Episodes

Have you ever considered whether Social Media is simply a fun distraction - or a serious business tool that can skyrocket your business? My guest Philip Calvert is a Social Selling expert and the founder of a thriving niche social networking site, who will reveal little-known secrets to winning new customers through LinkedIn and Social Media. He is the founder of an award-winning niche social networking site, whose expertise in Social Media is in demand at conferences and events worldwide. Phili...

Effective listening produces change and creates possibilities. It is one of those skills that many people in business undervalue at their peril! My guest Stephanie Winters is an expert at illustrating the power of listening and helping us to explore ways to Listen Differently®. After more than two decades of playing the cello for thousands of people across the globe, Stephanie came to understand that listening like a musician is a valuable skill that transfers to work as well as everyday life. S...

For the past 30 years, business leaders have been exhorted to move faster and adopt a “ready, fire, aim” approach to the growth of their business. As the level of change and turbulence increases in all markets, all organizations must adapt—quickly!—or risk decline and decay. But what are the real behaviors, processes, and techniques that are critical to lead your organization at pace without creating confusion, frustration, and unnecessary risk? My guest Stuart Cross is a consultant, coach, spea...

Simon Sinek told us to ‘Start with Why’ but HOW do you turn that into sustainable business results? Brands that achieve rapid growth have a clear sense of purpose and successfully translate that into a great experience for their customers and employees. During this show my guest Shaun Smith, will share examples on how to do this from leading brands, such as LEGO, Zappos, Lush and Nissan. Shaun has been a leader in expanding management attention from the narrow focus on customer service to the wi...

What would you learn if you worked with the best of the best? Can you imagine the wisdom you would acquire, not only managing and sailing some of world’s most exclusive yachts, but also learning from some of the most elite businessmen in the world? My guest Paul Adamson has done this. As a professional yacht skipper his services became so in demand that Former Formula 1 Team Boss, BBC F1 Analyst and Business Tycoon, Eddie Jordan head-hunted Paul and asked him to manage the build of his new £6m S...

During this interview we will be exploring the parallels between aviation and corporations and how human failure follows a dire logic. Whether it be a disastrous plane accident or a bank accidentally giving away 320 million to an insolvent US company! With my guest Peter Brandl we will be looking at when it is time for the warning lights in the ‘company cockpit’ to come on. Peter Brandl is an internationally sought-after communication expert, professional pilot and flight instructor from Germany...

Delighted to welcome you to my 200th 'Business Elevation' show on Voice America and welcome back one of the UK's leading coaches Martin Palethorpe. During this show, I will share some key insights that have stuck with me from 200 interviews with experts and high achievers. Then focus in with Martin on his thoughts about getting our minds out of the way to enable us to realize our potential in business and life. Martin is a published writer & an inspirational conference speaker on High Performanc...

So what is intrapreneurship and how can it improve your business performance and stop talented people leaving your organisation? My guests are business transformation expert Gareth Bullen and the UK thought leader on Intrapreneurship, Jamil Ahmed who work together at the Centre for Enterprise, helping organisations increase engagement, performance, customer service and innovation through building energising, intrapreneurial cultures. During this show, they will help us understand it and explain ...

Business is certainly changing at a pace today and one of the big questions I have been asked on several occasions is - how do we navigate it? I am therefore delighted to welcome Peter Comrie to the show. Peter is an entrepreneur, lecturer, scholar and specialist in human dynamics. When I first spoke to Peter, he called me from his home in beautiful British Columbia and we instantly struck up a great rapport and within minutes had entered a fascinating philosophical discussion on the changing wo...

Are you aspiring to be or are already a seasoned thought leader in your field? If so how should you be really effectively marketing yourself? My guest David Newman knows how. He is author of the Amazon number 1 best seller ‘Do It! Marketing: 77 Instant-Action Ideas to Boost Sales, Maximize Profits and Crush Your Competition’. He is also someone who left a real impact on me, when I saw him engage an audience at a convention in the United Kingdom. As a consequence, I had to persuade him to become ...

Are you achieving exceptional sales numbers? If not, then it may well be that you are not selling with a noble sales purpose. Whether you are an executive, manager or aspirational sales or business leader this show will ex-plain how organizations driven by a Noble Purpose have outperformed the market by over 350% and what you need to do to get it right. My guest Lisa Earle McLeod's bestselling book ‘Selling with Noble Purpose’ has been a game changer at global firms like Flight Centre, Google, H...

