Business Leader's Voice

Speaking to influential buyers and users of professional services firms to offer fresh insight into the critical issues occupying the headspace of senior executives.

Creating business resilience as a chief legal officer 05/06/2025

Creating business resilience as a chief legal officer Matthew Wilson, Chief Legal Officer at Fremantle, and Emma Carroll, Head of Content at Source, caught up on the latest episode of our Business Leader’s Voice podcast.  Matthew and Emma shared their insights on the following matters and more:   An adaptable internal culture—grounded in trust, transparency, and ethical governance—is key to resilience. Strategies to build resilience include diversifying your portfolio, establishing clear governance frameworks, and maintaining transparent communication. AI is transforming the content industry, affecting everything from production to rights management. When establishing a use for an AI tool, Fremantle applies a governance framework to determine whether the tool is appropriate for the task. AI should be considered for both its risks and its opportunities. Upskilling and getting teams working with AI gives the business a better chance to thrive in future. However, it is paramount to have the right access and controls in place to protect your corporate data. Successful consulting partnerships are characterised by trust, adaptability, curiosity, and integration into the internal team, rather than rigid frameworks or a cookie-cutter approach. AI transformation is likely to be the most in-demand consulting service in the TMT sector over the next few years. AI can make it easier to turn ideas into reality, but there should be an emphasis on maintaining human creativity while leveraging technological efficiency.   If you enjoyed this conversation, don’t miss our sister podcast, Future of the Firm. In a , we talked to Source’s own Natasha Campbell, Principal Thought Leadership Consultant, and Nicola Kostrzewska, Senior Consultant, about the themes and findings of our latest Quality Ratings of Thought Leadership report. /episode/index/show/ac283178-4371-471c-bf1a-e67c266a3817/id/36451930

Solving business problems with AI—the tech-comes-second approach 04/08/2025

Solving business problems with AI—the tech-comes-second approach Francine Bennett, Board Member at the Ada Lovelace Institute, caught up with Emma Carroll, Head of Content at Source, on the latest episode of our Business Leader’s Voice podcast. Francine and Emma shared their insights on the following matters and more:  Businesses first need to think about their problems and then select AI tools intelligently, rather than following the hype. Many leaders are eager to integrate exciting new solutions without having a clear understanding of the problem they want to solve. Beyond just knowing you want to implement a solution, its important to consider how to monitor, track, and evaluate the outcomes to determine whether it is effective—particularly as business leaders might not be the ones working most closely with the tools. Businesses need to assess their existing level of technical maturity to use AI tools to their maximum potential. Leaders should consider how optimised the business’s current processes are and how reliable and robust their data is. It’s not only important to make sure your data is of good quality, but also to be mindful of how you govern it. There are ethical and confidentiality implications of using various AI tools, and its important to make sure your data and your business is protected. Many businesses are considering the potential pushback they might get from their workforce at the possibility of integrating AI. In some contexts, AI might be replacing jobs—particularly more junior roles—but generally it will be more a case of changing the job description. Biggest barriers to AI is when a board doesn’t have a clear strategy. The first element should always be having a strong understanding of the goals, strengths, and risks of the organisation—if this is robust, then the AI part follows more easily. If you enjoyed this conversation, don’t miss our sister podcast, Future of the Firm. In a , we talked to Lesley Uren, Global CEO of Consulting at Korn Ferry about the future of human capital consulting /episode/index/show/ac283178-4371-471c-bf1a-e67c266a3817/id/36049550

Navigating regulation while driving growth in healthcare 03/24/2025

Navigating regulation while driving growth in healthcare Mizanu Kebede, Chief Quality & Regulatory Officer at Smith & Nephew, caught up with Emma Carroll, Head of Content at Source, on the latest episode of our Business Leader’s Voice podcast.  Mizanu shares his insights on the following matters and more:    AI is transforming diagnostics, personalised medicine, and operational efficiency within the healthcare industry. The integration of AI and machine learning, and advanced data analytics into medical devices, promises to enhance patient outcomes while reducing costs. Cybersecurity is a crucial topic as the medical devices market becomes increasingly digitalised, safeguarding patient data against cyberthreats is paramount. Advanced encryption is critical here. Great quality and compliance processes can help drive business growth, including by providing a solid and reliable platform for innovation; establishing a trustworthy reputation in the market, which is essential to attracting and retaining customers; and navigating complex and numerous global regulations to allow a business to operate internationally. Businesses often go wrong by failing to keep comprehensive records. This can delay product launches, cause recalls, and damage both reputation and financial performance. Failing to prioritise cybersecurity and data security is another significant risk. Transparency, collaboration, and proactive communication are the bedrock of interacting with regulators. Regulators should be seen as partners—it’s about building trust. AI is significantly transforming the role of quality and regulatory leaders. For example, the huge amount of data that can be absorbed and analysed can feed into innovation and also predict potential defects before they are discovered and so reduce the risk of product recalls. We also discuss what Mizanu values in a professional services firm, and where consultants can fall short. If you enjoyed this conversation, don’t miss our sister podcast, Future of the Firm. In a , we talked to Lesley Uren, Global CEO for Consulting at Korn Ferry, about the future of human capital consulting. /episode/index/show/ac283178-4371-471c-bf1a-e67c266a3817/id/35851040

