My guest today on Leaders in Conversation is Sally-Anne Airey, leadership coach, founder of Skilful Leaders and author of Mindful Command - the way of the evolving leader, and podcast host of Fearless Forward.

• What good leadership looks, sounds, and feels like.
• How becoming a better leader is less about what you do, and more about how you are.
• Why she created the concept of Mindful Command and what it is - Balanced Awareness (seeing things as they are), Clear Purpose (being clear what matters) and Fearless Compassion (cultivating the courage to do the right thing).

1. Pause
2. Look at the whole picture
3. Listen for what’s needed.
4. Be Present

SALLY-ANNE AIREY is a leadership coach who has devoted over 40 years to the art and skill of leadership. A Royal Navy officer for 23 years, she rose to the rank of Commander and was the first woman to continue in service as a mother. Later she worked for 8 years in Ukraine and Russia, where she discovered her coaching vocation on a consultancy project in Kyiv in 2007. She has been coaching leaders ever since. Inspired by the mountains surrounding her home in the French Alps, she developed the concept of Mindful Command – now the foundation for all her work with people who care about their impact on the world.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sallyanneairey/

Website: https://skilfulleaders.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sallyanne_airey/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SkilfulLeaders

Podcast: https://skilfulleaders.com/podcasts-blog/

Resources/Books/Free download: (If applicable) Mindful Command - The way of the evolving leader

To listen to other Leaders in Conversation and to find out more about Walking Partnerships do go to my website, www.annitownend.com; to listen to Finding Your Collaborative Edge™ with Lucy Kidd and I, to do go our website www.collaborationequation.com

A big thank you to SHMOGUS Media for the wonderful production and marketing of the podcast with Louisa Penny, from Penny Writing.

To contact me Anni Townend do email me on anni@annitownend.com visit my website, subscribe to my newsletter and follow me on LinkedIn.

I look forward to connecting with you, thank you for listening.

My guest today is Jenny Latham, Executive Coach and passionate advocate for staying human in a digital world.

1. How our modern world is leaving us hyper connected but under bonded, creeping up so slowly that many of us haven’t realised what we’re missing;
2. Why the quality of connection matters more than the quantity; the importance of shared experiences and getting beyond small talk into more meaningful conversation;
3. How the Smartphone Free Childhood Movement is instrumental in protecting our children’s social health, and mental health more broadly;
4. The importance of identifying your own social needs and being intentional about wiring your world to meet them.

1. Reflect on your own social needs and be intentional in steering your life to meet them
2. Have the courage to get beyond small talk into more meaningful conversations and make time together count
3. If you have children, help them meet their social needs by setting healthy screen boundaries

Jenny Latham works as an independent Executive Coach, helping senior leaders (particularly across Government), to navigate their careers with a specialism in ‘what next’?

She made the move to freelance coaching in July 2023 following 16 years at EY, firstly client facing as a Management Consultant and then as a People, Market and Operations Director, working with the Consulting Leadership team to run the business. She was also part of the EY Professional Coaches network, supporting senior talent to develop.

She discovered coaching in 2020 and was increasingly drawn to a career which has helping people at the forefront and with a focus on solving more human societal challenges.

She has a deep passion for all things social health & connection. One of the reasons she loves coaching is the opportunity to help people put their masks down, to have a meaningful conversation and to connect with who they are and what they want.

She’s an active volunteer in her local community with the Smartphone Free Childhood Movement. She wants to see a society where real human to human friendship, belonging and tribe can flourish and this means using technology very intentionally.

LinkedIn: Jenny Latham

Websites: www.jennylatham.com and www.smartphonefreechildhood.org

Some of Jenny’s favourite books on connection:

1. Lost Connections: Johann Hari
2. The Art of Gathering: Priya Parker
3. Let’s Talk (How to have better conversations): Nihal Arthanayake
4. Together: Vivek Murthy
5. Talk To Your Boys: Joanna Schroeder, Christopher Pepper

To listen to other Leaders in Conversation with me Anni Townend go to my website, www.annitownend.com; to listen to Finding Your Collaborative Edge™ with Lucy Kidd and I, to do go our website www.collaborationequation.com

And if you would like to join us on one of our Walking Partnerships days, please do get in touch with me.

A big thank you to SHMOGUS Media for the wonderful production and marketing of the podcast with Louisa Penny, from Penny Writing.

To contact me Anni Townend do email me on anni@annitownend.com visit my website, subscribe to my newsletter and follow me on LinkedIn.

My guest today is Patrick Andrews, lawyer and co-founder with Erica Neve of Yoak. He is author of The Incomplete Circle - Rethinking Business from the Inside Out, published in 2025.

1. Participation - real change only happens when we move from observers to participants.
2. Wholeness - what it means to lead, organise and make decisions from a sense of interconnectedness rather than separation.
3. Flow - How individuals and organisations flourish when effort, skill and purpose align.

Participation: What does it mean to move from being an observer into becoming a participant? What happens when we choose to become a participant? What are some of the steps towards moving from being an observer to a participant in business and organisations?

Wholeness: In Patrick’s wonderful book - The Incomplete Circle he writes about the dance of wholeness, and how leadership is a practice not a position; and that leading involves deep listening, trusting and creating structures that are encouraging of interconnectedness rather than separation. What are some of the challenges to doing this, and how can we as leaders, and people in business develop this practice? What is the impact on decision making when we do this? What do we need to pay attention to that will help us?

Flow: We often talk about ‘going with the flow’ in our lives, and what it feels like to be in the flow when everything feels aligned. What can we learn from our bodies, and from nature about flow? What happens to individuals and organisations when effort, skill and purpose align? How can we get into the flow, and what is the impact on people, on business?

1. Listening to yourself including and especially to your body.
2. Listening to others - particularly critics and to the quieter, often unheard, voices.
3. Listening to the universe. Nature is our first and best teacher.

LinkedIn: Patrick Andrews

Website: yoak.uk

Book: The Incomplete Circle. Available on Amazon or here.

To listen to other Leaders in Conversation with me Anni Townend go to my website, www.annitownend.com; to listen to Finding Your Collaborative Edge™ with Lucy Kidd and I, to do go our website www.collaborationequation.com

A big thank you to SHMOGUS Media for the wonderful production and marketing of the podcast with Louisa Penny, from Penny Writing.

To contact me Anni Townend do email me on anni@annitownend.com visit my website, subscribe to my newsletter and follow me on LinkedIn.

I look forward to connecting with you, thank you for listening.