2022 event agenda

THE REALITIES OF LEADERSHIP TODAY

09:30

Welcome Remarks and Explanation of Key Features of the Digital Platform from Management Today

To begin opening remarks from the chairperson and an explanation of the key features of the Digital Platform


Chair: Kate Magee, Editor, Management Today

09:35

How can businesses succeed despite the macroeconomic crisis?

PRESENTATION SESSION

This session will set the scene for the event, outlining some of the key challenges faced by business leaders currently, and how leaders can continue to drive for profit and growth through the business critical decisions they make during challenging times and crises. It will also discuss how times of crisis can also be an opportunity for leaders and businesses to build their market share, hear from an expert about how you can do this now, as we face a time of economic challenges in the UK economy.

  • Setting the scene – what are the biggest challenges facing UK businesses and their leaders right now?
  • How can times of crisis also be an opportunity for businesses? What are the characteristics of businesses and sectors that build market share and profitability in crisis?
  • What is the best response to times of crisis when it comes to leadership?
  • How can you make a profit in our current circumstances?
Lee Powney, Senior Partner, Vivaldi

10:05

Leadership Lessons from a CEO – an interview with giffgaff’s Ash Schofield

FIRESIDE CHAT PRESENTATION

Management Today’s Kate Magee will be interviewing Giffgaff’s CEO, Ash Schofield  in this session, asking him about his own personal leadership journey, what he has learned since becoming CEO of a business and why purpose and having a community-led leadership style and business are so integral to success.

 

 

  • How to navigate the tricky transition to becoming CEO
  • What are some of the most important things Ash has learnt since becoming a CEO?
  • giffgaff is the leading customer-led mobile network. It had a community before it had a product to sell. How?
  • giffgaff’s founder wrote 6 principles for the business at launch. They’ve never wavered from them. Why is purpose critical to business success?
  • How can companies stop the addiction to “toxic revenues”
  • What are the business advantages of having a community of engaged members?
  • How do you navigate the leadership challenges that come when you invite customers to help make business decisions
 

Speaker: Ash Schofield, CEO, giffgaff
Interviewee: Ash Schofield, CEO, giffgaff
Interviewer: Kate Magee, Editor, Management Today

10:35

Vision is vital

This presentation session will look at how you can lead your team and business with vision, and how this form of leadership can be a competitive driver for your team and business. With a specific look at how leadership’s behaviour can have a direct impact on the entire organisation.

 

  • What does it mean to be a visionary leader? 
  • What skills are required in a leader to lead with a vision? 
  • How can this vision be a competitive driver for your team and business? 
  • What are the benefits and challenges of being a visionary leader?
  • Celebrating success

Rhonda Curliss, Co-founder, Grey Lemon
Victoria Firth, Co-founder, Grey Lemon

 

11:10

The new rules of talent

Businesses have faced a perfect storm in recent years when it comes to talent management. Not only have good employees become scarcer and more expensive, their expectations of their employers have shifted dramatically. It all means leaders need to consider how their corporate values and culture affect their attractiveness to candidates, and whether they are viewing talent management as a strategic concern rather than a tactical HR problem. This session will consider how to make talent management a strategic priority – and what the best employers get so right – as well as whether a model of full-time, permanent employment is the only way to plan for your future workforce.

  • Have ‘tours of duty’ become the norm for workers of today?
  • Do employees have less loyalty to the businesses they work for now?
  • Is the newer, short-term employment model here to stay? What are the advantages and disadvantages of this model?
  • What do the most successful businesses get right about recruitment, and strategic workforce planning?
  • Do generational differences have a role to play in the shift in the recruitment and employment model?
Mervyn Dinnen, Talent Acquisition Analyst and Author
Victoria Short, CEO, Randstad UK
 
Moderator:
Eilis Cronin, Writer, Management Today

 

11:45

The moral dilemma – what to do when making difficult decisions as a leader

Leadership has always been about making tough decisions. But the requirement to please shareholders and markets have arguably never been more misaligned with the growing importance of ESG and wider societal concerns. And that’s led to huge disconnects between businesses and their stakeholders – an imbalance brought into sharp contrast in the case of P&O Ferries’ widely condemned decision to dismiss large portions of its workforce. This panel discussion will ask what a moral dimension in business should look like in 2022, and how this plays out in reality.

