Alan Gilpin on reviewing the 2023 Men’s Rugby World Cup and running a game in the midst of change.

As the tickertape settles on a record-breaking 2023 Men’s Rugby World Cup, World Rugby CEO Alan Gilpin reviews the tournament – the format, the performance of the Tier 2 nations, the role of technology and the experience in France – and sets out the organisation’s big priorities over the next few years.

In an extended conversation on Leaders in Focus, Gilpin spends time with Leaders’ James Emmett and David Cushnan, at IMG’s London studios, to discuss what a sustainable and smart future for women’s rugby union could look like; player welfare and safety; the influence private equity money might exert over the sport in the coming years; the dynamics at play in the CEO-Chairman relationship within international federations; the boring-but-critical role of committees; and the constant evolution of sports hospitality. He also reflects on the unique way rugby stirs emotion and how he channels his own emotions as a leader.

On the conversational agenda:

• 1:03 – Reviewing the 2023 RWC
• 4:41 –  The performance of Tier 2 Nations
• 6:52 – Addressing the law challenges for casual fans
• 8:39 – Reviewing the technology at the RWC
• 13:01 – Possible growing pains in the women’s game
• 14:49 – Private equity in rugby union
• 17:42 – Becoming World Rugby CEO
• 30:22 – Making difficult decisions as a leader

You can also listen to the podcast version below, and subscribe today on Apple, Amazon, Spotify or your chosen podcast platform.

Leaders in Focus is produced by Leaders in Sport, in partnership with IMG.

Alan Gilpin on reviewing the 2023 Men’s Rugby World Cup and running a game in the midst of change.

As the tickertape settles on a record-breaking 2023 Men’s Rugby World Cup, World Rugby CEO Alan Gilpin reviews the tournament – the format, the performance of the Tier 2 nations, the role of technology and the experience in France – and sets out the organisation’s big priorities over the next few years.

In an extended conversation on Leaders in Focus, Gilpin spends time with Leaders’ James Emmett and David Cushnan, at IMG’s London studios, to discuss what a sustainable and smart future for women’s rugby union could look like; player welfare and safety; the influence private equity money might exert over the sport in the coming years; the dynamics at play in the CEO-Chairman relationship within international federations; the boring-but-critical role of committees; and the constant evolution of sports hospitality. He also reflects on the unique way rugby stirs emotion and how he channels his own emotions as a leader.

On the conversational agenda:

• 1:03 – Reviewing the 2023 RWC
• 4:41 –  The performance of Tier 2 Nations
• 6:52 – Addressing the law challenges for casual fans
• 8:39 – Reviewing the technology at the RWC
• 13:01 – Possible growing pains in the women’s game
• 14:49 – Private equity in rugby union
• 17:42 – Becoming World Rugby CEO
• 30:22 – Making difficult decisions as a leader

You can also listen to the podcast version below, and subscribe today on Apple, Amazon, Spotify or your chosen podcast platform.

Leaders in Focus is produced by Leaders in Sport, in partnership with IMG.

Agency founder Jo Tongue on building a business around her clients.

Welcome to Founders Keepers, the podcast series about entrepreneurship and business building from the Leaders Sport Business podcast.

The guest for this final episode of the season is Jo Tongue, founder of Tongue Tied Media.

Tongue has 20 years of experience in the industry across sport, media and commercial, beginning with an eight-year stint as a Producer at the BBC. She then moved to independent agency Somethin Else, before beginning her role as as Director at Women in Football in 2010 – a role she holds to this day. She is also a Trustee of the Jason Roberts Foundation and the Michael Carrick Foundation. She was recently recognised in the Woman’s Hour 2023 Power List for Women in Sport, and was awarded an MBE for services to Football and to Gender Equality in the 2023 New Year Honours List.

In 2015, Tongue founded Tongue Tied Media. Tongue Tied Media consists of two branches. The first is Tongue Tied Management, which represents the likes of Jill Scott, Leah Williamson, Dion Dublin, Andy Cole, Emma Hayes and Michael Carrick.

The second branch is Tongue Tied Productions. The company’s production portfolio includes ‘Euro ’96 – When Football Came Home’ and ‘Raising the Bar with Rob Rinder’ on BBC Radio 5 Live – which featured the likes of Kenny Dalglish, Alan Shearer, Kelly Cates, Glenn Hoddle and Chris Sutton. Their series ‘Re:United’ brought together rivals such as Vinnie Jones and Paul Gascoigne, Steve Cram and Lord Coe, and Andy Cole and David Seaman.

