The NBN Entrepreneurship and Leadership channel podcast focusses on entrepreneurship, leadership and innovation, interviewing entrepreneurial people, leaders and others about their journey, motivations, lessons learned and advice for others.
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This episode of the New Books Network’s Entrepreneurship and Leadership channel features Richard Lucas in conversation with entrepreneur and community builder Ben Brabyn about Walkabout, a global movement that brings people together for monthly walks and open conversations. Walkabout began in Green Park, London, in June 2023 as a low‑friction alternative to venue‑based events and now runs in about 37 locations worldwide, welcoming anyone who wants to join a friendly, curiosity‑driven walking group.
Ben explains how Walkabout’s simplicity—free, open, lightly structured—attracts a high proportion of multidisciplinary participants, many with PhDs, and how emergent collaborations have led to startups, investment, hiring, and pro bono work on “thorny” challenges like non‑compressible haemorrhage and electric vehicle battery fires. Inspired by Richard Feynman’s habit of carrying a dozen long‑term problems in his back pocket, Walkabout offers participants an evolving set of shared challenges they can keep in mind and revisit whenever they learn something new, effectively serving as a living, collective version of “Feynman’s 12 problems.
A recurring theme is serendipity: Richard and Ben discuss how Walkabout exemplifies the kind of designed chance encounters that David Cleevely describes in his book “Serendipity: It Doesn’t Happen By Accident,” and how Cleevely himself both influenced and later joined Walkabout events. Lessons learned include the power of radical welcome, the importance of not over‑optimizing for scale or vanity metrics, and the value of formats where multidisciplinary dialogue and unexpected connections can flourish. Ben and Richard also touch on Walkabout’s business structure within Amitypath Limited, its use of platforms like Mighty Networks and LinkedIn, and Ben’s broader journey from the Royal Marines and JP Morgan to founding crowdfunding platform BmyCharity and leading Level39.Links
Ben Brabyn Linkedin
Amitypath
Interview with David Cleevely on the NBN about his book Serendipity
About Richard Feynman’s 12 problems
Walkabout
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Guy Pinsent: Banker, Diplomat, Entrepreneur & CEO, Founder of Poland/Czech Republic's Largest Self-Storage Business
Saturday, April 4, 2026 • Duration 01:19:44
In this engaging conversation, Guy Pinsent shares his entrepreneurial journey from Cambridge economics student, being a banker in the City, to the Foreign Office and on to real estate and finally, on his own account, as a successful self storage business owner in Central Europe. Guy discusses the founding and growth of Less Mess Storage, which now operates 18 locations across Poland and Czech Republic with backing from Metric Capital Partners since 2015, and with 100,000 sqm of rentable space and 40,000 more in the pipeline.
Key Topics Covered:
The Self Storage Business Model: Guy explains his freehold property approach, inspired by companies like Big Yellow and the McDonald's model featured in "The Founder" film. Also attractive features of the self storage business: long lifetime value of clients, custom inertia, counter-cyclical demand so the business performs well across the business cycle.Cambridge University Value of a first-class education.
The Why question: How Guy never worried about social status, and simply doing what it takes to build a life, do something of value.
Entrepreneurial Philosophy: Discussion of motivation and work ethic, referencing Arnold Schwarzenegger's YouTube talks and Gary Vaynerchuk's "I will outwork you" mentality.
Economic Principles: Insights on loss aversion from Daniel Kahneman's research and lessons from Cambridge professor Michael Kuczynski.
Life as a British Expat: Guy shares his experience living abroad and his documentary project "Should Brits Come Home?" made with Patrick Ney, exploring whether British expats should return to the UK.
Documentary Filmmaking: Behind-the-scenes stories from filming at the Notting Hill Carnival, agricultural shows, and conducting street interviews.
Political Commentary: Reflections on Britain's direction, post-nationalism, and concerns about current UK leadership.
About Guy Pinsent
Guy is a British real estate entrepreneur and the Founder & CEO of Less Mess Storage, a leading self‑storage company operating across Central Europe.
