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Diary of a CLO launched in March 2023 with an episode focused on #WomenIn and International Women's Day. Joining forces for the premier episode, members of Helen's WomenIn community discussed why a community group was needed for women in L&D, HR, education and beyond.
This sense of collaboration, inspiration, and people coming together to share ideas has permeated all episodes since - and set the stage for what the podcast would become.
Episodes are released every fortnight on a Friday, with a total of 21 episodes released in 2023.
During the last ten months, we've heard from a range of figureheads in learning, sport, psychology, employee experience and more. Over 12,000 people have listened to the podcast, and around 400 people have actively subscribed to the show.
2024 is set to be an even bigger year for the podcast.
With that in mind, we're taking a moment to look back at our top ten takeaways from the past ten months. Hold onto your festive hats; these clips have been hand-selected by Helen, and will leave you with food for thought over the break.
"Looking back I should've got up in front of the group and apologised for what was a pretty big mess up on the eve of a World cup."
Alex’s episode is our most listened to episode on the podcast, so it’s only natural to start here.
This podcast is pretty special. Not only was it Alex’s first time recording a pod, but he spoke very candidly about a dark time in his cricketing career: failing a second drugs test and subsequently being dropped from the England team. The quote we’ve chosen contains a simple message: you’ll never regret taking responsibility or accountability for your actions.
The title of this episode was ‘Rebuilding trust’, which is exactly what Alex had to do with his teammates and fans. It’s a raw and honest conversation, and one definitely worth listening to.
“The challenge is… the broad understanding when you say mental health is that it’s all to do with the mind. No one really thinks about the brain as an organ; the nutrition, hydration that it actually needs to thrive.”
Our second piece of wisdom comes from the power-house that is Dan Murray-Serter, entrepreneur, co-founder of brain care healthcare supplement Heights, and angel investor.
Dan also happens to be the host of one of the UK’s leading podcasts: Secret Leaders. This episode puts into perspective the importance of investing in your own brain health, and delves into how and why this impacts the way you can learn and show up at work.
Another interesting topic Dan talks about is gratitude, and how actively investing time in being grateful can massively help your own wellbeing.
"Women won't take a coding test... they screen themselves out... so we put on a series of events to support women to take the coding test... because it needs to be made to feel safer."
Iliana is someone you could listen to and chat with for hours.
As the co-founder of Manara, a company who specialise in hiring diverse talent in the tech space, the story of how and why Manara was founded is inspiring. Not only do Iliana and her team try to help individuals from the Middle East - most specifically Gaza and Palestine - to find roles outside of their immediate locale, but they’re helping to raise confidence levels in women and men alike. Their aim? To show everyone, regardless of gender or background, that their skills are invaluable to global companies.
"I had to learn how to control only the things you’re capable of controlling, and what’s in your own mind…”
You may know Sally Gunnell as olympic gold medalist hurdler, but she’s also the founder of Sally Gunnell Health and Wellbeing.
It’s so refreshing to hear sporting legends talk about the investment they’ve made into their own mental health and how, for Sally in particular, this only started to happen towards the end of her career. It’s much less taboo now to involve sports psychologists as part of your preparation and maintenance routine, but back in the late eighties and early nineties, it wasn’t always the way.
Sally candidly shares her own battles and how she overcame them, and discusses how people in modern workplaces are having to change and adapt constantly.
“When you strip [employee listening] right down, that’s the difference. It’s about being in the weeds with your people, identifying their pains, their gains, and the moments of opportunity where we can go: ‘Actually, this is where we can create better experiences.’”
Danny Seals is the king of employee experience, and helps companies to transform their thinking about what they deliver to their people.
As founder of Knot and host of Mindchimp podcast, Danny’s passion for people and relationship building is always evident. The core lessons from this podcast centre on how L&D, HR, OD and People teams can really get to the root cause of the problems they think they have, and asks people to adopt an experimental mindset to the initiatives they think they need.
“You grow so quickly when you open communication lines… At the end of a day's play, rather than [the new head coach] standing up who has been doing it for 25 years, he just says to the youngest player ‘Thoughts on the day?’... it’s this modern leadership approach, about opening it up to every single voice.”
Stuart Broad is a cricketing legend, and he appeared as a guest on the podcast back in March. Stuart had so many lessons to share that were framed by cricket but are applicable to the way modern businesses lead their people today.
There are lessons for any people-leader in this conversation, and the example chosen above provides a refreshing view on how to include new voices in order to gain different perspectives on situations. The entire episode is packed-full of insights and inspiration.
“I wonder if ChatGPT knows that there’s a scientific efficacy that needs to be taken into consideration when it comes to knowledge of the brain, knowledge of method and knowledge of strategy.”