• Podcast: Founders Keepers – ONE Championship’s Chatri Sityodtong
• Podcast: Founders Keepers – Two Circles’ Gareth Balch
• Podcast: 4SE Material – Merch à la mode: Why fashion is embracing sports merchandise

Leaders Week London, our flagship in person event experience, is returning on the 16^th-19^th October. Find out more about how you can connect with those at the heart of the global sports industry.

Listen to the podcast below, and subscribe today on Apple, Amazon, Spotify or your chosen podcast platform.

Agency founder Jo Tongue on building a business around her clients.

Welcome to Founders Keepers, the podcast series about entrepreneurship and business building from the Leaders Sport Business podcast.

The guest for this final episode of the season is Jo Tongue, founder of Tongue Tied Media.

Tongue has 20 years of experience in the industry across sport, media and commercial, beginning with an eight-year stint as a Producer at the BBC. She then moved to independent agency Somethin Else, before beginning her role as as Director at Women in Football in 2010 – a role she holds to this day. She is also a Trustee of the Jason Roberts Foundation and the Michael Carrick Foundation. She was recently recognised in the Woman’s Hour 2023 Power List for Women in Sport, and was awarded an MBE for services to Football and to Gender Equality in the 2023 New Year Honours List.

In 2015, Tongue founded Tongue Tied Media. Tongue Tied Media consists of two branches. The first is Tongue Tied Management, which represents the likes of Jill Scott, Leah Williamson, Dion Dublin, Andy Cole, Emma Hayes and Michael Carrick.

The second branch is Tongue Tied Productions. The company’s production portfolio includes ‘Euro ’96 – When Football Came Home’ and ‘Raising the Bar with Rob Rinder’ on BBC Radio 5 Live – which featured the likes of Kenny Dalglish, Alan Shearer, Kelly Cates, Glenn Hoddle and Chris Sutton. Their series ‘Re:United’ brought together rivals such as Vinnie Jones and Paul Gascoigne, Steve Cram and Lord Coe, and Andy Cole and David Seaman.

• Podcast: Founders Keepers – ONE Championship’s Chatri Sityodtong
• Podcast: Founders Keepers – Two Circles’ Gareth Balch
• Podcast: 4SE Material – Merch à la mode: Why fashion is embracing sports merchandise

Leaders Week London, our flagship in person event experience, is returning on the 16^th-19^th October. Find out more about how you can connect with those at the heart of the global sports industry.

Listen to the podcast below, and subscribe today on Apple, Amazon, Spotify or your chosen podcast platform.

Agency founder Jo Tongue on building a business around her clients.

Welcome to Founders Keepers, the podcast series about entrepreneurship and business building from the Leaders Sport Business podcast.

The guest for this final episode of the season is Jo Tongue, founder of Tongue Tied Media.

Tongue has 20 years of experience in the industry across sport, media and commercial, beginning with an eight-year stint as a Producer at the BBC. She then moved to independent agency Somethin Else, before beginning her role as as Director at Women in Football in 2010 – a role she holds to this day. She is also a Trustee of the Jason Roberts Foundation and the Michael Carrick Foundation. She was recently recognised in the Woman’s Hour 2023 Power List for Women in Sport, and was awarded an MBE for services to Football and to Gender Equality in the 2023 New Year Honours List.

In 2015, Tongue founded Tongue Tied Media. Tongue Tied Media consists of two branches. The first is Tongue Tied Management, which represents the likes of Jill Scott, Leah Williamson, Dion Dublin, Andy Cole, Emma Hayes and Michael Carrick.

The second branch is Tongue Tied Productions. The company’s production portfolio includes ‘Euro ’96 – When Football Came Home’ and ‘Raising the Bar with Rob Rinder’ on BBC Radio 5 Live – which featured the likes of Kenny Dalglish, Alan Shearer, Kelly Cates, Glenn Hoddle and Chris Sutton. Their series ‘Re:United’ brought together rivals such as Vinnie Jones and Paul Gascoigne, Steve Cram and Lord Coe, and Andy Cole and David Seaman.

• Podcast: Founders Keepers – ONE Championship’s Chatri Sityodtong
• Podcast: Founders Keepers – Two Circles’ Gareth Balch
• Podcast: 4SE Material – Merch à la mode: Why fashion is embracing sports merchandise

Leaders Week London, our flagship in person event experience, is returning on the 16^th-19^th October. Find out more about how you can connect with those at the heart of the global sports industry.

