Friends and female powerhouses from Heacham launch podcast How To Take The Lead that started with a night-in drinking gin and tonic

How to Take the Lead is a brand new podcast challenging stereotypes and promoting a new way of leading in the modern-day.

The new podcast is hosted by business owner Carrie-Ann Wade, from Heacham, and Lee Griffith from Essex, who are both experienced communications and corporate directors.

How to Take the Lead was launched earlier this month after a collaboration that has started in January of last year. The pair had five successful series on social media platforms LinkedIn and Instagram which led to the podcast launch this year.

Carrie and Lee said: "You can expect unfiltered conversations, different perspectives and lots of learning.

Carrie-Ann is currently a communications mentor and director of communications in the NHS.

She works with communications professionals who want to step into their leadership potential, supporting them to grow and thrive. Lee is a leadership strategist and coach, and former healthcare communications director, who helps CEOs and senior leaders maximise their impact.

Carrie-Ann said:“We both became directors in multi-million pound organisations in our early thirties and struggled to find leadership role models who reflected where we were at in our lives and careers. We bonded over our shared experiences of leadership and some of the challenges we were facing as young female directors.” says Carrie-Ann.

How to Take the Lead came about after many conversations over a gin and tonic,when both women were busy "putting the world to rights" and looking for a way to join forces. Both are passionate about values-based leadership and are tired of seeing leaders acting without integrity, perpetuating the same tired stereotypes.

Lee said:“We are still seeing many of the same issues and hearing many of the same conversations we were having at the start of our leadership journeys, which is why we came up with the idea of How To Take The Lead. We want to create a resource and space for others who are in leadership positions now to think differently about their role.”

With four in ten UK workers stating they are dissatisfied with the quality of leadership

at work, according to research, Carrie-Ann said: “Unless we challenge the stereotypical, powersuited,hierarchical view of leadership by creating and supporting a more diverse approach to leadership development, we will never address the dissatisfaction of our workforce. By having an open mindset, actively listening and investing in our own

leadership journeys, we can really start to have an impact and How To Take The

Lead shares our top tips and advice on developing as a leader.”

According to research discovered by the pair 84 per cent of employees view the ability to create cultures of trust where employees feel empowered as a key capability that leaders need to develop.

Lee said:“We know the quality of leadership has a direct impact on staff morale, operational performance,customer satisfaction, organisational reputation and much more, yet there is still such inconsistency across business. The lack of investment in developing leaders with the skills required to empower and engage employees effectively needs to be addressed.

"We hope through the podcast we can encourage people to reflect on their own leadership approach and give them the confidence to lead in their own way.”

In the first series of How to Take the Lead you can expect to hear Lee and Carrie- Ann cover a wide range of topics including identifying your leadership superpower,leading as an introvert or extrovert and how to keep motivated as a leader.

There will be plenty of soapbox moments as well as lots of tips and advice to help you grow as a leader.

You can find out more and subscribe to the podcast here:

https://www.howtotakethelead.com/listen

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