Are you really making a difference? During this show I will be talking with Lindsay Levin, the founder of social enterprise – Leaders’ Quest and author of 'Invisible Giants - Changing the world one step at a time'. We will be discussing stories from some of the remarkable people she has met who have overcome lack of education and resources to re-energize their communities, while answering the question “What Really Matters?” Lindsay connects leaders to explore solutions to big global issues. She ...

Ever wondered how you could increase the value and financial performance of your business by offering additional high value products and services on the back end of services such as speeches, masterclasses, training events etc? If so, today I want to introduce you to someone who I would describe as a best kept secret. Simon Davies has worked with many high performing thought leaders and experts by helping them to deliver additional high income generating products and services with their content ...

How is it that some leaders are able to enter a marketplace and completely disrupt it? Take my soccer team Leicester City: last year bottom of the premier league and fighting for survival. 12 months later with great lead-ership, they might do the unthinkable and actually win it! The story of their star striker now attracting the atten-tion of Hollywood movie producers! According to my guest Terence Mauri, it’s time to rip up the rulebook on leadership. The future belongs to a mindset that is wir...

The rate of change we see in the world today is unprecedented: New innovations, products and services fade to irrelevance more quickly than ever before.

Sustainability is such an important part of the business agenda today. It is no good to just being giving the impression that you are doing good. People today look to trade and work for organizations with integrity. As we care about the environment and business ‘doing good’ on this show I am really keen we explore it further and unravel what it really means. About a year ago, I saw the Sustainability Coach, Anthony Day articulate the is-sues and opportunities really well. Antony speaks about sus...

Want to achieve greater results in your business and personal life? Then you need ‘The Power To Get Things Done (Whether You Feel Like It Or Not).” I am delighted to welcome co-author, friend and leading follow through authority, Dr Steve Levinson. This interview, which builds on Nikki Owen’s 1st Jan 2016 interview of Chris Cooper (available in the archive), will tell the story of how two consult-ants 4,000 miles apart, collaborated over five years to create “The Power To Get Things Done (Whethe...

Whether you run your own business or work for someone else, you’ve probably got a lot on your plate. Along with the portion of your work that you truly feel like doing comes a generous helping of things you’d rather not do. With many small businesses failing in their first few years, failure to do some of these things may even lead to the failure of your business. During this show host Chris Cooper interviewed by International and award winning speaker on charisma Nikki Owen will talk about the ...

How do you keep your Top Talent? According to Dov Baron, finding and keeping extraordinary talent will determine which organizations thrive and which fade. Don’t believe it? Then consider that the average company spends 1.5 to 2 x the annual salary of an employee in training and development. Meanwhile, the average employee is only looking at a 2.5 year tenure before walking off and leveraging the training into a better position with your competitor. During this show, we will discuss strategies f...

The best organizations make decisions and move forward. They are not constrained by negativity, naysayers, change blockers, or “perfectionitis.” According to my guest, Steven Gaffney, they move through their change plans with velocity, achieve goals and reap the benefits. In doing so, they generate a positive news cycle that helps to power their change implementation. Steven Gaffney of the Steven Gaffney Company is the Author of five books. He is a Certified Speaking Professional™ and highly res...

What do smart leaders know about diversity that sets them apart? Why is it that diversity and inclusion are such hot topics today? During this show I will be talking to Dr Suzanne Doyle Morris the CEO and founder of the InclusIQ Institute which creates playful yet thought provoking tools for inclusive leadership and reducing unconscious bias. She received her PhD from the University of Cambridge, where she focused on the experiences of women working in male-dominated fields. She is author of “Be...

Employee engagement is one of the hot topics of business performance improvement today. In an international survey country employee engagement levels were between 8% to 29% of the average workforce with the remainder ‘disengaged’ or ‘actively disengaged’. When every indicator suggesting that exceptional performance gains occur with an engaged workforce, why is this so difficult to achieve? My guest John Jennings has over 34 years of operational and executive board-level experience in both the pu...

Does your thinking ever get in the way of your progress? Join us for a very inspirational interview with Tony Burgess, who was first introduced to me as ‘The Pink Bucket Thinking Expert and thoroughly nice guy who has helped many people to transform their lives’. When I read several years later that Tony’s selflessness had ex-tended to donating one of his own kidneys to help someone he did not even know, I knew I had to invite him to guest on the show. Tony Burgess is a Director of the Academy o...

With so many charities and concerns to support today, how do you best determine your strategy for giving? How do you ensure that your giving transforms those issues that really matter to you, leaving you with a wonderful feeling about the legacy you are delivering? Rather than a drip feed of transactions with unclear impact. Kris Putnam-Walkerly is a nationally recognized philanthropy advisor and president of Putnam Consulting Group, Inc. Since 1999 she’s helped over 50 foundations and philanthr...