Navigating change through political and technological uncertainty: Leading Professionals podcast returns for fourth series

How can leaders of professionals respond to growing geopolitical uncertainty? How do they break through practical barriers to bring about complex change? And how will artificial intelligence (AI) impact on professional services?

These are some of the questions that Laura Empson, Professor in the Management of Professional Service Firms at Bayes Business School explores in the first episode of her new series of 'Leading Professionals'.

In this fourth series, Professor Empson speaks to senior leaders from some of the world’s most successful professional organisations about the crucial issues they are currently facing.

Each episode reveals the realities that lie beneath the ‘professional’ veneer these highly successful organisations, and their leaders, present to the outside world.

The first episode, available to listen to now, features Fabien Curto Millet, Chief Economist at Google, discussing how he leads professionals to anticipate, analyse, and understand uncertainty and change affecting the company.

Professor Empson said:

“Professional organisations are complex entities of highly educated and opinionated individuals with competing needs, opinions and motivations.  And right now – in the eye of global political turmoil and significant advancements in artificial intelligence – effective leadership has never been more critical.

“In this series I aim to use my insights from my lifetime of researching and advising professional organisations to uncover and make sense of the complex, messy and surprisingly emotional challenges of leading professionals, and to identify key learning for all professionals.”

“Listeners will hear from the most senior leaders of major professional organisations, from accounting, consulting, and law, to tech, healthcare, and the world of politics - going behind the curtain to find out how leaders and their teams function in these times.

“I am delighted at how the podcast has grown since its first series in 2021. The listenership has grown beyond professional services to a range of sectors and countries across the world.

“I hope that listeners will find listening to this new series every bit as interesting, enlightening, and entertaining as I found making it.”

'Leading Professionals' Episode One is available now on podcast platforms, with a new episode landing fortnightly. The full series schedule is below.

Download and listen to the Leading Professionals podcast.

Leading in uncertain times: How to respond to geopolitical change and AI disruption

Guest: Fabien Curto Millet, Chief Economist of Google.

Fabien joins Laura to discuss how he and his team of economists anticipate, analyse, and understand the changes with which Google must contend.  How does he lead his team of professionals, and manage himself, during these uncertain times?

Released 22 September.

Doing the right thing: How to take ethically tough decisions

Guest: Georgia Dawson, Senior Partner of Freshfields.

In a complex commercial, social, and political environment, how do you balance the competing interests of multiple stakeholders?  Laura and Georgia explore: what is the right thing?  How do you decide and how do you make sure you do it?

Released 6 October.

Electing leaders: How to choose your leaders and how to get elected

Guest: Michael Ensser, Chair of Egon Zehnder.

Laura asks Michael: Why does a world leading firm of leadership consultants choose to elect their senior leaders, and how do their elections actually work?  What really goes on behind the scenes of professional service firms’ carefully stage-managed leadership elections?

Released 20 October.

Considering the future: How AI and private equity will change professionals' work

Guest: Michael Izza CBE, CEO (former) of ICAEW.

Focusing on the interrelated changes of Gen AI and PE ownership, Laura and Michael explore: What is already happening and what changes lie ahead?  After almost 20 years leading the ICAEW, Michael offers a uniquely long-term and global perspective.

Released 3 November.

Becoming "professional": How to look, sound, act and feel like a professional

Guest: Paul Lewis, Firmwide Managing Partner of Linklaters

If you do not fit the conventional image of an elite professional, how do you persuade others that you are, and how do you learn to feel like one?  Paul and Laura discuss his own very personal experiences and what he is doing at his firm to encourage social mobility.

Released 17 November.

Leading complex change: Breaking through practical barriers and political resistance

Guest: Dame Emily Lawson, formerly COO, NHS England & Head of Number 10's Delivery Unit.

How do you avoid being overwhelmed by complexity or discouraged by failure?  How do you bring the right team together and deal with covert resistance?  Emily talks to Laura about her experience of leading the UK’s COVID-19 vaccine programme and working in Number 10.

Released 1 December.