Shows / We Need to Talk About...
We Need to Talk About...
Everything is changing! Hosted by Felix Mitchell and Louise Fraser, We Need to Talk About… brings together HR and AI. In one feed, we explore how growing businesses are evolving people practices and adopting AI to meet new expectations, new ways of working, and rapid change. Expect honest conversations with HR leaders, tech experts, and scaling SMEs using AI to enhance human capability. No hype, just real solutions for real businesses. New episodes every Thursday.
Episodes
- We Need to Talk About...
Pre-Deploy, Don’t Redeploy - Getting Ahead of Change with Emma Redfern
Emma Redfern, ER and Change Lead at Leeds Building Society, joins Felix to talk about what it takes to prepare a workforce for transformation before the…
- We Need to Talk About...
Culture Is Your Biggest Performance Lever with Lucile Flamand
Lucile Flamand, partner at Perfect Rebel, joins Felix to challenge the idea that culture is something that just happens. Drawing on a career spent redesigning…
- We Need to Talk About...
Open the Door - Why HR Shouldn’t Be a Closed Office with Eve-Lynn Ansley
Eve-Lynn Ansley, People Director at UCC Coffee, joins Louise to talk about what she found when she walked into an HR team that sat behind a closed door, never…
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From LLP to PE - Leading HR Through Legal's Biggest Shift with Louise Rogerson
Louise Rogerson, CPO at law firm DWF, joins Felix to talk about what happens when a legal business goes from LLP to publicly traded to private equity backed -…
- We Need to Talk About...
Know the Rules, Know When to Break Them with Stuart Price
Stuart Price, Chief People, Product & Transformation Officer at Zenith Vehicles, joins Louise to share what he learned from running both the people and…
- We Need to Talk About...
Big Corporate Toolkit, Family Business Heart with Steph Evans Hill
Steph Evans Hill, People Director at William Jackson Food Group, joins Felix to talk about what it's really like to leave the corporate machine and join a…
- We Need to Talk About...
Your Workforce Is a Library... Start Using It! With Emma Tolhurst
Emma Tolhurst, independent consultant specialising in culture, communications, and transformation, joins Felix to explore the concept of the human library -…
- We Need to Talk About...
Parent, Adult or Child - Which One Are You at Work? with Emy Rumble-Mettle
Emmy Rumble-Mettle, VP of People and Culture at Aristocrat, joins Louise to explore a model that could change the way you think about every interaction at…
- We Need to Talk About...
The HR Career Playbook Has Changed - Here's What Comes Next with Sophie Tolley
Sophie Tolley, VP of People and Culture for EMEA at RES, joins Felix to explore what a career in HR actually looks like in 2026, and where it's heading. From…
- We Need to Talk About...
The Jobs Market Isn't Dying, It's Being Reimagined with Janine Chamberlin
Janine Chamberlin, VP Talent Solutions & UK Country Manager at LinkedIn, joins Felix to cut through the doom and gloom around the jobs market. Yes, UK hiring…
- We Need to Talk About...
What Most People Get Wrong About How AI Actually Works with Simon Russell
Simon Russell, Instant Impact's Head of AI and Data, joins Felix to lift the lid on what large language models actually are, why they're brilliant at…
- We Need to Talk About...
Pace or People? Why PE-Backed Businesses Shouldn't Have to Choose with Jonny Friedman
Jonny Friedman, Chief People Officer at Acumetis Global, joins Felix to talk about what happens when you merge five businesses into one across nine countries -…
- We Need to Talk About...
Building HR Teams That Make Leaders Better with Ramneek Sohal
Ramneek Sohal, HR Director at Domestic & General, joins Louise to share what she's learned from 20-plus years of walking into businesses with no HR function…
- We Need to Talk About...
Rethinking Wellbeing at Work with Sam Gibson-Massey
Sam Gibson-Massey, founder of Hope, joins Louise to unpack what proactive wellbeing really looks like once you strip away the gym passes and free pilates…
- We Need to Talk About...
Why You Can't Automate a Pay Decision with Giac Soliman
Giac Soliman, former Director of Compensation at Monzo and founder of Range, joins Louise to explore what AI can and can't do in the world of compensation and…
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Surviving a Toxic Workplace - and Knowing When to Walk Away with Claire Clarke
Claire Clarke, Director of Hospitality People Services at Moore Kingston Smith, joins Louise for an incredibly open conversation about what it's like to walk…
- We Need to Talk About...
Beyond the Policy Document - Women's Health at Work with Céline Crawford
Céline Crawford, Director of Operations at Fertifa, joins Louise to talk about why pay gaps stubbornly refuse to close, what transparent salaries actually do…
- We Need to Talk About...
Talent Reviews That Actually Change Things with Aleksandra Kucza
Aleksandra Kucza, Senior Global HR Director at ACAMS, joins Louise to talk about why talent reviews are one of the most underrated business processes out there…
- We Need to Talk About...
Neurodiversity Is Not a Strategy - It's a Culture with Tim Mitchell
Tim Mitchell, Chief People Officer at the Institute of Cancer Research, joins Felix to talk about what it takes to build a workplace where different ways of…
- We Need to Talk About...
