48 — Advice for PMs running open source products33:15 — Harnessing a community you don't manage34:38 — Should you open source your own work?36:35 — How messy does it really get?39:33 — Linux is an anti-patternOur HostsLily Smith enjoys working as a consultant product manager with early-stage and growing startups and as a mentor to other product managers. She's currently Chief Product Officer at BBC Maestro, and has spent 13 years in the tech industry working with startups in the SaaS and mobile space. She's worked on a diverse range of products – leading the product teams through discovery, prototyping, testing and delivery. Lily also founded ProductTank Bristol and runs ProductCamp in Bristol and Bath.Randy Silver is a Leadership & Product Coach and Consultant. He gets teams unstuck, helping you to supercharge your results. Randy's held interim CPO and Leadership roles at scale-ups and SMEs, advised start-ups, and been Head of Product at HSBC and Sainsbury's. He participated in Silicon Valley Product Group's Coaching the Coaches forum, and speaks frequently at conferences and events. You can join one of communities he runs for CPOs (CPO Circles), Product Managers (Product In the {A}ether) and Product Coaches. He's the author of What Do We Do Now? A Product Manager's Guide to Strategy in the Time of COVID-19. A recovering music journalist and editor, Randy also launched Amazon's music stores in the US & UK.

The Members Bill was drawn from the so-called biscuit tin in 2024 and passed it's first reading on - appropriately perhaps - April Fools Day this year. 

In the private sector, product teams pick their customers, generate demand, and ship into something close to a green field. In the public sector, none of that holds. Ayushi Roy — Chief Program Officer at New America's New Practice Lab and a lecturer at the Harvard Kennedy School — joins Randy to unpack what changes when your user base is already sitting in front of you, your scrutiny is congressional, and the right answer is sometimes to delete ten systems rather than build an eleventh.Drawing on her work on IRS Direct File, the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), the Illinois childcare voucher system, and a text-based 911 alternative that rolled out to 800,000 students across 13 universities, Ayushi makes the case for a distinct public-sector product playbook: thin-slicing for safe failure, designing for the lowest digital denominator, separating design problems from engineering problems, and treating unbuilding as a first-class option.Chapter markers01:48 — From aid monitoring in Jordan to digital delivery03:37 — Why she built a text-based alternative to 91106:33 — From a rollout to 800,000 students to Oakland City Hall08:58 — What the New Practice Lab does, and what a CPO does inside a think tank11:06 — Why private-sector product playbooks don't transliterate14:03 — No marketing, no early adopters: latent demand and the curb cut effect14:40 — Oakland's eviction tool, MacBooks, and the lowest digital denominator17:30 — Thin-slicing IRS Direct File without losing Congress22:36 — Building executive sponsorship that allows safe failure23:41 — Product vs service: the rest of the job that isn't writing code26:09 — Illinois childcare vouchers: when modernising the form makes things worse29:22 — Design problems, engineering problems, and the laptop-hinge analogy33:18 — Can AI prototyping close the policy–implementation gap?35:40 — The FAFSA simplification crisis and the case for bilingual builders37:31 — Unbuilding: how a request for a 15th CHIP system became one to remove ten41:18 — What keeps her goingOur HostsLily Smith enjoys working as a consultant product manager with early-stage and growing startups and as a mentor to other product managers. She's currently Chief Product Officer at BBC Maestro, and has spent 13 years in the tech industry working with startups in the SaaS and mobile space. She's worked on a diverse range of products – leading the product teams through discovery, prototyping, testing and delivery. Lily also founded ProductTank Bristol and runs ProductCamp in Bristol and Bath.Randy Silver is a Leadership & Product Coach and Consultant. He gets teams unstuck, helping you to supercharge your results. Randy's held interim CPO and Leadership roles at scale-ups and SMEs, advised start-ups, and been Head of Product at HSBC and Sainsbury's. He participated in Silicon Valley Product Group's Coaching the Coaches forum, and speaks frequently at conferences and events. You can join one of communities he runs for CPOs (CPO Circles), Product Managers (Product In the {A}ether) and Product Coaches. He's the author of What Do We Do Now? A Product Manager's Guide to Strategy in the Time of COVID-19. A recovering music journalist and editor, Randy also launched Amazon's music stores in the US & UK.

