Get Amplified

Hosted by Amplified Group

Business Entrepreneurship TechnologyInterviews guests

Website RSS feed

Episodes

105

Latest episode

Jun 2026

Language

EN-GB

About the show

Podcast series GET AMPLIFIED where we’re going to be talking about everything to do with working in the tech industry from staying ahead of the pace of change to fulfilment and well-being.Hosting the series will be Sam Routledge former CTO at Softcat who will be joined by Vicky Reddington from the Amplified Group. The team will be joined by leaders in the tech industry who will share their stories. We are going to share things we wish we knew 20 years ago. This is not rocket science but, we are going to highlight many of the things we do subconsciously and with a more conscious approach, done with intent and purpose can be hugely impactful. We will break it down and make it practical! Like everything we do at the Amplified Group, we will keep it real, it will be relevant and it will be lively!

Listen to episodes

60 recent

June 12, 2026Episode 947 min

Ask More, Tell Less: Rethinking Leadership Language with Chris Collett

Send us Fan MailWhat if the words you use as a leader are shaping your team's performance more than your strategy?In this episode of Get Amplified, Vic and Sam sit down with leadership consultant Chris Collett to unpack one of the most influential leadership books Vic's ever read: Turn the Ship Around! by David Marquet.The book tells the remarkable true story of a struggling nuclear submarine where traditional command-and-control leadership simply didn't work. Faced with a crew that knew more than he did and a situation where he couldn't possibly have all the answers, Marquet had to rethink what leadership looked like. The result? A powerful shift from giving orders to creating an environment where everyone was empowered to think, contribute and speak up.Along the way, from his second book 'Leadership is Language', they explore why good intentions aren't always enough. Vic shares why this book was a genuine game changer for her, one of the most impactful leadership reads since The Five Dysfunctions of a Team. While she always believed she created space for people to contribute, this book challenged her to look more closely at the language she was using and the unintended influence leaders can have on the conversations around them.The discussion also dives into Marquet's concept of "red work" and "blue work" – doing versus thinking – and why teams need deliberate pauses to reflect, challenge assumptions and make sure they're still heading in the right direction.If you're interested in building teams where people think for themselves, challenge constructively, and move forward with greater clarity and confidence, this episode is packed with practical insights. More than anything, it's a reminder that leadership isn't just about what you do. It's about the environment you create and the conversations you enable.We would love you to follow us on LinkedIn! https://www.linkedin.com/company/amplified-group/

May 29, 2026Episode 841 min

Letting Go To Grow with Francisco Perez van der Oord

Send us Fan MailWhat do lawnmowers, cricket commentary, and scaling a tech company have in common? More than you’d think . . . In this lively episode of Get Amplified, Sam and Vic bring the banter before catching up with returning guest Francisco Perez van der Oord, founder of ITQ. Five years after discussing his journey as a founder, Francisco shares how the business has skyrocketed and expanded internationally. At the heart of the conversation is a bold question: what if the biggest barrier to your company’s growth is you?Most importantly, Francisco offers insight into selecting the right successor, highlighting the critical balance between complementary skillsets and shared values to preserve culture and drive long-term success.And the secret to making the new successor successful? Completely removing himself from the decision making process. This shouldn’t be underestimated, and took 12 months of Francisco saying “don’t ask me”.The conversation explores the distinction between running an organisation and transforming it, and why successful scaling often requires leaders to evolve their role.Along the way, you’ll get stories, laughs, and real-world lessons on scaling a business, letting go, and focusing on what truly moves the needle.We would love you to follow us on LinkedIn! https://www.linkedin.com/company/amplified-group/

