Podcast Appearances

I greatly enjoyed my recent deep dive podcast experience with Daniel Bussius and Peter Daly-Dickson. You can tell by the podcast’s name, ‘Built By Love’, that they share my passion to champion warmth, empathy and care in the world of business.

We’re all so caught up in the day to day whirl, it’s a gift to spend time discussing the experiences that have shaped who we are today, and to reflect on the lessons we learn along the way.

We explore what it really means to build a business - and a life - driven by purpose, authenticity, and love. As Daniel and Peter observed, my own journey is full of rich lessons on resilience, leadership and letting go of ego.

I share advice and insights that entrepreneurs and founders can benefit from as they run their businesses today.

It was a pleasure to be Aveline Clarke’s guest on the 6 Star Leaders Podcast.
We talk about my early days in a business-owning family to the experiences I had renting out sound equipment and touring with bands.
We delve into how a stroke completely changed my perspective on life, making me more empathetic and driven to help others.
We also discuss my passion for working with companies that have a purpose and values aligned with the triple bottom line - planet, people, and profit, taking a deep dive into the unconventional approach of bringing love into business and how it has attracted clients who see their business as a force for good.

The Brand Called You is a media tech global platform that brings Leadership Lessons, Knowledge, Experience and Wisdom from leading personalities across diverse backgrounds from around the world.

Ashutosh and Alan talked, amongst other things, about how he helps companies, why a lot of startups don’t make it, and three key lessons that are pivotal in building and maintaining a successful business.

Gareth Dauncey invited Alan to join him on his podcast.

They enjoyed an open and honest discussion that covered being aware of your feelings and how you manage your responses, how much we create of our own reality, letting an outcome take care of itself, consistently living by our values, gut and heart led reactions, positive confrontation and taking action and turning down the volume on unhelpful emotions.

Alan also touched on the art of kintsugi and the beauty of the mended vessel.

At Thirty-Six Twenty-Six, Matt Goddard works with CEOs and their teams, and single family offices, to help families and their businesses grow together.

In this conversation with Alan, they enjoyed sharing insights about family, the next generation, and how everyone can bring joy and happiness into their business lives.

“The purpose of business is to make money. It’s all about the bottom line. You win or lose and that’s all there is to it. Right?

In this episode of Delightful Dissent, Matthew Bellringer talks to Alan, exploring whether “Love has no place in business”.

They look at the consequences of a cut throat business culture for all involved, seeing if it’s possible to succeed in business without aggressively out-competing everyone else around you.

Most creative and purpose-driven entrepreneurs love coming up with new ideas and working with their customers and clients. But they hate sales, marketing and working on finances and spreadsheets. They also complain about cashflow, profitability and burnout.

Their wheels are spinning because they focus on a narrow aspect of their business (delivery and ideas). In this Podcast, Alan lays out the different building blocks of your business and helps you appreciate the bits you shy away from, and how working on them can bring more ease to your life.

I was invited to participate in Episode 10 of Alexlouise Thomas's 'Live with Alexlouise' series, where we discussed helping small business owners overcome their obstacles to reach their goals more quickly and with less stress, through a rigorous process underpinned with love.

Frank Nigriello, Director of Corporate Affairs for Unipart, the international logistics, manufacturing, and consultancy group, Chairs the first of a series of podcasts with invited CEOs and leaders of B4's members. I was privileged to be invited to as part of the discussion on how businesses are building back better for the future. 

Also featuring: Bruce Tomlinson, CEO of HR Wallingford Group. Graham Caleb, Board Member at Predli & Pragmatic Mentor. Iain Lewis, Founder and Chairman of Torpedo, one of the UK’s leading B2B marketing agencies. Mike Jennings, Chairman of the Jennings Group of companies, and leading on values-based cultures which put people first. Stephen Clarke, Principal of Cherwell College. 