In this podcast episode, Diane Wiredu, Founder and Messaging Strategist for Lion Works, underscores the significance of this key element. Diane breaks down a step by step guide on effective messaging, while also providing insights on engaging customers and growing products.Our HostsLily Smith enjoys working as a consultant product manager with early-stage and growing startups and as a mentor to other product managers. She's currently Chief Product Officer at BBC Maestro, and has spent 13 years in the tech industry working with startups in the SaaS and mobile space. She's worked on a diverse range of products – leading the product teams through discovery, prototyping, testing and delivery. Lily also founded ProductTank Bristol and runs ProductCamp in Bristol and Bath.Randy Silver is a Leadership & Product Coach and Consultant. He gets teams unstuck, helping you to supercharge your results. Randy's held interim CPO and Leadership roles at scale-ups and SMEs, advised start-ups, and been Head of Product at HSBC and Sainsbury's. He participated in Silicon Valley Product Group's Coaching the Coaches forum, and speaks frequently at conferences and events. You can join one of communities he runs for CPOs (CPO Circles), Product Managers (Product In the {A}ether) and Product Coaches. He's the author of What Do We Do Now? A Product Manager's Guide to Strategy in the Time of COVID-19. A recovering music journalist and editor, Randy also launched Amazon's music stores in the US & UK.

My guest in this episode is Martin Dowson, a design and transformation leader who's passionate about elevating the role of design as a strategic force for business growth.With over two decades of experience across Financial Services, Telcos, Media, and more. He's built and led design teams, established Centres of Excellence, and guided organisations through complex transformations that align design with commercial outcomes.Martin went from reading our service design book hoping to solve a logistics problem (you couldn't order lobsters on a Wednesday at Sainsbury's) to spending six years leading design strategy at Lloyd's Banking Group.We talk about what happens when consultants go in-house, why experienced internal voices often get heard less than external ones saying the same thing, and whether AI has the same fundamental scaling problem as the car.Timestamps00:00 Intro — Martin's background across financial services, telecoms and media01:00 How Martin and Andy first met at RBS in 2015, and reading Service Design to solve a lobster logistics problem at Sainsbury's04:30 Going in-house after consulting — why your voice gets heard less the moment you cross the threshold07:30 The question organisations never ask: why isn't this happening spontaneously already?14:00 What it actually takes to embed design capability in a large organisation versus leaving behind blueprints and concepts28:00 Measuring design's contribution to business outcomes — the gap between outputs and impact45:00 Design leadership in the AI era — what changes and what doesn't55:00 Why organisations mistake motion for progress, and how incentive structures block transformation01:05:50 AI has the same fundamental problem as the car — it doesn't scale cleanly, and success makes the resource problem worse not better01:10:30 The one small thing with outsized impact: our definition of success in educationShow Links Martin- LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/designled- Web: https://liminaldesignoffice.com- Podcast https://beingliminal.comAndy- Website: https://www.polaine.com- Newsletter: https://pln.me/nws- Podcast: https://pln.me/p10- Design Leadership Coaching: https://polaine.com/coaching- Courses: https://courses.polaine.com- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/apolaine/- Bluesky: https://andypolaine.bsky.social- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@apolaine

AI-powered facial recognition technology is expanding rapidly in the UK, particularly in law enforcement and retail. The Metropolitan Police in London has increased its use, scanning over 1.7 million faces. Biometrics watchdogs have raised concerns about the lack of regulation, with calls for new laws to manage police use of the technology. Retailers like Sainsbury's and Sports Direct are using facial recognition to combat shoplifting, leading to incidents of wrongful identification. Public opinion is divided, with concerns about privacy and wrongful accusations. The UK government is considering a new legal framework to address these issues.Learn more on this news by visiting us at: https://greyjournal.net/news/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Prathik Roy is Product Director for Data and AI Solutions at Springer Nature, one of the world's largest academic publishing companies. A quantum chemist and material scientist by training, he spent years in R&D before gravitating towards product management — and has spent the past 12 years helping publishers understand the value locked inside their content. In this episode, Prathik makes the case that publishers are sitting on some of the most strategically valuable data in the world, and that most of them are only beginning to understand what that means in the age of AI.In this episode, we cover:(00:00) Introduction: from quantum chemistry to product management (05:00) The Schrödinger problem: why content value is increasingly unknowable (08:00) How traditional publishing metrics worked — and why they broke (11:30) The ChatGPT moment and its impact on scientific publishing (15:00) Paywalls, subscription models, and the shift to data licensing (21:30) How scientific content earns its quality — and why AI cannot just follow the citations (26:00) Why AI developers want bullet points — and what that means for content structure (29:00) New monetisation models: tokens, outcomes, and data as a service (33:00) Rights management: rights in, rights out, and why the prohibited section matters (36:30) Measuring content value when your users live inside AI systems (38:00) What to do with your content archive: extraction, licensing, and prediction marketsOur HostsLily Smith enjoys working as a consultant product manager with early-stage and growing startups and as a mentor to other product managers. She's currently Chief Product Officer at BBC Maestro, and has spent 13 years in the tech industry working with startups in the SaaS and mobile space. She's worked on a diverse range of products – leading the product teams through discovery, prototyping, testing and delivery. Lily also founded ProductTank Bristol and runs ProductCamp in Bristol and Bath.Randy Silver is a Leadership & Product Coach and Consultant. He gets teams unstuck, helping you to supercharge your results. Randy's held interim CPO and Leadership roles at scale-ups and SMEs, advised start-ups, and been Head of Product at HSBC and Sainsbury's. He participated in Silicon Valley Product Group's Coaching the Coaches forum, and speaks frequently at conferences and events. You can join one of communities he runs for CPOs (CPO Circles), Product Managers (Product In the {A}ether) and Product Coaches. He's the author of What Do We Do Now? A Product Manager's Guide to Strategy in the Time of COVID-19. A recovering music journalist and editor, Randy also launched Amazon's music stores in the US & UK.

