Explore every episode of the podcast Scale To Win with Dominic Monkhouse

In this episode, James shares his challenging beliefs about sales (selling is service, not commission-driven), hiring (fire high performers who are dickheads), business problems (everything is connected—you might think you have a sales problem when it's really a marketing problem), and alignment (you've got to be aligned with your significant other first, or you can't build the life you want). He also reveals his journey from being an "accidental diminisher" of his team to understanding that his need for significance was making him the bottleneck, uses his grandmother's fruitcake recipe as a metaphor for why business owners don't delegate, explains the difference between paying for performance (waiters and tips—doesn't work) vs paying good salary (the restaurant owner who tips upfront gets great service), and shares why Mark Garwood's 10-year journey to a £5M contract that doubled to £10M annually proves that sales without commission works.

What you'll learn:

💼 Selling is in the service of others (be willing to say "don't buy from us")

💰 Don't pay sales commission (85% of salespeople don't hit quota anyway—data shows it doesn't work)

🔥 Sack the dickheads, even high performers (they'll poison your culture regardless of numbers)

📊 Everything in business is connected (sales problem might be a marketing or business development problem)

🧠 The accidental diminisher (you're scoring highly on all six ways to diminish your team)

👵 Your grandmother's fruitcake (why business owners won't delegate—need for significance)

🎯 Set the standards, inspect what you expect (granular playbooks + inspection processes)

📞 Mark Garwood's 10-year deal (best salesman he knows, took decade to land £5M contract, doubled to £10M in 2 years)

Book recommendations:

Multipliers (Accidental Diminishers) - Liz Wiseman - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Multipliers-Best-Leaders-People-Think/dp/0061766879

The Alchemist - Paulo Coelho - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Alchemist-Paulo-Coelho/dp/0062390007

The Four Agreements - Miguel Ruiz - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Four-Agreements-Practical-Guide-Personal-Freedom/dp/1878424319

James Ashford is an entrepreneur, consultant, and speaker who failed many times before building a software business that ran without him and sold to Sage for an eight-figure exit within five years of starting. His "Go Proposal" software was designed to solve a specific problem he saw in sales: the proposal sitting in the client's inbox, disappearing, never being reviewed. He built it so proposals could be created, accepted, and paid for during the meeting itself. That business took him through a rigorous exit process and gave him the clarity he needed to step back from being the constant rescuer and bottleneck in his own business.

Now he works with business owners and consults on the psychological and operational foundations of sustainable businesses. He's most known for his contrarian beliefs about commission, culture, and what actually drives business growth—which is rarely what people think.

Business leaders need the greatest awareness of themselves. Your belief system shapes everything. The psychology underneath is what actually drives business success, not the tactics or strategies.

Connect with James Ashford - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamesashford/

--------

Sign up to receive our weekly Scale to Win newsletter:

https://subscribe.monkhouseandcompany.com

Follow Dominic on LinkedIn:

https://linkedin.com/in/dominicmonkhouse

Chapters:

00:00 Intro

01:14 James Ashford introduces his entrepreneurial journey

02:38 Importance of firing disruptive high performers

04:11 Alignment with significant other crucial for peace

07:54 Balancing love for business with family expectations

10:58 Cultural norms and their influence on business

13:45 Overcoming limiting beliefs in scaling a business

19:10 Questioning the effectiveness of sales commissions

21:09 Rethinking sales strategies and customer trust

25:18 Avoiding accidental diminishment of the team

32:28 Importance of radical truthfulness in high-performance teams

37:45 Building trust through honesty and psychological safety

41:51 Handling resistance to change and truthfulness in business

44:28 Recommendations on business books and personal development

In this episode, Nikola reveals his contrarian belief that AI can be better than humans at customer service (not instead of humans, they'll do very different work), why he spent two hours on the phone with Vodafone when he got their confirmation email with someone else's name on it (and why that's not really about AI or humans), why they built a "token leaderboard" internally to track which AI tools they're using most, why junior developers will definitely beat senior ones at learning these tools (plasticity just goes down as you age), how AI gives him superpowers as a CEO (a chief of staff reminding him he promised something 4 days ago), and why their business model is "Rolls Royce for large enterprises, BMW for everyone else." He also shares his journey from a Serbian family to the University of Cambridge, how his PhD supervisor convinced him not to do a PowerPoint job at McKinsey, and why he ended up founding a voice AI company instead of working in finance (he wanted to be "a proper monkey" as well as a PowerPoint monkey, in his words).

What you'll learn:

🤖 AI can be substantially better at customer service (humans already lost their role long ago in most companies)

📞 The Vodafone example: edge cases, six different humans bouncing you around, why most companies lack taxonomy of failures

💼 Rolls Royce + BMW model (premium high-touch implementation + self-serve platform for SMBs)

🧠 Plasticity matters: junior devs will beat senior ones at learning AI tools (nature's law—ability to learn new things decreases with age)

⚡ AI superpowers for CEOs (chief of staff reminding you of commitments, transcription of meetings, Slack tracking)

🎯 Why Google can't compete (they care about ads and compute use, not customer service—you go down their priority list)

📊 "Token leaderboard" to track which AI tools you're using most

🏢 From consulting motion + tech to becoming a platform business

About the Guest:

Nikola Mrkšić is CEO and co-founder of Poly AI, a Series D company building voice AI agents for enterprise customer service. The company is a spin-out from the University of Cambridge where Nikola met his co-founders and the whole senior research team. They'd all worked on building really good voice agents for their professional and academic lives. The business started with an idea to prove voice technology can be a good thing in people's lives, not just "that pesky thing that gets you to not speak to a human when you really want to speak to a human."

