#18 Moved by Assumptions | Luca Axley

What happens when you're not in the room?A big part of leadership isn't what happens when you're present, but what happens when you're not.How do you create the strategy, culture and conditions for an organisation to work well without you having to be there?In this episode, I'm joined by Jon Berger, leadership and organisation expert and regular contributor to tech podcast Asynchronous and Unreliable.Drawing on his experience of engineering leadership at Microsoft, Jon shares his leadership philosophy and evolution. We explore domain knowledge versus domain-agnostic leadership, the expert's trap, power versus leadership, and how AI agents might change the role of human leaders.Jon's book, What Happens When You're Not in the Room, is available in paperback on Amazon, with the Kindle edition launching 1 December 2026.Listen, subscribe and share Moved wherever you get your podcasts.

What connects rare disease advocacy, LGBTQ+ rights, political philosophy and the fight against organised crime?For Mariangela Pellegrini, these are not separate causes. They are different expressions of a common question: how do societies create norms, determine whose experiences matter, and decide who gets to be seen, heard and represented?Mariangela is Executive Director of DEBRA International. Originally from southern Italy and now based in Paris, her journey has taken her from studying political philosophy and the work of Michel Foucault at the Sorbonne to working alongside people living with rare diseases and building communities that challenge marginalisation and injustice.In this conversation, we explore how her philosophical thinking informs her work in patient advocacy, why people living with rare diseases often have to become experts in their own conditions, and why lived experience should be recognised as a valuable form of knowledge.We discuss the limitations of a healthcare system built around individual transactions, the importance of community-centred care, and the uncomfortable paradox of health being a universal human right within systems increasingly shaped by commercial priorities.The conversation also moves beyond healthcare. Mariangela shares her involvement in LGBTQ+ advocacy in Paris and the cultural work she has helped build in her hometown of Polignano a Mare in southern Italy, where a community association now manages property confiscated from the Mafia and creates opportunities for young people to engage with anti-mafia culture.Across all these experiences, a recurring theme emerges: the importance of challenging what society considers normal, recognising the voices that are too often excluded, and creating the conditions for communities to shape their own futures.In this episode, we explore:Michel Foucault, power, knowledge and the construction of normalityThe journey from academic philosophy into public health and patient advocacyRare diseases, diagnostic delays and the isolation experienced by patientsWhy equality doesn't always mean treating everyone the sameThe value of lived experience in medical research and decision-makingThe limitations of transactional healthcare and the idea of community healthThe connections between rare disease advocacy and LGBTQ+ rightsCommunity-led cultural action against organised crime in southern ItalyIntersectionality, representation and the transformative power of communityHow psychotherapy has influenced Mariangela's approach to leadershipA few things mentioned in the conversation:DEBRA InternationalEURORDISLibera120 Beats Per Minute – a film about HIV/AIDS activism in FranceMichel Foucault's lectures at the Collège de FranceThe Abnormals and Psychiatric Power by Michel FoucaultA conversation about power, belonging, knowledge and the possibilities of collective action.

A wonderful conversation with Luca Axley.Luca is a multi-disciplinary artist and disability advocate.They tell us about the power of art, starting conversations that are important, broadening your horizons, touching on how things can be interpreted differently, and crucially about the power of assumptions.Luca is a wheelchair user, who talks about the accessibility issues in society, as well as injustices, touching on the housing crisis and cost of living issues.Luca is an incredible person, wired to help people have better lives. They want the best for the country, as well as the best for society and individuals - inspiring.

