Nottingham Business School’s Business Leaders’ Podcast Episode 49 Ajay Sethi: Mr Tweezerman UK – the public face of a global beauty brand Summary Tweezerman is one of the world’s best-known beauty accessory brands – and Ajay Sethi is MD of Tweezerman UK. Ajay set up his business in the back bedroom of his family home, exactly twenty years ago. He b…

Nottingham Business School’s Business Leaders’ Podcast Episode 48 Matt Wallace: Building your own business – and knowing the value of a good podcast Summary Fifteen years ago, entrepreneur Matt Wallace was an iMovie hobbyist in a university press office, trying to persuade his boss of the value of video. Today he runs his own company, Janno Media –…

Nottingham Business School’s Business Leaders’ Podcast Episode 47 Darren Cassidy: Leading digital transformation in a global brand built on paper and print Summary Darren Cassidy has been with global print tech giant Xerox for 33 years – in 18 different roles. He’s now the company’s MD in GB and Ireland – and President of its operations in Western …

Nottingham Business School’s Business Leaders’ Podcast Andy Bostock - Leadership and career development insights from KMPG Episode 46 Summary Andy Bostock manages more than 1,000 staff as a senior partner with one of the world's Big Four audit companies KPMG. He also leads the annual audits of some of the biggest local councils and hospitals in the…

Nottingham Business School’s Business Leaders’ Podcast Leadership roundtable: The future of business education Summary To mark the opening of Nottingham Business School’s new Postgraduate and Executive Education Centre, three experts come together to discuss the future of business education. They are, the President of the European Foundation for Ma…

Nottingham Business School’s Business Leaders’ Podcast. Episode 44 Mary Storrie – Turning a tragedy into something positive Introduction • Mary Storrie is CEO of international charity The Rosie May Foundation. • She and her husband Graham set up the Foundation after their daughter Rosie May was suffocated at a Christmas party near their home in Bot…

Nottingham Business School’s Business Leaders’ Podcast Lorna Holder – How successful leaders reinvent themselves Episode 43 Introduction… • Lorna Holder is the Managing Director of the Full-Spectrum and Tuareg Productions companies. • She was born in Jamaica, raised in Nottingham, and became the first black fashion graduate of Nottingham Trent Univ…

Nottingham Business School’s Business Leaders’ Podcast Charlotte Henshaw MBE – Learning from your failures Episode 42 Introduction Charlotte Henshaw was born and brought up in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire. She was born with the condition bilateral tibial hypopplasia, which meant her lower legs were underdeveloped. When she was 18-months-old, her pare…

Nottingham Business School’s Business Leaders’ Podcast Rob Swann – From trainee to MD, leadership in an SME Episode 41 Introduction Rob Swann joined SME Termate as an engineering apprentice in 1989, when he was 16. Termate manufactures electrical insulating products at its factory in Nottingham, for customers all over the world. Rob graduated from …

Nottingham Business School’s Business Leaders’ Podcast José Luiz Rossi: Staying relevant in a rapidly changing world Episode 40 Introduction José Luiz Rossi was born and raised in Rio de Janeiro in the 1960s and started his career as a mechanical engineer. He is currently MD of Experian in Britain and Ireland – and previously ran the company’s oper…

Nottingham Business School’s Business Leaders’ Podcast. Episode 39. Brendan Donnelly: Manufacturing on the side of a mountain – small business leadership in a remote corner of England. Introduction Brendan Donnelly and his wife Cherry own the Coniston Stonecraft slate-carving company, based in Victorian workshops, in the foothills of Coniston Old M…

Nottingham Business School Business Leaders’ Podcast Penny Briscoe OBE – Paralympics GB team leader Episode 38 Introduction Penny Briscoe will lead Paralympics GB at this summer’s Paris 2024 games, as the team’s Chef de Mission. She was previously Chef de Mission at the Tokyo 2020 and Rio 2016 games, when the team finished second in the overall med…

Nottingham Business School Business Leaders Podcast Kathryn Wasteney - Leadership, fraud and the importance of being nosey| Episode 37 Introduction Fraud now accounts for 40 per cent of all crime in Britain, making forensic accountancy an increasingly important business. Forensic accountants have played a crucial role in exposing hundreds of financ…

Nottingham Business School Business Leaders Podcast Maggie Alphonsi MBE - Leadership insights from a World Cup winner | Episode 36 Introduction: Maggie Alphonsi MBE is the First Lady of English Women's Rugby and a pioneer and leader in the international game. She was World Rugby Personality of the Year in 2011 - then won the World Cup with England …

Nottingham Business School Business Leaders Podcast Michael Hayman – Why our business leaders need purpose | Episode 35 Introduction Entrepreneur and broadcaster Michael Hayman MBE founded London-based Seven Hills, one of the best-known corporate communications consultancies in the country With a reputation as a thinker and a leader, he has also be…

Nottingham Business School Business Leaders' Podcast Roundtable: From engineering graduates to business leaders. Reflections on leadership | Episode 34 Key takeaways Building your business network is important, even while still at uni. Colin says: “Networks are a bit like pensions – it’s never too early to start.” What is the most important skill f…

