Episode 159 – Authentic Leadership with guest David Enwright: The Post Office's Marketing Director on being brave and staying human leadership insight

Episode #159. Our first episode of 2026 is a personal understanding and leadership topic on authentic leadership with advice from a senior marketer on key leadership skills and finding your style.  Joining Abby is her guest David Enwright, Marketing Director at the Post Office and a long-time advocate for inclusive, human-centred leadership. With a career spanning HSBC, RBS, Allianz, and the Post Office, he has built a reputation for delivering commercial impact while creating environments where people feel safe, valued, and genuinely able to thrive. As a recognised role model for inclusive leadership, David leads with honesty and empathy, and brings lived experiences and candour to some of businesses most complex challenges.  In this episode, David shares his definition of authentic leadership, the importance of deep active listening, trust and psychological safety, and how he has developed his authentic leadership style. Plus, David's career highs and lows and advice for marketers of tomorrow.    00:00:00 Welcome and Introduction to Authentic Leadership  00:02:47 Defining of Authentic Leadership  00:05:00 David's Leadership Style  00:06:25 The Importance of Deep Listening   00:08:28 Creating the Right Environment for Conversations   00:09:46 Arriving at an Authentic Leadership Style  00:12:08 Learning from Mistakes and Personal Loss   00:16:05 Recognizing and Preventing Burnout  00:17:51 Building Psychological Safety and Trust   00:21:11 Benefits of Psychological Safety   00:23:09 Encouraging Bold Ideas and Growth Mindset   00:24:47 David's Career Highs and Lows   00:26:58 Advice for Marketers of Tomorrow   Host: Abigail Dixon FCIM/ICF | LinkedIn Guest: David Enwright | LinkedIn   The Whole Marketer podcast is here to support and empower the people behind brands and businesses with the latest technical tools, soft and leadership skills and personal understanding for a fulfilling marketing career and life as a whole. Did you know The Whole Marketer is more than a podcast and book? We're your trusted partners for marketing capability and transformation, providing consultancy, training & workshops, speaking, coaching, mentoring and trusted advisory service. Visit www.thewholemarketer.com to see how we support leaders to build marketing teams with the holistic skills to lead the long-term commercial agenda and deliver the true potential of marketing. Contact [email protected] to get in touch with Abby and the team  

Episode #158. Today's episode is a technical skill on effective brand building and the considerations and competencies you need to build a brand; including the importance of clarity on your strategic choices and the movement you want to make through SMART objectives to ladder up to the commercial objectives.  Abby's guest is experienced, award-winning marketing leader and friend of the podcast Andrew Geoghegan, Group Chief Marketing Officer at William Grant & Sons and ex PZ Cussons and Diageo. His paper on creating a culture of effectiveness at Diageo won Gold, Best New Learning, and Best Use of Data from the IPA and he has been recognised as one of the top 100 marketers by Marketing Week.  In this episode, Andrew shares his experience of brand building and practical advice from his book 'Effective brand building' including organisational context when brand building, making strategic choices, meeting your consumer where they are and how to win/keep winning.   Plus Andrew's highs and lows (since he last appeared on our podcast) and advice for marketers of tomorrow.    Host: Abigail Dixon FCIM/ICF | LinkedIn Guest: Andrew Geoghegan | LinkedIn   The Whole Marketer podcast is here to support and empower the people behind brands and businesses with the latest technical tools, soft and leadership skills and personal understanding for a fulfilling marketing career and life as a whole. Did you know The Whole Marketer is more than a podcast and book? We're your trusted partners for marketing capability and transformation, providing consultancy, training & workshops, speaking, coaching, mentoring and trusted advisory service. Visit www.thewholemarketer.com to see how we support leaders to build marketing teams with the holistic skills to lead the long-term commercial agenda and deliver the true potential of marketing. Contact [email protected] to get in touch with Abby and the team

