Business Leader Graham Ruddick

The story behind Manchester-based travel company Travel Counsellors and why it might be the company with the best reviews in the UK. Steve Byrne, the long-serving chief executive, explains why customers and staff rate it so highly, why you may not have heard about the company until now, and why it has ambitious plans for the future.


This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit offtolunch.substack.com

In 1989, Mark Dixon had an idea - the traditional office didn’t work for many businesses and they needed something more flexible. More than 30 years later, he has been proved right. IWG, the business he founded, is now worth more than £2 billion and runs 4,000 serviced offices around the world, which millions of people use to do their jobs as flexible working has taken off. But it has been a challenging and sometimes lonely battle to get IWG to this point. This is a story that involves rapid growth, Chapter 11 bankruptcy and flashy new rivals…


This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit offtolunch.substack.com

Josh Bayliss was appointed as the chief executive of Virgin Group by Sir Richard Branson in 2011. He works with an array of Virgin branded-businesses, 70,000 employees but just one shareholder - the Branson family. It is a unique job with unique challenges and unique opportunities. This is the story behind the Virgin brand and how Josh Bayliss ended up running it…


This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit offtolunch.substack.com

Kevin McCabe tells the story of how he built a property empire and then ended up running Sheffield United, his beloved football club. It is a story that has highs, lows, controversial goals and legal battles


This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit offtolunch.substack.com

In 2018 the founder of Tide, George Bevis, stood aside as chief executive and was succeeded by Oliver Prill. Since then Tide has grown rapidly. It has gone from being a promising financial technology start-up to a company whose online banking services are used by one in 10 small and medium-sized businesses in the UK. In this episode of Business Leader, Oliver Prill discusses the challenges of becoming chief executive, how to disrupt the financial services industry and why regulators may hold back innovation in the UK.



This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit offtolunch.substack.com

Wizz Air has emerged as one of the biggest airlines in Europe and a new low-cost rival to Ryanair and EasyJet. Its first flight was in May 2004, travelling from Katowice in Poland to Luton in the UK. Today it carries more than 60 million passengers every year and is valued at well over £2 billion after floating on the stock market in London. In this episode of Business Leader, Jozsef Varadi, the founder and chief executive of Wizz Air, discusses how he founded and built the airline, the challenges he has faced and his fascinating views on what it is like running a UK-listed business.


This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit offtolunch.substack.com