My name is Toby Corballis and I’m going to be your host on this journey through some fascinating problems being worked on and thought about by some extremely clever people.

But first, why the term wicked? Well, it’s not meant in the Ali-G sense, nor in the Wizard of Oz sense. Here, the term Wicked is referring to the elusiveness of solutions. This doesn’t mean that such problems cannot be solved, just that a solution is not that easy to find or, when solved, it wasn’t done by any immediately obvious rationale at the time, though sometimes the explanation can seem obvious in hindsight.

Wicked Problems tend to be beyond experience. They may, in fact, be quite simple to define yet often the solution is fiendishly elusive, hence the term ‘wicked’. They may be in the moment, of a time, or perennial in nature, but there they are, as clear as a silted lake that’s host to an algae bloom.

Neither elegant or glib solutions can solve them – sometimes only the alchemy of experience can forge a solution.

I hope you enjoy this podcast and would love to hear any feedback in the comments below or via the contact page.

Toby Corballis

For full show notes visit: https://wickedproblems.fm/2019/09/17/episode1/

Toby speaks with George Symes, founder of Evaluate Strategy, a consultancy specialising in decarbonising complex fleets. With over 15 years in transport and infrastructure consulting, George shares insights on the challenges and opportunities of electrifying emergency services, rental fleets, and logistics companies. From the UK’s ZEV mandate to fleet telematics, this discussion dives into the future of sustainable mobility.

George runs EValuate Strategy Consulting, helping complex fleets to decarbonise. These fleets include emergency services, and shared mobility operators such as car rental, car sharing and e-scooter operators. Typically, they are characterised by unpredictable and “spikey” demand, critical services and a “many-to-one” relationship between the drivers and vehicles. 

George has over 15 years strategy consulting experience in the infrastructure, automotive and mobility industries, with experience across fleet and charging infrastructure in the UK, mainland Europe and Australia. He has diverse experience within new mobility in both advisory and operational roles: with Neuron Mobility (e-scooter and e-bike sharing), Zipcar (car and van sharing) and Avis. 

Prior to EValuate he worked at GrainCorp and KPMG, focused on infrastructure, transport and energy clients. 

Links:

Evaluate Strategy: www.evaluatestrategy.com 

George’s LinkedIn profile: www.linkedin.com/in/georgesymes 

I hope you enjoy the show and if you have any comments or suggestions, please write to me at: toby@wickedproblems.fm.

Wicked Problems is powered by Adaptavis®

Adaptavis is a Business Performance Management and Transformation consultancy aimed at forward-thinking leaders, based in London UK. The company specialises in helping organisations to enhance operational efficiency, drive business growth, and navigate complex transformations. From strategy to execution, they focus on providing insights and practical solutions to improve the overall performance of businesses, ensuring they can adapt to changing market conditions and achieve sustainable success. Toby Corballis is a Partner at Adaptavis. 

You can find out more about their work by visiting: www.adaptavis.com

Enjoy,

Toby Corballis

About the episode:

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in the US called last year the hottest on record “by far”. During the year we saw many climate-related catastrophes – from large scale fires to unprecedented flooding. And yet, for some, the science of climate change is controversial. Many claim that even climate scientists don’t believe it can be attributed to anthropogenic actions. To understand what climate scientists really believe, we thought we’d speak with one.

Professor Russchenberg leads the Climate Institute at the Technical University of Delft and is the scientific director of the national Ruisdael Observatory, both in the Netherlands, an apt choice given that roughly one third of the Netherlands lies below sea level (the lowest being 6.7 metres below) and, so, rising sea levels are an issue.

In this episode, Professor Russchenberg and Toby Corballis discuss what businesses can do, the role of technology in mitigating some of the worst effects, why we’re seeing recent events, the warming of the oceans, and where we’re headed. Importantly, we ask what role business can play in helping to mitigate some of the worst effects of climate change.

Guest Name: Professor Herman Russchenberg

With decades of industry experience, Andrew Gordon-Brooks has built his career across Telco, Finance & Media with both global enterprises and early stage startups. Holding a variety of leadership & executive level positions; including building a global engineering team for a LinkedIn top 25 startup, Andrew is currently Chief Operations Officer for Secure Delivery, a firm spec, a founder member of the OWASP Education and Training Committee, and a key contributor to the OWASP Application Security Curriculum Project.

Guest Profile:

Professor Russchenberg is a full professor in Atmospheric Remote Sensing and head of the Department of Geoscience and Remote Sensing at the Technical University, Delft, in the Netherlands. Since 202, he is the TU Delft vice rector magnificus for climate action.

As well as leading the TU Delft Climate Institute, he is the Scientific Director of the national Ruisdael Observatory.

His research themes are:

• Climate change: the role of clouds, rainfall and aerosols in the climate system
• Measuring the atmosphere
• Climate engineering
• Nowcasting rainfall

Links:

Find out about the work that Professor Russchenberg is doing:

• https://www.tudelft.nl/en/ceg/about-faculty/departments/geoscience-remote-sensing
• https://ruisdael-observatory.nl/

Calculate your travel footprint using one of the following:

• https://www.goclimate.com/travel-calculator
• https://www.carbonfootprint.com/calculator.aspx
• https://greentripper.org/

I hope you enjoy the show and if you have any comments or suggestions please write to me at: tc@wickedproblems.fm.

Enjoy,

Toby Corballis

The risk of cyber attack is on the increase and becoming ever more complicated. So how do you defend against that risk when in fact it's so complicated that it's almost impossible for anybody to understand the threat landscape.

In this episode I'll be talking to Martin Clements. Martin moved to the private sector in 2016 after a long career focused on digital innovation and cyber in government.

Originally trained in Computer and Natural Sciences, he started his career as a coder; writing and selling games in the early personal computer industry.

