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The Lockdown Lists

The books, films, music, ideas and motivations inspiring our Change Makers in lockdown.

Professor Muhammad Yunus

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Shevaun Haviland, Director General, British Chambers of Commerce

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Charlotte Keenan, Head of Corporate Engagement and Global Head of 10,000 Women, Goldman Sachs

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Cécile Reinaud, Founder of Seraphine and Xavier Mufraggi, CEO of YPO

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Andy Haldane, CEO of the Royal Society of Arts

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Sian Sutherland, co-founder of A Plastic Planet

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Rebecca Ryan, Futurist & Founder of Next Generation Consulting

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Elisa Moscolin, Executive Vice President of Sustainability, Sage

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Jason Knights, Managing Director, Ground Control

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Bruce Daisley, Author, Fortitude

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Eric Collins, CEO & Co-Founder, ImpactX Capital

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Duncan Goodhew MBE, Olympic Swimming Gold Medallist

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Bella Lack, Conservationist and Campaigner

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Taban Shoresh, Founder, Lotus Flower

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Dr Grace Lordan, Founding Director, The Inclusion Initiative, London School of Economics

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Romi Savova, Founder & CEO, PensionBee

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Tom McGillyCuddy, Co-Founder, Circa5000

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Rosanna Machado, CEO, HM The Queen's Platinum Jubilee Pageant

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Milan Kocic, Head of Sixth Sense, Hexagon

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Kate Griggs, Founder, Made by Dyslexia

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Gina Badenoch, Founder, Capaxia

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Kim Polman, Co-Founder & Chair, Reboot the Future

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Jenny Costa, Founder, Rubies in the Rubble

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Juergen Maier CBE, Co-founder, vocL

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Garvita Gulhati, Founder, Why Waste?

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Andrew Roughan, Managing Director, Plexal

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Hardeep Rai, Founder & Director, Kaleidoscope Group

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Dr Elin Haf Davies, Founder, Aparito

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Dan Glass, Human Rights Campaigner, Writer & Performer

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Pascale Lauber and Ulrike Bauschke, Founders of Paragon 700

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Peter Flavel, CEO, Coutts

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Jane Thynne, Author, Widowland

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Meg Mason, Author, Sorrow and Bliss

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Ben Saunders, Polar Explorer & Campaigner

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Christina Bengtsson, Author & Global Thought Leader

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Thea Maria Carlson, Environmental Activist & Ambassador, Dirt Charity

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Joe Foster, Co-Founder, Reebok

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Galahad Clark, Founder, Vivobarefoot

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Kamal Ahmed, Editor-in-Chief and Co-founder, The News Movement

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Anil Sebastian, Artist, Producer and Vocalist

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Maryam Meddin, Founder & CEO, The Soke

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Wilbert Das and Bob Shevlin, Founders of Uxua Casa

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Bob Wigley, Chair, UK Finance

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Sonu Shivdasani and Eva Malmström, Soneva

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Maggie Miller and Hannah Nokes, Founders, Magnify Impact

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Robin and Judy Hutson, Founders, The Pig

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Dr Eliza Filby, Generations Expert & Historian of Contemporary Values

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Gavin Esler, Journalist, Presenter & Author

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Leena Nair, Chief Human Resources Officer, Unilever

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Phil Libin, Co-Founder & CEO of mmhmm

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Sir Ken Olisa OBE, Lord-Lieutenant of Greater London

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Sheree Atcheson, Global Director of Diversity and Inclusion, Valtech

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Kenneth Cukier, Author & Senior Editor, The Economist

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Mary Ann Sieghart, Journalist, Broadcaster & Author

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Richard Curtis CBE, Screenwriter, Director & Campaigner

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Deborah Williams, Founder, The Women's Association

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Charley Boorman, Travel Writer & Presenter

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Nick English, Co-founder, Bremont

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Dr Scilla Elworthy, Peace Builder

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Revd Joanna Jepson, Anglican Priest, Campaigner & Author

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Lord Alf Dubs, Politician and Refugee Campaigner

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Lord William Waldegrave, Politician and Provost, Eton College

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Carl Scramm, Economist & Author

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Neeta Patel CBE, CEO, Centre for Entrepreneurs

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Sir Charlie Mayfield, Chair, Be the Business

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James O'Brien, Broadcaster & Author

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Beatie Wolfe, Musician

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Brigette Bard, Founder & CEO, BioSure UK

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Baroness Nicola Blackwood, Chair, Genomics England

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Rob Law MBE, Founder & CEO, Trunki

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Claire Warner, Co-founder, Æcorn

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Arizona Muse, Model & Activist

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Mark Cuddigan, CEO, Ella's Kitchen

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Paul Drechsler CBE, Chair, London First

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Dame Evelyn Glennie DBE, Percussionist

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John Rutter CBE, Composer & Conductor

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Bill Drayton, Founder & CEO, Ashoka

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Ara Kusuma, Ashoka Young Changemaker

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Richard Walker, Managing Director, Iceland Foods

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Amy Williams, Founder & CEO, Good-Loop

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Melanie Reid MBE, Journalist

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Stephanie Boyce, Vice President, The Law Society

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Lord Michael Grade CBE, Television Executive

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Colleen Amos OBE and Baroness Amos, Founders, The Amos Bursary

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Richard Butler and Daniel Nurse, The Amos Bursary

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Mark Gatiss, Screenwriter & Actor

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Joseph Galliano, Co-founder and CEO, Queer Britain

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Sir Michael Morpurgo OBE

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Yanis Varoufakis

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Lord Jim O'Neill

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Dr Pippa Malmgren

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Ryan C. Crocker

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Alison Goldsworthy

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Tamara Lohan MBE

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Anna Brailsford

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Professor Muhammad Yunus

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Jeremy Silver

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Sharmadean Reid

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Edeline Lee

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Lucy Cleland

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Charmian Love

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Holly Tucker

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General David Petraeus

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Sir Max Hastings

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Izzy Obeng

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Whitney Bromberg Hawkings

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Nana Badu

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Gavin Poole

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Poppy Jamie

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Mathieu Flamini

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James Chen

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Valerie Keller

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Maurice Ostro OBE

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Anne Sebba

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Justin Webb

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Matt Scheckner

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Baroness McGregor-Smith CBE

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Paul Lindley OBE

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Kerry Kennedy

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Benn Cunningham and Charlotte Ansbergs

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Rory Bremner

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Eileen Burbidge MBE

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Sir Anthony Seldon

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Natalie Campbell

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Margarete McGrath

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Dayne Turbitt

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Cephas Williams

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Kate and Ella Robertson

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Russ Shaw

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Wayne Hemingway MBE, Co-founder, Hemingway Design

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Caroline Casey, Founder, The Valuable 500

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Will Butler Adams

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Renée Elliott

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Stephen Welton

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Lord Bilimoria CBE DL

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David Richards

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LOCKDOWN LIST

Professor Muhammad Yunus

Is there a book that inspired you/impacted your work?

Not any particular book. Have drawn inspiration from different books at different times.

What is your lockdown soundtrack?

Beethoven, symphony no 5.

Have a listen to the Change Makers Lockdown Playlist.

In one sentence, describe your new normal.

The pandemic has given us a chance to change the direction of the world from total annihilation to creating a new civilization of sharing and caring, and making the planet perpetually safe.

Who is your biggest inspiration and why?

Nelson Mandela. For his commitment to people, rising above race, tribe, political affiliation. Holding on to love for people despite extreme political and physical risks.

What is your best tip for life?

Imagine the world you want to be in, and go for it, defying everything that tries to stop you.

LOCKDOWN LIST

Shevaun Haviland, Director General, British Chambers of Commerce

What is a book that has changed your life?

I would have to go with Connect by John Browne which I bought for myself when I had just joined the Cabinet Office. It’s all about business with purpose and prioritising radical engagement between business and wider society. Joining the Civil Service as an impact investor I already had a strong passion for business as a force for good – but Connect really helped shift my mindset and remains at the forefront today – radical engagement between businesses and society is after all at the heart of the Chambers of Commerce.

What are you watching at the moment?

Whilst perhaps not the most thought-provoking watch on TV at the moment, I confess that my go-to on an evening is Jack Reacher. After a long day you just can’t go wrong with mindless American action and drama – the definition of escapism TV.

Who is your biggest inspiration?

Without a doubt I’d have to say Paul Polman, the former CEO of Unilever. My dad worked for Unilever for 30 years and I spent a good chunk of my childhood growing up in Wirral in Port Sunlight, the village that was built  just for their workers. He was one of the first believers in the importance of looking after your people, and that labour is more than just labour. By building housing and looking after his people he showed the world that you can build profitable businesses, and do right by your people at the same time.

What is your best tip for life?

I have two: ‘Say yes to every opportunity’ and ‘See the world as soon as you can’.

What is your quote for life?

One that I had stuck to the wall of my childhood bedroom was – ‘Pourquoi Pas?’ Or ‘Why Not?’ as in – just give it a go! Very much in line with my best tip for life!

What five tracks are you listening to at the moment?

  1. Dancing in the Moonlight by Toploader (a favourite of mine and my sons)
  2. 1999 by Prince (who coincidentally is my favourite artist of all time)
  3. If you were to ask any of my friends they would probably say, Walking on Sunshine by Katrina And The Waves.
  4. My go-to song when I go out running is 9-5 by Dolly Parton.
  5. And lastly, my wedding song which was My First My Last My Everything by Barry White – where my husband actually surprised me on the big day by hiring a Barry White lookalike to be the DJ at our reception.

LOCKDOWN LIST

Charlotte Keenan, Head of Corporate Engagement and Global Head of 10,000 Women, Goldman Sachs

What is a book that changed your life?

Shadowlands, CS Lewis

What are you watching at the moment?

SAS Rogue Heroes

 

Who is your biggest inspiration?

My mother, and Deborah James

In one sentence describe your 'new normal'

The next decade of my life will be the best yet

What is your best tip for life?

Many!

  1. Sleep on it
  2. No one else cares about what you care about in the same way you do
  3. Believe in yourself
  4. Drink water when you wake up

 

What is your favourite quote?

“I didn’t have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead”, Blaise Pascal

What five songs would make up your life soundtrack?

  1. Gabriel’s Oboe – The Mission
  2. Windmills of your Mind – Dusty Springfield
  3. Nimrod – Elgar
  4. The Winner Takes it All – Abba
  5. Scheherazade – Rimsky-Korskov

LOCKDOWN LIST

Cécile Reinaud, Founder of Seraphine and Xavier Mufraggi, CEO of YPO

What is a book that changed your life?

Cecile: The Diving Bell and The Butterfly, Jean Dominique Baudy.

Xavier: The Happiness Advantage: The Seven Principles of Positive Psychology that Fuel Success and Performance at Work, Shawn Achor

What are you watching at the moment?

Cecile: The Playlist, a Netflix series on Spotify’s founder.

Xavier: Breakpoint, a Netflix series on tennis.

 

Who is your biggest inspiration?

Xavier: My wife. She has an amazing ability to connect with people with genuine empathy.

In one sentence describe your 'new normal'

Cecile: Travelling to India with YPO! I am so excited to be able to discover new parts of the world after the pandemic.

Xavier: More virtual, less authentic – more work, more family time.

 

What is your best tip for life?

Cecile: “Keep looking forward.”

Xavier: “What would you do if you were not afraid” Zuckerberg to Sandberg – Lean in.

 

A quote for life?

Cecile: “Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage” Anais Nin

Xavier: “Be your authentic self”

What five tracks are on your playlist?

Cecile: 

  • Autumn Leaves, Chet Baker
  • My Funny Valentine, Miles Davis
  • Power of love, Celine Dion
  • On earth as it is in heaven, Ennio Morricone

Xavier: 

  • The One, Taylor Swift
  • Ready for it, Taylor Swift (yes I am a swfity! even more than my two girls.)
  • 1901, Phoenix
  • Everybody Dance Now, C+C factory (promise you will love hearing it again in your car on a Friday afternoon)
  • Leia, I Muvrini (corsican music for a long road-trip)

 

LOCKDOWN LIST

Andy Haldane, CEO of the Royal Society of Arts

What is a book that changed your life?

Steven Pinker, The Better Angels of Our Nature 

What are you watching at the moment?

Rubbish! Although I saw ‘A Man Called Otto’ last night and loved it.

Who is your biggest inspiration?

Muhammed Ali

In one sentence describe your 'new normal'

The new normal is not drawn from a normal distribution.

What is your best tip for life?

Patience and practise pays off

A quote for life?

Be the change you wish to see in the world

What five tracks are on your playlist?

Daydream Believer, The Monkees

A Rainy Night in Soho, The Pogues

Cavalleria Rusticana, Mascgni

Reach, S Club 7

The Fields of Athenry, The Dubliners

LOCKDOWN LIST

Sian Sutherland, co-founder of A Plastic Planet

What is a book that changed your life?

The Four Agreements – I give it at least 8 times a year, my whole family have had to read it and all my mates. It is so simple and if we taught these in school, what a different world we would live in.

What are you watching at the moment?

I love a good miniseries – Sopranos to Miss America. Right now I’m watching Michael Pollen ‘How to Change Your Mind’, and it’s working, I’m kinda obsessed by the potential of psychedelics – in the right hands.

Who is your biggest inspiration?

My mother – long story. Basically the Sound of Music…

In one sentence describe your 'new normal'

Waking up every morning EXCITED to see what we can make happen. It usually starts with a 7am F45 gym session with black coffee and keeps that upward energy trajectory from then on, running around London, or whatever city I am in.  A LOT of time talking to my computer.  Work Life Balance is something I have always queried.  What does it even mean?

What is your best tip for life?

We have a duty to be joyful.  We are the lucky ones.

A quote for life?

If it was easy, everyone would do it. It is meant to be hard; get over it.

What five tracks are on your playlist?

John Mayer – chill down time and never fails me

Queen – huge fan in my teens, anything from Freddie makes me happy

Disco Inferno – I love to dance and this is the best disco track ever

and whatever my sons tell me I like – they are the playlists of my best times.

LOCKDOWN LIST

Elisa Moscolin, Executive Vice President of Sustainability, Sage

What is a book that has changed your life?

Not a book, a trip to Ecuador when I was 16 changed my life and made sustainability my mission.

What are you watching at the moment?

According to Netflix: Cocomelon – I suspect my son has something to do with this.

What is your best tip for life?

My grandma’s words “just death is permanent, everything else you can change or do something with”

Who is your biggest inspiration?

Professionally, Bob Collymore, my former CEO at Vodafone Kenya. An amazing leader and human being.

A quote for life if you have one?

More of a mantra than a quote: Try your best to leave things a bit better than when you found them.

What tracks are you listening to right now?

  • The wheels on the bus
  • Twinkle twinkle little star
  • Itsy bitsy spider

… my son also curates my playlist

LOCKDOWN LIST

Jason Knights, Managing Director, Ground Control

What is a book that has changed your life?

Pale Blue Dot by Carl Sagan

What are you watching at the moment?

Schitts Creek; I just love the building of the characters and discovering what is important associated with having a good family and kind and caring relationships. Laughter and love are the most valuable assets you will ever have.

Who is your biggest inspiration? 

Anything to do with sport whether Sean Fitzpatrick, Gary Player, Arnold Palmer or Jack Nicklaus . The work ethic and using everything you have to make the most of a situation and deliver either as one or a team!

What is your best tip for life?

The one we are all on ‘life’ It’s a trip don’t waste any part, you only have one go of it!

A quote for life if you have one?

The more I practice the luckier I get… Never take anything for granted. Work hard and achieve it!

What tracks are you listening to right now?

  • Pulp – Common People this reminds me of university and makes me smile!!!
  • Jamiroquai – Space Cowboy
  • Passenger – Let her go
  • Bruno Mars – Count on me
  • Cypress Hill – Insane in the Brain

LOCKDOWN LIST

Bruce Daisley, Author, Fortitude

What is a book that has changed your life?

I wish more people would list novels when asked questions like this. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey was wonderful and has had way more impact me than any business book.

In non fiction, I adored Humankind by Rutger Bregman. Thoughtful, convincing and makes you want to gift it to friends.

What are you watching at the moment?

The answer to this for 25 weeks of the year is tennis. The squeaky floor hard court tennis of the second half of the year is a true delight and is a much more interesting strain of the sport.

Who is your biggest inspiration?

Tony Blair achieved more than his critics will ever dream of accomplishing.

What tracks are you listening to right now?

  • Tove Stryke – YouYouYou
  • Murkage Dave – I had a nice time but I won’t be back
  • Rina Sawayama – This hell
  • Calvin Harris & Busta Rhymes – Ready or Not
  • Rex Orange County – Open a window

LOCKDOWN LIST

Eric Collins, CEO & Co-Founder, ImpactX Capital

What is a book that has changed your life?

A Raisin in The Sun.  This play by Lorraine Hansberry was the first, by a Black woman, to be performed on Broadway (sometimes called the Great White Way).  The story of a family struggling internally and externally with change in the heat of the US Civil Rights era, is a universal narrative about upward mobility and progress.   What can we keep and what must we shed as we climb the ladder.  The more challenging question is can everyone make the climb with us.  Although revived and adapted many times for stage and screen, it is the written version that changed me for good.

What are you watching at the moment?

YouTube. The endless stream of delight and surprise I receive is truly a joy. I recommend that you immediately find a clip of Stevie Wonder and Tom Jones singing a medley of hits. Rarely have a baritone and tenor made such sweet harmony.

Who is your biggest inspiration?

My parents, who deliberately chose to raise their family in the turbulent yet changing American South.

In one sentence, describe your ‘new normal’

Google Meeting and sneakers (aka trainers).

What is your best tip for life?

Get some sleep, a bit of exercise, some water, and a good friend or two.

A quote for life (if you have one)

As my religious father said “If you want your prayers answered, then get off your knees and hustle”.

What tracks are you listening to right now?

  • To groove: Chic / Nile Rodgers – I want your love (extended play version)
  • For inspiration: Kirk Franklin arrangement – Joyful, Joyful
  • To get me moving: Donna Summer – Last Dance
  • To relax me: Burt Bacharach / Hal David – A House is Not a Home (sung by Dionne Warwck, Luther Vandross or The Carpenters)
  • To remind me: Earth, Wind and Fire – September

LOCKDOWN LIST

Duncan Goodhew MBE, Olympic Swimming Gold Medallist

What is a book that has changed your life?

Wild Justice by Wilbur Smith. The book I was reading in the holding room just before winning gold.

What are you watching at the moment?

Gentleman Jack, BBC

Who is your biggest inspiration?

My father, who died when I was in my teens, and Henry Cooper. Henry’s life philosophy has impacted all I have done since I won gold.

In one sentence, describe your ‘new normal’

The same but different

What is your best tip for life?

You’re only as good as your worst day

A quote for life (if you have one)

Fun’s fun but works more fun, God is in the detail and you have to work to explore it.

What tracks are you listening to right now?

  • Buena Vista Social Club – Chan Chan
  • Rodrigo y Gabriela – Electric Soul
  • Amor Verdadero – Afro Cuban All Stars
  • Oye Como Va – Tito Puente

LOCKDOWN LIST

Bella Lack, Conservationist and Campaigner

What is a book that has changed your life?

Sapiens, and in fact all of Harari’s books.

He talks a lot about a collective belief in fictional realities, such as money, and it made me understand how people create narratives to justify their own actions, and get others to follow along with them, such as capitalism promoting hyper-consumption and supporting mass environmental destruction in the name of ‘progress’.

Making change towards a more sustainable future requires altering these narratives in order to reward ethical and sustainable behaviours as progress.

What are you watching at the moment?

I’m about to start Stranger Things…

Who is your biggest inspiration?

Jane Goodall – legendary.

In one sentence, describe your ‘new normal’

Post A-Level Summer

What is your best tip for life?

Care deeply – but be selective about what you care about. You can’t solve everything, but can have a big impact on what you choose to care about.

A quote for life (if you have one)

“Rather than being overwhelmed by the complexity of the problem, fall in love with the creativity of the solution.” – Mary Heglar

What five tracks are you listening to right now?

  • Vienna – Billy Joel
  • Where is my Mind – Pixies
  • Writer in the Dark – Lorde
  • Babel – Mumford and Sons
  • Beach baby – Bon Iver

LOCKDOWN LIST

Taban Shoresh, Founder, Lotus Flower

What is a book that has changed your life?

A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle

What are you watching at the moment?

Maid, a series on Netflix

Who is your biggest inspiration?

My mother. She instilled the true essence of resilience in me.

In one sentence, describe your ‘new normal’

My new normal post lockdown is getting used to less spontaneous travel.

What is your best tip for life?

Every problem has a solution.

A quote for life (if you have one)

 ‘Be the change you wish to see in the world’ by Mahatma Gandhi

What five tracks are you listening to right now?

  • Jai Jagdeesh – In Dreams
  • Culture Club – Karma Chameleon
  • Whitney Houston – Dance with Somebody
  • Bob Dylan – Forever Young
  • Bee Gees – Stayin’ Alive

LOCKDOWN LIST

Dr Grace Lordan, Founding Director, The Inclusion Initiative, London School of Economics

What is a book that has changed your life?

