HR Most Influential Podcast

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Latest episode

Apr 2026

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About the show

HR Most Influential Podcast --- The HR Most Influential podcast speaks to some of the practitioners, academics and consultants making up HR magazine's annual HR Most Influential list, which celebrates instrumental figures in the people profession. We’ll be asking them to pull back the curtain on their working lives and explore the major issues facing the world of work. HR Focus Podcast --- HR Focus dives into practical issues surrounding HR leaders. Interviewing expert guests, and bringing them questions from our own audience. If you would like to discuss featuring on the episode, please email jack.troutt@markallengroup.com or angela.koduah@markallengroup.com

Listen to episodes

33 recent

April 30, 2026Episode 445 min

5.4: Focus on future-ready leaders, with Danny Harmer

What defines great leadership? And how can HR support the leaders of the future?Business leaders are facing rising pressure to take on a growing list of responsibilities, and employees’ expectations of people in leadership roles are rapidly evolving.To help navigate these changes, and outline how organisations can best equip the leaders of tomorrow, we spoke to Danny Harmer, chief people officer for the insurer Aviva.Harmer joined the HR Most Influential Hall of Fame list in 2025, after being recognised seven times as one of HR magazine’s most influential practitioners.

March 30, 2026Episode 346 min

5.3: Why autonomous working is the future, with Alex Hirst and Lizzie Penny

Does flexible working actually work? Or are today’s ways of working stuck in the past? Alex Hirst and Lizzie Penny, who jointly ranked at #4 in our HR Most Influential thinkers list 2025, call for a radical rethink of our approach to work, to better meet employee and business needs in the digital age.Hirst and Penny – business partners, authors and changemakers – co-founded the consultancy Hoxby, and created the concept of ‘workstyle’, ensuring that people have the autonomy to choose when, where and how they work. Listen to Hirst and Penny challenge the current status quo, arguing why and how personalisation can boost workplace performance.

February 6, 2026Episode 245 min

5.2: How to better care for carers, with Natalie Quilter

Are employers doing enough to support the nearly three million people in the UK who juggle unpaid care and work? Natalie Quilter, HR magazine’s #4 HR Most Influential Practitioner 2025, addresses this question and more, drawing from both her personal and professional experience. Quilter – currently head of reward, wellbeing and benefits for housing provider The Hyde Group – is a passionate advocate for unpaid carers. In this episode, she shares her expertise to help HR leaders better understand what being a working carer means, and the practical ways in which HR can support them.

December 19, 2025Episode 148 min

5.1: Adapt to win, with Tim Pointer

Tim Pointer, HR magazine's #1 Most Influential HR practitioner for 2025, focuses on the transformational power of agility in business, offering tips on how to adapt to succeed.Pointer, who is portfolio chief people officer and operating partner for the asset management business Three Hills, argues that, to stay ahead of the curve, HR must supercharge transformation and become even better at navigating change. Drawing on his extensive experiences of boardrooms around the world, Pointer offers tips for HR leaders on how to become more agile, and how to adapt to succeed in business.

August 13, 202532 min

HR Focus (7): Innovation success secrets from Experian

Chief people officer Jacky Simmonds shares how Experian has fostered a thriving culture of innovation throughout the business, offering tips that other businesses can learn from.Since Simmonds joined the global data and technology company Experian, in 2020, Experian has celebrated a fourth consecutive year on the UK’s Best Workplaces™ list and was recognised as a World’s Best Workplace™ for the first time in 2024. Experian's continuous improvement programme, which boosts innovation, has delivered annual savings of $140m. In a thought-provoking discussion, Simmonds addresses: · How to maintain cultural alignment;· Why hackathons aren’t just for tech experts;· The value of HR professionals tailoring their approach when engaging different stakeholders, and more.Many thanks to our sponsor Great Place To Work UK for this episode.

