How to Lead a Sustainable Business with Alannah Weston

Alannah Weston, Chairman of Selfridges Group, speaks to inspiring leaders at the forefront of sustainability and business to find out what it takes to lead change and how businesses can put sustainability at their core. 

In this episode Alannah is joined by Jesper Brodin, CEO of IKEA and its parent company Ingka Group, the world’s largest home furnishing retailer. IKEA welcomes over 700 million visitors to their stores and 3.6 billion visits to their website every year. Jesper’s career with IKEA spans over 25 years and he speaks to Alannah about IKEA’s vision, the importance of scaling businesses to build a sustainable economy and the relationship between sustainability and affordability. 

How To Lead a Sustainable Business is brought to you by Selfridges Group and Intelligence Squared. If you enjoyed this episode please take a moment to rate and review us on Apple Podcasts.  

Alannah Weston, Chairman of Selfridges Group, speaks to inspiring leaders at the forefront of sustainability and business to find out what it takes to lead change and how businesses can put sustainability at their core. 

In this episode Alannah is joined by Sally Jewell, a business executive who was appointed by President Barack Obama to serve as the 51st United States Secretary of the Interior. She was previously the CEO of Recreational Equipment Inc. and interim CEO of the Nature Conservancy. They speak about the relationship between government and business, the challenges of regulation regulating industries and working together to find solutions. 

How To Lead a Sustainable Business is brought to you by Selfridges Group and Intelligence Squared. If you enjoyed this episode please take a moment to rate and review us on Apple Podcasts.  

Alannah Weston, Chairman of Selfridges Group, speaks to inspiring leaders at the forefront of sustainability and business to find out what it takes to lead change and how businesses can put sustainability at their core. 

In this episode Alannah is joined by Charlie Burrell, a conservationist and founder of Knepp Wildland, the first large-scale lowland rewilding project in England. He transformed his family’s 3,500 acre estate from being a dairy and arable farm into a rewilding project which now has its own ecosystem boasting the largest concentrations of nightingales in the UK and the biggest breeding population of rare purple emperor butterflies. They speak about disrupting the agriculture industry, stakeholder management, regenerative farming and how land can be reinvented through biodiversity.

How To Lead a Sustainable Business is brought to you by Selfridges Group and Intelligence Squared. If you enjoyed this episode please take a moment to rate and review us on Apple Podcasts. 

Alannah Weston, Chairman of Selfridges Group, speaks to inspiring leaders at the forefront of sustainability and business to find out what it takes to lead change and how businesses can put sustainability at their core.
In this episode Alannah is joined by Dame Vivian Hunt, a senior partner at the global management consultancy firm McKinsey & Company. She served as managing partner of McKinsey’s UK and Ireland offices from 2013-2020 and is a thought leader on productivity, leadership and diversity. She was previously named as one of the top ten “most influential black people in Britain” by the Powerlist Foundation, and The Financial Times identified her “one of the 30 most influential people in the City of London”. She speaks to Alannah about the importance of businesses being open to innovation, stakeholder capitalism and the value of a diverse workforce.
How To Lead a Sustainable Business is brought to you by Selfridges Group and Intelligence Squared. If you enjoyed this episode please take a moment to rate and review us on Apple Podcasts.

Alannah Weston, Chairman of Selfridges Group, speaks to inspiring leaders at the forefront of sustainability and business to find out what it takes to lead change and how businesses can put sustainability at their core. 

In this episode Alannah is joined by Sir Dave Lewis, Chair of the leading conservation charity, World Wildlife Fund for Nature. Dave worked at Unilever for nearly 30 years before becoming CEO of Tesco where he led the company’s turnaround at the same time as embedding sustainability into its strategy. He tells Alannah how he led transformational change in Tesco, the importance of partnering with NGOs and other key stakeholders, and why ‘followership’ is just as important as leadership. 

How To Lead a Sustainable Business is brought to you by Selfridges Group and Intelligence Squared. If you enjoyed this episode please take a moment to rate and review us on Apple Podcasts.

Alannah Weston, Chairman of Selfridges Group, speaks to inspiring leaders at the forefront of sustainability and business to find out what it takes to lead change and how businesses can put sustainability at their core. 

In this episode, Alannah is joined by Victoria Prew, CEO of Hurr - the UK’s first peer to peer fashion rental platform. Her business has been described as the ‘Airbnb of fashion’ by Forbes magazine. They discuss the rental revolution, a guilt-free approach to shopping and how Victoria is disrupting the fashion system by bringing the circular economy to life for customers through tech innovation.


How To Lead a Sustainable Business is brought to you by Selfridges Group and Intelligence Squared. If you enjoyed this episode please take a moment to rate and review us on Apple Podcasts.

Alannah Weston, Chairman of Selfridge Group, speaks to inspiring leaders at the forefront of sustainability and business to find out what it takes to lead change and how businesses can put sustainability at their core. 

In this episode Alannah is joined by Dale Vince, founder of Ecotricity, the world’s first green energy company. 25 years ago, the concept of ‘green energy’ didn’t exist. Starting with one windmill, he  kick-started the disruption of the fossil fuel industry. Dale shares his journey from New Age traveller to eco-entrepreneur and U.N. Climate Change Champion. He tells Alannah how he took Forest Green Rovers’ Football Club vegan and his next ambition to mine diamonds from the sky.

How To Lead a Sustainable Business is brought to you by Selfridges Group and Intelligence Squared. If you enjoyed this episode please take a moment to rate and review us on Apple Podcasts. 

In this special edition of the podcast, the tables are turned on our host as she is put in the hot seat. Alannah Weston, Chairman of Selfridges Group, is interviewed by The Times journalist and broadcaster Manveen Rana. In this episode, Alannah reflects on the sustainability journey Selfridges Group has been on, the future of fashion, and what she’s looking forward to exploring in Season 2 of the podcast. 
How To Lead a Sustainable Business is brought to you by Selfridges Group and Intelligence Squared. If you enjoyed this episode please take a moment to rate and review us on Apple Podcasts. 

Join Alannah Weston, Chairman of Selfridges Group, for Season 2 of How To Lead a Sustainable Business. In this podcast series, Alannah continues her mission of finding out how businesses can innovate and transform to put sustainability at their core. Each week she will be joined by an inspirational business leader driving change in their field – whether it’s football, fashion, food or furniture. Upcoming guests include Jesper Brodin, CEO of IKEA; Dale Vince, Founder of Ecotricity; Dame Vivian Hunt, Senior Partner at McKinsey; Sir Dave Lewis, Chair of WWF and former CEO of Tesco; and Sally Jewell, President Obama’s Secretary of the Interior.
How To Lead a Sustainable Business is brought to you by Selfridges Group and Intelligence Squared. If you enjoy this series please take a moment to rate and review us on Apple Podcasts. 

How can we expect the leaders of the future to tackle the complex issues we face with an education system trapped in the mindset of the past? In this episode, Alannah speaks with activist and student politician, Zamzam Ibrahim. Zamzam is the former President of the National Union of Students and currently serves as the President of the charity Students Organising for Sustainability, which was created by the NUS in response to the climate and ecological crisis. 

Her campaigns have highlighted that the climate crisis is deeply intertwined with issues of social justice and inequality. And that what is needed, is a fundamental shift in the education system, to give young people the tools and agency they need to fight for a greener, fairer future.