We had a fantastic day with alumni and delegates at our Showcase Masterclass 2024 last week and it was brilliant to see so many of them from across our programmes, from our very first cohort from 2012 up to LEAD™ Cohort 24 delegates who started last month! 

A huge Thank You to our speakers from our annual Showcase Masterclass last week who spoke so openly and shared what they are doing in their businesses using tools, techniques and models learned on our LEAD™, GOLD™, GAIN™, bespoke programmes and MBA projects. With over 80 delegates and alumni gathered for the Masterclass, each of the presentations was truly engaging and inspiring, and it was wonderful to hear their stories and successes 🎉

Read more to hear what they spoke about and scroll through our photo gallery at the end.

Growing a Business and Taking your People with You: First we heard from LEAD™ and GOLD™ alumnus, Adam Padmore Managing Director of Rappor who shared how the business has grown to 70 employees across 6 offices and how they strive to harness the belief and passion of their people as they continue to grow and develop. Adam talked about their 4 non-negotiable values and how they prioritise wellbeing as well as carefully structuring the balance of communication, recognition and reward, and celebration. It's no coincidence that Rappor won the Best Place to Work award at this year's SoGlos Gloucestershire Business Awards and continue to #InspireBelief.  Thank you Adam and well done!   

Next was LEAD™, GOLD™ and GAIN™ alumnus Andy Barham, Managing Director of Premiere Kitchens, who shared how they tackle the challenges in a fast growing organisation. He spoke of how deeply understanding who their customers are and what they want meant that when they created their corporate goals using the 4 Ps of Planet, People, Productivity and Profits, every employee was on-board. Andy shared the road-map they have put in place for achieving the 4 Ps, and how they look to the future. Mapping core accountabilities across the organisation based on their road-map has provided a visible development pathway and line of sight through the business. Thank you for sharing so much with us, Andy, and inspiring belief in so many!

Andy Barham, Managing Director, Premiere Kitchens

Next we listened to Mark Stewart, CEO of Stewart Golf who shared his discoveries from his MBA project. Having completed LEAD™ - GOLD™ - GAIN™ and recently graduated with his MBA, Mark shared advanced research with his peers on how AI can improve the marketing and customer care functions of the business. With AI here to stay, the focus was on how to use this free and accessible tool to augment human creativity and productivity and make it work for you and your business. Thanks, Mark, for inspiring belief in your peers and for encouraging us all to be curious and try it out!

Mark Stewart, CEO, Stewart Golf

Having also been through our LEAD™, GOLD™ and GAIN™ programmes and successfully undertaken and achieved his MBA, Dan Hodgson, Chief Commercial Officer of Prima Dental, shared how he has been bringing all the tools, models and his learning from the past 8 years together. Building on the foundation of their values with 4 Pillars of Partners, Productivity, Process and People, Dan showed how they use these to drive innovation and growth across the organisation.  

Thanks, Dan, for giving us all an insight into the pursuit of better - a true #InspireBelief moment!

Dan Hodgson, CCO, Prima Dental

The final session of the day was with a panel of speakers who talked us through the Good Growth Challenge they undertook in July as part of their GAIN™ programme. Dividing the GAIN™ delegates into two teams, each team went into a different LEAD™ company to develop a strategy for the host business and by doing so, developed and enriched their understanding of how businesses can innovate products, services, systems and structures to realise Good Growth.

Good Growth is the concept of growth in revenue and profits alongside growth in employee capability, knowledge and innovation, productivity, customer experience and growth in our communities and environments. Thank you to Gary Smith, Founder and Non-Executive Director, Optimising IT and Amy Hough, Client Services Director, Workplace Interiors Co for sharing their stories as the host companies, and thank you to Victoria Petkovic-Short, Managing Director, APT Marketing & PR and Kirsty Day, Director of Recovery, The Nelson Trust, for sharing their teams' experiences of the challenge.

The speaker panel, talking about the Good Growth Challenge, L-R:Gary Smith, Amy Hough, Victoria Petkovic-Short and Kirsty Day

It was a fantastic day bringing so many senior leaders together to hear from each other, catch up with their peers and make new acquaintances - thank you to all of you for your continued support!

If you are interested in receiving more information about our programmes and how they may benefit you, your team and your organisation, please get in touch with us here.

  The Speakers

Have a scroll through the photo gallery and see who was there 

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