In recent years Martin held prominent leadership positions building technical capabilities that combine traditional techniques and skills with emerging innovations, especially in the fields of mobile, cyber and data.

He was also a senior information risk owner, managing threats to official I.T systems at a time when cyber was emerging as a strategic threat.

Martin became an experienced executive and non-executive member of the top governance of his sector in the U.K, retiring as Director General for Technology and Transformation at the U.K's foreign and commonwealth office.

Martin now works with business he believes address key capability gaps bringing in the finest emerging technologies together with skilled humans to defend and transform both business and government.

He is senior advisor to the chairman and CEO of Credit Suisse Group, as well as non-executive chairman, director or advisor at a range of businesses in the technology sector.

Along with a group of contemporaries he has set up Wychwood Partners to advise businesses how to safely lead digital transformation.

In this episode Martin and I discuss the threats to businesses from cyber attack, strategies for defending against increasingly sophisticated attacks; attacks which are often so complex as to be beyond the comprehension of people running businesses. (Who after all are more necessarily focused on the more thorny issues of running a business!).

And whether the public cloud is a help or hindrance to those trying to protect digital assets.

In this episode I talk to John Clapham, a professional coach and Agile consultant who works predominantly with I.T and digital services organisations.

John helps leaders and individuals develop, teams to build great products, and organisations learn to be more effective, productive and enjoyable to work in. He is also a frequent speaker at conferences around the UK.

With the advent of cloud technology and fast paced Agile project delivery methodologies such as Scrum & Kanban, come concepts such as Kaisen.

In Japanese, Kaisen merely gives us the principle of change for the better or an improvement, be that one-off or continuous.

In the world of Agile and lead methodologies it has been adopted as a word for continuous improvement, itself often used merely as a synonym for working at pace.

However, no one can work at pace all the time and it is perhaps perilous to forget that burnout does not lead to improvement but rather a reduction in productivity. Here we might do well to keep another Japanese term, Karoshi, in mind. Translated as ‘overwork death’, Karoshi is a term that refers to occupational sudden mortality.

This is not to suggest that the Japanese are working their population to death, but simply that in learning to work at pace we should ensure we don’t overwork our teams to their death.

In this episode John and I explore this concept with questions such as “how to deliver at pace whilst maintaining a healthy work life balance.”

Enjoy.

About John

John Clapham is an independent Agile consultant and professional coach. He helps individuals develop, teams build great products, and organisations learn to be more effective, productive and enjoyable to work in. His broad experience ranges from start-up to enterprise scale, formed in the publishing, telecommunications, commerce, defence and public sector arenas.

John is also often asked to talk at conferences and says “Nothing focuses the mind, or encourages thorough research like presenting ideas in front of hundreds of experts in the field.”

John has a secret passion for DevOps and Continuous Delivery. His forays into coaching, lean and Agile are fuelled by coffee, lego and Bristol’s frequent inclement weather.

Full links and references at: https://wickedproblems.fm/2020/01/08/johnclapham

Alex is an experienced executive across strategic, investment and operational risks and insurance working within multibillion dollar corporations in Australia, GCC and Europe. Successfully implemented changes to quantitative risk analysis, risk-based decision making and neuroscience.

Saved more than $13 million per year in premiums on cargo and PD/BI insurance through industry leading quantitative risk analysis without changing deductibles or limits. Successfully presenting corporate risk profile at the Ministry of finance and helping secure more than $1B in extra funding.

Author of the most popular free risk management book in the world, more than 150K downloads in 3 languages. Risk manager of the year, FERMA, 2021, Honourable mention 2021, RIMS. Risk manager of the year, RUSRISK, 2014, Best ERM Implementation, RUSRISK, 2014, Best risk management training, RUSRISK, 2013, 2014, 2015, finalist in risk management awards in 2018 and 2019.

I hope you enjoy the show and if you have any comments or suggestions please write to me at: tc@wickedproblems.fm.

Enjoy,

Toby

Watch this episode at: https://youtu.be/lN7-vhXuHjg

Alex’s Links

ALEX’S YOUTUBE CHANNEL: @RISKACADEMY
ALEX’S BLOG: https://riskacademy.blog

I first met Aino at a conference. I was late to a session and she graciously signalled that the seat next to her was free. I had no idea that I was now sitting next to the day’s keynote speaker, a fact that didn’t reveal itself even when we were paired up for an exercise that involved sharing our earliest memories of soft toys. (Yes, really!)

Aino is a teacher, a technical conference editor and retrospectives facilitator and has appeared on the conference circuit since 2001 and presented across the world.

For full show notes and links head to: 

https://wickedproblems.fm/2020/03/25/ainovongecorry/

And if you like the show please leave us a review!

Best Wishes

Toby Corballis

In this episode I'll be talking to John Williams, founder of The Ideas Lab London.

John began his career in creative technology as a developer on pioneering special effects software, including on-site work at Disney Feature Animation at Los Angeles and broadcast automation.

He became Digital Media CTO at a European startup incubator before moving to head up a small media technology consultancy team at Deloitte.

John left to consult independently to broadcasters around the world before finally founding The Ideas Lab and writing his bestselling book, Screw Work Let's Play.

John has spoken at events around the world from London to Bratislava to LA. He speaks on many topics including the future of work, why your best employee is not a worker but a player, and how to start a business in 30 days.

In this episode I'll be speaking to John about the seemingly intractable problem of how to get a new business off the ground, and recognised, in a world that is increasingly dominated by international organisations with pockets the size of which mere mortals can hardly contend.

for full show notes and links please head over to: wickedproblems.fm

Toby speaks with Neill Emmett, Global Marketing & Brand Director at Gilbarco Veeder-Root, a company with a 160-year legacy in refueling and energy solutions. Now leading the EV transition, Gilbarco’s Konect provides turnkey solutions for fuel retailers adapting to electric charging. Neill shares insights on seamless EV infrastructure, retail profitability, and the future of fuel stations in the electrified world.

