For many people their dream job or ticket out of their day job, is sitting on the boards of companies in Chairman or Non Exec Director roles. My guest for this episode is living that dream. 

It was an absolute pleasure to sit down with Simon Burke a few weeks ago. Simon has held senior leadership positions from early in his career and is a sought after board member for organizations across the UK and Ireland currently serving on the board of BBC, Bakkavor, Blue Diamond Group, The Co-operative Group and others.  

From being hired by a young, Richard Branson to run his Virgin Entertainment division and then turning around the fortunes of Hamleys toy stores, Simon’s experience at the top tier of industry spans four decades. 

 We discuss a range of topics including how retail buried it’s head in the sand in the early days of e-commerce and how it’s playing catch up today, the history of experiential retail, the shift in the BBC's business model to compete with online content streaming services and how Simon successfully cultivated a portfolio of professional board positions for himself. 

Thank you Simon for inviting me to the BBC to record and for being so generous with your time. There’s plenty more I wold have liked to cover - perhaps a ‘part two’ is in order?