Transforming procurement with data, culture, and tech 02/25/2025

Transforming procurement with data, culture, and tech Sarah Ricketts, SVP for Procurement at Rolls Royce caught up with Emma Carroll, Head of Content at Source, on the latest episode of our Business Leader’s Voice podcast.  Sarah shares her insights on the following matters and more:   The level of disruption in supply chain recently means there is a heightened focus on risk, including geopolitical, financial, and capacity risk. The key to managing this is having a standardised framework and understanding the leading indicators to be able to prioritise and mitigate potential risks before they arise. Digital tools make transformation programmes a continuous process, constantly creating efficiencies to allow people to focus on the truly value-adding work. Whether you are concerned with data & analytics, risk management, spend management, quality, or costs, digital can do a lot for procurement. Businesses should be asking themselves about how they should use the data they’ve got, who uses what, and what they need going forward. Sarah recommends building a control tower of data that can be used at all levels of the organisation and can be looked at through different lenses for different purposes. To drive change and innovation, organisations should be benchmarking themselves against industry standards. But they should also be looking at other sectors to see what good looks like elsewhere and seeing how it can be applied in a new environment. An internal focus on diversity doesn’t just bring psychological safety for those in the workforce, but also brings new perspectives, drives innovation, and boosts profitability. Sarah touches on how frequently people in the workplace experience imposter syndrome, and the importance of raising awareness.   If you enjoyed this conversation, don’t miss our sister podcast, Future of the Firm. In a , we talked to Michael McMahon, Professor of Economics at University of Oxford, about the impact of Trump’s policies on professional services. /episode/index/show/ac283178-4371-471c-bf1a-e67c266a3817/id/35421270

Moving with pace: building a culture of innovation and speed as general counsel 02/11/2025

Moving with pace: building a culture of innovation and speed as general counsel Vicki Bradin, General Counsel at Sage, caught up with Emma Carroll, Head of Content at Source, on the latest episode of our Business Leader’s Voice podcast. Vicki shared her insights on the following matters and more:  · General counsels could be seen as a person that slows things down and says no—but this isn’t how today’s best GCs work. Instead, they need to think about the areas where the business needs to take more risk and lean into this. · With the fast-paced nature of the technology industry, tech businesses need to move rapidly. Missing a transformative industry trend could lead to years of playing catch up. · When deciding whether a new trend is a fad or a real value-adding solution, businesses should consider the practical applications. Does it have a real benefit to the customer, help them with a problem that needs solving, or improve their own productivity and pace? · Communication is central to collaboration. Teams should come together regularly and sit down in a disciplined way to talk about shared challenges, differences of opinions, and how to avoid duplication. · It’s easy to think that more people in your workforce would lead to a boost in productivity—but this isn’t always the case. You have to think about the layers of your team and put in frameworks to make sure that decision making and communication isn’t getting slow. · Lawyers have a unique skillset that can add value beyond just being the lawyer in the team. For instance, they ask great questions, can assimilate vast amounts of data, and can be the unbiased person in the room. If you enjoyed this conversation, don’t miss our sister podcast, Future of the Firm. In a , we talked to Michael McMahon, Professor of Economics at University of Oxford, about the impact of Trump’s policies on the professional services industry. /episode/index/show/ac283178-4371-471c-bf1a-e67c266a3817/id/35235445

Delivering Revenue Across Business Cycles—The WeWork Story 10/14/2024

Keeping CX at heart of your business model 05/28/2024

The big tech challenges in a digital-first bank, with Jason Maude, Starling Bank 05/14/2024

Transformation: the recurring challenges and how to tackle them, with Andy Haywood, former Yorkshire Water 04/30/2024

Have Businesses Forgotten How to Manage? With Belden Menkus, Menkus & Associates 02/20/2024

Business Challenges and Trends for 2024: Supply chain, net zero, and investing in your future 01/09/2024

Reducing complexity in your business with Beth Butterwick 09/26/2023

Delivering on social responsibility with Paul Pellizzari 09/12/2023

The supplier management gap with Paul Alexander 05/10/2023

The supplier management gap with Paul Alexander Emma Carroll is joined by Paul Alexander and Martin White, in this first episode of Business Leader’s Voice, a new series providing a client’s-eye view of the professional services landscape. When it comes to selling and contracting for professional services, have you ever fallen into any of the common procurement pitfalls? Clients say that firms can fail to understand the structure of procurement and the wider buying process. They can be tempted to oversell capabilities or talk up talent that isn’t available. Those on the ground may assume that people working in procurement understand more about consulting than they do. And sometimes firms can simply fail to listen… It’s a rare firm that hasn’t fallen into the supplier management gap at some time. In this podcast, we discuss all things procurement with Paul Alexander, who’s had leadership roles at BP and British Airways, and now lectures on procurement, teaching tomorrow’s buyers of professional services and beyond. Paul has witnessed all these mistakes and more—but he takes a positive look at what firms can do to build a better and more profitable relationship with their partners in procurement. The first 40 minutes of this episode are a behind-the-scenes interview with Paul Alexander. This is followed by 10 minutes of bonus content with Martin White, Principal Consultant at Source, in which we discuss what Source’s research has to say about the issues raised.    About the series: Business Leader's Voice is essential listening for those seeking to understand what's important to clients. Speaking to influential buyers and users of professional services, Source’s managing editor, Emma Carroll, asks the big questions about what really matters to firms today and offers fresh insight into the critical issues occupying the headspace of senior executives. /episode/index/show/ac283178-4371-471c-bf1a-e67c266a3817/id/26799933

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