The Leader's Kitbag
The Leader’s Kitbag is a practical podcast for busy and aspiring leaders, hosted by leadership expert Ben Morton. Each episode is packed with tools, tips and tactics you can use immediately. In 5–10 minutes, you’ll get a clear insight, a simple framework or prompt, and a nudge to put it into practice. If you want actionable tools and a clearer path to leadership success, this is your kitbag for the journey.
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Where Do Good Ideas Come From
<p>Where do your best ideas happen?</p><p>For many of us, they don’t appear when we’re sat at our desk trying to force a solution. Instead, they arrive when we’re walking, driving, swimming, or doing something routine.</p><p>In this episode of The Leader’s Kitbag, I explore why that happens and what neuroscience can teach us about thinking more effectively as leaders.</p><p>I explain the difference between two key brain networks - the Central Executive Network and the Default Mode Network - and why both are essential if we want to lead wel...
Helping Your Team Step Up
<p>Over the past 13 years of coaching and training leaders, one of the phrases I hear time and again is this: “I just need my people to step up.”</p><p>And yet, here’s the uncomfortable truth I’ve had to learn myself.</p><p>It’s very hard for people to step up if their boss has their foot on their chest.</p><p>Not intentionally. Not maliciously. But through subtle, well-meaning behaviours that quietly hold people back.</p><p>In this episode of The Leader’s Kitbag, I share a personal story from my time working in the Leadersh...
How To Be A Leader
<p>In the last episode, we introduced the Leadership Equaliser - an idea that helps us visualise how much time we spend doing, managing, and leading, and why so many leaders unintentionally let the “leading” dial drop to zero.</p><p>If you missed it, you can find it here.</p><p>In today’s episode, we’re staying with the basics of how to be a leader in the truest sense of the word - not just someone who gets things done, but someone who leads with purpose, presence, and intention.</p><p>Because here’s the truth: doing and managi...
How to Lead on a Tight Schedule
<p>In the last episode, we explored the crucial balance between leadership and management, and why it’s never a case of choosing one over the other. </p><p>If you missed it, you can find it here. </p><p>In today’s episode, I’m building on that idea by tackling one of the most common and damaging traps I see leaders fall into… Leading In Your Spare Time, or as I call it, LIYST. </p><p>It’s what happens when you get so bogged down in doing and managing that leadership only happens if there’s time left over. </p><p>But let’s be...
Leadership and Management – Why You Must Master Both
<p>In this episode of The Leaders Kitbag, I’m busting one of the biggest leadership myths out there: the idea that we must choose between being a leader or a manager. </p><p>Here’s the truth - real leadership isn’t an ‘either/or’ game. It’s about mastering both disciplines and knowing when to step into each mode. </p><p>Whether you're leading a small team or steering the ship at the top of an organisation, this episode is packed with insights that will help you lead with more clarity, confidence, and impact. </p><p>In this episode, you...
Building Followership
<p>You may have the title, but do you have followers? </p><p> </p><p>In this episode of The Leader’s Kitbag, I explore the often-overlooked side of leadership: followership. </p><p> </p><p>We focus on three powerful behaviours that effective followers demonstrate, and how we, as leaders, can enable and encourage them. </p><p> </p><p>From creating clarity to fostering intelligent disobedience, this episode is about empowering your people to challenge, contribute and take responsibility. </p><p> </p><p>In this episode, you’ll learn: </p>Why clarity around roles and goals starts with us How to encourage real...
Team Development – Don’t Half-Arse It
<p>Team development is not something you can half-arse. </p><p> </p><p>In this episode, I share my own lessons from both sides of the fence; leading teams and facilitating team-development sessions. </p><p> </p><p>I reflect on why I no longer deliver one-off off-sites, and how those well-intended but poorly followed-up sessions often do more harm than good. </p><p> </p><p>Through a full English breakfast analogy (you’ll see), I unpack why leaders need to be all in for team development to work. </p><p> </p><p>In this episode, you’ll learn: </p>Why team development...
Stop Treating Every Group Like a Team
<p>Not every group of people reporting to the same person should be treated as a single team. </p><p> </p><p>In this episode of The Leader’s Kitbag, I share a personal story that highlights what happens when we force people into team structures that don’t reflect how they actually work together. </p><p> </p><p>It’s a real-world example of what I talked about in the previous episode: if your people don’t share goals, aren’t interdependent, and don’t hold each other accountable, they’re not a team - and you need to lead them differentl...
Are You Really Leading a Team?
<p>In this episode of The Leader’s Kitbag, I challenge the common assumption that every group of direct reports is automatically a ‘team’. </p><p> </p><p>Spoiler alert: they’re often not. </p><p> </p><p>Drawing on three key characteristics, shared goals, interdependence, and mutual accountability, I offer a simple framework to help you identify whether you’re truly leading a team or just a group of individuals working in proximity. </p><p> </p><p>Recognising the distinction is more than semantics; it has a real impact on how we lead, motivate, and structure our people. Get this right, and you’ll...
Why Productivity Tools Don’t Work for Everyone
<p>If you’ve ever found yourself frustrated by a planning or productivity system — or wondered “why can’t I just stick to this?”- this episode of The Leaders Kitbag is for you. </p><p>It may not be a discipline problem at all. Instead, it could be a mismatch between the tool you’re trying to use and how you actually perceive time. </p><p>In this episode, I explore why so many productivity and planning tools are built with through-time people in mind, and why those with an in-time perspective often find them restrictive or draining. </p><p>You’ll discover: </p>The di...