Martin Eriksson is a Product Leader, Co-founder of Mind the Product and ProductTank, and Author. His new book, The Decision Stack, offers a mental model for connecting every layer of organisational strategy — from vision to the decisions teams make every single day.We discuss:— Why 95% of employees cannot name their organisation's strategy — and what that costs— The five questions every company must be able to answer, from vision to principles— Why strategy is the most commonly missing layer in the stack, and why exec teams are often reluctant to fill it— How to challenge upwards and surface strategic gaps without calling leadership out— Why empowering teams without context sends them running in every direction— How principles — not values — are the tool that eliminates recurring debates— The "this or that" technique for making trade-offs visible across a team— Why you cannot communicate strategy often enoughChapters— 00:00 Introduction— 01:11 Martin's background in product— 02:19 The origin of The Decision Stack— 03:44 The five questions the stack answers— 04:27 Why strategy is most often missing or unclear— 08:18 Who should be making strategic decisions— 09:44 Time horizons: how long should strategy last— 11:43 Using the decision stack in practice— 13:36 How to surface gaps from lower in the organisation— 16:01 Why context is the prerequisite for empowerment— 19:32 How the stack reduces decision-making overhead— 21:04 Language, frameworks, and avoiding rigidity— 23:43 Where to start: top-down or bottom-up— 26:34 Fractal stacks and scaling across teams— 28:44 Strategy for maintenance work and existing products— 31:41 The role of principles at the foundation of the stack— 33:38 How principles emerge — top-down and bottom-up— 37:07 The "this or that" technique for surfacing trade-offs— 39:26 Communicating strategy continuously across the organisation— 43:34 The most common mistake when getting startedFeatured linksThe Decision Stack — Martin's new book: https://www.thedecisionstack.com/The trade-off poll tool mentioned in the episode: https://thisorthat.thedecisionstack.com/ProductTank: Martin Eriksson on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/martineriksson/HBR: The Office of Strategy Management — source of the 95% statistic cited in the episode: https://hbr.org/2005/10/the-office-of-strategy-managementOur HostsLily Smith enjoys working as a consultant product manager with early-stage and growing startups and as a mentor to other product managers. She's currently Chief Product Officer at BBC Maestro, and has spent 13 years in the tech industry working with startups in the SaaS and mobile space. She's worked on a diverse range of products – leading the product teams through discovery, prototyping, testing and delivery. Lily also founded ProductTank Bristol and runs ProductCamp in Bristol and Bath.Randy Silver is a Leadership & Product Coach and Consultant. He gets teams unstuck, helping you to supercharge your results. Randy's held interim CPO and Leadership roles at scale-ups and SMEs, advised start-ups, and been Head of Product at HSBC and Sainsbury's. He participated in Silicon Valley Product Group's Coaching the Coaches forum, and speaks frequently at conferences and events. You can join one of communities he runs for CPOs (CPO Circles), Product Managers (Product In the {A}ether) and Product Coaches. He's the author of What Do We Do Now? A Product Manager's Guide to Strategy in the Time of COVID-19. A recovering music journalist and editor, Randy also launched Amazon's music stores in the US & UK.

