Lead Out Loud

Episode 16 | Michelle Feeney: Stop Asking People 'What Job They Want To Do When They Grow Up'

Warwick Campaign Ambassador Michelle Feeney left the UK in her 20s and flew to New York with no job offer and just £600 in her pocket. From there, she climbed the career ladder across some of biggest beauty brands in the world (Estée Lauder, MAC Cosmetics and St Tropez to name just a few), managing multi-million pound budgets and big teams. Then, at the age of 53, Michelle stepped away from the corporate world to start her own sustainable beauty brand from scratch, which became Floral Street. A career like Michelle's doesn't happen by chance, so we decided to sit her down with Sarah Jackson - Alumni and MBA Careers Manager at Warwick Business School - for a chat on the Lead Out Loud podcast. In this episode: • How Michelle went from beauty brand expert to entrepreneur. • The key things an MBA student can do to land their next job. • The reality of changing careers at 53. --- Lead Out Loud is the podcast from Warwick Business School where industry and academic expertise collide in conversation. Discover more on Leadership at the Warwick Business School website. [https://www.wbs.ac.uk/research/our-expertise/leadership/] Follow us on LinkedIn for our Core Insights newsletter here [https://www.linkedin.com/school/warwick-business-school]. Help make the podcast even better. Click here to share your feedback [https://forms.office.com/e/pTz8dp4vQU ].

Episode 15 | Do Leaders Need To Shout To Get Things Done?

We've all seen shouty chefs on TV, their leadership style characterised by yelling at pot washers, waiting staff and even customers. It's probably where the phrase 'if you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen' comes from. But do those in leadership positions need to shout? Are there times when shouting is actually necessary? And why have kitchens (and maybe football dugouts) still got that reputation as heated environments where shouting at subordinates is acceptable? To answer these questions, Lead Out Loud host Bron Mills invited Michelin-Starred Chef and Restaurateur Glynn Purnell - better known as the Yummy Brummie on Instagram - and Warwick's Professor Emeritus, Keith Grint, onto our podcast to have a chat.  In this episode: • Is it ever okay for leaders to SHOUT? • The difference between tame problems, critical problems and WICKED PROBLEMS. • Can we learn about current POLITICAL LEADERSHIP from Nazi Germany? --- Lead Out Loud is the podcast from Warwick Business School where industry and academic expertise collide in conversation. Discover more on Leadership at the Warwick Business School website. [https://www.wbs.ac.uk/research/our-expertise/leadership/] Follow us on LinkedIn for our Core Insights newsletter here [https://www.linkedin.com/school/warwick-business-school]. Help make the podcast even better. Click here to share your feedback [https://forms.office.com/e/pTz8dp4vQU ].

Episode 14 | The Serial Entrepreneur That Helped Build a BILLION-POUND Company

When he’s not spending time with his grandchildren, Mel Morris is fully focused on his role as CEO and Co-Founder of Corpora.ai. But his life story is one of a serial entrepreneur (with a stint of football ownership thrown in). Mel is perhaps best known for helping set up King, the company behind the mobile gaming phenomenon, Candy Crush Saga. Before that, he was at the frontier of the internet dating space with uDate (which he went on to sell for £100 million) and owned online security company, Prevx.  So, on this month’s episode of the Lead Out Loud podcast, host Bron Mills sat Mel down with Stephen Roper, Professor of Enterprise and Director of the ERC Entrepreneurship and Innovation Group, to talk start-ups, investment and entrepreneurship. In this episode: • How Candy Crush became a worldwide PHENOMENON. • Is there a better time than NOW to start a business? • Does investment trump IDEAS and GOOD PEOPLE? --- Lead Out Loud is the podcast from Warwick Business School where industry and academic expertise collide head-on in conversation. Discover more on Leadership at the Warwick Business School website. [https://www.wbs.ac.uk/research/our-expertise/leadership/] Follow us on LinkedIn for our Core Insights newsletter here [https://www.linkedin.com/school/warwick-business-school]. Help make the podcast even better. Click here to share your feedback [https://forms.office.com/e/pTz8dp4vQU ].

Episode 13 | Is AI going to take our jobs?

AI is a topic on every business leader’s lips right now. How’s it going to change the way we work? What tasks will it automate? And what are the ethical considerations leaders need to be aware of when it comes to Artificial Intelligence in the workplace? For the rest of us, the big question we're asking is: Will AI take our job? So, to kick off 2026, the Lead Out Loud podcast is tackling these questions head on. To do that, we invited Executive MBA alum and VP of Marketing (EMEA) at Proofpoint, Archana Dhankar, and Associate Professor Jochem Hummel on to have a chat with host Bron Mills about all things AI. Also in this episode: • Should we be using AI to write emails at work? • The dangers of not using AI properly. • Why university students should be using AI. But not to CHEAT. --- Lead Out Loud is the podcast from Warwick Business School that brings academia and industry together in conversation. Discover more on Leadership at the Warwick Business School website. [https://www.wbs.ac.uk/research/our-expertise/leadership/] Follow us on LinkedIn for our Core Insights newsletter here [https://www.linkedin.com/school/warwick-business-school]. Help make the podcast even better. Click here to share your feedback [https://forms.office.com/e/pTz8dp4vQU ].

Episode 12 | Alex Horne on the LEADERSHIP DYNAMICS that make Taskmaster Work

Alex Horne is the brains behind global smash-hit, Taskmaster. But what can we learn about leadership from five competitive comedians being set a series of strange, surreal challenges? Quite a lot, according to Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Tamara Friedrich. Which is why we invited Alex and Tamara onto the Lead Out Loud podcast to discuss creativity, leadership styles and why you should never 'kill the frog'... Also in this episode:  • Why Alex thinks Greg Davies is ALPHA to his BETA. • How Taskmaster initially FLOPPED in America. • Does someone always need to WIN and LOSE in business? Find out more about School Tasking at the University of Warwick here. [https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/law/aboutus/lawoutreach/schooltasking/] --- Lead Out Loud is the podcast from Warwick Business School that brings academia and industry together in conversation. Discover more on Leadership at the Warwick Business School website. [https://www.wbs.ac.uk/research/our-expertise/leadership/] Follow us on LinkedIn for our Core Insights newsletter here [https://www.linkedin.com/school/warwick-business-school]. Help make the podcast even better. Click here to share your feedback [https://forms.office.com/e/pTz8dp4vQU ].