Stop Reinventing the Wheel - Keeping HR Simple with Ellie Evans
Ellie Evans, seasoned Chef People Officer, joins Louise to challenge whether HR is guilty of over-complicating things - from rebranding part-time work as…
- We Need to Talk About...
Redesigning Organisations Around AI, Not Just Restructuring Them with James Zhang
James Zhang, a global HR professional with a background in mathematics, joins Louise to explore how AI is reshaping the way we think about organisational…
- We Need to Talk About...
HR Is the Emotional Backbone of Your Business with Kameka McLean
Kameka McLean, Group Head of HR at Walker Crips Investment Management, joins Felix to talk about why HR professionals are burning out in silence - and what…
- We Need to Talk About...
From Big Corp to SME - Making the Leap in HR with Joanna Holmes
Joanna Holmes, HR Director at Wilsons Solicitors, joins Louise to talk about what it's really like to move from big corporate HR into an SME. After 25 years in…
- We Need to Talk About...
Why 95% of AI Projects Fail - and What to Do About It with Sami Aintaoui
Sami Aintaoui, CEO of MBA Group, joins Felix to talk about what it actually looks like when a mid-sized business gets AI adoption right. From running an AI…
- We Need to Talk About...
Why Is Everyone So Miserable at Work?! With Isabel Berwick
Isabel Berwick, the Financial Times' Working It editor and author of The Future Proof Career, joins Felix to unpack why workforce happiness has taken such a…
- We Need to Talk About...
Building Multiple Companies Simultaneously - Lessons from a Venture Builder with Jasper Joyce
Jasper Joyce, COO of Blenheim Chalcot, joins Felix to discuss what you learn building dozens of companies instead of just one. Jasper shares how they create…
- We Need to Talk About...
Building Psychological Safety and Employee-Centric Workplaces with Jig Ramji
Jig Ramji, HR Director at Informa, joins Felix to discuss whether the employee-centric shift from Covid is here to stay or regressing. Jig shares why work-life…
- We Need to Talk About...
Leading AI Transformation When You've Never Done It Before with John Faulkner-Willcocks
John Faulkner-Willcocks, co-founder of Open Org, joins Louise Fraser to discuss how HR leaders can lead AI transformation without prior experience. John…
- We Need to Talk About...
From Chaos to Scale - Building Processes Without Killing Momentum with Rob Quinn
Rob Quinn, Global Head of Talent and Workforce Planning at Boku, joins Felix to discuss the inflection point when scrappy growth starts breaking things. Rob…
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Don't Start with AI - Start with Why, with Jon Busby
Jon Busby, Director of Product and Technology at Pretzl, joins Felix to discuss why most AI transformations fail before they start. Leading both a four-brand…
- We Need to Talk About...
Can AI Replace the Human Touch in Coaching? with Jennifer Mounce
Jennifer Mounce, Chief People Officer at Gentrack Ltd. trained executive coach, joins Felix to explore whether AI can replicate the deeply human practice of…
- We Need to Talk About...
When AI Replaces Tasks, Not Jobs - Building Careers with Martin Sandhu
Martin Sandhu, co-founder of Nuom & Mindora, joins Felix to discuss what early career professionals should do when traditional entry-level roles are…
- We Need to Talk About...
Intelligence vs Consciousness - Orchestrating AI with Vivek Mehrotra
Vivek Mehrotra, author of a new book on AI orchestration, joins Felix to explore what happens when intelligence becomes abundant and cheap. Moving beyond the…
- We Need to Talk About...
Building Career Pathways When Junior Roles Are Disappearing with Goula Charalambous
Goula Charalambous, a veteran HR leader, joins Felix to tackle a question we're not asking enough - how do we build career pathways when AI is automating away…
- We Need to Talk About...
What Consumer Opinion Tells Us About AI Adoption with William Ullstein
William Ullstein, UK CEO at YouGov, joins Felix to explore the gap between business enthusiasm for AI and consumer scepticism - only 13% of Brits are excited…
- We Need to Talk About...
Leading Through Multiple Change Programmes with Charlie Collard
Charlie Collard, Chief People Officer at Trinity Bridge, joins Felix to discuss navigating multiple transformations simultaneously - from new ownership and CEO…
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Leading HR Through the AI Age with Emma Cooper
Emma Cooper, Chief People Officer at System 1 Group, joins Felix to explore what it takes to lead AI adoption across a workforce. From pilot programmes to…
- We Need to Talk About...
People as a Product: Building Subscription-Worthy Cultures with Kelly Tucker
Kelly Tucker, founder of HR Star, joins Louise to explore treating people strategy like a product. Drawing from 25 years in HR, Kelly explains why employee…
- We Need to Talk About...
Meta Skills for the AI Era: Building Human Capability with Alysha Adams
Alysha Adams, people and culture leader and keynote speaker, joins Louise to explore what AI augmentation really means for humans in the workplace. From why…
- We Need to Talk About...