There is not one book, but for this year I will choose Ryan Holiday’s Courage is Calling

What are you watching at the moment?

Steven Bartlett’s The Diary Of A CEO

Who is your biggest inspiration?

My mum

In one sentence, describe your ‘new normal’

Chilled

What is your best tip for life?

Tame your Fear by doing the thing that drives it over and over.

A quote for life (if you have one)

Think Big, Take Small Steps and Build the Future you Want 😊

What five tracks are you listening to right now?

  • Seven Wonders – Fleetwood Mac
  • Breathe – Blu Cathrall
  • Nemesis – Benjamin Clementine
  • Go Solo – Tom Rosenthal
  • Fire – Gary Clark

LOCKDOWN LIST

Romi Savova, Founder & CEO, PensionBee

What is a book that has changed your life?

I’m perpetually looking for the best Scandi thrillers…each new one manages to shock me for a little while.

What are you watching at the moment?

I’m going to be honest here and admit I’m watching The Ultimatum on Netflix. I love some good reality TV to really unwind.

Who is your biggest inspiration?

PensionBee’s customers inspire me to do more and be better. We regularly share customer stories in our weekly town hall.

In one sentence, describe your ‘new normal’.

I can do it in two words – Mummy CEO.

What is your best tip for life?

Be yourself and have fun in everything you do.

A quote for life?

If it was easy someone else would already be doing it.

What five tracks are you listening to right now?

I love these new remixes that combine old school 90s hits with new takes, such as Dua Lipa’s Love Again. I have a few of those on repeat when I do my daily runs.

LOCKDOWN LIST

Tom McGillyCuddy, Co-Founder, Circa5000

What is a book that has changed your life?

Elon Musk’s biography by Ashlee Vance. Taught me to stop being comfortable and take some risks.

What are you watching at the moment?

Better Call Saul. Breaking Bad is my favourite show of all time.

Who is your biggest inspiration?

In life generally, my parents and grandparents. Came from nothing, didn’t make any excuses, smiled and built great lives for themselves.

In business, Elon Musk. For continually rolling the dice with his own money for the benefit of humanity.

In one sentence, describe your ‘new normal’.

Living in the North, working half in London and half back where I grew up.

What is your best tip for life?

Delete your social media. Go outside.

A quote for life?

Don’t take anything anyone says to you personally. Good or bad.

What five tracks are you listening to right now?

Massive hip-hop fan, so bingeing a few new albums right now:

  1. Kendrick Lamar – N95
  2. Kendrick Lamar – Rich spirit
  3. Kendrick Lamar – Mother I sober
  4. Pusha-T – Just so you remember
  5. Malaa – Notorious 

LOCKDOWN LIST

Rosanna Machado, CEO, HM The Queen's Platinum Jubilee Pageant

What is a book that has changed your life?

Emotional Agility by Susan David

What are you watching at the moment?

Collateral on Netflix

Who is your biggest inspiration?

My Mum

In one sentence, describe your ‘new normal’.

There is never a normal. I try to embrace uncertainty and see where the world takes me.

What is your best tip for life?

Treat everyone you meet with respect.

What are you listening to right now?

The lockdown playlist that I do daily with 5 friends – the only criteria being you have to choose a song that brings you joy.

LOCKDOWN LIST

Milan Kocic, Head of Sixth Sense, Hexagon

What is a book that has changed your life?

The Design of Everyday Things by Don Norman

What are you watching at the moment?

Billions and Rasied by Wolves

Who is your biggest inspiration?

My mother.

In one sentence, describe your ‘new normal’.

Too many meetings. Not enough exercise. General anxiety.

What is your best tip for life?

Do not worry about things you have no control over.Be a nice person.

A quote for life?

  • Be curious, not judgmental – Walt Whitman
  • Confidence is silent, insecurities are loud’  

What five tracks made up your current soundtrack?

  • Touch – Big Wild
  • The Last Goodbye – ODESZA
  • Corps – Yseult
  • Inner Light – Elderbrook and Bob Moses
  • Cherry – Jungle

LOCKDOWN LIST

Kate Griggs, Founder, Made by Dyslexia

What is a book that has changed your life?

Two books have changed my life:

  • A Whole New Mind: why right brainers will rule the future by Dan Pink
  • Stroke of Insight by Jill Bolte Taylor

When I was doing my research into Dyslexic Thinking skills these books both contributed to my lightbulb moment because they extol the virtues of “right-brained” thinking and its value in the future. ‘Right brained thinking’ is Dyslexic Thinking.

What are you watching at the moment?

This is Us. It’s such a beautiful isight into family dynamics and their strengths, weaknesses and twists. And the way it switches between the past, current and future is a really moving tale of how the balance within families changes over time… and why its’ important to value each other, and every minute.

Who is your biggest inspiration?

Probably Erin Brockovich the consumer, environment activist who. She is dyslexic and despite only being educated as a legal clark she built and won a case against the giant Pacific Gas and Electricity getting compensation for thousands of people.  I love seeing brave individuals taking on giants and winning…she believed in her cause, knew her end goal and just didn’t give up. It teaches us all that passion and purpose can win. It was made into a great movie too.

In one sentence, describe your ‘new normal’.

A world without standardised tests, where everyone (young and old) is valued for their individual strengths, not measured and compared to outdated norms.

What is your best tip for life?

Lean into your superpowers and delegate your kryptonite. When you do what you’re good at you love what you do, and your challenges will be someone else superpower. This is essential for dyslexics but great for any team.

A quote for life?

 “Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it” Roald Dahl 

What five tracks made up your current soundtrack?

  • Life on Mars – David Bowie
  • Our House – Crosby Stills and Nash 
  • This Feeling – Alabama Shakes
  • Time Machines – Edward Knocks
  • Empire State of Mind – JayZ and Alicia Keys

LOCKDOWN LIST

Gina Badenoch, Founder, Capaxia

What is a book that has changed your life?

The Art of Happiness, and The Power Of Now

What are you watching at the moment?

  • My Octopus Teacher
  • Inventing Anna
  • 14 Peaks
  • The Social Dilemma

Who is your biggest inspiration?

A mix of people, I believe it is hard to have all in one person… my parents, friends, my niece, Mandela, my team even my adopted dog Luna inspires me. I have learned in life to surround myself with diverse group of people who contribute into my life helping become a better version of myself. It is the mix of skills, ideas, cultural, emotional and intellectual intelligence which inspire me.

In one sentence, describe your ‘new normal’.

Dance to the rhythm of life with curiosity and surrender with an open heart and mind, listening to my intuition.

What is your best tip for life?

Focus on what you DO have, observing, trusting and letting go and remember the NO you already have it go for the YES in life in order to make things happen you need to move. Be an explorer and dancer in life.

A quote for life?

“When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change” – Wayne Dyer

What five tracks made up your current soundtrack?

  • My way – Frank Sinatra
  • Danit – Lunita
  • Shallow – Lady Gaga
  • If you want to sing out, sing out – Cat Stevens
  • Only time – Enya

LOCKDOWN LIST

Kim Polman, Co-Founder & Chair, Reboot the Future

What is a book that has changed your life?

On care for our Common Home – Pope Francis, Laudato Si’

What are you watching at the moment?

David Attenborough’s Green Planet

Who is your biggest inspiration?

My mother, because she loved so fully for 95 years and sprinkled happy dust on everyone she met.

In one sentence, describe your ‘new normal’.

Live less globally and more locally.

What is your best tip for life?

Get a sense of the infinitude of Love that is a resource for more patience, forgiveness, gratitude, generosity and kindness for others and for all life.

A quote for life?

To work things out in a conflict, understand there is not one truth, find what you have in common, and don’t make judgements.

What tracks are on your current soundtrack?

The artist Cosmo Sheldrake

LOCKDOWN LIST

Jenny Costa, Founder, Rubies in the Rubble

What is a book that has changed your life?

Waste by Tristram Stuart

What are you watching at the moment?

Ted Lasso – so heartwarming and funny. Never judge a book by its cover.

Who is your biggest inspiration?

In work – Paul Polman. Making change from within and being brave to go against those around him.

In one sentence, describe your ‘new normal’.

A better balanced me.

·

What is your best tip for life?

Listen to your gut. The best decisions you will make in life are not made on facts.

A quote for life?

Don’t hold on to things too tightly.

What five tracks made up your current soundtrack?

  • There will be time – Mumford & Sons & Baaba Maal
  • Gamble for a Rose – King Charles
  • Alaska – Maggie Rodgers
  • If I should fall behind – Dusty Springsteen
  • Guiding Light – Mumford & Sons

LOCKDOWN LIST

Juergen Maier CBE, Co-founder, vocL

What is a book that has changed your life?

The road less travelled by M. Scott Peck

What are you watching at the moment?

After Life by Ricky Gervais on Netflix

Who is your biggest inspiration?

Marcus Rashford

In one sentence, describe your ‘new normal’.

Angry at the state of populist politics, but also trying to be more content with life.

What is your best tip for life?

Have a good laugh at least once per day

A quote for life?

Keep learning & re-inventing yourself

 

What five tracks make up your current soundtrack?

A mix of sombre and needing to lift my mood:

  • Cold – Elton John and Dua Lipa
  • Anything Abba
  • It’s a Sin – Years & Years (also an amazing series)
  • Don’t let the sun go down on me – George Michael & Elton John
  • You raise me up – Josh Groban

LOCKDOWN LIST

Garvita Gulhati, Founder, Why Waste?

What is a book that has changed your life?

Factfulness, it made me look at change-making from a brand new lens and re-energized me to address it with a new perspective. Also, Sapiens, it helped me learn so much about why we are the way we are, life started to make sense!

What are you watching at the moment?

Mahabharata, one of the two epics of India. It is replete with lessons of life.

Who is your biggest inspiration?

Everyone inspires me, especially my family. But, Steve Jobs & Indra Nooyi have been two people I’ve looked upto for as long as I can remember. Steve Jobs’ once said – “Musicians play their instruments, I play the orchestra.” This was a defining moment for me as leader. Indra Nooyi is an incredible leader and female role model, especially for young Indians, and a true force of inspiration. 

In one sentence, describe your ‘new normal’.

Learning to live in the present. 

What is your best tip for life?

Fail fast & fail quickly to build your resilience, strive to persevere and learn quickly and learn more. I believe that everyone has a 1% chance of success in life, especially when you set out to be different and do differently. If you do 1000 things, you’ll succeed 10 times but if you do 100 things, you’ll succeed only once. Doing more will also help you fail fast and learn quickly.

A quote for life?

Your capabilities lie beyond your capacity to believe in them. 

What five tracks make up your current soundtrack?

  • Unstoppable – Sia
  • Believer – Imagine Dragons
  • Willow – Taylor Swift
  • Leaving on a Jet Plane – cover by the Macaroons Project
  • What a Wonderful World – cover by Renee Dominique

LOCKDOWN LIST

Andrew Roughan, Managing Director, Plexal

What is a book that has changed your life?

The Entrepreneurial State by Mariana Mazzucato

What are you watching at the moment?

Succession on HBO

Who is your biggest inspiration and why?

My 9 year old son, Samuel. Seeing him (and his younger brother, Aidan) grow up is like watching your own memories flash before your eyes whilst being able to help design and shape the outcome this time around.

In one sentence, describe your new normal.

New normal is back to the commute and enjoying the physical and mental separation between home and work.

Whats your quote for life?

 “You get what you measure”

What is your best tip for life?

Build a network of collaborators, be kind to them and ask for help every once in a while.

What five songs made up your lockdown soundtrack?

  • Under Pressure – Queen
  • Blinding Lights – The Weeknd
  • Boomerang – Imagine Dragons
  • Hello – Erato
  • Don’t Take the Money – Bleachers

LOCKDOWN LIST

Hardeep Rai, Founder & Director, Kaleidoscope Group

What is a book that has changed your life?

The Bible! That also happens to be the only book I have ever read cover to cover.

What are you watching at the moment?

I don’t watch TV, as usually I don’t have enough spare time, but if I do, I usually have it in the background when I am working on my laptop. Generally, I love any Jurassic Park movie, or anything to do with Planet of the Apes!

Who is your biggest inspiration and why?

My son. He taught me that there is another level of communication that is beyond words. 

 

In one sentence, describe your new normal.

Working with business attire above my waist and casual attire below it! 😊

Whats your quote for life?

Discover what your hidden talent is in life, and use it to do something that gives you happiness.

What is your best tip for life?

“If you lead with purpose, people will follow, and profit will come.”

 

What five songs made up your lockdown soundtrack?

I love this question because I have an extremely eclectic taste in music

  • Thomas Otten – Ombra Ma Fui
  • Era – Don’t go away
  • Andrea Bocelli – If Only (Ft. Dua Lipa)
  • Ten Sharp – You
  • Carpenters – Top of the World

LOCKDOWN LIST

Dr Elin Haf Davies, Founder, Aparito

What is a book that has changed your life?

I loved On the Black Hill when I was younger.

What are you watching at the moment?

Just watched 14 Peaks on Netflix which was pretty impressive.

Who is your biggest inspiration and why?

Too many to list but Florence Nightingale and Betsi Cadwaladar were woman that were well ahead of their time in achievements and aspirations.

In one sentence, describe your new normal.

12 hours of video calls…

Whats your quote for life?

Where the mind goes the body follows 

What is your best tip for life?

 Prepare to be Marmite!

What five songs made up your lockdown soundtrack?

  • Beneath Your Beautiful, Labrinth
  • All About That Bass, Meghan Trainor
  • Mellt, Meinir Gwilym
  • Brace, Sara Bareilles
  • Kings & Queens, Ava Max

LOCKDOWN LIST

Dan Glass, Human Rights Campaigner, Writer & Performer

What is a book that has changed your life?

Let the record Show – A Political History of ACT UP New York 1987-1993’ Sarah Schulman

What are you watching at the moment?

Eastenders.

Who is your biggest inspiration and why?

Amy Winehouse; a creative, hilarious, Jewish powerhouse

In one sentence, describe your new normal.

Ha! I never want to be normal, old or new.

Whats your quote for life?

‘Willem Arondeus: ‘Homosexuals Are Not Cowards’

What is your best tip for life?

Speak your truth to power, always.

What five songs made up your lockdown soundtrack?

  • KOFFEE – Lockdown
  • Celeste – Hear My Voice
  • Mungo’s Hifi – Mungo’s Hi Fi x Gardna & Catching Cairo – Back In The Dayz
  • Charles Aznavour – You’ve Got To Learn
  • Lauryn Hill – Tell Him

LOCKDOWN LIST

Pascale Lauber and Ulrike Bauschke, Founders of Paragon 700

What is a book that has changed your life?

We don’t really have ONE book, everyday life can change something depending on what you are experiencing.

What are you watching at the moment?

We don’t have much time to watch a movie as our like is back to normal, means working… but if so, then an action movie where the bad guys get caught

Who is your biggest inspiration?

Nelson Mandela, we lived 13 years in South Africa…

In one sentence, describe your ‘new normal’

It’s not really new but I think to be healthy is one of God’s best gifts.

What is your best tip for life?

Have a good time and enjoy every single day.

What five tracks would make up your lockdown soundtrack?

The soundtracks for Gladiator and Bel Canto  

LOCKDOWN LIST

Peter Flavel, CEO, Coutts

What is a book that has changed your life?

My Brother Jack, an Australian novel I read in my early teens about an Oz WW1 vet and the difficulties of normal life. My grandfather came back from the Somme and never discussed it, so this was my first idea of the awful impact of war and of WW1 on Oz in particular.

What are you watching at the moment?

Just finished season 2 of the french series, Lupin, and Call my Agent. Loved the latter.

Who is your biggest inspiration and why?

More ‘what’ is my inspiration: I love being inspired by others. Every week I get to interact with so many inspiring people. Just this week at an event with Bernard looney, CEO, BP and hearing how BP are dealing with climate and sustainability.

In one sentence, describe your new normal.

Zoom

What is your best tip for life?

Treat others as you’d expect to be treated yourself and talk with everyone as equals.

What five songs made up your lockdown soundtrack?

Nothing cerebral about this random and quite eclectic list…

  • Look on the bright side of life – Monty Python
  • Hotel California – Eagles
  • Maybe memories of summer youth – Just Like It
  • What a wonderful world – Lois Armstrong
  • Stairway to heaven – Led Zeppelin
  • Finally a crooner, anything Dean Martin or Frank Sinatra singing together in the 60’s

LOCKDOWN LIST

Jane Thynne, Author, Widowland

What is a book that has changed your life?

When I was twelve I remember imbibing Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, the nineteenth century feminist call to arms in which a powerless woman gains agency and learns to make her own moral choices. The story has been replayed numerous times in other novels, such as Rebecca.

Such was its impact on me that I used Jane Eyre as a motif in my new novel Widowland, which is itself about a woman in an authoritarian, oppressive society whose job is to censor the classics of English literature for subversive portrayals of women. Through Jane Eyre, my heroine gains agency and learns to see for herself.

What are you watching at the moment?

I’m having a Le Carré binge, rewatching The Night Manager, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (both Alec Guinness and Gary Oldman) and Smiley’s People.

Who is your biggest inspiration and why?

He’d laugh to hear this, but probably my late husband, Philip Kerr, for his formidable work ethic, his sense of humour and his aggressive Scottish refusal to acknowledge setbacks.

In one sentence, describe your new normal.

Outwardly the same; same writing desk looking out at the same trees, but inwardly transformed in the way I perceive and question both my own assumptions and those of society around me…

What is your best tip for life?

Say yes. Make connections. Go out even when you don’t feel like it. Serendipity shapes lives and life is short so maximise your opportunities.

A quote for life?

So many! But if I can single out two, they would be…

If I am not for myself, who will be for me? If I am not for others, what am I? And if not now, when? – Rabbi Hillel

And William Blake’s manifesto ‘I must create a system or be enslaved by another man’s’

What five songs made up your lockdown soundtrack?

  • Rachmaninov symphony number 2 Op. 27 III Adagio
  • I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free – Nina Simone
  • Mozart Serenade for Winds No. 10 in B-Flat Major K361 ‘Gran Partita’ III Adagio
  • They Don’t Know – Kirsty MacColl
  • Bach the Well-Tempered Clavier Book 1 Prelude C major BWV 846

LOCKDOWN LIST

Meg Mason, Author, Sorrow and Bliss

What is a book that has changed your life?

It was Emma by Jane Austen because I was not a reader when I was growing up and well into my teens, but this was the novel that turned me, at 18, and became a gateway to reading as a voluntarily, desperately-loved pursuit – and decided my career too I suppose.

What are you watching at the moment?

About five minutes into the first episode of the new season of Succession, I realised I remembered absolutely nothing about the previous two, so I have gone back to the beginning.

Hopefully, by the time I’m done, the whole season will have dropped, sparing me the diabolical wait between episodes they’ve decided we have to endure, like it’s 1995.

Who is your biggest inspiration and why?

Hilary Mantel, for what she has been able to achieve as a writer, despite suffering with extreme illness all her life, what supreme endurance it must have taken. That she has managed to write at all in the face of such challenge is inspiring; that she could write like that.

In one sentence, describe your new normal.

Being alone can’t be a condition for writing as it always was for me before because, lockdown first, and now this new way of Covid-living means I am seldom on my own anymore.

What is your best tip for life?

Although it goes against advice – that it’s important to resolve the small, everyday grievances in our nearest relationships, marriages, friendships, siblingships, by talking about them and expressing our feelings – I honestly think, sometimes? Just bottle it up. Bottlers get such bad press, but if the conflict really is a minor one, I think containing your feelings and just waiting for the thing to pass, which they do, is an act of immense generosity, which requires the kind of self-possession and character that should be applauded.

A quote for life?

“Be that as it may.” Like so many people, I have always found letting go of my failures difficult and forgiving myself for them nearly impossible but I always thought it was prerequisite to moving on. A year or two ago I decided to stop trying at self-forgiveness and just exist alongside my failures. To work around them but saying, I failed in these ways but, be that as it may, I am going to proceed.

What five songs made up your lockdown soundtrack?

I did have a playlist called Forced Positivity, inadvertently folk/country in theme, which I made myself listen to when I was feeling quite the opposite: 

  • Light of a Clear Blue Morning by Dolly Parton
  • The Dog Days are Over by Florence + The Machine
  • I am a Rock, by Paul Simon
  • The Road by Emmy Lou Harris
  • Wonder by Natalie Merchant

LOCKDOWN LIST

Ben Saunders, Polar Explorer & Campaigner

What is a book that has changed your life?

In the Footsteps of Scott by Roger Mear and Robert Swan. I wrote about the impact it had on me here: http://scottexpedition.com/blog/ripples-circles/all

What are you watching at the moment?

Right now I’m in a remote corner of the NW Scottish Highlands (with no TV) so I’m watching the clouds rolling over the Foinaven Ridge.