Episode #157. We're focusing on burnout on today's episode, an issue we regularly and will continue to raise awareness of in our profession. We are passionate about providing support to empower you with the signs and actions you can take to aid in prevention and recovery in our fast-paced, challenging yet rewarding marketing profession.    Joining Abby on this episode is guest expert Dr Richard Duggins, Associate Medical Director for culture and leadership at Kent NHS Foundation Trust and a leading voice on staff wellbeing. A psychiatrist, psychotherapist and leadership coach, Richard has spent nearly two decades helping healthcare and other professionals recover from burnout, anxiety and depression. His work blends clinical expertise with deep insights into organisational culture and he leads a specialist regional wellbeing service for over 175,000 health and social care staff and works with the NHS practitioner help.   In this episode, Richard shares insights from his book 'Burnout-Free Working: Your Expert Guide to Thriving in Stressful Workplaces' and discusses what burnout is, warning signs that you're on the edge of the burnout cliff and 5 ways to avoid it. Plus practical frameworks like the "exhaustion funnel" and "drain and radiators" and finding a decompression activity to boost your energy.  Plus Richard's advice for marketers of tomorrow.    00:00:00 Introduction to Burnout   00:02:31 Defining Burnout   00:04:22 Recognizing Burnout in Ourselves and Others   00:07:32 The Exhaustion Funnel   00:09:16 The Burnout Cliff   00:13:00 Personal and Professional Factors in Burnout  00:17:36 Impact of Perfectionism   00:21:42 Resilience   00:21:50 Radiators and Drains Model   00:29:09 Five Ways to Prevent Burnout   00:35:11 Looking Out for Others: The Three L's   00:39:09 Building a Supportive Culture   00:40:02 Final Advice for Marketers    Host: Abigail Dixon FCIM/ICF | LinkedIn Guest: Dr Richard Duggins | LinkedIn   The Whole Marketer podcast is here to support and empower the people behind brands and businesses with the latest technical tools, soft and leadership skills and personal understanding for a fulfilling marketing career and life as a whole. Did you know The Whole Marketer is more than a podcast and book? We're your trusted partners for marketing capability and transformation, providing consultancy, training & workshops, speaking, coaching, mentoring and trusted advisory service. Visit www.thewholemarketer.com to see how we support leaders to build marketing teams with the holistic skills to lead the long-term commercial agenda and deliver the true potential of marketing. Contact [email protected] to get in touch with Abby and the team

Episode #156. This episode of personal understanding is a skill for marketers in our ever-changing, challenging yet rewarding profession.  We're discussing resilience - not to be confused with endurance. We believe building resilience is about individuals feeling empowered to proactively put in place what they need to ensure that they have the energy and wellbeing levels to deal with day-to-day life and setbacks when they inevitably occur.  Abby's guest expert on this topic is Drew Povey, author, leadership coach and mentor with over 25 years professional experience in multi-sector, executive level leadership across a wide range of sectors including elite sport, corporate, nonprofit and government settings. Drew's recently published book 'When the Clouds Come: Dealing with Difficulties, Facing Your Fears, and Overcoming Obstacles' includes his models and tools to support leaders with resilience.   In this episode, Drew shares his definition of resilience, building resilience like a muscle and practical models from his book, including the "Five H's" for effective leadership in tough times and BEST LIFE for well-being.   Plus Drew's advice for marketers of tomorrow to build their tolerance to change.    00:00:00 Welcome and Introduction to Resilience  00:01:11 Defining Resilience vs. Endurance   00:03:41 Drew Povey's Perspective on Resilience   00:07:30 Resilience and Well-being   00:12:06 Drew Povey's Book: When the Clouds Come   00:15:21 The Cloud Analogy   00:20:32 "BEST LIFE" Model   00:23:01 Building Resilience Like a Muscle   00:28:03 Perspective and Leadership During Change   00:33:40 The Three P's Model for Difficult Times  00:38:10 Change as a Process, Not an Event  00:38:56 The Five H's for Dealing with Difficulty   00:47:55 The Power of Pause in Leadership   00:51:32 Summary and Final Reflections  00:52:07 Final Advice for Marketers of Tomorrow   Host: Abigail Dixon FCIM/ICF | LinkedIn Guest: Drew Povey | LinkedIn When the Clouds Come: Dealing with Difficulties, Facing Your Fears, and Overcoming Obstacles: Dealing with Difficulties, Facing Your Fears, and Overcoming Obstacles: Amazon.co.uk: Povey, Drew: 9780857089175: Books   The Whole Marketer podcast is here to support and empower the people behind brands and businesses with the latest technical tools, soft and leadership skills and personal understanding for a fulfilling marketing career and life as a whole. Did you know The Whole Marketer is more than a podcast and book? We're your trusted partners for marketing capability and transformation, providing consultancy, training & workshops, speaking, coaching, mentoring and trusted advisory service. Visit www.thewholemarketer.com to see how we support leaders to build marketing teams with the holistic skills to lead the long-term commercial agenda and deliver the true potential of marketing. Contact [email protected] to get in touch with Abby and the team  