Connect with Nikola Mrkšić - https://www.linkedin.com/in/nikola-mrksic/

--------

Sign up to receive our weekly Scale To Win newsletter:

https://subscribe.monkhouseandcompany.com

Follow Dominic on LinkedIn:

https://linkedin.com/in/dominicmonkhouse

Chapters:

00:00 Introduction

01:17 Series D company background and voice technology focus

02:33 AI surpassing human customer service capabilities

05:18 Personal story of frustration with customer service

08:07 Successful AI implementations in hospitality and finance

10:58 AI handling sensitive customer service cases

13:16 Broad societal changes due to AI integration

15:00 Impact of AI on workplace efficiency and team dynamics

19:30 Young people naturally adapting to AI tools

23:30 Discussion on younger generations and AI fluency

24:46 AI improving individual weaknesses in the workplace

29:10 Transition of Poly.ai to a more platform-based model

33:01 Challenges of scaling B2B SaaS in different markets

36:01 Immigrant perspective in building successful companies

40:08 Nikola's educational journey and serendipitous career path

48:21 Competitive position against major tech companies

Setting up a business is a major life decision that should not be taken lightly—it is incredibly painful. The ups definitely outweigh the downs, but the downs can be dark. Having a co-founder makes all the difference. Matthew Duhig, CEO and co-founder of FX Digital, started the business at university with his co-founder Tom, to build a website for his sister's bridal shop for free. Fifteen years later, they've grown from £1.5M to approaching £10M revenue, from 20 people to nearly 80, and they've built connected TV applications for major media and sports companies. Along the way, they had one major near-death experience when a single client became 80% of revenue, then in-housed the work down to 60%—leaving Matt and Tom with no personal wealth or assets, living together, staring at the barrel. But they believed in their proposition, backed themselves against the wall, and won 4 of 5-6 bids they needed to win, which launched them into major tech company work and one of their best years ever.

In this episode, Matt reveals his four contrarian beliefs about building businesses: (1) Running a business is incredibly painful and decision should not be taken lightly; (2) Vision comes from consumption (reading, listening, watching—not plucking it from air); (3) Don't make promises you can't control (resentment is harder to overcome than anything else in teams); (4) The job of an entrepreneur is to reduce risk (not take risks). He shares why he's an absolute delegator (sometimes great, sometimes backfires), how he managed to get off the tools when billing five days a week, why he stays in touch with 5-10 people at any given time who might be future hires, and how Barcelona became their second office (Jack the QA lead asked if he could relocate and Matt asked him to set up an office instead).

What you'll learn:

💼 Why having a co-founder is massive (not dark and lonely on your own)

🚨 What near-death looks like (80% revenue from one client, they in-house the work at 60%)

📚 Vision comes from consumption (read, listen, watch—a year of immersion in industry)

🤝 Don't make promises you can't control (resentment is the hardest thing to overcome)

⚙️ The job of an entrepreneur is to reduce risk (not take them)

🎯 Delegation as core skill (sometimes great, sometimes backfires, but necessary)

📞 Keep a pipeline of 5-10 potential hires always (chat with them, stay in touch)

🌍 Barcelona expansion lesson (talent + cost benefits + less competition than London)

Book recommendations:

The Intelligent Entrepreneur - Bill Murphy Jr. - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Intelligent-Entrepreneur-Bill-Murphy-Jr/dp/0805094296

Simple Numbers, Straight Talk, Big Profits - Greg Crabtree - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Simple-Numbers-Straight-Talk-Profits/dp/1600374514

Simple Numbers 2 - Greg Crabtree - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Simple-Numbers-Straight-Talk-Profits/dp/1600374514

About the Guest:

Matthew Duhig is CEO and co-founder of FX Digital, a business that builds connected TV applications for media and sports companies. He started the business with co-founder Tom at university when Matthew was 20 years old—Tom was away due to a bike accident in London ("Tom get well soon"), so they're running it together remotely. They grew from £1.5M revenue (7 years ago) to approaching £10M now, with headcount from 20 to nearly 80. The business evolved from web design work for his sister's bridal shop (free work) to building websites for a few years, then in 2015 they stumbled across connected TV—creating applications for TV like you create mobile applications, then launching them onto streaming platforms. That niche and doubling down on it propelled their growth.

Connect with Matthew Duhig / FX Digital - https://uk.linkedin.com/in/matthewduhig

--------

Sign up to receive our weekly Curious Leadership newsletter:

https://subscribe.monkhouseandcompany.com

Follow Dominic on LinkedIn:

https://linkedin.com/in/dominicmonkhouse

Chapters:

00:00 Introduction

01:03 Starting FX Digital and early challenges

07:15 Surviving a critical business downturn

12:59 Personal sacrifices and work-life balance

17:10 Stepping back to foster leadership growth

22:25 Delegation and leadership management strategies

28:34 Benefits of hiring fractional leaders

32:48 Building and automating key business systems

35:03 Establishing a Barcelona office for expansion

37:30 Talent acquisition benefits in Barcelona

39:42 Influential books and educational resources

41:28 Sources of ongoing inspiration and learning

We will soon trust AI more than people with their own agendas. In 50 years, we'll realise 50%+ tax was madness when 20% could have worked. Digital voting will let people vote on issues, not political parties, and we'll have an executive of 40 people (like Singapore) instead of 1,000 MPs arguing endlessly. And Brexit will be remembered as the best thing that happened—because this entrepreneurial little island will reinvent how to govern, and the rest of the world will copy us as they've done throughout history. Simon Woodroffe, founder of Yo! Sushi and YoTel, original Dragon on Dragons' Den, performer at Edinburgh Festival, recording artist with the Blockheads, and now published author of "Yo Man," has built businesses across multiple industries starting at age 45—and he's got radical ideas about politics, taxation, and why megalomaniac control at the beginning is the right way to start any business.