I quite enjoyed Vigil on BBC iPlayer recently though, and I watched Adam Curtis’s Bitter Lake recently, which was profoundly thought-provoking…

Who is your biggest inspiration and why?

We’re currently staying with John Ridgway and his family up in Scotland (he’s 83 now). Working for him as a teenager was a seminal period in my life – he rowed across the Atlantic with Chay Blythe in 1966, and sailed the yacht that’s outside the window here now no less than four times. It was his energy, courage and fierce determination that inspired me then, although these days I can’t help thinking that his wife Marie Christine is the really impressive one…

In one sentence, describe your new normal.

Less travel, more Zoom, lucky to live in the countryside!

 

What is your best tip for life?

Work hard and be nice to people.

A quote for life?

I had my first tattoo this year, aged 43, on the inside of my left wrist. ‘Panta Rhei’ which translates literally as ‘everything flows’ and is an aphorism both Plato and Heraclitus referred to. To me it’s a reminder that nothing is forever, and that everything – even the things we perceive as constants – are always changing. Plato said “Nothing ever is, everything is becoming… all things are in motion like streams… all things are passing, and nothing abides”. 

I also love ‘It is one thing to study war and another to live the warrior’s life.’ — Telamon of Arcadia, mercenary of the fifth century B.C.

What five songs made up your lockdown soundtrack?

The Long Journey Home – Catching Flies

Escape Artist – Zoe Keating

August 10 – Khruangbin

All I Know – Rahzel

Culverhouse – Wardown

 

(I have a pretty rogue taste in music – it’s either for working to, or for working out to…)

LOCKDOWN LIST

Christina Bengtsson, Author & Global Thought Leader

What is a book that has changed your life?

Astrid Lindgren, The brothers Lionheart (as a child) 

Eckhard Tolle, The Power of Now (as an adult)

What are you watching at the moment?

I am not watching anything at the moment

Who is your biggest inspiration and why?

Jane Goodall, because her work and never-ending passion shows that long-term focus has a value, both for the outcome of the work but also for the individual and for the society at large. 

In one sentence, describe your new normal.

My new normal is that many others see my old normal as normal, as I already before the pandemic spent a lot of time home with my son.

What is your best tip for life?

The finest thing you can give to another person is time and attention – think about that as often as you can

A quote for life?

“I have time because there is so much I don’t need to do”

What five songs made up your lockdown soundtrack?

The show must go on – Queen

Bed of roses – John bon Jovi

Military March, Marche Militaire – Franz Schubert

Con Te Partirò – Andrea Bocelli

Lose my mind – Myra Granberg

LOCKDOWN LIST

Thea Maria Carlson, Environmental Activist & Ambassador, Dirt Charity

What is a book that has changed your life?

Mindful of Race, Ruth King

What are you watching at the moment?

Who is your biggest inspiration?

Rowen White, an Indigenous seed steward and farmer.

In one sentence, describe your ‘new normal’.

I am surrounded by the devastation of a landscape and community burned by wildfire, juxtaposed with the beauty and resilience of wildflowers and hummingbirds and resprouting trees.

What is your best tip for life?

It’s the everyday moments that matter. Practice being present here and now.

Quote for life?

“Love and justice are not two. Without inner change, there can be no outer change; without collective change, no change matters.”

― angel Kyodo williams

What were your lockdown tracks?

  • Switch Lanes – Tkay Maidza
  • Grew Inside the Water – Mimi Gilbert
  • Howl – The Bones of J.R. Jones
  • U Know What’s Up – Donell Jones
  • La Vida Es Un Carnaval – Celia Cruz

LOCKDOWN LIST

Joe Foster, Co-Founder, Reebok

What is a book that has changed your life?

An American Websters dictionary. In 1943 I was given this as prize as an 8 year in a running race. I found the name Reebok in this dictionary in 1960.

What are you watching at the moment?

Sport, I’m currently following the F1 season.

Who is your biggest inspiration?

Winston Churchill.

In one sentence, describe your ‘new normal’.

Get your vaccine and wear your mask.

What is your best tip for life?

Trust your gut instincts.

Quote for life?

Just keep going.

What were your lockdown tracks?

I am not that into music so I don’t have playlists, but my playlist would be a mixture of Benny Goodman and ABBA. 

LOCKDOWN LIST

Galahad Clark, Founder, Vivobarefoot

What is a book that has changed your life?

Cry the Beloved Country by Alan Paton

What are you watching right now?

Dave Chapelle. Closer! 

Who is your biggest inspiration?

My great-grandfather

What is your best tip for life?

Try a Swimrun!

A quote for life?

“At the end of our exploring we come back to the beginning and know the place for the very first time”

What five tracks would make up your lockdown soundtrack?

  • I can Change – John Legend
  • Barefooting – Robert Parker
  • A change is gonna come – Sam Cook
  • Changes – Tupac
  • Everything must change – Nina Simone

LOCKDOWN LIST

Kamal Ahmed, Editor-in-Chief and Co-founder, The News Movement

What is a book that has changed your life?

The Trouble with Donovan Croft by Bernard Ashley. I read this book as a child and I still remember the wonderful emotions it sparked in me. It’s about a black child who is fostered by a white family. It is a book about pain and redemption and spoke deeply to me about the need to listen and consider other points of view.

What are you watching at the moment?

Better Call Saul on Netflix. The Breaking Bad prequel is a joy.

Who is your biggest inspiration? 

Professionally, Roger Alton, the former editor of The Observer who taught me that journalism is about the reader, the audience – it’s not about you.

Personally, my partner and my children.

In one sentence, describe your ‘new normal’.

“Listen more.”

What is your best tip for life?

“Engage with the quietest person in the room.”

A quote for life?

 “Friends and I have fun along the way” (from Keep on Moving by Soul II Soul)

What five tracks would make up your lockdown soundtrack?

  • Freedom Suite Young Disciples
  • Do Nothing The Specials
  • Keep on Moving Soul II Soul
  • Lane Boy twenty one pilots
  • Symphony No. 2 in E Minor Sergei Rachmaninov

LOCKDOWN LIST

Anil Sebastian, Artist, Producer and Vocalist

What is a book that has changed your life?

The Buddha of Suburbia by Hanif Kureishi.

David Bowie did the soundtrack to the BBC four part adaptation. I love how Kureishi’s novels always have such a strong musical narrative running through them. The main character, Karim, is a queer mixed race kid from South London – a true inbetweener, belonging nowhere. I read it around the same age he is in the novel. It woke me up and made me laugh and see myself in a whole new light. I always picture Ab Fab’s Edina Monsoon being one of the wanna-be mystics beguiled by Karim’s dad posturing as the Buddha of Suburbia.

What are you watching at the moment?

Pose. It’s pure queer excellence (even if it does go full Glee in season 3). It’s not just Mother Electra’s corrosive tongue and legendary reads, the sickening beauty, ball room scenes and Mother Bianca’s perfect exemplification of chosen family. The trans narrative has always been either erased, miss told or weaponised – Pose reclaims that and sets the bar in a new place. More than that, for me, it’s edified the tenet that joy is an act of resistance. We owe so much of our culture – our freedom of expression, our music, our fashion to ball culture and to the trans, black, brown and latinx homeless queers that created it.

Who is your biggest inspiration?

For me inspiration is always in unexpected places. There’s a lot to be said for The Butterfly Effect and how one small interaction can pivot you in a different direction if you pay attention. I’m creating a piece of music with a group of young refugees to welcome Little Amal, a giant puppet of a 9 year old Syrian refugee to Folkestone, Kent (where I live). Most of them are here without their parents – and arrived with nothing but themselves. To be stripped back to that place and still achieve incredible things, to be able to laugh, reclaim joy, keep going and find chosen family reminded me a lot of Ball Room culture.

In one sentence, describe your ‘new normal’.

Since having had Covid, I found myself feeling lucky and alive with a new, very strange sense of calm – and bizarrely, despite only having about 60% of the energy I used to, I’m able to focus it on what really matters to me like never before.

What is your best tip for life?

Normalise changing your mind. That and that anger is initiatory, not transformative. But I think best of all – try using a teaspoon instead of a knife to peel ginger. You’ll never look back. Oh, and the secret to a good curry is to cook the garlic, onion and ginger for at least 45 minutes before you do anything else…

A quote for life?

Joy is an act of resistance.

What five tracks would make up your lockdown soundtrack?

  • Jon Hopkins – Feel Life First
  • Guy Sigsworth – Prayer Wheels
  • Another Sky – Was I Unkind?
  • Prince – I Would Die 4 U
  • Tina Turner – Addicted to Love (Live in Rio 1988, you have to watch it for the full effect)

LOCKDOWN LIST

Maryam Meddin, Founder & CEO, The Soke

What is a book that has changed your life?

The History of Love by Nicole Krauss. I read it 15 years ago and it made me weep uncontrollably. I’ve since been too scared to read it again in case it fails to live up to the first time.

What are you watching at the moment?

I’ve just finished The Last Dance which is the Netflix documentary about Michael Jordan. The person I’m most fascinated by is Phil Jackson, the coach.

Who is your biggest inspiration?

I’m generally only inspired by people I know, so I’m going to say the Chair of our company. She’s the leader I’d like to be one day: resilient, compassionate, level-headed, human.

In one sentence, describe your ‘new normal’.

I spent most of my adult life caring for my mother, one way or another, and she died three weeks ago, so my new normal is not having to worry about her anymore. It’s liberating, but also feels like something’s missing all the time.

What is your best tip for life?

My father always told me that I should try to learn a little about everything so that I could ask intelligent questions and hold up my end of the conversation whether I was sitting next to a king or a street sweeper at a dinner party. A rather broad spectrum – which I’ve never had occasion to test –  but it’s served me well.

A quote for life?

Try to learn a little about everything.

What five tracks would make up your lockdown soundtrack?

  • Monte Cara – Cesaria Evora
  • Vienna – Ben Platt
  • Make it rain – Ed Sheeran
  • Emoji of a wave – John Mayer
  • I’ll take care of you – Beth Hart

LOCKDOWN LIST

Wilbert Das and Bob Shevlin, Founders of Uxua Casa

What is a book that has changed your life?

Wilbert: The World Atlas

Bob: I’d say the Bible, even if I’m not at all a religious person. As a child in a Catholic school those stories really provoked my interest in geography, history, and ancient societies. I developed at a really young age a mental map of the middle east, Egypt and all the realm of the Roman empire, and I got a big curiosity to visit these places. It was the beginning of my travel bug and an interest in history and anthropology which never left me.

What are you watching at the moment?

Wilbert: The sloths in my garden

Bob: Very random but I’m re-watching MERU, a 2015 documentary film chronicling the first ascent of the “Shark’s Fin” route on Meru Peak in the Indian Himalayas. I love the nature and scenography, the mountains are totally another landscape, might as well be the moon. And of course I love the ambition, focus, maybe we can even say madness of these climbers.

Who is your biggest inspiration?

Wilbert: Mother Nature

Bob: Well I would say Wilbert, who is my partner. He had a big influence on me especially when I began working in fashion in Europe. He was already a successful creative director with a big team but I saw how in the creative process he was always very collaborative and generous. There were certain situations I observed him actually working with quite a large talent / experience gap between himself and others at the table, be it with some young designers or even a group of marketing people, and Wilbert always treated everyone’s opinions as welcome, valid, encouraging others to get their ideas out. Wilbert’s approach is gentle and respectful and that makes others comfortable and confident, elevates them to really expose themselves and take chances. It’s a great way to work if you enjoy mixing design and travel as much as we do.

In one sentence, describe your ‘new normal’

Wilbert: Spend as much time as I can outside in nature.

Bob: I’m actually a very solitary person especially in my working approach, I like to be totally alone and surrounded by silence. The last year and a half probably enabled me to take that to a bit of an extreme and I’ll need to dial it back somewhat in the near future.

What is your best tip for life?

Wilbert: Live for the now. 

Bob: Take action. Doing things can be far less burdensome than thinking about doing them.

A quote for life

Wilbert: If every religion and theology were replaced by glorification of the value of respecting others, we’d surely have a happier world.

Bob: Gratitude is underrated. Never let a day go by that you don’t actively and consciously remember the good things in your life.

What five tracks would make up your lockdown soundtrack?

Wilbert: 

  • Ay mariposa – Pedro luis Ferrer (from soundtrack of Before Night Falls)
  • Here comes the sun – Nina Simone 
  • Sylvia – Arthur Verocai 
  • Rio Amazonas – Dori Caymmi 
  • Les fleur – 4Hero, Carina Andersson

Bob: Too much time alone during the pandemic let me go down so many youtube music rabbit holes! I turned up hundreds of live versions of some songs I love, here’s a few.

  • Ladders – Mac Miller with Jon Batiste & Stay Human (The Late Show 2018)
  • Transcendence – Carlos Santana with Greg Walker on vocals (or Soul Sacrifice performed at Woodstock, this one is a tie)
  • Train in Vain – The Clash (Lewisham Odeon 1980)
  • We the People – A Tribe Called Quest (Saturday Night Live 2016)
  • City of Ruins – Bruce Springsteen (World Trade Centre benefit concert 2001)
  • Save It For Later, cover of the English Beat – Pete Townshend and The Deep End (2010)
  • Never My Love, cover of the Association – The Fifth Dimension (MDA Telethon 1971)
  • Stevie Wonder and Tom Jones medley – This is Tom Jones TV show, 1969

 

LOCKDOWN LIST

Bob Wigley, Chair, UK Finance

What is a book that has changed your life?

Winning in the Second Half by Marjorie Barton

What are you watching at the moment?

Vigil

Who is your biggest inspiration?

Margaret Thatcher

In one sentence, describe your ‘new normal’.

Less time in London, more time at home, less time travelling, more time to relax given work fills old travel time.

What is your best tip for life?

Say hello to everyone, particularly people you don’t know

A quote for life?

Trust your gut.

What five tracks would make up your lockdown soundtrack?

  • Lux Arumque
  • 49th Parallel
  • Concerto Antica Cantilena
  • Rachmaninoff’s 2nd piano concerto
  • At Sea

LOCKDOWN LIST

Sonu Shivdasani and Eva Malmström, Soneva

What is a book that has changed your life?

Sonu: As an entrepreneur running a business, two books have been instrumental in the way I manage and how our organization has evolved: “Good to Great” by Jim Collins, and “Hostage at the Table” by George Kohlrieser. George, qualified in psychology and joined the New York Police Department (NYPD) as a Hostage Negotiator. He was taken hostage five times during his career. He then retired from the NYPD and started a second life as a Management Thinker and Business School teacher. He has been on the faculty of IMD for many years. His book is a fantastic insight into leadership, the importance of creating bonds, dealing with grief and creating new attachments, as well as about secure base leadership.

What are you watching at the moment?

Sonu: We have seen some amazing documentaries recently such as “My Octopus Teacher”, “The Little Big Farm”, and David Attenborough’s “A Life on our Planet”. Whilst Eva and I love series, we find them a bit painful as one becomes addicted and it is always a challenge to find the time. 

Who is your biggest inspiration?

Sonu: My father was a big inspiration for me. Eva continues to be one.

In one sentence, describe your ‘new normal’

Sonu: The new normal has involved considerably less travel. For the first 10 to 15 years after leaving university, a fortnight would not go by without a plane journey somewhere. Pre-pandemic, the longest I spent in any one location was six weeks. During the lockdown, I was barefoot for 15 months. Eva and I returned to the Maldives on the 24th of March, four days before the borders closed. For one reason or another, my planned trips were continuously canceled until my visit this summer in June to Sweden.

Whilst I miss traveling, it is clear that my new normal will involve less, with more achieved on Zoom. I still see myself traveling about five to six times a year, but this would be about a third of what I did in the past. I found a fantastic routine here in the Maldives where we are and found that I manage to have so much more time to do things that I have always wanted to, but have never been able to find the time to.

What is your best tip for life?

Sonu: I love two sayings from Einstein: “One must be prepared to give up who one is in order to become who one will” and “When one stops learning, one starts dying”

A quote for life

Sonu: My personal quote for life based on having encountered many crises during my career is:

“In one aspect, humans and organizations are like coastlines. It is the storms that shape and define us. Often, it is our response to these storms that leads to our future success.”

What five tracks would make up your lockdown soundtrack?

Sonu:

  • “Earth Song” by Michael Jackson  
  • “We Are The Champions” by Queen  
  • “I Will Survive” by Gloria Gaynor  
  • “Touch Me in the Morning” by Diana Ross (It is such an upbeat song)  
  • “Against All Odds” by Phil Collins  

LOCKDOWN LIST

Maggie Miller and Hannah Nokes, Founders, Magnify Impact

What is a book that has changed your life?

Maggie: As a young 20-something, way back in the day:), a book that set me on a trajectory for the way I wanted to live was Way of the Peaceful Warrior by Dan Millman. It was inspirational and spiritual and gave me a roadmap for a life of meditation, mindfulness, compassion, and acceptance.

Hannah: The Bible and “Love Does” by Bob Goff

What are you watching at the moment?

Maggie: Ted Lasso on Netflix. This is an absolutely heart-warming comedy! Ted heads to the U.K. to manage a struggling London fútbol team in the topflight of English fùtbol without having any previous experience. His character is EXACTLY the kind of joy, honesty, and humanity we all need in this intensely difficult time where we’ve had to be disconnected. Being a global fútbol fan and former player (and voting member of FC Barcelona, yes, my heart was broken over Messi), it is so funny to see this American man try to lead this team. I’ve been to many Premier League games myself and they are amongst the most intense extraordinary fans, and it is just comical to watch Ted win the hearts of the team, the fans, and beyond.

Hannah: The Serpent, on Netflix, and The Chosen, available free online.

Who is your biggest inspiration?

Maggie: My hubby Hector is my best friend and a great inspirer. He pushes me to value myself, to work hard, and to strive to grow. He protects and loves people really well. He is candid when I need to get up and put one foot in front of the other but embraces me when I need it.

Hannah: I am inspired by the women in my life—all dealing with their own challenges, heartbreak, and joy. They have taught me to get up again every time I fall.

In one sentence, describe your ‘new normal’.

Maggie: My Dad recently passed away and I feel the compassion I’ve grown from this grief is a new and better side of me. Throughout COVID lockdown, and some long COVID issues myself, I kept thinking how life is so precious and I want to live my best version of life now, not wait for some day in the future. Hector and I moved half of the year to Barcelona to run on the beach and enjoy long Spanish lunches and siestas. We jump back to the USA to pick up the speed and to see family. I feel so grateful for taking the chance and just “making it happen” as my Dad would have said. I truly work remotely, and gratefully, it works for my life.

Hannah: My new normal isn’t necessarily slower (at all) but it’s a lot more deliberate than it was pre-pandemic. I just try to waste less time doing things that aren’t additive or deplete my energy. I can’t believe how much time I used to spend in the car driving to business meetings and lunches! Now I am more careful what I say yes to because my business and my family need me, and I want to be more present for the important moments.

 

What is your best tip for life?

Maggie: Don’t forget love and forgiveness. Never forget your true inheritance: you are loved. An open heart is the most fearless heart. To live is to see awe in each other every day. To taste love is our function. Follow the compass of your heart. Love will always blaze its own pathway. When we love, we are using the greatest power in the World. Remember that gratitude is a healing sustainer. Life Rocks. You should play your Song.

Forgiveness is everything. Forgiveness is a process that is constant, it is a muscle and must be “worked on” every day, it must be exercised. It is the grail for a blissful Life. Forgive again, and again, and again. Forgive the desire to really despise the idea of even forgiving. Watch the sharp edges wash away. And watch this forgiveness give rise to Unalterable Love. Otherwise, lack of forgiveness is a slow demise.

Hannah: Don’t strive for an easy life, devoid of problems. Life inherently is full of challenges. When we embrace that, it takes a lot of the pressure off. The book “The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck,” by Mark Manson is must-read.

A quote for life?

Maggie: “Be the change you wish to see in the world.”  (Mahatma Gandhi)

I’ve heard many people scoff at the phrase “be the change” as if it is unobtainable. I didn’t and still don’t see it that way. We have the opportunity to change this world every day. Changing the world is possible and easy for all of us—it means you follow your bliss by giving your greatest strengths to the world moment by moment. When you do this, others do everything in their power to help you succeed because they are magnetically drawn to you. This means you inspire everyone you know to do the same, as they want this same feeling for themselves. Then they create their own paths and draw people to them. All of this equates to affecting countless people who are just like us. We change the world together. Trusting this vision has framed my life with transformative and positive power. There is a famine of encouragement and hope in this world right now. I truly believe peace comes through purpose.

Hannah: “If you want to change the world, go home and love your family” (Mother Theresa)

What five tracks would make up your lockdown soundtrack?

Maggie

  • Dare to Live – Vivere, Andrea Bocelli + Laura Pausini
  • Rayando El Sol – Maná, Pablo Alborán
  • The Blessing – Kari Jobe, Cody Carnes, Elevation Worship
  • Africa – Toto (was my Dad’s favorite)
  • My Shot from Hamilton, Lin-Manuel Miranda

Hannah:

  • I Like It Like That – Pete Rodriguez
  • Can’t Hold Us – Macklamore & Ryan Lewis
  • Bambeléo – Gipsy Kings
  • The Stable Song – Gregory Alan Isakov
  • No One But You – Elevation Worship

LOCKDOWN LIST

Robin and Judy Hutson, Founders, The Pig

What is a book that has changed your life?