Born in London and raised in the English countryside, he studied at Eton College and Cambridge University before starting his career in investment banking at Citibank. He later served at the British Embassy in Poland to strengthen UK–Poland business relations, then moved into commercial real estate with Colliers, and in 2014 founded Less Mess Storage, which he has since built into a benchmark player in the Central European self storage sector.
Guy’s Linkedin
Links
Arnold Schwarzenegger - Guy referenced a 4-minute motivational talk on YouTube about entrepreneurship principles YouTube: Arnold Schwarzenegger 6 Rules of Success
Gary Vaynerchuk - Richard mentioned him as an American entrepreneur from Belarus known for saying "I will outwork you" as part of his pathway to success example here
Daniel Kahneman - Guy referenced his work on loss aversion (people feel $100 loss twice as painfully as the good feeling of a $100 gain) Wikipedia: Loss Aversion
Michael Kuczynski - Economics professor at Pembroke College, Cambridge who taught both Richard and Guy; passed away in 2025 at age 84 Pembroke College: Michael Kuczynski (1941–2025)
Pedro Pablo Kuczynski - Michael's brother, became President of Peru Wikipedia: Pedro Pablo Kuczynski
Less Mess Storage - Guy's self-storage company operating in Poland and Czech Republic with 18 locations lessmess.storage
Pembroke College, Cambridge - Where both Richard and Guy studied economics pem.cam.ac.uk
Big Yellow - UK self-storage company mentioned as reference for freehold approach bigyellow.co.uk
"The Founder" - Film about Ray Kroc and McDonald's history, illustrating property-based business model Wikipedia: The Founder (film)
Richard’s TED-ED lesson based on The Founder link
"Should Brits Come Home?" - Documentary Guy made with Patrick Ney about whether British expats should return to the UK especially from a Polish perspective. Here
Patrick Ney was a guest on this NBN channel here, And gave one of the most popular TEDxKazimierz talks of all time with over 375,000 downloads here
Center for Policy Studies - UK centre-right think tank Guy mentioned link
Extra Space - Major US self-storage operator link
Metric Capital Partners - Private equity investor in Less Mess since 2015 link1
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Tina Seelig on Making Your Own Luck and Other Critical Life and Entrepreneurship Skills
Tuesday, December 9, 2025 • Duration 43:20
Stanford educator and renowned creativity expert Tina Seelig joins Richard Lucas on the New Books Network’s Entrepreneurship & Leadership channel to discuss her new book What I Wish I Knew About Luck (coming April 2026).
As the host found himself agreeing with everything Tina said, he asked for examples of people who disagreed with her. First, they discussed the value of respectful disagreement, and the fact that Richard’s father, the late Oxford philosopher JR Lucas routinely took the opportunity to disagree with his son, no matter what point of view was being put forward. Tina shared that her father, aged 99, still thinks that good things just happened to him over the course of his life, whereas she outlines all the actions he took to create that good luck. Tina dismantles the myth that luck is purely random. She distinguishes fortune (things that happen to you) from luck (something you can actively cultivate), and explains why clichés such as “the harder I work, the luckier I get” or “fortune favors the prepared mind” are true but incomplete. What is the “hard work” required to create luck? What exactly is a “prepared mind”?
Key highlights:
Why entrepreneurship and creativity are teachable skills that everyone can improve, just like sports, music, art, math, or science.
The value of keeping a “failure résumé” and viewing failure as a trampoline rather than a lava pit.
Real stories of ethical dilemmas early and late in her career. Full details in the book and podcast.
Why showing genuine appreciation (especially thank-you notes) is one of the highest-ROI habits for creating luck. A thank you note she wrote was read out at a funeral 20 years later.
How to build trust, have difficult conversations, and surround yourself with the right “crew”
The foundational role of self-awareness, values, resilience, risk-taking, and patience in manufacturing your own luck
Tina also shares the inspiring origin of the Knight-Hennessy Scholars program (co-founded by John Hennessy, former Stanford President, and Phil Knight, founder of Nike) and reflects on teaching leadership to some of the world’s most promising graduate students across all disciplines at Stanford University.