In this episode from Thailand (where Simon now lives with his Thai wife after being brought up in old Singapore), he reveals how he started YoSushi after a Japanese TV producer said "conveyor belt sushi bar with girls in black PVC miniskirts," flew to Japan when it was expensive and difficult (Japan was the last great mystery of the East 30 years ago), found 2,500 conveyor belt sushi bars nobody in the UK knew about, and opened Poland Street with everything he had in the world—only to have nobody come for the first two weeks. Then the second Saturday, there was a 100-yard queue down the block because they'd done something so completely different. He shares why he was nicknamed "the steamroller," why megalomaniac control is perfect at the beginning but you must let go after three years, how he hired Robin Rowland who closed all the Yo Below bars much to Simon's chagrin (but was absolutely right), and why he's earned roughly 1% of YoTel turnover every quarter for years—which has funded everything since and probably saved him from going broke.

Book recommendations:

How to Get Rich - Felix Dennis - https://www.amazon.co.uk/How-Get-Rich-Felix-Dennis/dp/0091927447

Yo Man - Simon Woodroffe - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Yo-Man-Simon-Woodroffe/dp/1398616761

About the Guest:

Simon Woodroffe is the founder of YoSushi (celebrating 30 years in January) and YoTel (now over 30 hotels worldwide, much bigger business than YoSushi), original Dragon on Dragons' Den (series 1-3), performer at Edinburgh Festival where he did a one-man show, recording artist with the Blockheads, and published author of "Yo Man" (his second book—the first was his autobiography). He's done a few things. He's 77 years old, was brought up in old Singapore, has lived all over the world, and now lives in Thailand with his Thai wife. His home base is Thailand because it's the best place he's found after searching everywhere.

Simon started YoSushi at age 45 after a long, hard life that hasn't always been good. He's now a licensor of both YoSushi and YoTel, broadcasting on social media, and trying to give something back to the world to improve it—whether politically or directly helping one person at a time. He always said that when he was knocking on other people's doors, if he was ever the one whose door was knocked on (which is the situation he finds himself in now), he would always try to respond to everybody. And he does.

Connect with Simon Woodroffe - https://www.linkedin.com/in/yosimonwoodroffe/

--------

Sign up to receive our weekly Curious Leadership newsletter:

https://subscribe.monkhouseandcompany.com

Follow Dominic on LinkedIn:

https://linkedin.com/in/dominicmonkhouse

Chapters:

00:00 Introduction

01:01 Introduction to Simon Woodroffe's journey and achievements

02:37 Simon on world improvements and his life in Thailand

03:47 Predictions on digital voting and government change

06:37 A small executive model for better governance

10:00 Reducing taxes by changing government spending

12:00 Trusting AI over human biases for balanced insights

14:06 Launch of Simon's book, Yo Man, and the ATM story

16:57 Bringing conveyor belt sushi to London

20:05 Transition from steamroller to delegator in business

21:36 Successful expansion under Robin Rowland's leadership

24:10 Involvement in Yotel and its global success

28:59 Importance of theatre and 'ziz' in business branding

30:07 Letting go of control for business growth

31:28 Transition to TV and participation in Dragon's Den

35:14 Enjoying Dragon's Den and investments made

38:08 Overcoming challenges during Yo Sushi's opening weeks

42:29 Creative 'yo' brand extensions and their impacts

45:01 Making tough business decisions swiftly and confidently

Conflict is not a dirty word. You don't need a trigger warning; you need to know the trigger better. Don't rush to solve the problem. And when you're negotiating, remember it's not about you. Scott Walker is a kidnap-for-ransom and extortion negotiator who's spent 20 years with a ringside seat into what makes human beings think, feel, and act—particularly in times of stress, overwhelm, challenge, and conflict. Over 300 cases across every major continent, and touch wood, every single person came back. That's a 100% success rate in an industry where the average is 93% (better than the All Blacks' win rate), and all those lessons apply directly to everyday business and life.

In this episode, Scott reveals why 80% of his time on a kidnapping case was spent dealing with the crisis within the crisis (internal politics, egos, competing demands, silo thinking—not the kidnappers), why the conflict call with bad guys is essential (managing expectations when they want £10M but you're offering £250K), and the immediate action drill he learned after threatening grieving parents in his first case. He shares why most leaders spend their time dealing with internal politics rather than customers, why feeling seen-heard-understood is the only thing people want in a negotiation, and why resilience isn't something you hashtag on a mug—it only comes from doing hard things and being uncomfortable. Plus: how he went from Scotland Yard detective inspector avoiding paper cuts to three live kidnaps in his first week in the private sector, and why the All Blacks' motto "don't be a dick" is actually brilliant negotiation advice.

What you'll learn:

⚔️ Why conflict is essential (embrace difficult conversations without being belligerent)

🎯 The empathy loop: demonstrate understanding first, it's not about you

⏸️ The immediate action drill: interrupt pattern, ride the 90-second cortisol wave, ask better questions

🧠 Why you don't need trigger warnings (develop skills to handle anything, don't control others)

🚫 Why rushing to solve problems is dangerous (buy time, find the real issue)

👂 How to listen at level five (not for gist or to argue, but for what's really being said)

💡 Why 60% of sales don't close (people think it's too risky for them personally, not the company)

📊 The crisis within the crisis (80% of time spent on internal politics, not the bad guys)

Book recommendations:

Legacy - James Kerr - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Legacy-All-Blacks-James-Kerr/dp/1472103536

Awaken the Giant Within - Tony Robbins - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Awaken-Giant-Within-Immediate-Emotional/dp/0671791540

How to Win Friends and Influence People - Dale Carnegie - https://www.amazon.co.uk/How-Win-Friends-Influence-People/dp/0091906814

About the Guest:

Scott Walker is a kidnap-for-ransom and extortion negotiator who's spent the best part of 20 years having a ringside seat into what makes human beings think, feel, and act—particularly in times of stress, overwhelm, challenge, and conflict. Over 300-plus cases (including piracy and extortion) across every major continent, and touch wood, every single person came back. That's a 100% personal success rate in an industry where the global average over 50 years is 93%—better than the All Blacks' win rate at roughly 90%, and vastly better than most salespeople's 30% close rate.

