Advertise on podcast: Meet the CEO from Positive Momentum

Michael Herron is CEO of Atos UK and Ireland, a global AI-fuelled technology services firm working across cybersecurity, cloud, digital applications, AI and workplace transformation. In the UK and Ireland, with nearly 30 years of engineering heritage, Atos focuses on the organisations that keep the country running: hospitals, the National Grid, government departments, financial services and utilities. Their stated mission is an agentic future — sovereign by design, secure by default. Michael has over 25 years in technology and services, starting somewhere unusual for a tech CEO: as a civil servant at the Ministry of Defence. From there to ICL, Fujitsu and CGI, before joining Atos as UK & Ireland CEO in January 2025. He's a dad of two boys, and closely interested in how humans and AI actually work together in practice. What we cover Why he took the job: running towards the fire, the chance to take a whole company on a journey, and the privilege of being CEO in the era of AI. Every CEO he's worked for had the day job plus one defining thing — the tech boom, the crash, Brexit, the pandemic. On his watch, it's AI. Joining a business that had publicly had a couple of hard years, turning over rocks daily, and finding nothing terminally broken Nudge theory as an operating method — and why the size of a nudge is relative to where the business is starting from Work-life priorities, not balance: the non-negotiable first cup of tea, the 12-to-1 running slot his EA Katie guards with her life, the strict two-evening-events-a-week rule, and the running club he takes different employees out with Nature versus nurture in leadership — he's finally off the fence, and puts himself at 70/30 Learning as much from awful leaders as from brilliant ones The man who gave a 22-year-old with serious imposter syndrome a chance: "I don't need you to know anything about IT, but I can see what you do with people" Building culture with outside help, and why it took nine months to land 12 winning behaviours — you can't rush culture His success mantra: 40% people, 30% culture, 20% strategy, 10% luck. A brilliant strategy with average people won't get there; a half-decent strategy with brilliant people will be fine. Surrounding yourself with strong people, and then playing them in the right position — including admitting he got that wrong once and fixed it What people-first leadership looks like in practice: sitting down with people on walkabouts (which drives his team crazy, because he finds out what's really going on), stripping the graphs out of all-hands calls, handwritten notes posted to people's homes Holding the line on behaviour: "the standard you walk past is the standard you accept" Agentic AI: mixed human-and-agent teams today, though not yet at scale; why regulation and ethics need to keep toe-to-toe with the technology; and the three columns of AI's employment impact the press tends to ignore — roles replaced, roles evolved, roles created that didn't exist six months ago Doing the right thing for the client even when it cannibalises revenue — and why that tends to come back as a bigger piece of work Michael's three pieces of advice for aspiring CEOs Use your network and do your due diligence. It's not for the faint-hearted, and not everyone will want it once they understand it. Prioritise resilience — physical and mental fitness both. Take the job very seriously, but not yourself. Lead with EQ. The higher you go, the more your EQ needs to match or exceed your IQ.

Jenny Burns is CEO of Magnetic, a business that helps organisations unlock growth through human-centred innovation, strategy, design and delivery. Like Positive Momentum, Magnetic is a B Corp. Her career spans 25 years in big, complex organisations — WH Smith, Telefónica O2, Centrica British Gas, RSA Insurance and Barclays — and she and Paul go back to their RSA days together. She's a keynote speaker and facilitator, hosts the Human AI series in London and New York, writes The Accidental CEO, and is a Fulham fan. What we cover Why the CEO job was accidental — and how being told she'd never get there became the fuel Loving the work: why work-life balance looks different when you genuinely enjoy the job, and why pressure doesn't tip into stress Hiring for the culture you actually run: framing problems rather than directing, and being honest in recruitment about an environment with few frameworks and a lot of empowerment Adult conversations when someone isn't flourishing — and why that isn't about talent Courage in leadership, and the risk conversation with regulated clients: financial services says it can't take risks, while healthcare is life-or-death and still innovates Selling Magnetic two years ago and buying it back four weeks before recording — a bold, personally costly call The hardest part of the job: people decisions in a business where you hired every single person, and why Magnetic has an alumni who still come back for the annual book launch Why talented people leaving a small business isn't failure Retail as a leadership apprenticeship: store manager at 19, 60 part-time staff, around £5m turnover, and learning early that motivated employees drive what goes through the till Building executive teams: knowing your own gaps at 50, diversity of thought as non-negotiable for an innovation business, and senior women working three or four days a week Women in business: from a gender-balanced retail career to rooms full of white men at Barclays Capital; why board quotas helped but executive teams are still where the gap sits  Why AI needs a female voice — bias built in from past data, and the human-centred leadership the transition will demand The AI adoption inversion: consumers moved first this time, businesses are catching up, and the tension between what people use at home and what's authorised at work The blind spot: CEOs and CTOs obsessing over back-office efficiency while missing that customers now discover brands in a chat window rather than a search engine or a shop GLP-1 weight-loss drugs quietly disrupting food, retail and how we socialise Jenny's three tips for aspiring CEOs Get the right team around you — the role can be lonely, so build trust, and run it as a team rather than a series of one-to-ones. Never underestimate the time communication takes. The formal moments matter less than the informal ones — you're on stage even when you're making a cup of tea. Never take yourself too seriously. You're never the smartest person in the room, and no one wants a boring CEO.

Helen Pain, CEO of the Royal Society of Chemistry, reflects on three decades at one organisation, what it really means to lead through a crisis you didn't see coming, and why the secret to an effective exec team isn't talent - it's alignment. A thoughtful conversation about purpose, protecting your Saturdays, and why the CEO role might not be what you think it is; with Positive Momentum Partner, Julie Heneghan.

Rob Davies, CEO of BCN Group, gets honest about imposter syndrome, the human cost of growth, and what it really takes to lead when the business you've built is being disrupted by the very technology you sell. A candid conversation about alignment, AI, and why the hardest moments in leadership are rarely the commercial ones.

Host Matt Crabtree speaks with John Doyle, CEO at Monex USA.

Host Matt Crabtree speaks with Arun Narayanan, CEO at Stem, Inc.

Host Julie Heneghan speaks with Paul McCorquodale, CEO at Grid Edge.

Host Matt Crabtree speaks with Russell Haworth, CEO at Acclaro

Host Julian March speaks with Heber Alves, CEO at Improve International.

Host Julian March speaks with Rachel Corp, CEO at ITN.

Host Matt Crabtree speaks with Philippe Gijsels, Chief Strategy Officer at BNP Paribas Fortis and Co-Author of The New World Economy in 5 Trends.

Host Sarah Beauvallet speaks with Kathy Caton MBE, Founder & CEO of Brighton Gin (Brighton Spirits Company)

Host Matt Crabtree speaks with Jamie Credland, CEO, World Media Group

Matt Crabtree speaks with Dario Aganovic, CEO at Hubexo

Julian March speaks with Mark Mcilquham, Acrisure UK