The Business Elevation Show With Chris Cooper - Be More. Achieve More

Do you want to be a leader that makes a meaningful difference, who opposes injustice and strives to make the world a better place? Are you looking for a more compassionate, caring, loving and servant led way to lead? This week I’m delighted to welcome back inspirational leader Paul Hargreaves who is also a B Corp Ambassador who inspires businesses to make a positive impact on the world. Paul’s main role is as CEO of Cotswold Fayre, a rapidly growing speciality food and drink wholesale business supplying over 1,750 retail sites in the UK. In this interview, we will discuss key lessons from Paul’s excellent book ‘The Fourth Bottom Line’. The book highlights the key qualities of leaders driven by principle, purpose and passion. I personally have really engaged with the book which is set out in short chapters for personal reflection and encourages you to deeply work on qualities that can help you to have a more profound impact on business and the world. Join us for another very insightful interview on the Busines

Ian de Cruz, Global Director of P4G (Partnership for Green Growth and Global Goals by 2020) will joins guest host Gene Early this week to share vision, implementation, and successes from P4G’s contribution to creating a sustainable, global future. Ian will address the question of, “How do you lead by example to make healthy, sustainably-sourced food more available for all; transform our cities into cleaner, healthier places to live and work; reduce global waste and find new ways to use and re-use what we already have?” For him it begins with love. That love has its source in his origin story, a child of a migrant family, and his journey to envisioning a safer, healthier, more inclusive world for himself and others. He’ll share how his history has shaped his identity and prepared him to lead this global effort. He’ll also describe how P4G’s leadership team has directed the incubation and acceleration of more than 70 global partnerships in eight countries and already reduced CO2 emissions by almost 200,000 metr

How can we overcome hardship and setbacks in life and then use that experience and wisdom to make a difference to others? That’s what we will be exploring in this episode with Jillian Haslam, philanthropist, motivational speaker and trainer, who in her work shows others how to derive meaning from their hardships, find grace in adversity, and develop genuine purpose to achieve their destiny. Jillian grew up in the slums of India and her incredible life story of overcoming extreme hardships makes her one of the most inspiring people I have ever met. Her story is now the subject of a new book, “a Voice out of Poverty”, which is soon to be made into a feature film. Join us as we discuss how we can all develop a resilient and irrepressible mind that can help us overcome unimaginable adversity. We’ll also talk about how success can be so much more fulfilling and richer when it focuses on what we can do for others, truly making a difference to other people’s lives. And how lasting that impact we create can be.

How can we build a better more sustainable and equal world through business? My guest Sarah Dusek in my opinion is an extremely inspiring force for good and someone whose humility belies an immense drive for change. Sarah began her career in the non-profit world in her early twenties working in Southern Africa and Southeast Asia on aid projects. Disillusioned at the impact she was having, Sarah moved to the US and set up a glamping company. In 2018, she successfully sold her company, Under Canvas, for more than $100 million and launched Enygma Ventures. Today Sarah has returned to Southern Africa as a venture capitalist and co-founder of Enygma Ventures investing in women-led businesses and creating solutions to wealth disparity and access to capital for women. Her online programmes over the past year have also helped five thousand entrepreneurs to become investor-ready and to learn how to build valuable companies. During this interview, I look forward to exploring Sarah’s inspiring life story and to access w

According to my guest this week Damian Culhane, in uncertain times where your world has changed exponentially, the quicker you can pivot and bounce back then the easier it will be for you to rise above the limitations of your unconscious mind. So how do you become the master of your own mind so that you can make these changes? I am delighted to welcome Damian Culhane to the show as I have thoroughly enjoyed our exchanges around human development and investment after being connected with him in 2021. He is a very experienced non-executive director, master coach and professionally qualified chartered manager with over 30 years’ international experience, and is currently based in Poland. He has worked in multiple sectors delivering results driven talent management programmes, unlocking human potential working with senior stakeholders to amplify performance. He creates and implements learning and development playbooks that tap into the brilliance of teams and is a pod-cast host and author – contributing to three

In September 2021, Neil McCoy-Ward joined me to share his thoughts on the big financial and economic changes that might impact your life and business in the next 10 years. With such valuable insight from Neil and extreme turmoil in the world right now, I am so grateful that he is with me again to help you make better sense of this rapidly changing and daunting world. Neil McCoy-Ward is the Group CEO of the Forward Thinking Group UK who has spent his life since travelling the globe for answers. His career has taken him from highly decorated soldier to an experienced CEO, Investor, financial forecaster, housing market expert and Best-Selling Author. Neil is most well known for his expertise and controversial content in the Finance, Investment & Housing Markets. This work leading to a large social following of over 285K people for his accurate forecasts that have beaten even the largest data and research company forecasts. Join us as we discuss Neil’s unusually accurate and highly researched predictions that

Story telling is a skill I love to explore with business leaders who wish to better engage and influence within my own leadership pro-grammes. Yet story telling is also a hugely valuable skill when it comes to sales performance and I am therefore delighted to be joined by John Livesay aka The Pitch Whisperer. John is a sales keynote speaker, master storyteller and an exceptional former guest on the show. His TEDx talk: Be The Lifeguard of Your Own Life has over 1,000,000 views and his podcast 'The Successful Pitch' is accessed in over 60 countries. John's new book, The Sale Is in the Tale, teaches us how to use storytelling to improve professional and personal relationships. Join us and learn how to take your story telling to a new level to elevate your relationships and results with my fabulous guest John Livesay.