May 15, 2026Episode 736 min

The Real Reason AI Projects Fail with Karina Arteaga

Send us Fan MailAI feels like it should be a shortcut to productivity, yet most teams still struggle to turn pilots into real business value. We sit down with Karina Arteaga, CEO and founder of Visible Global and former operations leader at Meta Reality Labs, to unpack the uncomfortable reason: AI projects fail less because the tech is weak and more because the organisation is unclear, messy, or misaligned. If your objectives, decision-making, and workflows are broken, automation just scales the chaos.We explore what it takes to build a human AI operating model that actually works in the real world, where people have fears, incentives, and habits.Karina shares lessons from building an operating model from scratch in a high-growth, AR/VR and AI environment, and she explains why leaders should start with basics: map the workflow, clarify ownership, and decide what outcomes matter before choosing tools. The conversation moves into agentic AI and autonomous workflows, and why that shift makes human judgement more important, not less. Finally, we get practical about change management: listen to employees, solve the most painful parts of the job first, and use internal champions to drive adoption without creating a Big Brother culture. If you want AI transformation, organisational design, and leadership culture to pull in the same direction, subscribe, share this with a colleague, and leave us a review.We would love you to follow us on LinkedIn! https://www.linkedin.com/company/amplified-group/

May 1, 2026Episode 643 min

Sales Leaders Manage the One Thing We Can’t Create More Of: TIME - Stu Pike at ServiceNow

Send us Fan MailWhere Does Your Time Go? And why your sales motion might be the reason you have less of it.In this episode, we sit down with Stu Pike, VP and COO of ServiceNow APAC, to get into what’s actually going on with the GTM motion and what to do about it. Stu’s seen this from every angle over the last 30 years, and he brings it back to something simple: design your go-to-market around how buyers actually make decisions, not how your org is structured.Most revenue teams feel this, even if they don’t always say it out loud, it’s not effort that slows things down, it’s friction.Stuff gets lost between demand gen, sales, solutions, customer success. Deals start to drag and discovery gets repeated. And before you know it, you’re talking more about the internal process than the customer’s problem. That’s usually when trust starts to wobble a bit too.We get into the handoffs that quietly kill momentum, a really simple question that exposes where things break, and why so many “transformations” fall flat.We also talk about what’s changing right now, how teams are starting to use AI to carry customer context, clean up CRM gaps, and make coaching way more useful (and less painful).But the thread running through all of it is time. How do you give it back to your reps, your managers, your leaders so they can spend more of it with customers and, honestly, more of it outside of work too.If it resonates, give it a share with someone who’s rethinking how their team sells, and don’t forget to subscribe.Here is the blueprint that Stu refers tohttps://fortune.com/2025/10/29/ai-doesnt-fail-on-tech-fails-on-leadership-servicenow-commentary/We would love you to follow us on LinkedIn! https://www.linkedin.com/company/amplified-group/

April 17, 2026Episode 541 min

A Shared North Star Turns Silos Into One Leadership Team with Troy Stoll

Send us Fan MailWe’re celebrating our 100th episode of Get Amplified by bringing in Troy Stoll from Dynatrace (APAC), an energising leader who’s lived what it really takes to make alignment stick. If you’ve seen strong teams slowed by silos, mixed metrics, or underlying friction, this is a clearer way forward. By aligning on a shared North Star and working back to remove friction between marketing, sales, services, and customer success, the APAC team is now executing with real pace and consistency. We get into why over-communication is a leadership responsibility, especially as teams evolve, new leaders join, and priorities shift. It’s less about telling people what to do, and more about helping them understand why it matters and where they fit into the bigger picture.A big part of the story is the Switch change framework and why shared language matters more than most leaders realise. We break down its three core ideas: finding the bright spots (what’s already working), shaping the path (making the right behaviours easier to follow), and motivating the elephant (tapping into what actually drives people to act). The shift here is simple but powerful: stop trying to fix everything, and start amplifying what already works. That’s what shrinks change and helps it land faster across teams, cultures, and geographies.Troy also connects this to the Team Speed Check as a practical way to surface purpose, trust, clarity, and simplicity, so leaders aren’t guessing what’s going on, they’re responding to reality.If you’re looking for actionable ideas on cross-functional leadership, communication, and building trust that shows up in pipeline, renewals, and better customer outcomes, this one’s worth your time.Subscribe to Get Amplified, share this milestone episode with a colleague.We would love you to follow us on LinkedIn! https://www.linkedin.com/company/amplified-group/

