Penny Power
Catch Penny on Do Radio: It's Not About Trees with John Lunn 13-19th October 2025
Penny Power OBE is a UK entrepreneur and community leader recognised for co-founding Ecademy, one of the world's first online business communities, in 1998. Awarded an OBE in 2014 for her contributions to the digital economy and entrepreneurship, she is also an author, international speaker, and advocate for emotional intelligence in business, encouraging empathy and authentic connection in the digital world.
Penny first spoke publicly about the importance of love in business in 2001 at a BT Conference, well before the internet reshaped how we connect. As the founder of the first business-focused social network in 1998, Penny foresaw the risk of emotional disconnection in a digital world. Since her first business role in 1983, her mission has been consistent: to help people feel loved and significant. In an AI-driven world, Penny believes the human touch will be our greatest differentiator, and she brings 43 years of experience as a business owner, community builder, and champion of emotional intelligence to this vital conversation.
Show Notes
In this episode of It’s Not About Trees, John Lunn talks to entrepreneur, author, and community-builder Penny Power OBE. From an accidental start in the IT industry at 19 to co-founding the pioneering business network Ecademy, Penny has been at the forefront of digital transformation for over three decades. But her story is less about technology and more about people: love, belonging, and the human side of business.
She reflects on the highs and lows of building one of the world’s first social business networks, years before LinkedIn and Facebook, and the grief of seeing social media move away from connection toward comparison. Penny shares openly about financial struggles, personal resilience, and why she believes “business is personal” — our emotional wellbeing and business lives are inseparable.
Today, through BIP100 (Business is Personal 100), Penny and her husband Thomas have created an intimate community of leaders built on trust, kindness, and emotional intelligence. She speaks about the dangers of loneliness in business, the need for real community over transactional networking, and how AI and technology, used wisely, can give us back the gift of time for human connection.
Highlights include
Accidentally entering business at 19 and the lessons of early leadership.- Co-founding Ecademy, the world’s first business social network, and its rise and fall.
- The emotional cost of entrepreneurship and why honesty matters in telling those stories.
- How social media shifted from connection to comparison, and what we lost along the way.
- Why community is healing — and the difference between true belonging and networks.
- Building BIP100: an experiment in intimacy, trust, and sustainable business
- The role of emotional intelligence in leadership and why servant leadership still matters.
- Hope for the next generation — and why resilience and self-empowerment will be key
Book, Song Quote
- Books: Permission Marketing — Seth Godin; The Seven Sisters series — Lucinda Riley
- Song: I Didn’t Know My Own Strength — Whitney Houston
- Quote: “There are no statues to the critics.” — Theodore Roosevelt
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