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Patricia Cullen

Patricia Cullen

Patricia Cullen is a senior business reporter at Business Leader.

Chill out Lunch photo innocent drinks

Innocent Drinks on why culture is key to its success

Emilie Stephenson, UK head of force for good at Innocent Drinks, explains how a great business culture comes from the right blend of ingredients

Patricia Cullen

Large selection of pet food zoo store

Fur-ever love: Inside the booming pet care industry

As pet ownership soars, the pet care industry is growing fast. From innovative meat-free solutions to digital rewards apps, entrepreneurs are tapping into this lucrative market

Patricia Cullen

Positivity in the workplace demonstrated by a yellow smiling ball in the office interior

Do wellness programmes really work? 

Many businesses claim to have put a focus on wellbeing, but do such programmes really help tackle burnout and nurture a supportive workplace culture? 

Patricia Cullen

Friends standing together with arms linked

The friends and family funding phenomenon

Many entrepreneurs borrow from friends and family but there are things to consider before taking investment from loved ones

Patricia Cullen

Business leaders stand around a table

How to preserve tacit knowledge 

Companies are usually reasonably good at preserving knowledge around processes and operations but fare less well when it comes to tacit knowledge. With staff turnover still high and sickness on the up, that’s a problem

Patricia Cullen

The outside of a The Body Shop store

What went wrong at The Body Shop – and what can we learn from it?

The Body Shop lost relevance with its core customers, while successive ownership and leadership changes confused the strategy

Patricia Cullen

A lady working at her computer with a fan

Menopause: Is your workplace leading or lagging?

Menopause is rising up the workplace agenda, but there is still much more for businesses to do to ensure women feel supported

Patricia Cullen

Yellow Pages on fire

The rise and fall of the Yellow Pages

The Yellow Pages used to make life easier for everyone. By sorting businesses alphabetically into categories, it streamlined finding products and services and changed how small businesses reached customers. But after being a permanent fixture in British households for more than 50 years, the final version of the print edition of Yellow Pages was delivered...

Patricia Cullen

Two pound symbols fight in a street

Price wars: Strategies in the battle against inflation

Fraser Smeaton, CEO at Morph Costumes, is in a pickle. With inflation easing and a cost-plus model in play, he’s facing a tricky balancing act. He’s not on his own as business leaders across Britain are tackling a pricing challenge, deciding between cutting prices to win customers or fattening their profit margins. “Our prices have...

Patricia Cullen

Two hands with male and female symbols

How close are we to gender parity in 2024?

Imagine Sarah and John, both nearing retirement. Sarah faces a daunting 19-year extension to her career just to reach the same pension savings John has amassed. The Pensions Policy Institute’s recent findings underscore the significant gender gap in pension wealth. Fear not though, the gender gap is on course to close… in 52 years. Analysis...

Patricia Cullen

Two hands on a mouse

The business of love: Managing workplace relationships

Richard and Judy, the duo who co-hosted “This Morning” between October 1988 and July 2001, met while working together at Granada TV in the North West of England. Their professional relationship evolved into something more, leading to 35 years of marriage. This phenomenon is not uncommon as Forbes (2024) reports that over 60% of adults...

Patricia Cullen

Five actions that will drive 2024 business growth

As we enter 2024, the spotlight is on key predictions shaping the landscape for SMEs and global growth. With economic instability rife and technology evolving swiftly, SMEs must take proactive steps to manage resources and stay updated on market trends. According to recent research from Three Business, UK SMEs are anticipating an average of 15%...

Patricia Cullen

The Sam Altman/OpenAI rollercoaster: Lessons from leadership turmoil

The CEO of one of the world’s most talked about tech companies has been sacked, employed elsewhere, and returned to OpenAI in less than a week. While the precise details remain unclear surrounding the dismissal of Sam Altman, who steered the $90bn (£71.7bn) company behind ChatGPT, what can businesses learn from the rollercoaster that is...

Patricia Cullen

Unlocking the potential of the silver workforce 

More than half of the UK workforce will be 50 years old or above by 2035. That compares to just over a third in 2019. This demographic shift poses significant challenges for the labour market and businesses. Currently 1.3 million workers between 50 and 64 years old cannot work because of chronic illness according to...

