Season 3 | E5 Jonny Cobbold on mental health, mission alignment and leading with humanity

Season 3 | Ep 10 Ru Watkins on why he chose to save Hamelin instead of close it

In this episode of the Charity Changemakers Podcast, Adam is joined by Ru Watkins, Chief Executive of Hamelin, a learning disability and autism charity growing rapidly across Essex and East Anglia. Ru brings a career unlike most in the sector. After 23 years in the British Army, he moved into corporate roles with BT and others before a phone call from a headhunter changed his direction entirely. That call led him to Noah's Ark Children's Hospice in North London, a struggling organisation with something worth saving. It was the first of what would become a defining theme across his leadership career: walking into complexity, listening hard, and building something better. His arrival at Hamelin tells that story at its most vivid. He was called in to close the charity down. Instead, he walked the sites, listened to families, and went back to the board with a different proposition entirely: invest and grow. Four and a quarter years later, Hamelin supports nearly 1,750 people and families, has moved from 100% statutory reliance to 60% self-generated income, and holds significant reserves. In this conversation, Adam and Ru explore: * How a chance phone call took Ru from corporate burnout to charity leadership * What 23 years in the military actually teaches you about listening, chaos, and getting things done * Why Ru walked into Hamelin's board interview and told them not to close it * The Klingon Cloak of Care and what it costs people with learning disabilities and autism * Why community building is the most important thing charities can do right now * The danger of chief executives confusing their ambition with organisational readiness * What chief exec loneliness really looks like and how Ru manages it * Why letting a support worker leave to train as a nurse is a mark of success, not failure * How Hamelin is getting young adults with learning disabilities into employment Ru is direct, self-aware, and genuinely funny. This is a conversation about what bold, values-led leadership looks like in practice, not in theory. Find out more about Hamelin: www.hamelin.org.uk [http://www.hamelin.org.uk]

Season 3 | Ep 9 Rushab Shah on fixing charity's data problem with an F1 mindset

What does Formula One have to teach the charity sector about impact? Quite a lot, as it turns out. In this episode of the Charity Changemakers Podcast, Adam is joined by Rushab Shah, founder and CEO of OneHive, a tech for good organisation helping youth charities streamline their admin and scale their impact. Rushab's route to the sector is anything but conventional. After studying mechanical engineering at Warwick, he worked in the F1 supply chain, drove test cars around tracks for a living, and led digital strategy for a business decarbonising maritime transport across the Shetland Islands. Running a youth club for disabled young people throughout university kept the mission close. When the engineering career reached its ceiling, he looked at the charity sector with an engineer's eye and spotted something striking: charities spend enormous time delivering programmes and then enormous time analysing what happened. By which point, it's too late to change anything. In Formula One, you know what the lap time will be by the end of the first corner. What if youth charities could work the same way? That question became OneHive, now supporting around 30,000 young people across 18 youth-focused organisations, with a county council investing to roll the platform across 10 charities simultaneously. Adam and Rushab explore: * Why charities are measuring impact too late, and what real-time data actually changes on the ground * How a shared interest in Thomas Tank Engine taught Rushab more about inclusion than any disability training * The "say yes to everything" approach that built a career in five years and a startup from scratch * Why small and medium charities are currently beating large ones at adopting tech * The tension between failing fast and working with vulnerable young people * The honest lesson on when to pitch and when to shut up and listen A candid, practical conversation about what genuine sector transformation looks like when someone builds it from the ground up. Find out more about OneHive at onehive.ai [http://onehive.ai] Chapters [00:00] Introduction and quickfire questions [05:00] A 17-year-old hosting a residential for young people with disabilities [08:30] From F1 data to the charity sector, and what the gap revealed [13:00] Building a career by saying yes to everything [16:15] How TutorHive became OneHive [21:20] What OneHive looks like today, 30,000 beneficiaries and growing [24:00] Real-time safeguarding, the Joe example [29:00] Sceptics, screen time and why tech is the solution but not the answer [34:20] The THRIVE framework and plans for Manchester and beyond [38:00] The personal cost of always saying yes [40:45] The hardest leadership lesson: knowing when to stop pitching #CharityChangemakers #TechForGood #CharitySector #YouthWork #SocialImpact #NonprofitLeadership #DataForGood #DigitalTransformation

