This episode is a little different because Alun turns the microphone toward me. After 456 episodes, it feels both strange and exciting to be the “guest” on my own show. Together, we reflect on the journey so far and then dive into a topic close to both our hearts: the human skills that make statisticians and quantitative scientists truly effective.
We talk about leadership as helping others accomplish something, how to influence people across functions (not just departments), why being known inside your organization matters, and how presentation skills can make or break your impact. We wrap up with three actions you can start applying right away.
Why You Should Listen:
✔ Hear my personal reflections on 456 episodes and the evolution of this podcast.
✔ Learn a simple, values-based view of leadership that applies no matter your level.
✔ Discover how to influence people—not departments—and build trust.
✔ See why contextual teaching beats generic “Stats 101” courses.
✔ Walk away with three immediate actions: decide to lead, listen deeply, and invest in your presentation skills.
Episode Highlights:
00:00 – Why Alun is interviewing me for Episode 456
01:57 – What counts as an “episode” and why this milestone matters
03:03 – From estimands to blurred lines across stats/data science
06:10 – My view of leadership: helping others accomplish something
08:08 – Values, purpose, and the “win–win” principle
10:09 – Goal-driven meetings and tying them to vision and values
12:44 – Why you can’t influence a department—you influence people
15:47 – Trust = character × competence × care (as others perceive it)
17:16 – Being known: why personal and departmental branding matters
19:00 – How targeted training builds credibility and influence
23:00 – Presentation skills as a multiplier for all other communication
28:34 – Listening: the most underrated leadership skill
33:00 – My three practical actions to apply this week
35:30 – Closing thoughts and invitation to connect
Resources and Links:
- Stephen R. Covey — The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
- Michael Hyatt — leadership and values-driven success
- John Blakey — trust model (ability, integrity, benevolence)
- Oscar Trimboli — How to Listen
- Toastmasters — practice for public speaking
- How to Be an Artist (book on learning and creativity)
🔗 The Effective Statistician Academy – I offer free and premium resources to help you become a more effective statistician.
🔗 Medical Data Leaders Community – Join my network of statisticians and data leaders to enhance your influencing skills.
🔗 My New Book: How to Be an Effective Statistician – Volume 1 – It’s packed with insights to help statisticians, data scientists, and quantitative professionals excel as leaders, collaborators, and change-makers in healthcare and medicine.
🔗 PSI (Statistical Community in Healthcare) – Access webinars, training, and networking opportunities.
Join the Conversation:
Did you find this episode helpful? Share it with your colleagues and let me know your thoughts! Connect with me on LinkedIn and be part of the discussion.
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Alun Bedding
Executive and Team Coach | Leadership Consultant | Statistical Consultant
Alun is dedicated to helping professionals make significant shifts in their thinking on various topics. He understands that each individual is unique and tailors his approach to meet each person’s specific needs. Alun works with professionals at all stages of their careers, including neurodiverse ones.
He specializes in guiding new leaders through the challenges of their roles and believes that everyone has the potential to achieve their vision. Acting as a thinking partner, Alun empowers individuals to reach their goals.
The most common subjects Alun addresses include:
- Navigating the uncertainties of starting a new leadership position
- Managing career transitions
- Building confidence
- Prioritizing important tasks
- Enhancing teamwork
- Preparing for job applications and interviews
- Understanding the impact of climate change
With a background as a leader in statistics and the pharmaceutical industry, Alun brings firsthand experience to his coaching. He also works as a statistical consultant, focusing on early clinical development and pre-clinical drug discovery. His expertise lies in dose-finding, dose-escalation, adaptive designs, and Bayesian methods. Additionally, Alun supervises PhD students working on basket and platform trials.
If you’re ready to work with Alun and believe he can help you, contact him on LinkedIn or at alun@alunbeddingcoaching.com.
Transcript
Join The Effective Statistician LinkedIn group
This group was set up to help each other to become more effective statisticians. We’ll run challenges in this group, e.g. around writing abstracts for conferences or other projects. I’ll also post into this group further content.
I want to help the community of statisticians, data scientists, programmers and other quantitative scientists to be more influential, innovative, and effective. I believe that as a community we can help our research, our regulatory and payer systems, and ultimately physicians and patients take better decisions based on better evidence.
I work to achieve a future in which everyone can access the right evidence in the right format at the right time to make sound decisions.
When my kids are sick, I want to have good evidence to discuss with the physician about the different therapy choices.
When my mother is sick, I want her to understand the evidence and being able to understand it.
When I get sick, I want to find evidence that I can trust and that helps me to have meaningful discussions with my healthcare professionals.
I want to live in a world, where the media reports correctly about medical evidence and in which society distinguishes between fake evidence and real evidence.
Let’s work together to achieve this.
