The Room Where It Happened

CEO of Kurt Geiger Neil Clifford reflects on the moments and challenges that shaped his journey from a department store floor to leading a global fashion brand.
He shares how early setbacks, including the loss of his father and living with dyslexia, influenced his leadership style, turning perceived limitations into creative strengths. Neil also discusses the lessons learned through private equity and the importance of surrounding himself with people who think differently.

Beyond commercial success, Neil explains how Kurt Geiger’s Business by Design Academy became a way to create wider impact, opening doors for young creatives who might otherwise be overlooked.

This episode explores creativity, leadership, and why human skills, not just technical ones, will matter most in the future.

Launched by the Kurt Geiger Kindness Foundation in 2024, Business by Design is an award-winning, fully funded, career incubator programme designed to open doors into the creative industry for young people. For the first time, and beginning in Spring 2026, Business by Design will become available to young people across the UK, through a newly digitalised programme.

The Business by Design Academy page: https://www.kurtgeiger.com/business-by-design

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How does a personal space flight spark a mission to reshape humanity’s future? For Dylan Taylor, it started with a transcendent experience in orbit, which led him to found Space for Humanity, a non-profit dedicated to expanding access to space travel. His vision grew from a desire to unlock space’s transformative potential for solving Earth’s most pressing issues, and today, he’s helping to shape a future where space is accessible to all.

In this episode, Dylan Taylor takes us through his unexpected journey, from his life-changing space flight to the creation of Voyager Technologies (NYSE: VOYG), a global leader in national security and space solutions. As founder, Chairman, and CEO, Dylan is also leading a joint venture to develop Starlab, a next-generation commercial space station with partners like Airbus, Mitsubishi, MDA Space, and Palantir.

He shares how his work in space technology is already impacting Earth, from breakthroughs in cancer treatment to innovations in microgravity. Dylan also discusses the high-stakes decisions, partnerships, and bold moves that are accelerating humanity’s progress through space.

This conversation is about vision, purpose, and the power of expanding human potential through exploration. Dylan's story reveals how space isn’t just about discovery, it’s about solving real-world problems and creating a future where anyone can reach for the stars.

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From washing dishes in a chaotic hotel kitchen at 13 to leading a global software company, Mark Moffat traces a leadership journey shaped by humility, curiosity, and learning from the ground up..

Mark opens up about his evolving relationship with AI, from early scepticism to using it practically in everyday life and high-stakes business decisions, and why industrial AI represents one of the biggest untapped opportunities of the next decade. From robots inspecting underground tunnels to helping frontline workers do safer, better work, he outlines a future where curiosity beats fear and people who learn to use AI outperform those who don’t.

This is a conversation about first-principles leadership, staying close to customers as you scale, and why the mindset that took someone from kitchen porter to CEO might be the same one needed to build the next $100bn business.

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Long before cybersecurity became a daily concern for businesses, Danny Jenkins encountered a moment that changed his entire trajectory. A ransomware attack on a small company didn’t just expose a technical failure, it revealed how easily a lifetime of work could vanish overnight.

In this episode, Danny unpacks the unlikely experiences that shaped his worldview, from a childhood where learning to code became a way to regain control, to a formative business fallout that taught him why founders must guard their vision fiercely. He takes us behind the curtain of modern cybercrime, an industry run with structure, scale, and now AI, and explains why old security models are no longer enough.

This is a conversation about seeing the problem before everyone else does, questioning accepted norms, and building a company designed not to react to threats, but to stop them before they ever begin.

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From a childhood helicopter dream to building and selling a £4.1bn company, Richard Harpin shares the moments that nearly ended, and ultimately defined,his journey as a founder.

In this episode, Richard takes us inside the make-or-break decisions behind HomeServe, including the last-ditch mail shot that saved the business when they had just £10,000 left in the bank, and the devastating moment a partner told him it was over and to return to corporate life. He reveals how copying what already worked, then pivoting fast, became a survival strategy, and why hiring people to cover your weaknesses is one of the most underestimated leadership skills.

Richard also reflects on the bold moves that unlocked global growth, from trusting local leaders to scale internationally, to the bittersweet decision to sell the company after decades of building.

This is a candid conversation about staying grounded, enduring setbacks, and the long journey from near-failure to lasting success, and why childhood dreams still matter at the finish line.

IFS - award-winning Asset & Service Management software
👉 Reimagine your operations at: https://highpfrmc.com/ifs-au
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.