Video: Great Minds series - LSBF interviews Nick Hollingworth, CEO of Austin Reed

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Nick Hollingworth, CEO of men’s fashion retailer Austin Reed, spoke to London School of Business and Finance (LSBF) about leadership, and the benefits of working in the retail industry.

Mr Hollingworth said: “The word that describes most successful leaders, and that most leaders would hope to apply to them, is the word inspirational.”

On his enthusiasm for the retail sector itself, he said: “Retail is like a virus, once it gets in your blood you can never get rid of it.”

“It is a great industry and a great place to work for a whole range of reasons. You can make things happen, you can try things out, you can do things and you find out very quickly whether they work. You can change things in a minute.”

LSBF Great Minds series

As well as offering programmes dedicated to fostering leadership skills, LSBF also endeavours to provide students with insight and inspiration through a number of innovative resources. One of these initiatives is the LSBF Great Minds Series: a collection of video interviews with leading business and political leaders promoting debate on education, employability, entrepreneurship and the economy.

The video series started in 2011 with a conversation with former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, followed by an interview with former Education Secretary Lord Kenneth Baker. In 2012, entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson, founder and chairman of the Virgin Group said that universities worldwide should become hubs to boost entrepreneurship and inspire self-starters to develop their own businesses. In 2014, LSBF spoke to Will Butler-Adams from Brompton Bicycle, Guy Hayward-Cole from Nomura Bank International, with former British Prime Minister Sir John Major, entrepreneur and investor Deborah Meaden, Google UK sales director Kevin Mathers and BBC Worldwide CEO Tim Davie.

In 2015, LSBF hosted interviews with Andrew Miller, CEO of Guardian Media Group; Jill McDonald, CEO of McDonald's UK; Kevin Costello, CEO of Haymarket Group; Amy McPherson, CEO of Marriott Hotels Europe; veteran BAFTA-winning broadcaster Jon Snow; live chats with Kevin Ellis, Managing Partner of PricewaterhouseCoopers; Guy Hands, Founder of Terra Firma and many others.