Business Leader

Fraser Smeaton co-founded MorphCostumes with his brother and a friend in 2009 in Edinburgh. It began as a side-hustle specialising in a particular kind of striking, head-to-toe party costume made of Spandex, the "Morphsuit". An immediate success, the co-founders quit their jobs and the company turned over £1m in its first year. However, by 2014 it was clear the company was becoming a victim of its own success. The product was no longer novel and the business was in real danger of going under. In this episode of the Business Leader Podcast, Fraser Smeaton explains to Dougal Shaw how they were able to reinvent themselves to find success all over again, in a new guise - with lessons for others.

What does it take to run a sport? What does the job involve? And how do you end up in a job like that? Simon Brownell is the chief executive of the World Snooker Tour. He is in charge of running the top snooker events and trying to expand the sport's audience around the world. Snooker is a quirky sport in many ways, but its growth in China is extraordinary and many businesses would love to be able to match it. In the latest episode of the Business Leader Podcast we look into Simon Brownell's unusual job, the success in China, how to balance tradition and innovation, and why his biggest challenge is finding table-fitters

Kimberly-Clark was founded in 1872 in Wisconsin in North America. It initially operated paper mills and today owns Andrex, Kleenex, Huggies nappies and other well-known consumer brands. More than 150 years after it was founded, the company is still thriving and relevant to consumers. Kimberly-Clark was one of the companies that featured in Jim Collins' definitive business book Good to Great, which looked at why an exclusive collection of companies have been able to deliver extraordinary results over not just the short-term but a sustained period of time. We take a look into the culture of Kimberly-Clark and how it has sustained success. We speak to Dan Howell, the managing director of Kimberly-Clark in the UK and Ireland. The episode covers:-Why health is foundational to success and high performance-How to adapt to changing consumer tastes-The latest thinking on marketing for Andrex and Kleenex

What does being purpose-led actually mean? How do you make it a reality? And why do you need to be purpose-led to get the best out of yourself and others?John Blakey is an executive coach for FTSE 100 chief executives, founders and top public sector officials. He has written a new book called Force for Good: How to Thrive as a Purpose-Driven Leader.In the new episode of Business Leader we hear his teachings on how to be a purpose-driven leader who can get the best out of yourself and your team.You will learn:-Why "performance = motivation x ability x opportunity"-How to boost your motivation by identifying your radiators and drains-How to be a force multiplier by thinking long-term, not short-term-Why you should set five-year goals and share them-How to ensure that reality doesn't get in the way of that five-year vision

Philips is the electronics brand behind a host of household appliances and it launched the air fryer, one of the most successful new products of the 21st Century so far. The history of the Philips brand dates back to the 1800s. Today the company that makes Philips products for consumers is called Versuni and the chief executive is Veronique Pauwels. In this episode of the Business Leader podcast we speak to her about the business, why it is capable of producing innovations like the air fryer and why playing chess makes you a strategic thinker...

Monday.com is a global software giant worth more than $14bn (£11bn) that has emerged from outside Silicon Valley. It lets companies build their own work and project management tools. This approach is often referred to as low code or no code. It gives teams the flexibility to build their own apps and control workflows. Monday.com was founded in Israel in 2012 and went public in the US on Nasdaq in 2021. It now has more than a quarter of a million customers in over 200 countries and the UK is its second-largest market globally. Co-founder and co-CEO Eran Zinman tells Dougal Shaw how the company has scaled so rapidly.

Huel is one of the fastest-growing companies in the UK. The food and nutrition business has ambitions to be the next billion-dollar food brand and has already succeeded where many other UK brands have failed by breaking into the US. This is the story behind Huel's unique recruitment, marketing and growth strategy...

In this episode of Business Leader we speak to not one but four chief executives. They will help you understand housing associations and why they are the biggest organisations you have never heard of, why they left jobs in big business to lead not-for-profit organisations and how to tackle the housing crisis in the UK.We speak to the chief executives of four of the biggest housing associations in the UK. They are Patrick Franco at Notting Hill Genesis, Andy Hulme of Hyde, Sarah Jones of Anchor and Greg Reed of Places for People, who all share their learnings in a unique roundtable discussion

CMR Surgical is one of the most exciting businesses in the UK, but you probably haven't heard its story. Until now. Dr Mark Slack, the co-founder and chief medical officer, guides us through how CMR built a robot to do keyhole surgery and became a business valued at more than $3bn (£2.3bn), backed by investment giants like SoftBank and Tencent. It is a story that involves a failed athletics career, military service and a meeting of minds in Cambridge akin to The Beatles getting together...