Better Under Pressure

#19 - Sigga Sigurdardottir - You’re Stronger Than You Think

In this episode, I’m talking to Sigga Sigurdardottir, a global exco level Chief Customer Officer and digital change agent who has been pioneering customer-led digital transformation and innovation globally in the financial services industry over the last 20+ years. She has championed partnering with start-ups, fintech and digital players throughout her career, delivering outstanding experiences for consumers. 

She spent 14 years leading digital transformation and change for American Express, working in 4 different continents. She then spent 4 years as Santander UK’s Chief Customer and Innovation Officer moving the organisation to greater customer focus and innovative delivery methods. That was followed by 3 years as Chief Customer Officer at Tesco Bank, improving the NPS significantly and driving profitable growth of the lending business. She has just joined Experian as MD of the consumer business for the UK. 

Sigga sits on the Women in Fintech Powerlist and on the board of Autotrader Group PLC and Frumtak Ventures. Known for her passion for innovative leadership and diversity and inclusion, Sigga has been named in Marketing Week’s top 50 Customer Experience professionals, recognised by Empower as a top ethnic minority advocate and acknowledged by the FT and HERoes as a champion for women in business. 

In our conversation today, Sigga shared:

• When her tendency to shield others from pressure became a problem,
• Why she chose to step away from her job for six months,
• The impact of what she wrote on a piece of paper back in her 20s.

#18 - Sebastian Bates - One Minute More…

In this episode, I’m talking to Sebastian Bates, founder of The Warrior Academy, an award-winning global martial arts organisation which has so far been responsible for developing the character of 25,000 children across three continents. Social enterprise and philanthropy are a part of Sebastian’s charity work at the Bates Foundation. He is also a two times best-selling author in the field of character development and anti-bullying. 

Having studied six styles of martial arts for 25 years and competing in four of them at a national level, Sebastian is a former international professional fighter. He is also an experienced wingsuit base jumper with over 500 jumps worldwide to his name. He was part of an elite group of extreme sports athletes pushing forward human flight until July 2014, when during a wingsuit base jump in Switzerland, his parachute collapsed when he was 50 feet from the ground.

He survived the fall but not without devastating damage to his lower body, prompting surgeons to say that he would never walk again. Unsurprisingly, Sebastian defied the odds by rebuilding his body piece by piece through a gruelling rehabilitation process and made a full recovery. He is now on a mission to inspire a generation to make a global impact.

In our conversation, he discusses,

• Why he is thankful for negative thoughts,
• How he translates pressure into performance
• And, what happened when he came upon a group of gamblers in Thailand

#17 Tendi Sherpa - Pause My Mind a Little

In this episode, I’m talking to Tendi Sherpa - who has been guiding people to the summit of Everest and down again now for 18 years.  After initially training to be a Buddhist monk, he started work as a porter for treks around Nepal aged just 13, carrying around 43 kg for up to 15 hours a day for over 3 weeks at a time – and wearing flip-flops while he did.

A year later, he climbed his first mountain in the Himalayas alongside his father, also a sherpa, and got his first chance to climb Everest aged 19. In 2004, by age 20, Tendi summited Everest for the first time – an experience that secured what he calls his “dream to become a professional mountain climber and guide”.

Over the last 18 years, he has summited several mountains in the Himalayas and Mount Everest, specifically, 14 times – including doing it twice in one week! He was in the middle of an Everest expedition when the 2014 avalanche killed 16 sherpas including several of his friends and in 2015 when an earthquake halted that one.

He has now summited mountains on 5 continents and is constantly raising money through the Tendi Sherpa Foundation to bring education to the people of his village. I met him on a trek in 2018 to raise funds so they could build a village school.

In our conversation he discusses,

• How resilience was nurtured in him from the age of 5,
• Why his Buddhist education supports him on the mountain
• And why he will happily turn back and start again

#16 - Rachel Joyce - Claim Your Space

In this episode, I’m talking to Rachel Joyce - an award-winning novelist and playwright. Over the course of a 20-year career as an actor, performing leading roles for the RSC, National Theatre and Cheek by Jowl, she was always writing. Alongside radio drama, she also wrote the Sunday Times and international bestsellers, The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry and The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy. Her latest novel, Maureen Fry and the Angel of the North completes the trilogy. Rachel is also the author of the bestsellers, Perfect, The Music Shop and  Miss Benson’s Beetle.

Her books have sold over 5 million copies worldwide and have been translated into thirty-six languages.

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Prize, longlisted for the Man Booker Prize and is now a major film - for which Rachel wrote the screenplay - starring Jim Broadbent and Penelope Wilton, due for release in April 2023,

In this conversation she shares:

• Why she found herself crying on the beach
• What helps her feel 30ft tall and 30ft wide
• And the power of an unspoken contract

#15 - Zani Mashinini - No Choice

Zani Mashinini works at The South African Reserve Bank. Leading a team of HR specialists.

Prior to that, she worked for organisations like Unilever, Pearson, Bank of New York and the South African National Treasury.

As well as a leader in the field of HR, Zani is also a speaker, coach and mentor who thrives on creating organisational transformation programmes that improve the workplace experience for all.

She has been awarded a Master of Management from The Wits Business School and recently received an Excellence Award for her contribution to the Human Resources industry.

During our conversation, Zani shares 

Why the phrase NO CHOICE became a source of power

What she means by ‘bad day behaviour’ and 

How a tea bag helped her change

#14 - Duro Oye - Turn it into a Game

Duro Oye is the Founder & CEO of 20/20 Change - a multi-award-winning social enterprise leading the way to a more diverse and inclusive workforce in the UK. It empowers young black professionals to flourish in the workplace. 

Duro designed the award-winning ‘I AM CHANGE’ 10-week programme which focuses on developing young people’s self-awareness, vision, persistence, and dignity. He’s also a qualified mindset coach with a degree in Graphics and Advertising, a diploma in Documentary Filmmaking and is a fellow at the Acumen Academy.  All this after - and probably as a result of – almost a decade of criminality - between the ages of 12 and 21.  

Duro is a passionate storyteller and uses documentary film to enable marginalised youth to frame their own narrative. Since producing his first independent film in 2013, he has gone on to produce the documentary films ‘County lines: Teenage Drug Runners’ for the BBC & two seasons of ‘Gangland’ for Channel 5.  
In our conversation, Duro describes

-       The exact moment when he turned his back on crime.
-       Why he felt it necessary to support Manchester United
-       And how he turns difficult conversations into a game