Episode #155. Today's focus is a personal understanding topic on the importance of marketers owning and sharing their authentic voices - especially on platforms like LinkedIn.   Joining Abby is her guest Nicola Kemp, Editorial Director for Creative Brief. Starting her career as a financial journalist, Nicola has worked for titles including Campaign, WGSN, M&M Global, Reuters, Bloomberg, The Guardian and The Observer. Today, Nicola is a passionate advocate speaking out for diversity in all its forms in the creative industries. A respected voice, Nicola won the Woman in Marketing Journalist of the year award, named as one of the 200 women redefining the creative industry by The Dots, an #EverydayAction award winner by Bloom, a Pitch 100 Superwoman, a Power Part Time winner and a Campaign Trailblazer of the future.    In this episode, Nicola shares her definition of sharing your voice, overcoming internal doubts, external barriers like misogyny, and the need for diversity of thought and positive change in marketing. Plus, practical advice on building confidence, starting small, and focusing on personal strengths.   Nicola also shares her career highs and lows and advice for marketers of tomorrow.    00:00:00 Welcome and Introduction to Owning and Sharing your Voice  00:02:28 What it Means to Harness the Power of Your Voice in Marketing  00:03:40 The Social Responsibility of Using Your Voice  00:04:47 Barriers, Backlash and Self-Editing   00:15:31 The Importance of Community   00:18:14 How to Start Sharing Your Voice   00:20:54 Humility and Curiosity   00:29:30 Building Clarity and Self-Understanding   00:32:42 Developing Confidence   00:35:58 The Power of Vulnerability and Authenticity   00:37:48 Nicola's Career Highs and Lows   00:42:17 Advice for Marketers of Tomorrow     Host: Abigail Dixon FCIM/ICF | LinkedIn Guest: Nicola Kemp | LinkedIn   The Whole Marketer podcast is here to support and empower the people behind brands and businesses with the latest thinking, technical tools, soft and leadership skills and personal understanding for a fulfilling marketing career and life as a whole.   Did you know The Whole Marketer is more than a podcast and book? We're your trusted partners for marketing capability and transformation, providing consultancy, training & workshops, speaking, coaching, mentoring and trusted advisory service.  Visit www.thewholemarketer.com to see how we support leaders to build marketing teams with the holistic skills to lead the long-term commercial agenda and deliver the true potential of marketing.  Contact [email protected] to get in touch with Abby and the team 

Episode #154. We're back! Season 9 kicks off with a fundamental technical skill for marketers growing the brands and businesses of tomorrow… we're discussing marketing's role in leading the long-term commercial agenda, what you can do to build trusting and collaborative relationships with your finance department and how to build the link between marketing and commercial results.   Abby's guest expert is Naomi Walkland, Chief Marketing Officer at Motorway, which is the UK's fastest growing car marketplace. In her role, she oversees the company's brand and product marketing, growth marketing, creative communications and business marketing team. Previously, Naomi served as the VP of Bumble, where she led the international marketing team, driving new customers and revenue growth outside of the US. Naomi is an Honorary Fellow of the Marketing Society, and has been recognised by Marketing Week and Campaign Magazine as one of their top marketing leaders in the UK.  In this episode, Naomi shares what it means to lead the long-term commercial agenda, developing your financial literacy, building relationships with finance and modelling this with your teams, and the importance of transparency and shared responsibility with your CFO.  Plus her experience at Bumble and Motorway, career highs and lows and advice for marketers of tomorrow.    00:00:00 Welcome and Introduction to Marketing's Role in Leading the Long-Term Commercial Agenda  00:04:27 Importance of Sustainable Growth  00:06:05 Building Evidence of Marketing's Impact  00:08:53 Building a Relationship with the CFO   00:10:07 Transparency and Shared Accountability with Finance   00:14:52 Taking Calculated Risks   00:17:49 Honesty and Trust in Marketing Leadership   00:19:34 Developing Courage and Humility as a Leader  00:23:10 Educating Teams on Commercial Understanding   00:24:02 Investing in your Financial Literacy and Development   00:28:24 Naomi's Career Highs and Lows   00:31:58 Advice for Marketers of Tomorrow     Host: Abigail Dixon FCIM/ICF | LinkedIn Guest: Naomi Walkland | LinkedIn   The Whole Marketer podcast is here to support and empower the people behind brands and businesses with the latest technical tools, soft and leadership skills and personal understanding for a fulfilling marketing career and life as a whole. Did you know The Whole Marketer is more than a podcast and book? We're your trusted partners for marketing capability and transformation, providing consultancy, training & workshops, speaking, coaching, mentoring and trusted advisory service. Visit www.thewholemarketer.com to hear how we support leaders to build marketing teams with the holistic skills to lead the long-term commercial agenda and deliver the true potential of marketing. Contact [email protected] to get in touch with Abby and the team.

