Leading 4 Life "Stories"

Hosted by Bob Judson

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160

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Aug 2026

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About the show

I am Bob Judson and I spent over 34 years in the Royal Air Force of the United Kingdom as a fast-jet pilot and then eventually as a senior leader, retiring from the military in 2015 as an Air Vice-Marshal (2* General). I subsequently transitioned to the corporate world as a consultant at Deloitte, but in 2019 I stepped away from all that and co-founded Leading 4 Life. I am passionate about helping to develop the leadership skills of individuals and teams and that is what this podcast is all about. You will hear from me, and from a wide range of special guests, many of whom have had incredible leadership journeys and risen to the most senior level of their governments, militaries and corporations. The focus won't only be on success; there is also much to be learned from the failures along the way! Thank you for listening! LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/judsonbob/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/JudsonBob Website: https://leading4life.co.uk/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Leading4Life

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August 16, 2026Episode 331 hr 9 min

E159 - Guests: Ian Whittaker, Managing Director & Owner of Liberty Sky Advisors

I'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text Message Before you do anything else, please hit the subscribe / follow button in your podcast platform to ensure you get immediate notification of future episodes, and to help boost this show within the algorithms. This episode is also available as a video podcast on my YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/LfZdYX9ymbQ Ian Whittaker is a two time winner of the City AM Analyst of the Year award and has a built a career around equity and media analysis. Consequently, this was a fascinating discussion with lots of great tips and advice from a man who clearly knows his stuff! Ian shares a lot about his own experiences, good and bad, and I hope you will find this a really interesting interview. Not many of my previous guests have drawn on Carl Von Clausewitz in their remarks (military viewers and listeners will get the reference here!), and it just served to highlight the breadth and depth of Ian's knowledge. Having had a variety of City focused roles, Ian set up Liberty Sky Advisors in 2020 and immediately faced the challenges that the Covid-19 pandemic presented to all businesses. He talks about the resilience needed to come through that time, and also about the kind of work that he does today, providing insight and analysis to a wide range of companies as they navigate today's complex world. I really hope you enjoy the episode and, as ever, please let me know what you think if you have a chance. You can find more about Ian here: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ianwhittakermedia/ Support the show Thank you for listening! If you value the content I produce, please consider supporting the show financially by becoming a member at https://www.patreon.com/leading4life/ or clicking the "Support the Show" link above. You will have the choice of becoming a Supporter, a Champion or a Patron of the show and any contribution you feel able to make will be hugely appreciated. You can find more about me here: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/judsonbob/ X: https://x.com/JudsonBob Website: https://leading4life.co.uk/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Leading4Life

August 9, 2026Episode 3213 min

E158 - Personal Stories: Three Years & Counting!

I'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text Message Before you do anything else, please hit the subscribe / follow button in your podcast platform to ensure you get immediate notification of future episodes, and to help boost this show within the algorithms. This episode is also available as a video podcast on my YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/ESnlh9nrZNc Much to my amazement, it's now been 3 years since I started Leading 4 Life "Stories" and I've loved to see the progression of the show over that time. In this short episode, I reflect on the journey so far and look a little bit into the future. I don't shy away from the challenges and I seek to enlist your help to ensure the future of the podcast is as good as it can be. This is the shortest episode I've ever done but, at the same time, it's also one of the most important. I need your help to ensure the long term viability of the show and that means either financial support through Patreon (see the support the show link below), if you have the means to help, or non-financial support through social media comments and wider publicity of the episodes as they come out. If you are able to help in either of those ways, I would be enormously grateful to you. Regardless of everything else, I just want to thank you for watching or listening to the show over the past 3 years - self-evidently, there wouldn't be a show without you and I am extremely grateful! Support the show Thank you for listening! If you value the content I produce, please consider supporting the show financially by becoming a member at https://www.patreon.com/leading4life/ or clicking the "Support the Show" link above. You will have the choice of becoming a Supporter, a Champion or a Patron of the show and any contribution you feel able to make will be hugely appreciated. You can find more about me here: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/judsonbob/ X: https://x.com/JudsonBob Website: https://leading4life.co.uk/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Leading4Life

August 2, 2026Episode 3152 min

E157 - Guests: Katharine Wooller, Chief Strategist Banking & Financial Services at Softcat