Robin: To the Ends of the Earth by Ranulf Fiennes. It gave me a thirst for travel and adventure.

Judy: The book that changed my life is from many years ago when I was a student in Oxford and it is called The Prophet by Kahil Gibran. It provides timeless spiritual wisdom on a range of subjects.

What are you watching at the moment? 

Robin: I don’t watch a lot of TV but I loved Line of Duty earlier this year.

Judy: I have had it recorded for ages, but the 2016 adaptation of Tolstoy’s War and Peace with, amongst others in it, Lily James and Ade Edmonson.

Who is your biggest inspiration? 

Robin: Nick Jones – he is a very close friend. We worked together for years and has challenged plenty of conventional wisdom in hospitality.

Judy: From a design point of view it’s Ilse Crawford whose work I first came across at Soho House’s Babbington House when she was their first Interior Designer. I loved how she didn’t follow tried and tested ideas, and so, for me it was refreshing in her approach of mixing modern and classical.

In one sentence, describe your ‘new normal’. 

Robin: I am trying to make time for the important things in life and trying not to sweat the small stuff.

Judy: I will continue to work from home as much as I can.

What is your best tip for life? 

Robin: The harder you work the luckier you get

Judy: Hold your council

A quote for life?

Robin: Success has many fathers, but failure is always an orphan

Judy: Do as you would be done by

What five tracks would make up your lockdown soundtrack? 

Robin: A bunch of melancholy love songs! 

  • If I Should fall Behind – Bruce Springsteen
  • Blind Girl – Beth Hart and Joe Bonamassa
  • Wish You Were Here – Pink Floyd
  • Old Love – Eric Clapton
  • Forget About Georgia – Lukas Nelson

Judy: My tracks are

  • Silly Games – Janet Kay
  • No No No – Dawn Penn
  • So Far Away – Dire Straits
  • Under Pressure – David Bowie and Queen
  • Logical – Supertramp

LOCKDOWN LIST

Dr Eliza Filby, Generations Expert & Historian of Contemporary Values

What is a book that has changed your life?

Philippa Perry’s ‘The book I wished my parents had read

It made me think about the importance of the language you use with your loved ones – personally what I use with my two kids, but also my mother. It also alerted me to the generational legacy in parenting: how you were parented underlines how you yourself will parent.

What are you watching at the moment?

Lupin on Netflix, and Mare of Easttown. Lupin is pure escapism while Mare of East Town is possibly the most depressing thing I’ve seen in a long time. Post-pandemic I think we all want a bit of escapism rather than drab and grim!

Who is your biggest inspiration and why?

My dad, who was the right mix of creative and practical. He was an artist, a stay at home dad, an entrepreneur, a film extra, and a script writer. He tried everything and never had reason to say ‘if only…’ 

In one sentence, describe your ‘new normal’.

Navigating the pram and the shopping trolley in my hallway – I gave birth to a pandemic baby and my mother is temporarily living with us. It’s multi-generational chaos.

What is your best tip for life?

Turn your passion into someone else’s need.

A quote for life

“If your great grand parents wouldn’t recognise it, you probably shouldn’t eat it”

What is your lockdown soundtrack?

There have been a lot of baby discos in our house during lockdown, and I also spent this time learning the ukulele…

  • ‘Knees up mother brown’ and yellow submarine’ both get my one year old daughter twerking
  • David Bowie’s Rebel, rebel is my son’s favourite song
  • I’ve been dancing like Morecambe and Wise to their song ‘Bring Me Sunshine’ on the dark days, and dancing to Dua Lipa for some cardio

LOCKDOWN LIST

Gavin Esler, Journalist, Presenter & Author

What is a book that has changed your life?

All of them

What are you watching at the moment?

Not much. I watch a lot of movies but manage to miss most TV, except some news programmes.

Who is your biggest inspiration?

My father, and my wife, the musician Anna Phoebe 

In one sentence, describe your ‘new normal’.

New normal is reading more, travelling less, swimming more and walking or cycling more by the sea

What is your best tip for life?

You have to believe you can actually change things for yourself. You need to have people around you who think it is possible to live a better life than the one you’re living in. Being a change maker is a mindset.

A quote for life (if you have one)

Just do it

What five tracks would make up your lockdown soundtrack?

1. Raymond Carlos Nakai – he is an amazing Navajo flute player and I met him in Navajo lands where he was taking some ‘western’ ie traditional scientists through sacred ground and gave an impromptu concert on a red rock ridge as ‘expiation’ to the spirits of his ancestors.

2. Nova Lima – they are an Afro-Peruvian band. “Machete” from the album Afro, although almost anything from that album is great. They make me think not just of the Andes, but also about time I spent filming the burning of the Amazon rainforest in Brazil. I traveled up beyond Porto Velho towards the Peruvian border, and it was one of the best experiences I have ever had – we even saw river dolphins. It was slightly marred by a heavily armed gang burning the rainforest and threatening to kill us…

3. Bob Dylan – almost anything but Tangled up in Blue sums up the transient nature of moving around the US (a kind of lyrical Nomadland). I used to listen to endless Dylan on long trips, Arizona was always my favourite state

4. Anna Phoebe – my wife, and anything from the new album Sea Souls 

5. The Braes of Balquhidder (pron. ‘Balwhidder) – it’s also known as Go Lassie Go / Wild Mountain Thyme and is a poem written by Robert Tannahill, a contemporary of Robert Burns. It’s a gorgeous tune with the cheerful subject of a boy asking girl for a date, but somehow really mournful. It makes me think of the North West Highlands

6. I’m tempted to add a final choice of So What by Miles Davis because I always enjoy listening to jazz

LOCKDOWN LIST

Leena Nair, Chief Human Resources Officer, Unilever

What is a book that has changed your life?

The Tibetan Book Of Living And Dying

What are you watching at the moment?

The US Open! We are such big tennis fans, it’s always exciting when the Grand Slams are on.

Who is your biggest inspiration?

My mother, she was my moral compass and taught me to how to live with courage and conviction.

In one sentence, describe your ‘new normal’.

Everything is solvable!

What is your best tip for life?

Prioritise your sleep, it will give you super powers!

A quote for life (if you have one)

Be the one to ignite the spark.

What five tracks would make up your lockdown soundtrack?

Head and Heart – Joel Corry
Never Seen the Rain – Tones and I
Juice – Lizzo
Love On Top – Beyonce
Tum Jo Mil Gaye ho – Mhd Raffi

LOCKDOWN LIST

Phil Libin, Co-Founder & CEO of mmhmm

What is a book that changed your life?

  • The Clock of the Long Now by Stewart Brand
  • The left hand of darkness Ursula Le Guin

“The complete futility of knowing the correct answer to the wrong question”

 

 

What are you watching at the moment?

K-dramas on Netflix, particularly Kingdom

Who is your biggest inspiration and why?

Esther Dyson

What is your best tip for life?

“Focusing on problems is fine because that’s how you make solutions. But focusing on good things requires optimism, and that’s a rarer skill in life.”

What is your lockdown soundtrack?

Why would I only have 5 if I’m in lockdown? Is the internet broken?!

LOCKDOWN LIST

Sir Ken Olisa OBE, Lord-Lieutenant of Greater London

What is a book that changed your life?

Niccolò Machiavelli’s The Prince

What are you watching at the moment?

Nothing – I rarely watch TV

Who is your biggest inspiration and why?

Boston’s Norman Knight – one of America’s greatest businessmen and philanthropists

In one sentence, describe your ‘new normal’.

Racing to find opportunities to take advantage of everyone else’s new normal.

What is your best tip for life?

Follow your heart and not your head.

A quote for life

My Coat of Arms’ motto – “Do well. Do good”

What is your lockdown soundtrack?

  • Segovia – Castles of Spain
  • Ry Cooder – How Can a Poor Man Stand Such Times and Live?
  • Clapton – Get Ready
  • Pink Floyd – Breathe
  • Finzi – Exeunt omnes (By Footpath and Stile)

LOCKDOWN LIST

Sheree Atcheson, Global Director of Diversity and Inclusion, Valtech

What are you watching at the moment?

The Handmaid’s Tale

Who is your biggest inspiration and why?

I find inspiration in lots of different things – in small wins and in big successes. From a personal perspective, I am always inspired by Jackie Henry, my mentor. Jackie is the new People and Purpose Managing Partner at Deloitte and we’ve worked together for years. She gave me my first full-time D&I role many years ago. Her work is always human-centered and driven, and always gives results.

In one sentence, describe your ‘new normal’.

My new normal is different. It’s more relaxed and more laid back – less chaotic. My partner and I recently bought our first home, moving from London to Kent and it has been a wonderful experience to now spend time making a house our own home after years of renting.

What is your best tip for life?

Be realistic with expectations of yourself. We so often hold ourselves so high that we feel disappointed even when we should feel proud. I’ve been guilty of this in the past. Give yourself some breathing room to grow, and celebrate small as well as big wins, remembering that there’s no time limit on success.

A quote for life

Always consider everything outside of your own bubble.

What is your lockdown soundtrack?

  • Death Is Not Defeat – Architects
  • I’m Crazy But You Like That – Ashley Price
  • Friday – Riton, Nightcrawlers, Mufase & Hypeman, Dopamine
  • Papercut – Linkin Park
  • Block Out The Noise – Jonny Craig

LOCKDOWN LIST

Kenneth Cukier, Author & Senior Editor, The Economist

What is a book that has changed your life?

Night by Elie Wiesel 

What are you watching at the moment?

The Ascent of Man by Jacob Bronowski (BBC, 1974)

Who is your biggest inspiration and why?

Robert Brewer Young

In one sentence, describe your ‘new normal’.

Giving everyone the benefit of the doubt and showing extra kindness: we’re all mentally hurt by the past year.

What is your best tip for life?

I don’t have one; I need one.

A quote for life

“We do not see things as they are; we see things as we are.” 

What is your lockdown soundtrack?

  • Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 in G major
  • The Beatles – Tomorrow Never Knows
  • Nitin Sawhney – Nadia
  • Talking Heads – Naive Melody 
  • Vince Guaraldi – A Charlie Brown Christmas 

LOCKDOWN LIST

Mary Ann Sieghart, Journalist, Broadcaster & Author

What is a book that has changed your life?

The book that most inspired me as a young adult was Herman Hesse’s The Glass Bead Game. This is pretty ironic as it has virtually no female characters! But when I spent a year recently as a Visiting Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford, a community of extraordinarily intelligent and interesting people devoting themselves to the life of the intellect, I realised I was experiencing the privilege of living out The Glass Bead Game in real life.

What are you watching at the moment?

I’ve recently finished the extraordinary BBC adaptation of Bleak House, first made in 2005, with a brilliant cast, including Anna Maxwell Martin, Carey Mulligan and Gillian Anderson. It doesn’t put a foot wrong. Luckily, the BBC has put it back on iPlayer, for those of us who missed it first time round.

Who is your biggest inspiration and why?

Elizabeth I, who blazed her way through the prejudices of her time to become one of the best monarchs this country has ever seen.

In one sentence, describe your ‘new normal’.

Sitting at my laptop in my study, and occasionally gazing out of the window at the chaffinches, goldcrests, greenfinches, tits and – if I’m very lucky – great spotted woodpeckers pecking at the bird feeders strategically placed outside.

What is your best tip for life?

One thing leads to another. In other words, each time you meet someone new, they may open up an opportunity or introduce you to someone else, which could send your life down a different path. But you have to put yourself out there to allow this to happen.

A quote for life

“I know I have the body of a weak and feeble woman, but I have the heart and stomach of a King, and of a King of England too!” – Elizabeth I

What is your lockdown soundtrack?

  • Strange Fruit – Nina Simone
  • ‘Round Midnight – Ella Fitzgerald, from her Fine and Mellow album
  • Third movement of Schumann Piano Quartet No 2 in E-flat Major, Andante cantabile
  • Lacrymosa from Mozart Requiem
  • Good Times – Nile Rodgers and Chic (to get me dancing)

LOCKDOWN LIST

Richard Curtis CBE, Screenwriter, Director & Campaigner

What is a book that has changed your life?

Bury The Chains by Adam Hochschild – a book about how slavery was abolished here in the UK

What are you watching at the moment?

I’ve been watching Schitt’s Creek and, like most of us, Line of Duty.

Who is your biggest inspiration and why?

Sir Bob Geldof

In one sentence, describe your ‘new normal’.

I have basically become a zookeeper for all my partner Emma’s new animals.

What is your best tip for life?

To make things happen, you have to make things!

A quote for life

You can’t be happier than happy.

What is your lockdown soundtrack?

  • Husavik from the Eurovision: The Story of Fire Saga soundtrack
  • My Own Soul’s Warning – The Killers
  • Don’t Go To Strangers – Paul Weller & Amy Winehouse
  • Bound 2 – Kanye West
  • Ode To The Mets – The Strokes

 

LOCKDOWN LIST

Deborah Williams, Founder, The Women's Association

What is a book that has changed your life?

 Who Says You Can’t? You Do – Daniel Chidiac

What are you watching at the moment?

Sweet Magnolias on Netflix

Who is your biggest inspiration and why?

Zion, my son.

In one sentence, describe your ‘new normal’.

Finding peace in the reality that some things are just out of my control.

What is your best tip for life?

Don’t let someone’s perception of you become your reality.

A quote for life

 Live, Love, Laugh

What is your lockdown soundtrack?

  • Lenu – Buju
  • Just a Cloud Away – Pharrell Williams
  • Homecoming – Kanye West
  • Memories – Maroon 5
  • Assurance – David O

LOCKDOWN LIST

Charley Boorman, Travel Writer & Presenter

What is a book that has changed your life?

Ted Simon – Jupiter’s Travels

What are you watching at the moment?

I loved The Queen’s Gambit

Who is your biggest inspiration and why?

Barry Sheene

In one sentence, describe your ‘new normal’.

I have to say nothing much has changed.

What is your best tip for life?

If you say you’re going to do something then do it.  You’ll be much happier.

What is your lockdown soundtrack?

  • Mr Ritter – Stereophonics
  • Ghost Town – The Specials
  • Can’t Always Get What You Want – The Rolling Stones
  • Virtual Insanity – Jamiroquai
  • Boot Money – Tony Joe White

LOCKDOWN LIST

Nick English, Co-founder, Bremont

What is a book that has changed your life?

The Lonely Sea and the Sky by Sir Francis Chichester

What are you watching at the moment?

Drive to Survive – the behind the scenes look by Netflix about F1. Gripping stuff.

Who is your biggest inspiration and why?

My father, who sadly died in an accident with me in 1995.

In one sentence, describe your ‘new normal’.

My days now are now about all about efficiency. It seems possible to keep fit, have the necessary internal and external meetings and keep the troops at home happy, but this is twined with a huge desire to return to the best bits of normality.

What is your best tip for life?

Be half full. They are the best folk to be around.

A quote for life

You only live once, but once is enough if done with the right gusto.

What is your lockdown soundtrack?

  • Have You Ever Seen the Rain – Credence Clearwater
  • To Love Somebody – Bee Gees
  • La Grange – ZZ Top
  • The Emperor – Beethoven
  • Stay With Me – The Faces

LOCKDOWN LIST

Dr Scilla Elworthy, Peace Builder

What is a book that has changed your life?

The Dream of the Cosmos by Anne Baring

What are you watching at the moment?

I don’t have a TV and I watch films like Our Souls at Night a film with Robert Redford and Jane Fonda; For Sama a documentary about the suffering of Syrian citizens under bombardment.

Who is your biggest inspiration and why?

Nelson Mandela. When I listened to him at a meeting of The Elders, when he started speaking I got goosebumps, and when he finished speaking 25 minutes later I still had goosebumps. It took me a long time to realise that what I was receiving was the full force of the energy of this man’s integrity.

In one sentence, describe your ‘new normal’.

What will change for me is cutting air travel to max one European trip per year, continuing to work from home and conduct meetings via Zoom, and to devote all my energy to sharing ways in which people can change the world by using the skills of the Mighty Heart.

What is your best tip for life?

Lean in, pick it up and wrestle with it, make life out of it, and be grateful.

A quote for life

Develop a regular practice self awareness and self reflection.

LOCKDOWN LIST

Revd Joanna Jepson, Anglican Priest, Campaigner & Author

What is a book that has changed your life?

The Universal Christ by Richard Rohr and Shameless by Nadia Bolz-Weber

What are you watching at the moment?

Unorthodox, for the third time.

Who is your biggest inspiration and why?

Etty Hillesum. She was in her 20s working in a Jewish work camp and wrestled through all the degradation around her to be LOVE to those who were struggling. Her love even enabled her to recognise the humanity of the Nazi soldiers and she wrote about needing to pray for one of them. Such an astonishing woman. She lived with love and joy even to her last place; Auschwitz where she died at the age of 29.

 

In one sentence, describe your ‘new normal’.

Paying attention to the undulations and saying yes to the abundance of it all.

What is your best tip for life?

Lean in, pick it up and wrestle with it, make life out of it, and be grateful.

A quote for life

My Sandhurst Colour Sergeant bellowing: “Do the right thing, not the easy thing”, is one that I’ve found hard to shake off, especially as a parent. But the nuns I lived with used to say: “There are no shoulds and oughts in the Kingdom of God”, and my favourite, “Nothing is wasted in God’s economy.”

What is your lockdown soundtrack?

Who’s Yellen Now by Dessa; Sister by K.Flay;  Over the Hills by the Band and Bugles of The Rifles; Mozart’s House by Clean Bandit and, finally, this: https://open.spotify.com/album/35CNyoexp8Zy2xUchxazlu?highlight=spotify:track:7x1WulsQC3wgxveCaJJH0P 

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Lord Alf Dubs, Politician and Refugee Campaigner

What is a book that has changed your life?

Every book I read! I am reading War Doctor by David Nott at the moment, which is a life-changing book about a trauma surgeon who for 20 years has volunteered to fly out to disaster zones and conflict areas to treat people suffering from trauma. He also trains local doctors so they have the skills to treat the appalling injuries that war inflicts upon its victims. What an extraordinary man.

What are you watching at the moment?

Line of Duty. It seems corruption can be hidden out of view in the most unexpected of high places.

Who is your biggest inspiration and why?

Sir Nicky Winton who saved my life and the lives of 668 other children fleeing Nazism.

In one sentence, describe your ‘new normal’.

I have a brisk walk every morning followed by a cup of decent coffee. In the few gaps I have in my working day I think longingly about hill walking.

What is your best tip for life?

Believe in yourself and your ability to change things for the better.

A quote for life

“No one puts their children in a boat unless the water is safer than the land.” – Warsan Shire

What is your lockdown soundtrack?

Smetana’s Vltava, anything by John Coltrane, Beethoven’s Third Ode to Joy, Bob Dylan’s Blowin’ in the Wind, Danny Boy

LOCKDOWN LIST

Lord William Waldegrave, Politician and Provost, Eton College

What is a book that has changed your life?

The Problems of Philosophy by Bertrand Russell

What are you watching at the moment?

Call My Agent and Line of Duty

Who is your biggest inspiration and why?

My mother, because of her resilience.

In one sentence, describe your ‘new normal’.

New normal means very seldom wearing a whole suit, no regular train/ Bakerloo line journeys to the Coutts HQ at 440 Strand, and regular online bridge.

What is your best tip for life?

Do not equate applause with success.

 

A quote for life

“Life is not a rehearsal.”

What is your lockdown soundtrack?

  • Fats Waller – Ain’t Misbehavin
  • Bach – Goldberg Variations
  • The Kinks – Waterloo Sunset
  • Mozart – B minor mass
  • Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong – Summertime

LOCKDOWN LIST

Carl Scramm, Economist & Author

What is a book that has changed your life?

Henry Steele Commager – The American Mind.  Through this I first saw how the history of ideas influenced everything from architecture to painting to law to literature to economic – the best intro to American intellectual history.

What are you watching at the moment?

Schitt’s Creek

Who is your biggest inspiration and why?

Henry Ford or Thomas Edison. Visionaries who built the future. I’m interested in genius… these guys fit. Ford, like Elon Musk, Jobs, Bezos and Juan Tripp, built out enormous companies to give life to their visions.

In one sentence, describe your ‘new normal’.

My new normal is much like my old normal but with a mask, and happily less and less so. Have lived a lot of the last few months in Florida, maybe that’s my new normal — go to where it’s normal.

What is your best tip for life?

Your first job is never your first job. In fact, your current job is your real first job.

A quote for life

“If you want to stay in it for the long haul, and lead a life that is free from illusions either propagated by you or embraced by you, then I suggest you learn to recognise and avoid the symptoms of the zealot and the person who knows he is right. For the dissenter, the sceptical mentality is at least as important as any armour of principle.” – Christopher Hitchens

What is your lockdown soundtrack?