Show Notes & Sources
Pre-order “What I Wish I Knew About Luck” by Tina Seelig
Tina’s earlier books: “What I Wish I Knew When I Was 20”, “inGenius”, “Creativity Rules”
Tina’s LinkedIn
Tina’s Bio, Books, Talks
Knight-Hennessy Scholars
KHS LinkedIn
Stanford Technology Ventures Program (STVP)
Tina Seelig’s famous TED Talk and the legendary “$5 entrepreneurship challenge”
Books mentioned: “The No Asshole Rule” – Robert Sutton; “The Course of Love” – Alain de Botton; “Radical Candor” – Kim Scott
Tina Seelig’s Stanford Profile
Essential listening for anyone who wants to stop waiting for luck and start building it.
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Tessa Clarke: Co Founder & CEO of Olio, a Company Dedicated to Cutting Food Waste
Episode 54
Tuesday, March 16, 2021 • Duration 01:04:20
Tessa explains why Olio’s mission of cutting unnecessary food waste is so important, and how her own distress at food waste led to the breakthrough insight that there had to be a better way of dealing with unwanted food. She shares her personal journey, and sets out the exciting road map ahead for Olio.
Tessa Clarke is the Co Founder & CEO of Olio Linkedin Olio is a free app that connects users with unwanted food (households or local businesses) with neighbours living nearby who would like it. OLIO has over 2.5 million users who have together shared 7 million portions of food. 50,000 volunteers who are spreading the word in their local communities.
Download the App and more information here https://olioex.com
Twitter https://twitter.com/olio_ex
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/olioapp/
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/olio.app/
Linked https://www.linkedin.com/company/olio-the-food-sharing-revolution
The NBN Entrepreneurship and Leadership podcast aims to educate and entertain, sharing insights based on the personal stories of our carefully selected guests in the atmosphere of an informal conversation in a bar or over a cup of coffee.
About the NBN
The New Books Network was founded in 2007 as a podcast interviewing the authors of academic books, and has grown to the largest author interview podcast in the world publishing 12 podcasts a day in more than 90 specialist areas, with over a million downloads a month. Read about the founder Marshall Poe and the NBN here. In recent years it has expanded beyond its “author interview origins”. Historically NBN only did audio recordings. E&L is the first NBN podcast distributed on Youtube.
About Kimon Fountoukidis Twitter Linkedin
Kimon is the founder of both Argos Multilingual and PMR. Both companies were founded in the mid 90s with zero capital and both have gone on to become market leaders in their respective sectors. Kimon was born in New York and moved to Krakow, Poland in 1993. Listen to his story here,
About Richard Lucas Twitter Linkedin
Richard is a business and social entrepreneur who founded or invested in more than 30 businesses, including investments in Argos Multilingual, PMR and, in 2020, the New Books Network. Richard has been a TEDx event organiser, supports the pro-entrepreneurship ecosystem, and leads entrepreneurship workshops at all levels: from pre- to business schools. Richard was born in Oxford and moved to Poland in 1991. Read more here. Listen to his story in an autobiographical TEDx talk here,
Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/entrepreneurship-and-leadership
Introduction to the Entrepreneurship and Leadership Podcast
Episode 1
Monday, March 1, 2021 • Duration 37:02
In this episode Kimon and Richard explain why they are launching the NBN Entrepreneurship and Leadership podcast, the topics they are going to delve into with their guests and what aspects of their guests’ entrepreneurial journeys they are most interested in. What has been the role of background and upbringing, social and family pressures, education (or lack of it), and their attitudes to competition and luck. Despite their common business history Kimon and Richard highlight differences in their experiences and how they believe their varying perspectives will lead to a solid exploration of what can be learned from the guests. If you want to get a sense of what this channel is all about, and why it should be interesting to listeners who are into entrepreneurship and leadership, this is a great place to start.