I'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text Message Before you do anything else, please hit the subscribe / follow button in your podcast platform to ensure you get immediate notification of future episodes, and to help boost this show within the algorithms. This episode is also available as a video podcast on my YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/P2Vv6UhQLNk If you want to unlock some of the mysteries of blockchain, learn more about AI and get a great perspective from a serious expert in financial services, then this episode is one for you! Katharine Wooller has worked in financial services for more than 25 years and has an absolute wealth of experience. Currently the Chief Strategist for Banking and Financial Services at Softcat, she speaks regularly on the media and in other fora, including on the TedX stage. Her main area of expertise is AI, blockchain and cyber, and it really shows during our conversation. Katharine has the gift of being able to explain complex concepts in a simple way and that made this a hugely helpful discussion, not least from the point of view of educating me!! Amongst her roles, Katharine is the Chair of the Association for AI in Financial Services and Banking and, given her presentational and speaking skills, it is really easy to see how this would be a role in which she would excel. I thought this was a fascinating conversation and I really hope you enjoy it as well. As ever, please do let me have your feedback when you have a moment. You can find Katherine on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katharinewooller/ Support the show Thank you for listening! If you value the content I produce, please consider supporting the show financially by becoming a member at https://www.patreon.com/leading4life/ or clicking the "Support the Show" link above. You will have the choice of becoming a Supporter, a Champion or a Patron of the show and any contribution you feel able to make will be hugely appreciated. You can find more about me here: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/judsonbob/ X: https://x.com/JudsonBob Website: https://leading4life.co.uk/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Leading4Life

July 26, 2026Episode 301 hr 32 min

E156 - Guests: Andrea Reger, Leadership, Identity & Mid-Career Reinvention Specialist

I'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text Message Before you do anything else, please hit the subscribe / follow button in your podcast platform to ensure you get immediate notification of future episodes, and to help boost this show within the algorithms. This episode is also available as a video podcast on my YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/7wNwHWPjZws Born in Hungary, Andrea Reger now lives in Ireland with her family and her life story is absolutely fascinating. From working as cabin crew with Ryan Air, despite a fear of flying and claustrophobia (!!), she moved up through a series of increasingly senior corporate recruitment roles before suffering from severe burn out as a result of a combination of personal and professional events. Andrea literally then reinvented herself to find her way out, and invested heavily in terms of time and money to retrain in the delivery a range of homeopathic treatments, which she now uses to help others to overcome similar challenges in their lives. It is a fascinating story of resilience and drive in the face of what must of seemed overwhelming odds at times, and I have enormous respect for everything that Andrea has done and is continuing to do with her life. It's a great episode and I really hope you enjoy it; please let me know what you think, and if you want to contact Andrea directly, all her details are below: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/regerand/ Website: https://www.andreareger.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/archcacao/ Support the show Thank you for listening! If you value the content I produce, please consider supporting the show financially by becoming a member at https://www.patreon.com/leading4life/ or clicking the "Support the Show" link above. You will have the choice of becoming a Supporter, a Champion or a Patron of the show and any contribution you feel able to make will be hugely appreciated. You can find more about me here: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/judsonbob/ X: https://x.com/JudsonBob Website: https://leading4life.co.uk/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Leading4Life

July 19, 2026Episode 291 hr 42 min

E155 - Guests: Jon Parker, Founder & CEO of Flyby Technology

I'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text Message Before you do anything else, please hit the subscribe / follow button in your podcast platform to ensure you get immediate notification of future episodes, and to help boost this show within the algorithms. This episode is also available as a video podcast on my YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/yUdBYnYPPQs Jon Parker has had an incredible career, progressing through military flying, then airline flying, to now being the founder and CEO of his own company, Flyby Technology. Massively experienced in the aviation world, Jon has a wealth of fascinating stories. He served on the Royal Air Force front line, flying both the Buccaneer and the Tornado, prior to moving over to the instructional world on the Hawk. From there he made the jump to single seat and completed two tours of embarked aircraft carrier operations flying the Royal Navy's Sea Harrier. Electing to leave the RAF when his children were born, Jon then went into civil aviation, rising to be a senior training captain with Tui Airlines, but suffering a very signficant medical issue during that journey that definitely threatened the end of his flying career. Recognising that he needed to have an alternative income stream, Jon then founded Flyby Technology, with an initial focus on drone pilot training. He has subsequently diversified that business into drone production and the company is now at the cutting edge of future warfare with the work they are doing on highly capable large, armed drones, of the type that are certainly going to form part of future military capability for the UK's Armed Forces. We cover all these areas of Jon's career in some depth and this was a really interesting and fun conversation. I hope you enjoy it as well - please do let me know what you think. You can find Jon here: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jon-parker-fraes-241384103/ Websites: https://www.flybytechnology.com/ https://www.flybydronetraining.co.uk/ The video highlighted in the YouTube version of the podcast can be seen here: https://vimeo.com/833271662 An overview video of Flyby Technology can be seen here: https://vimeo.com/1057183715 Support the show Thank you for listening! If you value the content I produce, please consider supporting the show financially by becoming a member at https://www.patreon.com/leading4life/ or clicking the "Support the Show" link above. You will have the choice of becoming a Supporter, a Champion or a Patron of the show and any contribution you feel able to make will be hugely appreciated. You can find more about me here: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/judsonbob/ X: https://x.com/JudsonBob Website: https://leading4life.co.uk/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Leading4Life