  • Don’t Worry – Autograf
  • Gymnopedies – Eric Satie
  • St James Infirmary – Louis Armstrong
  • Fuare’s Requiem, especially In Paradisum
  • C’est La Luna – Lou Prima

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Neeta Patel CBE, CEO, Centre for Entrepreneurs

What is a book that has changed your life?

Many books have had an impact on me in different parts of my life journey. The ones that stick out are:

1. Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie. I read it nearly 30 years ago but I still remember the vivid descriptions and writing of the story of Indian Independence and subsequent partition from Pakistan as told through the eyes of Saleem Sinai, the main protagonist. It captured my imagination and had me gripped for days. It’s a book that I re-read every few years and it never fails to move me. I think this is my all-time favourite book.

2. Becoming by Michelle Obama, which I read during the lockdown and was moved by her honesty and integrity of her life story. It’s well written and such a poignant account of her early childhood and also about her time in the White House. I actually heard her narrate it on audible and one felt that she was sharing her life with you personally.

3. I read a lot of business books but two are constantly on my bedside table as I re-read them frequently. The first is The Armchair Economist by Steven Landsburg which explains how economics can be summarised into ‘people respond to incentives’ and then goes on to show how economists propose policy and prove that successful policies are those where incentives are aligned. It looks at all aspects of interventions from employment policies to trade, transport, and everything in between. It was such an eye-opener for me who is not an economist and helped me understand the world of policymaking. The other is by the British Economist, Tim Harford also titled The Undercover Economist, which looks at the world of economics from a micro perspective and everyday decisions. The two books are complementary and look at world issues from slightly different issues.

What are you watching at the moment?

Like everyone else in lockdown, I binged on Netflix box sets. I generally don’t have time to watch much TV but I caught up on all the ones everyone has been talking about for ages. House of Cards, Designated Survivor, The Crown, Homeland, Queen’s Gambit etc. I am currently re-watching the first series of The Sopranos and about to re-watch the early series of Peaky Blinders, in advance of the new series being shown later this year.

Who is your biggest inspiration and why?

I have been lucky enough to have met so many inspirational men and women and I look to many of the women I have met for inspiration. These include Dorothy Hodgkins, the only British female Nobel Laureate, Helen Sharman, the astronaut, Baroness Daphne Park, an SoE spy, Dame Stephanie Shirley, Margaret Thatcher, Shirley Williams, and many others. Closer to home, my inspiration for many years was my boss at Legal & General. Her name is Margaret Smith and she inspired me to give ‘everything a go’. She is such a visionary and was one of the early pioneering women in technology, having started her career at The Woolwich tasked with developing the first cash machines (ATMs). She was always willing to swim against the tide and back crazy ideas and the people who had them, in the then very staid and old-fashioned and male-dominated world of UK insurance. She backed me with my idea, way back in 1995, of launching a website to service customers and supported me throughout. We became pioneers as this was the first personal finance website launched in Europe!  I thoroughly enjoyed my time working with her and have kept in touch ever since. Every time we meet, her first question is always ‘what new and exciting thing are you working on now?

In one sentence, describe your ‘new normal’.

It seems like the old normal, just working from home a lot more and seeing fewer people in person.

What is your best tip for life?

Apologies to Nike for borrowing their tagline but I really do live by the ‘Just Do It’ tagline. It’s something I ‘preach’ to every incoming NEF+ cohort. It is such a powerful line but it does take courage, resilience, self-belief, confidence, and an ability to bounce back after failure – I admire all those people who just do it.

A quote for life

I have several but the one I use is a combination of other people’s quotes. It is: “Everyone has the right to play but you have to choose to play and once you do, give it everything you’ve got.”

What is your lockdown soundtrack?

I haven’t really been listening to music as most of my free time has been listening to audiobooks or on Netflix! I only ever listen to music when in my car and the radio is generally tuned in to Magic FM. No particular track comes to mind.

LOCKDOWN LIST

Sir Charlie Mayfield, Chair, Be the Business

What is a book that has changed your life?

Identity by Francis Fukuyama – it didn’t change my life but has helped me to understand some of the undercurrents that are shaping politics and society.

What are you watching at the moment?

Rotten – a documentary series on Netflix about the global food industry

Who is your biggest inspiration and why?

People who get in and on in work. The workplace can be a vector for social mobility, perhaps the most potent and powerful one of all.

In one sentence, describe your ‘new normal’.

Balance and progress.

What is your best tip for life?

Embrace insecurity, it’s key to performance and drive.

A quote for life

“Nothing is ever as good or as bad as the first reports of excited men [or women].” – William Slim

What is your lockdown soundtrack?

  • Short Change Hero – The Heavy
  • Permanent Holiday – Mike Love
  • This Too Shall Pass – Jamestown Revival
  • Motherland – Natalie Merchant 
  • Rapper’s Delight – The Sugar Hill Gang

LOCKDOWN LIST

James O'Brien, Broadcaster & Author

What is a book that has changed your life?

The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

What are you watching at the moment?

Too Close

Who is your biggest inspiration and why?

My Dad.

In one sentence, describe your ‘new normal’.

“Try not to see anyone else as players in the drama of your own life and remember that they are all the stars of their own stories.”

What is your best tip for life?

To thine own self be true.

A quote for life

“Being in a minority, even in a minority of one, did not make you mad. There was truth and there was untruth, and if you clung to the truth even against the whole world, you were not mad.”

What is your lockdown soundtrack?

  • Esja by Hania Rani
  • It’s Quiet Up Town (Hamilton)
  • The Room Where It Happens (Hamilton)
  • No Body, No Crime by Taylor Swift (feat. Haim)
  • You Can Call Me Al by Paul Simon

LOCKDOWN LIST

Beatie Wolfe, Musician

What is a book that has changed your life?

Musicophilia by Oliver Sacks 

What are you watching at the moment?

I just watched Intelligent Trees which I highly recommend. I’ve been watching a lot of nature documentaries and then I’ve been enjoying Grace and Frankie as it reminds me of my dearest pal Allee Willis who was a good friend of Lily Tomlin’s also. Allee sadly passed away at the end of 2019. So I find that show very comforting. 

Who is your biggest inspiration and why?

Mother Nature. In the words of William Blake: “Nature is imagination itself.” 

In one sentence, describe your ‘new normal’.

I am not a big fan of normal!

What is your best tip for life?

Intention is everything 

A quote for life

“As you start traveling down that road of life, remember this: There are never enough comfort stops. The places you’re going to are never on the map. And once you get that map out, you won’t be able to re-fold it no matter how smart you are. So forget the map, roll down the windows, and whenever you can pull over and have a picnic with a pig.” – Kermit

What is your lockdown soundtrack?

  • Germ Free Adolescent by X-Ray Spex
  • Freedom of Speech by Devo 
  • Sunny Afternoon by The Kinks 
  • Tramp by Otis Redding & Carla Thomas  
  • Connection by The Rolling Stones 

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Brigette Bard, Founder & CEO, BioSure UK

What is a book that has changed your life?

My favourite series of books are the Philip Pullman His Dark Materials trilogy as I adore the main character of Lyra and her extraordinary bravery, but I think the book that has possibly had the most impact on my life is Mutant Message Down Under by Marlo Morgan, that I first read many years ago and it just helps me keep life in perspective – it’s all about the journey. Hans Rosling’s book Factfulness is also something that has had significant impact on how I think, especially being so immersed in the HIV epidemic and working in a wide range of low and middle income countries. It shines such a lens on how and why we think of the world and how we can be far more optimistic than the newspaper headlines would ever suggest. It’s a fantastic book.

What are you watching at the moment?

The Crown – third series. I am not a great television watcher, but I have really enjoyed this series. I absolutely adore Princess Margaret in the first two series.

Who is your biggest inspiration and why?

In all honesty its probably my grandmother, who played an enormous role in my childhood life. She taught me how it felt to be loved unconditionally and how to return that love. She also taught me that the only person you ever have to sleep with your entire life is yourself, so make sure you like who you are and can always sleep comfortably with yourself.

In one sentence, describe your ‘new normal’.

I think my life has been even more hectic in lockdown! With the exception of not travelling any more, life at BioSure has continued to race ahead.

 

What is your best tip for life?

Remember to breathe!

A quote for life

A very wise friend said to me: “It will be alright ion the end and if it’s not alright, it’s not the end.”

 

What is your lockdown soundtrack?

Pete Tong and the Heritage Orchestra is my go to playlist, but one of my all time favourites is Lou Reed Perfect Day  

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Baroness Nicola Blackwood, Chair, Genomics England

What is a book that has changed your life?

Most recently Caroline Criado Perez Invisible Women had a huge impact on me. Still today women are missing from clinical trials data, get misdiagnosed and have poorer health outcomes. In March I chaired a conference on women’s health inequalities and will lead a year long report into improving global health outcomes for women with Public Policy Projects.

What are you watching at the moment?

I think I’ve finished all of Netflix. I loved The Queen’s Gambit, Lupin and Seaspiracy

Who is your biggest inspiration and why?

My Dad. He was working as a cardiologist in Soweto when I was born and scheduled a national rheumatic fever conference for the very day I was due (my mother was not amused). On the actual day I was born – two weeks early – he made national headlines speaking out about the pay of black doctors and overcrowding in the hospital. He went on to have a long and distinguished career in the UK as NHS cardiologist. All while being a kind and good father and teaching me so much of what I needed for life. He is still my first call.

In one sentence, describe your ‘new normal’.

Simplified – materially and mentally – I decluttered over lockdown which has been great but I’m definitely ready for a very messy night out.

 

What is your best tip for life?

Every relationship that matters – personal and professional – is based on trust. Do not break that trust, it is incredibly difficult to restore. Instead work each and every day to strengthen it.

A quote for life

“Never let the urgent crowd out the important” – Leo McGarry from The West Wing

What is your lockdown soundtrack?

Leonard Cohen – Dance Me to the End of Love

Master KG & Nomcebo – Jersusalema

Beyonce – Freedom

Peter Liesewetter – Tango Pathetique (Martha Argerich, Gidon Kremer, Mischa Maisky)

From Copland, Twelve Poems of Emily Dickinson: The World Feels Dusty – Barbara Bonney & Andre Previn

LOCKDOWN LIST

Rob Law MBE, Founder & CEO, Trunki

What is a book that has changed your life?

The book that changed my approached to business – Good to Great by Jim Collins

What are you watching at the moment?

Adam Curtis’ Can’t Get You Out of My Head on iPlayer, 

Who is your biggest inspiration and why?

My twin sister who I lost when we were teenagers. I guess I’m living my life for both of us.

In one sentence, describe your ‘new normal’.

Groundhog day! Focusing on small steps to achieve business strategy, enjoying being in the kids’ world & exercise.

What is your best tip for life?

Focus on what you can control and don’t waste time and energy on what you can’t.

A quote for life

“Life’s too short to waste it, make the most of the time you have.”

What is your lockdown soundtrack?

They’re all songs that remind me of travelling:

Sometimes – James

Clint Eastwood – Gorillaz

Hopeless Wonderer – Mumford and Sons

Get Lucky – Daft Punk

Nevermind – Leonard cohen

LOCKDOWN LIST

Claire Warner, Co-founder, Æcorn

What is a book that has changed your life?

There have been so many pivotal books in my life that have set me off on so many exciting paths that I can’t simply give you one book. I’m going to share three: While it’s not a fun read, Sweet Poison by David Gillespie really did change my life in so many ways. At the time (around 10 years ago) I had no idea how addictive sugar was, and that its secreted in so much of the food we eat. It made me totally rethink sugar, which lead me to not only change my own diet, but also changed the way I thought about everything. I removed it from the vodka we were producing, I spent a few years teaching bartenders about it and eventually, I started to explore the weird and wonderful world of flavour.

I then stumbled across the Dorito Effect by Mark Schatzker which blew my mind and made me want to celebrate the power of nature through all-natural flavour. That journey led me to Ben Branson of Seedlip who shared one of his favourite books, Biomimicry by Janine Benyus with me (which I stole for a while!) I then spent a few years banging on about nature, before Ben offered me an outlet for all my passions, which is how Æcorn was born.

Books really can change your life! But, I would say that if you ever find yourself sat next to me at a dinner party, please don’t ask me about sugar, flavour or nature. I can very quickly get nerdy and boring!

What are you watching at the moment?

Nothing. I have officially completed Netflix.

In all seriousness, I am trying to watch less TV and read more.

Who is your biggest inspiration and why?

In a previous life, way before I came to the drinks industry I was studying law and I wanted to be a barrister, so Ruth Bader Ginsburg has always had a special place in my heart. She was the Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States and co-founder of the Women’s Rights Project at the American Civil Liberties Union. She was the second woman to sit on the United States’ Supreme Court. She had an almost superhuman capacity for work throughout her life, famously supporting her husband who was battling cancer while they were both at Harvard Law School, taking notes for him, bringing up their first child while also holding down a post on the Harvard Law School. She was a fierce defender of women’s rights, LGBT causes and racial equality. She was an trailblazer, an icon and not only a force to be reckoned with at the bar, but also in the gym, continuing to train with her PT well into her final years. When I’m battling imposter syndrome, I often think of her quote ‘”Women belong in all places where decisions are being made. It shouldn’t be that women are the exception.”

In one sentence, describe your ‘new normal’.

My dog is wondering when he’s going to get some alone time.

What is your best tip for life?

“Say yes and figure out how to do it later.”

So often we say no to great opportunities because we’re not sure we’ve got the right experience, or enough experience. I’m not sure who gave me this tip, but it has served me well. I’ve appeared on countless terrifying TV shows, jumped into exciting job opportunities and embarked upon a long distance relationship despite everyone saying they never work out (we’ve been married seven years and counting). Getting out of our own way is often the best way.

A quote for life

“We forgot how to know when we learned how to please.”

As a recovering people-pleaser, this quote by Glennon Doyle really stopped me in my tracks. It’s impossible to truly know the right path to take, or decision to make when you’re trying to keep everyone happy but yourself.

What is your lockdown soundtrack?

Girls Just Want to Have Fun – Cyndi Lauper

You’ve Got the Love – Frankie Knuckles remix (although I love the Candi Staton original and Florence cover too!)

Lizzo – Tempo

Taylor Swift – Lover

Grandma’s Hands – Bill Withers

LOCKDOWN LIST

Arizona Muse, Model & Activist

What is a book that has changed your life?

Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer

What are you watching at the moment?

One Strange Rock on Netflix 

Who is your biggest inspiration and why?

Rachel Carson, the biologist who bravely started the environmental movement with her book Silent Spring.

In one sentence, describe your ‘new normal’.

My new normal is prioritising time with my family and living life as if each day could be the last. I strive to make every minute special, to be grateful for what I have and to consciously and consistently develop my relationship with this amazing planet we share. 

What is your best tip for life?

Grow. Whether you are developing yourself or nursing a houseplant – progression is immensely satisfying.

LOCKDOWN LIST

Mark Cuddigan, CEO, Ella's Kitchen

What is a book that has changed your life?

Anthony Beevor – Stalingrad

What are you watching at the moment?

Small Axe

Who is your biggest inspiration and why?

Paul Lindley. He showed me that there is another way to run a company and he believed in me when I didn’t believe in myself.

In one sentence, describe your ‘new normal’.

Working from home more, being more present for myself and my family.

What is your best tip for life?

Work out what truly gives you deep fulfilment at work.

What is your lockdown soundtrack?

  • Teardrop – Massive Attack
  • Release the Pressure – Leftfield
  • Resolve – Audien
  • Can’t Hold Us – Mackelmore & Ryan Lewis
  • You Got the Love – The Source ft. Candi Staton (New Voyager Mix)
  • Younger – Seinabo Sey (Kygo Mix)

LOCKDOWN LIST

Paul Drechsler CBE, Chair, London First

What is a book that has changed your life?

There are really two; my favourite Long Walk to Freedom is the most inspirational book about leadership, values and resilience, and caused me to think deeply about impact and making a difference. The other How Things Work: The Universal Encyclopaedia of Machines, was a great source of answers in my 20s for my curious nature and interest in solving problems.

What are you watching at the moment?

I loved The Queen’s Gambit, just finished Lupin and next up Call My Agent.

Who is your biggest inspiration and why?

Most of all Nelson Mandela, who set a global standard for determination, humility, peace and reconciliation. However I am frequently inspired by words and actions of the next generation, most recently Amanda Gorman at the inauguration of President Biden; ‘The Hill We Climb’ – it says it all. But watch out in U.K. for Gabrielle Matthews and other young #iwill ambassadors for youth social action.

In one sentence, describe your ‘new normal’.

That has not arrived yet; my ‘transition normal’ is a lot of Zoom, more exercise, love of family at great distances, and enthusiasm to really build back better – yes we can.

What is your best tip for life?

Make a list of 50 things you really want to do. Writing each wish down is the first step towards their achievement.

A quote for life

“It is not whether you get knocked down. It is whether you get back up.” – Vince Lombardi

What is your lockdown soundtrack?

This for me was the hardest question by far – I love listening to music!

  • Living in a Ghost Town – The Rolling Stones
  • Wonderful Tonight, Eric Clapton (1991 Live Royal Albert Hall, 21 Nights)
  • Blinding Lights – The Weeknd 
  • Skin Deep – Buddy Guy
  • Purple Rain – Eric Clapton, Crossroads Guitar Festival 2019
  • I’d Rather Go Blind – Beth Hart

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Dame Evelyn Glennie DBE, Percussionist

What is a book that has changed your life?

The Organized Mind by Daniel Levitin

What are you watching at the moment?

Past videos of the great jazz drummer Jack DeJohnette

Who is your biggest inspiration and why?

My dad because it was what he didn’t say that was important

In one sentence, describe your ‘new normal’.

My ‘new normal’ is letting my senses breath and allow them to guide the decisions I make.

What is your best tip for life?

Listen to yourself.

A quote for life

Listening is the backbone to everything we do in life.

What is your lockdown soundtrack?

  • Battle Cry by Evelyn Glennie and Michael Brauer
  • Switch by Michael Levine
  • Speigel im Spiegel by Arvo Part
  • Goldberg Variations by J. S. Bach
  • Dream by John Cage

 

 

LOCKDOWN LIST

John Rutter CBE, Composer & Conductor

What is a book that has changed your life?

I have been changed by the sum total of all the books I’ve read, the experiences I’ve had, the people I’ve met – so, no one book in particular.

What are you watching at the moment?

McDonald & Dodds. At the end of a busy week, it’s a bit of comfort TV. I love the geometric beauty of Bath, and I can identify with Dodds.

Who is your biggest inspiration and why?

Saint Cecilia – the patron saint of musicians, who (according to W. H. Auden) ‘appears and inspires’. She doesn’t always come calling when I’d like her to

In one sentence, describe your ‘new normal’.

The same as the old normal, minus the global travel when I’m conducting; composers work in isolation anyway, so we’re used to it.

What is your best tip for life?

Try not to waste time, but if you do, waste it enjoyably.

A quote for life

Try to leave something good behind you.

What is your lockdown soundtrack?

1. J. S. Bach: Complete Sacred Cantatas (Bach Collegium Japan, conducted by Masaaki Suzuki).

This 55-CD box set has been my constant companion since the pandemic began. An inexhaustible treasure house.

2. R. Vaughan Williams: Symphony no. 5

Written as World War II raged, this inspirational symphony pointed towards a world of peace and light. The London Symphony Orchestra under Simon Rattle performed it at the the 2020 Proms, and few eyes can have been dry as they heard it.

3. The King’s Singers and George Shearing: Get Happy

One of my favourite King’s Singers albums, they teamed up with my late friend Sir George Shearing, probably the greatest jazz pianist of his generation, for an album that is guaranteed to make the world seem a more cheerful place. I love to play it while I help my other half cook dinner.

4. Rodgers and Hammerstein: Oklahoma (1955 film version recording)

I haven’t needed to play this: the eternally captivating songs from this most optimistic of R & H musicals are always bouncing around in my head somewhere. Like the Vaughan Williams symphony, Oklahoma was written during World War II and gave American audiences a sense of the country, and the world, they were fighting for and looking forward to when the war was over.

5. Britten, Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra (available on the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra website).

An extraordinary recording of this was made by my good friends the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra during last year’s lockdown. It was pieced together with huge skill and patience, instrument by instrument, by the orchestra’s vice-chairman Matt Knight, from individual recordings made by all the musicians in their own homes. The ‘conductor’ was Alexander Shelley, the rising-star son of my old school friend Howard Shelley. I don’t know how they all did it, but it’s a masterly performance of an orchestral classic. It stands as a symbol of what our fantastic musicians can achieve in the face of impossible circumstances.

LOCKDOWN LIST

Bill Drayton, Founder & CEO, Ashoka

What is a book that has changed your life?

(a) Access to audiobooks (b) Gandhi by Lloyd and Susanne Rudolph.

What are you watching at the moment?

Satajit Ray’s classic Apu trilogy, The Battle of Algiers, Selma, Amazing Grace, The Grapes of Wrath, and much more!

