Advertise on podcast: Talking SME with Ten2Two … eavesdropping on the experts

In this episode of Talking SME, Jane O'Gorman sits down with Paul Mann, founder of Pathmaker Advisory, to cut through the noise around AI and get straight to what matters for business owners and leaders. Paul shares why now is the critical inflection point for non-tech companies to adopt AI, why wary scepticism is understandable but commercial inaction is risky, and — crucially — how to take those first practical steps without getting overwhelmed. A great starting point for making AI work for your business today.

Sarah shares practical ways SMEs can measure success beyond profit and offers her top leadership tips for creating a culture where people, purpose, and profit thrive together. Sarah is a Fellow of the ACCA with broad financial leadership experience across corporates, start-ups and scale-ups. Who believes short-term financial decision-making in business was not helping people, the planet or our profits, she founded B Corp-certified Profit Impact. Profit Impact guide small and medium-sized businesses to unlock resilient business models that build real value for people, the planet, and long-term profit. Alongside this, they provide measurements and education for groups that work with SMEs, particularly local councils and procurement teams in larger businesses, allowing them to understand their progress and support the businesses in their community.

In this special episode of Talking SME, Deborah O'Sullivan, our Founder and MD, joins one of our Directors, Jane O'Gorman, to give our take on:  •    How AI is changing hiring •    The biggest hiring shifts we’re seeing across SMEs •    The biggest recruitment challenges (and how to tackle them)

Florence Cassell, Founder and Creative Director of Studio Floc, talks about why she was an early adopter of the 4 day week, explains how it benefits everyone, from employees to clients and leaves us with her top tips for utilising the 4 day week model. Florence is the Founder and Creative Director of Studio Floc, an award-winning, B Corp-certified graphic design agency. After studying at Chelsea College of Art and Brighton University, she started her career in London, working across design agencies before launching Studio Floc in 2018 to combine creative excellence with meaningful impact. She leads a growing team dedicated to crafting brand identities that help businesses communicate their purpose with clarity and confidence.

Jenny Copeland, Behavioural Change Leader and Executive Coach, talks about the definition of culture, explains how you promote what you permit and leaves us with her top tips for a thriving workplace culture. Jenny is a Professional Performance and Transformation Coach, Author and Accredited Facilitator for Life Success Productions. For the last 30 years, she has been providing leadership and organisational development solutions, enabling performance improvement, and delivering organisational success for large and small businesses, both public and private sectors, and more recently for the NHS. She has a deep interest in people and how to motivate and develop them - seeking to grow individuals and help them achieve their own true potential. She has a never ending enthusiasm for positive change and continuous improvement and loves seeing people and teams shine!

Ruth George, HR Consultant and Herts CIPD Chair, talks about the challenges HR can pose for a SME, the importance of offering flexibility to employees and why small businesses can't afford to miss the AI boat. Ruth is a Chartered Member of the CIPD (Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development) with over 25 years' experience in senior HR management roles.  Previously HR Director at Gallagher Heath - a leading UK insurance broker in the City, she has also been HR lead for Head Office at Homebase and has worked with household names such as Next, Fujitsu, Seiko and Travelport.   Ruth is Chair of the CIPD branch in Hertfordshire with over 3,500 members one of the largest branches in the country – the CIPD is the professional body for HR Practitioners. Ruth has a degree in Modern Languages and speaks fluent French, Spanish and Portuguese.  Having spent the past 11 years running her own HR Consultancy, she now focuses on providing a range of generalist HR support to both corporates and SME clients.  A large part of Ruth’s work concentrates on management and leadership development and she has run several programmes for international clients both virtually and face-to-face.

Baljit Kaur, Founder of Innate Consultancy and Diversity, Equity & Inclusion champion, talks about the challenges Diversity, Equity & Inclusion can present for an SME, whilst offering actionable changes and starting points that can help to get the ball rolling. Baljit helps companies design a diverse workforce and inclusive cultures achieving excellence in diverse employee attraction, engagement, and retention. She creates opportunities for connection, learning, and shared experiences centered around the core values of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.

James Ker-Reid, top SaaS and technology sales leader and co-author of two bestselling books, talks about the challenges of creating a robust, enduring sales framework whilst in a fast-moving start-up.  Discussing his simple, proven framework, he covers the key elements needed for sales success. James has a background in B2B SaaS and IT consultancy, with specialisms including fintech, insurance, HR and innovation tech. He has over 15 years of experience selling to startups and enterprises in the UK, Europe, Asia and North America. His major successes include a management buyout and a startup acquisition of $500 million. In 2018, James was named one of the top SaaS and technology sales leaders of the year. He has co-authored two bestselling books – Sales Genius #1 and Happy Healthy Wealthy Entrepreneurs.

