

Big Boss Interview
BBC News
Big Boss Interview is where the most high-profile chief executives and entrepreneurs come to give you their insights and experiences of running the world's biggest and well-known businesses. The series is presented by Sean Farrington, Felicity Hannah and Will Bain, who you'd normally hear presenting the business news on BBC Radio 4's Today programme as well as BBC 5 Live's Wake Up To Money. Each week they'll be finding out just what it takes to run a huge organisation and what the day to day challenges and opportunities are. You can get in contact with the team by emailing bigboss@bbc.co.uk
Episodes
Mentioned books

Oct 29, 2020 • 53min
Tech chiefs face US Senate questions on internet law
The chief executives of Facebook, Twitter, and Google have faced intense grilling from senators over Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which protects web companies from liability when it comes to content posted by users. Rebecca Klar, a reporter with The Hill in Washington D.C., gives us the highlights. Also in the programme, financial markets have tumbled around the world for a second day this week amid concerns that a rise in coronavirus cases will hurt still tentative economic recoveries. And the nuclear industry is pinning its hopes on mass-producing small, cheap power stations to compete with renewable energy. Plus, the Kazakhstan tourism board attempt to capitalise on the release of the second Borat film.All through the show we’ll be joined by Jeanette Rodrigues from Bloomberg in Mumbai and Ralph Silva from the Silva Research Network in Toronto.(Picture credit: Getty Images)

Oct 28, 2020 • 53min
Less than a week to US election
With just a week to go until the US election, we’ll hear how the Biden and Trump campaigns are getting their final pitches in. Also in the programme, the elite Central Committee of China’s ruling Communist Party is meeting behind closed doors over four days to create the economic blueprint for world's second biggest economy. Meanwhile, a Hong Kong activist has been detained by plain-clothed police officers near the US consulate, before reportedly attempting to claim asylum. And the cinema business is in trouble: movie theatres are closed or limiting numbers because of the pandemic and the supply of new releases has dried up. Plus, we’ll hear how working from home could be making us less creative.All through the show we’ll be joined by political journalist Erin Delmore in New York and Enda Curran of Bloomberg in Hong Kong.

Oct 27, 2020 • 54min
French products boycotted by Muslim nations
Turkey's president calls for a boycott on French products - but do they work to stifle business, especially when driven by political or religious reasons? Plus, Japan has set itself an ambitious target to cut its harmful gas emissions to zero by 2050. We assess if they can do it. Cinemas are set to reopen in India, and we look at what it means for the Bollywood film industry, which has suffered hugely from halted productions during the coranavirus pandemic. We discuss all this with guests Tawnell Hobbs from the Wall Street Journal in Dallas, and Mehmal Sarfraz, co-founder of digital news site The Current PK in Lahore.(Image: Leaflet calling for a boycott of French goods are displayed in place of French products which have been removed in protest at a supermarket in Yemen. Photo by Mohammed Hamoud/Getty Images)

Oct 13, 2020 • 52min
Trump nominee Amy Coney Barrett testifies in Supreme Court
The President's nominee Amy Coney Barrett says she is 'honoured and humbled' to have been chosen by Donald Trump for a place in the US's top court. After the first day of confirmation hearings, we speak to Ilya Shapiro, director at the Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies' Cato Institute and author of Supreme Disorder: Judicial Nominations and the Politics of America's Highest Court.
Stanford University game theorists Paul Milgrom and Robert Wilson have won the 2020 Nobel Economics Prize for their work on auction theory. We speak to Robert Wilson and ask how relevant auction theory is in the world today.
And Australian scientists have discovered that the virus that causes Covid-19 can survive for up to 28 days on banknotes. Dr Debbie Eagles from the Australian Centre for Disease Preparedness tells us how much of a threat this could be.Jamie Robertson is joined throughout the programme by Simon Littlewood, president of AC Growth Delivered, in Singapore, and by Alexis Goldstein, activist and financial reform advocate, in Washington DC. (Picture: Amy Coney Barrett; Picture credit: Getty Images)

Oct 8, 2020 • 53min
Harris and Pence to face off in debate
After a controversial debate between President Trump and candidate Biden last week, Vice President Pence and candidate Kamala Harris are set to face off in Utah. Emily Means, a reporter with KUER Public Radio in Utah, tells us what to expect at the debate in Salt Lake City. Also in the programme, President Trump's administration has unveiled a tightening of rules for H-1B visas, which allow tens of thousands of high-skilled immigrants to work in the US. The President says this will protect US jobs but Michael Clemens, economist at the Centre for Global Development, says the evidence does not support this. Maelle Gavet, a Silicon Valley executive and author of “Trampled By Unicorns: Big Tech’s Empathy Problem and How to Fix it,” joins to talk about this week's congressional report into the monopoly powers of Amazon, Alphabet, Google and Facebook. And as global temperatures rise, we take a look at the impact on the workplace.All through the show we'll be joined by Andy Uhler of Marketplace in Texas, and Patrick Barta with the Wall Street Journal in Bangkok.(Picture credit: Getty Images.)

