The Bottom Line

Cyber criminals have seriously damaged some household names recently - M&S, Co-op, North Face, Harrods - but what really happens behind the scenes when a business is hacked?Evan Davis speaks to the former head of information security at Royal Mail about the major attack it suffered in 2023 - from the initial alert and the eye-watering ransom demand, to the media leak and the long, slow rebuild.Plus, how should you negotiate with hackers, how sophisticated have they become, and how do they choose their victims?Evan is joined by:Jon Staniforth, former Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) at Royal Mail; Lisa Forte, founder and partner, Red Goat.Production team:Producer: Simon Tulett Editor: Matt Willis Sound: Nathan Chamberlain and James Beard Production co-ordinator: Sophie Hill and Janet Staples

Discussing pay is one of society’s big taboos - it’s just not the done thing to ask other people what they earn. And it can be even more hush-hush in the workplace - we’re not told to keep quiet, but somehow everyone does. And yet, most of us would love to know what our colleagues earn. So would lifting the lid on salaries trigger resentment and frustration, or be a tool for fairness and accountability? Evan Davis explores the pros and cons of pay transparency — from closing gender pay gaps to boosting retention – and speaks to one boss who’s tried a radical approach. Is it the next frontier in corporate accountability, or does the culture of secrecy still serve a purpose? Evan is joined by: Bob Leung, CEO, Grant Tree; Justine Woolf, Director of Consulting, Innecto; Clare Kelliher, Professor of Work and Organisation, Cranfield University School of Management. Production team: Producer: Osman Iqbal Editor: Matt Willis Sound: Neil Churchill and Pete Wise Production co-ordinator: Katie Morrison

The definitive business podcast from the BBC. Each week host Evan Davis is joined by company bosses, entrepreneurs and industry experts, who lift the lid on how the world of business really works, and what it’s like to be in charge. From managing AI to managing millennials, from supermarkets to supercharging a new product, the panel tackles the big issues, big challenges, or big questions facing their industry. And they share stories of success and failure along the way, revealing the personalities and human dramas behind some of our best-known brands. The Bottom Line also has a spin-off series – Decisions That Made Me – of one-on-one interviews with entrepreneurs and business leaders about the pivotal moments in their careers. These shorter episodes take a deep dive into the moments of opportunity, risk, or crisis that have defined some of the UK’s best-known business figures. Podcasts are published every Thursday. The Bottom Line is a BBC Long Form Audio Production for BBC Radio 4.

Join Nick Grey, founder of Gtech, Kate Sbuttoni, from The Ginger Jar Lamp Co., and Jonathan Duck of Amtico International as they discuss the complexities of manufacturing in China. They share personal stories about evolving production processes and the impact of tariffs on business. The trio examines the challenges of sourcing materials, building relationships with manufacturers, and the potential shift towards Southeast Asia. Insightful and entertaining, this conversation navigates the delicate balance between cost and quality in today's global market.

Richard Farleigh grew up poverty-stricken in outback Australia as one of eleven children. When he was an infant, he was taken into care and spent the majority of his childhood in a foster home. A love of puzzles, a determination to prove himself, and some teachers who believed in his abilities, helped him gain a scholarship to university. From there he became a successful investment fund manager, eventually retiring at 34 to become an entrepreneur, and later an angel investor. The former dragon talks to Evan Davis about his new book Humble Stumbles, and how some of his early entrepreneurial decisions didn’t work out quite as well as he’d hoped. Production team: Producers: Eleanor Harrison-Dengate Editor: Matt Willis Sound: John Scott Production co-ordinator: Katie Morrison Photo credit: Visual Marvels

The child of immigrant parents to Australia, Erinch was taught to want a stable life. He was having a successful career at Proctor and Gamble, but one day had a realisation that this was not what he wanted to be doing with his life. Now Erinch is a business and enterprise lead at the Doughnut Economics Action Lab, and designs businesses so they follow a social or ecological purpose. The social enterprise expert talks to Evan Davis about how he dealt with discovering his values were not aligning with his career path and what he did next. Production team: Producers: Nick Holland and Simon Tulett Editor: Matt Willis Sound: John Scott Production co-ordinator: Katie Morrison

After 14 years of having a successful career in media, Sophie found herself unemployed. She thought with her skills and experience finding a new role would be easy, but it was the opposite. After struggling with applications and repeated denials, Sophie decided she wanted to change the process of applying for a job. The employment specialist talks to Evan Davis about how she’s trying to change the way recruitment works with her business Pollen Careers. Production team: Producers: Nick Holland Editor: Matt Willis Sound: John Scott Production co-ordinator: Katie Morrison

At a time when coding and IT was in its infancy, Sir Kenneth fortuitously took a computer class to get out of cross country running; that choice would shape the rest of his life. From an internship at IBM, he later went on to a senior position at Wang laboratories, but then was fired after an unsuccessful management buyout. He eventually struck out on his own and founded two merchant banks. The entrepreneur talks to Evan Davis about the moment he was fired after trying to engineer a management buyout, and then what happened next. Production team: Producers: Eleanor Harrison-Dengate Editor: Matt Willis Sound: John Scott Production co-ordinator: Katie Morrison

When a family member gets sick, it can mean major changes to our lives. For Chris May, it meant he needed a role that could be done entirely from home. He quit his job, and created his own enterprise doing management consulting. One of the contracts he had after that was to create a report on the standards of north London hospitals. Instead of just a report, Chris created an entire database, and his work snowballed from there. The health technology entrepreneur talks to Evan Davis about how he eventually created the database for the entire NHS. Production team: Producers: Nick Holland and Simon Tulett Editor: Matt Willis Sound: John Scott Production co-ordinator: Katie Morrison

Grief hits everyone differently. For Claire Daniels, it changed her life; she had been working as the head of marketing for a technology firm and believed she’d keep climbing the corporate ladder, but after her brother’s death she found herself needing time out and quit. Later she began working for her sister in law’s business as a stopgap measure while she got herself back on track, but then that ended up becoming permanent. The marketing executive talks to Evan Davis about what it was like to work for family, and how she eventually became CEO of Trio media. Production team: Producer: Bob Howard Editor: Matt Willis Sound: John Scott Production co-ordinator: Katie Morrison