Are you feeling highly resilient? Do you have the mental and financial resilience to effortlessly achieve all your endeavours or are you like so many feeling a degree of overwhelm in these strange times? My guests know all about building mental and financial resilience. Alan Chambers MBE is a Former Royal Marine, celebrated adventurer and leadership expert who successfully led the first team to walk from Canada to the Geographic North Pole without any support services. A 70-day walk across ice combined with near starvation, low fuel supplies and the worst weather recorded in the polar region in 100 years. His wisdom has even been called upon by the England Rugby Team and England Cricket team with major success following. David Howell’s 36 year career in financial services has overseen investment and regulatory changes in the UK and internationally and he also has a taste for charitable expeditions and a passion for the field of wellbeing. Join us as we discuss their wisdom and methodologies that are today suc

Can you imagine how your perspective on life might shift if a beautiful holiday suddenly turned into fighting for life in the Boxing Day Tsunami? My guest Michelle Mills-Porter had an award-winning business which became the youngest in the UK to achieve Investors in People in the UK. Then that fateful day turned her world upside down. Over the coming weeks, months, and years as she healed from her experiences her understanding of what drives us, what is at the core of our essence and our ability to collaborate through adversity brought a new more elevated purpose and the transition into a greatly admired behavioural expert. Michelle today has built a whole suite of behavioural tools, and her ground-breaking work with organisational leaders and young people has led to major step changes in performance and the wisdom to help others more effectively navigate the world of work. Join us to hear a very powerful story and learn from insights that can help us to navigate our own personal journeys of change and turmoi

It’s very easy to get stuck in a rut with our businesses and personal lives, living daily only viewing things via a tunnel vision. We can become blind to changes needed, holding us back from developing and growing. This week I’m joined by International Motivational Speaker, Paralympian and Founder of Unblind the Mind Darren Harris, and award-winning motivational speaker Jaina Mistry. Darren Harris works with organizational talent that want to change how they see themselves, other people and the world around them so they can navigate the invisible obstacles blocking their path to success. Jaina’s unique approach of “seeing things differently” and “making adversity your asset” is her signature way of helping clients elevate their physical and mental fitness in the easiest way to experience optimal results in life and business. Join us for a truly inspiring show where Darren & Jaina will inspire change in how we see ourselves, other people, and the world around us, so we can navigate the invisible obstacles

Be it coaching an executive, coaching a manager, or coaching a team, there’s no mistaking that coaching is an essential path to human and leadership growth. But not all coaching is equal, and not all coaches are alike. Whether someone is being coached for development or for performance, the need for good and diverse styles of coaching is more vital than ever. The discipline of coaching revels in its complexity. It resides at the confluence of many streams of enquiry—mindfulness, psychology, leadership theory, peak performance research, to name a few. One field of human endeavor largely ignored in the teaching of coaching is that of the Arts and the Humanities. Owen Ó Súilleabháin is an artist who works in the world of organizational leadership and has recently teamed up with a great elder of the coaching community John Schuster to provide a virtual sandbox for coaches to come and play – an experience designed to foster, encourage and share – coaches with coaches – how the Arts have influenced them as people a

Has your business plateaued in 2021 or are you feeling stuck? Do you have the motivation to make a positive leap forward in 2022? Last week we repeated a part one show with Adam Strong, Branka van der Linden, Karel Vermeulen and Haroon Danis where we discussed the new ‘Play The Game, How To Win In Today’s Changing Environment’. Since this show originally aired Play The Game has become an international bestseller in multiple categories and is being physically stocked in major retailers such as Waterstones and WH Smiths in the UK. Adam Strong the corporate productivity authority, entrepreneur, athlete, coach, speaker and trainer persuaded an exciting cohort of International Game Changing Leaders to contribute a thought provoking chapter each. I am delighted to be joined in this interview by Adam Strong and three more exceptional leaders Donald Sandel, Darrell Irwin, Stephen Carter to discuss three more valuable chapters from the book positivity, branding and intellectual property. Join us for more inspiration t

Ever feel depleted at the end of the day? If so you are not alone – a recent study said that 60% of leaders feel the same way. Also if you are leading a company you are the most likely to be experiencing job frustration and burnout. During this interview with Deborah A. Coviello we will be discussing her book the CEO’s Compass, which helps you to systematically identify your team’s current blindspots and determine seven key areas you need to focus on to get back on track in days – not months. This involves confronting your feelings and creating a plan that is sustainable for you and your organization. Deborah is the Founder of Illumination Partners and the host of The Drop In CEO podcast. For more than twenty years, she has been transforming businesses from within, elevating the talents of their organizations to new performance levels. Join us as and gain some direction to enable you to get back on track in a more sustainable, high performing way.