Oct 7, 2020 • 52min
US tech giants accused of 'monopoly power'
A report backed by US Democratic lawmakers has urged changes that could lead to the break-up of some of America's biggest tech companies. The recommendation follows a 16-month congressional investigation into Google, Amazon, Facebook and Apple. The BBC's James Clayton explains what's behind the report. Also in the programme, US President Donald Trump has said he is ending negotiations over a Covid-19 relief bill, and will only resume talks after the election. A significant number of bars in Paris have been forced to close for the next two weeks, as journalist Sophie Pedder explains. We take a look at how the Coronavirus pandemic is hitting low-income students, and might provoke long-term changes in the education system overall, with Eloy Ortiz Oakley of California Community Colleges. And a 400-strong ensemble of freelance musicians has played outside the UK Parliament to highlight the plight of the music industry during the current pandemic. Violinist Nicola Benedetti attended to support to the performers, and explains what they are trying to achieve.All through the programme we'll be joined by political reporter Erin Delmore in New York and the Financial Times' Robin Harding in Tokyo.(Picture: Apple's Tim Cook, Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon's Jeff Bezos and Google's Sundar Pichai. Picture credit: EPA/Reuters.)

Sep 29, 2020 • 52min
Covid deaths approach one million
As the number of deaths from coronavirus approaches one million, we hear how countries around the world have been handling the pandemic. Also in the programme, why are some of the world's leading cement producers making a public pledge to shrink their carbon footprint? Plus, Apple and Epic Games are back in court for another face-off over the online video game, Fortnite. And, we meet the founders of London-based start-up NewFade, which is on a mission to make wigs cool, with a focus on serving young black men.Presenter Sasha Twining is joined by Nicole Childers, executive producer of Marketplace Morning Report in Los Angels, and Bloomberg editor Samson Ellis in Taiwan.Picture: A stock photo of a man wearing personal protective equipment. (Credit: Getty Images.)

Sep 1, 2020 • 52min
India suffers record economic stagnation
We hear from businesses across India, as the country suffers a 23.9% fall in its economic growth, the worst on record, amidst one of the biggest single-day rises in coronavirus cases in the world. The start of the American presidential election campaign is in full swing, with the two candidates attacking each other over law and order, rather than the economy. And we'll hear the view from the English countryside on how a social media star stopped fears for the farming industry post Brexit. We discuss all this live with Nicole Childers, who is executive producer of Marketplace radio in Los Angeles, and Madhavan Narayanan, journalist and writer in Delhi.(Image: A woman handles India rupee notes. Credit: AFP PHOTO / ARUN SANKAR (Photo credit should read ARUN SANKAR/AFP via Getty Images)

Aug 18, 2020 • 52min
Democrats host first ever 'virtual convention'
Covid-19 restrictions and concerns mean that the only people attending in-person will be those necessary to orchestrating the event. Instead of 50,000 people gathering for the traditional calendar with days full of speeches, receptions and rallies, sessions will be streamed from the Democratic Party's social media channels and aired live on most US news channels. We discuss the ramifications with Simon Littlewood of AC Growth Delivered and political reporter Erin Delmore. Meanwhile, some of the richest people in Hollywood and Silicon Valley could be set to pay a state wealth tax but how much extra cash will it actually raise? And, Google has taken on the Australian authorities over a plan to make web giants pay news publishers for using their content. We'll look at what's at stake in a row that many say is unprecedented in Australia. (Picture: Kamala Harris and Joe Biden. Credit: Getty Images)

Jul 21, 2020 • 52min
New hopes for coronavirus vaccine
Alex Harris, Head of Global Policy at the Wellcome Trust and the BBC's Fergus Walsh tell us about promising progress on a coronavirus vaccine. Video-sharing app TikTok has denied that it is controlled by the Chinese government; Emily Taylor, associate fellow with the International Security Programme at Chatham House, tells us why countries like India and the US are not reassured by TikTok's guarantees about the safety of users' data. Office workers are still in many cases, working from home and there is a growing realisation that this is having a huge knock on effect on small retailers who rely on that footfall. The BBC's Dougal Shaw meets one retailer in London, whose family-run chain of small shops sells gift cards, wrote to the BBC explaining his plight. Civil rights leader and congressman, John Lewis, died last week; we hear about his life from Erika Alexander, co-founder of Color Farm Media and producer of the film John Lewis: Good Trouble. And our regular workplace commentator, Pilita Clarke, considers whether coronavirus marks the end of the era of hot-desking in the modern office. Plus, we're joined throughout the programme by Christine Spadafor, a management consultant and lawyer - she's in Maine on the east coast of the US and in Delhi, India we're joined by Madhavan Narayanan, a freelance writer and former senior editor at Hindustan Times. (Picture of a vaccine via Getty Images.)