Dr Noemi Roy is a consultant haematologist at Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and an Honorary Senior Clinical Lecturer in Haematology at the University of Oxford – working with some of the rarest blood disorders there are. But what struck me most wasn't the information she shared on the disorders themselves, but how she thinks about the people in front of her.She listens until patients feel safe enough to push back on her own ideas. She prints out pictures so people can see what's happening in their own body. She built a charity from scratch because her patients simply had no community to belong to (https://togetherwecan.uk/)"Seeing your patient as a partner – even with the time you have, there's a lot we can all do in the way we listen, in the way we speak, that can make a big difference."✦ KEY TAKEAWAYS✦ Sickle cell is massively underfunded relative to comparable conditions – research funding runs at roughly one-seventh that of cystic fibrosis, despite affecting tens of thousands in the UK and millions globally.✦ Racial bias in healthcare is a documented, deadly problem – the APPG report No One's Listening catalogued avoidable deaths where patients in crisis had their pain dismissed or were wrongly suspected of drug-seeking.✦ Listening is a clinical tool, not just a courtesy – around 30% of prescribed medications are never taken, often because the patient didn't truly feel heard. Real trust-building directly affects outcomes.✦ Peer support is medicine – Dr Roy's charity CAN grew from 20 to 120 families annually. One mother, seeing young adults with sickle cell living full lives, said it changed her entire outlook on her two-year-old daughter's future.✦ Gene therapy exists – but at around £1 million per patient, equity of access is a serious question. Dr Roy asks whether that money wouldn't do more invested across the whole system for more patients.✦ Prescription charges remain a concrete injustice – unlike patients with cystic fibrosis or type 1 diabetes, adult sickle cell patients in England still pay. Repeated parliamentary campaigns have failed to change it.✦ Cultural humility is essential – assuming Western models of individual decision-making apply universally is itself a failure to listen. Some patients make health decisions as a family, and that deserves respect.✦ Median survival age is 54 – many patients grew up being told they wouldn't live past 20 or 30. Progress is real, but nowhere near enough.✦ Early detection saves lives simply – preventive antibiotics and regular monitoring, not cutting-edge drugs, are the foundation of good sickle cell care in the UK.✦ Dr Roy ended up in this field almost by accident – a maternity cover gap – but gravitated naturally toward a disenfranchised population, echoing an instinct she's carried since childhood.https://www.rdm.ox.ac.uk/people/noemi-royhttps://www.medsci.ox.ac.uk/for-staff/staff/noemi-royhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/noemi-roy-93891021/?originalSubdomain=ukhttps://www.imm.ox.ac.uk/news/focus-on-racism-making-a-difference-for-sickle-cell-diseasehttps://togetherwecan.uk/

Number 16 of 289 - Vibhati BhatiaVibhati “Vibs” Bhatia is a social sustainability leader, founder and community builder working at the intersection of climate, culture and equity.She is the founder of South Asians for Sustainability (SAFS) – a fast-growing platform amplifying South Asian voices in climate and social impact, while making sustainability more culturally relevant and accessible.Alongside her work, she is also a fusion musician – singing in Hindi, Punjabi and English, and collaborating with artists including The Orchestral Qawwali Project.Mishal Noor and I had the pleasure of speaking with Vibs - exploring her journey and why climate action must include the voices most affected.“We’re all connected… the world is one family.”Vibhati Bhatia Instagram and LinkedInSouth Asians for Sustainability Instagram and LinkedInOrchestral Qawwali Project Instagram and website

Her parents are farmers, so she knows how much work goes into producing food – and hates throwing it away.That led to forming Olio • Share More, Waste Less in 2014, so it's a pleasure to bring this story through the latest episode of Moved.Meet Tessa Clarke – solving food waste at scale, 140M+ meals shared safely, 15M+ household items rehomed.We know food waste is wrong, yet a third of food produced globally never gets eaten, and millions are hungry.🌍 9M+ people have joined the Olio community🍽️ 140M+ meals redistributed🏠 15M+ household items rehomed♻️ 300,000+ tonnes of CO₂e prevented💧 40B+ litres of water saved🤝 1M+ volunteer collections every yearMoved by Olio, with Tessa Clarke.Download the Olio app from the Apple App Store or Google Play.Read more at https://olioapp.com/en/

In this episode of Moved, Gary Watts speaks with Madeleine (Maddie) McLaughlin – an award-winning designer, researcher and entrepreneur working at the intersection of design, resilience and human impact.From designing tsunami escape routes in Japan to developing life-saving maritime safety solutions, Maddie shares how design goes beyond aesthetics – it becomes a tool for saving lives, rebuilding communities and solving “wicked problems.”This conversation explores:How design thinking can transform organisationsWhy empathy and culture are critical in innovationThe hidden failures of disaster relief systemsHow small interventions can create massive global impactIt’s a powerful reflection on responsibility, creativity and what it really means to design for people.Further InformationMadeleine McLaughlin – LinkedIn Madelaine McLaughlin | LinkedInEstu ESTU | ESTU Courses | Learning Made SimpleHelm Helm Innovation LtdRoyal College of Art Royal College of Art | HomeCreative Types Creative Types by Adobe

