Mills & Reeve launches podcast exploring leadership at the extremes

Leading law firm Mills & Reeve has launched Achieving More Together, a new podcast series exploring what high performance really looks like inside today’s organisations and what business leaders can learn from those who have delivered it in the most demanding environments imaginable.

Hosted by business broadcaster and journalist Juliet Mann, the series brings together guests from the worlds of elite sport, military command, exploration, leadership consultancy and technology, each drawing on first-hand experience of building, leading and sustaining high-performing teams under pressure.

Across the series, Juliet and her guests will unpack the habits, decisions and cultures that separate genuinely high-performing organisations from the rest – from marginal gains in the Formula 1 pit lane, command decision-making at the highest levels of the RAF, surviving alone in the Arctic, to making sense of AI in the workplace.

Guests for the series include:

• Marc Priestley: former McLaren Formula 1 mechanic and pit crew member, who discusses precision, marginal gains and coordinating elite teams under acute time pressure (Episode 1)
• Justine Lutterodt: founder of the Centre for Synchronous Leadership, who talks about what high performance really requires at C-suite level, and inclusion and governance as performance levers (Episode 2)
• Gary Waterfall: former RAF Air Vice-Marshal and Red Arrow, who explores command decision-making and leadership under pressure (Episode 3)
• Heather Murray: founder of AI for Non-Techies, who discusses demystifying AI for business leaders and where companies go wrong in early adoption (Episode 4)
• Preet Chandi MBE: former British Army officer and record-breaking polar explorer, who talks about resilience, endurance and performing alone in the world’s harshest environments (Episode 5)
• Will Sambrook: chief executive of Akenham, a consultancy specialising in organisational development and high-performance cultures (Episode 6).

The first three episodes are available now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and YouTube, with subsequent episodes released every two weeks. Further guests will be announced as the series progresses.

Owen Butler, Chief People Officer, at Mills & Reeve, said: “High performance is something every leadership team talks about, but very few can define, let alone build deliberately. This podcast is about learning from people who have actually done it, in settings where the margin for error is close to zero.

“As a firm, we work alongside and advise boards and senior leaders as they deal with the complex demands of growth, change and pressure. The Achieving More Together podcast is an extension of that, providing a platform for sharing inspiring and innovative thinking on leadership, culture and performance with the people wrestling with those challenges every day.”

Host Juliet Mann added: “I’ve interviewed leaders all over the world, and the most interesting conversations are always with people who’ve been tested somewhere real. This series is full of them, from the pit lane to the Arctic, and every guest left me with something I hadn’t thought about before. I’m sure listeners will come away from each episode entertained, inspired, and with some genuinely useful ideas they can action immediately.”

Listen and subscribe at Spotify, YouTube, and Apple Podcast.