The Right Thing To Do : Samantha Ward OBE

The Right Thing To Do : Samantha Ward OBE

What happens when you refuse to accept that nothing can be done? In this episode, we hear from Samantha Ward OBE, Deputy CEO of Royal Voluntary Service, whose lifelong conviction that the world can be changed for the better has shaped an extraordinary career in service and volunteering. From childhood, Sam had a powerful sense of right and wrong and the grit to go with it, always asking not just "why is this happening?" but "what can we do about it?" Where others saw naivety, Sam saw possibility, and she never stopped acting on it. That conviction was tested most visibly when the pandemic hit and Royal Voluntary Service stepped forward while others battened down the hatches. The result? The NHS Volunteer Responders programme, built in a matter of weeks, which mobilised 750,000 volunteers and delivered support over 2.6 million times to people who might otherwise have been completely cut adrift. Sam also shares the more recent launch of GoVo, RVS's flexible volunteering platform now home to nearly 1,800 charities, designed to meet people where they are and make volunteering work for modern life, whether that's 20 minutes on the way home or a Saturday afternoon trying something completely new. As Sam describes it, it was built on the same quiet certainty that it was simply the right thing to do. More about Samantha:  Samantha Ward OBE, Deputy CEO and Chief of Services and Volunteering at Royal Voluntary Service As well as Deputy CEO responsibilities, Sam is also responsible for Royal Voluntary Service's volunteering, safeguarding & service delivery, including health, social care, community services and Armed Forces support.  Sam is also a qualified Leadership Coach, Mentor & Consultant for Leaders who feel driven to serve and are born to lead. She was awarded an OBE for services to charity in 2022. Links and resources: * Royal Voluntary Service [https://www.royalvoluntaryservice.org.uk/] * GoVo volunteering platform [https://govo.org/] Subscribe for more stories and practical tools from Reboot the Future. www.rebootthefuture.org [https://www.rebootthefuture.org/]

What does good look like?: David Butcher

Before he made it to the boardroom, David Butcher managed the stage at a Jimi Hendrix concert. What he learned backstage on a Baltic island about motivation, leadership and getting the best out of people stayed with him through three CEO roles and a lifetime in business. In this episode, David makes the case that the most effective leaders are not the loudest ones. Kindness, compassion and the courage to ask simple, naive questions, he argues, are the tools that cut through complexity, unlock better thinking and drive better outcomes. The boardroom, it turns out, needs a little more of what worked backstage at the Love and Peace Festival. More about David Butcher:  A veteran of more than 50 years in the pensions and investment industry, David has been a CEO three times and served as a non-executive director on the pensions boards of BlackRock, Legal & General, Scottish Widows and The Peoples Pension. David has also chaired two companies in the wellbeing and mindfulness space and served as a board member for two research organisations in the pensions and asset management sector. A mind management practitioner for 50 years, David is now bringing the benefits of mind management to individuals and companies. Through Positively Aware Ltd, David provides coaching and mentoring services to individuals and companies to improve mental health and wellbeing, resilience and productivity. Subscribe for more stories and practical tools from Reboot the Future. www.rebootthefuture.org [https://www.rebootthefuture.org/]

Purpose, People, Trust: Edwin Booth CBE

What does it look like to build a business where people truly matter? Edwin Booth CBE, Executive Chairman at E.H.Booth & Co ltd, shares his journey from arriving as an 18 year old into his family's business, shaped immediately by the sheer kindness of the people around him, to becoming a leader who puts people at the heart of everything. Edwin reflects on how culture is built from the inside out. By listening to people’s experiences, especially those who have faced barriers such as imprisonment, he has helped create opportunities rooted in dignity, skill-building, and trust. This is a conversation about purpose in action. About leadership that listens. And about the belief that when people are supported and trusted, they can thrive. Or as Edwin puts it, “there is no such thing as someone who cannot do something, if they are encouraged, shown how, and trusted to do it well.” A warm, wise and quietly radical conversation about what business can be when it genuinely puts people first. More about Edwin: Edwin Booth CBE DL is Chairman of E H Booth & Co Ltd, the proprietors of Booths Food Stores [https://www.booths.co.uk/] in the North of England. Representing the fifth generation of his family to lead the business since 1847, Edwin has spent his career building an organisation rooted in excellent service, sustainability, and locally sourced food and drink. Beyond the business, Edwin has dedicated much of his life to community and public service. He chaired the Lancashire LEP for over seven years, chaired the Employment Advisory Board at HMP Lancaster Farms, and is a Trustee of the Eden Project. He was appointed CBE in 2019 for services to business and charity, and served as High Sheriff of Lancashire in 2021. Subscribe for more stories and practical tools from Reboot the Future. www.rebootthefuture.org [https://www.rebootthefuture.org/]

Gathering for Good: Gemma Lannon

Gemma Lannon has created a wonderful gathering space in London for people channelling their work towards sustainability and climate solutions - it's called Treo House. In this episode, Gemma shares how the sudden loss of her father at 15 reshaped her understanding of the world, teaching her to hold two things at once: the uncertainty of outcomes, and the courage to act anyway. She reflects on why "naive" might not be the negative label we think it is, how optimism and joy are not just nice-to-haves but essential fuel for this work, and why acting from instinct and conviction, even without all the answers, might be exactly what our collective challenges demand right now. More about Gemma:  Gemma Lannon is the founding director of Treo House, a collective for people working in sustainability in London. The organisation facilitates our ability to learn from and look after each other, through in-person events hosted at its home in Vauxhall. Gemma previously worked in the sustainability team at Unilever and on grassroot sustainability projects in Cornwall, Portugal and New Zealand.  Link to Treo House [https://www.treohouse.com/] Subscribe for more stories and practical tools from Reboot the Future. www.rebootthefuture.org [https://www.rebootthefuture.org/]

Start with Peace: Michael Macy

Michael Macy may describe himself as having a minor role, but a front row seat in establishing peace across some of the world's most complex conflict zones - but the lessons he carries from those experiences are anything but minor. At the heart of this conversation is a deceptively simple but profound insight: "Too often people think you have to resolve all the conflicts before you can have peace. No, peace, in my experience, peace creates the space to resolve the conflict." Michael brings this to life through his experience of the Good Friday Agreement in Belfast, offering a rare and intimate perspective on how peace, when enacted, can do what negotiation alone cannot. He also shares what he's doing about it today. Through Enacting Peace, an international effort he co-founded, Michael invites people everywhere to mark each equinox and solstice with a conscious act of peace, however small. The invitation is simple but radical: to recognise your own capacity to contribute, to celebrate it, and to act on it. Michael mentions his friend Joe, he is referring to Joe Miller. You can find out more about Joe here [https://www.theosophical.org/publications/quest-magazine/falling-awake-the-life-and-message-of-joe-miller]. A little more about Michael:  Michael Macy is currently working to encourage peace.  He is on the board of the Abrahamic Reunion, working for peace in Israel and Palestine and a founder of Enacting Peace [https://enactingpeace.org/], an international effort to invite people to act for peace. It has no dogma, no dues and no politics, just a request and a hope that you will do something for peace.  He initially worked as a therapist, became a trial lawyer and hosted a radio talk show. He then spent nearly 30 years as a U.S. diplomat developing mutual understanding between the U.S. the UK, Mali, Malta, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, India, Haiti and Tunisia among others. In order to build those bridges, he worked with dancers, writers, artists, academics, journalists, religious community leaders and comedians. Subscribe for more stories and practical tools from Reboot the Future. www.rebootthefuture.org [https://www.rebootthefuture.org/]