Nottingham Business School Business Leaders Podcast Leading across borders at Fujitsu | Episode 33 Key takeaways International leaders need to be curious, to collaborate, and to understand cultural differences. Wherever leadership decisions are being made, it is important that there is a diversity of inputs. If you’re trying to create a team to del…

Nottingham Business School Business Leaders Podcast Neil Benson – A life in journalism | Episode 32 Key takeaways Neil Benson emphasises the need for leaders to adopt a more humble and wise approach, akin to Yoda from Star Wars, rather than the brash and assertive style of Han Solo. He asserts that there is no natural leader and successful leaders …

Nottingham Business School Business Leaders Podcast David Lloyd - Leadership Lessons from 40 years in radio | Episode 31 Broadcaster David Lloyd may now be best known for founding a national radio station Boom Radio. But during a 40-year career he has had executive roles with LBC, Century, Galaxy and Virgin, As he tells Visiting Honorary Professor …

Nottingham Business School Business Leaders Podcast Professor Edward Peck CBE - The performance and discipline of leadership | Episode 30 Professor Edward Peck deliberately wears a wristwatch that stopped working years ago. If he wants to know the time, the Vice Chancellor of Nottingham Trent University looks at his phone. He uses the broken watch …

Nottingham Business School Business Leaders Podcast Errol Gardner - Why modern leadership is as much about EQ as IQ, at EY | Episode 29 International executive Errol Gardner has more than 100,000 people working for him – across 150 countries. And last year his side of the business generated more than ten billion pounds, for professional services fi…

Nottingham Business School Business Leaders Podcast Debbie Hewitt MBE - Resilience, perspective and accountability: Insights from The FA's first female chair | Episode 28 Inspirational Debbie Hewitt has had a remarkable 40-year career in business. As Chair of the English Football Association and Vice President of world football, she is one of the m…

Nottingham Business School Business Leaders Podcast Sat Bains - Be disciplined and choose the path less trodden | Episode 27 It’s exactly 20 years since Nottingham chef Sat Bains was awarded his first Michelin star. His Restaurant Sat Bains with Rooms now has two Michelin stars and is one of the most respected fine-dining restaurants in Britain. La…

Nottingham Business School Business Leaders Podcast Alan Morris - Adapting from entrepreneur to leader | Episode 26 Tech entrepreneur Alan Morris knew he was entering a competitive market when he launched IT outsourcing company Retail Assist, in 1999. But he preferred it that way. “I like the idea of competitive markets, because it means there is a…

Nottingham Business Schools Business Leaders Podcast Sir John Peace - Leadership lessons from the former Chairman of Experian, Burberry and Standard Chartered | Episode 25 Businessman Sir John Peace says the best leaders are people who can communicate, take risks and adapt to change. But Sir John – who was Chairman at FTSE 100 companies Standard Ch…

Nottingham Business School Business Leaders Podcast Roundtable: Closing gender gaps in the workplace - Episode 24 It’s well-known that girls out-perform boys in GCSE exams. And A-Levels. And university studies, too. Young women are also much better communicators than their male counterparts, say educationalists. Yet Government figures show, on aver…

Nottingham Business School Business Leaders Podcast Lucy Marie Hagues MBE - Building better banking at Capital One | Episode 23 Banker Lucy Marie Hagues is a charismatic leader whose business skills have taken her right to the top of financial services company Capital One UK. But she still remembers the day when – as a junior member of staff – she …

Corporate lawyer Iain Blatherwick never intended to be a leader. But when the retiring Managing Partner at his law firm Browne Jacobson told colleagues there were no suitable internal candidates for the job, Iain recognised a challenge. Months later he was elected as the new Managing Partner – and went on to lead a decade of remarkable growth, duri…

Prison governor Lynn Saunders worked every Christmas Day for twenty years. As the woman in charge of Europe’s biggest prison for sex offenders, she believed she had to lead from the front. “My staff in the prison had to go to work on Christmas Day – so I always worked on Christmas Day,” she tells the Nottingham Business School’s Business Leaders’ P…

Celebrity baker Selasi Gbormittah is preparing to combine the culinary skills he learned in Ghana with the business expertise he was taught in Nottingham… to open his own bakery. He tells the Nottingham Business School Business Leaders’ Podcast he wants his Selasi Bakery to be up and running, in London, in the next two years. The corporate banker –…

Broadcaster Dick Stone started his career as a teenager playing music on local hospital radio in Derby. Two decades later he was running the Smooth Radio stations that broadcast to 10 million listeners nationwide. Now – having taken on managing editor and group editor roles across both the Global and Capital national radio networks – he is in a per…

Banker Heather Melville remembers clearly the day she told senior colleagues at Royal Bank of Scotland about her idea to set up a women’s network for staff. “One male colleague said: What are they doing? Are they going to be talking about jam and burning their bras?” she tells the Nottingham Business School’s Business Leaders’ Podcast. More than a …