As a neuroscience interpreter, Lauren Waldman is here to help us understand how people learn at a very fundamental level.
It’s an area that often gets overlooked in organisations, with falsehoods flying around learning design and L&D that perpetuate myths about the way humans physically learn. Lauren raises some really important questions about how we can challenge our thinking, but also how we can think critically about the outputs from things like ChatGPT when we’re designing learning initiatives for our people.
“Work is the thing you do most of after sleep in your life... [we need to start] changing it, injecting joy back into it, making it more inclusive, more fulfilling...”
If you are involved in designing people experiences in any way for your business,you should stop right now and listen to what Nick Holmes has to say. This episode is full of energy and insights, and Nick’s passion is contagious.
The thing that stands out the most from this conversation is the focus on bringing joy back into work, and allowing people to feel valued in a workplace. Why should offices be places where people turn up, do work, and then leave? How can we make the environments in which we work and learn more engaging and meaningful?
“You can be here too. Regardless of who you are… If you do want to excel, you can do it as you. I am determined that we accept people as they are, and value people for their work.”
As founder of Bravery in the Boardroom, Monique Carayol is on a mission to help people reach new heights by being authentically themselves. This conversation is raw and honest, and Monique shares her clear vision for how supported she wants people to feel at work.
As people leaders it’s important to remember that the value of your people extends beyond the skills they have, to them as individuals and the experiences and ideas they can bring to the table for you.
"[Offbeat] try to bridge the gap between L&D people from big corporations and those from start-ups. What we've found is that the practices might be similar but the mindsets are very, very different."
Lavinia is the co-founder of Offbeat, a community which brings together learning professionals from across the globe to share knowledge and upskill.
If you work in L&D and associated fields, it’s well worth taking a look at what this community can offer. The most important takeaway from this podcast is the perspective that can be gained from connecting with and speaking to people who may be doing similar work, but in very different settings.
Offbeat allows people to bring new perspectives to the table and re-frame problems.
Thanks for reading our round-up of the top takeaways from Diary of a CLO in 2023.
We hope you’ve found some valuable wisdom in this blog that you can carry into 2024 - and beyond!
If you’re looking for more insights on business, leadership, learning and more, find out more about the podcast and subscribe here.
Explore what impact Thrive could make for your team and your learners today.
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Diary of a CLO launched in March 2023 with an episode focused on #WomenIn and International Women's Day. Joining forces for the premier episode, members of Helen's WomenIn community discussed why a community group was needed for women in L&D, HR, education and beyond.
This sense of collaboration, inspiration, and people coming together to share ideas has permeated all episodes since - and set the stage for what the podcast would become.
Episodes are released every fortnight on a Friday, with a total of 21 episodes released in 2023.
During the last ten months, we've heard from a range of figureheads in learning, sport, psychology, employee experience and more. Over 12,000 people have listened to the podcast, and around 400 people have actively subscribed to the show.
2024 is set to be an even bigger year for the podcast.
With that in mind, we're taking a moment to look back at our top ten takeaways from the past ten months. Hold onto your festive hats; these clips have been hand-selected by Helen, and will leave you with food for thought over the break.
"Looking back I should've got up in front of the group and apologised for what was a pretty big mess up on the eve of a World cup."
Alex’s episode is our most listened to episode on the podcast, so it’s only natural to start here.
This podcast is pretty special. Not only was it Alex’s first time recording a pod, but he spoke very candidly about a dark time in his cricketing career: failing a second drugs test and subsequently being dropped from the England team. The quote we’ve chosen contains a simple message: you’ll never regret taking responsibility or accountability for your actions.
The title of this episode was ‘Rebuilding trust’, which is exactly what Alex had to do with his teammates and fans. It’s a raw and honest conversation, and one definitely worth listening to.
“The challenge is… the broad understanding when you say mental health is that it’s all to do with the mind. No one really thinks about the brain as an organ; the nutrition, hydration that it actually needs to thrive.”
Our second piece of wisdom comes from the power-house that is Dan Murray-Serter, entrepreneur, co-founder of brain care healthcare supplement Heights, and angel investor.
Dan also happens to be the host of one of the UK’s leading podcasts: Secret Leaders. This episode puts into perspective the importance of investing in your own brain health, and delves into how and why this impacts the way you can learn and show up at work.
Another interesting topic Dan talks about is gratitude, and how actively investing time in being grateful can massively help your own wellbeing.
"Women won't take a coding test... they screen themselves out... so we put on a series of events to support women to take the coding test... because it needs to be made to feel safer."
Iliana is someone you could listen to and chat with for hours.
