Culture, Connection, and Change: Adrian Simpson’s guide to effective leadership

What we chat about

The old rulebooks won’t solve today’s challenges, so where do leaders turn for answers that actually work? You go inside the companies that are winning now.

In this candid conversation on the Money Majlis podcast, Wavelength Founder and “Chief Connector” Adrian Simpson sits down with host Suvo Sarkar to distill three decades of unparalleled access into a practical guide for today’s leaders. Drawing on his time inside the boardrooms and on the shop floors of the world’s most progressive organisations, from Apple and Tesla to Lego and the Ritz-Carlton, Adrian cuts through the theory to reveal the ‘warts-and-all’ truth of what it takes to build and sustain a high-performing culture.

Listen in for practitioner-led insights on:

• The DNA of Today’s Titans: Discover the non-negotiable traits that unite today’s most successful companies, including an obsessive focus on recruiting for attitude over skills and a relentless alignment between purpose and practice.
• Innovation That Works: Go inside the “business-as-unusual” units that drive real change. Adrian shares practical lessons from Silicon Valley, China, and India on how to structure teams that use failure as fuel for experimentation and breakthrough success.
• Radical Empowerment in Action: Hear the story behind Ritz-Carlton’s legendary service principle and learn how organisations like Southwest Airlines build unbreakable cultures by putting their people first, always.
• Building Your ‘Personal Boardroom’: Is your network an echo chamber or an engine for growth? Adrian challenges leaders to move beyond transactional networking to strategically build a diverse team of challengers, connectors, and inspirers.

This isn’t a theoretical discussion; it’s a fast-paced, story-rich masterclass on building a resilient, innovative, and truly human-centred organisation.