Listen to the podcast below, and subscribe today on Apple, Amazon, Spotify or your chosen podcast platform.

Insights from the Founder and Managing Director of Blue Moon & Partners, Co-secretariat at Creative Diversity APPG and former Head of Creative Diversity at the BBC. 

Leaders in EDI shines a light on the progress being made and the challenges being faced in the equity, diversity and inclusion space across sport and neighbouring industries. This season of the Leaders in EDI podcast series features perspectives from outside of the sports industry to develop a more holistic view of the EDI sector, to discuss what specific challenges other industries face, and to understand what we can learn from how they tackle them. 

Joanna Abeyie is a journalist, broadcaster and social impact entrepreneur who has spent the last 15 years committed to the EDI sector. She is Founder and MD of Blue Moon and Partners, an organisation designed to find the best talent for business and create inclusive environments for employees to thrive and drive business success. She is also Co-Secretariat at Creative Diversity APPG, a cross-party group in UK Parliament to identify and tackle obstacles to diversity in the creative sector, and acts as Commissioner at Civil Service Commission UK and Common Councillor at City of London. She recently stepped down as Head of Creative Diversity at the BBC, where she was tasked with ensuring on-air diversity and inclusions strategies across the broadcaster. 

The wide-ranging conversation, beginning at 3:05, includes insights into facilitating communication with and between production companies and commissioners, avoidance of stereotypes, and the current lack of socioeconomic inclusion in the creative industry – as well as talk around the best ways to implement EDI strategies, reliability of data (or lack thereof) and what more sport can do to mobilise against discrimination. 

• Podcast: Leaders in EDI – The Music & Events industry (with WME’s Jordan Hallpike) 
• Podcast: Leaders in EDI – The Food & Hospitality industry (with Black Eat LDN’s Jackson Mclarty) 
• Podcast: Leaders in EDI – Building an impactful EDI strategy (Part 4 – Reflection, re-assessment & response to crisis) 

Listen to the podcast below, and subscribe today on Apple, Amazon, Spotify or your chosen podcast platform. 

Insights from the Founder and Managing Director of Blue Moon & Partners, Co-secretariat at Creative Diversity APPG and former Head of Creative Diversity at the BBC. 

Leaders in EDI shines a light on the progress being made and the challenges being faced in the equity, diversity and inclusion space across sport and neighbouring industries. This season of the Leaders in EDI podcast series features perspectives from outside of the sports industry to develop a more holistic view of the EDI sector, to discuss what specific challenges other industries face, and to understand what we can learn from how they tackle them. 

Joanna Abeyie is a journalist, broadcaster and social impact entrepreneur who has spent the last 15 years committed to the EDI sector. She is Founder and MD of Blue Moon and Partners, an organisation designed to find the best talent for business and create inclusive environments for employees to thrive and drive business success. She is also Co-Secretariat at Creative Diversity APPG, a cross-party group in UK Parliament to identify and tackle obstacles to diversity in the creative sector, and acts as Commissioner at Civil Service Commission UK and Common Councillor at City of London. She recently stepped down as Head of Creative Diversity at the BBC, where she was tasked with ensuring on-air diversity and inclusions strategies across the broadcaster. 

The wide-ranging conversation, beginning at 3:05, includes insights into facilitating communication with and between production companies and commissioners, avoidance of stereotypes, and the current lack of socioeconomic inclusion in the creative industry – as well as talk around the best ways to implement EDI strategies, reliability of data (or lack thereof) and what more sport can do to mobilise against discrimination. 

• Podcast: Leaders in EDI – The Music & Events industry (with WME’s Jordan Hallpike) 
• Podcast: Leaders in EDI – The Food & Hospitality industry (with Black Eat LDN’s Jackson Mclarty) 
• Podcast: Leaders in EDI – Building an impactful EDI strategy (Part 4 – Reflection, re-assessment & response to crisis) 

Listen to the podcast below, and subscribe today on Apple, Amazon, Spotify or your chosen podcast platform. 

Insights from the Founder and Managing Director of Blue Moon & Partners, Co-secretariat at Creative Diversity APPG and former Head of Creative Diversity at the BBC. 

Leaders in EDI shines a light on the progress being made and the challenges being faced in the equity, diversity and inclusion space across sport and neighbouring industries. This season of the Leaders in EDI podcast series features perspectives from outside of the sports industry to develop a more holistic view of the EDI sector, to discuss what specific challenges other industries face, and to understand what we can learn from how they tackle them. 