Season 3 | Ep 8 Callum Dixon on leading before you're ready and finding where you belong

In this episode of the Charity Changemakers Podcast, Adam is joined by Callum Dixon, Director of Service Delivery and Member Support at Citizens Advice, for a candid and reflective conversation about a career built on stepping into the unknown. Callum's journey started with a semi-dismissal at a law firm drinks reception that inadvertently pointed him toward Citizens Advice as a volunteer. From there he moved through Shelter, higher education, a chief executive role at 25, a merger, a housing association, and eventually home to the national Citizens Advice organisation, where he has held four different leadership roles in five years. Together Adam and Callum explore: * Being told you're too young for a job, and taking it anyway * What gorilla-glueing carpet while writing a National Lottery bid teaches you about small charity leadership * The loneliness of the chief executive role and why peer community matters * Leading a merger and the strategic lessons around stakeholder management * How federated organisations teach soft power over positional authority * What becoming an adoptive parent changed about Callum's leadership style * Why the version of yourself you were 10 years ago shouldn't be recognisable * The importance of slowing down in a sector driven by passion and urgency Callum also talks openly about the complexity of Citizens Advice as a federated charity, the postcode lottery of advice funding across England and Wales, and the ongoing work to shift power dynamics through co-design with their member network. To find out more about Citizens Advice, volunteer, or access advice, visit: https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk [https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk] If you enjoyed the episode, please like, share and leave a review. Your support helps more charity leaders and changemakers discover the show. Takeaways * Stepping into a role before you feel ready is often how the most valuable learning happens * Building a peer community is essential for chief executives navigating isolation at the top * Parenthood can fundamentally shift how you understand and exercise leadership * Federated organisations require influence and relationship skills more than positional authority * Slowing down is a leadership discipline, not a weakness Chapters * 00:00 Introduction and career journey * 08:50 Becoming a chief executive at 25 * 15:00 Peer support, board relationships and early leadership lessons * 19:00 Merger, housing association and the road to Citizens Advice * 22:00 Career development, visibility and backing yourself * 26:00 Parenthood and evolving leadership style * 33:00 How Citizens Advice works and what it delivers * 38:41 How to get involved with Citizens Advice

Season 3 | E7 Jess Camburn-Rahmani on building charities and leading with humility

Adam is joined by Jess Camburn-Rahmani, Chief Executive of Cerebra, a UK charity supporting children and families living with brain conditions. Jess takes us on a fascinating career journey from a VSO placement with an indigenous communities NGO in Uganda, to community development in Swansea, to building Elrha (a humanitarian innovation organisation) from a single grant into a 40-staff organisation with over £40 million of lifetime funding, before making a significant move into the disability sector. This is a conversation full of hard-won wisdom: about what it really means to lead without being the expert, how to build an organisation that isn't dependent on its founder, and why the relationship between a CEO and their board is one of the most undervalued assets in the charity sector. Together, Adam and Jess explore: * How a VSO placement in Uganda shaped a career built on humility and listening * Building Elrha from a £250k project grant into a global humanitarian research and innovation organisation * Leading through personal loss and learning to know when it's time to move on * The 18-month wobble many working parents experience and why having a brilliant board chair can make all the difference * Why calling your charity "a family" might actually be doing your team a disservice * The dangers of founder syndrome and how to leave an organisation at the right time * What drew Jess to Cerebra and the growth journey she's leading there now * Why every CEO has imposter syndrome and why that's actually a good thing * The leadership mantra she's carried with her: give credit when things go well, take accountability when they don't Takeaways * Career journey and international development * Building organisations from the ground up * Founder transitions and succession * Board and trustee relationships * Leading dispersed and remote teams * Parenting and leadership * Imposter syndrome * Organisational culture About Cerebra Cerebra supports children and families across the UK living with brain conditions, from neurodivergent conditions through to rare diseases and birth injuries. All services are free of charge. Find out more at cerebra.org.uk [http://cerebra.org.uk] and listen to their podcast, The Calm and the Complicated, on all major podcast platforms. Chapters * [00:00] Introduction and quickfire questions * [04:38] How Jess found her way into the charity sector * [06:27] Reflections on VSO and the ethics of international development * [08:41] Community development in Swansea and the role of Save the Children * [12:42] The origins of Elrha, from a grant project to a global organisation * [16:36] Leadership lessons from building something from scratch * [19:35] The importance of a brilliant board relationship * [21:43] Knowing when to move on and the guilt of leaving * [26:13] Cerebra, what the charity does and why Jess was drawn to it * [32:58] Leadership qualities that take organisations on growth journeys * [34:42] Building culture across a dispersed team * [39:48] Advice to your earlier self, nuggets of leadership wisdom #CharityLeadership #NonProfitLeadership #CharityChangemakers #HumanitarianSector #CharityCareers #DisabilitySector #Podcast #LeadershipLessons #ThirdSector #CharitySector #BoardGovernance #SocialImpact #PurposeDriven #OrganisationalGrowth

