Business Leader

Sue Hayes, CEO of Nottingham Building Society, joins Dougal Shaw on the Business Leader podcast to explore how she’s been transforming a 175-year-old institution into a modern mutual. Hayes discusses her key strategy, defined as "together we fight for the extraordinary". Her mission is to target underserved borrowers, like Gen Z and side hustlers with irregular incomes, and help them buy homes. She explains how her building society leverages AI and fintech partnerships to modernise mortgages while maintaining its purpose-driven ethos. From rebranding to the future of high street branches, Hayes shares insights on leadership and staying relevant in the modern banking sector. She was speaking to Dougal Shaw in early November 2025. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Few businesses have more than 17 million customers and can say the Queen was one of them. But that's the AA. However, it has had a difficult time recently. It was drowning under £2.7 billion of debt and was taken off public markets following a takeover by the private equity firms Warburg Pincus and Towerbrook. Since then chief executive Jakob Pfaudler has been working on a turnaround of this unique business. This is the story of the AA and that turnaround... Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

He leads a US tech firm valued at $8bn, but Sanjay Poonen puts his success down to a major career setback. Poonen is CEO of US cybersecurity and AI company Cohesity, based in Silicon Valley. He grew up in Bangalore, India, but a scholarship to Dartmouth College in the US to study computer science brought him to the US. On graduation, he rose up the ranks of a Who’s Who of Silicon Valley tech companies, including Microsoft, Apple, Symantec, SAP and VMware. It was while he was vice president of marketing at Informatica that he suffered his first major career setback – he was fired. Poonen explains to Dougal Shaw why this moment of rejection ultimately made him a better, more mature and compassionate leader. He also gives advice on how to hire the best talent in the competitive world of tech. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, host Josh Dornbrack speaks with Bob Skinstad, former Springbok and Rugby World Cup winner, about leadership, elite performance and transitioning from professional sport into business. He shares lessons from rugby, venture capital, consulting and building winning teams in high-pressure environments. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The department store chain Debenhams was founded in 1778 but went bust in 2020, leading to thousands of job losses and the disappearance of one of Britain's best-known high street names. But now it is back, reimagined for the digital age. In this episode of the Business Leader Podcast, Debenhams chief executive Dan Finley tells the story behind this turnaround. Dan Finley was appointed the boss of Debenhams in 2022 after the brand was bought by Boohoo. Now he is chief executive of the whole Boohoo group, which has been renamed Debenhams. That has brought its own unique challenges... Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.