Neill Emmett is the Global Marketing and Brand Director at Konect, a subsidiary of Gilbarco Veeder-Root. He has over 25 years of experience leading award-winning campaigns in vehicle electrification and financial services. Known for strategic expertise and team empowerment, he joined Konect to redefine EV charging infrastructure delivery. 

Konect provides a turnkey electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure ecosystem, enabling seamless integration with existing fuelling, payment, and service offerings. 

Links:

Konect Product

Konect Solution

I hope you enjoy the show and if you have any comments or suggestions, please write to me at: toby@wickedproblems.fm.

Wicked Problems is powered by Adaptavis®

Adaptavis is a Business Performance Management and Transformation consultancy aimed at forward-thinking leaders, based in London UK. The company specialises in helping organisations to enhance operational efficiency, drive business growth, and navigate complex transformations. From strategy to execution, they focus on providing insights and practical solutions to improve the overall performance of businesses, ensuring they can adapt to changing market conditions and achieve sustainable success. Toby Corballis is a Partner at Adaptavis.

You can find out more about their work by visiting: www.adaptavis.com

Enjoy,

Toby Corballis

Marcus Kirsch has worked as a transformation, service design and innovation specialist for over 20 years. Today he helps organisations be better problem-solvers and be more resilient.

He is a Royal College of Art alumnus and former MIT Medialab researcher. He led projects for companies like British Telecom, GlaxoSmithKline, Kraft, McDonald’s, Nationwide, Nissan, Science Museum, P&G, Telekom Italia, non-profits and startups.

He won awards in the areas of creativity and innovation and has been publishing for the Guardian, Wired and other industry relevant publications. He is the author of ’The Wicked Company’ and co-host of ’The Wicked Podcast’.

He is a thought-leader and keynote speaker. In his off-time, he is a mediocre indoor-climber, movie nerd, maker and likes his whiskies neat.

I hope you enjoy the show and if you have any comments or suggestions please write to me at: tc@wickedproblems.fm.

For more details please visit the episode page at: https://wickedproblems.fm/2020/11/04/marcuskirsch-thewickedcompany/

Matthew Lumsden, CEO of Connected Energy, discusses how his company repurposes second-life EV batteries for energy storage solutions. Connected Energy, founded in 2013, emerged from an EV charging project that highlighted grid limitations. By working with Renault and securing investments from Volvo Energy and Caterpillar, they’ve created an innovative approach to sustainable energy. Matthew shares insights into battery sourcing, quality control, and the future of energy storage.

Matthew has worked in the renewable energy and clean tech sector since 2000 when he joined energy consultancy, TNEI. He then established an electric vehicle related consultancy in 2009 where he was responsible for delivering several major EV trails, charging infrastructure roll outs, V2G trials and strategies for major industry players.  

Connected Energy was born out of the insight and knowledge gained in the EV industry and the challenges facing OEMs around electric vehicle batteries. Combining the worlds of energy storage, electric vehicles and the circular economy, the company commercialised its innovative E-STOR system which is now in operation at businesses across the UK and in Europe. The company is now scaling up in response to the growing availability of second life EV batteries and is developing utility scale battery energy storage sites. 

Connected Energy

I hope you enjoy the show and if you have any comments or suggestions, please write to me at: toby@wickedproblems.fm.

Wicked Problems is powered by Adaptavis®

Adaptavis is a Business Performance Management and Transformation consultancy aimed at forward-thinking leaders, based in London UK. The company specialises in helping organisations to enhance operational efficiency, drive business growth, and navigate complex transformations. From strategy to execution, they focus on providing insights and practical solutions to improve the overall performance of businesses, ensuring they can adapt to changing market conditions and achieve sustainable success. Toby Corballis is a Partner at Adaptavis.

You can find out more about their work by visiting: www.adaptavis.com

Enjoy,

Toby Corballis

Royston A Cumberbatch is an expert in Finance, Business and Investing. With a career spanning 30 years…

He now empowers business owners and entrepreneurs to make better decisions and get higher returns / profit after tax. He does this by using his unique Profitable Business Blueprint and Proven Profit Generator System.

What I found really interesting about Royston was really the rags to riches story. He comes from a humble background, was rejected by his father who had abandoned him as a child which resulted in a period of depression in his early 20s. But then he turned his life around, put himself through college, became an accountant, worked his way up in the Insurance and Finance industries and transformed his life such that he now has a property portfolio and a net worth in excess of £2MM

But, he hasn’t forgotten his roots or the path to success. He now makes it his mission to share his knowledge supporting others in growing their business to become highly profitable, tax-efficient, and sustainable, including building reserves to help weather a recession.

I hope you enjoy the show and if you have any comments or suggestions please write to me at: tc@wickedproblems.fm.

Enjoy,

Toby

For Royston's links and more info please head to: 
https://wickedproblems.fm/2020/07/08/roystonacumberbatch-povertytoprosperity

This week I am talking to the CEO of ChaosIQ Russ Miles, cofounder of the open source project ChaosToolkit. Russ is also an international speaker, trainer and author.

Russ has just released his latest book title Learning Chaos Engineering: Discovering and Overcoming System Weaknesses Through Experimentation.

If you’ve ever experienced an issue with a computer system and wondered how it is that people don’t catch these issues, or if you are the owner of a system and have encountered an issue with it and thought: “I wonder why people don’t catch these during testing?” Then this episode is a must listen.

In fact, as you will hear, the tools to overcoming weaknesses and systems don’t just apply to computer systems but actually to any systems, including those that have no computers at all.

So grab a seat, sit back, listen and enjoy! And as you listen, I encourage you to think about how you might apply the techniques that Russ discusses to your own situation, whatever sphere that might be.

In this edition I am speaking to Keith Grint, Professor Emeritus at Warwick University.

