When you talk to Steve Oliver, the Founder and CEO of musicMagpie, you can see, hear and feel how the upbringing he received from his parents and the links they built between the business they ran and the community they serve, has influenced him. Operating with a sense of purpose and duty, we met with him at his office to talk about his business, his recent IPO and his views on a whole host of topics.

Here's what we discussed:

• Could you tell us about your upbringing? (00:31)
• Your father owning a post office must have had an influence on you? (01:53)
• Do you feel time is repeating itself and you’re a community-driven businessman now? (03:15)
• Moving onto musicMagpie, the business had thirty shops initially, but you took the brave decision to close these and go fully online. Could you tell us about this? (04:32)
• How long did it take to make the decision? (06:14)
• Moving forward, can you tell us why you felt an IPO was the right thing for the business? (08:09)
• What is your advice to anybody considering an IPO? (11:27)
• Did you let your staff know that you were going through the process to IPO? (15:13)
• Has your leadership style changed since you've become a listed company? (16:55)
• You have spoken a lot about musicMagpie’s commitment to sustainability – where does this passion come from? (18:46)
• Do you feel the role you play is insignificant though - if Russia, China, the USA, Brazil and India don’t act, for example? (21:05)
• Should there be harsher punishments for companies that greenwash or don’t act now? (22:10)
• What is the next big challenge that you want to undertake? (22:58)
• Revenues have dipped recently – can you tell us why? (24:47)
• Are you able to attract the talent you need being based in Stockport? (28:04)
• What is your view on working in the office or remotely? (29:21)
• You mentioned leadership there - do you believe the command-and-control style of leadership is dying out? Will we see another Sir Alex Ferguson? (32:03)
• Could you tell us about your expansion into the US? And do you have aspirations of further global expansion? (34:18)
• Is your management style different in the UK and US? (36:20)
• Do you feel that Britain is becoming less great? (38:14)
• In your opinion is broken Britain fixable? (40:27)
• What do you do to relax and switch off? (41:55)
• What makes a great business leader? (43:37)

Be sure to subscribe to the podcast and the Business Leader YouTube channel for more interviews with some of the world’s leading business figures.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.