Why your reaction to pressure might be your biggest leadership challenge

In this Leadership Unscripted episode of Unleash Your Impact, Unlock Others, Rich and Dave return to a key leadership truth: stress isn’t just what happens to you, it’s about how you relate and respond to what happens.

Building on their previous conversation about the performance equation, they go deeper into the inner game of stress, exploring how your internal stories, cognitive filters, and unhelpful thinking habits can amplify pressure and create interference.

This isn’t a conversation about eliminating stress, it’s about learning to reframe, regulate, and respond with awareness. You’ll hear real-world stories, practical reframing tools, and reference to Zentano’s own Mind Management Model, which helps leaders move from HOT HEAD reactivity to COOL HEAD intentionality.

You’ll learn:

• The difference between distress, eustress, and hypostress
• Why some stress is healthy, and why under-stimulation can be just as damaging
• How internal beliefs and narratives (like perfectionism or catastrophizing) fuel unnecessary stress
• How team and organisational culture can unintentionally amplify stress
• Practical strategies like the Three Lenses can help leaders reframe in the moment
• Why building resilience starts with being comfortable with discomfort

🎯 Whether you're navigating a tough conversation, leading under pressure, or just feeling overwhelmed, this episode will help you regain perspective and reconnect with your leadership centre.

P = P – I. It’s simple. But it might just change how you lead.

In this Leadership Unscripted episode of Unleash Your Impact, Unlock Others, Rich and Dave explore a deceptively simple but powerful idea from Timothy Gallwey, author of The Inner Game of Tennis:

Performance = Potential – Interference

From elite sport to everyday leadership, this model holds up as a grounded and practical way to understand what gets in the way of people, teams, and organisations performing at their optimal best.

You’ll hear real-life examples from coaching, leadership, and personal experience, including how mindset, culture, communication, and childhood wiring can all become unseen interferences. Rich and Dave also share how Zentano use this model in leadership development, coaching programmes, and mindset training.

🎧 You’ll learn:

• What “interference” looks like at individual, team, and organisational levels
• How to coach others, and yourself, using the performance equation
• Why performance focused conversations often fail to address the real issue
• How to unlock your leadership voice through mindset management
• How culture and systems can sabotage even the most capable people

🎯 Practical, honest and accessible, Dave & Rich help translate the performance equation into leadership action.

In this Voices of Leadership episode of Unleash Your Impact, Unlock Others, Dave talks to Becky Brannigan, Head of Sport at Warwickshire College Group, about the powerful role sport plays in developing leadership skills in young people, long before they enter the workplace.

Becky shares the vision behind the new WCG Sports Academy, launching in 2025 at Pershore College, offering a pathway for students to combine elite sport and academic ambition, whether their passion is football, rugby, tennis, netball or even eSports.

But this isn’t just about physical development. It’s about confidence, communication, emotional intelligence, and learning how to perform under pressure. Becky explains how students are learning to coach, mentor, collaborate, lead teams, and even design and deliver community sports sessions, developing well-rounded, employable young leaders in the process.

Not every student will turn pro. But every student can develop the skills to thrive in adult life, and sport gives us a powerful platform to make that happen.

🎧 Listen in to hear how WCG is building a bold, integrated model for leadership and life and why the courts and playing fields might be the best leadership classrooms we’ve got.

📌 Key Topics Covered:

• Leadership development through sport and competition
• Confidence, communication and resilience as key outcomes
• The role of elite and grassroots sport in inclusive education
• Mentoring, emotional intelligence and role modelling
• Collaboration with clubs like Pershore Tennis and local football academies
• Supporting both curriculum and personal growth
• How sport is bridging the leadership readiness gap in young people

What if the biggest leadership blind spot isn’t skill, experience, or knowledge, but how you think?

In this Leadership Unscripted episode of Unleash Your Impact, Unlock Others, Rich and Dave explore Whole Brain Thinking, the powerful model developed by Ned Herrmann that reveals how different thinking preferences shape the way we lead, communicate, and solve problems.

They dive into why understanding your own and others’ thinking styles is a game-changer for leaders, particularly when it comes to building trust, avoiding miscommunication, and flexing your leadership style under pressure.

You’ll also hear how Zentano uses Whole Brain Thinking in coaching and leadership development programmes, including the 12 June “Unlocking Inclusive Thinking” workshop at Stanbrook Abbey, where this model plays a central role.

🔥 And there’s more: this episode sets the stage for an exciting upcoming conversation with Ann Herrmann-Nehdi, Chair & Chief Thought Leader of Herrmann International and daughter of Ned Herrmann.

Key Talking Points:

• What Whole Brain Thinking is and why it matters in leadership
• Why your thinking preferences don’t define who you are or what you can achieve
• Encoding vs. decoding: the root of many workplace misunderstandings
• The power of cognitive diversity in teams
• Why flexing your thinking style is the mark of adaptive leadership
• How Zentano integrates the model into coaching and workshop design

Join us on 12 June for Unlocking Inclusive Thinking

🔗 Book your place: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/1286601502729?aff=oddtdtcreator

In this Voices of Leadership episode of the Unleash Your Impact, Unlock Others podcast, Dave speaks with Liz Crutchley, DEI consultant, founder of Orange Orchid, and co-lead facilitator of Zentano’s upcoming Unlocking Inclusive Thinking workshop on 12 June at Stanbrook Abbey.

