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Aron Gelbard is a founder and CEO obsessed with feedback. The business he has built is Bloom & Wild, which made its name with flower delivery but has now expanded into other gifts, such as brownies and whisky. It pioneered the idea of letterbox delivery, where flowers are packaged in flat boxes that can be assembled into bouquets at home.

Gelbard tells Dougal Shaw how an obsession with feedback, including A/B Testing and NPS (Net Promoter Score), has been the secret to growing his business, which is now international and has annual revenues of more than £110m. If you truly embrace feedback you can turn disappointed customers into your greatest fans...

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

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Francesca Brown is the award-winning founder of Goals4Girls and a champion of female youth development. She has turned her love of football into a transformative programme that empowers girls aged 11-16 in marginalised communities, boosting their confidence, leadership skills and educational outcomes. Josh Dornbrack and Lucy McPhee dive into her journey from aspiring athlete to social impact pioneer, her vision for sustainable development pathways and the unique role sport plays in unlocking opportunity.

If you’re a founder, executive or aspiring leader seeking tangible inspiration from outside of the boardroom, this episode will leave you equipped with both mindset shifts and actionable takeaways. From leveraging networks and finding mentors, to creating a culture of opportunity and designing programmes with real-world impact, Brown's journey is a powerful case study in leadership, social enterprise and growth.

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John Amaechi is an organisational psychologist, best-selling author and a professor of leadership at the University of Exeter Business School. He is quick to dismantle the myth that great leaders are “born, not made.” In this candid conversation, he reveals that the skills which make leaders exceptional, from emotional literacy to effective storytelling, aren’t magic tricks. They’re basic, learnable tools that anyone can master with intention and practice.

Amaechi shares how leaders often hide behind the excuse that “it just comes naturally to others” to avoid confronting their own fears. Whether it’s public speaking, conflict mediation or building trust, he argues that leadership is about consistent work, not innate talent. This episode will leave you inspired and equipped with a new mindset: if leadership excellence isn’t magic, then there’s no reason you can’t achieve it too.

Presented by Josh Dornbrack and Lucy McPhee

John Amaechi's book, It's Not Magic: The ordinary skills of exceptional leaders, is out now.

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Joanna Carman leads the Plusnet broadband brand, which is owned by BT, and also serves as its chief marketing officer. She joined BT in 2019 and took up the Plusnet role two years later while still in her mid-thirties.

Dougal Shaw caught up with Joanna Carman at BT's London HQ to learn about forging a leadership style that appeals to Gen Z...

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Steve Roest experienced a traumatic event 25 years ago that changed his life. When he was 14 his father collapsed in a restaurant, crashing through a table, due to an undiagnosed heart condition. He survived but was left with long-term health issues.

Steve Roest wants to prevent other families from experiencing a similar episode. He co-founded PocDoc with his wife in 2019. It makes at-home digital diagnostic kits so people can do health tests for chronic conditions like heart disease. The company can make up to 200,000 tests per month. It already has 40 employees and millions of pounds in revenue.

Dougal Shaw went to PodDoc's warehouse and headquarters outside Cambridge to hear the story.

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How do you build one of the biggest hotel brands in the world? Simon Vincent is president of Hilton hotels in Europe, Middle East and Africa. He is responsible for around 1,000 hotels. Vincent joined Hilton in 2007 and looks after more than 85,000 employees, 18,000 of whom are based in the UK. 

In this episode, Simon Vincent takes Dougal Shaw on a personal tour of the Park Lane Hilton, speaking to him in the luxury penthouse suite that has welcomed rock star Jon Bon Jovi and many others. Hilton reveals the detailed calculation that goes into the slow, steady expansion of hotels. This involves scouting and testing potential locations, but also figuring out the best balance between managing your own hotels and finding a franchisee to work with.

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What would you do if your company had just 90 days to survive? That’s the reality turnaround expert Bill Canady has faced more than once. In this episode of the Business Leader Podcast, we speak with him to unpack the three drivers of business transformation: growth, fear and exit. Canady shows how focusing on profitability first, leveraging the Pareto 80/20 principle and taking tough but necessary decisions can set a business back on course.

From restructuring teams to repricing products, his insights cut through complexity with actionable advice. Whether you’re battling cash flow problems, stalled growth or preparing for a strategic exit, this conversation will help you reframe your challenges as opportunities.

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Rishi Khosla, the co-founder and chief executive of OakNorth, joins Graham Ruddick to tell the story of how OakNorth was built. Founded in 2015, OakNorth was valued at $2.8bn (£2.1bn) in its last funding round and is generating annual profits of more than £200m. Khosla and co-founder Joel Perlman set-out to revolutionise banking for small and medium-sized businesses. Despite some ups and downs, they are doing just that...

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Innovation isn’t reserved for tech giants. It’s the beating heart of any business that wants to grow and stay relevant. In this episode, we dive into what it takes to build a culture where innovation thrives. From uncovering hidden skills in your workforce to reshaping how teams collaborate, you’ll discover practical steps to spark new thinking.

We speak with David Keene, the co-founder and CEO of tech firm Aurrigo, Nathan Thomas, Ricoh Europe’s director of innovation, Richard North, president at innovative toy manufacturer Wow! Stuff, Zoe Harris, travel company On The Beach’s chief marketing officer and Andrea Morgan-Vandome, the chief innovation officer at supply chain software provider Blue Yonder. They share hard-won lessons on fostering curiosity, reducing fear and creating environments where bold ideas can take root.

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It was not until 1998 that Starbucks opened its first UK coffee shop. Around the same time, Martyn Dawes, who suspected that people wanted easier access to quality coffee, started putting Coffee Nation coffee machines into shops.

Today, coffee shops are everywhere and Coffee Nation has become Costa Express, which is owned by Coca-Cola after a blockbuster £3.9bn takeover. In this episode of the Business Leader Podcast, Martyn Dawes, the co-founder of Coffee Nation, explains how a trip to the US inspired the business, why his initial idea was wrong and whether he regrets selling too early.

Martyn Dawes is now a Business Leader facilitator, overseeing peer-to-peer forums between CEOs and founders. To find out more about Business Leader membership, visit: https://businessleader.co.uk/membership

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AI has been called the biggest business shift since the internet but what does that actually mean for your business? In this episode, Matt Weaver of OpenAI explains how businesses can move beyond experiments and embed AI into daily operations. He reveals why literacy, executive sponsorship and experimentation are the three critical levers leaders must pull.

You’ll also hear how Virgin Atlantic is using AI to extend its trademark personal service and why the real win isn’t about replacing jobs but removing repetitive tasks so people can focus on higher-value work.

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