From stacking shelves at Sainsbury's to 70 England caps, Joe Launchbury joins Payno and former teammate Hask for an emotional retirement special. He reveals the "heartless" moment Wasps collapsed, the truth behind Eddie Jones' psychological mind games, and his decision to move to Japan over Leicester. From 2015 World Cup heartbreak to “slosh” banter, this is an unfiltered look at the integrity & resilience of one of England's most respected players. 01:42

In this episode of the Dyslexia Explored Podcast, hosts Darius Namdaran and Jo Lee interview Darren Clark, who discovered he was dyslexic at 36 after hearing a TV interview and researching via the British Dyslexia Association. Darren recounts severe isolation at secondary school, being placed in a “unit,” missing exams, and leaving with no qualifications, alongside growing up in an unsafe, high-crime area. He describes getting his first job pushing trolleys at Sainsbury's, progressing through retail to senior leadership overseeing 76 stores and a £4m weekly budget, supported by mentor Robin Stevens. Darren shares entrepreneurial ventures including a large cleaning business, selling a social media company, and losing businesses during COVID while caring for his terminally ill mother. He explains dyslexia strengths like tenacity, communication, and outsourcing, and details advocacy work with the BDA and internationally, including Kenya and Malawi, school talks reaching over a million students, and his message to protect personal voice alongside AI.Links: Ivvi: https://www.ivvi.app/ What is Dyslexia: https://www.bdadyslexia.org.uk/dyslexia/about-dyslexia/what-is-dyslexia How to Mindmap: https://www.bulletmapacademy.com/mindmap-beginners Darren's Linkedin -  www.linkedin.com/in/darrenclark2Neurodiversity Stories Youtube -  https://www.youtube.com/@neurodiversitystories5128British Dyslexia Association: https://www.bdadyslexia.org.ukInternational Dyslexia Association: https://dyslexiaida.org/ SEND: https://www.gov.uk/children-with-special-educational-needs SEN Support: https://www.gov.uk/children-with-special-educational-needs/special-educational-needs-supportDisabled Students Allowance: https://www.ivvi.app/dsa-for-dyslexia Interested in being a guest? Email us at jo@ivvi.app

► Get a free fractional share!This show is sponsored by Trading 212! To get free fractional shares worth up to 100 EUR / GBP, you can open an account with Trading 212 through this link https://www.trading212.com/Jdsfj/FTSE. Terms apply.When investing, your capital is at risk and you may get back less than invested.Past performance doesn't guarantee future results.► Get 15% OFF Fiscal.ai:Huge thanks to our sponsor, Fiscal.ai, the best investing toolkit we've discovered! Get 15% off your subscription with code below and unlock powerful tools to analyze stocks, discover hidden gems, and build income streams. Check them out at Fiscal.ai!https://fiscal.ai/?via=steve► Follow Us On Substack:Sign up for our Substack and get light-hearted, info-packed discussions on everything from market trends and investing psychology to deep dives into different asset classes. We'll analyse what makes the best investors tick and share insights that challenge your thinking while keeping things engaging.You'll also find our new 10-week investing and research course available right now. It's completely free, with no sign-up required, no payment, and none of the usual BS. Don't miss out. Join us today and get stuck in.https://playingftse.substack.com/► Support the show:Appreciate the show and want to offer your support? You could always buy us a coffee at: https://ko-fi.com/playingftse(All proceeds reinvested into the show and not to coffee!)► Timestamps:0:00 INTRO & OUR WEEKS2:48 NIALL INTRO11:58 NIALLS FAVE SUBSTACKS 16:37 INVESTING STYLE 23:17 WHEN DOES VALUATION TRUMP UNDERSTANDING28:31 PORTFOLIO & CYCLES 43:47 SAINSBURY & UK HOUSEBUILDERS 56:26 ANGLO AMERICAN 1:03:07 DEERE1:15:24 QUICKFIRE ROUND► Show Notes:Who's living in denial? Find out on this week's PlayingFTSE Show!We have an interview lined up for this week – it's Niall from the ShowMeTheValue Substack. He also posts on Trading212 as ‘Anathema' so check him out over there!In an hour and a half, we covered a lot. This included what the best Substacks are (besides ours), a breakdown of Niall's portfolio, and what's wrong with Berkshire Hathaway.The time flew by for us and hopefully it will for you, too. Be sure to check out Niall's Substack at http://www.showmethevalue.substack.comOnly on this week's PlayingFTSE Podcast!► Wanna get in contact?Got a question for us? Drop it in the comments below or reach out to us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/playing_ftse/► Enquiries: Please email - playingftsepodcast@gmail(dot)com► Disclaimer: This information is for entertainment purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. Always consult with a qualified financial professional before making any investment decisions.

