How do great leaders inspire others, bring ideas to life and deal with setbacks? Join your host Honorary Visiting Professor Mike Sassi in conversation with business leaders to explore the stories, leadership lessons and actionable advice to help you excel in your career.
Susan Hallam MBE – Building a business from scratch
Susan Hallam grew up in Philadelphia, USA, but moved to Nottingham in 1985, to build her career and family life.
She worked in senior digital roles at BT and Capital One, developing her expertise in the emerging world of digital marketing.
As a Senior Lecturer in Computing at Nottingham Trent University, she developed a specialist interest in the internet. She also gained experience combining education with commercial consultancy.
In 2000, with two young children and a mortgage, she left a secure job at Capital One to found Hallam Communications.
Over the next two decades she built Hallam into an established digital marketing agency, with clients around the world.
Susan also became deeply involved in Nottingham's business and creative communities, including the Creative Quarter and the East Midlands International Trade Association.
In 2018, she was awarded an MBE for services to entrepreneurship and innovation, recognising her contribution to business and digital marketing.
In 2020, Susan handed day-to-day control of Hallam to its management team through a management buyout. In 2025, the company became employee-owned.
Susan remains closely connected with Nottingham Business School, and Nottingham Treny University.
She divides her time between Nottingham and Sarasota, Florida, while continuing to work as a consultant, mentor and public speaker.
22 Sept 2026
Roger Whittle - Optimism and the art of never giving up
Tech entrepreneur Roger Whittle is an eternal optimist. And in Episode 85 of the Business Leaders’ Podcast, he explains how optimism is the superpower at the heart of all his achievements.
Growing up in Nottingham, Roger was desperate to be in the school cricket team. Two things were stopping him: hay fever – and a complete lack of cricketing talent.
But he came up with an innovative solution that meant he took part in every match for ten years… as the team’s official scorer!
"It's all about determination and persistence – they’re cousins of optimism," he tells Honorary Visiting Professor Mike Sassi. “I just had to find another path."
Roger went on to found Jigsaw24 and build it into one of Britain’s leading digital transformation businesses. His is a story of ambition, resilience and, above all, optimism.
Because, as Roger makes clear, when one path is blocked, you don’t give up. You simply find another.
7 Jul 2026
Jon French – Leaders need to be comfortable being uncomfortable
Jon French is a Managing Director of Android Global Business at Google UK – one of the world’s most influential technology ecosystems, with billions of users worldwide across smartphones and connected devices.
He has more than 25 years of experience in telecoms, consumer electronics and software, and has held senior leadership roles at global brands Nokia, Samsung, HTC, Microsoft and Beats Electronics.
During his career he has worked at the centre of some of technology’s biggest moments, including helping launch the world’s first Android smartphones.
In Episode 84 of the Nottingham Business School’s Business Leaders Podcast, Jon tells Honorary Visiting Professor Mike Sassi why, despite a career spent at the cutting edge of technology, he believes human skills still matter more than ever.
He discusses leadership through uncertainty, adapting to continuous change and why emotional intelligence, relationship-building and the ability to connect with people increasingly separate successful leaders from the rest.
Jon says: “In my career, it’s softer skills that have led to any success I’ve had.”
Inside a recent episode
Dr Anino Emuwa – Why women leaders face unconscious bias
Published 15 Apr 2025 · Transcript excerpt
[…] I'm not sure I balanced it actually. The reason I'm one, because when you're doing something that has, has a mission at the end of it, in fact, you, I am sure I'm not going to achieve my mission. The reason I say that is, yes, it sounds odd. It does indeed sound exactly. You're sure you're never going to achieve your mission. Yes, in my lifetime. The reason being that what my mission would be to see equality, right, or equity, let's call it equity, because equality sounds more like numbers, right, just equity in terms of leadership, right, because that is really what's best for our world, equity. […]
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