We’re discussing Wicked Problems in general, the specific Wicked Problems of Covid-19, Brexit, and Leadership.

When Wicked Problems were first introduced by Rittel & Webber in 1973, various people have built upon the idea that it was Professor Grint, drawing on the work of Thompson’s Messy Solutions, who introduced the concepts of Tame and Critical problems, thus contextualising the problem-scape.

Keith Grint is Professor Emeritus at Warwick University where he was Professor of Public Leadership until 2018. He spent 10 years working in various positions across a number of industry sectors before switching to an academic career.

Since becoming an academic he has held Chairs at Cranfield University and Lancaster University and was Director of the Lancaster Leadership Centre. He spent
twelve years at Oxford University and was Director of Research at the Saïd Business School.

Go to https://wickedproblems.fm for links to Keith’s books and a special Sage Journal Publication on Covid-19.

I hope you enjoy the show and if you have any comments or suggestions please write to me at: tc@wickedproblems.fm.

About the episode:

Jordan Brompton of myenergi explores the evolving challenges and opportunities in the electric vehicle industry, focusing on sustainability, resilience, and how she's preparing for a potential zombie uprising! Myenergi is a provider of Home EV chargers, solar PV systems, and Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) - or, as Jordan says, Home Energy Management Systems (HEMS). Jordan talks about her journey to setting up one of the most successful HEMS companies in the UK (with cofounder Lee Sutton) and shares insights about the industry, with a couple of EV myths busted into the deal. Join us as we discuss how companies are navigating economic hurdles and accelerating the journey toward a net-zero future.

Guest Name: Jordan Brompton

Business leader, tech entrepreneur and sustainable investor, Jordan Brompton is the co-founder and CMO of myenergi – a global leader in eco-smart home energy technology. Alongside forging fundamental business relationships, Jordan is responsible for driving the day-to-day corporate strategy and fuelling long-term international expansion.

With the ambition of leaving the planet in a better place than she found it, Jordan has been presented with a number of prestigious awards and accolades for her pioneering work. Alongside being crowned Great British Entrepreneur of the Year, she was named in the TE100, the Stonehage Fleming XV, the Top 10 Women in Energy and took home gold as EY Entrepreneur of the Year (North).

Never one to sit still, she became a published author with her debut book ‘Sparki and the journey to Earth’, which aims to educate children about the importance of working towards a greener future.

Links:

LinkedIn: Jordan Brompton

www.myenergi.com

I hope you enjoy the show and if you have any comments or suggestions please write to me at: tc@wickedproblems.fm.

Enjoy,

Toby Corballis

Toby explains how the podcast will change in the coming months to focus more on business. The past few years have seen more than their fair share of challenges for the business environment. An enormous number of businesses are feeling the squeeze and, as a result, looking for ways to increase capacity, capability, and production. At Wicked Problems, we’ve been helping businesses to do exactly that for years, so we thought it would be good to create a series that helps you solve those problems. We hope you enjoy the new format and look forward to seeing you on the first of the new episodes in a couple of weeks’ time.  

Martin cut his teeth as an early AWS pioneer leading two of the largest migrations in the world in the early naughties. He now has 15 years’ experience in Digital Strategy, Cloud Architecture and Digital Operating models and has provided best practice cloud usage, DevOps/Agile operating models and technical leadership to some of the world’s largest companies.

I hope you enjoy the show and if you have any comments or suggestions please write to me at: tc@wickedproblems.fm.

Enjoy,

Toby

Billy Bragg's music is heavily centred on bringing about change and involving the younger generation in activist causes. He is known to have said:

“I don’t mind being being labelled as a political songwriter. The thing that troubles me is being dismissed as a political songwriter.”

“Phil Collins might write a song about the homeless but if he doesn’t have the action to go with it he’s just exploiting that for a subject.”

Billy bought himself out of the British Army in 1981 for £175, cites his influences as The Clash, Bob Dylan, The Faces, The Small Faces & Simon & Garfunkel.

In 2018 Billy delivered a flagship speech at the Bank of England and he has recently released a new book entitled The Three Dimensions of Freedom.

For show links please go to: https://wickedproblems.fm/2019/10/30/billybragg/

Linda Grave, founder of EV Driver, discusses her journey from renewable energy to pioneering the EV charging sector. She shares how she built and sold a successful charging network, her passion for user-friendly EV solutions, and the importance of interoperability. Linda offers insights on industry challenges, innovations like battery storage and solar PV integration, and promotes her upcoming EVEX 2025 event, aimed at showcasing the future of electric vehicles and renewable energy technologies.

Linda Grave is an entrepreneur who has built successful companies within the renewable energy and EV sectors over an 18-year period, with a wealth of experience in building successful EV Charging networks. Linda is focused on business growth and development within the EV sector.

In 2016 she started to build the EV Driver network of public charge points in the East of England, with an emphasis on providing an easy access PAYG network for all to use. She sold the network in January 2020 to allow her to focus on helping others create the best user-friendly EV charging solutions. Linda is a pioneer in EV roaming and interoperability in the UK, passionate about ensuring the barriers to access are lowered and that customer satisfaction is paramount.

EV Driver

Linda on LinkedIn

EVEX 2025

Recognised as one of the Top Women in EV 2022

Awarded one of the prestigious EV Champion awards 2022 by Green Fleet

I hope you enjoy the show and if you have any comments or suggestions, please write to me at: toby@wickedproblems.fm.

Wicked Problems is powered by Adaptavis®

Adaptavis is a Business Performance Management and Transformation consultancy aimed at forward-thinking leaders, based in London UK. The company specialises in helping organisations to enhance operational efficiency, drive business growth, and navigate complex transformations. From strategy to execution, they focus on providing insights and practical solutions to improve the overall performance of businesses, ensuring they can adapt to changing market conditions and achieve sustainable success. Toby Corballis is a Partner at Adaptavis.

