Nottingham Business School Business Leaders

Nottingham Business School’s Business Leaders’ Podcast Episode 84 Jon French – Leaders need to be comfortable being uncomfortable SUMMARY Jon French is a Managing Director of Android Global Business at Google UK – one of the world’s most influential technology ecosystems, with billions of users worldwide across smartphones and connected devices. He has more than 25 years of experience in telecoms,...

Nottingham Business School’s Business Leaders’ Podcast Episode 83 Matthew Swann – Why playing it safe is the biggest risk of all Matthew Swann is director of the BBC Concert Orchestra which performs for millions of listeners and viewers around the world, across radio, television and digital platforms. His career as an arts executive, producer and curator has taken him through some of the UK’s most...

Nottingham Business School’s Business Leaders’ Podcast Episode 82 Holly Cooke – Building a business that people can connect with SUMMARY Holly Cooke is the founder and chief executive of The Lonely Girls Club – the fast-growing social enterprise that has transformed a simple friendship group into a nationwide business with more than 160,000 members across eight British cities. The 29-year-old laun...

Nottingham Business School’s Business Leaders’ Podcast Episode 81 Kate Butler – Leaders must be curious SUMMARY Kate Butler is the deputy managing director of Via East Midlands. She is also an expert on the complex challenge of maintaining Britain’s crumbling roads. As a senior executive at Via, she oversees an £87 million turnover and a workforce of 700 staff dedicated – among many other things –...

Nottingham Business School’s Business Leaders’ Podcast Episode 80 SUMMARY Peter Cheese – Make ‘good work’ your North Star Peter Cheese is long-serving CEO of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development – and one of the UK’s most influential voices on the future of work. His book The New World of Work is often cited as a must-read for anyone in leadership. In Episode 80 of the Nottingham B...

Episode 79 SUMMARY Anthony Hemmerdinger – The dangers of living on past glories Anthony Hemmerdinger is one of the UK retail sector’s most experienced operators. As MD of Boots UK, he leads a business that has been at the heart of the high street for more than 175 years. In Episode 79 of the Nottingham Business School Business Leaders’ Podcast, he reflects on a career spanning more than three deca...

Nottingham Business School’s Business Leaders’ Podcast Episode 78 SUMMARY Matthew Blain – Putting people first in a performance-driven world Matthew Blain is a senior HR leader whose career spans some of the UK’s most recognisable institutions – and one of the most demanding ownership environments in business. In Episode 78 of the Nottingham Business School’s Business Leaders’ Podcast, he reflects...

Nottingham Business School’s Business Leaders’ Podcast Episode 77 Paul Southby – Leadership and the law SUMMARY Paul Southby is a commercial dispute resolution lawyer whose influence reaches far beyond the courtroom and deep into the civic, cultural and business life of Nottingham. In Episode 77 of the Nottingham Business School’s Business Leaders’ Podcast, he reflects on more than four decades of...

SUMMARY The UK construction industry is changing fast – shaped by new technology, shifting markets and the growing demand for skilled people who can lead with confidence. In Episode 76 of the Nottingham Business School’s Business Leaders’ Podcast, two senior industry figures tell Visiting Honorary Professor Mike Sassi what it really takes to build a successful career in construction. Jonathan Suck...

INTRODUCTION • Anna Lungley is Head of Sustainability Consulting at Fujitsu, where she advises leaders on embedding net positive thinking into their business. • She is also a Senior Associate at the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership, helping organisations tackle some of the most complex challenges in the global economy. • Anna was previously at Japanese media agency Dentsu, as Chie...

Nottingham Business School’s Business Leaders’ Podcast Episode 75 Sarah Gregory – How joining a board helps leadership development SUMMARY Stepping into a non-executive board role can be one of the most powerful – and most overlooked – ways to accelerate leadership development. In Episode 75 of the Business Leaders Podcast, BBC Deputy Chief People Officer Sarah Gregory explains why taking a seat o...

Levi Roots is a hugely popular entrepreneur, musician, chef and TV celebrity who won £50,000 on the BBC’s Dragon’s Den… then never looked back. In Episode 74 of Nottingham Business School’s Business Leaders Podcast, he tells Visiting Honorary Professor Mike Sassi about the challenges of arriving in the UK as an 11-year-old from Jamaica – and the influence of his mother and the Windrush Generation....

INTRODUCTION • Ellie Long has been Global Head of Emerging Talent at Rolls-Royce since September 2013. • She has been part of a pioneering new behaviour-focused hiring system that has seen Rolls-Royce overhaul all its graduate programmes. • Ellie believes in a highly inclusive and transparent recruitment approach, setting candidates up for success by focusing on “potential, not polish”. • Under he...

