Emma is joined by John McNeill ChPP, Head of Programme Delivery at United Utilities, who's helping to lead the £3bn Haweswater Aqueduct Resilience Programme (HARP) in North-West England. What's it like to get a once-in-a-generation critical infrastructure programme off the ground? What's it like to work on a major project in an area, water supply, that is garnering so much public and media attention? Listen on to find out.

Emma meets Zoë Arden, author of Story-Centred Leadership: Crafting cultures of change. The pair discuss storytelling – why it's a great skill to master as a project professional and how to do it well. Zoë is a fellow at the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership and was previously Director of Communications at BT, as well as European MD of global communications firm Weber Shandwick, among other executive roles.

For more information on Zoë’s book visit: https://zoearden.com/my-book

The APM book Effective Communication in Projects: Tools, Techniques and Tips, is available at the APM book shop: https://www.apm.org.uk/book-shop/effective-communication-in-projects/

Emma meets Joanna Rowland, Chief Executive of the RSPCA. Listeners might remember her previous interview with the podcast in 2020 during the pandemic, when she was Director of HMRC’S COVID-19 response unit, responsible for helping mastermind the UK government’s furlough scheme, and where she was also head of the project management profession.

A lot has changed for Jo since then. She rose through the ranks of the civil service, leaving project management behind her to become Director General of the Home Office, before joining the RSPCA in December 2025 as CEO.

Find out what it’s like to be a first-time CEO; why project management is a perfect training for the role; why project managers need to set their sights higher; and her advice to getting to the C-suite.