What does product management look like when your engineers aren't writing code? Rags Vadali, founder of Floto and former PM at Google and Meta, joins Lily and Randy to talk about how building AI-native products has completely inverted his process. No PRDs, prototypes before specs, and a new artefact at the centre of it all: the Product Experience Document (PXD).They get into why the real product when you're building an agent is the experience layer on top of it, how synthetic personas work (and where they don't), and what discovery still requires that AI can't replace. Plus: what product sense means when everyone on your team is shipping code.Chapters 0:00 What is a product when you're building an agent?1:00 Guest intro: Rags on getting into product at Google, YouTube, Meta, and now founding Floto3:33 How the team at Floto actually works — and why it's "completely upside down"6:01 Why building AI products forced a process inversion (and why speed made it necessary)7:11 Agents and the experience layer: redefining what the product actually is9:39 Running two to three products in parallel, and throwing away 50–60% of what gets built14:31 Discovery principles that haven't changed — and the ones AI is helping with18:15 Synthetic personas: where they work, where they don't, and the insight from flipping the question22:03 The Product Experience Document (PXD): genesis, philosophy, and why it's not a PRD25:57 Experience principles: encoding how it should feel to talk to an agent27:06 Good, bad, ugly: why example interactions and anti-patterns are critical28:55 Critical moments and closing conversations: designing the arc33:33 Where this way of working applies — and where it doesn't35:10 Hiring for product sense: why it now applies to every role39:43 Final advice: what product people should not stop doingOur HostsLily Smith enjoys working as a consultant product manager with early-stage and growing startups and as a mentor to other product managers. She's currently Chief Product Officer at BBC Maestro, and has spent 13 years in the tech industry working with startups in the SaaS and mobile space. She's worked on a diverse range of products – leading the product teams through discovery, prototyping, testing and delivery. Lily also founded ProductTank Bristol and runs ProductCamp in Bristol and Bath.Randy Silver is a Leadership & Product Coach and Consultant. He gets teams unstuck, helping you to supercharge your results. Randy's held interim CPO and Leadership roles at scale-ups and SMEs, advised start-ups, and been Head of Product at HSBC and Sainsbury's. He participated in Silicon Valley Product Group's Coaching the Coaches forum, and speaks frequently at conferences and events. You can join one of communities he runs for CPOs (CPO Circles), Product Managers (Product In the {A}ether) and Product Coaches. He's the author of What Do We Do Now? A Product Manager's Guide to Strategy in the Time of COVID-19. A recovering music journalist and editor, Randy also launched Amazon's music stores in the US & UK.

Jess Hall is Chief Product Officer at Just Eat Takeaway.com, one of the world's leading on-demand delivery platforms, connecting hundreds of thousands of partners with tens of millions of consumers across 17 international markets. She leads the global product vision powering this ecosystem, evolving the platform beyond food delivery into a broader digital high street for everyday convenience. With nearly two decades of experience building and scaling digital platforms used by millions of people every day, Jess has held senior leadership roles at some of the UK's largest consumer businesses, including Tesco, Argos and Sainsbury's, leading large-scale transformation in complex retail and technology environments. She has been at the forefront of applied AI in consumer platforms for years, most visibly when she led the deployment of the first autonomous wheel-legged delivery robots in Europe. But the work she is most proud of sits closer to home: she created JET's early careers programme from scratch, deliberately designed without degree requirements, hiring on potential rather than credentials. Three cohorts in, over 52% of each intake are women, 95% graduate into full-time roles, and the cohort includes career switchers from nursing, teaching, veterinary work, and documentary filmmaking. In a sector that has historically locked women out by insisting on CS or maths degrees, Jess used her platform to open a different door. A longstanding advocate for women in tech and business, she speaks regularly on the importance of active sponsorship and building genuinely diverse talent pipelines. Outside work, Jess is a mother of two, a tennis player, a runner, and a reader with an ambitious annual book target and no apologies for it.