Season 3 | Ep 6 Rob Avann on governance, trusteeship and building boards that actually work

In this episode of the Charity Changemakers Podcast, Adam is joined by Rob Avann, charity consultant, interim leader and seasoned trustee, for a conversation that gets into the real nuts and bolts of charity governance - and why so many organisations are still getting it wrong. With 20 years in the sector, eight years as a permanent CEO, a spell as interim CEO, and 16 years across five trustee boards, Rob brings a rare 360-degree perspective. He shares how his career began in local government - commissioning services around crime, domestic violence and community safety - before a growing connection to the charity sector pulled him across. His first trustee role came before his first charity job, and that sequence, he argues, shaped everything that followed. Adam and Rob dig into what makes the board-CEO relationship work, why it so often doesn't, and what both sides consistently get wrong. Rob is candid about the mistakes he sees in his consultancy work, from the absence of clear governance frameworks to boards that drift into the operational when clarity breaks down, and explains why governance is never a destination, always a journey. Together, Adam and Rob unpack: * Why every CEO should serve as a trustee somewhere else - and what it changes * The chair-CEO relationship as the most important dynamic in any charity * How to build trust across the board without letting challenge slide into blame * What a governance review actually looks like - and how to handle findings that surprise people * The honest realities of transitioning from CEO to consultant, including the sleepless nights * How interim and permanent CEO roles differ in mindset, not just tenure * The power of mentoring and where to find it - from Cranfield Trust to the Kilfinan Group * Why delegation isn't optional, and burnout is what happens when leaders forget that Rob also reflects on the managers who shaped him, why he wishes he'd told them so at the time, and what he'd say to his younger self about not carrying the weight of an organisation alone. Takeaways * Trusteeship | Governance | Board-CEO relationships | Interim leadership | Charity consulting | Mentoring | Delegation | Career development Chapters * [00:00] Introduction and background * [08:23] Why trusteeship is pivotal — for trustees and CEOs alike * [10:08] What goes wrong between boards and chief executives * [16:44] Navigating the line between governance and operations * [21:44] Leading through COVID and the value of strong foundations * [23:36] Mentoring, great managers and how to find support * [28:10] The transition to consulting — variety, freedom and the odd sleepless night * [32:17] Permanent vs interim CEO — a different mindset entirely * [36:55] Governance reviews — holding up a mirror to organisations * [40:27] Leadership advice and what Rob would tell his younger self #CharityGovernance #Trusteeship #CharityLeadership #NonProfitLeadership #CharityChangemakers #BoardDevelopment #CharityCareers #CharitySector #InterimLeadership #ThirdSector