Business Leader

Chris de Lapuente, former Executive at LVMH and CEO of Sephora, played a pivotal role in scaling the business from €2.5bn to €16bn during his 13 years at the helm of the beauty retailer. He first met host Sir Richard Harpin at Procter and Gamble and shares reflections on their training which led to many successful business leaders. Chris describes how he grew Sephora, expanded globally and learned to be adaptable, as well as the mistakes that define his journey. Also, what is it like to work with Europe’s richest man and CEO of LVMH, Bernard Arnault?

Topics covered:
Procter and Gamble
Work-Life balance
Transformation
Expansion
Retail brands and experience
High-performing teams
LVMH and Bernard Arnault
Tips for Scaling businesses
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. Join the Business Leader community here and sign up for our newsletter here.
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Jonathan Spry, co-founder and CEO of reinsurance startup Envelop Risk, talks to Sir Richard Harpin about how cyber-attacks are now inevitable for modern businesses — and how business leaders can mitigate the risks. From ransomware and Black Swan events to AI-generated threats, Jonathan reveals how his company uses AI and advanced analytics to model catastrophic cyber scenarios for insurers around the world. He also shares how he scaled a Bristol-based B2B business, raised major investment and built competitive moats. Also, how many Jonathans has he hired?

Topics covered:
Insurance
Artificial Intelligence
B2B
Sales
Cyber attacks
Black Swan
Geopolitics
Investment
Quantum Computing
Leadership
Hiring talent
London and IPO
Bristol
Mentoring
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. Join the Business Leader community here and sign up for our newsletter here.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If something isn’t working in your business – at what point do you say – let’s adapt and change course? Sir Richard Harpin talks to Kai Feller, the co-founder of Bark.com, the online marketplace that connects you to a local gardener or event planner. Kai Feller had a make-or-break moment and changed his business model in response. After that the company grew by 200 percent over three years and Kai sold it for £240 million. How did he pivot so successfully and how important is harnessing AI for the future of businesses? Also Kai Feller recommends reading Stephen Covey's book "The 7 habits of highly effective people" and he compares notes with Richard about buying the local village pub.

Topics covered:
Leadership
Building and scaling a business
Artificial Intelligence
International expansion
Managing people
Work/Life balance
Local pub
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. Join the Business Leader community here and sign up for our newsletter here.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

BT's chief executive, Allison Kirkby, talks to Sir Richard Harpin about how her working class upbringing and training at Procter & Gamble set her up for becoming CEO. Kirkby built her reputation as a straight-talking turnaround leader and since taking the top job at BT, over two year’s ago, she’s been cutting costs, reshaping the leadership team, and trying to bring clarity to the business. As its first female CEO in 180 years, she is bringing back BT as a brand and is determined to return the company to growth. Kirkby says more needs to be done to encourage British investment in the UK stock market and reveals what it is like having Sunil Bharti Mittal, the Indian 'telecoms tiger', as the company's biggest shareholder and board member.

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. Join the Business Leader community here and sign up for our newsletter here.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Omaze's co-founder and CEO Matt Pohlson learnt the art of storytelling in Hollywood and used it to build a £200m revenue, for-profit, prize-draw business. He tells Sir Richard Harpin how two near-death experiences made him more determined to grow the company and how intuition is more powerful than he realised. The sweepstake specialist is a rare example of a business idea born in the US that found success when it moved to the UK, but why does the UK not match the US's growth-mindset? Also, Pohlson gives his top three tips for founders.
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. Join the Business Leader community here and sign up for our newsletter here.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.