extra-Ordinary Leadership Is Not About Control. It’s About Conditions.
What if leadership wasn’t about driving harder, adding more KPIs, or sending people on yet another training course?
What if it was about creating the conditions where people can grow, stretch and thrive?
In this episode of The extra-Ordinary Leader, I sit down with Sophie Bowen, Head of Learning & Development at COOK Trading Ltd, a business renowned for its human-centred culture and commercial success.
Sophie has spent 15 years embedding learning into the heart of the business. Not as a bolt-on. Not as a ‘nice to have’. But as a core strategic lever.
Together, we explore:
Why learning fails when it lives on the sidelines
Why leaders must role-model growth themselves
How values become meaningless when they’re written top-down
Why reflection is often more powerful than content
And why the best leadership development doesn’t always need a classroom or a budget
This is a conversation for leaders who feel frustrated by disengagement, sceptical of traditional L&D, or unsure how to grow people without losing performance.
If you’re questioning how leadership, learning and culture really fit together in your organisation, this episode is for you.
🎧 Listen to the full episode of The extra-Ordinary Leader
Referenced links:
COOK Trading Ltd: https://www.cookfood.net
Sophie Bowen on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sophie-bowen?originalSubdomain=uk
Ikigai explained: https://positivepsychology.com/ikigai/
My book, The extra-Ordinary Leader:
https://www.dollywaddell.com/store/p/the-extra-ordinary-leader
If this episode sparks questions about your own leadership or culture, do reach out. I’d love to help you think it through.