  • Is it possible for a business to be moral in its decision making, and if so how does this differ from more widely understood notions of morality?
  • How do moral transgressions in leadership take place and how do we put safeguards in place to mitigate them?
  • Where do leaders get their sense of moral purpose from and how has this changed in recent decades?
  • Is the notion of stakeholder capitalism essentially incompatible with building a ‘moral’ business?

Dominnique Karetsos, CEO, Healthy Pleasure Group
Natasha Plowman, Managing Partner – ESG & Corporate Reputation
Ruth Turner, Senior Director, Forward Institute
Roy Diggory, Head of Solutions Strategy EMEA, Mindgym

Moderator: Orianna Rosa Royle, Senior Reporter, Management Today

 

 

  12:30 -13:00 NETWORKING BREAK

Join the stream that is most helpful to you and your business needs. There will be two concurrent streams of content but do not worry as all of the sessions will be available on demand so you won’t miss out on a thing! You can also choose to switch between the streams if you would like.

STRATEGY PLANNING AND BUSINESS GROWTH

Growing through uncertainty: How to find opportunity in the chaos

This is a unique time for leaders. The pandemic has subsided in the UK but rages in much of the rest of the world, while variants threaten the vaccination programme. The economic recovery is rapid but indebtedness and deglobalisation could undermine it. The workplace is evolving but we can’t all agree on what we want it to evolve into.

Learn: 

  • How to drive a business forward during the swirl and storm
  • How to harness the exuberance of a reopened economy while staying grounded 
  • How to re-engage with your team after a year of significant upheaval
  • How to find opportunities the uncertainty
  • How to know what of the ‘new normal’ to keep and what to let go of

Matt Barker, Founder + CEO, MPB

Susan Martin, CEO, BSI

Simon Whitehead, CEO, Hill+Knowlton Strategies UK

Scott Parsons, COO, URW UK

EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT AND INCLUSION

The Big Question: How to Make Blended Working Work for Your Business?

  • The charity MIND has predicted a huge mental health crisis as a result of the covid-19 pandemic. How do you make sure you are doing everything you can to identify if colleagues and employees are suffering?
  • What support can be put in place?
  • How do you build resilience?

Nicola Green, Group Talent, Culture & Capability Director, Aviva

Ari Last, CEO and Founder, Bubble

Jo Owen, Founder, Teach First and Author, Resilience

 

  11:40 Technical break

 

  11:45 Break-out sessions

Join the stream that is most helpful to you and your business needs. 

STRATEGY PLANNING AND BUSINESS GROWTH

If You Want Growth, Remove Constraints

  • Why the key to productivity lies with the individual
  • How to let go so you can grow, building a culture of trust
  • How leaders can stop being part of the problem and become part of the solution

Lorna Helps, Founder,  Vibrant Thinking

EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT AND INCLUSION

Generational Challenges: How to Bring Your Team Together?

Ask the Experts

  • How do you onboard new starters in a hybrid workplace?
  • How do you foster team unity when everyone’s lives and concerns are so different?
  • How do you manage conflict remotely?

Dawn Moore, Group People Director, J.Murphy and Sons Ltd

Patrick Thomson Senior Programme Manager – Fulfilling work, Centre for Ageing Better

Zara Mohamed, Secretary General, Muslim Council of Britain

 

  12:20 Lunch Break & Opportunity to Network with other Attendees

 

  13:30 Roundtables

We will be running two round tables that delegates can join on specific business issues

Vision-Boarding

  • How do you reach the next level, no matter how successful you already are?
  • Why is ‘yet’ the most important word you can learn
  • How do you learn and move on from ‘failure’

Jo Owen, Founder, Teach First and author, Resilience

Driving Transformation to be Competitive

  • Finding your edge to make your business stand out
  • Keeping close to your customers – assessing their needs and being one step ahead

Ellie Prowse, Head of Finance, Astrid & Miyu

 

  14:05 Technical break

 

  14:15 Break-out sessions

Join the stream that is most helpful to you and your business needs. 

STRATEGY PLANNING AND BUSINESS GROWTH

Scaling Up – How Can You Grow Your Business Despite Uncertainty?

  • How should you fund a business during unprecedented times?
  • What is the future of government support for businesses?
  • What do you need to build into our plan to pre-empt uncertainty and to secure the business from future threats?
  • Are mergers and acquisitions your answer for scaling up?

Catherine Lewis La Torre, CEO,  British Business Bank

EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT AND INCLUSION

Mind the Gap: where are the FTSE Female Leaders?