Chris O'Riordan, Founder and MD of Firestarter Business Solutions, talks speed planning and how it can be the answer to your SME planning woes, why the best plans never exceed a single A4 sheet of paper and how not to get lost in a jungle of KPI's. Chris is a specialist in sales excellence, organisational structure & design, sales training and change management programmes with over 30 years’ experience in sales management and business leadership. Since 2012, Chris has been the business leader of Firestarter Business Solutions, working across a broad range of clients to drive sales performance improvement, growth initiatives, change management, organisational development and sales productivity programmes to deliver tangible sales results.

Stuart Hearn, HR and Technology Entrepreneur, talks about the challenges of managing people in today’s uncertain business environment and how business owners and managers approach the tricky balance they seek between ‘doing the day job’ and effectively managing their teams. Stuart is an experienced HR and Technology entrepreneur, having founded and scaled two successful HR businesses - most recently Clear Review, which he grew into a multi-million revenue business with a successful exit after 5 years. He now acts as a mentor and board advisor to a small number of HR and employee-based tech start-ups that are making a positive difference in today's world. Stuart previously led a successful people performance management consultancy and was also International HR Director at Sony Music.

Sean Ruane, Founder of Mind Data, talks mental health check ins, how managers can play an important role in improving employee mental wellbeing and the importance of businesses being proactive with how they support their employees. Sean is the founder of Mind Data, a digital platform that aims to improve human-to-human therapy. Mind Data provides tools to increase self-awareness in patients/clients and insights to make therapy check-ins even more effective. By utilising technology, Mind Data is able to offer a unique and innovative solution to the mental health space. After suffering from suicidal depression, Sean's personal mission is to improve the mental health of one million people, and he believes that Mind Data is an important step towards achieving that goal.

Francis Lake, Founder of Green Juniper, talks about changing attitudes to hybrid working, his experience developing innovative working practices, and why one popular hybrid policy is an ill-fitting suit. Francis has a long career in organisation and people development.  He’s got a track record in deploying groundbreaking practice, winning awards for performance and purpose.  His work on post-covid working has been the subject of a Gartner case study, and he’s a frequent speaker at conferences on subjects including future of work, purpose, culture and performance.  He established his new consultancy, Green Juniper last year to be able to help more companies have brilliant people practices.

Jim Simpson, Founder and CEO of Ziptech services discusses the changing attitude to tech, how it underpins business growth and why it is so important for business leaders to expand their knowledge. Jim founded Ziptech at a time when his frustration with IT Support companies was at its height. Working as a turnaround CEO, he realised that the performance of each of these companies who sought his advice could be remarkably improved with better IT. Jim decided to set up a straight-talking, skilled and well-organised IT service business with customer needs at its heart.  His other passions include his love for his dogs Ben and Mini who can often be found curled up by his desk.

Souky Arsalane, CEO and Co-founder of newly established ZING, discusses the problems underrepresented founders face, what she has learnt as an entrepreneur and her role supporting other female founders.  Souky is the CEO and co-founder of ZING, the platform for digital experiences designed for businesses who want to enrich the lives of their staff.  Previously part of the management team and Head of Finance of Valuedynamx. Having grown through the ranks of PwC, L’Oreal, Coca Cola and Unilever. Souky has a deep understanding of marketplaces and a commercial though versatile profile that enables her to lead cross functional projects involving product, operations, and sales teams.  Souky is also involved in diversity initiatives and is a mentor who helps underrepresented founders with their commercial plans. She works regularly with LSE and other founders of her network, helping them to secure accelerator prizes and present to investors.

Katherine Rayden, Owner and Founder of Rayden Solicitors, discusses what makes a good business leader, growth during Covid and creating a positive working environment.  Katherine has over 25 years’ experience as a specialist family law solicitor. She has a wealth of knowledge in disputes that can follow the breakdown of any relationship whether this concerns children and/or finances. Katherine has experience of complex income and financial structures (in this jurisdiction and others), pensions and issues requiring in-depth and expert analysis. Katherine also handles almost all aspects of private law children matters including relocation of children, applications for contact with children, fact-finding hearings and parental alienation. Focused on achieving a sensible and cost effective solution for her clients, Katherine draws on her substantial experience to try and achieve settlement without the need for lengthy and expensive final hearings.  Katherine believes that preparation is key and so although most of her cases settle outside of Court, the vast majority will be prepared as if the matter will be reviewed by a Judge in order that there is a clear strategy from the outset. Katherine is noted by industry peers as ‘the doyenne of family law outside London’ and commended for her ‘tremendous enthusiasm for her work.’