INTRODUCTION • Louise Rodrigues runs her own Dubai-based consultancy AQUILA, developing and delivering major building projects in the United Arab Emirates. • She graduated from Nottingham Trent in the year 2000 with a degree in building and surveying. • Louise began her career in London, developing education and healthcare buildings, with several companies including Atkins, DHP and Lendlease. • Du...

INTRODUCTION • Air Chief Marshal Sir Andrew Douglas Pulford, KCB, CBE, ADC, was born and brought up in Newark, Nottinghamshire, then attended Royal Air Force College, Cranwell, in Lincolnshire. • He joined the RAF as a helicopter pilot in 1977 and went on to fly Westland Wessex and Puma helicopters • He served in Northern Ireland and the Falklands War during early operational deployments. He went...

INTRODUCTION • Dr. Jessica Lautz is a prominent American economist and researcher in the field of housing. • She is Deputy Chief Economist and Vice President of Research at the National Association of Realtors – and has an office in Washington DC. • The NAR represents more than 1.5 million estate agents and real estate professionals across the USA, and is America’s largest trade association • Dr L...

Episode 68 Ben Dorks – From local entrepreneur to global tech CEO SUMMARY Ben Dorks – From local entrepreneur to global tech CEO Ben Dorks has taken Nottingham-based Ideagen from a £100m local software company to a £1bn international tech business. He left school with just a handful of GCSEs. But his drive, ambition and entrepreneurial spirit have built him a career as a hugely successful internat...

Episode 67 Caroline Wayman – Leadership under pressure SUMMARY Caroline Wayman is an accomplished, high-profile leader who – as Chief Executive of the Financial Ombudsman Service – lead the drive to compensate bank customers caught up in the national Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) scandal. Over ten years, her team dealt with two million PPI complaints, forcing the banks to hand over £38bn in c...

Episode 66 Dr Marcellus Baz BEM – Building relationships and making a difference SUMMARY Dr. Marcellus Baz BEM is an award-winning social entrepreneur, youth mentor, and the founder of Switch Up and the Marcellus Baz Foundation. Honoured with a British Empire Medal and an honorary doctorate from Nottingham Trent University, Baz has dedicated his life to empowering young people affected by crime, v...

Nottingham Business School’s Business Leaders’ Podcast Episode 65 Dr Anino Emuwa – Why women leaders face unconscious bias SUMMARY Dr Anino Emuwa is an entrepreneur, academic and thought leader. She is also a passionate advocate for women in leadership. In Episode 65 of the Nottingham Business School’s Business Leaders’ Podcast, Dr Anino talks to Visiting Honorary Professor Mike Sassi about the un...

Nottingham Business School’s Business Leaders’ Podcast Episode 64 Anton Roe – How the best companies grow their own future leaders SUMMARY Anton Roe first joined the fledgling MHR payroll software company as an apprentice, on a £27-a-week Youth Training Scheme. More than 30 years later, Anton is now the company’s CEO – and MHR software pays the salary of more than three million people across Brita...

Nottingham Business School’s Business Leaders’ Podcast Episode 63 SUMMARY Rob Barker – The importance of rational optimism Rob Barker is an entrepreneur, adviser and investor in the international fitness industry. He started his career as a sales rep with Precor – one of the world’s largest suppliers of gym equipment – rising to the rank of President. He then led the team that sold Precor to Ameri...

Episode 62 Sarah Ellis – Making ‘squiggly careers’ better for everyone SUMMARY Sarah Ellis is co-founder of the pioneering Amazing If company that is revolutionising the way in which people view their careers. She and her business partner Helen Tupper have written two Sunday Times best-selling books about their innovative Squiggly Careers theory. They also host the hugely popular Squiggly Careers...

Episode 61 Salma Tuqan – Cultural leadership at Nottingham Contemporary SUMMARY Salma Tuqan is Director of Nottingham Contemporary – one of Britain’s most prestigious galleries outside of London. She has worked with arts organistions all over the world, and for eight years was inaugural Curator of Middle Eastern Art at London’s Victoria and Albert Museum. During Episode 61 of the Nottingham Busine...

SUMMARY Marvin Cooke OBE – From apprentice engineer to European Vice President in the car industry Marvin Cooke OBE was Vice President of Manufacturing for Toyota Europe – responsible for more than 20,000 staff and the production of 800,000 cars, at factories in Britain, France, Poland, Turkey and the Czech Republic. He started out as an apprentice engineer. Today he is Professor of Entrepreneursh...