Episodes
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Martin Kemp (Trinity College, Oxford | Emeritus Professor)
In this episode, Tracey Camilleri talks to Oxford art historian, author, academic and world expert on Leonardo da Vinci, Professor Martin Kemp.
Originally trained as a scientist, Kemp speaks about the advantages of looking at the world through multiple lenses and disciplines. He considers the importance of authenticity and the crucial difference between fakes and the real thing. He reflects on the toppling of statues in response to Black Lives Matter (#BLM) and how some images, like that of Che Guevara, become icons. As an expert in looking and focused noticing, he discusses the current pandemic and how the virus is represented visually.
Above all he reflects on the messiness of being human in a digital world of AI and computer simulation. Connect with Martin on LinkedIn · Martin Kemp's website with links to his books, lectures and research · website · Connect with Tracey on LinkedIn · Connect with Sam Rockey on LinkedIn -
Dr Yoge Patel (Blue Bear Systems | CEO)
Here we have the good fortune to talk to tech entrepreneur Dr Yoge Patel, CEO of Blue Bear Systems a UK leader in unmanned flight technology about how she began to grow her company.
She reflects on the developmental benefits of being in the middle of a family of 7 children and how that gave her with the opportunity to watch and listen as she was growing up – key capabilities for an entrepreneur.
In the conversation she reflects on a characteristic that unites all entrepreneurs – an impatient desire to change the status quo. Although she is a self-confessed ‘techie’, her approach to running a business has a solid human-based foundation, built on simple principles – or ‘mantras’ – and a non-hierarchical shared ethos.
Her secret of success?
Even after her mother told her as a child to ‘stop smiling, people will think you are simple’ – it is always to be herself, whether speaking to a cabinet minister or the youngest recruit in the office. She reflects on some of the advantages of the Covid lockdown amongst all the difficulty, ‘I love it when one of my most senior guys tells me that he has to break off a video call to put his two year old son to bed for a nap. We have won back time from our commute for our families.’
She is optimistic about the development of technology – believing that it must always contribute to broader societal value, always be a tool for the furtherance of mankind and that good emotional design is the foundation for good engineering. Connect with Yoge on LinkedIn · website · Connect with Tracey on LinkedIn · Connect with Sam Rockey on LinkedIn -
Missing episodes?
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A conversation with Margaret Heffernan.
In this wide-ranging episode, Tracey talks to Margaret Heffernan about the importance of paying attention to what is not being said - as well as learning to listen closely to others who have a very different perspective and experience of life.
She ponders the limits and oversimplifying 'narrative tidiness' of stories told in the present about complex situations, as well as the blundering misuse of big data. She reflects on the inadequacy of what is still an essentially 19th century education system and the need for lifelong learning as we embark on Uncharted territory.
She laments how many management processes seem designed precisely to constrain rather than enable experimentation, creativity and flexibility - the expression of our neuroplasticity. Margaret refers back to her earlier book, 'How She Does It', as she talks about the different way in which women lead and establish systems in organisations.
Thinking about an unknown future she hopes for a world where we can all be more curious, ask better questions, one where we are prepared to give up some of our comforts for the good of the next generation and, as leaders, tell the hard truths as we see them rather than settling for short term, easy lies that lead to the costly erosion of trust that we are currently living through. Connect with Margaret on LinkedIn · website · Connect with Tracey on LinkedIn · Connect with Sam Rockey on LinkedIn -
Stop playing it safe
In this podcast Tracey Camilleri and Samenua Sesher explore the power of art to renew, re-engage and reinvigorate, especially during times of trauma. As the Founder of the digital Museum of Colour, Samenua reflects on some of the creative journeys of her contributors – and on her own visceral reaction to the Pitt Rivers Museum of anthropology in Oxford.
Informed by her 'Respect Due' Gallery , she invites us all to take time out to honour those who have influenced our lives, especially our elders. Samenua exhorts even those who don’t think of themselves as being ‘creative’ or those who don’t work in the creative industries to try the untried, to change up their ‘unofficial board of advisors’, to dare to follow their imaginations. At times like these, we need to stop playing it safe. Samenua brings a much needed playful, joyful optimism to bear on our sombre times, believing that the development of the vaccine has shown us that ‘we can do things faster than we think’. ‘Joy is a wonderful place to work from’, she declares and leaves us with her 2020 playlist which, she says, gladdens the heart. Samenua Sesher is a culture management consultant, a coach, an unconscious bias trainer and the founder and director of the Museum of Colour, exploring the creative journeys of British people of colour. She has experience of delivering multi-million-pound programmes and has fed into national cultural policy; set up and run a local authority culture service and lectured. She was a 2008/09 Clore Fellow and was awarded an OBE for Services to the Arts in spring 2018 from the New Year’s Honours List. Samenua is a People's Palace Project (PPP) Associate, member of the Advisory Board for The Art of Cultural Exchange and the is on the faculty for Oxford Cultural Leaders. All her work is underpinned by a passionate belief in the power of creativity to transform us, challenge us and help to improve our understanding of the world, its people and ourselves. Digital Museum of Colour · The Pitt Rivers Museum of Anthropology at Oxford · Samenua's Spotify playlist · Connect with Samenua on LinkedIn · website · Connect with Tracey on LinkedIn · Connect with Sam Rockey on LinkedIn -
Tracey Camilleri talks to Kathryn Bishop
In this episode Kathryn Bishop (Director of Oxford Said Business School's Women Transforming Leadership Programme and The Oxford Women's Leadership Development Programme) talks about her new book 'Make Your Own Map'. The book is designed as a practical strategy guide for aspiring women. Kathryn explains some of the tools that she uses to help women to navigate their way to more satisfying futures. In the conversation with Tracey Camilleri, they reflect amongst other things on imposter syndrome, the particular quality of all-female environments, the masculine/feminine continuum when it comes to leadership styles and questions like - why it is that female voices often go unheard? Kathryn balances research with stories of the real women she has worked with - as well as giving us some gems of practical wisdom - such as the joys of the 'Not to Do List'. Oxford Women's Leadership Development Programme · Women Transforming Leadership Programme (Oxford Said Business School) · Make Your Own Map by Kathryn Bishop · website · Connect with Tracey on LinkedIn · Connect with Sam Rockey on LinkedIn -
Tracey Camilleri Talks to Ben Morgan
This episode was recorded just after the US election but has clear resonance for now as the inauguration of Joe Biden takes place. Tracey talks to poet, academic, essayist and writer Ben Morgan who looks under the bonnet at how language really works and why, when used well, it is so effective. How was the outburst of joy around the vaccine and the US election expressed? What is powerful about the way Joe Biden use language? What can we learn from the first lines of Hamlet? Why do certain metaphors work? What's the secret of getting the tone right? Why is Greta Thunberg such a skilful user of rhetoric? Join us for this enjoyable pick through the bones and muscles of the way we speak now.
Dr Ben Morgan is a writer, critic and tutor based in Oxford. He has published poetry widely, including a long sequence, 'Medea in Corinth' (Poetry Salzburg, 2018), which retells the Greek myth in modern forms. He is completing a book on Shakespeare and the idea of political justice for Princeton University Press. He also writes essays and reviews for a range of publications, as well as teaching Shakespeare studies and English to undergraduates at Oxford and beyond, with a particular focus on visiting students. More about Prof Ben Morgan · website · Connect with Tracey on LinkedIn · Connect with Sam Rockey on LinkedIn
