Desert Island Discs: Archive 2011-2015

Sir Terry Leahy

02.03.2013 - By BBC Radio 4Play

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Kirsty Young's castaway is Sir Terry Leahy, the businessman and former CEO of Tesco. His first job with the company was as a teenager when he worked as a shelf-stacker, but he made his name transforming the supermarket from a lack-lustre brand into Britain's biggest retailer. His ascent to the very top was marked by a fundamental understanding of his customers' needs and a single minded determination, powered, he says, by a fear of failure. He says of himself, "I was a relatively shy guy from a council estate and an unlikely chief executive, I'm quite happy not to be in the limelight".

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