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 market,” he tells Episode 26 of Nottingham Business School’s Business Leaders’ Podcast. “When there’s no competition, you’re either so far ahead of the game… or nobody really wants what you’ve got!” As it turned out, many retailers did want what Alan had got. And seventeen years after Retail Assist was launched, with one staff member and one customer, the company ..read more

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 Chartered, Burberry and Experian – believes every truly successful leader has one other attribute… a moral compass. In Episode 25 of Nottingham Business School’s Business Leaders’ Podcast, he says real leaders are inspired by the thought that they can do some wider good. “Great leaders are driven to succeed not because it matters to them – how big their bonus is or what accolades they are going to achieve – but because t ..read more

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 average, women still earn almost fifteen per cent less than men. So, when will women gain equality in the workplace - and the gender pay gap disappear? “It’s probably just a few more years of changing the demographic in organisations,” says Melanie Currie, Deputy Dean of Nottingham Business School, which has more than 8,000 students. She tells the NBS Business Leade ..read more

Banker Lucy 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 was told her poor attitude was having a negative effect on colleagues. She tells the Nottingham Business School Business Leaders’ Podcast: “I was frustrated with my leader at the time. I thought I understood more about what needed to be done than they did. “I remember being taken to one side and told in no uncertain terms that I was getting in the way of the team. “Yes, my skills w ..read more

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, during which the company’s annual turnover rocketed from £30m to more than £80m. Browne Jacobson now sits half-way up the list of Britain’s 100 biggest law firms. Iain tells the Nottingham Business School’s Business Leaders’ Podcast: “When my predecessor ..read more

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’ Podcast. “As a leader, you must be willing to get your hands dirty – to do the difficult and unpleasant jobs. I couldn’t tell other people to do them if I wasn’t prepared to do them myself. It was important for my credibility.” For more than 12 years ..read more

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 – who attracted thousands of fans as he won through to the semi-final of series seven of TV’s the Great British Bake Off – reveals: “During my childhood I always wanted to own a restaurant. Now I know it is achievable. “I want to have the Selasi Baker ..read more

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 perfect position to offer leadership advice. “I’m just glad I did something I loved,” he tells Nottingham Business School’s Business Leaders Podcast. “Radio and media have always been a great passion of mine. I’m so glad I do something I enjoy.” His lov ..read more

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 decade later, the innovative women’s network now has more than 12,000 members across 33 different countries – and Dr Melville has been awarded an OBE for her services to gender equality. She says: “To this day, I still think it’s quite comical. I pai ..read more

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 come through challenging myself… putting myself in situations where I’m uncomfortable,” he says “I'm now doing things I think would surprise people who knew me as a kid. “And it's all been through just pushing myself to develop confidence – because conf ..read more