Episode #153. This topic is a technical and human skill that all marketers should strive to develop in order to solve problems and inspire new thinking, ideas, products and experiences for your consumers and your organisation… we're talking about creating a culture of creative excellence – what it is and how to get started.  Abby's guest expert is Rich Atkinson-Toal, VP of Global Brand and Marketing at Amex Global Business Travel. His marketing and communication leadership experience extends across B2C and B2B brands including Barclays and Barclaycard. Over the last 18 years, Rich has worked across all marketing and management disciplines, including media, creative, marketing, technology, production, communications, planning and activation. He is also deputy chair and non-executive director of the Data and Marketing Association and as a growth orientated, passionate and ambitious leader he believes culture and purpose are key components of brand and business success.  In this episode, Rich shares his definition of creative excellence, the process he puts in place as a leader to make time and space for creativity, reviewing and aligning creativity, starting your creative excellence culture and how to engage your team.  Plus his highs and lows and advice for marketers of tomorrow.    00:00:00 Welcome and Introduction Creative Excellence  00:04:15 Defining Creative Excellence   00:07:04 Clarity and Alignment in Creativity   00:08:06 Creativity as a Mindset Across the Organisation   00:10:01 Practical Steps to Shift Creative Culture   00:14:53 Creative Reviews and Consistency   00:19:13 Measuring External Creative Excellence   00:25:10 Skills and Behaviours for Creative Teams   00:30:35 Protecting the Creative Team Environment   00:34:12 Lessons Learned in Creative Transformation   00:38:08 Career Highs and Lows   00:42:27 Advice for Marketers of Tomorrow     Host: Abigail Dixon FCIM/ICF | LinkedIn Guest: Rich Atkinson-Toal | LinkedIn   The Whole Marketer podcast is here to support and empower the people behind brands and businesses with the latest technical tools, soft and leadership skills and personal understanding for a fulfilling marketing career and life as a whole. For more info go to www.thewholemarketer.com 

Episode #152. Today's focus is a technical skill on advertising – specifically the significant implications of uninspired advertising and how to overcome dullness in your work.  Abby's guest expert is Adam Morgan, legendary marketing strategist, speaker, podcast host and author of Eating The Big Fish (which first popularised the term challenger brands some 20 years ago). As founder and partner of Eat Big Fish, an international consultancy that specializes in bringing a challenger mindset to client problems in the area of strategy, culture and innovation, he is passionate about helping brands overcome mediocrity. His latest project, The Extraordinary Cost of Dull, a collaboration with Peter Field, Jon Evans and Dr Karen Nelson-Field, delves into just how costly it is for brand owners and marketers to be dull. In his podcast entitled 'Let's make this more Interesting' Adam speaks to fascinating people who excel at engaging their audience.  In this episode, Adam shares the background to his 'cost of dull' project and research showing that dull campaigns require higher media spend to achieve results. He discusses the reasons why dullness persists, five key questions to help marketers create more engaging, distinctive work, and embracing the mindset of a challenger.  Plus, his career highs and lows and advice for marketers of tomorrow.    00:00:00 Welcome and Introduction to Advertising and the 'Cost of Dull' project  00:03:19 Defining the Cost of Dull   00:04:39 Dullness as Exclusion & Societal Impact   00:06:33 Why Tackle Dullness  00:10:57 Prioritizing Where to Be Interesting Framework   00:13:30 Findings from the 'Cost of Dull' Research   00:18:24 Why Dullness Persists: The Five Drivers   00:25:52 How to Avoid Being Dull  00:26:20 The Five Questions to Ensure Engaging and Effective Communication.  00:38:31Challenger Brands Mindset   00:42:31 Career Highs and Lows  00:45:04 Advice for Marketers of Tomorrow     Links Lets Make This More Interesting — eatbigfish.    Host: Abigail Dixon FCIM/ICF | LinkedIn Guest: Adam Morgan | LinkedIn   The Whole Marketer podcast is here to support and empower the people behind brands and businesses with the latest technical tools, soft and leadership skills and personal understanding for a fulfilling marketing career and life as a whole. For more info go to www.thewholemarketer.com 