Respected lawyer David Williams spent almost three decades working his way up to the role of Chairman at of one of the country’s top 100 law firms Geldards. But, as he tells the Nottingham Business School’s Business Leaders Podcast, he is constantly having to battle shyness – and force himself to confront his worries. “If I've had success, it's com…

The chief executive of 200 Degrees is proud he only had to make three redundancies during 18 months of the Covid pandemic and lockdown. Because Rob Darby – whose coffee empire employs 200 staff across shops, barista schools and a major wholesale business – guards jealously his organisation’s reputation as a caring employer. “It’s a two-way relation…

Successful businesswoman Eileen Richards didn’t have a high-powered upbringing. But thirty years after she walked into a recruitment agency and asked to try as many temporary positions as possible, she is now one of the East Midlands most prominent business leaders. She has also been presented with an MBE by Prince Charles for the help she has give…

Ann Francke is one of Britain’s most high-profile women business leaders – and a passionate campaigner for gender diversity in the workplace. She has spent almost nine years as CEO of the Chartered Institute of Management, highlighting the business benefits of having more women in senior management. But her campaigning is also fired by her own pers…

Air Marshal Sir Baz North faced one of his greatest challenges in the aftermath of the Mull of Kintyre Helicopter Disaster when a Chinook flew into a hillside killing all 25 security officers on board. It was the biggest peacetime loss of life in the history of the RAF. And Sir Baz – who was a Chinook Special Unit Commander in Northern Ireland, whe…

Sam Thorne says Britain can rely on its artists to help guide the country through post-pandemic economic and cultural change. The director of the Nottingham Contemporary believes one of the biggest challenges for modern leaders is dealing with uncertainty. And his experience – he was director at Tate St Ives in Cornwall, before arriving in Nottingh…

Sarah Walker-Smith isn’t a conventional company chief executive. She runs one of Britain’s Top 50 law firms, with an annual turnover of more than £70m. But in the middle of the pandemic, the CEO of Shakespeare Martineau decided to sing to her 900 staff. Accompanied by a company partner on the piano, she recorded her own ‘Christmas single’ version o…

Healthcare leader Peter Homa believes the most important thing for any leader is to believe in what you’re doing – even if it means walking away from a job to avoid being compromised. As Director General of the Defence Medical Services, Peter has been in charge of health care for every member of the British military for almost two years. But he als…

International businessman Sir Ken Olisa believes post-pandemic Britain offers young entrepreneurs more opportunities than at any point in his lifetime. Sir Ken – Chairman of the Restoration Partners technology merchant bank he founded, and Deputy Chairman of the Institute of Directors – is excited by the business revolution he says is taking place.…

Theatre executive Stephanie Sirr has seen her leadership role change out of all recognition during the last two decades. “It used to be quite macho… never explain, never apologise,” she says. “Now your people skills and your emotional intelligence are absolutely paramount. It’s no longer about striding around invading small countries. “You’re tryin…

Shamshad Ahmed is a serial entrepreneur. He’s tried everything from importing cotton bath robes to dabbling in discount retail stores. But it was while working in clinical drug trials that he spotted tens of thousands of potentially life-saving stem cells – used to treat conditions such as leukaemia and cerebral palsy – were being thrown away every…

Judy Naake MBE is best known for the St Tropez fake tan empire that she sold for £70m. But she was also one of the first entrepreneurs to use celebrity endorsements to promote her business. Judy told stars like Victoria Beckham and Cat Deeley they could either pay for their new tan or, if they liked what they saw, they could have it free of charge …

Jonathan Sims believes green technologies will be a good place to build a career in post-pandemic Britain. And as chief procurement officer with international energy company Engie, in Britain and Ireland, he should know. The Government has decreed its economic recovery plans will be spearheaded by clean technologies. And many big international busi…

Sara Blair-Manning has the job of turning Nottingham Castle into one of the biggest visitor attractions in England. The castle is scheduled to reopen in 2021, after a £30m redevelopment. In this episode of Nottingham Business School’s Business Leaders’ Podcast, Sara talks to host Mike Sassi about her career – from bingo-caller at Nottingham’s Goose…

Former banking executive Robin Foale enjoyed a hugely successful career with both Barclays and Santander. But, given his time again, he says he would probably follow a different path. He has been inspired by the young entrepreneurs he has met in recent years, as he coaches and mentors at universities, including Nottingham Business School. “If I’d k…

Marketing director Charlotte Cox is a woman who has had great success in the world of men’s international rugby union. She famously led the team that developed the Canterbury shirt worn by England in the 2019 World Cup, in Japan. The Nottingham-based global marketeer also helped develop a host of other international kit. Charlotte tells the Busines…

Lee Kidger was made Managing Director of Raleigh UK during the first coronavirus lockdown – at the age of just 31. He joined the world’s best-known bike brand as an account manager, less than ten years ago. Today he runs a company whose last annual accounts show it turned over £38m. “The opportunity certainly came earlier than I expected,” he tells…