Leaving corporate to work independently sounds simple. Take your experience, pick your clients, set your own terms.

In reality, many consultants, fractional leaders, and NEDs discover something else instead: unpredictable income, one “client that feels like a job”, and a constant low-level anxiety about what happens next.

In this episode, I sit down with Dan Gwalter to unpack why this happens and how to avoid it.

Dan has lived this journey end to end. After leaving a FTSE 100 technology leadership role, he built a profitable consulting business the hard way, learned where most independents go wrong, and turned those lessons into a clear operating model that helps others build businesses they can actually rely on.

This conversation is not about hacks, personal branding tricks, or “just post more on LinkedIn”. It’s about structure.

Together, we explore:

• Why most independent professionals aren’t failing — they’re just operating without a system
• The difference between being a “fractional employee” and running a real business
• How to define the right clients, the right offers, and the right problems to solve
• Why visibility alone doesn’t create clients — and what actually does
• How to design an operating rhythm that works alongside delivery, not against it
• The psychological side of independence: confidence, self-doubt, and identity shifts

Dan also walks through the core elements of The Fractional Formula: an operating model designed to help consultants, fractional leaders, and NEDs build predictable deal flow, reduce fragility, and create momentum they can sustain.

If you’re thinking about going independent, already working as a consultant or fractional leader, or building a portfolio career and want it to feel stable rather than stressful, this episode will give you clarity, reassurance, and a practical path forward.

This is about building a business you can rely on, not winging it and hoping for the best.

If you’ve got the seed of an idea you keep pushing aside, you owe it to yourself to explore it.

Not to quit your job. Not to take a reckless leap. But to see whether it could become something real.

This episode is for senior leaders who feel successful on paper but quietly stuck; people who sense there’s more they could be building, yet don’t know where to start or how to do it safely.

We are joined by Ken Valledy, who talks through a practical, low-risk way to turn a side hustle into a real business; one that gives you options and a way out of the corporate rat race, without blowing up your life.

You’ll hear:

• Why leaving your job isn’t the goal; starting is
• How small steps create momentum long before money shows up
• What happens when you say your idea out loud for the first time
• How to test, shape, and validate an idea while keeping your job
• The five simple moves that take you from “what if?” to real progress

Ken shares his R.E.A.C.T. model, a framework designed to help you go from zero to one: getting your idea out of your head, into the world, and onto a path that could eventually support you full time.

If you feel the itch to do something of your own and don’t want to look back in five years wishing you’d tried, this conversation will help you take the first step.

In this episode, we sit down with Freddie Quek—Research Associate at Henley Business School, award-winning technology leader, advisor, and founder of #JoiningTheDots—to explore a question every tech professional needs to confront: What is our responsibility as technology leaders in a world where millions are still digitally excluded?

Freddie has led digital transformation across global organisations, including RELX, Wiley and Times Higher Education, where he helped develop the World University Rankings and SDG Impact Dashboard. Recognised by Computer Weekly and CIO 100 as one of the UK’s top technology leaders, he brings a rare blend of technical depth, social purpose, and strategic clarity.

Together, we dig into:

• Why 30% of the world being offline is not someone else’s problem.
• How digital exclusion shows up in everyday life — even for people who think they’re “tech savvy.”
• The Triple Bottom Line (Profit, Planet, People) and why it’s becoming essential leadership, not optional ethics.
• How AI and rapid technological change are widening new forms of inequality.
• What organisations, teams, and individual technologists can do today to make a measurable difference.
• Why solving this won’t come from charity — it will come from collective action across the tech sector.

Freddie also shares the story behind #JoiningTheDots and the newly formed NextPath Device Consortium, a sector-wide initiative helping the UK tackle device access, e-waste, and digital poverty at scale.

If you work in technology — in any role, at any level — this conversation will challenge how you see your influence and show you how to use your “superpower” for something bigger than your job description.

Most people treat interviews like an exam: tense, rehearsed, high-stakes. But what if the real key to performing well is the same thing that makes a great first date: connection, curiosity, and being your authentic self?

In this episode, Marylin Schlamkow returns to the show to share a fresh, more human way to approach interviews. Drawing on the surprising parallels between dating and interviewing, she breaks the process into three stages — before, during, and after — and shows how simple behavioural shifts can help you stay calm, build rapport, and show up with confidence.

We cover how to understand your values and principles, research effectively without overdoing it, create genuine two-way conversations, tell stronger stories, ask better questions, handle ghosting and rejection, and reflect in a way that actually improves your performance in your future interviews.

Whether you’re job-hunting now or preparing for a move, this episode gives you practical tools to interview in a way that feels more natural and produces better results.

You’ll learn:

• Why interviewing feels so much like dating (and how that helps)
• How to prepare in a calmer, more intentional way
• How to build rapport and create a real conversation
• How to talk about yourself without performing
• What to do after the interview, including ghosting, rejection, and reflection
• The one mindset shift that improves every interview

If interviews make you anxious or you simply want to show up as your authentic self and create a stronger connection, this one’s for you.