You can find out more about their work by visiting: www.adaptavis.com

Enjoy,

Toby Corballis

About the episode:

How can businesses share data to enable them to collaborate effectively whilst still retaining control of their data? Ali Nicholl at IOTICS thinks his company has the answer.

Guest Name: Ali Nicholl

Ali Nicholl is part of IOTICS’ founding team and IOTICS’ Head of Engagement, working across transport, logistics, utilities, the built environment, and defence, focusing on interoperability of IT & OT and digital cooperation across enterprise boundaries. Deploying decentralised, federated approaches that leverage semantics, selective sharing of data and connected digital twins. Ali is actively working on projects supporting the co-creation of transformative services and solutions at the intersection of market sectors and industries – with an interest in ESG, sustainability, and essential sharing networks.

Ali also represents IOTICS within industry and academic initiatives such as TechUK’s Digital Twin Working Group, Cranfield University’s Industry Advisory Board and, as Co-Chair, on the DT Hub Community Council. Ali is passionate about enabling and empowering individuals and organisations to use trusted interoperability to unlock the value of their data assets to meet today’s business challenges, with the future flexibility to be ready for as-yet-undefined technology and needs.

The opportunities presented by enabling programmatic discovery, data sharing and interaction must be married with a holistic understanding to unify technical and business benefits. Ali’s skills lie in taking a view across technical and sector landscapes to give confidence to those taking their first steps and to reflect impacts for the greater good.

Links:

LinkedIn: Ali Nicholl

IOTICS.com

I hope you enjoy the show and if you have any comments or suggestions please write to me at: tc@wickedproblems.fm.

Enjoy,

Toby Corballis

Sue Dopson is the Rhodes Trust Professor of Organisational Behaviour, Fellow of Green Templeton College and Deputy Dean of Saïd Business School at The University of Oxford.

Her research centres on leadership and transformational change in the public and healthcare sectors. Her work has informed and influenced government bodies such as the department of health and the national institute for health and clinical excellence; N.I.C.E, in their thinking on the areas such as the dissemination of clinical evidence into practice, medical leadership, and the role of the support worker in the NHS.

Sue currently represents the University of Oxford as Non-executive director of the Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust.

Before pursuing an academic career, Sue was a personnel manager in the NHS. Professor Dopson is involved in a number of innovative executive development programmes, including the Oxford Advanced Management and Leadership Programme, the Oxford Strategic Leadership Programme, the Oxford Transition to Leadership Programme, and Consulting and Coaching for Change, as well as programmes delivered to clients in the Middle East.

Not only has Sue worked closely with the UK department of Health and N.I.C.E, she has also worked with organisations such as Roche pharmaceuticals, and is involved with the development of courses for the NHS and Royal Mail.

Sue is co-author of a book on Wicked Problems called 'Making Wicked Problems Governable' and 'The Politics of Management Knowledge in times of Austerity' - both of which are currently available.

For full show notes please go to: wickedproblems.fm/2019/10/16/suedopson

As we increasingly connect our devices and our lives to the online world, product security and quality become ever more important. In this episode Toby is joined by Andrew Gordon-Brooks, COO of Secure Delivery, a firm specialising in providing security improvement programmes for software engineers, product managers and leadership. Andrew is also a founding member of the OWASP Education and Training Committee, and a key contributor to the OWASP Application Security Curriculum Project, whose goal is to produce a standard Application Security curriculum across academia and industry.

About Andrew:

With decades of industry experience, Andrew Gordon-Brooks has built his career across Telco, Finance & Media with both global enterprises and early stage startups. Holding a variety of leadership & executive level positions; including building a global engineering team for a LinkedIn top 25 startup, Andrew is currently Chief Operations Officer for Secure Delivery, a firm spec, a founder member of the OWASP Education and Training Committee, and a key contributor to the OWASP Application Security Curriculum Project.

Links:

https://securedelivery.io
https://owasp.org
https://productqualitymatters.com/

I hope you enjoy the show and if you have any comments or suggestions please write to me at: tc@wickedproblems.fm.

Enjoy,

Toby

Battery chemist and founder of Plug Life Television, Dr. Euan McTurk, uncovers the facts behind EV batteries, from ethical sourcing and recycling to cutting-edge technology that’s driving down costs and boosting range. Discover why EV fires are rare, how new charging methods can extend battery life, and what the latest advancements mean for the future of small, powerful, and sustainable cars.

Dr Euan McTurk is a Consultant Battery Electrochemist who has been working on - and driving - electric vehicles since 2009.  Having worked on next-generation cell chemistries during his PhD at the University of Oxford, developed ways to study how electric vehicle cells fail and how to stop them failing (at WMG*, University of Warwick) and built up a state-of-the-art 200 kW battery test facility in Edinburgh, Euan founded Plug Life Consulting, which provides technical, strategic and public outreach services to projects involving battery electrochemistry, electric vehicles, energy storage systems and charging infrastructure.  Euan is also the creator of Plug Life Television, a YouTube channel on batteries and EVs that explains complex electrochemistry in a way that anyone can understand and busts common myths and misconceptions about electric vehicles. 

*Warwick Manufacturing Group 

LinkedIn: Euan McTurk

www.pluglifetelevision.co.uk

I hope you enjoy the show and if you have any comments or suggestions, please write to me at: toby@wickedproblems.fm.

Adaptavis is a Business Performance Management and Transformation consultancy aimed at forward-thinking leaders, based in London UK. The company specialises in helping organisations to enhance operational efficiency, drive business growth, and navigate complex transformations. From strategy to execution, they focus on providing insights and practical solutions to improve the overall performance of businesses, ensuring they can adapt to changing market conditions and achieve sustainable success. Toby Corballis is a Partner at Adaptavis.