July 29, 2025Episode 619 min

HR Focus (6): Perfecting positive company culture

Episode six of the HR Focus podcast features insights from Anna Oliver, HR director (UK) for biopharmaceutical company AbbVie, who shares what she’s learned from the organisation’s cultural transformation journey.AbbVie has spent 11 of its 12-year existence on Great Place to Work UK's Best Workplaces™ List, so Oliver is well-placed to deliver top tips and best practice: from how to cultivate a robust workplace culture, to ensuring that your HR team keeps its fingers on the pulse.It all starts with culture, Oliver highlights, outlining how AbbVie supports and empowers its managers and staff. In this exclusive episode of HR Focus, Oliver explains:The importance of having key cultural pillars,How employee-led resource groups can bolster a positive culture,Why talent strategy is key, and more.Listen to the full podcast episode, wherever you source your podcasts.Many thanks to our sponsor Great Place To Work UK for this episode.

July 14, 2025Episode 544 min

4.5 Transformational performance management, with David Liddle

As HR professionals face ever-increasing scrutiny for delivering high performance in the age of AI, it’s never been more important to talk about shaking up performance management.And who better to discuss this topic than David Liddle, CEO of the global consultancy TCM Group and founder of the People and Culture Association?! This episode was recorded before David nabbed the number one spot in HR magazine’s Most Influential Thinker list 2025. He also received the Consultant of the Year 2025 award on the same day.In this episode, David shares his award-winning insights with HR magazine editor Charissa King, delving into why transformative justice matters, how to manage dispute resolution, and why the way in which we manage conflict needs to change.

May 27, 2025Episode 536 min

HR Focus (5): How to align wellbeing and ESG strategy

As the health of our natural environment declines, employers are under increasing pressure to look after the health and wellbeing of employees, and to take meaningful actions, rather than greenwashing – paying lip service to environmental commitments.To help HR professionals align these priorities, we gathered insights from two leaders of the healthcare and insurance provider Bupa: Rebecca Pearson, chief sustainability and people officer for Bupa Global, India and UK; and Anna Russell, corporate responsibility and sustainability director for Bupa Global and UK.The discussion addresses:· What successful health and sustainability strategy looks like,· The interconnectedness of personal health and the health of the planet,· How Bupa's Healthy Cities challenge – which encourages employees to improve their health and community impact – can help employers achieve wellbeing and ESG alignment, and more. Many thanks to Bupa, for sponsoring this episode.

May 13, 2025Episode 429 min

HR Focus (4): Leadership success secrets from Admiral

In the latest episode of our HR Focus podcast, our editor speaks to Lorna Connelly, Admiral’s UK director of people, to find out the secrets to success of this 25-year incumbent on the UK’s Best Workplace list.The financial services company Admiral is a recognised champion of great leadership and exceptional workplace culture. For each of the last 25 years, the firm has achieved the UK’s Best Workplace employer recognition, from global authority on workplace culture, Great Place To Work.Underlying that success is Admiral’s strategy for supporting and developing its leaders. In a focussed conversation on leadership success secrets, Lorna Connelly, Admiral’s UK director of people, explains:How to ensure that managers aren’t overwhelmedKey steps to developing a clear and effective strategy for supporting managersHow to build managerial confidence, and how flexible working patterns can help achieve thisThe value of the Trust Index employee survey, and more.Many thanks to Great Place to Work UK for sponsoring this episode of HR Focus.

March 31, 2025Episode 439 min

4.4 Inclusion is the answer to everything, with Aggie Mutuma

Of all the components in the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging (DEIB) umbrella, inclusion is rapidly gaining a prominence of its own.But why favour one above the rest? And why are people so excited about inclusion's potential for business?To answer these questions, we invited Aggie Mutuma, CEO and lead consulting director of Mahogany Inclusion Partners onto the podcast. Ranking fifth on our HR Most Influential practitioners list 2024, Mutuma is a trusted advisor for the CIPD and passionate advocate for inclusion.