Leading with Fierce Competence: A Conversation with Jane-Claire Judson

What if the problem isn't your brain — but the environment it's asked to work in?

Ellie Craig has been leading since she was fifteen. In this episode of Leaders in Business, Marlene Lowe sits down with the Chair of the Scottish Youth Parliament — elected as an MSYP for Glasgow Cathcart at fifteen (so convinced she'd lost that she skipped the election count), and now a veteran of seven years in Scotland's democratic and charity spaces. Fresh from graduating in politics and sociology from the University of Glasgow, Ellie has chaired an entirely youth-led board, joined the UK board of the National Lottery Community Fund, and just started a new role with the David Hume Institute. Ellie speaks with remarkable honesty about what it's like being a "professional young person" — often the youngest in the room by twenty years, navigating assumptions, judgement and a no-win tension: told she's not experienced enough to be taken seriously, then told she's too polished to be authentically young. She reflects on how imposter syndrome shaped her leadership, and her realisation that self-belief isn't vanity — it's what allows you to genuinely lift other people up. There's real depth here too. Ellie shares how losing her mum in 2021, having been her young carer, gave her advocacy a deeply personal foundation — and how the support networks around the Scottish Youth Parliament carried her through. She and Marlene explore intergenerational leadership, the lessons we're forgetting from COVID, why "hard to reach" is a myth ("everyone's easy to reach if you look in the right places"), and what it means to build systems for generations you'll never meet. It's a conversation about values-led decisions, knowing when to say yes and when to say no, and separating who you are from what you achieve — wisdom that took most of us decades longer to find.

Marianne McJannett is one of the rare people who knew what she wanted to do from a young age — and is still doing it today. Now an employment law partner at Aberdein Considine, leading the firm's employment offering in Glasgow as part of a team spanning Scotland and Northern England, she has spent her career seeing leadership at its very best and its very worst. In this episode of Leaders in Business, Marianne joins Marlene Lowe to unpick one of the most common threads running through her casework: talented people promoted into management without ever being taught how to lead. From mishandled return-to-work meetings to grievances that could have been avoided entirely, she explains why almost every dispute she sees has a leadership or managerial failing at its heart — and why investing in ongoing management training is always cheaper than the alternative. But this conversation goes far beyond the law. Marianne dispels the myth that legal life is glamorous (sorry, Suits fans), shares why storytelling drew her to employment law in the first place, and opens up about the reality of the juggle — partnership, parenthood, and the question she gets asked weekly that men in her position rarely hear: "How do you do it all?" Her answer is refreshingly honest: she doesn't. She prioritises, she says no, and she's learned that that's okay. Along the way there's charity ballroom dancing in front of 500 people, a reading habit that has replaced television, and a reminder that behind every corporate facade is a whole person worth getting to know.

Peter Vardy is a name most people in Scotland will recognise — but far fewer know the story behind it. In this episode of Leaders in Business, Marlene Lowe is joined by co-host Catherine McWilliam, Scotland Director at the Institute of Directors, for a conversation with the entrepreneur behind one of Scotland's best-known motor retail businesses. Peter shares his journey from a childhood spent serving petrol on the family forecourt in the north east of England — where customers were occasionally found eating his dinner — to buying his first dealership in Perth at 27 and building his own group across Scotland over the following two decades. But this is a conversation about far more than cars. Peter opens up about the moment a leadership conference in Chicago changed his thinking forever — "leadership is a lifelong journey" — and how that shaped a business built on values: one uniform for everyone, performance reviews weighted equally on behaviour and results, a blank £100 cheque handed to every new colleague on day one, and a commitment to give 10% of profits away. The results of that commitment are extraordinary. Peter tells the story of a school opening in Uganda that grew into a programme supporting 25,000 children, an email from Cambodia answered by a giving pot containing the exact sum needed, and the COVID decision to keep paying colleagues even if it cost him everything. Along the way there are lessons from his father's "war on waste", a Formula One paddock, and Alison on front reception — proof that you don't need a job title to be a leader. The conversation culminates in The Calling, the values-based leadership event Peter is bringing to Glasgow's Armadillo — inspired by the conferences that shaped him, and built on a simple belief: everyone has influence, and Scotland's story should be one of saying yes.

What do two history degrees have to do with gardening? Not much — and that's exactly what makes this story so compelling. In this episode of Leaders in Business, Marlene Lowe sits down with Calum Lawrie and Angus McGregor, the 23-year-old founders of Scotica Gardening. What began as a favour — mowing a family friend's lawn during university — has grown, in just four years, into a professional garden maintenance business operating across Edinburgh, Exeter and Oxford, complete with their first full-time employee. Angus and Calum share how they spotted a gap in the market between large firms chasing government contracts and informal odd-jobbers, and built their business around year-round maintenance plans, reliable service and genuine personal relationships with their clients. They talk candidly about earning trust as young business owners, the steep learning curve of admin and systems, and how they've used AI and automation to handle scheduling, pricing and invoicing — freeing them up to focus on the work, and the people, they love. They also reflect on what it means to become employers in a brutal graduate job market, why they're determined to treat every applicant with respect, and their ambitions for the future — from steady, sustainable growth to community green space projects and, one day, perhaps the gardens of Scotland's historic castles. It's a masterclass in doing the basics brilliantly — proof that turning up on time, doing what you say you'll do, and excelling at the cup of tea and a chat can take you a very long way. Find out more about Scotica Gardening at www.scoticagardening.co.uk