Most of us don’t think about water.We turn on the tap.Brush our teeth.Make a cup of tea.Have a shower.Most of us interact with water dozens of times before we even leave the house.But for millions of people around the world, clean water isn’t guaranteed. And without it, everything becomes harder.Health.Education.Work.Opportunity.Charlotte Harrington saw that reality up close on a trip to Malawi with WaterAid.They visited a maternity hospital.There was no running water.Midwives were delivering babies through long shifts without being able to wash their hands.Charlotte had given birth in an NHS hospital just a year earlier.The contrast stayed with her.Today she’s Co-CEO of Belu Water, a UK social enterprise trying to change the way people think about water.Belu invests 100% of its net profits into tackling water challenges and has donated more than £6 million to WaterAid so far.Their mission is about getting people to notice something we normally take for granted.Because water sits in that same category as air.Essential.Invisible.Easy to overlook.Until it isn’t.Charlotte Harrington is Guest #13 of 289 people inspiring change on the Moved podcast.“Without water, none of us can survive.”Further InformationBelu Water – https://www.belu.orgWaterAid – https://www.wateraid.orgUN Sustainable Development Goals – https://sdgs.un.org/goals

It’s easy to assume most people have a washing machine.But half of the world’s population don’t, which means hand washing.That might sound innocuous – until you realise it can equate to 20 hours a week of manual labour. Which falls mainly on women and girls.There’s the physical toll – hands, wrists, backs. And then there’s the opportunity cost.Because while they’re spending those 20 hours washing clothes, they’re not reading, not studying, not doing paid work, not resting.Not doing the things many of us do while our washing machine quietly whirs in the background.That’s why the story of Dr Navjot Sawhney and The Washing Machine Project is so powerful.In 2017, while volunteering in India after leaving a role at Dyson, Nav met a woman called Divya.She was hand washing clothes for up to 20 hours a week.“I’ll get you an electric washing machine,” he said.But there was no point. They had no running water. No reliable electricity.The manual work had to continue.But Nav couldn’t ignore what he’d seen.As he left the village, he made her a promise:“I will come back one day and bring you a washing machine you can use.”He returned in 2019 to show her how her story had already inspired something bigger.And in 2024 – seven years after that original promise – he came back again.This time with the machine itself.A machine that reduced Divya’s laundry time from 20 hours to around 5 hours a week.Fifteen hours regained.What would you do with 15 extra hours every single week?That moment brought tears to my eyes.But it didn’t end there.That promise became a mission – refining the design, manufacturing challenges, distribution – with the ambition of reaching millions.Dr Navjot Sawhney (“Nav”) is Guest #12 of 289 people making an impact on society and the planet."A woman would spend up to 20 hours a week for her family hand washing clothes."Listen on Spotify, Apple, Amazon or via the Captivate link in the comments.Dr Navjot Sawhney is a London‑born, Indian‑origin engineer and social entrepreneur who received the UK Prime Minister’s Points of Light Award in February 2023 for his humanitarian innovation through The Washing Machine Project, which designs and distributes energy‑efficient, hand‑cranked washing machines to communities without reliable electricity. At the time he was awarded, the Prime Minister invited Dr Nav for lunch at 10 Downing Street, and of course he brought his mum with him. She had recently retired after a 40-year career in HMRC for the government after coming to the UK with £5 in her pocket. What a wonderful point in the story that's unfolding.Further InformationThe Washing Machine Project – https://www.thewashingmachineproject.org/divya-washing-machineEngineers Without Borders UK – https://www.ewb-uk.orgPoints of Light Award – https://www.pointsoflight.gov.uk

“You can ruthlessly optimise to produce social good.”The next of my 289 featured people is Edward Hibbert.Founder and CTO of Freegle, one of the UK’s largest platforms for getting and giving things away for free, and an important voice in the Tech for Good movement.Gary Watts speaks with Edward not just about reuse, but about how systems shape behaviour, why the bin is the competitor, and what happens when you apply tech thinking to human generosity.We explore how tech for good needs the same rigour as commercial tech, how design choices can increase altruism, the value in reuse (not just money), and how volunteering increases the amount of kindness in the world.Edward Hibbert | Guest #11 of 289, moved by Tech for GoodConnect & Learn Morehttps://www.ilovefreegle.org/https://www.linkedin.com/company/freeglehttps://www.instagram.com/thisisfreegle/https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/freegle/id970045029https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.ilovefreegle.direct&hl=en-UShttps://www.ted.com/talks/paul_piff_does_money_make_you_mean