Connect with Scott Walker - https://www.linkedin.com/in/scottaw/

--------

Sign up to receive our weekly Curious Leadership newsletter:

https://subscribe.monkhouseandcompany.com

Follow Dominic on LinkedIn:

https://linkedin.com/in/dominicmonkhouse

Chapters:

00:00 Introduction to negotiation and life skills

03:09 Personal anecdotes about family and negotiation

14:08 Aligning with clients to uncover real issues

21:11 Developing resilience and managing emotions

25:37 Techniques for emotional control and effective questioning

29:12 Journey from the police to a negotiation career

36:54 Handling difficult workplace conversations

40:25 Book recommendations and learning influence skills

44:44 Final thoughts and closing remarks

Failure is a better business school than an MBA. Most agencies will never scale because their founder is the product. Minority investment beats full acquisition. And self-doubt isn't a weakness to overcome—it's the edge that separates high performers from those who are growing. Luke Tobin, entrepreneur, investor, and founder of Unusual Group, has built and sold three companies in three different industries over 20 years (the largest being Digital Ethos with an eight-figure exit in late 2022), and he's learned that the people we look up to the most—the ones who seem to have it all figured out—are often the ones who struggle with doubt the most. The difference? They find a way to move anyway.

In this episode, he reveals why imposter syndrome appears when you're stepping outside your comfort zone (which means you're doing something productive), why he's writing a book about doubt after interviewing 30 high performers from ex-SBS commandos to actors, and why doubt is actually the cost of admission to the next level. He also shares hard lessons from scaling to 90 people before his exit, hiring 5-6 people per month without proper vetting, and making the mistake of being the eye of the storm instead of creating mini-storms with good people.

What you'll learn:

🧠 Why self-doubt is the cost of admission to the next level (imposter syndrome = you're expanding, not retracting)

📚 Why failure beats an MBA (founders with scars are shrewder, better, wiser)

🎯 Why most agencies never scale (founder is the product, won't delegate, sits at eye of storm)

👥 How to transition from basketball (50 people, you're on court) to football (100 people, you're off field)

💰 Why minority investment beats majority acquisition (founders lose motivation after 60-70% exit)

📊 The hiring mistake: loyalty vs capability (promoting based on tenure, not experience)

✅ Unique hiring practice: pay candidates for full week in business before offer (non-negotiable for mid-tier+)

🏢 Why remote work is dangerous for junior people (no water cooler conversations, no training)

Book recommendations:

Never Split the Difference - Chris Voss - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Never-Split-Difference-Negotiating-Depended/dp/1847941494

The Psychology of Money - Morgan Housel - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Psychology-Money-Timeless-lessons-happiness/dp/0857197681

The Obstacle is the Way - Ryan Holiday - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Obstacle-Way-Ancient-Adversity-Advantage/dp/1781251492

About the Guest:

Luke Tobin is an entrepreneur, investor, and founder of Unusual Group, a holding company investing in marketing and creative service businesses to help them scale without losing control. He's been building companies for over 20 years with three successful exits in three different industries, each one bigger than the last. The largest was Digital Ethos, a performance marketing agency he sold in late 2022 after scaling to 90 people with an eight-figure exit. He's also a partner in a venture studio in San Diego rolling out consumer goods products, and he has 800,000 followers on social media where he shares success psychology week to week.

Sign up to receive our weekly Curious Leadership newsletter:

https://subscribe.monkhouseandcompany.com

Follow Dominic on LinkedIn:

https://linkedin.com/in/dominicmonkhouse

Chapters:

00:00 Introduction

01:00 Luke's business background

03:14 Debunking common entrepreneurial myths

09:15 Perceptions shaping our reality and decisions

15:43 Biggest business failures and lessons learned

19:46 Preventing businesses from getting stuck due to founder focus

28:32 Transitioning from founder to CEO roles

30:07 Balancing remote and in-office work environments

35:58 Cultivating leadership and curiosity for business growth

40:19 Recommended books for personal and professional development

Most people overcomplicate leadership. They're looking for the next framework, trying to do technical leadership that just doesn't work. Paul Adamson spent 25 years sailing yachts around the world—including two years circumnavigating with Eddie Jordan on an Oyster 885—and he learned that leadership isn't about theory. It's about making decisions without all the information, leading from the front, and remaining calm when the pressure is on. Then he walked into Oyster Yachts (the manufacturer of those luxury yachts) when it went into administration, won it out of admin by deliberately breaking the rules, and rebuilt it from zero to a £200M order book with 700 employees in four years.

In this episode, Paul reveals why great leaders are energy-rich (not uninspiring boring managers), why you can't KPI great leadership, and why the three levers of state management—focus, inner dialogue, and movement—underpin everything in business. He shares his Virgin Atlantic story about blagging a gold card, getting upgraded to upper class by a flight manager who knew when to break the rules, and how copying Richard Branson into an Instagram post led to a phone call that changed everything. He also opens up about being diagnosed with lymphoma two weeks after leaving Oyster, how he applied everything he'd taught for years to his own health challenge, and why that gift led him to help raise £3M for follicular lymphoma research that could unlock cures for pancreatic cancer, leukaemia, and other incurables.