  • Women’s progress in business has been put back by the pandemic – with them taking on the lion’s share of home responsibilities, what can you do to support your employees who have suffered from this?
  • Can a more flexible way of working now increase leadership opportunities for women?
  • How to keep equality on the agenda for business survival and success

Carol Rosati OBE, UK Inclusion & Diversity Manager, Shared Services, HR Services, GSK

Priya Dixit Vyas, Partner, Heidrick & Struggles

Ed Alford, Chief Technology Officer, New Look Retailers Ltd

13:00

Leader burnout – why no-one cares

The issue of burnout and work exhaustion has been a well-documented one in recent years, with many businesses adopting new ways of working and schemes to address the problem within teams. However, burnout among leaders has seemingly been largely accepted as a cost of doing business.. This session will look at the issue of burnout in leaders, addressing the consequences of this problem and how leaders can be more mindful of their own mental health as well as the mental health of their team.

  • How extensive is the issue of leadership burnout and what are its causes?
  • How does burnout manifest itself, physically and emotionally, and which aspects of this are unique to leadership?
  • What is the trade-off between the level of dedication required to build and lead a successful business and the impact on health?
  • How can leaders be more mindful of their own mental health?
  • What are the consequences of a leader dismissing their own mental health? How can burnout in leadership negatively impact morale in the team and growth in the business?


Marianna Alfa, 
Managing Director & Executive Coach, Blossom Hospitality
Dr Bart Sayle, Founder & CEO, Breakthrough Global
Vicky Smith, Senior Consultant, WorkingWell Limited

Moderator:
Kate Magee, Editor, Management Today

13:30

How to become a trusted leader

This session will discuss why trust in leadership is so important for the overall performance and morale of your business, and why this is inextricably linked to success.

  • You can’t have transformational leadership without Trust. Trust is inherent to truly successful leadership.
  • Key principles of trust-based leadership are: a growth mindset, earning trust every day, healthy conflict, a curious mindset & mutual accountability.
  • But at the base of it all there’s self-leadership


Tia Castagno,
Coach Mentor, Ex-Exec and Founder, UnlockYourBlock

14:05

Are ‘allies’ part of the diversity problem – or part of the solution?

This panel session will discuss how leaders can be allies to groups and minorities within their business, discussing why diversity and inclusion is a business critical objective, how it can be communicated as one, with a specific look at how it can be a catalyst for business success.

  • What are the benefits of allyship in promoting genuine inclusion?
  • Will greater diversity in itself promote greater inclusion, or is more profound cultural change necessary?
  • How do you communicate diversity as a business critical objective?
  • How can diversity and inclusion both be a catalyst for business success?
  • Is an empowerment of these groups a way of future proofing the success of your business for the future?
  • How can leaders spearhead diversity programmes whilst also balancing making the right decisions?
  • Who in the board is taking responsibility
  • D&I – everyone is aware, but someone needs to take responsibility

Fiona Hathorn, CEO, Women on Boards
Arti Halai, Director and Media Specialist, Freelance
Normandie Wragg, CEO, Nugent
Stephen Frost, CEO, Included

Moderator:
Eilis  Cronin,
Writer, Management Today

 

14:45

CLOSING REMARKS

A closing address from the conference chairperson, briefing on all the outcomes from the day, and digesting tangible takeaways for the audience

Chair: Kate Magee, Editor, Management Today

Join the stream that is most helpful to you and your business needs.
Brand Reputation: How to attract new customers and outpace the competition
  • Making your brand shine to attract new customers through marketing initiatives
  • Investing in brand loyalty to increase returning customers and client engagement
  • Embodying your brand’s ethos and values to set the example for your organisation
How to attract top talent to supercharge growth
  • Recruitment strategies to attract the best talent
  • Enhancing your company brand and reputation to attract the very best talent
  • Empowering your executive teams to attract and retain talent
 

  14:25 Break-out sessions

Purpose vs Profit: How to be a force for good – and boost your bottom line
  • Focusing on sustainability and social impact to avoid reputational damage
  • Increasing trust in your brand to benefit your sustainability message.
  • Adopting purposeful and ethical practices that will enhance your brand value and profitability


Rupert Pick, Founder, Work for Good

The new work manifesto: How to boost productivity and engagement
  • Adopting newer and more flexible ways of working while achieving your business objectives
  • Making your organisation more attractive to talent, investors and stakeholders
 

  15:05 Afternoon Networking and Refreshments 

15:30

16:00

The Management Today Interview

Sally Bailey, former CEO, White Stuff

Interview by Adam Gale, Editor, Management Today

16:30

How Heritage Brands Stay Relevant

How do long-term established businesses stay competitive and highly desirable for today’s consumers? We hear from a luxury brand CEO on how to move your brand ahead without ditching your past. This closing interview will address:
  • Creating products and services that are relevant and successful in today’s markets
  • Embracing and embedding new technologies to promote your products effectively
  • The importance and impact of sustainability on achieving business success

LEADING INTO THE FUTURE

How can we finetune our skills to become a better leader and increase the performance of our business? Hear how CEOs and leaders have learnt new skills and how this has helped their business to greater results.

