The Lord Darroch of Kew KCMG

Lord Darroch is a retired UK civil servant and life peer in the House of Lords. His diplomatic career spanned over 40 years, primarily focusing on national security issues and European policy.

Most recently, Lord Darroch served as the British Ambassador to the United States (2016-2019). Prior to Washington, he was National Security Adviser to Prime Minister David Cameron (2012-2015), and in that role, oversaw issues such as the rise of Daesh in Iraq and Syria, Russian aggression in Ukraine, and the collapse of government authority in Libya.

In addition, he worked in senior roles on UK-EU policy and multilateral negotiations, including spells as Permanent Representative to the European Union (2007-2011) and as EU Adviser to Prime Minister Tony Blair (2004-2007).

Earlier in his career, Lord Darroch worked in a wide range of positions and policy specialties, including Private Secretary to Minister of State for the Middle East, Head of the Adriatic Department during the Dayton Accord negotiations, and as Head of the News Department at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

Ann Daniels

Polar Explorer Ann Daniels is a world record holder and one of Britain’s leading explorers. Starting out as a mother of young triplets and without any outdoor experience, pure hard work and belief led her to being selected from over 200 more experienced women to take part in her first North Pole expedition. From these humble beginnings, she went on to conquer the South Pole and in 2002, along with her team mate Caroline Hamilton became the first and only women in history to ski to the North and South Poles as part of all women teams. Experiencing temperatures as low as -50C and dealing with various encounters with Polar bears, she has sledge-hauled over 2000 miles, in the most inhospitable environments in the world, completing over 10 polar expeditions and surviving over 400 days on the ice. As a Polar guide and ice leader of the high profile scientific Catlin Arctic surveys she is living proof that good leadership, teamwork and believing in yourself does make a difference.

Ben Lyttleton

Football journalist and author Ben Lyttleton understands what we can learn about the most important aspects of work and life from the world’s most popular sport. In his book Edge: Leadership Secrets of Football’s Top Thinkers, he interviewed some of football’s top coaches to learn how they foster talent and build empathy within a team, help individuals adapt in order to realise their potential, and find power in developing a social purpose. Ben works with football and NBA teams and their coaches to help them develop elite performance and discover their own competitive edge.

His first book Twelve Yards: The Art and Psychology of the Perfect Penalty examined how individuals understand and manage their anxiety to perform at their best under pressure. He now advises Premier League and national teams on their penalty strategy.

Through extensive interviews with the biggest names in the game, exclusive behind-the-scenes access to insiders at Premier League giants Liverpool and Chelsea, and a life spent watching some of the most successful (and not-so successful) teams and managers, Ben has developed a comprehensive picture of leadership, teamwork and talent improvement.

Ben interrogates experts in behavioural science and psychology to learn the best communication to get results from a team, how collective performance is measured and influenced, and how to develop resilience in new and established groups. He looks at the key challenges, behaviours and lessons for leaders in any sector and with teams of any size, from creative thinking to the advantages of diversity and inclusion.