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The Inspiring Leadership Podcast

The Inspiring Leadership Podcast

By: gunnercooke
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About this listen

Leadership is everything; whether you’re leading the village hall committee, the largest organisation in the world, or simply leading yourself. Leadership begins with your own self–discipline and your own focus. Leadership brings followers and without followers, you are simply going for a stroll. Leadership provides vision and leaves legacies. To be a leader you need to be the change that you want to be. Leaders change lives and move societies.

In these podcasts, we will learn from the best, the very best. Recipes for success, behaviours to model and practical tips from some of our best business leaders, our most successful coaches and the World’s leading thought leaders.

The Inspiring Leadership Podcast is produced by gunnercooke llp, the professional services firm that has changed the landscape for legal and consultancy services in the 21st century.

© 2026 The Inspiring Leadership Podcast
Economics
Episodes
  • How Volunteering Builds Stronger People and Better Businesses, with Emma Gervasio RVS
    Feb 5 2026

    Is one of the most powerful leadership tools we have also one of the most overlooked?

    Emma Gervasio, Chief Operating Officer at the Royal Voluntary Service, joins Darryl Cooke on The Inspiring Leadership Podcast to discuss the real benefits of volunteering for individuals, businesses, and society.

    With anxiety rates growing, and the fine line between work/life balance now more blurred than ever, Emma shares her compelling research that demonstrates how volunteering programmes can improve mental health and wellbeing, build and improve on our skills and talents, and significantly boost productivity across the board.

    Using GoVo, a new platform designed to radically simplify access to volunteering, Emma and the RVS are making it easier than ever for people, and businesses, to get involved in ways that fit modern working lives.

    Together, Darryl and Emma unpack why happiness can be shaped by what we do and how we lead every day.

    🔶 Follow Royal Voluntary Service & GoVo:

    https://www.linkedin.com/in/emmagervasio/
    https://www.royalvoluntaryservice.org.uk/
    https://govo.org/

    🔶 Follow Darryl and gunnercooke:
    https://gunnercooke.com/
    https://uk.linkedin.com/in/darryljcooke

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    32 mins
  • John Amaechi OBE: Becoming the Protagonist of Your Own Story
    Oct 14 2025

    What does it take to achieve the extraordinary?

    World-renowned Psychologist, Bestselling Author, and Founder of APS Intelligence, Professor John Amaechi OBE, joins gunnercooke founder Darryl Cooke in this truly moving episode of The Inspiring Leadership Podcast. Recorded live at Saïd Business School, University of Oxford.

    In The NeverEnding Story, an overlooked child discovers he is the protagonist, and the only one who can save a fantastical world. For John Amaechi, that story became a powerful metaphor: “The most unlikely of people in the most improbable of circumstances can become extraordinary, if you are willing to plan and work at it.”

    From NBA, to OBE, to PHD, John’s story is one of impossible and improbable goals achieved through relentless persistence, and a refusal to be defined by bias. Darryl and John consider the true privilege of leadership, the impact we have on our colleagues’ mental health, and why the best leaders are those who accept they are never a finished product.

    In this unmissable episode, John shares lessons on leadership with humour and honesty that will stay with you long after listening.


    🔶 Follow John Amaechi:

    https://x.com/johnamaechi?lang=en

    https://www.instagram.com/johnamaechiobe/?hl=en


    🔶 Follow Darryl and gunnercooke:

    https://gunnercooke.com/

    https://uk.linkedin.com/in/darryljcooke

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    1 hr and 7 mins
  • Author Sophie Calon in Conversation with Nacoa's Piers Henrique: Growing up around addiction and breaking the silence at work
    Aug 12 2025

    What happens when addiction hides in plain sight?

    In this moving episode, Darryl Cooke is joined by author Sophie Calon and Dr Piers Henriques from Nacoa, the National Association for Children of Alcoholics, in a conversation chaired by Dr Zoe Lambert.

    In this discussion, Sophie reads from her moving debut memoir Long Going, which reflects on the complex experience of being the child of an alcoholic, and what happens when leadership, success, and addiction collide. Dr Henriques, provides vital insight into the lifelong effects of alcoholism on families and why speaking openly about these experiences can be transformative.

    This episode was recorded live at House of Books & Friends in Manchester.

    🔶 Follow Sophie Calon

    https://www.instagram.com/sophie_calon_/?hl=en

    🔶 Follow Dr Piers Henriques and Nacoa

    https://uk.linkedin.com/in/piers-henriques-bb816882

    https://www.instagram.com/nacoauk/?hl=en

    https://nacoa.org.uk/

    🔶 Follow Dr Zoe Lambert

    https://www.instagram.com/zoeflambert/

    🔶 Follow House of Books & Friends

    https://www.instagram.com/houseofbooksandfriends/?hl=en

    https://houseofbooksandfriends.com/

    🔶 Follow Darryl and gunnercooke:

    https://gunnercooke.com/

    https://uk.linkedin.com/in/darryljcooke

    Show More Show Less
    27 mins
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