When was the last time you considered the legacy you are creating, day-to-day? My guest Gaia Ferreira is an international entrepreneur, published personal success author, and a public speaker on personal fulfilment and leadership. From corporate executive to culinary entrepreneur to hosting her own TV Cookery Show, her career has been untraditional and exciting. After the sudden death of a friend, she reflected on her own legacy and realized there was still so much more for her to be. She went back to school in her 40s and, for a few years, was a coach for Tony Robbins. Now, Gaia is the founder of TITANIAM Coaching where she supports executives and entrepreneurs create more impact on their terms using her Total Intelligence Method®. Join us as we meet Gaia Ferreira and explore how to discover your unique genius, reveal your innate purpose, and build a legacy that truly fulfils your soul.

Are you one of many people today who are reinventing their future? Perhaps it is time for a career change, a new challenge, maybe a greater sense of wellbeing. Maybe you feel stuck with what to do next or have been offered new options to consider? If any of these ring true for you then do join us for a conversation with Rona Mackenzie, who has evolved her career to pursue a variety of exciting opportunities. Rona’s career has developed from the world of school leadership and management to Chief Operating Officer of a luxury jewellery company, a senior sales role in cyber security and today her dream consultancy role with the Inspirational Development Group supporting the growth of the next generation of global leaders. Having reinvented my own career on a number of occasions I am anticipating a great conversation with Rona that could give you lots of inspiration and ideas as you transform your own future.

It is a part of human and business life that we will experience resistance to our ideas and initiatives and the more we put ourselves out there the more resistance we may encounter. So have you considered that there are effective strategies to understand resistance and avoid it before it even occurs? According to my guest Rick Maurer understanding how to break through resistance is key to turning skepticism and opposition into support for new initiatives. Rick works closely with clients to develop change strategies that will work in their unique organizations. Some of the organizations he has worked with include Lockheed Martin, Deloitte, National GeoSpatial Intelligence Agency, Verizon, Charles Schwab, The Washington Post, NASA, Tulane University Hospital, Kaiser Permanente, and many government agencies in the US, Canada, the UK, Europe, and Russia. Join us we learn how to become highly effective at dealing with resistance whilst discussing Rick’s latest book, Seizing Moments of Possibility: Ways to Trigger

Are you seeking success online and wondering how to do it without capital or coding experience? My guest Bryan Clayton is CEO and co-founder of GreenPal an online marketplace that connects homeowners with local lawn care professionals. GreenPal has been called the “Uber for lawn care” by Entrepreneur magazine and has over 100,000 active users completing thousands of transactions per day. Before starting GreenPal Bryan founded Peachtree Inc. one of the largest landscaping companies in the state of Tennessee growing it to over $10 million a year in annual revenue before sale in 2013. Join us as we explore the lessons from launching an exceptional entrepreneurial venture online and elevating it from zero to profit to exit.

Are you a great business developer, prospector and networker who knows how to create a positive connection with the people you meet? Are you a catalyst that creates a chemical reaction between strangers, and have the ability to effortlessly convert these opportunities into new business? My guest David Kean is an expert at catalysing strangers into contacts and converting contacts into clients - and even into friends and has helped hundreds of companies around the world win billions in new business by applying the same methods. During this interview we will discuss wisdom from his new book ‘Catalyst: using personal chemistry to convert contacts into contracts’ which was co-authored with Louisa Clark. If you need more clients to buy your services and you're not completely sure how to find them, convince them or win them then do join us for what will be a potentially valuable interview.

Your business matters so why not make it beautiful?  My guest Steven Morris is a brand culture advisor, author, speaker, and an acclaimed artist. Having known Steve personally for many years he is in my opinion a deeply meaningful, philosophical, caring and highly practical entrepreneur. Someone I am proud of to call a very good friend and someone whose advice I am always grateful for. He has an incredible background having worked worked with more than 3,000 business leaders at 250+ global regional companies, including: Samsung, Sony, Habitat for Humanity, Amazon, International Trademark Association, NFL, & MLB. On this show we are going to talk about his latest book ‘The Beautiful Business' which focuses on how businesses of all sizes can build integrity, belonging magnetism through their brand cultures. Join us and be inspired to lead your business on a beautiful journey.

An essential ingredient today for being a great leader is the ability to also be an exceptional teacher and facilitator. My guest Blair Singer has earned a worldwide reputation as an expert in sales and business growth. He has also trained some of the best teachers, leaders and facilitators across 25 countries on five continents. Blair is the founder and CEO of the Blair Singer Training Academy, author of three best-selling books and an in-demand international public speaker. He’s helped hundreds of thousands of individuals and businesses experience unparalleled growth, return on investment and overall happiness. Join us as we explore why this is so essential and how to become one with a leader and trainer whose achievements in this field are greatly admired across the globe.