As the co-founder of Manara, a company who specialise in hiring diverse talent in the tech space, the story of how and why Manara was founded is inspiring. Not only do Iliana and her team try to help individuals from the Middle East - most specifically Gaza and Palestine - to find roles outside of their immediate locale, but they’re helping to raise confidence levels in women and men alike. Their aim? To show everyone, regardless of gender or background, that their skills are invaluable to global companies.
"I had to learn how to control only the things you’re capable of controlling, and what’s in your own mind…”
You may know Sally Gunnell as olympic gold medalist hurdler, but she’s also the founder of Sally Gunnell Health and Wellbeing.
It’s so refreshing to hear sporting legends talk about the investment they’ve made into their own mental health and how, for Sally in particular, this only started to happen towards the end of her career. It’s much less taboo now to involve sports psychologists as part of your preparation and maintenance routine, but back in the late eighties and early nineties, it wasn’t always the way.
Sally candidly shares her own battles and how she overcame them, and discusses how people in modern workplaces are having to change and adapt constantly.
“When you strip [employee listening] right down, that’s the difference. It’s about being in the weeds with your people, identifying their pains, their gains, and the moments of opportunity where we can go: ‘Actually, this is where we can create better experiences.’”
Danny Seals is the king of employee experience, and helps companies to transform their thinking about what they deliver to their people.
As founder of Knot and host of Mindchimp podcast, Danny’s passion for people and relationship building is always evident. The core lessons from this podcast centre on how L&D, HR, OD and People teams can really get to the root cause of the problems they think they have, and asks people to adopt an experimental mindset to the initiatives they think they need.
“You grow so quickly when you open communication lines… At the end of a day's play, rather than [the new head coach] standing up who has been doing it for 25 years, he just says to the youngest player ‘Thoughts on the day?’... it’s this modern leadership approach, about opening it up to every single voice.”
Stuart Broad is a cricketing legend, and he appeared as a guest on the podcast back in March. Stuart had so many lessons to share that were framed by cricket but are applicable to the way modern businesses lead their people today.
There are lessons for any people-leader in this conversation, and the example chosen above provides a refreshing view on how to include new voices in order to gain different perspectives on situations. The entire episode is packed-full of insights and inspiration.
“I wonder if ChatGPT knows that there’s a scientific efficacy that needs to be taken into consideration when it comes to knowledge of the brain, knowledge of method and knowledge of strategy.”
As a neuroscience interpreter, Lauren Waldman is here to help us understand how people learn at a very fundamental level.
It’s an area that often gets overlooked in organisations, with falsehoods flying around learning design and L&D that perpetuate myths about the way humans physically learn. Lauren raises some really important questions about how we can challenge our thinking, but also how we can think critically about the outputs from things like ChatGPT when we’re designing learning initiatives for our people.
“Work is the thing you do most of after sleep in your life... [we need to start] changing it, injecting joy back into it, making it more inclusive, more fulfilling...”
If you are involved in designing people experiences in any way for your business,you should stop right now and listen to what Nick Holmes has to say. This episode is full of energy and insights, and Nick’s passion is contagious.
The thing that stands out the most from this conversation is the focus on bringing joy back into work, and allowing people to feel valued in a workplace. Why should offices be places where people turn up, do work, and then leave? How can we make the environments in which we work and learn more engaging and meaningful?
“You can be here too. Regardless of who you are… If you do want to excel, you can do it as you. I am determined that we accept people as they are, and value people for their work.”
As founder of Bravery in the Boardroom, Monique Carayol is on a mission to help people reach new heights by being authentically themselves. This conversation is raw and honest, and Monique shares her clear vision for how supported she wants people to feel at work.
As people leaders it’s important to remember that the value of your people extends beyond the skills they have, to them as individuals and the experiences and ideas they can bring to the table for you.
"[Offbeat] try to bridge the gap between L&D people from big corporations and those from start-ups. What we've found is that the practices might be similar but the mindsets are very, very different."
Lavinia is the co-founder of Offbeat, a community which brings together learning professionals from across the globe to share knowledge and upskill.
If you work in L&D and associated fields, it’s well worth taking a look at what this community can offer. The most important takeaway from this podcast is the perspective that can be gained from connecting with and speaking to people who may be doing similar work, but in very different settings.
Offbeat allows people to bring new perspectives to the table and re-frame problems.
Thanks for reading our round-up of the top takeaways from Diary of a CLO in 2023.
We hope you’ve found some valuable wisdom in this blog that you can carry into 2024 - and beyond!
If you’re looking for more insights on business, leadership, learning and more, find out more about the podcast and subscribe here.
Explore what impact Thrive could make for your team and your learners today.
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