March 10, 2026Episode 451 min

Why Happy Teams Win with Richard Munro

Send us Fan MailWhat if the secret to high-performing teams isn’t working harder, but putting happiness first?In this episode of Get Amplified, we sit down with technology strategist and former CTO advisor Richard Munro to explore an idea that challenges a lot of conventional leadership thinking: happiness comes before performance, not after it.This is a conversation of two halves: Storytelling in tech and happiness in work.What struck us most is that having spent his career in some of the most technical roles in the industry, Richard’s biggest insight wasn’t about technology. It was about people.Because even the best technology strategy fails if the team delivering it isn’t happy, aligned, and energised.Richard’s career spans everything from mainframes to CTO office of some of the biggest names in tech. Along the way he developed a powerful belief about leadership and strategy: context comes before everything.That’s why he challenges the familiar “start with why” idea. Richard argues that the real starting point is “where.” Until you understand the context people are operating in, their constraints, pressures, ambitions, and environment, you can’t truly understand their motivations.The conversation also explores how storytelling shapes strategy itself. But the most powerful part of the discussion comes when Richard reflects on leadership. After leading teams of every size, Richard reflects that great teams are built on happy individuals.Instead of waiting until the end of a project to celebrate success, Richard encourages us to identify the moments in a week that give people a genuine “fist pump”, those small wins that create energy, motivation, and momentum.He also shares three leadership principles that have guided him throughout his career:Guard your integrity. Don't be afraid to stand up for what's right.Tackle the problem in front of you. Don’t wait for others to get started, just get stuck in.Think speed and scale and settle for good enough vs perfection.Richard’s book recommendation, The Happiness Advantage by Shawn Achor, reinforces the key idea from this conversation: happiness drives results, not the other way around.If you’re interested in building high-performing teams, leading with authenticity, and translating complexity into meaningful action, this episode is packed with insight.Listen, share with a colleague who leads through change, and if it resonates, subscribe and leave a review so more people can find the show.We would love you to follow us on LinkedIn! https://www.linkedin.com/company/amplified-group/

February 23, 2026Episode 351 min

Accountability Without Authority: The Hidden Skill Of High-Performing Sellers

Send us Fan MailSelling complex technology isn’t about the lone genius with a quota. It’s about orchestrating people, timing and trust across a messy, customer-led journey.We sit down with Cliff Keast - former sales leader at VMware, SAP and Business Objects, now a coach to revenue teams - to unpack how enterprise deals really get done when 20, 30 or even over 100 people touch a single opportunity.Separating Average Performers from Reliable ClosersCliff shares the identity shift that separates average performers from reliable closers: stop trying to be the hero and become the integrator of value. Your credibility in the C‑suite comes from your ability to marshal your company’s full expertise - pre-sales, legal, services, customer success, partners - exactly when it matters. Focusing on Soft Skills That Make the Hard Things WorkWe get practical on the soft skills that make the hard things work: establish psychological safety, show trust first, share credit publicly, handle issues privately, and keep communication ruthlessly clear. A simple discipline, write actions clearly and start every meeting by reviewing them, turns vague updates into peer accountability without the drama.Facing the Reality of Cross-Functional FrictionWe also confront the reality of cross-functional friction. As organisations scale, process and function disaggregate. Quoting systems stall over irrelevant fields, legal arrives too late, and rules designed for efficiency create bottlenecks. Finding the Selling LineCliff draws the line between customer-centric rule pushing and selfish rule breaking, and explains how top sellers earn an “unfair share” of scarce resources by qualifying well, setting purpose, and making it easy for specialists to win. Shaping the PathFor sales leaders, the mandate is to shape the path: clear the runway with adjacent functions, coach orchestration skills, and measure the operating rhythm that keeps cross-functional teams moving.Who This Is ForIf you’re navigating enterprise sales, team performance or revenue leadership, you’ll leave with a sharper playbook for influence without authority, smarter stakeholder timing, and a renewed respect for the human side of selling. Subscribe, share with a teammate who needs a better deal rhythm, and drop a review to tell us which function is hardest to align in your world.We would love you to follow us on LinkedIn! https://www.linkedin.com/company/amplified-group/

