The Business Distillery: Recent Episodes
Ketan Makwana
Welcome to The Business Distillery, the show where we talk about business and distil trending topics; with special guests and an ask the expert section this is the right show for lovers of all things business, life and entrepreneurship!
Carl Readeris a serial entrepreneur, speaker and business commentator, and the chairman of business advisory firm d&t.
During his long and varied career, he has bought and sold, founded and co-founded and invested in and sought investment for businesses.
He has helped countless business owners either start or grow their business through his columns, keynote talks and advice. Recognized as one of City AM's Top 100 Entrepreneurs in 2016 he is Chair of the Practitioners Panel at ACCA, a former board director of the British Franchise Association and an Ambassador for the Association of Independent Professionals and Self-Employed.
Michael is a Serial Entrepreneur in Entertainment, Education and Property. He is considered one of the world’s leading High-Performance coaches for Entrepreneurs, Business Owners and Corporate Executives.
He also acts as an Advisor and Board Member to companies, governments and academic institutions.
Joel is a multi-award-winning businessman and speaker.
Passionate about accelerating inclusive business support, he is the Founder of award-winning fintech data analytics firm www.gfaexchange.com
Joel also consults with professional services firms and public sector bodies on developing inclusive business support models and ecosystems. He has advised business policy advisers at No 10 Downing Street and has also lectured at several globally recognised business schools.
Outside of his own business, he is President of the Commonwealth Chamber of Commerce, Board Director of two organisations, and a Fellow of the National Centre for Entrepreneurs.
He was awarded an OBE for Services to Business and Enterprise in 2016.
International bestselling author Jay Samit, is a dynamic entrepreneur and intrepreneur who is widely recognized as one of the world’s leading experts on disruption and innovation. Described by Wired magazine as “having the coolest job in the industry,” he raises hundreds of millions of dollars for startups, advises Fortune 500 firms, transforms entire industries, revamps government institutions, and for three decades continues to be at the forefront of global trends.
The former Independent Vice Chairman of Deloitte Consulting, Samit helped grow pre-IPO companies such as LinkedIn, been a Nasdaq company CEO, held senior management roles at EMI, Sony and Universal Studios, pioneered breakthrough advancements in mobile, ecommerce, digital distribution, and spatial reality that are used by billions of consumers every day. Called the “guru for the entire industry” by Variety, his list of partners and associates reads like a who’s who list of innovators, including: Bill Gates, President Bill Clinton, Pope John Paul II, Steven Spielberg, Steve Jobs, Reid Hoffman, David Geffen, Sir Richard Branson, and Paul Allen.
Samit’s previous book, Disrupt You! Master Personal Transformation, Seize Opportunity, and Thrive in the Era of Endless Innovation (MacMillan 2015), is currently published in twelve languages. He has also written for such publications as Fortune, Harvard Business Review, and The Wall Street Journal.
A sought-after conference speaker and consultant, Samit provides disruptive solutions for such corporate clients as Adobe, American Express, AT&T, Best Buy, Coca Cola, Disney, Ford, Google, GE, IBM, Intel, McDonalds, Microsoft, Proctor & Gamble, and Visa and dozens more.
What does it take to stand out from the crowd?
How do startups and small businesses get the visibility they need in just crowded and noisy markets?
These are just some of things we cover during my conversation with Andrew Bloch
Andrew is the founder of Andrew Bloch & Associates, a boutique consultancy specialising mainly in the communications and marketing industry.
His portfolio includes non-executive director, board advisory, consultancy and project roles for a range of high growth businesses and agencies.
Andrew co-founded Frank, one of the UK’s most respected PR agencies. Frank has represented some of the nation’s best-known brands and is one of the industry’s most decorated agencies, responsible for some its most famous campaigns.
Last year, he stepped down from his day-to-day role as managing partner to become a non-executive director.
Andrew has acted as official spokesperson and PR advisor to Lord Sugar for over 20 years and has handled the PR for all The Apprentice winners and their companies since the show started in 2005.
Andrew sits on the Business Launch Group panel for The Prince’s Trust, is a founding mentor of the School of Communications Arts, a Generation Z mentor at the School of Marketing, a council member of Superbrands and a group advisor to Big Community Records.
Andrew is listed in the ‘PR Week Power Book' – 'The Definitive Guide To The Most Influential People in PR’ and is ranked as the most influential PR person on Twitter. In 2021, Andrew was named as one of the Top Ten most Influential PR people in the world by Buzz Sumo.