Through personal stories, thoughtful reflection and practical wisdom, Liz shares why inclusive leadership isn’t about getting everything right – it’s about showing up with curiosity, courage and connection.

Exploring topics from gender bias and neurodiversity to psychological safety and brave conversations this podcast discusses that it is not about “fixing people”, it is about getting the environment right. This episode unpacks what it truly means to build

belonging in the workplace, and why the best leaders are those who admit they don’t know everything but are willing to find out. Liz also introduces Diversity Rocks, a simple tool for sparking honest, impactful conversations.

This conversation is as practical as it is personal—and a must-listen for anyone who wants to lead with more humanity.

🔑 Key Talking Points:

• Why the 3 Cs—Connection, Curiosity & Courage, are the heart of inclusive leadership
• How introversion, upbringing and bias shaped Liz’s leadership lens
• What it takes to create real psychological safety
• Why DEI work isn’t about fixing individuals, it’s about fixing systems
• How Zentano’s Unlocking Inclusive Thinking workshop builds these principles into practice

📍 Join Liz and Zentano on 12 June at Stanbrook Abbey: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1286601502729?aff=oddtdtcreator

🎧 Listen now – and share it with someone leading the change.

In this powerful Voices of Leadership episode of Unleash Your Impact, Unlock Others, Dave sits down with Annie Esler, a leadership facilitator, speaker, and inclusive culture advocate, to explore the importance of brave leadership, psychological safety, and speaking up.

Annie shares her personal experience of workplace harassment and how it impacted her confidence and career trajectory. She reflects on the slow but essential shift in generational workplace culture, and why we can’t keep asking people to speak up unless we’re ready to truly listen.

The conversation leads into Annie’s upcoming role as co-facilitator of Removing the Glass Ceiling, a one-day workshop hosted by Zentano at Stanbrook Abbey on 11 June, where she’ll guide participants in addressing the barriers still holding back women in leadership.

Annie’s message is clear: We need consistent, supportive leadership, not just one-off gestures, but a culture shift.

Key Talking Points:

• The long shadow of workplace harassment
• How confidence is quietly eroded through silence and inaction
• Why men play a vital role in creating inclusive, psychologically safe cultures
• The power of everyday consistency in brave leadership
• What to expect from the Removing the Glass Ceiling workshop

📍 Register for the workshop on 11 June:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/1291064581919?aff=oddtdtcreator

Why inclusive leadership must include menopause awareness – and what leaders can do about it.

In this powerful Voices of Leadership episode of Unleash Your Impact, Unlock Others, Dave talks with Shirley Gray, Founder of Gray Matter Learning and long-time Zentano associate, about one of the most overlooked topics in leadership: menopause.

Shirley shares her deeply personal story and explains why menopause remains a taboo subject in many workplaces despite the fact that it affects a significant proportion of the workforce. From anxiety and brain fog to declining confidence and emotional overload, the symptoms are real – and the consequences of ignoring them are even more so.

But this episode isn’t just about awareness – it’s about action. Shirley outlines how leaders can create psychologically safe workplaces, implement menopause-friendly policies, and retain valuable talent by embracing inclusive leadership at every level.

She also introduces the upcoming workshop she’ll be delivering in partnership with Zentano in June:

➡️ Removing the Glass Ceiling: Leading with Menopause

📍 Stanbrook Abbey, 11 June 2025

🔗 Register now on Eventbrite

Key Talking Points:

• Shirley’s personal journey into leadership and menopause advocacy
• The surprising range of menopause symptoms that affect performance
• Why menopause is still a career-limiting issue for many
• How leaders (especially male allies) can create inclusive, supportive environments
• A sneak peek at Shirley’s workshop content and practical takeaways

Listen now – and share it with someone who needs to hear this.

Mastering the mindset and everyday skills to embed coaching into your leadership style.

Welcome to the second episode in our two-part series on coaching in leadership. In the last episode, Dave and Rich explored why coaching is such a powerful leadership tool. In this episode, they get practical.

What does a coaching approach really look like in action? What are the everyday mindset shifts and essential skills that help leaders create trust, unlock potential, and embed a coaching culture?

Dave and Rich unpack the critical skills behind effective coaching conversations – including active listening, mirroring and pacing, powerful questions, and the often-underestimated power of silence. Rich also introduces the CLEAR framework for asking better, more generative coaching questions.

And to tie it all together, they break down the classic T-GROW model, showing how leaders can use this simple structure to guide meaningful coaching conversations across performance reviews, one-to-ones, team discussions and even five-minute chats over coffee.

Key Talking Points:

• Why coaching is a leadership mindset, not a one-off event
• How to shift from being a problem-solver to a thinking partner
• Skills that make the difference: active listening, mirroring, and open questions
• The power of generative questions and the CLEAR framework
• Making the most of the T-GROW model in real conversations

Whether you're new to coaching or looking to sharpen your skills, this episode offers practical, insightful tools you can start using straight away.