In this podcast I interviewed Chad Patel, CEO of thoughtbot. Chad discusses the lessons learned from starting the business, the company's methodologies, as well as looking towards the challenges and opportunities in the future. Listen to learn more about:

- Finding your vision and the impact on business. 

- The importance of being dedicated and fulfilled in your company. 

- Standing by your principles and learning to say "No". 

- How making mistakes contributes to success. 

- The importance of real sustainability in your business. 

- Why purpose is essential to a company's success.

Pricing and charging are often seen as the same thing. They're not. Pricing a product or service is a strategic decision, whereas charging is tactical. In this podcast, I explain to listeners:

- How to set the price for a product or service correctly.

- Business charges for a product or service and how to vary or alter them according to the circumstances.

- How to successfully discount. Remember, it's crucial always to show the full price, as well as any discount, so that the original perceived value is not lost.

- The importance of pricing products and services that is carefully thought through - i.e. it is seen as a strategic decision - it says what you, as a business owner, value your products or services at.

The show has real-world examples which will help you to understand the best way to price products and services.

Focus on who you want to serve, because if you try marketing to everyone you appeal to no one. In this podcast, I discuss Seth Godin's concept of the Minimum Viable Audience (MVA) and why it's so important. Listen to hear more about:

- Why to avoid trying to sell to everyone. Instead, pick the people who'll love what you do. Find out what their dreams, wishes, hopes and fears are.

- How to be clear about who you want to serve and how you want to serve them.

- How this will help you to develop the right product or service and position it in the right way, so your target market gets what you offer and the value it provides. This makes selling much easier.

In this podcast, I talk about the relationship to money of the leaders of organisations - how that transcends both startups and large organisations. 

Listen to learn more about:

- What big companies can learn from startups about team size.

- The power and curse of a start-up style 'force of nature' personality in your leadership team - how to handle it, how best to use it.

- Understanding the concept of 'Partneritis' and how it can handcuff companies.

- How to develop self-responsibility when people feel far away from the results of their actions in a large company.

In this podcast, I explore the legacy of command and control, KPIs and the rigidity of 20th century management thinking. In terms of self-responsibility, I discuss:

- What are realistic goals for large or highly regulated organisations.

- How to work in organisations driven by big personalities where leaders are 'leading hard' and the transition to distributed power feels large.

- Why developing self-responsibility requires a more gradual change and the case for 'pre-paving' for the change.

Hear me take listeners through a range of real-world examples of where self-responsibility isn't working.

Here I discuss the importance of understanding who your business focuses on, who you really want to serve. I encourage listeners to:

- Think about demographics and targeting your audience based on traits like age, geography, education, gender and income.

- Think about psychographics to understand what motivates and moves these people and explore their needs, wants and behaviours.

- By understanding why people really want what you offer, will help you communicate what you do in a much more effective and engaging way.

So by putting out the right messages based on empathy you won’t have to hunt for your customers, they’ll be looking for you.

I featured on executive coaching and leadership development consultant Tom McCallum's podcast, each a thirty-minute conversation.

In Tom's words: "In June 2016, Alan had what he calls a 'stroke of luck'. From that point onwards he made himself a promise, to really 'go for it'. As he says: 'Life is precious, your business is precious. If there’s something you want to do, get on with it. Don’t wait. Start now.

The purpose of the 6 Star Business is to bring awareness, connection and ingenuity to businesses aiming to shine today and into the future through more than 5 star reviews. It's here to lift businesses to create a better future.

I contributed to the discussion with Alan Stevens, the Founder & CEO of Human Pattern Recognition, and International Profiling and Communications Specialist.

I featured on specialist pain coach Richmond Stace's podcast —  in-depth, unedited, free-flowing conversations with ‘Positive Encouragers’ who share, give and serve and, in so doing, encourage and inspire, and make a difference in the world.

In Richmond’s words… “It was great to hear Alan’s rock ‘n’ roll story that led to the creation of a business – he saw the need and took action. We follow Alan’s journey through to the person-focused business coach that he is now and learn some golden tips about life and business.”