Kate Kempe made the leap from 13 years at Amazon — most recently leading Alexa's screened products — to head up product at the International Baccalaureate, an NGO with no established product function. In this episode, she talks through what that transition actually involved: finding focus during a job search through Phil Terry's Never Search Alone methodology, reconciling Amazon instincts with a slower-moving, mission-driven organisation, and learning to be interested rather than interesting when you're the new person trying to make an impression.Chapters01:07 — Kate's introduction01:37 — From arts degree to Amazon: career origins03:30 — Why leave Amazon? Finding the IB opportunity05:08 — Never Search Alone: how the job search council works10:37 — Building a personal inventory before committing to a role13:38 — Amazon vs the IB: culture, pace, and decision-making16:10 — Making the case in a mission-driven organisation19:02 — Influence and persuasion — the "bus" analogy23:44 — Building a product function from scratch25:10 — Shifting from project delivery to product health29:45 — Crossing domains: how to land and establish yourself35:26 — Be interested, not interesting37:50 — Advice for big tech → mission-driven transitionsOur HostsLily Smith enjoys working as a consultant product manager with early-stage and growing startups and as a mentor to other product managers. She's currently Chief Product Officer at BBC Maestro, and has spent 13 years in the tech industry working with startups in the SaaS and mobile space. She's worked on a diverse range of products – leading the product teams through discovery, prototyping, testing and delivery. Lily also founded ProductTank Bristol and runs ProductCamp in Bristol and Bath.Randy Silver is a Leadership & Product Coach and Consultant. He gets teams unstuck, helping you to supercharge your results. Randy's held interim CPO and Leadership roles at scale-ups and SMEs, advised start-ups, and been Head of Product at HSBC and Sainsbury's. He participated in Silicon Valley Product Group's Coaching the Coaches forum, and speaks frequently at conferences and events. You can join one of communities he runs for CPOs (CPO Circles), Product Managers (Product In the {A}ether) and Product Coaches. He's the author of What Do We Do Now? A Product Manager's Guide to Strategy in the Time of COVID-19. A recovering music journalist and editor, Randy also launched Amazon's music stores in the US & UK.

Pippa Topp, Chief Product Officer at giffgaff, joins Lily and Randy to talk about emotional intelligence in product teams — what it is, how it develops, and why it matters for leadership. The conversation covers recognising defensiveness as an EQ signal, the conscious competence model, applying empathy inward as well as outward, and how to cultivate a culture of reflection across a product org. Pippa also shares her own journey from judgement to over-empathy to finding the balance, and makes the case for self-belief as the foundation of emotional resilience.This episode is brought to you by Mailtrap, modern email delivery for developer and product teams: fast delivery. high inboxing rates. 24/7 expert support. Try for free today.Chapters00:00 – Introduction & what is emotional intelligence?04:39 – How low EQ shows up at work: defensiveness and reactive communication08:28 – Extending product empathy skills to stakeholders and peers10:33 – The conscious competence model and coaching people who don't know what they don't know13:21 – Coaching techniques: life stories, separating facts from narrative14:58 – Assessment tools and organisational EQ at giffgaff (Insights)16:33 – Pippa's own EQ journey: from judgement to over-empathy to balance22:37 – Coaching a junior PM through resistance, self-doubt, and breakthrough28:40 – Leading through a forced decision: surfacing team emotion to move forward32:39 – Cultivating EQ culture: group coaching, values-based behaviours, measurement38:48 – Neurodivergence, self-awareness, and building a feedback culture44:00 – Can AI support emotional intelligence?47:41 – Is it okay to cry at work?51:29 – Self-belief as the foundation of emotional resilienceOur HostsLily Smith enjoys working as a consultant product manager with early-stage and growing startups and as a mentor to other product managers. She's currently Chief Product Officer at BBC Maestro, and has spent 13 years in the tech industry working with startups in the SaaS and mobile space. She's worked on a diverse range of products – leading the product teams through discovery, prototyping, testing and delivery. Lily also founded ProductTank Bristol and runs ProductCamp in Bristol and Bath.Randy Silver is a Leadership & Product Coach and Consultant. He gets teams unstuck, helping you to supercharge your results. Randy's held interim CPO and Leadership roles at scale-ups and SMEs, advised start-ups, and been Head of Product at HSBC and Sainsbury's. He participated in Silicon Valley Product Group's Coaching the Coaches forum, and speaks frequently at conferences and events. You can join one of communities he runs for CPOs (CPO Circles), Product Managers (Product In the {A}ether) and Product Coaches. He's the author of What Do We Do Now? A Product Manager's Guide to Strategy in the Time of COVID-19. A recovering music journalist and editor, Randy also launched Amazon's music stores in the US & UK.

A dad in the UK has gone viral after spending over a year parking in every single space at his local Sainsbury's, carefully tracking and rating each one.What started as a way to beat boredom has captured people's attention online, raising questions about why we're so fascinated by the mundane…Bored man Gareth Wild joins guest host Tom Dunne to discuss!