The NBN Entrepreneurship and Leadership podcast aims to educate and entertain, sharing insights based on the personal story of our carefully selected guests aiming for the atmosphere of an informal conversation in a bar or over a cup of coffee. Follow our channels on Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter.
View the episode on Youtube here. You can listen to the episode on the NBN here.
About the NBN
The New Books Network was founded in 2007 as a podcast interviewing the authors of academic books, and has grown to the largest author interview podcast in the world publishing 12 podcasts a day in more than 90 specialist areas, with over a million downloads a month. Read about the founder Marshall Poe and the NBN here. In recent years it has expanded beyond its “author interview origins”. Historically NBN only did audio recordings. E&L is the first NBN podcast distributed on Youtube.
About Kimon Fountoukidis Twitter Linkedin
Kimon is the founder of both Argos Multilingual and PMR. Both companies were founded in the mid 90s with zero capital and both have gone on to become market leaders in their respective sectors. Kimon was born in New York and moved to Krakow, Poland in 1993. Listen to his story here.
About Richard Lucas Twitter Linkedin
Richard is a business and social entrepreneur who founded or invested in more than 30 businesses, including investments in Argos Multilingual, PMR and, in 2020, the New Books Network. Richard has been a TEDx event organiser, supports the pro-entrepreneurship ecosystem, and leads entrepreneurship workshops at all levels: from pre- to business schools. Richard was born in Oxford and moved to Poland in 1991. Read more here. Listen to his story in an autobiographical TEDx talk here.
Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/entrepreneurship-and-leadership
Peter Harrington: Venture Simulations Ltd, Entrepreneurship and Family
Tuesday, July 14, 2020 • Duration 59:53
Family-man and serial entrepreneur, Peter Harrington has a deep interest in education. Following graduation from York University in 1989, he created his first business and over 15 years started and grew companies in the fields of research, marketing, design, print and consultancy.
Since 2005, Peter has been at the heart of Venture Simulations Ltd, a company that builds digital learning solutions and SimVenture business simulation technology for people seeking to acquire business start-up/scale-up skills. Whilst his professional roles involve much travel and reading, Peter is also at home when working with students and staff as an Entrepreneur in Residence at London School of Economics and London South Bank University
Peter's profile of Romano
Read about Frank Dawson's centre where Peter volunteered here
Request a free personal licence in exchange for feedback here
Simventure website
Seth Godin on "getting into a famous college" and the importance of Non-Team Activities in his Akimbo podcast here
Peter Harrington twitter
Peter writes the blog 'The Hitchiker's Guide to Entrepreneurship'
Margaret Heffernen whose TED Summit workshop on gratitude is described. Her books and TED talks are excellent.
Richard Lucas's father JR Lucas dedicated one of his books (Space, Time and Causality to all his teachers
About your host Richard Lucas
Richard is a business and social entrepreneur who founded or invested in more than 30 businesses, Richard has been a TEDx event organiser, supports the pro-entrepreneurship ecosystem, and leads entrepreneurship workshops at all levels: from pre- to leading business schools. Richard was born in Oxford and moved to Poland in 1991. Read more here.
Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/entrepreneurship-and-leadership
Mike Southon: Serial Entrepreneur and Author
Episode 50
Tuesday, July 14, 2020 • Duration 01:04:58
Mike Southon is a serial entrepreneur, best-selling business author and keynote speake on entrepreneurship, intrapreneurship and sales. He specialises in teaching entrepreneurship to University students. Mike is co-author with Chris West of The Beermat Entrepreneur, The Boardroom Entrepreneur and Sales on a Beermat. He has spoken at over 1,000 live events all over the world and provided face-to-face mentoring to over 2,000 entrepreneurs.
A recent media roundup:
Mike Southon youtube channel
Mike's website
Mike's life story
About your host Richard Lucas
Richard is a business and social entrepreneur who founded, led and/or invested in more than 30 businesses, Richard has been a TEDx event organiser, supports the pro-entrepreneurship ecosystem, and leads entrepreneurship workshops at all levels: from pre-schools to leading business schools. Richard was born in Oxford and moved to Poland in 1991. Read more here.
Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/entrepreneurship-and-leadership
Alex Schey: Founder and CEO of Vantage Power
Episode 48
Monday, June 15, 2020 • Duration 01:15:22
Alex Schey is the CEO and co-founder of Vantage Power, which was founded in 2011 and sold to Allison Transmission in 2019, where he is the Chief Commercial Officer for Electrification. The company pioneered the concept of converting double decker buses to a hybrid diesel electric solution to greatly reduced pollution and increases efficiency.
A recent media roundup:
Vantage Power
Allison Transmission
Racing Green Endurance The electric racing car Alex and his team designed and built that made the journey from Alaska to Argentina.
The Manager Tools podcast
Contact Alex at aschey (at) gmail (dot) com
About your host Richard Lucas
Richard is a business and social entrepreneur who founded, led and/or invested in more than 30 businesses, Richard has been a TEDx event organiser, supports the pro-entrepreneurship ecosystem, and leads entrepreneurship workshops at all levels: from pre-schools to leading business schools. Richard was born in Oxford and moved to Poland in 1991. Read more here.
Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/entrepreneurship-and-leadership
Dr. Mark McKergow: Author, Scientist, and Speaker
Wednesday, October 16, 2019 • Duration 01:01:33
Mark McKergow spoke at TEDxKazimierz in 2018 on the topic of host leadership. Dr. Mark McKergow brings new ideas into the world of business and management, with an inimitable combination of scientific rigour and performance pizzazz. Mark is best known for his work on introduction the ideas of Solutions Focus (2002) and Host Leadership (2014), about which he has published extensively and helped to create self-sustaining user communities.
He likes ideas and approaches that make things simpler, quicker, cheaper and more respectful - particularly when they are based on something counter-intuitive and game-changing. More on Mark at http://sfwork.com and http://hostleadership.com. Mark McKergow leads Sunday Assembly in Scotland and plays a leading role in supporting the movement worldwide.
Useful Links
Sunday Assembly London
SOLWorld
Solution Focused Working
Sunday Assembly Online
Mark McKergow's Linkedin
Host Leadership - why"hosting" is an important type of leadership | Mark McKergow | TEDxKazimierz
Bringing up children the Dutch way | Michele Hutchison | TEDxKazimierz
Pippa Evans and Sanderson Jones' special message to TEDxKazimierz 2018
Mark McKergow's Facebook Live video recording of the podcast
About your host Richard Lucas
Richard is a business and social entrepreneur who founded, led and/or invested in more than 30 businesses, Richard has been a TEDx event organiser, supports the pro-entrepreneurship ecosystem, and leads entrepreneurship workshops at all levels: from pre-schools to leading business schools. Richard was born in Oxford and moved to Poland in 1991. Read more here.
Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/entrepreneurship-and-leadership
Mel Rosenberg: Entrepreneur, Educator, TEDx- and TED-ED-ster
Episode 45
Wednesday, October 16, 2019 • Duration 01:01:33
Mel Rosenberg is a microbiologist best known for his research on the diagnosis and treatment of bad breath (halitosis). His research led to several successful commercial products addressing the problem. He is also the creator of a wildly popular TED-ED video on the topic. and is an active part of the TED-ED community. Mel is also a jazz singer and musician, an author of children's books and the co-founder of Ourboox, a platform for online publishing of digital picture books.
Richard Lucas's talk on Embracing rejection at the Sabre Talk 'n Roll conference
TEDxKazimierz events
Michal Borkowski of brainly.com in Project Kazimierz
About your host Richard Lucas
Richard is a business and social entrepreneur who founded, led and/or invested in more than 30 businesses, Richard has been a TEDx event organiser, supports the pro-entrepreneurship ecosystem, and leads entrepreneurship workshops at all levels: from pre-schools to leading business schools. Richard was born in Oxford and moved to Poland in 1991. Read more here.
Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/entrepreneurship-and-leadership
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