Episode #151. Today's focus is a technical skill on how to step change growth of your brand or business. When we refer to step change, we don't mean incremental movements in growth, but a bold, substantial shift; whether that's a significant reversal of brand decline or stepping out into new categories and territories in pursuit of brand-new growth opportunities. It requires a real mindset shift – plus bravery and curiosity – to step change growth of your brand of business.  Joining Abby is her guest Jo McClintock, award-winning marketer and Trainline's VP Brand and Marketing. Jo is known in the industry for her strategic thinking, combining brand purpose and commercial strategy for brands such as Moonpig, Skyscanner, Screwfix and today at Trainline. This has really shown up in big ideas such as the award-winning 'I Came By Train' sustainable train initiative to get more people out of cars and planes and onto the rails, as well as scaling Trainline into four new international markets.  In this episode, Jo shares her definition of a step changing growth, how to bring new ideas to your team, building a collaborative culture that supports bold ideas, helping others to visualise to bring to life and making space for curiosity.  Plus, her career highs and lows and advice for marketers of tomorrow.    00:00:00 Welcome and Introduction to Step Change Growth 00:02:42 Defining Step Change Growth (00:02:42)   00:04:15 Approach to Achieving Step Change   00:05:36 Culture of Curiosity and Psychological Safety   00:07:05 Critical Thinking and Accountability  00:09:31 Building and Evolving Ideas Collaboratively   00:12:33 Examples of Step Change at Trainline   00:17:21 The "Four Worlds" framework (customer, culture, business, category)  00:18:40 Permission to Think Big  00:20:00 Jo's Strategic Thinking Process  00:25:03 Career Highs and Lows   00:27:31 Advice for Marketers of Tomorrow   Book Recommendation: Where Ideas Come From     Host: Abigail Dixon FCIM/ICF | LinkedIn Guest: Jo McClintock | LinkedIn   The Whole Marketer podcast is here to support and empower the people behind brands and businesses with the latest technical tools, soft and leadership skills and personal understanding for a fulfilling marketing career and life as a whole. For more info go to www.thewholemarketer.com 

Episode #150. We're celebrating our milestone 150th episode with a technical skill that, if it hasn't already, will impact and shape the way we work and live our lives, and the lives of our consumers.  We're discussing AI and how to utilise the tools available today, to help you to grow the brands and businesses of tomorrow.  Returning guest and friend of the podcast joining Abby is Jeremy Connell-Waite. As IBM's Global Communications Designer, Jeremy is a seasoned storyteller, strategist and communications leader, bringing a wealth of experience from his work at the intersection of technology, purpose and human connection.  In this episode, Jeremy shares how he uses AI to become his IA – intelligent assistant – conversing with his AI personas to collaborate; not only to provide answers but get to the root causes to help him ask the right questions too.   Jeremy also reveals why you should use voice prompt when training your AI, plus he gives many great examples of how it can be used day-to-day, with different AI platforms and resources to help you get started.    00:00:00 Welcome and Introduction to Brand Purpose  00:02:16 Jeremy's Background & Approach to AI   00:03:33 Defining AI: Intelligent Assistant, Not Artificial Intelligence   00:05:20 How Marketers Are Using AI   00:08:49 Building Rapport with AI & Humanizing the Experience   00:15:11 How to Build Your Own AI Assistant   00:22:29 Building Custom GPTs   00:25:38 Experimenting with Different Platforms  00:27:30 The Future of AI: Adoption Not Anxiety   00:31:51 Top Five Actions for Marketers   00:38:03 AI as a Time-Saving Tool to Free You Up For What You Enjoy  00:39:25 Final Advice For Marketers     Host: Abigail Dixon FCIM/ICF | LinkedIn Guest: Jeremy Connell-Waite | LinkedIn   The Whole Marketer podcast is here to support and empower the people behind brands and businesses with the latest technical tools, soft and leadership skills and personal understanding for a fulfilling marketing career and life as a whole. For more info go to www.thewholemarketer.com