What you'll learn:

⚡ Why great leaders are energy-rich and how to manage your state (focus, inner dialogue, movement)

🎯 The difference between managers (follow rules) and leaders (know when to break them)

🚢 How to lead without all the information (lessons from sailing in high-stakes environments)

💼 How to rebuild a business from administration to £200M order book (earn trust, two words)

🇬🇧 Why UK social conditioning makes it hard to be energy-rich vs American optimism

📊 Why you can't KPI great leadership—it's about being a lighthouse, not hitting metrics

💪 How to find the gift in every challenge (even lymphoma diagnosis)

🎤 Why copying Richard Branson into an Instagram post was the right move

Book recommendations:

Man's Search for Meaning - Viktor Frankl - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Mans-Search-Meaning-Viktor-Frankl/dp/1846041244

Who Moved My Cheese? - Spencer Johnson - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Who-Moved-My-Cheese-Amazing/dp/0091816971

Shine: How to Navigate Life's Curveballs - Paul Adamson (forthcoming)

About the Guest:

Paul Adamson is a leadership and teamwork speaker who spent 25 years as a professional yacht skipper sailing luxury yachts around the world before transitioning into the business world about 15 years ago. His leadership development wasn't theoretical—it was forged at sea where you learn to lead from the front pretty quickly because in high-stakes environments, if you're not leading, you get into issues fast. Leadership at sea means making decisions without perfect information, remaining calm under pressure, and managing your emotional state when lives depend on it.

Connect with Paul Adamson - https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-adamson

--------

Sign up to receive our weekly Curious Leadership newsletter:

https://subscribe.monkhouseandcompany.com

Follow Dominic on LinkedIn:

https://linkedin.com/in/dominicmonkhouse

Chapters:

00:00 Introduction

01:03 Transition from yacht skipper to business leadership

07:45 Managing leadership styles through challenging transitions

15:05 Utilising energy richness and state management

19:00 Emphasising focus, inner dialogue and movement

23:00 The importance of rule-breaking for leadership success

27:00 Virgin Atlantic story – making customers raving fans

34:45 Rebuilding Oyster Yachts from administration to success

39:20 Strategic mindset: Earning trust to build a business

43:00 Achievements and challenges at Oyster Yachts

52:00 Transition from Oyster and personal health challenges

56:30 Navigating a lymphoma diagnosis with a leadership mindset

1:05:30 Paul’s book recommendations and personal insights on leadership

Council estate South London to 30 mergers and acquisitions. No capital, no plan, but always knew wealth was what he wanted. Lee Smith went from DJ to jewellers to law firms to web design and IT—then discovered mergers and acquisitions in 2014 and everything changed. Now he's building two sector groups to £10M in profit, buying businesses at 3-4x multiples and exiting at 7-10x, and he's got some contrarian views that'll make you rethink everything about UK business ownership.

In this episode, Lee reveals why buying 100% of a business is almost always the worst deal structure, why you don't need to understand what a business does to own it successfully, and why by the end of this decade the most valuable asset in Britain will be an SME producing profits. He shares his ethical partnership structure that keeps founders and directors aligned, explains how he bought an HVAC company he barely understands and grew it while only being there one day per week, and why he thinks the UK government is waging war on business owners—making it harder to employ people, easier for rogue employees to sue, and creating a clear choice by 2030: own a business with options and spare cash, or be an employee struggling more than ever.

What you'll learn:

🏢 Why you don't need to understand a business to own it (just need right people in right seats)

💰 How to structure deals that keep founders and key directors aligned (20% founder retention + director equity)

📊 What to look for when buying: £2M+ revenue, second-tier management in place, profitability doesn't matter

🎯 The buy-build-sell playbook: buy at 3-4x EBITDA, build to £10M+ profit, exit at 7-10x

⚠️ Why the UK government is anti-business (more taxes, more regulation, easier to sue companies)

Book recommendations:

Who? - Geoff Smart & Randy Street - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Who-Method-Hiring-Geoff-Smart/dp/0345504194

Think and Grow Rich - Napoleon Hill - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Think-Grow-Rich-Napoleon-Hill/dp/9388423526

Die with Zero - Bill Perkins - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Die-Zero-Getting-Your-Money/dp/0358099765

The Fourth Turning - William Strauss & Neil Howe - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Fourth-Turning-American-Prophecy-Rendezvous/dp/0767900464

About the Guest:

Lee Smith grew up on a council estate in South London with no capital behind him and no plan to wealth—but he always knew wealth was something he wanted to achieve. His career path was unconventional: DJ, jewellers, law firms, then starting his own web design and IT company. In 2014, he discovered mergers and acquisitions, which "completely flipped the switch" in his life. He's now completed 30 M&A transactions and is building two separate sector groups (HVAC/construction and renewable energy) to £10M in profit.

His key message to business owners: the UK government is waging war on individuals through cost-of-living, energy costs, and employment regulations. By 2030, there will be a clear choice—either own a business and have options and spare cash, or be an employee struggling even more than now. His ideal scenario: buy more businesses, make all employees shareholders through EMI schemes, so when they exit, everyone gets a payday that gets them onto the wealth ladder.

Connect with Lee Smith - https://www.linkedin.com/in/leeantonysmith/

--------

Sign up to receive our weekly Scale To Win newsletter:

https://subscribe.monkhouseandcompany.com

Follow Dominic on LinkedIn:

https://linkedin.com/in/dominicmonkhouse

Chapters:

00:00 Introduction

02:03 Views on UK government's impact on business

06:58 Why Lee chose to buy into HVAC sector

08:44 Structuring deals with existing management in mind

12:28 Challenges small businesses face in scaling and compliance

14:36 Critique of UK government’s business policies

20:02 Advice for first-time business buyers

25:11 Offering employee share schemes to improve engagement

31:27 Reflection on challenges like contracting with tier one customers

35:27 Recommended books that influenced Lee’s outlook

37:46 The Fourth Turning's impact on Lee's family planning

Work-life balance is a complete myth for founders and CEOs. The experience myth keeps people pigeonholed. Goals should force your identity change, not the other way around. Eric Partaker—McKinsey consultant turned Skype early team member turned restaurant chain founder turned CEO coach with 1.2M LinkedIn followers—breaks down why everything you've been told about building a successful career and company is backwards.

In this episode, Eric shares why he went from world's worst procrastinator (bought books in 2000, didn't read them until 2010) to super producer, why he lost everything when his restaurant chain went up in smoke during COVID, and why that experience made him a better coach. He also unpacks the cultural differences between US optimism, UK scepticism, and Norwegian Janteloven (the law that says "you shall not think you are anything"), and why the Vikings' entrepreneurial spirit somehow disappeared from modern Norway.