Joanna Abeyie is a journalist, broadcaster and social impact entrepreneur who has spent the last 15 years committed to the EDI sector. She is Founder and MD of Blue Moon and Partners, an organisation designed to find the best talent for business and create inclusive environments for employees to thrive and drive business success. She is also Co-Secretariat at Creative Diversity APPG, a cross-party group in UK Parliament to identify and tackle obstacles to diversity in the creative sector, and acts as Commissioner at Civil Service Commission UK and Common Councillor at City of London. She recently stepped down as Head of Creative Diversity at the BBC, where she was tasked with ensuring on-air diversity and inclusions strategies across the broadcaster. 

The wide-ranging conversation, beginning at 3:05, includes insights into facilitating communication with and between production companies and commissioners, avoidance of stereotypes, and the current lack of socioeconomic inclusion in the creative industry – as well as talk around the best ways to implement EDI strategies, reliability of data (or lack thereof) and what more sport can do to mobilise against discrimination. 

• Podcast: Leaders in EDI – The Music & Events industry (with WME’s Jordan Hallpike) 
• Podcast: Leaders in EDI – The Food & Hospitality industry (with Black Eat LDN’s Jackson Mclarty) 
• Podcast: Leaders in EDI – Building an impactful EDI strategy (Part 4 – Reflection, re-assessment & response to crisis) 

Listen to the podcast below, and subscribe today on Apple, Amazon, Spotify or your chosen podcast platform. 

Alan Gilpin on reviewing the 2023 Men’s Rugby World Cup and running a game in the midst of change.

As the tickertape settles on a record-breaking 2023 Men’s Rugby World Cup, World Rugby CEO Alan Gilpin reviews the tournament – the format, the performance of the Tier 2 nations, the role of technology and the experience in France – and sets out the organisation’s big priorities over the next few years.

In an extended conversation on Leaders in Focus, Gilpin spends time with Leaders’ James Emmett and David Cushnan, at IMG’s London studios, to discuss what a sustainable and smart future for women’s rugby union could look like; player welfare and safety; the influence private equity money might exert over the sport in the coming years; the dynamics at play in the CEO-Chairman relationship within international federations; the boring-but-critical role of committees; and the constant evolution of sports hospitality. He also reflects on the unique way rugby stirs emotion and how he channels his own emotions as a leader.

On the conversational agenda:

• 1:03 – Reviewing the 2023 RWC
• 4:41 –  The performance of Tier 2 Nations
• 6:52 – Addressing the law challenges for casual fans
• 8:39 – Reviewing the technology at the RWC
• 13:01 – Possible growing pains in the women’s game
• 14:49 – Private equity in rugby union
• 17:42 – Becoming World Rugby CEO
• 30:22 – Making difficult decisions as a leader

You can also listen to the podcast version below, and subscribe today on Apple, Amazon, Spotify or your chosen podcast platform.

Leaders in Focus is produced by Leaders in Sport, in partnership with IMG.

Alan Gilpin on reviewing the 2023 Men’s Rugby World Cup and running a game in the midst of change.

As the tickertape settles on a record-breaking 2023 Men’s Rugby World Cup, World Rugby CEO Alan Gilpin reviews the tournament – the format, the performance of the Tier 2 nations, the role of technology and the experience in France – and sets out the organisation’s big priorities over the next few years.

In an extended conversation on Leaders in Focus, Gilpin spends time with Leaders’ James Emmett and David Cushnan, at IMG’s London studios, to discuss what a sustainable and smart future for women’s rugby union could look like; player welfare and safety; the influence private equity money might exert over the sport in the coming years; the dynamics at play in the CEO-Chairman relationship within international federations; the boring-but-critical role of committees; and the constant evolution of sports hospitality. He also reflects on the unique way rugby stirs emotion and how he channels his own emotions as a leader.

On the conversational agenda:

• 1:03 – Reviewing the 2023 RWC
• 4:41 –  The performance of Tier 2 Nations
• 6:52 – Addressing the law challenges for casual fans
• 8:39 – Reviewing the technology at the RWC
• 13:01 – Possible growing pains in the women’s game
• 14:49 – Private equity in rugby union
• 17:42 – Becoming World Rugby CEO
• 30:22 – Making difficult decisions as a leader

You can also listen to the podcast version below, and subscribe today on Apple, Amazon, Spotify or your chosen podcast platform.

Leaders in Focus is produced by Leaders in Sport, in partnership with IMG.