Elias Lieberich, Founder of Product Matters and formerly a PM at Google and YouTube, makes the case that the real gap between European and Silicon Valley product practice is in its culture. He identifies three recurring patterns in European companies: process obsession, a limited appetite for validation, and an underappreciation of engineering and design. Drawing on work with German Mittelstand businesses, deep tech startups, and large enterprises, Elias explains how to introduce product thinking without triggering resistance, through small, visible wins rather than wholesale transformation.Chapters00:56 – Elias's background: Google, YouTube, and Google X04:08 – European vs. Silicon Valley product culture07:43 – Three gaps: process obsession, lack of validation, undervaluing engineers12:04 – What European companies actually want — and the copy-paste trap13:34 – Show, don't tell: finding immediate value15:37 – Bringing the whole organisation on the journey25:02 – Roadmaps, frameworks, and meeting companies where they are26:35 – Building trust through small, compounding wins29:29 – Change aversion as a bell curve31:02 – What European companies do well — and what's worth exporting33:13 – Working with deep tech startups in Europe36:44 – The killer question: who is this for?40:25 – Practical advice: start with what's within your control42:53 – Wrap-upOur HostsLily Smith enjoys working as a consultant product manager with early-stage and growing startups and as a mentor to other product managers. She's currently Chief Product Officer at BBC Maestro, and has spent 13 years in the tech industry working with startups in the SaaS and mobile space. She's worked on a diverse range of products – leading the product teams through discovery, prototyping, testing and delivery. Lily also founded ProductTank Bristol and runs ProductCamp in Bristol and Bath.Randy Silver is a Leadership & Product Coach and Consultant. He gets teams unstuck, helping you to supercharge your results. Randy's held interim CPO and Leadership roles at scale-ups and SMEs, advised start-ups, and been Head of Product at HSBC and Sainsbury's. He participated in Silicon Valley Product Group's Coaching the Coaches forum, and speaks frequently at conferences and events. You can join one of communities he runs for CPOs (CPO Circles), Product Managers (Product In the {A}ether) and Product Coaches. He's the author of What Do We Do Now? A Product Manager's Guide to Strategy in the Time of COVID-19. A recovering music journalist and editor, Randy also launched Amazon's music stores in the US & UK.

Kate Tarling — consultant, trainer, and author of The Service Organization — joins Lily and Randy to discuss what it takes to deliver great services inside large, complex organizations. The conversation covers the distinction between products and services, why transformation so often stalls, how to make the business case for change using existing investment, and how product people can contribute to, and benefit from, a more service-oriented way of working.Chapters00:01:30 — Introduction and Kate's background00:04:00 — Defining services vs. products00:07:00 — Product organizations vs. service organizations00:09:00 — Why service delivery is hard00:11:30 — Transformation in practice: there is no magic process00:13:30 — Starting with one area and cutting across silos00:15:30 — Common mistakes organizations make00:19:30 — Measuring progress and making the business case00:22:30 — Redirecting existing investment: a UK government example00:25:00 — Triage functions and portfolio management00:26:00 — How product people can contribute in service organizations00:30:30 — Kate's 12 principles00:34:00 — Summary00:37:00 — Examples of good service organizationsOur HostsLily Smith enjoys working as a consultant product manager with early-stage and growing startups and as a mentor to other product managers. She's currently Chief Product Officer at BBC Maestro, and has spent 13 years in the tech industry working with startups in the SaaS and mobile space. She's worked on a diverse range of products – leading the product teams through discovery, prototyping, testing and delivery. Lily also founded ProductTank Bristol and runs ProductCamp in Bristol and Bath.Randy Silver is a Leadership & Product Coach and Consultant. He gets teams unstuck, helping you to supercharge your results. Randy's held interim CPO and Leadership roles at scale-ups and SMEs, advised start-ups, and been Head of Product at HSBC and Sainsbury's. He participated in Silicon Valley Product Group's Coaching the Coaches forum, and speaks frequently at conferences and events. You can join one of communities he runs for CPOs (CPO Circles), Product Managers (Product In the {A}ether) and Product Coaches. He's the author of What Do We Do Now? A Product Manager's Guide to Strategy in the Time of COVID-19. A recovering music journalist and editor, Randy also launched Amazon's music stores in the US & UK.