What you'll learn:

⚖️ Why work-life balance is a myth—it's really about work-life satisfaction

🎯 Why going for 10X goals forces identity change (not choosing identity first)

🌍 How cultural attitudes toward ambition differ: US vs UK vs Norway

📈 Why 10X is easier than 10%—and how it fundamentally changes thinking

🏅 Why we don't question Olympic athletes chasing gold medals but judge business people

💼 Why star performers deliver 800% more output than average in complex roles

Book recommendations:

The Now Habit - Neil Fiore - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Now-Habit-Overcoming-Procrastination-Guilt-Free/dp/1585425524

The Five Dysfunctions of a Team - Patrick Lencioni - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Five-Dysfunctions-Team-Leadership-Lencioni/dp/0787960756

Built to Last - Jim Collins & Jerry Porras - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Built-Last-Successful-Visionary-Essentials/dp/0060516402

About the Guest:

Eric Partaker is a CEO coach, mentor, and peak performance expert who built a 1.2M+ following on LinkedIn over the last couple of years despite being 50 years old and "not a social media person" three years ago. His career has been a chain of massive pivots: started as a consultant at McKinsey, joined the early team at Skype (back when people actually used Skype before Riverside), helped with the blitz-scaling that led to a $2-3 billion exit to eBay about 21 years ago, then did a complete pivot to build a Mexican restaurant chain called Chilango.

He went from being the world's worst procrastinator (so bad he bought books on overcoming procrastination in 2000 and didn't read them until 2010) to a super producer after reading The Now Habit by Neil Fiore. He credits Five Dysfunctions of a Team for helping him optimise leadership teams (particularly around avoidance of conflict and artificial harmony) and Built to Last for optimising company performance. His current mission: helping founders and CEOs stop pursuing the myth of balance, go for 10X goals that force identity change, and just have the courage to do whatever that critical thing is they're avoiding right now.

--------

Sign up to receive our weekly Scale To Win newsletter:

https://subscribe.monkhouseandcompany.com

Follow Dominic on LinkedIn:

https://linkedin.com/in/dominicmonkhouse

Chapters:

00:00 Introduction

01:00 Eric's diverse career journey and background

06:02 10x goals and their impact on mindset

09:45 Cultural influences on ambition and success

12:35 Work-life balance vs. work-life satisfaction

18:01 Fascination with achievement and peak performance

22:38 Transition from McKinsey to creating a restaurant chain

28:03 Reflecting on debt and expansion mistakes

33:30 Building leadership teams and hiring strategies

38:43 Importance of reallocating resources and hiring stars

40:42 Understanding and addressing business constraints

42:28 Books that transformed Eric's personal and professional growth

Formal education is becoming irrelevant. The UK is a great place to build a business. These aren't platitudes—they're battle-tested beliefs from someone who spent 20 years in the military, led the UK's COVID testing programme, and is now co-founding Electric Twin with Ben Warner (the PM's former chief data advisor) to build synthetic audiences that let businesses test decisions in seconds rather than weeks.

In this episode, Alex Cooper breaks down why the most memorable periods of your life will be the ones where you had zero balance, why you should hire polymaths with agility and hunger rather than certificates in AI, and how his company uses generative AI to simulate human decision-making with startling accuracy. He also shares lessons from scaling from 0 to 17 people, why founder-led sales matters even when you've never done it before, and why he'd rather die at 93 still working every day than retire to garden.

What you'll learn:

🎓 Why formal education and skills-based qualifications are becoming increasingly irrelevant

🇬🇧 Why London is an underrated place to build a tech business (despite the moaning)

⚖️ Why balance is bullshit—and why your deathbed memories will be from the unbalanced times

🤖 How synthetic audiences let you test business decisions in seconds with real-world accuracy

🚀 Why the OODA loop (Observe, Orientate, Decide, Act) gives decisive competitive advantage

💼 Why founder-led sales is essential even when you've never done sales before

Book recommendations:

The Box - Marc Levinson - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Box-Shipping-Container-Smaller-Economy/dp/0691170819

My War Gone By, I Miss It So - Anthony Lloyd - https://www.amazon.co.uk/War-Gone-Miss-Anthony-Loyd/dp/0140298541

Bad Blood - John Carreyrou - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bad-Blood-Secrets-Silicon-Startup/dp/1509868054

About the Guest:

It was during COVID that Alex met his co-founder Ben Warner, who was the Prime Minister's chief advisor for data and digital. They became friends, and a couple of years after the pandemic, Ben suggested they set up a business together. At the time, Ben had been experimenting with early AI models to try to simulate human decision-making, but the models weren't good enough. With the advent of generative AI, it became possible—and Electric Twin was born. The company combines high-quality seed data, builds out synthetic populations of agents, and uses complex processes powered by commercial LLMs (they don't have their own model) to generate results that match real-world responses. They've run 40,000 evaluations to date.

Electric Twin now has 17 people and works primarily with enterprise clients like News UK (The Times), helping them make decisions about everything from podcast positioning to content strategy to product launches—all in seconds rather than the weeks traditional market research would take. They brought in a head of sales from MongoDB last year who implemented the MEDIC framework with discipline, focusing on setting up long-term relationships rather than rushing to close deals. The company has raised funding, is targeting the US market, and Alex is adamant about maintaining talent density as they scale from 17 to 50 people through what he calls "quite a difficult phase."

Alex is unapologetically elitist—he loves being around super smart people who are the best at their job, which is all he's known for 20 years. He's nearly 50, has no retirement plans, and would rather be like his mentor who came into the House of Lords every day at 93 because "otherwise my brain would rot." He reads voraciously and eclectically (five books on piracy while surfing in Mexico, four books on shipping containers), spends weekends in South Wales mending fences and making cider to physically dislocate from the AI world, and firmly believes the periods of his life he'll remember on his deathbed are the ones where he had no balance whatsoever.

