In this episode, it's all about partners. Lots of them. Scott Didier is the Managing Director and CEO of the Johns Lyng Group. It's a disaster recovery organisation that, working with the insurance sector, swings into action to repair and rebuild in the aftermath of major catastrophic events. The growth of Johns Lyng has been phenomenal since Scott first bought the business back in 2003, with an annual turnover of $12 million at the time. Today, its annual turnover is $400 million and more than ninety partners now make up the group. Who gets to be a partner? How and why? These questions are a defining part of the Johns Lyng story, and pivotal to the company's success.

In this episode, how blazing determination to make an environmental difference created an extraordinary business. Back in the 1990s, Abigail Forsyth and her brother Jamie ran a successful chain of cafes in Melbourne. Business was good, but the ever-increasing mountain of disposable cups that would be discarded after just one use nagged at their environmental conscience. They decided to do something about this issue, and so they set about creating KeepCup. Abigail now runs the show, and in this episode, we explore a remarkable example of one person's single-minded ability to turn challenges into opportunities, and then leverage those opportunities for expansion into new markets.

In this episode, inheriting the family firm. Now, that's not always easy, as anyone in a family business knows. But it's what you do when you're suddenly in charge, that counts. For Dale Kennedy, of leading Melbourne construction business Harris HMC, the weight of responsibility was huge. In 2006, the company had a turnover of about $45 million a year. Now, company turnover is heading towards a whopping $250 million! How did that happen? In this episode, Dale talks about his strategies for growth, his mindset on company culture, and how he's moved the company into the top 1% of construction businesses in Australia.

In this episode, it's all about adaptive spaces, as we bring you the story of Lotus Doors. Lotus Doors is a highly successful, family-owned, Melbourne-based company. Through innovation, engineering, and mastering the dark-art of acoustics, Lotus Doors wants to become a brand leader in the way we live, learn, work and play. In 2018, Lotus Doors faced massive growth and struggled to keep up in a responsible, sustainable way. New leadership was called for, a CEO position installed, and Liz Jones got the job. From there, Liz tells us, it took a pretty deep dive to discover just where the problems were and what needed to be done to fix them.

In this episode, we examine the force behind the extraordinary growth of EML Payments. EML Payments is a financial payments technology business, specialising in prepaid or stored value products. EML is also a massive salary packaging card supplier, and now a provider in the sports betting and gaming industry. But in 2012, when Tom Cregan was appointed as CEO, EML wasn’t making much money and 90% of all its revenue was coming from just one customer in one country. How was Tom going to pull it up and transform its fortunes?

How do you turn challenges into opportunities? What drives you to continually challenge your thinking? What strategies do you use to grow your business? Radar for Growth is a show where we talk to the key decision-makers behind some of Australia's most successful private and family businesses. You'll learn from the choices they've made and the lessons they've learned. Produced by business advisory firm Pitcher Partners. Launching Tue 16th March 2021.