July 12, 2026Episode 281 hr 27 min

E154 - Guests: Marianne Withers, Serial Entrepreneur & Former Business Partner at Atombit

July 5, 2026Episode 2738 min

E153 - Personal Stories: "Aerobatics"

I'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text Message Before you do anything else, please hit the subscribe / follow button in your podcast platform to ensure you get immediate notification of future episodes, and to help boost this show within the algorithms. This episode is also available as a video podcast on my YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/b_8j15FoFpY I have always enjoyed the big rides at amusement parks and so it was no real surprise that I loved aerobatics from the moment I was introduced to them whilst flying in a Chipmunk on an air experience flight as an air cadet at school. Aerobatics, in the military world also have a real purpose. They are designed to help you learn the aircraft's handling limits and so help develop your overall confidence and skill as a pilot. It is a natural extension of that which sees them feature a lot at airshows and in competitive flying, and the airshow environment is where most members of the public are likely to have seen them, both in solo displays and with formation teams such as the Royal Air Force's Red Arrows. In this episode I talk through my own experience of aerobatics and also attempt to explain a bit more about the manoeuvres themselves as well as the work that goes in to creating a really great sequence, the like of which you will often see at public displays. I really hope you enjoy this slightly reflective look into my past flying experience and that you find it at least interesting. Please do let me have some feedback as I would love to know if you would like more (or less) of this type of content. Support the show Thank you for listening! If you value the content I produce, please consider supporting the show financially by becoming a member at https://www.patreon.com/leading4life/ or clicking the "Support the Show" link above. You will have the choice of becoming a Supporter, a Champion or a Patron of the show and any contribution you feel able to make will be hugely appreciated. You can find more about me here: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/judsonbob/ X: https://x.com/JudsonBob Website: https://leading4life.co.uk/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Leading4Life

June 28, 2026Episode 2624 min

E152 - Themes: Regulating Emotions

I'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text Message Before you do anything else, please hit the subscribe / follow button in your podcast platform to ensure you get immediate notification of future episodes, and to help boost this show within the algorithms. This episode is also available as a video podcast on my YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/jT26QzqZAS0 While I was delivering some training this past week, one of my participants asked me for my thoughts and advice about "regulating emotions", and it prompted me to think that the subject would make for a useful thematic episode on the podcast so here we go! Emotional regulation is an important part of emotional intelligence and, consequently, it is important in all walks of life, not just the work environment. Understanding yourself, being aware of your own emotional state and, most importantly, being able to manage those emotions is a key aspect of being a good leader. It is equally important to be able to "read the room" and gain a good understanding of the emotions of those around you, so that you can use that knowledge to enhance the way you regulate your own emotional responses, and thereby better support your team on an individual and collective basis. It does not matter whether we are talking about happiness, sadness, frustration, anger or something else, emotions have a profound impact on the way we work and the way we lead. I hope that in this short episode, I can at least prompt you to think broadly about the topic. I certainly do not profess to have all the answers but, as ever with my leadership work, I am to leave you with some tools, tips, techniques and ideas to help shape your own leadership thinking and style. I would love your thoughts so please do let me have some feedback and let me know whether you agree with me, whether you think I have missed anything, or whether you have a different view on any of the topics I discuss. Feedback helps us all improve and so please do get in touch with your comments. Support the show Thank you for listening! If you value the content I produce, please consider supporting the show financially by becoming a member at https://www.patreon.com/leading4life/ or clicking the "Support the Show" link above. You will have the choice of becoming a Supporter, a Champion or a Patron of the show and any contribution you feel able to make will be hugely appreciated. You can find more about me here: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/judsonbob/ X: https://x.com/JudsonBob Website: https://leading4life.co.uk/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Leading4Life