Sign up to receive our weekly Scale To Win newsletter:

https://subscribe.monkhouseandcompany.com

Follow Dominic on LinkedIn:

https://linkedin.com/in/dominicmonkhouse

Chapters:

00:00 Introduction

01:00 Formal education vs lifelong learning in the AI era

04:02 Why balance is overrated and intense focus matters

09:00 From army officer to founder of an AI startup

13:54 Building human behaviour simulations with synthetic audiences

17:17 How generative AI powers accurate real-time decision testing

21:12 COVID, consumer behaviour, and why experts often get it wrong

28:08 Why London is still a top place to start a business

33:18 Lessons from 20 years in the military

37:28 Scaling culture from 17 to 50 employees

42:15 Learning B2B sales and the power of founder-led GTM

47:58 Charisma, fraud, and lessons from Bad Blood and Theranos

Market research used to take four weeks and cost $20,000. Steve Phillips built Zappi to turn that into four hours and $2,000—and he started 12 years ago, long before generative AI made this vision sound obvious. Now, with nearly 300 people and $80 million in revenue, he's challenging his organisation to double revenues in five years without adding headcount by pairing every employee with an AI agent to handle the annoying, time-consuming work.

In this episode, Steve breaks down why entrepreneurs can actually be lazy (in the right way), why you should never hire yourself, why innovation is a mindset rather than an age, and how going from 40 to 140 people in six months was utterly disastrous but created an amazing culture that propelled the business for years. He also shares why he stepped aside as CEO, how he maintains his role as Chief Innovation Officer, and why the future is already here—we're just not utilising AI to do amazing things in business yet.

What you'll learn:

💡 Why entrepreneurs can be lazy—and why doing "work" might be the wrong thing

🚫 Why you should hire for your weaknesses, not people who are just like you

🧠 Why innovation is a mindset at 56, not just for 23-year-olds in garages

🤖 How to pair every employee with an AI agent to automate administrative tasks

📈 Why going from 40 to 140 people in six months crashed productivity for a year

⚙️ How to challenge your organisation to double revenue without increasing headcount

Podcast recommendations:

A16Z (Andreessen Horowitz) - https://a16z.com/podcasts/

Hard Fork - New York Times / Platformer - https://www.nytimes.com/column/hard-fork

All In Podcast - https://www.allinpodcast.co/

About the Guest:

Steve Phillips is the founder and Chief Innovation Officer (and Chair) at Zappi, a consumer insights platform he started 12 years ago with the founding ambition of turning market research projects that took four weeks and cost $20,000 into four hours and $2,000. Zappi was AI-first from the beginning—using old-fashioned "if that, then this" automation to speed up and democratize consumer insights long before generative AI became mainstream. After merging with a South African technology company early on, Steve scaled Zappi to nearly 300 people and approximately $80 million in revenue, still growing at around 15% annually with growth rates now increasing as they focus more on AI deliverables.

The company has raised multiple rounds, brought in a PE firm about three years ago to mostly replace VCs, and subsequently added new senior leaders with different skill sets (like an MIT MBA CEO who thinks very differently than Steve). Zappi had one genuine pivot—moving from automating work for other research companies to building their own IP and data asset. Now they're using AI agents internally for everything from writing quarterly business reviews to creating client proposals, and externally helping clients use their data to generate new product ideas and advertising campaigns. Steve's challenge to the organisation: double revenues in five years without increasing headcount by pairing every employee with an AI agent to eliminate time-consuming administrative tasks.

Sign up to receive our weekly Scale To Win newsletter:

https://subscribe.monkhouseandcompany.com

Follow Dominic on LinkedIn:

https://linkedin.com/in/dominicmonkhouse

Companies claim they're too busy for AI, and leadership teams are bloated and ineffective. The UK's productivity crisis won't be solved by working harder. These aren't controversial opinions, they're the reality Gerry Tombs is seeing as he helps businesses navigate the AI transformation after scaling ClearVision from a garage startup to £7 million in revenue and 100 people before a successful exit three years ago.

In this episode, Gerry breaks down why AI will expose leaders who aren't pulling their weight, why managers will soon oversee hybrid teams of humans and AI agents, and how the millennial generation (29-44) is perfectly positioned to lead in the AI era. He also shares the brutal lessons from scaling ClearVision over 25 years—from staying in hiring too long, to ring-fencing innovation teams, to building enough trust that his leadership team could hold each other accountable rather than relying on him to fire underperformers. And yes, he hit number one in the Sunday Times 100 Best Companies to Work For—but missed the ceremony due to a migraine.

What you'll learn:

🤖 Why companies claiming they're "too busy for AI" are actually just terrified

⚡ How AI agents will work alongside humans in hybrid teams within two years

🎯 Why 50% of senior people could do more with AI—and why the rest will be exposed

📊 The delegate-to-elevate framework: giving AI the work you hate so you can do what matters

👥 Why leadership teams of 6-7 (including the CEO) are optimal for decision-making

🏆 How Tour of Duty hiring creates adult conversations and eliminates surprise resignations

Book recommendations:

The Five Dysfunctions of a Team - Patrick Lencioni - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Five-Dysfunctions-Team-Leadership-Lencioni/dp/0787960756

Raving Fans - Ken Blanchard & Sheldon Bowles - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Raving-Fans-Revolutionary-Approach-Customer/dp/0006530958

Coaching for Performance - John Whitmore - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Coaching-Performance-Principles-Leadership-UPDATED/dp/1473658128

Breath - James Nestor - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Breath-New-Science-Lost-Art/dp/0241289130

Drive - Daniel H. Pink - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Drive-Surprising-Truth-About-Motivates/dp/184767769X

Rocket Fuel - Gino Wickman & Mark C. Winters - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Rocket-Fuel-Visionary-Integrator-Relationship/dp/1941631622

Flourish - Martin Seligman - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Flourish-Visionary-Understanding-Happiness-Well-being/dp/1857885511

The Alliance - Reid Hoffman, Ben Casnocha, Chris Yeh - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Alliance-Managing-Talent-Networked-Age/dp/1625275773

Sign up to receive our weekly Scale To Win newsletter:

https://subscribe.monkhouseandcompany.com

Follow Dominic on LinkedIn:

https://linkedin.com/in/dominicmonkhouse

Most people think AI is overhyped. Nick Holzherr thinks it's drastically undervalued. After selling Whisk to Samsung and scaling it from zero to 120 people across eight time zones, he's now building Gitlaw—an AI agent that creates and reviews legal documents for free, making legal services accessible to small businesses that have been priced out of the market.