You can find out more about their work by visiting: www.adaptavis.com

Enjoy,

Toby Corballis

We dive into the critical role of truth and clarity in the world of clean energy and technology. Join us as we explore the myths and misconceptions surrounding electric vehicles, renewable energy, and sustainable living. Dan Caesar, CTO and presenter of the Fully Charged Show discusses how misinformation impacts progress and what we can do to empower communities with facts, inspire action, and drive change. Whether you're an EV enthusiast or simply curious about the truth behind the headlines, this episode is packed with insights to charge your mind and fuel your understanding.

After more than two decades of advocating for 'cleaner technologies', Dan has driven electric since 2015 and has led the Fully Charged Show for 7 years.

A passionate promoter of electric vehicles of all shapes and sizes, and home energy tech too, Dan has played a transformational role in developing the Fully Charged Show on YouTube, pioneering its exhibition programme, expanding its 'Everything Electric' offering and recently launching Electric Vehicles UK.

Passionate about products that can tackle air pollution and climate breakdown, Dan is practical, that it is in fact, better tech that will inspire the most change.

Dan has been a champion of cleaner technologies for over two decades. Since 2015, he's driven electric and, for the last seven years, led the Fully Charged Show.

As CEO and presenter of Fully Charged, the world's no.1 clean energy and electric vehicle show, Dan's mission is to inform, educate, and inspire millions globally on the benefits of cleaner energy and transport.

A fervent advocate for electric vehicles and home energy tech, Dan has transformed the Fully Charged Show on YouTube, pioneered its exhibitions, expanded its 'Everything Electric' range, and recently launched Electric Vehicles UK.

Dan has conceived and delivered multiple groundbreaking projects like Fully Charged LIVE, Stop Burning Stuff, Zero Carbon Kitchen, and the Renewables Roadshow. These initiatives have attracted a loyal audience of over 2.5 million YouTube viewers, 3-5 million episode views per month, over 1 million subscribers, and 100k+ attendees.

Passionate about tackling air pollution and climate breakdown, Dan believes better tech drives the most change. Dan has collaborated with clients and partners like Ceres Power, Solar Media, Accelerating Clean Technologies, and the Department of Energy & Climate Change.

Fully Charged YouTube Channel

Fully Charged Website

Everything Electric

Electric Vehicles UK

Follow Fully Charged on Twitter

I hope you enjoy the show and if you have any comments or suggestions, please write to me at: toby@wickedproblems.fm.

Wicked Problems is powered by Adaptavis®

Adaptavis is a Business Performance Management and Transformation consultancy aimed at forward-thinking leaders, based in London UK. The company specialises in helping organisations to enhance operational efficiency, drive business growth, and navigate complex transformations. From strategy to execution, they focus on providing insights and practical solutions to improve the overall performance of businesses, ensuring they can adapt to changing market conditions and achieve sustainable success. Toby Corballis is a Partner at Adaptavis.

You can find out more about their work by visiting: www.adaptavis.com

Enjoy,

Toby Corballis

About the episode: EV industry pioneer Sam Clarke, a record-holding entrepreneur with over two decades in electric mobility shares his journey from importing electric motorbikes in the early 2000s to founding a zero-emissions logistics company and advising on national EV infrastructure. We discuss debunking myths around electric vehicles and explore how the concept of 'grazing' can reset our expectations of electric vehicle charging. Guest Name: Sam Clarke Sam Clarke is a life-long entrepreneur, industry advisor, EV owner/driver for over 20 years and a multiple Guinness World Record Holder for EV driving. His EV journey started back in 2002 with electric motorbikes before founding a zero-emission logistics firm (Gnewt) which he sold to John Menzies Plc in 2017. He now works on national charging infrastructure needs for GRIDSERVE in particular leading on the £100M+ Government funded (ZEHID) eHGV Electric Freightway Project. He is also a founding member of The EV Café webinar and news channel. In 2015, Sam was a Great British Entrepreneur’s Award winner. By 2022 he was made a GreenFleet EV Champion for services to the industry and in 2024 he was voted #1 in the Motor Transport Power Players 2 list and #14 in the greenfleet.net 1 top 100 most Influential list. He also holds two Guinness World Records for the longest distances ever driven in an electric car and van on a single charge 7 (569 and 311 miles respectively). In 2009 he founded the all-electric last-mile logistics business Gnewt which subsequently won multiple awards nationally and globally and was acquired by John Menzies Plc in 2017. During his tenure, he created the UK’s largest fully electric commercial fleet, the largest privately-owned smart charging infrastructure and UK’s most advanced private V2G (Vehicle to Grid) network. With Sam at the helm, the business was able to deliver over 10 million parcels in its first 10 years of trading 3, mainly in Central London, courtesy of a trail-blazing fully zero-emission fleet, the first of its kind anywhere in the UK. Most recently, Sam has extended his role from Board advisor at GRIDSERVE to become their Chief Vehicle Officer 4. His role is to drive forward mass uptake of electric vehicles through the creation of a net-zero EV leasing division, commercial charging infrastructure build-outs and support the nationwide roll out of high-powered Electric Forecourts and upgrade of the GRIDSERVE Electric Highway network that resides on 85% of the service stations nationally. In 2023 he led the successful bid for a £100M+ Innovate UK Government fund (ZEHID 6) whose purpose is to roll out eHGV charging infrastructure nationwide, the second largest award ever issued by Innovate UK to private enterprise. Sam is a high-profile member of the EV community, a regular public speaker for the industry and has previously been invited to speak at the Transport Select Committee in Westminster and at the European Commission in Brussels. He is also a founding member and Company Director/Shareholder of The EV Café Ltd 5. which is a popular webinar series discussing all aspects of EV adoption on regular weekly and monthly sessions. The EV Café has a number of high-profile sectoral sponsors including companies such as, but not limited to, The AA, Europcar, Bridgestone and Webfleet. Links: LinkedIn: Sam Clarke www.gridserve.com I hope you enjoy the show and if you have any comments or suggestions, please write to me at: toby@wickedproblems.fm. About Adaptavis Adaptavis is a Business Performance Management and Transformation consultancy aimed at forward-thinking leaders, based in London UK. The company specialises in helping organisations to enhance operational efficiency, drive business growth, and navigate complex transformations. From strategy to execution, they focus on providing insights and practical solutions to improve the overall performance of businesses, ensuring they can adapt to changing market conditions and achieve sustainable success. Toby Corballis is a Partner at Adaptavis. You can find out more about their work by visiting: www.adaptavis.com Enjoy, Toby Corballis

Andy is the Founder of the Transparency Task Force (TTF) the collaborative, campaigning community dedicated to driving positive, progressive and purposeful reform of the world’s financial services industry, through harnessing the transformational power of transparency.