June 21, 2026Episode 251 hr 18 min

E151 - Guests: Jo Living, Founder of "Aces High"

I'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text Message Before you do anything else, please hit the subscribe / follow button in your podcast platform to ensure you get immediate notification of future episodes, and to help boost this show within the algorithms. This episode is also available as a video podcast on my YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/zEgQnbq6nmk Jo Living is an incredibly gregarious, enthusiastic and charismatic lady who I am sure you will find as fascinating as I did when I recorded this interview. She's very entrepreneurial and already has a diverse and very successful career behind her, but Jo's current venture "Aces High" is simply fascinating. An avid card playing enthusiast since she was very young, Jo is taking a non gambling form of poker into the corporate world as a leadership development tool and her concept is brilliant. We talk in depth about all aspects of Aces High and, to be honest, I could have talked to Jo for a lot longer as I find all that she is doing incredibly interesting and her vibrant personality just shines through. As time goes by, I think we will all be hearing a lot more about Jo and Aces High, because I am sure she is really onto a winning concept with what she is doing and I think it will be very successful. It's pretty rare to come across something so novel in the leadership development world (which of course is also the space I am occupying) so that helped to make this a really great discussion. Have a watch or a listen; I'm anticipating that you will be every bit as impressed as I was - please let me know what you think! Support the show Thank you for listening! If you value the content I produce, please consider supporting the show financially by becoming a member at https://www.patreon.com/leading4life/ or clicking the "Support the Show" link above. You will have the choice of becoming a Supporter, a Champion or a Patron of the show and any contribution you feel able to make will be hugely appreciated. You can find more about me here: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/judsonbob/ X: https://x.com/JudsonBob Website: https://leading4life.co.uk/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Leading4Life

June 14, 2026Episode 241 hr 7 min

E150 - Guests: Marshal of the RAF, the Lord Jock Stirrup, former Chief of the Defence Staff

I'd love to hear from you; feel free to send me a Text Message Before you do anything else, please hit the subscribe / follow button in your podcast platform to ensure you get immediate notification of future episodes, and to help boost this show within the algorithms. This episode is also available as a video podcast on my YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/rPZwRS_Kd2c With geopolitics and national security so much in the headlines these days, my special guest for this 150th episode could not be more appropriate. Marshal of the Royal Air Force, the Right Honourable, the Lord Jock Stirrup KG GCB AFC FRAeS FCMI is a former UK Chief of the Defence Staff and a very active cross-bench member of the House of Lords. I have known Jock almost all of my working life. He was my flight commander way back when I was on the Jaguar Conversion Unit in 1983 and subsequently my squadron commander when we were both on II(AC) Squadron in Royal Air Force Germany during the Cold War. His whole career story is an amazing one and I have huge respect for all that he has achieved whilst in uniform and beyond. From starting out as a first tour flying instructor, Jock rapidly found himself on active operations as a loan service officer in what was then the Sultan of Oman's Air Force during the Dhofar War. He subsequently became a leading figure in the Jaguar Force before continuing up the career ladder to ultimately become the UK Chief of Defence Staff from 2006 to 2010. In this episode, we discuss his career journey and also his thoughts on the political and security challenges facing not only the UK but also the wider world today. Jock is also the first Knight of the Garter who has been on the show and so we discuss that in some detail. For those not familiar, the Garter is the highest order of chivalry in the UK and, can have a maximum of only 24 companion knights at any one time so it is a very exclusive club indeed. It was a real privilege to get Jock on the show and, as anticipated, it was a fascinating discussion. I very much hope you enjoy it and, as ever, please let me know what you think. Support the show Thank you for listening! If you value the content I produce, please consider supporting the show financially by becoming a member at https://www.patreon.com/leading4life/ or clicking the "Support the Show" link above. You will have the choice of becoming a Supporter, a Champion or a Patron of the show and any contribution you feel able to make will be hugely appreciated. You can find more about me here: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/judsonbob/ X: https://x.com/JudsonBob Website: https://leading4life.co.uk/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Leading4Life