When Muhammad Ali visited Dublin to fight Al Blue Lewis he famously asked where do all the black people hang out? He was told there weren’t any. Dave Hannigan has written a marvelous book about that week in Ireland. He talks to Dion Fanning about Ali’s time in Dublin and the people who made it happen.
In his 30-year career in journalism, Des Gibson has edited four different national newspapers – The Irish Daily Star, The Herald, The Sunday World and the Star on Sunday. As he launches a new boutique media and communications consultancy firm, Gibson reflects on his career in media and the challenges facing the sector. He provides the inside story of the rise and fall of the Star on Sunday, and how the experience taught him to take a hands-on role on the finances of all the newspapers he edited after its collapse. He talks about the culture of mistrust that existed within INM in the past and outlines how he restructured The Herald and dealt with legacy legal issues at The Sunday World. He talks about the business figures he most admires, and gives the elevator pitch for his new business.
Sarah Keane's time as CEO at Swim Ireland has involved managing crises. When she took over in 2004, the sport was dealing with the consequences of the George Gibney and Derry O'Rourke scandals. This is a past, she says, the sport must always be aware of, especially as many are reminded of it through the 'Where is George Gibney?' podcast. The sport is currently living through a different kind of crisis and it doesn't know what kind of sport will emerge when the pandemic is over or how many people, young people in particular, will be lost to the sport.
Pat Kiely was part of the executive team that launched TV3 in 1998 and stayed with the television channel for 22 years – first as commercial director and then as managing director. Having worked under five different owners and overseen the rebrand of TV3 to Virgin Media Television, he stepped down from the role last year. This week, he unveiled his new media business, BiggerStage, which aims to create content for international markets, deepen commercial partnerships and develop talent.
In this podcast with Ian Kehoe, Kiely talks about the BiggerStage business model, the mechanics of launching a company in the midst of a pandemic, and how ‘purpose’ helped him convince three industry heavy hitters to join his company. Kiely also talks about his journey in TV3 - from launching the channel to helping steer it through the financial crash to selling it to Liberty Global. He also reveals why he did not apply for the CEO role at the FAI, explains his business philosophies, and talks about his time as an adman with Saatchi & Saatchi and DDFH&B.
The madness can spread. Eliot Higgins is the founder of Bellingcat and in his new book he traces the origins of "an intelligence agency for the people" and the challenges the world faces in an age of disinformation
Pete Lunn was a behavioural economist at the ESRI, working on policies to help people make better decisions, when Covid-19 hit. Since then, as a part of NPHET, he's been drafted into the fight against the virus. In this podcast with Sean Keyes, he talks about how behavioural economics insights have informed the government's response to the virus. And, with the end starting to come into view, he explains what behavioural economics has to offer the country beyond Covid – as well as the replication crisis and behavioural economists as "white hat" marketers.
In a new book, Empireland, Sathnam Sanghera makes a compelling argument that so much of modern Britain from Brexit to the country's attitudes to race, stem from the British Empire and the reluctance to confront the history of that empire frankly. For Irish people who became enraged by the ignorance about Ireland demonstrated by many leading Brexiteers, there is much to consider here. There may also be lessons for us in how we deal with our own complicated history.
Former Dublin football star Bernard Brogan has transitioned from the pitch into entrepreneurship, launching both Legacy Communications and PepTalk. Along the way, he realised that many of the lessons he learned in elite sport are transferable into the business arena. In this podcast, Brogan, who has won seven All Ireland titles and four All Star awards, identifies five things that business leaders can learn from the world of sport. Like in sport, he says that a crisis is an opportunity to innovate in business, while he also discusses why culture lives or dies with middle management. With most employees working from home, Brogan also talks about replacing the changing room/watercooler moments. A chartered accountant, Brogan also talks about his own entrepreneurial journey, revealing that PepTalk is currently in the midst of a funding round to help fuel an international expansion strategy.
Peter Oborne’s career in journalism spans forty years. At many stages, he has been in the orbit of Boris Johnson, particularly when Oborne was working at The Spectator and Johnson was, in Oborne’s words, its brilliant editor. He has charted Johnson’s rise and in his new book the Assault on Truth, Oborne deals with Johnson and his relationship with the truth, although in reality, it deals with his relationship with the media, specifically how the media were complicit in his rise and have failed to hold him to account.
Former Ireland international Niall Woods was forced to retire from rugby following a career-ending injury. He regrouped, transitioning into a career representing players. For eight years, he led Rugby Players Ireland (formerly IRUPA), and, then 10 years ago, he launched Navy Blue Sports, a sports agency that specialises in rugby and in female athletes. In this podcast with Ian Kehoe, Woods explains how a breakdown in relationship with the IRFU led to his exit from IRUPA and charts the battle to get his agency off the ground. He talks about the business of sourcing fresh talent, cutting contract and sponsorship deals and dealing with the negative stereotype of sports agents. With many rugby players still in limbo over their contracts, he talks about the impact of Covid on professional sport and what this means for contract talks. He argues that foreign-based players should be allowed to play for Ireland, outlines his ambition to grow the business in the UK, and explains why female sports is the next big growth area for brands and sponsors.
The nature of Irish politics ensures that many politicians, aware of how precarious their positions are, spend a long time working in their constituency. Some of this is necessary and a public service as TDs help constituents "navigate a dysfunctional system" But, in the worst cases, according to Holly Cairns, they are taking credit for things they haven't done. In this podcast, Cairns discusses her first year as a TD and the issues which energise her. Cairns is determined to fight for what she believes in even if it won't always necessarily transfer into votes.