Who is your biggest inspiration and why?

Mohandas Gandhi. He showed the world how to overturn all injustices by giving everyone the life power of being a giver.

In one sentence, describe your ‘new normal’.

Totally engaged! Spotting new ideas and design connections, including how-to’s, many times each day. Enjoying Ashoka’s extraordinary global community of the world’s best social (in it for the good of all!) entrepreneurs working together to ensure that everyone has the power to give – each one so powerful and so powerfully good. The mechanics aren’t that important.

What is your best tip for life?

A healthy, happy, good life comes from giving; and the greatest gift is that of giving the power to give.

A quote for life

“There is no better deal than to work for the welfare of the whole world.” – Ashoka, Sixth Rock Edict (third century BCE).

What is your lockdown soundtrack?

A sampling includes Si Khan’s Crossing the Border, movement music from Amazing Grace through Michael Row the Boat Ashore, Indian classical, especially Ali Akbar Khan, classical (all), and classic rock.

 

LOCKDOWN LIST

Ara Kusuma, Ashoka Young Changemaker

What is a book that has changed your life?

Totto-Chan: The Little Girl at the Window by Tetsuko Kuroyanagi

What are you watching at the moment?

Our Planet and The Adventures of Merlin

Who is your biggest inspiration and why?

My mother. She respects and appreciates the slightest thing, which may be overlooked or underestimated by others, such as and especially her role as a mother and a housewife.

In one sentence, describe your ‘new normal’.

The new normal is… not-so-normal. But hey, what’s normal anyway?

What is your best tip for life?

Think of it as if you’re going to make a history – everyone has their own pace and path, but those who give up will never make one. How do you want to be remembered?

A quote for life

Mulya Sesarengan / For the welfare of all

Name your top five 'Lockdown Tracks'

  • Until the Last Moment by Yanni
  • Gunung Salahutu by Jaya Suprana
  • The Cello Song by The Piano Guys
  • Saint Honesty by Sara Bareilles
  • The Joke by Brandi Carlile

 

LOCKDOWN LIST

Richard Walker, Managing Director, Iceland Foods

What is a book that has changed your life?

Eco Barons by Edward Humes. It recounts how successful businesspeople have used their wealth or platforms to drive positive environmental action.

What are you watching at the moment?

I don’t watch much TV at all, but have just been utterly absorbed by The Queens Gambit.

Who is your biggest inspiration and why?

I would have to say my Dad, who is a pretty unique and inspiring person!

In one sentence, describe your ‘new normal’.

Busy.

What is your best tip for life?

Never, ever, ever, ever give up.

A quote for life

Expect nothing; work hard; celebrate.

Name your top five 'Lockdown Tracks'

This Must Be The Place (Talking Heads), Praise You (Fatboy Slim), Zamilou (Bu Kolthoum), Living In A Ghost Town (The Rolling Stones), You’ve Got The Love (Florence + The Machine)

LOCKDOWN LIST

Amy Williams, Founder & CEO, Good-Loop

What is a book that has changed your life?

Body and Soul by Anita Roddick is a truly fantastic read for anyone looking to get under the skin of an ethical-by-design business. Anita didn’t build the Body Shop with some self-conscious concept of ‘sustainability as a competitive advantage’ she simply built a business she was passionate about and proud of, one step at a time and it’s wonderful to be taken on that journey. In this book, she talks about the way they evolved the business to protect, educate and empower their workers and she reflects on the moment that she realised The Body Shop had enough influence to make meaningful change above and beyond the beauty products in her shop. 

What are you watching at the moment?

My TV comfort food is Parks and Recreation, it’s my favourite show of all time and Lil Sebastian never fails to pick me up when I’m low. 

I’ve also recently been devouring that new Channel 4 show It’s A Sin. It follows an eclectic group of friends growing up in London in the 80s. The show is a bizarre collision of youthful joy and complete sadness as we watch the gay community being ravaged by aids and alienated by the mainstream. It’s an important story that’s rarely told and I’m loving the show! 

Who is your biggest inspiration and why?

Rose Marcario CEO of Patagonia. She has reimagined capitalism, through a lens of kindness, civic-engagement and compassion and she brought it to life through Patagonia.

As the founder of an ‘ethical advertising’ company, I’m often torn between our mission to harness advertising as a force for good, and the fundamental truth that consumption is bad for our planet. Advertising ethically is complicated, some would even argue impossible, but then I’m sure people also said it’d be impossible for Patagonia to become a billion-dollar company whilst actively telling people “Don’t Buy This Jacket.” Rose is an activist who’s earned respect and influence within our ruthlessly corporate society, and I would be so honoured to hear about her journey.

In one sentence, describe your ‘new normal’.

Which pair of leggings has the fewest stains on? 

What is your best tip for life?

I have no authority to tell people how to live, but personally, I try to listen more than I speak, say yes more than I say no and sleep as much as humanly possible. 

Name your top five 'Lockdown Tracks'

  • Alabama Shakes – Sound and Colour 
  • Vulfpeck – 1612   
  • Janelle Monae – Pynk 
  • Sinkane – How we be  
  • Dolly Parton – The Grass is Blue 

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Melanie Reid MBE, Journalist

What is a book that has changed your life?

Books are my life. Impossible to name one that did all the heavy lifting. I loved Kipling’s Just So stories as a child.

What are you watching at the moment?

Unbelievable on Netflix. What crime really means for women.

Who is your biggest inspiration and why?

My brother and sister, 11 and 13 years older than me, were my biggest influence

In one sentence, describe your ‘new normal’.

Much like my old normal; when you’re very disabled, you tend to stay at home and be fairly invisible

What is your best tip for life?

Do a lot of dancing.

A quote for life

“It’s the hope I can’t stand”

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Stephanie Boyce, Vice President, The Law Society

What is a book that changed your life?

There have been many books and authors that have had a profound effect on me, most notably and recently The Secret by Rhonda Byrne.

Who is your biggest inspiration and why?

I have a strong sense of justice and I was inspired to study law because of the injustices I saw unfolding around the world at that time.

The rule of law – which has come into focus in recent weeks because of clauses in the government’s Internal Market Bill, which break international law – has an impact on citizens and their right to self-determination, is important to me. 

The Law Society’s role as a guardian of the rule of law, means we have an important responsibility to ensure access to justice is available to all. 

I am inspired in a myriad of ways by Mahatma Gandhi – a great lawyer who inspired civil rights movements across the world.

He also demonstrated what forgiveness looks like – he walked with faith and not by sight. In addition, the man who took a long walk to freedom, Nelson Mandela, to the man who had a dream, Dr Martin Luther King, Jr, to the lady who saw beauty in everyone, Mother Teresa. We are all benefactors of their work.

In one sentence, describe your ‘new normal’.

“You’re on mute!”

What is your best tip for life?

Every door is open if you PUSH, Persevere Until Something Happens.

Name your top five ‘Lockdown tracks’

Hope- Faith Evans and Twista

Have a Little Faith – Nicky Thomas

Heal It – This was sent to me at the height of the pandemic and I couldn’t listen to it without crying.

Giant – Calvin Harris ft Rag n Bone Man. This has been my ringtone since I was elected as deputy Vice President of the Law Society.

Three Little Birds – Bob Marley.

 

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Lord Michael Grade CBE, Television Executive

What is a book that changed your life?

The Diary of Anne Frank

What are you watching at the moment?

Billions

Who is your biggest inspiration and why?

My dad and his two brothers. Work ethic, honourable – I could go on and on…

In one sentence, describe your ‘new normal’.

Watching sport on TV between Zoom calls

What is your best tip for life?

Just be nice to everyone

Name your top five ‘Lockdown tracks’

Beethoven – Eroica Symphony; Puccini – Madame Butterfly; Tchaikovsky 6th Symphony; Mahler – Ruckert Lieder; Barbara Cooke And Samuel Ramey – Singing If I Loved You From Carousel; Brahms Intermezzi For Solo Piano

 

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Colleen Amos OBE and Baroness Amos, Founders, The Amos Bursary

What is a book that changed your life?

Colleen: How Europe underdeveloped Africa, Walter Rodney

Valerie: It’s hard to point to one specific book. Stuart Hall’s work had a profound impact on me including ‘Policing the Crisis’ and ‘Resistance through Rituals’. Toni Morrison’s work, particularly ‘Beloved’, and Angela Davis’s ‘Women, Race and Class’.

What are you watching at the moment?

Colleen: Brigerton and Tolkein

Valerie: Lupin

Who is your biggest inspiration and why?

Colleen: They are all connected: My parents and those of windrush generation of course my sister

Valerie: My parents – for being incredible role models, for teaching me about the importance of understanding where one has come from, for instilling curiosity, for hating injustice and believing in equality, for nurturing talent, and for being real. They understood the importance of family and community. They knew how to share, to be generous and enjoy life.

In one sentence, describe your ‘new normal’.

Colleen: My new NOW revolves around the use of technology to keep in touch with my entire family, work colleagues and friends – my garden, cooking and Netflix.

Valerie: Hours spent on and watching a small screen.

What is your best tip for life?

Colleen: Always remember you are, same as any, better than many, inferior to none.

Valerie: Know yourself and remember to laugh.

A quote for life

Colleen: “Education is not a guarantee of wealth but it is against abject poverty”, Michael Amos

Name your top five ‘Lockdown tracks’

Colleen: Gregory Abbott, Shake you Down; Lionel Ritchie, Once twice three times a lady; Sounds of Blackness, Optimistic; Bob Marley, War; Candy, Cameo; Pump me Up, Krosfyah

Valerie: Sam Cooke, A Change is Gonna Come; Angelique Kidjo, Mama Africa; Marvin Gaye, What’s Going On / Inner City Blues; David Rudder, Bahia Girl; Anita Baker, You Bring me Joy

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Richard Butler and Daniel Nurse, The Amos Bursary

What is a book that changed your life?

Richard: The Bible

What are you watching at the moment?

Daniel: I’m listening to more podcasts. One that I highly recommend is ‘Have you heard George’s podcast?’, it’s a brilliantly articulated blend of musical storytelling and important social commentary.

Richard: Lupin.

Who is your biggest inspiration and why?

Daniel: It would be impossible for me to choose between Valerie and Colleen Amos so I have to include them both! Colleen has been instrumental in helping to realise the potential of a generation of young Londoners who may not have had the confidence or support to pursue further education. Valerie’s achievements on the world stage speak for themselves yet she remains so personable and always willing to offer advice to the leaders of tomorrow. Both inspirational in their own right.

Richard: Myself, constantly finding ways to make light of dim situations.

In one sentence, describe your ‘new normal’.

Daniel: My new normal is settling a daily target of 10 000 steps a day, achieving around 300 but still rewarding myself!

Richard: Nothing is normal.

What is your best tip for life?

Daniel: Stay curious and never stop trying to learn.

Richard: Work at what you can change for the better.

A quote for life

Daniel: Be the change that you wish to see in the world.

Richard: Variety is the spice of life!

Name your top five ‘Lockdown tracks’

Daniel: Labi Siffre, So Strong; Donny Hataway, Love, Love, Love; Bill Withers, I Can’t Write Left-Handed; Nao, Make it Out Alive; Anderson Paak, Lockdown

Richard: Rick Ross, Santorini Grece; Andre Bocelli, Caruso; WizKid, Essence; Maria McKee, Show Me Heaven; Malaika, Destiny

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Mark Gatiss, Screenwriter & Actor

What is a book that changed your life?

I suppose my very first was Great Expectations – which I got as a Christmas present when I was four! When I was finally old enough to read it, the twist made my head reel. I saw the power of story-telling right there

 

What are you watching at the moment?

We’ve just finished Series 3 of the brilliant French series Call My Agent – deliriously silly and joyous. Also The Undoing which was like a a HBO/ Sky thriller with big stars. Incredibly daft.

Who is your biggest inspiration and why?

I’d have to say Alan Bennett and Nigel Kneale. Between those two extraordinary talents lies my field of interest! Bennett has a beautiful ability to combine laughs and melancholy and uncanny eye for the absurdities of ordinary life. Kneale was a true visionary. A man who ‘could see round corners’. His speculative science fiction is just extraordinary. Yet he was also deeply rooted in the ordinary.

In one sentence, describe your ‘new normal’.

Mustn’t grumble

What is your best tip for life?

Never lose sight of your horizons. It’s important to move on, grow, develop. But it’s also good to know where you’ve come from and to keep looking back to it.

A quote for life

“Whatever it takes to have a nice day”

Name your top five ‘Lockdown tracks’

‘Chandelier’ – Sia

‘Golden’ Harry Styles

‘Real Groove’ – Kylie

‘Into each life some rain must fall’- Ella Fitzgerald and there Ink Spots.

‘Carol Symphony’- Victor Hely-Hutchinson

 

LOCKDOWN LIST

Joseph Galliano, Co-founder and CEO, Queer Britain

What is a book that changed your life?

Like many gay men of a certain age, a copy A Boy’s Own Story by Edmund White round its way into my hands just when I most needed it. 

What are you watching at the moment?

Harlots

Who is your biggest inspiration and why?

Tom Robinson – I was a huge fan as a teenager, having been blown away by Glad To be Gay as a fourteen year old. It was the first time I’d heard the message that maybe it was OK that I was gay. Tom was the first gay role model who I could see myself reflected in and I’ve been lucky enough to have become firm friends with him and his family as an adult. 

In one sentence, describe your ‘new normal’.

My new normal is remembering that I have a husband and home life and getting to indulge my inner homebody.

What is your best tip for life?

Don’t let a fear of failure stop you acting: I’d rather fail than live with the knowledge that I hadn’t tried, for fear.

A quote for life

“And in the end, the love you take , is equal to the love you make” (The Beatles)

Name your top five ‘Lockdown tracks’

Tom Robinson – Glad to Be Gay; Gilbert O’Sullivan – Alone Again (Naturally);  Joni Mitchell – Carey; Paul McCartney – Summers Day Song; Tone’s and I’s – Dance Monkey

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Sir Michael Morpurgo OBE

What is a book that has changed your life?

The Elephant’s Child from Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling. My mother used to read this to me. She was an actress and read so beautifully. She would come to my brother and me at night and for 20 minutes she read to us, somehow becoming the animals in the story. It’s one of those wonderful stories, very funny and full of musical language. I used to love it, it made me giggle. It was the first story I ever loved and began my life with a love of stories.

What are you watching in lockdown?

I’ve been trying to watch uplifting things and the film Sunshine on Leith has comforted us through several evenings. A film that grows out of its music – music and songs by the Proclaimers – it is the story of the homecoming to Leith and Edinburgh of two Scottish soldiers during the war in Afghanistan. The hopes and expectations are high. They have survived. All will be well. But fortune and love are as fickle .

What is your lockdown soundtrack?

You’ll Never Walk Alone – Gerry & The Pacemakers

(I’m Gonna Be) 500 Miles – The Proclaimers

Days – Kirsty McColl

Farewell to Stromness – Peter Maxwell Davies

Handle Me With Care – The Travelling Wilburys

In one sentence, describe your new normal.

Loving my isolation, rather than endlessly finding reason to escape it.

Who is your biggest inspiration and why?

Clare, my wife, who first encouraged me to write, and still does. 

Robert Louis Stevenson, the storyteller, novelist, poet, traveller, the writer I most want to emulate. The silence of children wrapped up entirely in a story as they listen or read.

What is your best tip for life ?

Always look on the bright side of it.

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Yanis Varoufakis

What is a book that has changed your life?

Homer’s Odyssey as translated and re-worked by Nikos Kazantzakis.

What are you watching in lockdown?

Star Trek episodes of all vintages/ series, what else?

What is your lockdown soundtrack?

Poor People, by Alan Price

Merglys III, by Van der Graaf Generator

Adagio, T. Albinoni; Niotho Enoches, by Ble (Greek band of the 1990s)

Je chanterai pour toi, by Kalu James (contemporary Austin-Texas rhythm & blues band)

In one sentence, describe your new normal.

The end of normal – and of any interest in reviving it.

Who is your biggest inspiration and why?

A young anonymous woman whom I only glimpsed at during a mass picket outside Greece’s parliament in 2011. The picketers’ aim was to obstruct parliamentarians from entering the House to vote in favour of catastrophic austerity. An angry pro-government deputy, pushing past her with the help of riot police, asked her aggressively: “Who do you think you are telling me what to do?” She calmly responded with another question: “Who do I need to be?”

What is your best tip for life ?

Virtuous deeds are done for the hell of it – and they feel divine as a result.

LOCKDOWN LIST

Lord Jim O'Neill

What is a book that has changed your life?

No one particular book, I wouldn’t say any book changed my life, but if really had to choose one, it would be my A-Level textbook on North America, that got me interested in the real world, and economics of the US, and travelling also. If I could answer a bit more laterally, the answer would have to be the Manchester Football Pink, which was published in my youth every Saturday night within 2 hours of matches finishing, and I couldn’t wait to get it and digest it thoroughly. My father even used to post it to me when I first moved to New York in 1985, so it was still going then. I think it ceased in the late 1980’s.

What are you watching in lockdown?

Queen’s Gambit, it is fantastic. Also watching the Steve McQueen five-parter on BBC1 on Sundays, but not quite sure about that! And I watched the whole of the Sopranos, finally, which I love, it is like a combination of Coronation Street and the Godfather!

What is your lockdown soundtrack?

I don’t have five lockdown tracks, in terms of new ones, I love listening to Paul Gambacino every Saturday, pick of the pops, running through the charts, for some reason, he has especially homed in on 1979 which is the year I met my wife at Surrey when I started my PHD, as well as my last year at Sheffield, and was especially memorable for music, therefore. That said, I love Dua Lipa’s new song, Levitated, and the group lockdown song, “Times Like These”, I really like that, although it does make me a bit teary.

In one sentence, describe your new normal

In many ways, I have no new normal, much of what I do is the same as before, as I often work from “home”. But I make sure even more than before, I do quite a lot of outdoor exercise.

Who is your biggest inspiration and why?

Not sure I have one in particular, but amongst most of the contenders, they all have something to do with Manchester United, any of, Sir Alex Ferguson, Dennis Law, George Best. Perhaps my secondary school geography teacher, John Doughty, who taught me the interest I developed in geography and indirectly, economics. I might be odd, but I don’t find any particular political figures as especially inspirational, although I thought it was quite cool when the US elected Obama. I have had the pleasure of meeting a number of presidents, prime ministers and leaders of other countries, past and present, and my usual reaction, is what on earth motivated them to become a national leader? In terms of economists, none either, although I do have fond memories of Rudy Dornbusch, who as well as being a great theoretician about international economics, seemed quite good fun, and didn’t take himself overly seriously.

What is your best tip for life ?

I have two. Firstly, as with my House of Lords motto, “always try your best”, and secondly, saying no to something is often the best answer to a request, so long as it is courteous.

LOCKDOWN LIST

Dr Pippa Malmgren

What is a book that has changed your life?

The Golden Bough by Sir James Frazer

What are you watching in lockdown?

I am writing what I hope may become a Netflix Series, which is a huge adventure.

What is your lockdown soundtrack?

Don’t Hold Back by Bob Moses

I Asked by Snarky Puppy with Becca and Vasen

Have Love Will Travel by the Sonics

195lbs by Nightmares on Wax

Liquid by Robert Koch.

In one sentence, describe your new normal.

Simple soulful sense making in my home life and my work life alike.

Who is your biggest inspiration and why?

Heddy Lamar. She was a beautiful actress who was inducted into the Inventors Hall of Fame for her discovery of the frequency hopping that makes all our mobile devices today work.

What is your best tip for life ?

If you ever think “People don’t really get me” or they think I am something other than I am, then show them more who you really are. Always align the interior and exterior.

LOCKDOWN LIST

Ryan C. Crocker

What is a book that has changed your life?

Thinking in Time, Neustadt and May

What are you watching in lockdown?

I very seldom turn the TV on.

What is your lockdown soundtrack?

Moody Blues – Talking out of Turn

Avenged Sevenfold – Almost Easy

Linkin Park – In the End

Puddle of Mudd – She Hates Me

Seether – Fake It.

In one sentence, describe your new normal.

I don’t get on planes anymore. I love that

Who is your biggest inspiration and why?

My mom – see Best Tip for Life below

What is your best tip for life ?

From my mom – Persevere. Never complain. Never give up. Shut up and march

LOCKDOWN LIST

Alison Goldsworthy

What is a book that has changed your life?

Once in a House on Fire by Andrea Ashworth. I have also co-written a book, Poles Apart which is due for release in June 2021.

What are you watching in lockdown?

I’m about to start watching the latest series of The Crown and can’t wait. Other lockdown highlights have included the Norwegian/ French collaboration, Occupied and Will Ferrell’s Eurovision film.

What is your lockdown soundtrack?

Wham – Careless Whisper

Disturbed – The Sound of Silence

Girls Aloud – Sound of the Underground

Crazy World of Arthur Brown – Fire

Tori Amos –Cornflake Girl

In one sentence, describe your new normal

“Another night in is it?”

Who is your biggest inspiration and why?