He is named in the Evening Standard Progress 1000 list of London’s Most Influential People. Andrew Bloch & Associates has been recognised as ‘Most Adaptive Business of 2020’ by Intuit Quickbooks
Penny was pivoted into entrepreneurial acclaim upon founding the first social network for businesses, alongside her husband, Thomas, in 1998.
‘Ecademy’ grew across 52 countries, and gained over 650,000 members.
In 2014, her ‘contribution to entrepreneurs in the digital economy’ was recognised by the Queen with an OBE. Penny has always believed in creating conversations and deep networking.
Penny’s experience as a business owner now spans over twenty 23 years and is the backbone to her pioneering approach as a torch bearer having more personal awareness and making decisions in business that are right for you personally.
Penny continues to work with business owners, entrepreneurs and leaders to prioritise their wellbeing so as to have a more success life both professionally, and personally.
This episode is all about how personal business really is and what challenges you really face that are rarely talked about.
Get Penny's book: Business is Personal
What are the key principles to inlfuence - it's not what we really think!
When you hear the word sales or selling often you are transported to a pressure situation where something is impressed upon you by someone - but there is more to sales its not an activity but a process... a process of inspiring and influencing.
In this episode we catch up with Justin Leigh.. Justin is a highly experienced business leader with over twenty-five years’ experience in sales and leadership. An accredited executive coach and practitioner of NLP, Justin is also an accomplished author, trainer, facilitator adviser and consultant to board-level executives and teams.
GET HIS BOOK << CLICK HERE
In the epic book Think and Grow Rich by Napolean Hill there is a quote
"you are the master of your destiny... you can influence, direct and control your own environment…you can make your like what you want it to be!"
Albert Einsten said "Everything is energy and that is all there is to it… Match the frequency of the reality you want and you can not help but get that reality. It can be no other way… This is not philosophy… this is physics."
My guest on this episode is Simon Alexander Ong.
Everything that Simon does is built to inspire people to see their world differently and ignite their imagination of what is truly possible so they can live a better story…
As an award winning coach and keynote speaker, Simon has been interviewed on Sky News, BBC and Forbes.
He has spoken at some of the planet’s most successful organisations these have included the likes of Virgin, Salesforce and Microsoft!
What is ethical purpose and why do businesses today need to adopt a purpose driven solution?
Let me introduce you to John O'Brien MBE
John is EMEA managing partner at Omnicom’s ‘ONE HUNDRED’, a global consortium of nine marketing, public relations, digital and communications agencies creating purpose-based solutions for corporates and causes around the world.
After early years in banking and a decade as an Army Officer,
John has spent almost thirty years at the interface of business and society.
He has led organisations over twenty countries and in addition to his corporate work spent seventeen years in various roles for HRH the Prince of Wales.
He has also advised two overseas royal families, various ultra-high net worth individuals, family offices and non-profits.
As a changemaker and philanthropist, he has founded several renowned initiatives, particularly around enterprise and young people for which he was appointed an MBE
John is a pioneer of what is now an accepted alignment between business success and ethical purpose based on creating value for all stakeholders not just shareholders.
He will share his experience of advising global and other businesses on grasping and then maximising the power of purpose to achieve long term sustainable success..
John's latest book is also now available: TRUTH BE TOLD - Get the book
One of the most impactful people I have ever met... is Brad Burton.
I have known Brad for over a decade and even to this day his message is so relevant and energy is electric; I took the chance to get Brad onto the podcast to really break down aspects of his life and business.
Never have I met a person with so much belief and disruptive energy that is determined to do what he says he is going to do and prove his critics and naysayers wrong!
This is an immense episode and I allowed Brad to express himself naturally and for that here is the working of explicit language and profanity... but look beyond the disruptive exterior and you will find a man who is determined and destined for great things.
We are all guilty of reacting... can you remember the last time you did just that?
What was the outcome of your reaction?... did you achieve the result you set out to achieve?
Reactions are a sign that you are impacted by the distrubance as opposed to understanding what is disturbing you - this will eventually lead to chaos.
In his Micro Distil I share with you an amazing story and speech by Google CEO Sundar Pichar; what he shares has such a deep connection with the way that business leaders make effective decisions when facing adversity or crisis.
What does it mean when you find your authentic voice?
How does immersing yourself in service to others increase the capacity within yourself?
