176: The Good Listening To Show with Chris Grimes - Episode 176176: The Good Listening To Show with Chris Grimes - Episode 176
UK Health Radio Podcast
Chris Grimes talks with Julia Felton about what horses, nature and technology can teach about leadership, trust and reinvention. The conversation blends corporate experience, equine wisdom and personal stories to question how people lead, choose their path and stay truly present in a digital age.
35:34•4 Jul 2026
Horse Herd Wisdom: Leadership, Trust and Tech with Julia Felton
Episode Overview
- Trust is described as the key currency in modern business and relationships, especially amid information overload and AI-generated content.
- Horse herds model a “diamond” structure of attention, direction, energy and congruence, which Julia applies to leading teams through uncertainty.
- Nature’s cooperation and abundance are contrasted with human ego, hierarchy and competition, offering a different template for how organisations could work.
- Technology makes lifelong learning easier, but also creates distraction and risks dulling critical thinking if treated like a life sat-nav.
- Reinvention is framed as carrying the best of past experience into a new chapter, with closed doors seen as openings to hidden potential.
“"To know and not to do is not yet to know."”
Ever wondered how a herd of horses could reshape the way you think about leadership, work and even your own life choices? This conversation on UK Health Radio’s *Good Listening To Show* brings together host Chris Grimes and guest Julia Felton, managing director of Business HorsePower, for a rich mix of story, metaphor and practical lessons drawn straight from the paddock.
You’ll hear Julia talk about becoming an “intrapreneur” inside Arthur Andersen, building a global hospitality data unit in the pre-internet days because mentors like Frank Croston and Alex Kiriakides simply trusted her to "just sort that out". That early trust sets the stage for her current work: using horse herds to teach leaders about presence, trust and connection. Horses and nature run right through the conversation.
Julia explains how horse herds move in a “diamond” pattern, where attention, direction, energy and congruence keep the group safe and together. She links that to modern teams trying to lead through uncertainty, making the case that, in business, "trust is the absolute premium imperative" in an age of AI overload and low confidence in what’s real.
There’s also a playful side: Chris’ “two squirrels” question uncovers Julia’s own distractions, from falling down tech rabbit holes to her frustration with ultra-realistic fakery created by AI. She counters this with a strong call to stay human, stay present, and keep thinking for yourself instead of handing your inner sat-nav to someone else.
Personal turning points surface too: losing her corporate identity after the Enron collapse, buying her first horse Toby, training as a safari guide, and learning to "be, be, be" rather than just "do, do, do". Her message to anyone feeling stuck is clear: if one door shuts, look for the next one, because hidden potential might be waiting in a completely different arena.
If you’re interested in leadership, trust and genuine human connection—with a surprising amount of wisdom from horses—this conversation might spark some fresh questions about how you lead and how you live.
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