09:30

Welcome Remarks and Explanation of Key Features of the Digital Platform from Management Today

To begin opening remarks from the chairperson and an explanation of the key features of the Digital Platform

09:35

Getting into the psyche of your consumer – how will customer behaviour change over the next 12 months?

Keynote interview

The cost of living crisis is just the latest, but certainly most seismic, shock to affect consumer behaviour – and it has the potential to significantly reshape business models in everything from retail to management consulting. This session will outline the economic background to the new customer pandemic, the psychology in play during straitened economic conditions, and how smart businesses respond to such challenges.

  • What are the main drivers behind the changes in consumer behaviour?
  • How will that manifest itself in different markets and price points?
  • What does this mean for UK business leaders?
  • How should businesses respond to these changes?
Vanessa Jacobs, CEO, The Restory

10:05

The metaverse – should businesses be jumping in?

This panel session will discuss the continuing prominent topic of the metaverse, discussing whether this should be the next step businesses need to take to drive their growth and sustain their profit for the future. With a special look at how Management Today have taken their own step into the world of the metaverse with their very own publication, with a demonstration and discussion around what this has shown them.

  • Why should business leaders be interested in the metaverse?
  • Is this a way businesses can reach new markets and new areas of potential growth in markets which are crowded and often competitive?
  • How can the metaverse be used in your business?
  • What are the advantages and disadvantages of using the metaverse in your business strategy? Are there any hidden dangers?

Kate Magee, Editor, Management Today
Malini T A, Senior Director, Virtusa
Brennon Williams, Founder & CEO, Infinity-Metaverse

Moderator:
Robert Jeffery, Editor in Chief, Management Today

 

10:50

How to lead when everything is public

With the power of social media, everyone is a reporter – which presents a new dimension for leaders today and for the future as their words and business decisions no longer belong only to them. This session will explore, through a number of case studies, why it’s imperative for leaders to be even more self-aware when it comes to their shareholder and stakeholder engagement, and what can happen when this communication goes wrong.

  • What can you do as a leader to build your diplomacy skills? What can this do for your business?
  • What happens when you get this communication and messaging wrong?
  • Do leaders of the future have a greater responsibility around this given the power of social media?
  • Do leaders need to be more proactive and transparent in their communications with stakeholders?
  • Why is self-awareness as a leader so important?

Allyson Stewart-Allen, Author, Advisor, Educator, Broadcaster, Speaker, Judge, Non-Executive Director, International Marketing Partners CEO

 

11:30

Should businesses have a political viewpoint?

The invasion of Ukraine led to both concerted pressure and, in many cases, regulatory measures to force businesses to cease trading in Russia. This may have met with broad acceptance, but it also gives businesses a clear political dimension on a scale never seen before, and prompts the question: can and should business remain above politics?

  • What were the moral and practical implications of the moratorium on business with Russia, and in retrospect were the right calls made?
  • Does acting at the behest of a state in effect make businesses political, and if so is this a desirable position?
  • How should businesses factor future major political events into their forward planning?
  • Do we have to give up on the idea that businesses can exist above the political fray?

Alison Goldsworthy, President & Co-Author of Poles Apart, Accord
Roger Steare, The Corporate Philosopher, Author & Speaker, Roger Steare Consulting Limited
Julian Baggini, Academic Director, Writer & Speaker, Royal Institute of Philosophy

Moderated by:
Kate Magee, 
Editor, Management Today

 

  12:15-12:45 NETWORKING BREAK

Join the stream that is most helpful to you and your business needs. There will be two concurrent streams of content but do not worry all of the session will be available on demand so you won’t miss out on a thing! You can also choose to switch between the streams if you would like.