Patricia Cullen

Time over money? The ultimate guide to managing your most valuable asset

In a world where time is often undervalued and underutilised, businesses face a critical challenge: maximising the potential of their most invaluable asset, prompting a profound re-evaluation of traditional approaches and a quest for innovative strategies to harness the essence of time in the pursuit of productivity and success. “Some things money can’t buy, for...

Patricia Cullen

Striking a balance: Charitable CEO salaries under scrutiny

CEO pay is a hotly debated topic. Especially within the charity sector. Surely it is reasonable for those working in the charitable sector to expect salaries akin to those in similar positions while simultaneously wanting to change the world for the better? How harmoniously can these two sentiments co-exist and is it time to reset...

Patricia Cullen

The rise of the female titans: unveiling the next generation of scale-up founders

Women receive less than 5% of all VC funding. Often described as a “man’s game”, women are under-represented when it comes to running companies and holding top positions. However, recent data from the Corporate Governance Institute confirms that companies boasting diverse boards and leadership teams don’t just offer a more inclusive environment; they also significantly...

Patricia Cullen

A factory with two people working machinery and the BrewDog logo on the floor

From toxic workplace to best employer: BrewDog’s astonishing turnaround

A crisis is a sliding doors moment for any business. A reputation built up over decades can be destroyed in hours by a botched response to a major issue. Controversy is nothing new to BrewDog. Since its establishment in 2007, the self-described ‘Punk’ of beer brewers have intentionally stirred the pot with shock strategies and...

Patricia Cullen

From gloom to glory: What’s fuelling UK firms’ surging trading confidence?

Fears of recessions and threats of burst housing bubbles have yet to come to fruition. Business confidence is better than expected following intermittent stretches of uncertainty, and owing to high levels of market unpredictability, both firms and consumers have become accustomed to a fluctuating environment. This increased corporate and consumer resilience is a welcomed side...

Patricia Cullen

A view of a modern city with it's former look in glasses

From the 1950s to today: How innovation can revive the UK economy

Innovation is the lifeblood of business. The UK has a long history of world-leading and world-changing innovation. From the Industrial Revolution onwards, British innovators have driven forward the engine of global progress. Some believe the global economy today resembles that of the late 1950s. It begs the question then: how did the economy recover after...

Patricia Cullen

A man with a briefcase hopping from a sinking paper boat to another one

Is the London Stock Exchange toxic?

The UK is a powerful country. Placed fifth in the world in terms of GDP, it recorded £2.23trn in 2022 and with more than 30 million adults in the labour market, it boasts the second-largest talent pool in all of Europe. However, it also has an Index losing out to its US counterparts and an...

Patricia Cullen

Autumn in Warsaw, top view of the Palace of Culture in Poland

The rise of an underdog: How this European nation is quietly dominating the global stage

Poland is on the verge of becoming a great global power. The Polish economy has proven resilient to multiple global shocks, including the 2020 recession, the war in Ukraine, the energy crisis and tighter global financing conditions. What insights can this remarkable success story offer to other countries, and what can UK businesses do to...

Patricia Cullen

GDPR turns five: Has it positively changed the landscape of Data Protection?

May 25th marks the fifth anniversary of GDPR. In the UK, we have witnessed huge change in the past five years – including four Prime Ministers, the Covid-19 pandemic and a cost-of-living Crisis – but when it comes to protecting personal data, there is still more to be done. 71% of countries have data protection...

Patricia Cullen

Tom Beahon, Andy Murray and Phil Beahon attend the Castore and Andy Murray Press Conference at The Queen's Club on March 06, 2019 in London, United Kingdom

From banking to sportswear: How these brothers built a global clothing empire

We spoke to Tom Beahon, Co-Founder of British sportswear brand Castore, about swapping corporate for clothing, innovative ways to grow a brand, the power of having courage in your convictions, and much more. You went from banking to establishing one of the highest-profile clothing brands in the world – how did you manage this shift...

Patricia Cullen