This week Vivian is joined by Christopher Hitchins, UK Managing Partner of ‘Transatlantic firm of the year’, at Katten. 

As well as being one of the UK’s top employment lawyers and leading one of the city’s fastest-growing firms, Chris is also that rarest of beasts; a straight-talking lawyer who isn’t afraid to be brutally honest about his own privilege, his personal failings and the sometimes-toxic culture of top law firms. 

Like many lawyers, Chris feared his biggest failure was (initially) not making partner, but the real ‘failure’ came after he’d made partner when, at a previous firm, he found himself presiding over the very type of toxic culture he’d strived to avoid. 

At that point, Chris’s story took a dramatic turn when a health crisis threatened to destroy his career but also left him with a strange ‘superpower’ and new sense of perspective. 

Follow Christopher Hitchins on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christopherhitchins

Find out more about Katten here: https://katten.com

Original theme music composed by Lee Olivier Hall. Listen in full here: https://spoti.fi/3Qefe2H

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, Vivian is joined by Webby-award winning writer and director Jamie Morton, the creator of the cultural phenomenon, the podcast ‘My Dad Wrote a Porno’, to share a truly unique ‘bootstrap’ start-up story for the ages. It’s a story which has captured the imagination of the world and fascinated the world’s media.

The story goes that Jamie and his partners in crime, Alice Levine and James Cooper, turned his dad’s unorthodox career choice into a globally successful entertainment brand. A brand beloved by millions around the world including some of the biggest names in showbusiness from Emma Thompson to Lin Manuel Miranda. 

The stats speak for themselves. 430 million downloads and counting, a HBO special, hundreds of thousands of followers on social media and 2 sold-out world tours taking in iconic venues such as the Sydney Opera House and Radio City Music Hall, New York. 

That’s the better-known part of the story but as with all great leaders, it’s only half the story. Because before he made it, as Jamie puts it, he was ‘quite literally f****d’ and his career seemed over before it had even really begun when his dream job working alongside a Hollywood legend turned into a nightmare. 

It’s a long way back from the brink and Jamie doesn’t flinch in sharing that journey and what it taught him about failure and the true meaning of creative success.

Follow Jamie Morton on:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/uncleegor 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/uncleegor

And find out more about the upcoming musical directed by Jamie and written by James Cooper: https://twitter.com/lovestuckmusic

Original theme music composed by Lee Olivier Hall. Listen in full here: https://spoti.fi/3Qefe2H

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, Vivian is joined by fellow #STEM trailblazer, top scientist at global science and tech company 3M and subject of the docuseries that premiered during Tribeca film festival ‘Not the Science Type’ Jayshree Seth, Ph.D.

A glance at Jayshree’s CV would provide no evidence of failure - she certainly doesn’t look like the ‘failure type’ - but underlying the glittering CV, sharp analysis and fearless advocacy is a long and sometimes tough personal journey. Where outward success masked inner feelings of self-doubt and failure.

Born in one great scientific nation and rising to prominence in another on the opposite side of the world, Jayshree didn’t follow the path laid out for her when she was young.

Instead, she carved out her own and as with so many successful leaders, it was the unexpected path that took her to the most interesting places. In Jayshree’s case, amongst other things, to being the first woman engineer to be appointed 3M’s most senior scientist and Chief Science Advocate. A position she uses to pay it forward and champion other women in STEM.

Jayshree’s story is a reminder that you often have to lose your way to find your true calling and that ‘rock bottom’ is often a painful but necessary pit stop on your way to the top.

Follow Jayshree on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/3PT5ytZ

Read 'The Heart of Science: Engineering Fine Print' by Jayshree Seth, Ph.D here: https://amzn.to/3zQC620

Read 'The Heart of Science: Engineering Footprints, Fingerprints, & Imprints" by Jayshree Seth, Ph.D here: https://amzn.to/3vB3ZIV

Find out more about 3M here: https://www.3m.com

Read the 3M State Of Science Index here: https://bit.ly/3zToG5D

Link to 3M docuseries Not the Science Type: https://bit.ly/3zonNAq

Original theme music composed by Lee Olivier Hall. Listen in full here: https://spoti.fi/3Qefe2H

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.