Culture by Design: Building Kindness into Business Strategy with Claire Smith
Claire Smith, People and Culture Lead at Gunnercooke, joins Felix to explore what it really takes to build culture beyond mission statements and values…
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Going Fractional: Building an HR Consultancy from Redundancy with Riikka Kallio
Riikka Kallio, founder of SpinOps HR Consultancy, joins Felix and Louise to discuss her leap from permanent employment to fractional HR leadership. From the…
- We Need to Talk About...
Hiring for Grit: Why Potential Beats Experience with Linda Low
Linda Low, Head of People and Culture at ESG, joins Felix and Louise to challenge how we think about hiring. From her unconventional journey from finance to…
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Breaking Down Silos: The Future of People and IT Leadership with James Edgar
James Edgar, Chief People Officer at Signature Discovery, joins Felix to discuss his unique dual remit leading both people and IT functions. From navigating…
- We Need to Talk About...
Bridging Theory and Practice: CIPD Authors on Building a Successful HR Career
Felix and Louise host a special roundtable with five CIPD HR Essentials Explained authors: Rebecca Lee (Talent Acquisition), Kinsey Li (People Analytics)…
- We Need to Talk About...
Five Years, Five Promotions: Rewriting Career Rules with Alistair Fenn
Alistair Fenn, Global Chief of Staff at Tide, joins Felix to explore how he went from a People Manager to a Chief of Staff working alongside the C-suite in…
- We Need to Talk About...
Why Most Culture Change Fails & How to Fix It with Paula Brockwell
Paula Brockwell, occupational psychologist and founder of the Employee Experience Project, joins Felix and co-host Louise Fraser to tackle why culture change…
- We Need to Talk About...
Why HR Needs to Own AI Before IT Does with Natalie Sheils
Natalie Sheils, founder and CEO of Talenaut, joins Felix to explore why recruitment is the hardest (not easiest) place to apply AI and what that means for the…
- We Need to Talk About...
Breaking Down Barriers to Female Fitness in the Workplace with Ruth Jackson
Ruth Jackson, Chief People Officer at The Gym Group, joins Felix to explore why female-specific health programmes are transforming workplaces. From training…
- We Need to Talk About...
Why the Best Coaching Happens Outside Meeting Room 3 with Jonathan Stanford
Jonathan Stanford, Head of Talent at Levy UK, joins Felix to challenge everything we think we know about workplace coaching. From 15-minute "micro coaching"…
- We Need to Talk About...
Why 91% of People Aren't Saving Enough for Retirement with Chris Eastwood
Chris Eastwood, CEO of Penfold, joins Felix to tackle the UK's pension crisis - where 91% of people aren't saving enough for a comfortable retirement. From why…
- We Need to Talk About...
When It's Time to Leave Your Job (And How to Do It Right) with Laura Kane
Laura Kane, seasoned Chief HR Officer with over 25 years of experience, joins Felix to explore one of the trickiest decisions in today's job market - knowing…
- We Need to Talk About...
Why Being Constantly Busy Is Killing Your Performance with Chris Lovett
Chris Lovett, leadership coach and author, joins Felix to challenge the toxic culture of busyness that's plaguing modern workplaces. From why a third of all…
- We Need to Talk About...
Why Bad Systems Beat Good Players Every Time with Will Fraser
Will Fraser, founder of 100 & First and former Saracens rugby player, joins Felix to explore why high-performing teams aren't built on talent alone. From the…
- We Need to Talk About...
Why High Performers Need Coaching More Than Ever with Sharon Tattan
Sharon Tattan, Head of Talent Learning & Development at Forsters, joins Felix to explore why coaching isn't a luxury for high performers - it's essential. From…
- We Need to Talk About...
2025 Employment Law: What Business Leaders Need to Know with Lucinda Chaplin
Lucinda Chaplin, Legal Director at Shakespeare Martineau, joins Felix to break down the UK government's biggest shake-up of workers' rights in a generation…
- We Need to Talk About...
The Future of Workplace Wellbeing with Luke Bullen
Luke Bullen, VP UK at Wellhub, joins Felix to explore why traditional workplace wellbeing initiatives fall short and how to create sustainable programmes that…
- We Need to Talk About...
Leading Through Disruption with James Hutt
James Hutt, founder of Paradigm Junction, joins Felix to explore how leaders can navigate the AI revolution without falling into common traps. From encouraging…
- We Need to Talk About...
Building HR Tech Stacks That Actually Work with Heath Buck
Heath Buck, Chief People Officer at Atmos Wealth, joins Felix to lift the hood on building HR tech stacks that genuinely transform how teams operate. From…
- We Need to Talk About...
Breaking the Menopause Taboo in the Workplace with Angela Wilkins-Green
Angela Wilkins-Green, founder of Green Path Coaching, joins Felix to tackle a topic that affects half the workforce yet remains taboo in most workplaces -…
- We Need to Talk About...
100 Episode Special - Live Panel Discussion! Building AI Resilient Teams With A Human Touch
A special live episode recorded at LinkedIn HQ to celebrate our 100th episode milestone. Felix is joined by an expert panel including Claire Williams (COO…