The Business Leader Podcast with Sir Richard Harpin

How does a business survive an existential crisis? What does a business leader do when their main source of revenue disappears overnight? In this episode, we speak to a chief executive who was in this position - Humphrey Cobbold, the boss of PureGym, Britain’s largest gym chain.

We explore the unprecedented challenges that businesses faced during the Covid-19 crisis, how the lessons learned during the pandemic can help in the future, and why speaking out publicly and going on Question Time on the BBC is important. Plus, we look at the challenges posed by the post-Covid world. Why has the best location for a gym changed? And how does a chief executive explain choosing to expand in Saudi Arabia amid concerns about its human rights record?

Business Leader is a membership community for ambitious CEOs and founders of mid-sized UK companies, designed to help them grow with purpose through strategic support, peer-to-peer learning, expert coaching, and high-impact events. Sign up for our Business Leader newsletter here.

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A look at one of the most controversial takeovers in British corporate history, a business strategy like no other and whether those involved in creating an enormous global health problem - smoking - should be trusted to play a role in fixing it. In this episode, we interview Jacek Olczak, chief executive of Philip Morris International, the owner of Marlboro and the largest tobacco company in the world, on his stated ambitions to eradicate smoking and the cigarette - a product Mr Philip Morris started selling from a shop in Bond Street, London, in 1847.

Why did the cigarette maker buy Vectura, a company that makes treatments for respiratory diseases, and why should the tobacco industry be trusted? These questions and more are asked in an episode that raises issues that go well beyond business…

Business Leader is a membership community for ambitious CEOs and founders of mid-sized UK companies, designed to help them grow with purpose through strategic support, peer-to-peer learning, expert coaching, and high-impact events. Sign up for our Business Leader newsletter here.

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

One of the most influential figures in British business over the last 40 years discusses his efforts to modernise Marks & Spencer, the 138-year-old high street brand, and his own illustrious career. Why does Archie Norman think M&S had a “manifesto for failure” and could collapse within a decade? Why does he now question whether selling Asda to Walmart was right decision? What was it like being an MP? Why did so many businessmen and women thrive while working under him and go on to successful careers? Find out all that and more…

Business Leader is a membership community for ambitious CEOs and founders of mid-sized UK companies, designed to help them grow with purpose through strategic support, peer-to-peer learning, expert coaching, and high-impact events. Sign up for our Business Leader newsletter here.

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