I don’t really believe in role models. If you put people on a pedestal, all they do is fall off.

What is your best tip for life ?

No one, and I mean no one, should have more control over how you feel than you do.

LOCKDOWN LIST

Tamara Lohan MBE

What is a book that has changed your life?

100 Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. I read this in my late teens and knew I had to explore South America. It led me to spend a year in Chile, Peru, Bolivia and Colombia, to study South American literature at university and I still feel a draw to that part of the world.

What are you watching in lockdown?

Lots and lots of nature, rewilding programmes, David Attenborough’s Witness statement, The Biggest Little Farm and as a family we love Ed Stafford’s First Man Out.

What is your lockdown soundtrack?

Feel Like I do – Disclosure Al Green – just a really cool toe tapping remix of the great Al Green that I’ve only recently discovered

Lonely – Dim Zach – disco-y vibe that’s actually really uplifting despite its lockdown title

Blinding Lights – The Weeknd – it’s just so damn catchy

Greentea Peng – Hum Man – thought-provoking lyrics for the times we live in

Wish I Didn’t Miss You – Angie Stone classic for all my friends!

In one sentence, describe your new normal.

Changing plans continuously!

Who is your biggest inspiration and why?

I think in these times this has to be my team at Smith. What they have managed to achieve and overcome over the last few months is incredible and they inspire me every day to keep fighting and to do better.

What is your best tip for life ?

Celebrate the highs and know you’ll always get through the lows.

LOCKDOWN LIST

Anna Brailsford

What is a book that has changed your life?

Away by Jane Urquhart. After ten years this book still haunts me in the best possible way.

What are you watching in lockdown?

The Haunting of Blyth Mansion. It is loosely based on The Turning of the Screw and made me read Henry James again.

What is your lockdown soundtrack?

I Want To Break Free – Queen

La Traviata (The Drinking Song) Verdi,

Survivor – Destiny’s Child

The Bare Necessities – Jungle Book

Don’t Stop Thinking About Tomorrow – Fleetwood Mac

Una Furtiva Lacrima – Pavarotti.

In one sentence, describe your new normal.

Work, eat, repeat (to distract myself from craving human interaction and energy).

Who is your biggest inspiration and why?

Mum – need I say more?

What is your best tip for life ?

Instinct is queen.

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Professor Muhammad Yunus

Is there a book that inspired you/impacted your work?

Not any particular book. Have drawn inspiration from different books at different times.

What is your lockdown soundtrack?

Beethoven, symphony no 5.

Have a listen to the Change Makers Lockdown Playlist.

In one sentence, describe your new normal.

The pandemic has given us a chance to change the direction of the world from total annihilation to creating a new civilization of sharing and caring, and making the planet perpetually safe.

Who is your biggest inspiration and why?

Nelson Mandela. For his commitment to people, rising above race, tribe, political affiliation. Holding on to love for people despite extreme political and physical risks.

What is your best tip for life?

Imagine the world you want to be in, and go for it, defying everything that tries to stop you.

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Jeremy Silver

What is a book that has changed your life?

Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson, published in 1992 – it foresaw the internet and the metaverse, provided the name for the Raft which was the first website I ever built for the label where I worked, Virgin Records in 1994 and which resulted eventually in me moving to LA in 1998 at the height of the first dot com boom.

What are you watching in lockdown?

Just finished watching Two Weeks to Live – which is a brilliant story of suburban misfits devious low lifes on a romantic mission of revenge and discovery. It’s like Pulp Fiction comes to Sunbury on Thames.

What is your lockdown soundtrack?

Take Four by the Juju Orchestra from their album Bosa Nova is not a Crime

Kokoro by Fatoumata Diaware from her album Fenfo (something to say)

Guaglione by Mario Marini from his album I Grandi Successi Orginali

Our Day Will Come by Waldeck from their album Ballroom Stories

I Feel Love by Hector Zazou, Barbara Eramo, and Stefano Saletti from their album Oriental Night Fever.

In one sentence, describe your new normal.

My new normal is Zoom, peppered with walks and yoga, and web surfing holiday porn.

Who is your biggest inspiration and why?

Haruki Mirakami – because his novels render the magic of life’s mysteries into a readable prose  that seems so logical and obvious that the extraordinary dimensions into which his imagination reaches seem entirely plausible and sensible. I only wish I could read his work in Japanese and understand it even more fully.

What is your best tip for life ?

Never work on things that are boring, always have fun and when a tough choice comes – prioritise your instincts – they won’t lead you astray.

LOCKDOWN LIST

Sharmadean Reid

What is a book that has changed your life?

Virgina Woolf – A Room of One’s Own. Aside from the delicious writing, it succinctly voiced everything I had felt about being a woman. I was just sad that it was about 100 years old and still relevant.

What are you watching in lockdown?

Interviews with Oprah. It’s easy to forget in a world of self help gurus and motivational quotes on Instagram that she is the OG influencer.

What is your lockdown soundtrack?

Why Don’t You – Cleo Sol

Good Life – Inner City

Freedom ’90 – George Michael

Let Forever Be – Chemical Brothers

Binz – Solange.

 

In one sentence, describe your new normal.

Extreme productivity and extreme mooching.

Who is your biggest inspiration?

Oprah.

What is your best tip for life ?

Set your intention, know your values.

LOCKDOWN LIST

Edeline Lee

What is a book that has changed your life?

Virgina Woolf – A Room of One’s Own

What are you watching in lockdown?

The Little Drummer Girl

What is your lockdown soundtrack?

Kaleida – Long Noon

Cigarettes After Sex – Apocalypse

Michael Jackson – Off The Wall

Tino Kamal – Culture; Rema – Dumebi

 

In one sentence, describe your new normal.

My working day starts and ends later now because we are trying to avoid peak travel in the studio.

Who is your biggest inspiration and why?

My son – he always inspires me to see what is really important.

What is your best tip for life ?

Fear is not an option.

LOCKDOWN LIST

Lucy Cleland

What is a book that has changed your life?

Sitopia by Carolyn Steel

What are you watching in lockdown?

Portrait of a Lady on Fire – although it’s the first film I’ve watched in months!

What is your lockdown soundtrack?

Soon You’ll Get better – Taylor Swift

I Have Nothing – Whitney Houston

Motherland – Natalie Merchant

Love – Lana del Rey

Me and Julio – Paul Simon

 

in one sentence, describe your new normal.

More fit yet strangely more fat… How does that work?!

Who is your biggest inspiration and why?

My best friends – for different reasons.

What is your best tip for life ?

Sometimes you only know where you’re going when you’ve got there – be open to the ride.

LOCKDOWN LIST

Charmian Love

What is a book that has changed your life?

The Medici Effect

what are you watching in lockdown?

The Playbook

What is your lockdown soundtrack?

I See Gold, Good Lovelies

My Shot, Hamilton Soundtrack

Everything is Not Awesome, Lego 2 Movie

Viva la Vida, Coldplay

Turina

In one sentence, describe your new normal.

Enjoying our home and deepening our roots in our community.

Who is your biggest inspiration and why?

My husband. He is strong, calm, caring and the yin to my yang showing that the great love that comes from embracing difference.

What is your best tip for life ?

Always grow towards the sun.

LOCKDOWN LIST

Holly Tucker

What is a book that has changed your life?

Tribes – Seth Godin.

What are you watching in lockdown?

The Social Dilemma.

What is your lockdown soundtrack?

Lianne La Havas – Bittersweet

Gregory Porter – Probably Me

Billie Eilish – My Future

H.E.R. play “Going” (Interlude) – from Tiny Desk

Dua Lipa – Be The One

In one sentence, describe your new normal.

Is more efficient than ever, every minute of the day I am driving things forward.

Who is your biggest inspiration and why?

At the moment Thomasina Miers, the bravery she has shown having to shut down some of her restaurants has been phenomenal. To bringing in sustainability to the heart of her menu – she’s all-round brilliant!

LOCKDOWN LIST

General David Petraeus

What is a book that has changed your life?

Andrew Roberts’ masterful biography of Churchill as the lockdown inspiration reading. And the inspiration for me during the Surge (and since) was Ulysses S. Grant (as portrayed in Bruce Catton’s “Grant Takes Command,” which I was reading (a few pages a night) in the early tough months of the Surge).

What are you watching in lockdown?

An iPad on which the Zwift digital cycling app is running – which inevitably spurs my competitive instincts into high gear as I peddle my road bike, with the rear wheel removed so that it is on a Wahoo trainer that works with the app.

Who is your biggest inspiration and why?

Our children and their spouses – and, now, their children!  Our kids have made their own way in the world, despite endless moves while they were growing up.

In one sentence, describe your new normal.

One word – Zoom.  You can run but not hide from Zoom, and each day is full of sessions on it.  Beyond that,  more dinners at home in a row than ever in our 46 years of marriage – and, thankfully, custody of the family dog (our son’s, but usually with our daughter while he finishes a JD/MBA), with whom I enjoy multiple long walks each day in our hilly Arlington neighbourhood while doing calls.

What is your best tip for life ?

Life is a competitive endeavor, embrace that reality and compete – not just to be best overall, but the best you can be, including the best team player you can be.

LOCKDOWN LIST

Sir Max Hastings

What is a book that has changed your life?

Winston Churchill’s My Early Life, which convinced me that having adventures, some of them on battlefields, was the way I wanted to fulfil myself. I didn’t grow out of that until I was 36, after the Falklands War.

What are you watching in lockdown?

Call My Agent for the third time.

What is your lockdown soundtrack?

Sinatra’s Come Fly With Me

Charles Trenet’s La Mer

Bruce Springsteen’s Thunder Road

Prokofiev’s music for the ball scene in the ballet of Romeo & Juliet

The duet towards the end of the First Act of Traviata.

In one sentence, describe your new normal.

It’s the same as my old normal in that I read and write all day and every day, with a bit of gardening, swimming and dog-walking in between, except that this year we’ve so far cancelled holidays in Sicily, South Africa, Malaysia, Scotland and now France.

Who is your biggest inspiration and why?

My bank, because when I was a teenager I decided that I want to live as my father did, dining at the best restaurants in London on an overdraft that would impress Rishi Sunak, and the only way I could do that was on expenses from rich newspapers, or by writing bestsellers, or both.

What is your best tip for life ?

The first Duke of Wellington’s retrospective: ‘I always did the business of the day on the day’. Never procrastinate.

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Izzy Obeng

What is a book that has changed your life?

Homecoming by Yaa Gyasi

What are you watching in lockdown?

I don’t watch much TV (more of a podcast fan) but an avid Newsnight viewer

What is your lockdown soundtrack?

What’s Going on, Marvin Gaye

Don’t Rush, Young T & Bugsey

Psycho, Dave; Black, Dave;

Ja Ara E, Beyonce

Own It, Stormzy.

In one sentence, describe your new normal.

Screen fatigue, being in lockdown in Africa and team members I’ve never met

Who is your biggest inspiration and why?

Michelle Obama – what she represented in her role as first lady and her impact on communities globally.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie – her impact on African writing and feminism.

Afua Hirsch – her impact on journalism. Brit-ish was also a brilliant book.

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Whitney Bromberg Hawkings

What is a book that has changed your life?

Shoe Dog by Phil Knight

What are you watching in lockdown?

I May Destroy You

What is your lockdown soundtrack?

Black Parade – Beyonce

Megatron – Nicki Minaj

Non Stop – Drake

Mood 4Eva – Beyonce

A God Like You – Kirk Franklin

In one sentence, describe your new normal.

My new normal is an attempt to find balance on an ever-changing, totally unpredictable and unstable foundation. For someone who likes stability and planning both at work and at home, this has many challenges.

Who is your biggest inspiration and why?

My family inspires me to be the best version of myself that I can be.

What is your best tip for life ?

Feel the fear and do it anyway.

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Nana Badu

What is a book that has changed your life?

Leading by Sir Alex Ferguson.

What are you watching in lockdown?

SWAT

What is your lockdown soundtrack?

What’s Going On – Marvin Gaye

Keep Your Head Up – 2Pac

Ye – Burna Boy

Aben Wo Aha – Daddy Lumba

Go Crazy – Chris Brown.

In one sentence, describe your new normal.

Taking time to appreciate what is around me but striving for scale up and a new narrative.

Who is your biggest inspiration and why?

See the change in confidence about life, when people are inspired.

What is your best tip for life ?

“The dream is free, the hustle is sold separately.”

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Gavin Poole

What is a book that has changed your life?

To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee

What are you watching in lockdown?

Hamilton (on repeat!) or West Coast Customs…

What is your lockdown soundtrack?

Amarillo by Morning – George Strait

Where Is The Love? – Black Eyed Peas

Holocene – Bon Iver

Tennessee Whisky – Chris Stapleton

Shine on you Crazy Diamond – Pink Floyd

In one sentence, describe your new normal.

Normal

Who is your biggest inspiration and why?

All 12 of the original pioneering astronauts of the 1960s.

What is your best tip for life ?

Don’t look back, don’t go back, don’t get a dog!

(A point vigorously contested by his adorable Welsh Terrier, Pickles – not pictured)

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Poppy Jamie

What is a book that has changed your life?

The Five People You Meet In Heaven by Mitch Albom.

What are you watching in lockdown?

Not much – I am writing a book! But I did just enjoy Normal People.

What is your lockdown soundtrack?

Rather be You by Tom Gregory

Queen of Peace by Florence + The Machine

Dreamland by Glass Animals

Running Out Of Love by Jubël

Here Comes the Sun by SYM

In one sentence, describe your new normal.

Spending a lot of time in nature and I love it.

Who is your biggest inspiration and why?

Oprah.

What is your best tip for life ?

Move your body first thing.

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Mathieu Flamini

What are you watching in lockdown?

I like documentaries around health and sustainability: The Game Changer / What the Health / A Plastic Ocean / The Biggest Little Farm

What is your lockdown soundtrack?

Love you Better by John De Sohn and Rasmus Hagen

Burial by Seinabo Sey

Outro by M83

Control by Zoe Wees

La fin de l’ete by Christophe Maé

In one sentence, describe your new normal.

Cut the superficial, and focus on what really count for you.

Who is your biggest inspiration and why?

I’m a big fan of David Attenborough – he brought the animal world into the life of millions of English people.

What is your best tip for life ?

Stay positive whatever happens.

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James Chen

What is a book that has changed your life?

Give Smart by Tom Tierney

What are you watching in lockdown?

Rising Phoenix on Netflix

What is your lockdown soundtrack?

The Prayer – Celine Dion & Andrea Bocelli

I Have Nothing – Whitney Houston

Cry Me A River – Diana Krall

When Will I Be Loved? – Linda Ronstadt

My All – Mariah Carey

In one sentence, describe your new normal.

Living in a bubble world and hoping it deflates slowly and doesn’t pop.

Who is your biggest inspiration and why?

The Rockefeller family for their multigenerational family values grounded in a legacy of high impact philanthropy.

What is your best tip for life ?

Luck happens to those who are prepared.

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Valerie Keller

What is a book that has changed your life?

The Blue Sweater: Bridging the Gap Between Rich and Poor in an Interconnected World by Jacqueline Novogratz. I’m also currently writing a book about my changing life. How I grew up in a cult and my journey to living my calling as CEO of IMAGINE.

What are you watching in lockdown?

I’m watching Unorthodox on Netflix – which in some ways mirrors my own journey.

In one sentence, describe your new normal.

Harnessing the benefits of technology to bring together courageous CEOs in a virtual, safe space to form powerful collectives to positively transform the food, fashion and finance industries. 

Modern day technology truly has the ability to create an intimacy in connection and bring unity where there is a powerful purpose and inspirational ideas at play.

Who is your biggest inspiration?

My co-founder and Chairman of IMAGINE, Paul Polman. He is a true visionary in every way. A courageous CEO, who is 100% committed to walk the talk and who has dedicated his life to creating positive systemic change in the world. The good news is that he might be a dreamer but he’s not the only one. Lately I’m also inspired by the 27 Food and 67 Fashion CEOs we‘re working with — they seem to personally care deeply about the future of humanity and the world — and using collective power for bold moves to reverse climate and inequality. They’re what we call Space Transformers, thanks to Yoko Ono. 

What is your best tip for life?

As Mother Teresa said, “Life is a game. Play it.” Thinking about it that way takes a lot of the pressure off. It enables a lightness of being. It also dispels the myth that there is only one right way to do things.

Top 5 lockdown tracks

Imagine by John Lennon

Follow the Sun by Caroline Pennell

Make that Change by Sing in Thun

Resilient by Rising Appalachia

13 (There is a Light) by U2

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Maurice Ostro OBE

What is a book that has changed your life?

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance – Robert M. Pirsig

What are you watching in lockdown?

Tiger King

In one sentence, describe your new normal.

Zooming in smart casual attire (smart on top, casual on the bottom)

Who is your biggest inspiration?

My father. He showed more resilience than one could possibly imagine. He lived through the horrors of the Holocaust and still remained one of the most positive people I have ever had the honour of knowing.

What is your best tip for life?

Every time you take a knock, think that this too could be for the good.

Top 5 lockdown tracks

It’s the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine) – R.E.M

I’m Still Standing – Elton John

More Than a Feeling – Boston

Don’t Stop Believing – Journey

Despacito – Luis Fonsi

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Anne Sebba

What is a book that has changed your life?

Claire Tomalin’s biography of Nellie Ternan, The Invisible Woman because it revealed the importance to a great man of a hitherto unknown woman.

What are you watching in lockdown?

Mrs America… a brilliant evocation of American politics in the 60s a decade after the execution of the Rosenbergs, but still unable to treat women as equal

In one sentence, describe your new normal.

A one-hour bike ride at 7am through Richmond park with no cars! Magic

Who is your biggest inspiration?

My grandchildren because they focus me on the importance of the future.

What is your best tip for life?

You have to be able to live alone before you can live with other people

Top 5 lockdown tracks

Chopin – Cello Sonata

Peter Skellern – Still Magic and Love is the Sweetest Thing

Bridge Over Troubled Water – Simon and Garfunkel

Roberta Flack – Killing Me Softly

Strauss Four – Last Songs (sung by Renee Fleming)

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Justin Webb

What is a book that has changed your life?

Elephant by Raymond Carver

What are you watching in lockdown?

Rugby from New Zealand

In one sentence, describe your new normal.

Closer to the kids and dog, but longing for a Pret

Who is your biggest inspiration?

John Humphrys – indefatigable and fearless

What is your best tip for life?

Try stuff (not illegal stuff)

Top 5 lockdown tracks

David Bowie – Five Years

Elgar’s Cello Concerto

Leonard Cohen – Suzanne

Slade – Cum On Feel the Noize

Who Knows Where the Times Goes – Fairport Convention

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Matt Scheckner

What is a book that has changed your life?

Early on in my career I read Peter Ueberroth’s Made in America when that was a much less complex title and it was just a quintessential story about entrepreneurship and giving back, I have great admiration for Peter and later in my career got to meet him and he was terrific. The job he and the late Harry Usher did running the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games really made the modern-day sports business in so many ways.

What are you watching in lockdown?

Re-watching The Sopranos, turned out to be a great choice. 20+ years old and I don’t remember just enough to make it magical, again.

In one sentence, describe your new normal.

Well, it’s a game of re-invention, re-imagination and it’s all remarkably invigorating. We, like so many others, have been challenged to fast track elements of our business that were lesser priorities; invent completely new components; and all the while stay true to our commitment to elevating the experience, irrespective of the medium.

Who is your biggest inspiration?

My kids. I’m adopted so the only true blood relatives I have are my son Benny and my daughter Eliza. Their resilience, positive spirit and heart are beyond inspirational.

What is your best tip for life?

Take care of yourself, or you are no good to anyone else. That’s actually being self-less, not the opposite. The real measure of a life is the impact we are able to make on others, a notion borrowed from Nelson Mandela. To achieve the most you can for others, you have to first put yourself in position to fire on all cylinders.

Top 5 lockdown tracks

Booker T. & the M.G.’s / Time Is Tight

Bob Marley & The Wailers / Zimbabwe

The Kinks / Waterloo Sunset

Peter Tosh / Pick Myself Up

Sam Cooke / Chain Gang

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Baroness McGregor-Smith CBE

What is a book that has changed your life?

The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle.

What are you watching in lockdown?

Netflix documentaries, the one that I found that really shook me was Athlete A

In one sentence, describe your new normal.

My new normal has not changed!

Who is your biggest inspiration?

The founder CEO at Serco, Richard White, who inspired me to do more with my career and believed in my capabilities.

What is your best tip for life?

Never take yourself too seriously and just keep going , whatever obstacles are put in your way, and keep learning

Top 5 lockdown tracks

Human – The Killers

Temptation – New Order

Chasing Cars – Snow Patrol

Fix You – Coldplay

Friday I’m in Love – The Cure

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Paul Lindley OBE

What is a book that has changed your life?

21 Lessons for the 21st Century by Yuval Noah Harari – it raises all those challenges we are failing to address

What are you watching in lockdown?

A tipping point: as each of us decide if we change the way we live as we realise we live in consequential times.