Core to The TTF’s mission is to “encourage ongoing reform of the financial services sector, so that it serves society better” The TTF’s vision is “to create a large and highly respected international institution that helps ensure consumers are treated fairly by the financial services sector”.

In just 5 years the TTF has grown to over 2,500 volunteer members around the world who are organised and mobilised into subject-specific Groups.

It has spawned a book and numerous other artefacts – all of which can be viewed and downloaded from their website (see below).

Andy is also a Governor of the UK’s Pensions Policy Institute and A Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts which is an international body focused on bringing 21 st Century enlightenment into commerce. He is a former Head of Strategic Relationships at Close Brothers Asset Management.

Andy is a serial community-builder; he builds communities to solve sector-wide problems – he previously helped to initiate and lead the creation of Friends of Automatic Enrolment and the Association of Member Nominated Trustees; two other successful financial services communities.

He lives in the UK but frequently speaks about the need for greater transparency and finance reform at conferences and symposia around the world.

I hope you enjoy the show and if you have any comments or suggestions please write to me at: tc@wickedproblems.fm.

Enjoy,

Toby

For more details head to: 

Allan Kelly

Allan Kelly was an early exponent of the #NoProjects movement, one of whose key tenets is:

“If you want to start a project, you’ve already failed”

Allan runs workshops on fresh thinking (thought leadership) and Agile team trainings He is also an Agile coach, speaks at conferences and events and spends a great deal of time at ‘Agile on the beach’.

Somewhere in amongst all of this, Allan finds the time to write some excellent books such as:

• Project Myopia
• Continuous Digital
• The Little Book of User Stories FAQ

(links below)

This episode may appear to tilt toward the software and digital spaces, but regular listeners will be aware that here at Wicked Problems I encourage listeners who are involved in other fields to think about how the concepts being discussed might also be applied to help them too, as many of these concepts cross pollinate.

Remember – a Wicked Problem is, amongst other things, a problem with no obvious stopping condition.

Lastly – can you spot where the technical glitch in recording this episode took place? (We did our best to smooth over it!)

I hope you enjoy the show. If you have any comments or suggestions please write to me at:

tc@wickedproblems.fm

Enjoy,

Toby

For more details on Allan and the podcast please head over to: https://wickedproblems.fm/2020/03/11/allankelly

Risk! There’s definitely some going around at the moment, whether it’s markets, business continuity, or popping to the corner shop – risk is everywhere.

My guest today is Jan-Peter Onstwedder.

Jan-Peter has over 25 years experience in risk management across a wide variety of asset classes and global trading markets, both in a banking and a corporate environment.

Currently he works as Chief Risk and Technology Officer for Pavilion Energy, an LNG trading company in Singapore, specialising in trading liquified natural gas.

With various ‘head of’ titles, Jan-Peter has lead different aspects of management at Citi Bank, the venture capital firm 3i PLC, BP’s integrated supply and trading business, Royal Bank of Scotland, Barclays and ICE Clear Europe.

In 2007 he managed the London Accord, the then-largest ever collaborative research project into the financial aspects of climate change. He has retained an interest in alternative energy and continues to act as a reviewer and judge for the annual “Farsight Awards”, part of the City of London’s annual sustainability awards.

Jan-Peter has an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University and a degree in mechanical engineering from Delft University of Technology in his native Netherlands.

I hope you enjoy the show and if you have any comments or suggestions please write to me at: tc@wickedproblems.fm.

For full show notes head to: https://wickedproblems.fm/2020/05/20/jan-peter-onstwedder

After nearly 3 decades of building Fortune 500 brands and serving as a 3x CMO, Stephanie founded Mindfire Mastery in 2020 to show leaders the secret power of using disruption to their advantage to catapult from functional to optimal.

As a certified professional coach and emotional intelligence teacher of the Google born Search Inside Yourself (SIY) program, she supports Executives and results-driven leaders who are struggling through overwhelming change and stress to build abundant resilience – connecting them more deeply to their mission and teams, so they can positively thrive in their careers with great ripple effects.

Her approach blends the art and science of business and brand leadership with cutting edge insights and tools from the disciplines of neuroscience, psychology, mindfulness, emotional intelligence, and core energy coaching.  She specializes in supporting leaders to accelerate their careers and pivot through change, so they can achieve even more with less effort, more flow and wellbeing.  

Her first book “Waking Up on the Right Side of Wrong” will be published in 2021, showing high achievers the secret power of disruption to accelerate growth exponentially, so they can wake up to more resilience, joy and satisfaction on their own timetable.

Stephanie’s brand marketing and leadership experience spans many Fortune 500 organizations includes Hallmark, United Airlines, Kraft, Alberto-Culver, Coca-Cola, Cboe Global Markets and Northern Trust.

She is a Certified Professional Coach through the Institute for Professional Excellence in Coaching (iPEC), and a Certified teacher of the Google born mindfulness emotional intelligence program, Search Inside Yourself (SIY).  She holds an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, a BA in Psychology from Duke University, and she’s also a graduate of the Players Workshop of The Second City.  

