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Mike Schneider: Managing Director, Bunnings
Overview
Published 17th December, 2024.
Episode 186 features Mike Schneider, Managing Director of Bunnings in a rare in-depth interview. Bunnings is a juggernaut in the retail world with nearly $20B in revenue and over 50,000 employees.
In conversation with Vidit Agarwal, Mike Schneider reflects on growing up in a financially strained household, facing bullying and early adversity, and how those experiences shaped his empathy and leadership style as Managing Director of Bunnings, leading nearly 53,000 people.
He walks through pivotal career decisions across almost 30 years in retail, from leaving Target for Westpac to finding his edge at Bunnings, and shares hard-earned lessons from setbacks including the UK exit, personal loss, and navigating leadership under pressure.
Mike unpacks how he builds trust, invites feedback, balances humility with confidence, and sustains energy over the long haul, offering a candid, grounded look at what modern leadership really demands.
Enjoy!
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Timestamps
About us
The High Flyers Podcast features in-depth interviews with the world’s most relatable role models in business, tech, finance, government and sport in the US, Australia, India and New Zealand. Launched in 2020, it ranks in the global top ten ranked podcasts, with listeners in 27 countries, 250+ episodes released, and featured in Forbes, Daily Telegraph, and at SXSW.
Our guests include: Malcolm Turnbull (Prime Minister of Australia), Jason Collins (Head of BlackRock, Asia Pacific), Brad Banducci (CEO, Woolworths), Michael Schneider (CEO, Bunnings), Elena Verna (Head of Growth, Lovable), David Haber (a16z Partner), Jodie Auster (Uber's Global Head of Travel), Rob Giglio (CCO, Canva), Jean-Michel Limieux (CTO, Shopify and Atlassian), Stevie Case (CRO, Vanta), John Haddock (CBO, Harvey), Mark Suster (Partner, Upfront Ventures), Niki Scevak (Partner, Blackbird), Craig Tiley (CEO, USA Tennis), Jeanne DeWitt Grosser (COO, Vercel), Paul Bassat (Partner, Square Peg), Bowen Pan (Creator, Facebook Marketplace), Peter Varghese (Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Australian Government), Sam Sicilia (CIO, Hostplus), Jack Zhang (CEO, Airwallex), Tim Doyle (CEO, Eucalyptus), Sukhinder Singh Cassidy (CEO, Xero), Sanjeev Gandhi (CEO, Orica), Philip Green (Australia's Ambassador/High Commissioner to India), Vivek Bhatia (CEO, MUFG), Cristina Cordova (COO, Linear) and more.
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