Rich Mironov has spent decades watching product teams lose the room because they were speaking the wrong language. In his new book Money Stories, he makes the case that product managers need a second vocabulary: one built around revenue, retention, and return. In this conversation, he walks through the core framework, why order-of-magnitude estimates beat false precision, how to build a roadmap that holds its ground against sales pressure, and what the AI moment has in common with the early days of mobile. Chapters02:03 — What are money stories, and why do executives need them?03:59 — How accurate do you actually need to be? The case for order-of-magnitude thinking05:52 — Using money stories as a sorting mechanism — and how to handle the "close this deal now" pressure10:54 — Tagging roadmaps with revenue ranges and the "or principle"15:58 — Does every PM need this, or just senior leaders?21:46 — The two flavors of ROI: earning your keep vs. feature-level returns26:57 — Why feature-level ROI almost never works — and why product leaders need to push back30:33 — The story archetypes: upsell stories explained38:02 — The retention/churn story archetype41:32 — Why product people get this wrong: fear of commitment and the need to be understood44:52 — How AI changes (and doesn't change) the money story framework48:58 — How to build financial literacy as a product managerOur HostsLily Smith enjoys working as a consultant product manager with early-stage and growing startups and as a mentor to other product managers. She's currently Chief Product Officer at BBC Maestro, and has spent 13 years in the tech industry working with startups in the SaaS and mobile space. She's worked on a diverse range of products – leading the product teams through discovery, prototyping, testing and delivery. Lily also founded ProductTank Bristol and runs ProductCamp in Bristol and Bath. Randy Silver is a Leadership & Product Coach and Consultant. He gets teams unstuck, helping you to supercharge your results. Randy's held interim CPO and Leadership roles at scale-ups and SMEs, advised start-ups, and been Head of Product at HSBC and Sainsbury's. He participated in Silicon Valley Product Group's Coaching the Coaches forum, and speaks frequently at conferences and events. You can join one of communities he runs for CPOs (CPO Circles), Product Managers (Product In the {A}ether) and Product Coaches. He's the author of What Do We Do Now? A Product Manager's Guide to Strategy in the Time of COVID-19. A recovering music journalist and editor, Randy also launched Amazon's music stores in the US & UK.

Our HostsLily Smith enjoys working as a consultant product manager with early-stage and growing startups and as a mentor to other product managers. She's currently Chief Product Officer at BBC Maestro, and has spent 13 years in the tech industry working with startups in the SaaS and mobile space. She's worked on a diverse range of products – leading the product teams through discovery, prototyping, testing and delivery. Lily also founded ProductTank Bristol and runs ProductCamp in Bristol and Bath. Randy Silver is a Leadership & Product Coach and Consultant. He gets teams unstuck, helping you to supercharge your results. Randy's held interim CPO and Leadership roles at scale-ups and SMEs, advised start-ups, and been Head of Product at HSBC and Sainsbury's. He participated in Silicon Valley Product Group's Coaching the Coaches forum, and speaks frequently at conferences and events. You can join one of communities he runs for CPOs (CPO Circles), Product Managers (Product In the {A}ether) and Product Coaches. He's the author of What Do We Do Now? A Product Manager's Guide to Strategy in the Time of COVID-19. A recovering music journalist and editor, Randy also launched Amazon's music stores in the US & UK.

In this week's episode, Ava and Sabrah sit down with Ethan Sainsbury, Jordan Williams, Mical Saint Jean from the newly crowned Conference Champions Varsity Boys Basketball team that are looking to repeat as LI Champions! They discuss the ups and downs of their season, their inspiration, the importance of defense, the future of the Bruins program, and much more. Tune in!  

In this episode, Minter sits down with Jeremy Schwartz, an accomplished mountaineer, long-distance cyclist, adventurer, and industry veteran known for his transformational leadership at companies like L'Oréal, The Body Shop, Sainsbury's, and Pandora. Together, they explore the importance of bringing personal elements and emotional authenticity into the workplace, the nuanced role of fear and empathy in corporate cultures, and the delicate balance between creativity and rationality that defines brand success. Jeremy Schwartz reflects on his pivotal role in launching iconic campaigns such as “Because I'm Worth It,” discusses the challenges of cultivating corporate and brand purpose within conglomerates, and shares candid stories about risk-taking, bold decision-making, and the pursuit of innovation. Whether you're a leader, marketer, or entrepreneur, this conversation is packed with actionable insights and wisdom on creating impact, fostering teamwork, and building brands that truly matter. Tune in for a rich conversation that combines personal anecdotes, strategic thinking, and a touch of humor—guaranteed to leave you inspired and ready to tackle your own business challenges.