PANDEMIC PROOF LEADERSHIP

Responding with Pace and Purpose

  • How can a sense of purpose aid clarity of thought and drive through business growth?
  • Why speed is of the essence and how projects can be completed despite obstacles and ever-changing rules?
  • How to embed a sense of purpose throughout your team?
  • Why climate change remains a top priority

Lindsay McQuade, CEO, Scottish Power Renewables
RESILIENCE

Ambitious Leadership: How to Grow A Successful Business and Stay Resilient

This panel discussion will speak to three successful business leaders who have each grown multiple businesses from mid-sized firms to multinational entities. This session will explore their secrets to success, the key ingredients to grow a business and talk about the importance of ambition in today’s climate.

 The panel will discuss:

  • What are your secrets to success when growing a business?
  • How do you implement a strategy for scaling up? How do you identify key growth areas?
  • How important is ambition in today’s economic backdrop?
  • How do you embed ambition throughout your organisation?
  • How do you work with partners to unlock your potential?
  • What’s your one key piece of advice for ambitious business owners looking to scale up?

Tracy Lewis, Non-Executive Director, Investor and Former CEO, Eveden

Martin McKay, CEO and founder, Texthelp

Gehan Talwatte, Non-Executive Chairman, Entrepreneur and former CEO,Ascend

Chaired by: Robert Jeffery, Editor-in-Chief, Professional Associations Group, Haymarket Business Media

  •  
 

  11:45 Technical Break

12:45

MASTER THE MEDIA AND WOW YOUR AUDIENCE

In the digital age, understanding how to cut through the noise is an essential skill. Guardian business journalist Jon Card provides a media savvy approach for you to succeed
  • Ensure your business vision isn’t left in the dark
  •  Make your ideas and innovations ‘pop’ when you pitch them
  • Understand and apply the storytelling techniques of the world’s most famous leaders
  • Become an effective and quotable interviewee
  • Learn how to gain press and publicity for your business
Jon Card,  Business Journalist at the Guardian & Director, Full Story Media
 
 

  12:20 Lunch Break & Opportunity to Network with other Attendees

 

  13:30 Breakout Sessions

PANDEMIC PROOF LEADERSHIP

Surviving a Crisis: Effective Communication

  • Engaging with your customers; How do you adapt to their new priorities?
  • Making cuts – when is the right time?
  • Employee engagement – mistakes to avoid
  • Communication is critical: how do you do this effectively in a crisis?

Bob Tinker, Co-Author, Survival to Thrival book series

RESILIENCE

Building Resilience for You and Your Team

  • The charity MIND has predicted a huge mental health crisis as a result of the covid-19 pandemic. How do you make sure you are doing everything you can to identify if colleagues and employees are suffering?
  • What support can be put in place?
  • How do you build resilience?

Clive Lewis OBE DL, CEO, Business Psychologist,  Author 

14:00

Case Studies

Hear a case study  on Flexibility and the New Workplace

Remote working has become the main way of working for most organisations and employees. With hybrid and blended models appearing to represent the way forward, what does that mean for businesses who have previously been almost entirely office-based? How do you implement a return to the office if your employees aren’t on board? 

We will hear from one speaker about how this is working in practice for them, how they have started to put this in place in line with the wishes of their employees and how it can boost the performance of the business when employees are offered greater flexibility.

 

  14:00 Case Study 2

THE NEXT GENERATION OF LEADERS?

  • Several leaders have described their biggest challenge of the pandemic as leading remotely. Is there an optimum way of doing this?
  • How can you know how your employees are feeling if you can’t see them every day? 
  • How should you support the new starters when you haven’t met them personally? 
  • How do you approach difficult conversations with your workforce?

Louisa Bench, Director Global Talent and Development, Human Resources, British Council

Chaired by: Robert Jeffery, Editor-in-Chief, Professional Associations Group, Haymarket Business Media

13:20

The next generation of leaders – how will leadership styles of the future be different to ones now?

To close the event, this session will run as a panel session, hearing from young leaders and businesses of the future. 

  • How do you approach your leadership differently?
  • How do you undertake career development?
  • How do you view your future as a leader?
  • Do you see the last couple of years as having altered leadership approaches for the future? Were they a catalyst?
  • How will leadership styles adapt, will businesses become more community led?


Nicky Stirling, 
Practice Director, Alchemist
Scott Steinberg,
CEO & Futurist Trends Expert, FutureProof Strategies
Paul Wilson, Director, Qbunk
Josephine Liang, Co-founder, Caulibox

Moderated by:
Eilis Cronin, 
Writer, Management Today

Sponsored by: Alchemist

 

14:00

CLOSING REMARKS

To close the event, this session will run as a panel session, hearing from young leaders and businesses of the future.