She is proud and grateful to be a 9 year cancer survivor and a mentor with Imerman Angels to support others in their cancer journey. And to be the mother of two amazing daughters who are lighting up the world in their own unique ways.

David Hurst is a speaker, writer and management educator. He spent 25 years working in corporations at progressively more senior levels in several countries in a series of organizational “train wrecks”, as the Western World began its radical transition from the industrial era to the age of knowledge and information. He uses complexity science and compelling ecological analogies to convey highly innovative perspectives on leadership, resilience and the dynamics of organizations that promote creativity and learning.

For 10 years David was Executive Vice-President of a large North American industrial distributor. He holds an MBA (Finance) from the University of Chicago and a BA (Psychology). He teaches on the EMBA Digital Transformation Program at the DeGroote School of Business as well as three Masters-level programs at McGill University. He was on the Adjunct Faculty for the University of Regina’s Kenneth Levene Graduate School of Business, as well as the Center for Creative Leadership in Greensboro, North Carolina. He is also a Contributing Editor to Strategy+Business, where he writes articles and reviews books on management.

I hope you enjoy the show and if you have any comments or suggestions please write to me at: tc@wickedproblems.fm.

Enjoy,

Toby

David’s Links

• David’s website: http://www.davidkhurst.com
• David’s Author Website: http://www.amazon.com/author/davidkhurst
• Lead like a Gardner blog post: https://davidkhurst.medium.com/lead-like-a-gardener-b4c6181af8e5
• Lead like a Gardner presentation on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ryxJ25pdUY

David’s Books: 

http://www.amazon.com/author/davidkhurst

• The New Ecology of Leadership: Business Mastery in a Chaotic World
• Learning From the Links: Mastering Management Using Lessons from Golf
• Crisis & Renewal: Meeting the Challenge of Organizational Change
• Building the Strategically-Responsive Organization

With the world in lockdown, how do you get the right amount of exercise? Exercise videos abound on the internet. Most of which provide a vital service to people seeking to stay fit. However, the majority are aimed at those who already have a certain level of fitness and flexibility.

So, is there an exercise routine that works for all, regardless of fitness level? My guest today, Martin Christie certainly thinks so.

In 2003 Martin introduced Nordic Walking to the UK, forming the company Nordic Walking U.K and developed the first instructor training courses to be approved by the Register of exercise professionals.

Nordic Walking UK is the U.K’s largest outdoor fitness provider with over 2,000 weekly classes nationwide.

In 2020 Martin and the team launched WALX, a true health club without walls, offering a range of outdoor walking fitness programmes to suit all abilities.

Within WALX and Nordic Walking UK today, Martin leads the devlopment of the education programmes, creating training courses to educate instructors and leaders, ranging from community volunteers to neuro-physiotherapists.

Martin is an active member of Parkinsons UK active exercise hub, the network at the forefront of advising on exercise for people with Parkinsons.

He also regularly delivers hospital based training programmes to physiotherapists.

I hope you enjoy the show and if you have any comments or suggestions please write to me at: tc@wickedproblems.fm.

For full show notes and links please visit:

https://wickedproblems.fm/2020/04/29/martinchristie-lockdownfitness

Today I’m with Anuka Gazara-Anthony. Anuka is a Mindfulness teacher and Leadership & Wellness Coach who combines organizational leadership, programme management and hypnobirthing in her work.

She has supported and advised executives in a diverse range of organizations, including the United Nations and the International Labour Organization, with work taking her across Europe and Africa.

Anuka’s work is committed to strengthening the inner resilience and wisdom of leaders using mindfulness-based leadership and emotional intelligence. Her experience demonstrate how strategy, culture and human connection stimulates effective leadership, from the boardroom and the conference table to the dining table.

She holds a BA from the University of Queen Mary (University of London) a Master’s degree from the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London, and a Postgraduate Diploma in Organizational Leadership from Said Business School at the University of Oxford.

For more show notes please head over to: 
https://wickedproblems.fm/2020/06/24/anuka-mindfulness/

Welcome to another edition of Wicked Problems.

Jannah Patchay is a subject matter expert and consultant in the financial markets sector who specialises in financial markets innovation, and helping firms define, develop and execute commercial strategies in a highly regulated environment. Her passion is for market structure and finding creative solutions to the challenges surrounding access to markets and liquidity for both traditional financial markets and asset classes, and the emerging field of digital asset market structure and regulation – the subject of today’s show.

Jannah has assisted in the launch of new trading venues, businesses, products and services, interpreting and implementing new regulations, and advising on regulatory, business and operational strategy.

She is a Founder Member and Regulatory Advocacy Ambassador for the London Blockchain Foundation, and a freelance journalist for Best Execution magazine, where she regularly covers financial innovation topics.

I hope you enjoy the show and if you have any comments or suggestions please write to me at: tc@wickedproblems.fm.

Full show notes at: https://wickedproblems.fm/2020/05/27/jannahpatchay

Henry Mintzberg is a writer and educator, mostly about managing originations, developing managers, and rebalancing societies (his current focus). After receiving his doctorate from the MIT Sloan School of Management, he has made his professional home in the Desautels Faculty of Management at McGill University in Montreal, where he sits in the Cleghorn Chair of Management Studies, with extensive stints in France and England.

He has authored 20 books which have earned him 21 honorary degrees, and publishes a regular blog, a collection of which was published as Bedtime Stories for Managers. He has co-founded the International Masters Program for Managers (impm.org) and the International Masters for Health Leadership as well as a venture CoachingOurselves.com, all novel initiatives for managers to learn together from their own experience, the last in their own workplace. (See further details on mintzberg.org.)

I hope you enjoy the show and if you have any comments or suggestions please write to me at: tc@wickedproblems.fm.

Enjoy,

Toby