In one sentence, describe your new normal.

Hope, despair, hope, disappointment, hope, optimism, hope, belief, hope, action, hope, achievement: Repeat.

Who is your biggest inspiration?

Robert F. Kennedy – a ripple of hope, whose moral imagination fought injustice and who dreamt things that never were and asked why not.

What is your best tip for life?

Grow down: think like you did when you were a toddler and use the power of that imagination, free thinking, curiosity and self-confidence to do it. 

Top 5 lockdown tracks

Streets of London – Sinead O’Connor: There but for the grace of God go I.
Every Child’s Plate – Emmanuel Jal: I wrote the lyrics for this song (gulp). It still gives me energy in my role tackling child obesity. Listen to it and watch the video below!
War – Bob Marley and the Wailers: ‘We are confident in the victory of good over evil’.
Life on Mars – David Bowie: Creative perfection.
Bridge over Troubled Water – Artists For Grenfell version: We desperately need to find that bridge once again.

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Kerry Kennedy

What is a book that has changed your life?

Tattoos On The Heart by Greg Boyle

What are you watching in lockdown?

Hamilton

In one sentence, describe your new normal.

Zoom in, Zoom out

Who is your biggest inspiration?

Robert F. Kennedy

What is your best tip for life?

The difference between a victim and a hero is that a hero takes action with a loving heart. Mandela, King, Malala, Maathai, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, the kids from Margery Stoneham High school, Tony Fauci, Colin Kaepernick…

Top 5 lockdown tracks

It’s funny you ask- our house has become an eclectic mix of protests tracks from the sixties, 80’s dance, modern pop, and current rap- which inspires conversation around cultural influences during childhood, young adult and current years, what the culture of our country was 50 years ago, and how it’s different today.

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Benn Cunningham and Charlotte Ansbergs

What is a book that has changed your life?

Benn: ‘How to Survive a Plague’ by David France. It’s an incredibly powerful account of the AIDS pandemic and how gay and trans men and women stood up and literally fought for their lives in a world that simply didn’t care, against authorities that were content to let hundreds of thousands of people die without taking action, because they believed those people to be less than human. It’s a powerful reminder of what a community can achieve when it stands tall and takes action and, as a gay man, I found it hugely moving to learn more of the battles that were fought on my behalf by people who may well not have lived to see the result. 

Charlotte: I love reading, and this is such a tough question. No one book has changed my life, but Middlemarch is such a wise and thought-provoking book that it has stayed with me over the years.

What are you watching in lockdown?

Benn: Succession. I wouldn’t say I’m watching it, I’m more devouring it. It’s the most brilliantly written, brilliantly acted portrayal of some of the coldest, cruellest, most seductive narcissists I’ve ever seen. It’s usually true that the devil gets all the best tunes.

Charlotte: Little Dorrit (the 2009 BBC version). Dickens’ theme of money, having it, losing it, being able to earn it (or not), seems particularly pertinent at the moment. All the twists of fate that life can come up with are still with us today. I find this very reassuring.

And Wimbledon Rewind. Tennis is, for me, a fascinating sport to watch. It reminds me of musicians at the top of their game performing live. Years of dedicated training combined with concentration and flair in the heat of the moment.

In one sentence, describe your new normal.

Benn: An anxiety-laced, amorphous period, interspersed with practise, exercise, food, alcohol and an ongoing attempt to do what I can for the future of my organisation and the wider performing arts.

Charlotte: A completely unexpected pause from normal life that sometimes seems a blessing and other times seems anything but.

Who is your biggest inspiration and why?

Benn: Hard to pick one, as all sorts of people inspire me in different ways, but I seem to have a bit of a thing for powerful female tennis players! Billie Jean King and Martina Navratilova both did so much for representation whilst being the most incredible sportswomen and I truly believe that Serena Williams is some kind of deity that has taken human form. I find her a breathtakingly powerful role model. 

Charlotte: My wonderful Grandma. She died last September aged 98 and I think of her a lot, particularly at the moment. She was an unstoppable person in her own quiet way, and rarely indulged in self-pity. She also took a lot of trouble to be kind.

What is your best tip for life?

Benn: I constantly come back to the serenity prayer and, as such, aim for the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference.

Charlotte: Goodness what a question! Never say no to a cup of tea?!

Top 5 lockdown tracks

Benn: I’m such a fan of Desert island Discs on BBC Radio 4 but I’ve always thought how excruciating making a decision as to what my music selection would be. There’s just too much, of all genres! Still, here goes…

Sibelius Symphony 7: I can’t believe Sibelius was an actual, real-life human being who sat down with a blank sheet of paper and a cup of coffee in the morning and just invented this music. It seems far more likely to me that he somehow turned up the volume of some corner of the Universe where this music has always existed and just transcribed it. It’s insane!

Brahms 2nd Symphony: The first movement is pure sunshine and happiness and the slow movement is one of those rare moments in life I want to be a cellist, just to play that opening theme.

Loreen, Euphoria: You need a dance floor in lockdown and this is one of the great Eurovision bangers. Plus, the opening sound effect is exactly the sound my coffee machine makes when you turn it on, so it makes me smile every morning.

My Baby Just Cares For Me, Nina Simone: She was the most remarkable artist and the world treated her so appallingly. I know she hated this track, but it brings me joy.

Beethoven String Quartets Opus 132: It includes the most exquisite slow movement, which Beethoven wrote as a thanksgiving to God after recovering from illness. Spine-tingling.

Charlotte: 

Saint-Saens Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso: Preferably played by Kyung Wha Chung or Maxim Vengerov. This is such an unashamedly violinistic show-off piece. Fantastic stuff. I was given a Decca cassette tape by my Mother when I was about eight called The World of the Violin and I longed to play all of the pieces on it. The Kyung Wha Chung recording (with, co-incidentally, the RPO) was track 3. (The only one left to learn is Le Vent by Vecsey. It sounds difficult…)

Mozart Violin Concerto no.5 in A major: Sadly not live in concert with Pinchas Zukerman and my RPO colleagues at the moment, but I love Anne-Sophie Mutter’s 1978 Von Karajan recording. The slow movement of this concerto is sublime.

Mendelssohn Piano Trio no.1 op.49: First learnt with my sister Elizabeth and a lovely pianist called Kate Feldschreiber many years ago on a summer school. Joshua Bell, Steven Isserlis and Jeremy Denk have recorded a beautiful performance of the second movement in their own homes during lockdown.

Strauss Ein Heldenleben: (It was this or Elgar Symphony no.1.) An exhilarating piece to listen to and to perform.

Händel Aria Silent Worship from Tolomeo (with adaptation by Arthur Somervell): I can’t really articulate why I find Händel so satisfactory, but I want to listen to Händel or Purcell Arias when I am tired and nothing else will do. 

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Rory Bremner

What is a book that has changed your life?

Candide, by Voltaire

What are you watching in lockdown?

Boxsets, which include Money Heist, The Crown and After Life, plus Grayson’s Art Club and Gogglebox

In one sentence, describe your new normal.

The new normal is recalibrating the work/life balance – mostly in favour of life

Who is your biggest inspiration and why?

John Bird, after working with him for so long, he taught me so much

What is your best tip for life?

I say this to my daughters – Do your best and be kind; Make the effort; If you fail prepare, you prepare to fail

Top 5 lockdown tracks

And The Healing has Begun by Van Morrison

Hey Laura by Gregory Porter

Life on Mars? by David Bowie

Vissi d’arte, Tosca sung by Maria Callas

Somebody’s Gonna Off the Man by Barry White

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Eileen Burbidge MBE

What is a book that has changed your life?

Perhaps because I’ve always been a bit of a bookworm — and read so much growing up and ever since, I can’t think of any single book that’s “changed my life”. I’m affected by lots of books and shaped by all of them. Ones I’ve particularly enjoyed include Anna Karenina, The Power of One and more recently and relevant to recent events, Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race.

What are you watching in lockdown?

During lockdown I’ve enjoyed Sunderland Till I Die (particularly the transfer window), The Last Dance and now finishing Tiger Woods: Back

In one sentence, describe your new normal.

One sentence: I don’t think there is any such thing as a “new normal”. 

Ever since I had my first child I’ve had this theory (because you have a baby and you think it’ll be fine once we “get back to normal”, but in reality you just move and try to stay present as you progress from one state to the next (such as getting feeding sorted, to teething, to growth spurts, to solids and on and on). In life more generally, we’re just moving and hopefully growing from one state to the next.

Who is your biggest inspiration and why?

I don’t really think about any specific inspiration. I simply want to make my time “count” whether it’s with my family or at work. There are so many ways to spend my time, so if I’m going to spend it on anything, it has to matter and be worthwhile.

What is your best tip for life?

Treat others as you’d wish to be treated

Top 5 lockdown tracks

Surprisingly, this question has just led me to realise that I haven’t been listening to music that much during lockdown, but the two tracks that are frequently in my head are:

Roses (Imanbek Remix) by SAINT JHN

Kings & Queens by Ava Max.

Aside from that, I can tell you for sure that the one song I *always* switch off or change the station of is Drake’s “Tootsie Slide”!

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Sir Anthony Seldon

What is a book that has changed your life?

Falling Upward, by Richard Rohr

What are you watching in lockdown?

Selma

In one sentence, describe your new normal.

Living life more fully

Who is your biggest inspiration and why?

My father; because he lived life.

 

What is your best tip for life?

Slow down; you will do much more

 

Top 5 lockdown tracks

a) Gimme Shelter

b) Shostakovich

c) Titanium

d) Rachmaninoff 2

e) Let It Be

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Natalie Campbell

What is a book that has changed your life?

I have two – Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill and The One Minute Millionaire by Mark Victor Hansen & Robert Allen

What are you watching in lockdown?

I am actually avoiding TV at the moment and enjoying listening to music and the radio

In one sentence, describe your new normal.

Running

Who is your biggest inspiration and why?

Puff Daddy, 1990s hip hop inspiration

What is your best tip for life ?

Know yourself, be yourself and look after yourself – from Clore Social Leadership

 

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Margarete McGrath

What is a book that has changed your life?

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

 

What are you watching in lockdown?

The Morning Show on Apple TV

 

 

What are your top five lockdown tracks?

Fleetwood Mac – You Can Go Your Own Way

Florence and the Machine – Dog Days Are Over

Emma Langford – Marianna

Taylor Swift – You Need To Calm Down

Bruce Springsteen – Waitin On A Sunny Day

In one sentence, describe your new normal.

Fit, present and healthy

Who is your biggest inspiration and why?

There are so many people who inspire me everyday, but my parents are the ones that are closest to me.

What is your best tip for life ?

Believe in yourself

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Dayne Turbitt

What is a book that has changed your life?

Moneyball by Michael Lewis and Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell

 

What are you watching in lockdown?

Bosch

 

What are your top five lockdown tracks?

Cheerleader – Omi (Felix Jaehn remix)

Havana – Camila Cabello

Budapest – George Ezra

Feel It Still – Portugal The ManWhen Doves Cry – YNOT, Cosmo Klein

 

What is your best tip for life ?

Try not to worry about things that have yet to happen, focus on positive outcomes and plan accordingly.

Who is your biggest inspiration and why?

Nelson Mandela – A man who was persecuted for his beliefs, locked away for most of his adult life and when released bore no grudge no did not seek revenge on those that had persecuted him.  Instead he chose to look forward and be positive.

In one sentence, describe your new normal.

I’ll do it in a word – “Zoomathon”

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Cephas Williams

What is a book that has changed your life?

My notebook

what are you watching in lockdown?

Society

In one sentence, describe your new normal.

I don’t have a new normal, I have an old continuous ‘Continue to be kind’.

Who is your biggest inspiration and why?

The person I know I have the ability to become

what is your best tip for life ?

I don’t have a ‘best tip’, but a tip for life that comes to mind at this moment is, ‘all we have is now, so make the most of each moment’.

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Kate and Ella Robertson

What is a book that has changed your life?

Kate: The Cloud of Unknowing, Julian of Norwich

Ella: The Great Escape, Angus Deaton.

What are you watching in lockdown?

Kate: The Last Dance, Netflix

Ella: Rewatching the entirety of Game of Thrones

What is your lockdown soundtrack?

Kate:

Nessun Dorma (Pavarotti)

Tiny Dancer (Elton John)

Something Inside So strong (Labi Siffre)

One Love (Bob Marley)

R.E.S.P.E.C.T (Aretha Franklin).

In one sentence, describe your new normal.

Kate: Most people are really good and kind.

Ella: Coming up with new ideas and getting them to market as quickly as possible.

Who is your biggest inspiration and why?

Kate: Bob Geldof & Jamie Oliver – changed the World before they were 30.

Ella: President Mary Robinson of Ireland, her tenacity and grace blow me away.

What is your best tip for life ?

Kate: Take your work seriously and enjoy it; take yourself with a dose of humour.

Ella: None of the big moments matter if you can’t stop and enjoy simple pleasures.

LOCKDOWN LIST

Russ Shaw

What is a book that has changed your life?

‘I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings’ by Maya Angelou – an amazing autobiography 

What are you watching in lockdown?

A brilliant Norwegian drama called ’State of Happiness’ or ‘Lykkeland’ in Norwegian. It showcases the discovery of North Sea oil off the Norwegian coast and the impact it had on the town of Stavanger in the late 1960s

What is your lockdown soundtrack?

I’ve gone retro with some tracks from over the years!

‘You’re So Vain’ by Carly Simon – One of the first songs I recall everyone lip syncing to – and still sounds great nearly 50 years later.

‘Dreams’ by Fleetwood Mac – My favourite song of many gems on Rumours – frankly anything by Stevie Nicks has been on heavy rotation in lockdown.

‘Boys of Summer’ by Don Henley – I loved his songs with the Eagles but this single for me captures living in Los Angeles in the 1980s.

‘Control’ by Janet Jackson – The album had great tracks like ‘What Have You Done for Me Lately’ and ’Nasty’ but this is a fave.

‘Firework’ by Katy Perry – Whenever I hear this song, it makes me smile – so positive and confident.

Also a couple of bonuses for inspiration while running: ‘Got to Give It Up’ by Marvin Gaye and ‘Genius of Love’ by Tom Tom Club. 

In one sentence, describe your new normal.

Zoom calls, outdoor running, home-cooked meals, social media, evening walks, and hearing planes land at Heathrow in the distance thinking it may be quite a while before I get on one.

Who is your biggest inspiration and why?

There is not one individual who has inspired me. People who have overcome great adversity or disadvantage in life from all backgrounds are an inspiration – when I think about how hard something might be, I remind myself that others have had more significant challenges to overcome.  

What is your best tip for life ?

Offer to help someone who might need it – you never know when you may want that person to return the favour one day.

LOCKDOWN LIST

Wayne Hemingway MBE, Co-founder, Hemingway Design

What is a book that has changed your life?

You’re more likely to find me reading a newspaper than a book. The Guardian and FT Weekend are the two that particularly add to my life.

 

 

What are you watching in lockdown?

The news!

What is your lockdown soundtrack?

Carole King, You Got a Friend

Stevie Wonder, Black Man

Bobbi Humphry, Harlem River Drive (Album Version)

Lonnie Liston Smith, Expansions; Buzzcocks, Boredom

Also, have a listen to my lockdown playlists (more like DJ sets) as mentioned in the interview: https://www.mixcloud.com/hemingwaywayne/

 

In one sentence, describe your new normal.

4.30am start where I catch up on email; at 6.30 my grandkids get up and eat half of my chocolate cereal; then it’s Zoom, Zoom, Zoom, Zoom until 5 when I go for a run with grandkids and the dogs; at 7.30 all nine of us eat together, after which I play some records while catching up on more emails, before watching the news and fall asleep about seven minutes in!

What is your best tip for life ?

Get up early, run, eat, play, enjoy family, work.

LOCKDOWN LIST

Caroline Casey, Founder, The Valuable 500

What is a book that has changed your life?

It was the Disney Film The Jungle Book that changed my life, but Emily Pine’s “Notes to Self” and Maya Angelou’s “Heart of a woman” led to a transformative moment at the beginning of this year for me.

What are you watching in lockdown?

The Godfather trilogy (first time!) and Normal People.

What is your lockdown soundtrack?

The soundtrack to Normal People and Carole King’s Tapestry are permanently played at the moment, with a lashing of super 80s tunes!

In one sentence, describe your new normal.

Coming home; slowing down; going in. Becoming more gentle.

Who is your biggest inspiration and why?

Anyone brave enough to truly be themselves at any cost

What is your best tip for life ?

You are defined by nothing. It’s not what you do, but who you are that matters most; you get a second chance every choice you make

LOCKDOWN LIST

Will Butler Adams

What is a book that has changed your life?

Cider with Rosie by Laurie Lee.

What are you watching in lockdown?

The Repair Shop.

Name your top five ‘lockdown tracks’

La Vie en Rose by Edith Piaf

I Dreamed a Dream by Ann Hatherway

Girl from Ipanema by Astrid Gilberto

Mamma Mia by ABBA

We’ll Meet Again by Vera Lynn.

In one sentence, describe your new normal.

Impatient to bring something positive out of the tragedy of Covid by making towns and cities better places to live.

Who is your biggest inspiration and why?

David Attenborough – he has a passion to protect our planet, a hunger for learning, takes risks, has achieved more than most and above all is incredibly modest.

What is your best tip for life ?

Life is short, if you ever find yourself doing something you don’t enjoy….get the hell out!

LOCKDOWN LIST

Renée Elliott

What is a book that has changed your life?

The Little Engine that Could by Watty Piper.

 

 

What are you watching in lockdown?

Homeland

Name your top five ‘lockdown tracks’

Happy by Pharrell Williams

I Feel Pretty from Westside Story

Don’t Start Now by Dua Lipa

South of the Border by Ed Sheeran, Camila Cabello & Cardi B

Higher Love by Whitney Houston & Kygo’s.

 

In one sentence, describe your new normal.

Living the slower, sweeter, kinder life that champions wellbeing for me and my family.

 

Who is your biggest inspiration and why?

Anita Roddick, a passionate, dynamic, thoughtful woman who pioneered and campaigned for values-led body care.

What is your best tip for life ?

Trust your gut (not your head).

LOCKDOWN LIST

Stephen Welton

What is a book that has changed your life?

Royal Road to Card Magic. Jean Hugard. Sparked a lifelong passion in magic which has served me well in many different parts of my life, both personal and professional.

What are you watching in lockdown?

Our Planet, Sir David Attenborough, Netflix. This is our future, and increasingly ours to lose…

What is your lockdown soundtrack?

Mahler 5th Symphony; Sibelius 5th Symphony; Cavalleria Rusticana (Mascagni); Beautiful Day (U2); So Far Away (Carole King) – seems appropriate in a socially distanced world!

In one sentence, describe your new normal.

Embracing technology and all that it offers for remote working but not at the expense of old fashioned face to face engagement – new normal needs to be the best of the old world whilst embracing all of the new world.

Who is your biggest inspiration and why?

My family. Keep me grounded and makes sense of what we do and why we do it.

What is your best tip for life ?

Always look on the bright side of life (thank you Monty Python!). I am inveterate optimist. I have to be as I spend all my time with entrepreneurs.

LOCKDOWN LIST

Lord Bilimoria CBE DL

What is a book that has changed your life?

The Brothers: Rise and Rise of Saatchi & Saatchi by Ivan Fallon 1988 – I read this before I started my business and before my brother had started his own advertising business in Hyderabad, India.

What are you watching in lockdown?

The Last Dance

What is your lockdown soundtrack?

Queen – Don’t Stop Me Now; Steppenwolf – Born To Be Wild; Lynyrd Skynyrd – Free Bird; Carmen – George Bizet; Rolling Stones – Start Me Up

In one sentence, describe your new normal.

Zoom – personifying one of my mantra’s: “Adapt or Die!”

Who is your biggest inspiration and why?

My father, Lt. Fariddon Bilimoria who taught me so much I know about leadership and my great grandfather D.D. Italia who was an entrepreneur, and public servant, philanthropist, member of the House of Lords in India and who looked after his whole family. I have followed his footsteps, four generations later!

What is your best tip for life?

Aspire and achieve against all odds with integrity.

LOCKDOWN LIST

David Richards

What is a book that has changed your life?

A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking – I started reading it on a train as a twenty year old and was so engrossed I missed my stop…

What are you watching in lockdown?

Not watching – giving Netflix a rest. Listening to RadioLab’s Podcast “The Other Latif” – very, very good.

What is your lockdown soundtrack?

Africa – Toto; Voodoo Child – Hendrix: I Wish I Know How It Feels To Be Free – Nina Simone; Dagombas en Tamale – Residente; Seven Nation Army – The White Stripes

In one sentence, describe your new normal.

Everything is distributed: people, work, finance, retail.

Who is your biggest inspiration and why?

Nelson Mandela – one has to actually visit South Africa to really understand what a truly incredible man he was.

What is your best tip for life?

Never give up. All the great sports teams don’t panic even if they are 2-0 down with a few minutes to go, they really believe they can recover from any situation.

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