February 19, 20262 min

Why we paused the pod

Send us Fan MailVic shares with us a candid update on why we paused the pod, what the past year taught us about purpose, and how grief and gratitude are shaping what we make next. We share appreciation for our team, clients, and Sam as we near 100 episodes and double down on accountability without authority.We would love you to follow us on LinkedIn! https://www.linkedin.com/company/amplified-group/

November 3, 2025Episode 253 min

The Customer Vortex: How to Make Growth Repeatable

Send us Fan MailIn this conversation, we sit down with Jim Darragh, five-time exit leader and former CEO of Totalmobile, to unpack how simple differentiation, coachable teams, and predictable go-to-market motion drive repeatable growth.Filled with humour, Jim shares how clarity was the through-line from his rugby start in IT distribution to leading a £100m SaaS transformation.We unpack how alignment turns strategy into scale, tracking Jim’s path from hands-on sales to five exits, and Totalmobile's transformation. Clear differentiation, coachable teams, and a predictable go-to-market form a simple system that wins on purpose.You’ll hear:How to create a “customer vortex” that pulls in the next buyerWhy Predictability x Repeatability = ScalabilityHow to hire for coachability, not just experienceWhy culture powers the engineAnd why simplicity mattersThe conversation lands with three crisp takeaways: Define your differentiators and say no to everything elseAssemble the right people and make them a real teamBuild operating rhythms that make growth forecastableIf you’re scaling a B2B tech company or sharpening your GTM focus, this one’s a field guide to clarity and growth.Subscribe and why not share with an aspiring leader who needs clarity (don't we all!)We would love you to follow us on LinkedIn! https://www.linkedin.com/company/amplified-group/

October 17, 2025Episode 152 min

How Google United 180,000 People with a Purpose Led AI Playbook

Send us Fan MailForget the hype cycle, this conversation gets into how AI actually lands inside a company: purpose first, people next, technology last. We sit down with returning guest Darren Thayre from Google to unpack how a 180,000 person organisation moved from siloed product areas to a shared AI language, and why a calm, purpose‑driven message aligned everyone faster than any dashboard or revenue goal could.We talk through the real mechanics of change: aligning OKRs across ads, YouTube, payments, cloud, and workspace around Gemini; replacing jargon with a common vocabulary that lets teams collaborate without translation; and setting a one‑way‑door commitment so the organisation stops hedging and starts learning. Darren shares insights from interviewing 150 Googlers; what worked, what didn’t: treat AI as a decade‑long capability you embed, not a three‑year “program” you complete.If you’re a leader wondering where to start, you’ll get a playbook you can use tomorrow. Run a one‑day purpose workshop to set ethics and vision. Ask every department for three use cases in three weeks:1) An easy win2) A six‑month stretch3) A moonshotLet teams become CEOs of their own journey. Put an AI assistant in every brainstorm to check feasibility, legality, and past art in the moment. Keep incentives and measures honest, communicate in plain English, and resist over‑engineering your transformation. We’ve captured the insights from the conversation into a Purpose-Led AI Playbook tech leaders can use with their teams: https://amplifiedgroup.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/The-Purpose-Led-AI-Playbook-Darren-Thayre-Amplified-Group.pptx-1.pdfSubscribe for more practical conversations on culture, leadership, and the real work of making AI useful. If this episode helped you reframe your approach, share it with a colleague and leave a short revieaw. What’s the first small bet your team will try?We would love you to follow us on LinkedIn! https://www.linkedin.com/company/amplified-group/

Is this your show?

Claim this listing to keep it up to date, reach guests who want to pitch you, and manage bookings with Guestify.

Claim this listing

More Business podcasts

SowGrow Marketing Council

sgmc

BusinessMarketing

Toldjya Finance Podcast

Zac Huish, Cameron Cooke, and Paul Lamb

BusinessInvesting