Most people think progressing into senior technical leadership is about becoming “good at everything.” It isn’t.

In this episode, Meri Williams breaks down the six skills that truly define modern technical leadership; the real capabilities behind roles like CTO, VP Engineering, Director of Engineering, and Staff-plus IC.

Meri has led engineering at Monzo, M&S, Moo, Healx and Pleo. She’s been an architect, a manager of 300+, a multi-time CTO, a board member, and a trusted advisor to CEOs. She’s seen what great leadership looks like, and what happens when the role and the leader don’t match.

Whether you’re already in the top seat or aiming for it, Meri’s Career Vectors Framework gives you a clearer way to understand where you stand and what to do next. Together, we unpack:

• Why leadership isn’t a “promotion” from engineering, but a career change
• What your company truly needs from you
• How your strengths match those expectations
• Where you’ll excel, where you’ll stretch, and where you may be miscast
• How to have honest, grown-up conversations with your CEO or manager
• How to evaluate a new role before you say yes
• Why you don’t need to be a “five out of five” in every dimension

We also explore how different shapes of technical leaders fit different stages of a company, and why talented people often struggle simply because they’re in the wrong context.

If you’re a Director on the rise, a VP looking for clarity, a Staff or Principal engineer exploring the leadership path, or a CTO sharpening your edge, this episode gives you a practical, visual way to map your capabilities to the role in front of you.

If you want to do the exercise yourself, Meri’s downloadable Career Vectors Framework is available at buildyouredge.org/downloads.

Hard work will get you started, but it won’t take you all the way. Every ambitious professional eventually hits a point where more effort stops creating more progress. You take on more, say yes to everything, work longer hours, yet somehow feel less effective. That’s 'the effort ceiling', and today’s guest has built a way to break through it.

In this episode, technologist and former Tide VP/CTPO Giorgos Ampavis shares The Multipliers Map: a practical framework that helps you understand where you are on the journey from doing the work to creating real impact. We dig into the five levels of high-impact leaders, how to recognise when you’re stuck, and the small shifts that help you move up the ladder without burning out.

If you want more clarity, more influence, and more momentum AND more fulfilment in your career, this conversation will help you take the next step. And you can download Giorgos’s self-assessment tool to follow along as you listen.

Giorgos' profile: https://www.buildyouredge.org/people/profile/giorgos-ampavis

Giorgos Amapvis on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ampavis/

Download The Multipliers Map: https://www.buildyouredge.org/downloads/the-multipliers-map

Every day, around 12,000 people in the UK become carers, often right at the peak of their careers. Most don’t plan for it. Many don’t even realise they are carers. But the impact on their work, well-being, and future is enormous.

In this episode, Jeremy sits down with leadership coach and former tech MD Kirsten Hurley, who shares her deeply personal journey caring for her two autistic brothers while navigating senior leadership roles. Her story isn’t unusual; it’s the reality for millions of people quietly holding their families together while turning up to work with the same expectations as everyone else.

Together, Jeremy and Kirsten unpack:

• Why so many carers stay invisible at work
• The emotional and mental load nobody sees
• The leadership strengths caring builds: empathy, resilience, clarity, perspective
• The flexible, simple steps employers can take to support carers properly
• Why supporting carers is a retention strategy, not a favour
• How to spot the carers already in your organisation
• How to create a culture where people feel safe to speak up

Kirsten also shares her practical guide, “The Hidden Leaders In Your Workforce (and How to Get the Best from Them)”, available to download with the episode.

If you care about people, culture, leadership, or retention, you need this conversation. And if you’re a carer — even if you’ve never used the word — this will help you feel seen.

Let’s be honest: your website probably sucks. It’s slow, out of date, confusing, and says everything except what your business actually does.

In this episode, Craig Burgess, Creative Director of Genius Division, joins Jeremy to share five simple ways to fix your website and make it work harder for your business; no coding, no jargon, and no expensive rebuild. Everything he shares can be done with free tools and a bit of common sense.

You’ll learn how to:

• Tell people what you actually do (in plain English)
• Speed up your website using free tools
• Avoid the AI traps that hurt your ranking and credibility
• Write for your audience, not your ego
• Make your website look professional without hiring a designer

Craig has also created a free downloadable guide, “5 Common Website Mistakes (and How to Fix Them)”, that walks you through each problem step by step so you can audit your site and make instant improvements.

Whether you run a corner shop or a global brand, this episode will help you turn your website from a digital brochure into a tool that actually drives business.

Download Craig's free guide here:

Find Craig here: buildyouredge.org/people/profile/craig-burgess

Craig on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/craigburgessuk/

Genuis Division: geniusdivision.com