Service Leadership is something that everyone needs to engage in at some point in their life and in this episode we catch up with humaniterian and renowned international speaker Harry Singha
Learn how Harry engaged into service leadership from the tender age of 16 and how his experience with domestic violence has been the driving force to a 30 year career in inspiring, motivating and mobilising leaders from frustration to fulfilment and from chaos to compassion.
Harry shares his philosphy on energy leadership and how it should be framed as EnerJi... and how valuable it is for one to respect their own energy.
This is episode is extremely useful for anyone out there that wants to learn how to find their authentic voice and develop a more robust relationship with their own energy.
Business success needs you to consistently perform and become a master of your own race... too often people start to stray and the allure of the shiny object syndrome distracts from what the original target actually is.
In this short episode I share with you an example of how not staying in your lane means you will never win the race!
What is growth hacking?...
A trendy term or actually a technical process to grow businesses, we catch up with one of the most infamous growth hackers of the decade Vin Clancy.
Vin started off his online magazines Planet Ivy and ScreenRobot.com from his bedroom whilst on £100 a week benefits; in the space of 2 years he had over 20m visitors to his sites.
What did he do?
How did he manage to get that level of traction so quickly?
Well the answer is growth hacking... Vin is one of the pioneers of the strategy that he now uses to help large organisations achieve huge growth results with minimal marketing spends.
In this episode, Vin and I go through his journey, learnings and discuss how growth hacking has died a death - but what is the next answer to growth hacking?... find out on the podcast!
Get the book: Future Proofing You by Jay Samit
Not everyone is a Game Changer... but everyone can make a Game-Changing impact.
One of the biggest challenges business leader face is team productivity and performance; in ever changing business climates our teams need to be agile and adopt to succeed in their pursuits. But how do leaders understand when and what to change?
High performance stems from productivity... and productivity stems from potency; people are at their most potent when they are valued for the contribution and impact they can make.
The GC Index is a language and framework that allows business leaders overcome business challenges and in this episode I delve into what the DNA of a Game Changer and Game Changing Teams.
For the last 20 years Nathan Ott has been working with business leaders and has felt that something was missing from the process of building high performing and potent team. This theory led to the study into the DNA of game changing traits and tendencies resulting in the creation of The GC Index, a powerful tool that supports the leadership decision making and development of highly productive and potent teams.
When you have been in business as a long as Piers Mummery (30 years) you get to learn a few important things...
As your business expertise starts to mature, you also become much more in tune with the whole physiology as much as the psychology of business.
In business using your head is important... but following your heart is crucial; in this episode we catch up entrepreneur, businessman and ideator Piers Mummery.
With over 30 years experience in starting, scaling and selling businesses, Piers now works with enterpeneurs and business leaders as the Entrepreneur's Coach - building a business is a journey not a destination and through this episode we learn about why its important you practice consciousness without judgement, understanding what comes from the heart is just as valuable and precise as the head.
I never set out be an entrepreneur or business owner... but life had a different path for me.
Since the tender age of 19 I wanted to be a career geek and thrived in every job I had, until the 2008 recession spat me out of employment and lured me to self-employment... fast forward 13 years and I am the CEO of a thriving international business.
But what have I learnt? and what does it truly take to be a CEO... in this episode I take you on a journey, my journey of becoming an entrepreneur, business owner and CEO.
I will share with you some perspectives and experiences of what life is like as a CEO.
Hope you enjoy the session and learn from it!
For the last 20 years, I have been on an incredible journey… a journey of highs and lows!
From my very first role in the IT Industry to where I am today, the CEO of an International Business that operates in 26 countries and impacts over 200,000 people every year.
I have been in rooms of Power with celebrities, politicians and royalty… I have also stared death in the face.
My journey has given me so many insights and it has also provided so many learnings:
I have learnt how the world really goes round…
I have learnt how business really works…
But most of all I have learnt so much about myself.
One thing that has remained consistent in my journey and learning is the power and influence of networks. Someone once told me… nothing of greatness can be created without the help of others a mantra that I believe and follow to this very day.
As I embark on a new chapter of my journey, I am energised by working on my passion projects and this is where The Business Distillery comes into play.
I feel that now is the time that I share my journey and experiences with you to help you unlock your business potential…
The Business Distillery is the channel for me to reconnect and relive the experiences and share the entrepreneurial journeys of people with whom I have connected with, worked with or have been inspired by.
All to provide you with insight and inspiration to unlock your business potential.
Are you ready?
Then buckle up and lets get started
My name is Ketan Makwana and welcome to The Business Distillery