In this episode, Nick breaks down why fully remote distributed teams are the most effective way to scale fast, why async should be the default operating system for high-performing companies, and how he's doing the work of 50 people with a team of 15 by putting AI agents to work on everything from code to design to user feedback. He also shares why he promotes from within rather than parachuting in external managers, and how relationships built during one intense week together sustain distributed teams for the entire year.

What you'll learn:

🌍 Why hiring globally in a 3-4 hour time zone beats limiting yourself to local talent

🤖 How AI is undervalued—and why most businesses are only scratching the surface

⚡ Why async work should be your default operating system, not just a productivity hack

👥 How one intense week together physically sustains remote team relationships for a year

💼 Why legal services are fundamentally unfair—and how AI can level the playing field

🚀 How to do the work of 50 people with 15 by orchestrating AI agents effectively

Who should listen:

✔️ Founder-CEOs scaling distributed or remote teams and navigating hiring challenges

✔️ Tech leaders implementing AI and trying to understand its true potential beyond hype

✔️ Anyone building products where top 5% talent makes the difference between success and failure

✔️ Leaders interested in async-first cultures and alternatives to office-based work

Book recommendations:

Poor Charlie's Almanac - Charles T. Munger - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Poor-Charlies-Almanack-Expanded-3rd/dp/1578645018

Four Thousand Weeks - Oliver Burkeman - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Four-Thousand-Weeks-Management-Mortals/dp/1847924522

How to Win Friends and Influence People - Dale Carnegie - https://www.amazon.co.uk/How-Win-Friends-Influence-People/dp/0091906814

Podcast recommendation:

Lenny's Podcast - Lenny Rachitsky - https://www.lennyspodcast.com/

About the Guest:

Nick Holzherr is the founder of Gitlaw, an AI agent platform that helps small businesses create and review legal documents for free—democratizing access to legal services that have historically been too expensive or too slow for SMEs. Before Gitlaw, he founded Whisk, a recipe and food tech company he scaled from zero to 120 people distributed across eight time zones (minus eight to plus eight GMT) before selling it to Samsung in 2019, where he stayed for seven years.

He's a strong believer that AI's value is massively undervalued despite stock market hype, that async work should be the default for high-performing companies, and that legal documents will become 100 times cheaper and 10 times faster within one to two years. Nick has built his recent companies entirely as fully remote distributed teams, having learned that trying to hire top 5% specialized talent locally is nearly impossible unless you're paying Google or Facebook rates. Instead, he hires the best people globally within a 3-4 hour time zone, brings everyone together physically once a year for an intense week of relationship-building, and orchestrates AI agents to amplify what his lean team can accomplish.

GitLaw:

https://git.law/?utm_source=Interview&utm_medium=Podcasts&utm_campaign=Curious_Leadership

Sign up to receive our weekly Curious Leadership newsletter:

https://subscribe.monkhouseandcompany.com

Follow Dominic on LinkedIn:

https://linkedin.com/in/dominicmonkhouse

Chapters:

00:00 Introduction

01:04 Nick’s background in startups, investment, and launching GitLaw

03:05 Why AI will make legal work cheaper and faster

07:09 The case for async work as an operating system

10:01 Async culture as the foundation for AI integration

12:46 Tools and rituals for managing high-output remote teams

19:46 Why most companies underestimate AI’s real capabilities

23:00 Using AI to 10x output without bloating team size

25:58 Making legal services more accessible through GitLaw

27:22 Leveraging different AI models for specific tasks

29:45 Risk of AI bias, hallucination, and misplaced trust

32:11 Timeless books that shaped Nick’s thinking and leadership

35:33 Promoting from within vs parachuting external leaders

37:26 How shared history and company culture drive better leadership

From global finance to eco-cleaning, regenerative farming, and rethinking entire systems — Mark Jankovich doesn’t do incremental change.

He believes we’re living through a full-scale reset — and entrepreneurs have a responsibility to lead it.

In this episode, Mark shares why climate change isn’t a mass participation problem, why consumers shouldn’t be asked to make hard choices at all, and why some products — from bleach to diesel engines — should simply disappear.

You’ll hear how Delphis Eco was born from a moment of clarity on a family holiday, what he’s learned from two decades of being ahead of the curve, and why broken systems like farming, education, and climate must be fixed together — not in isolation.

This is a provocative, systems-level conversation about leadership, responsibility, and designing a future where doing the right thing is the default.

What you’ll learn:

🌍 Why climate change messaging fails — and why it’s not a problem for the masses to solve

⚙️ How removing bad choices entirely is more effective than asking people to “do better”

🧴 Why bleach, virgin plastic, and outdated products should stop being sold

🚗 The myths around EVs, infrastructure, and resistance to change

🏢 How to build a sustainable business by letting systems and machines do the work

🌱 Why soil health, education, and climate are deeply interconnected

📈 What it’s really like to build a business 20 years ahead of the trend

Who should listen:

• Founders and CEOs building businesses with sustainability at their core

• Leaders frustrated by slow progress on climate and systemic change

• Entrepreneurs interested in policy, regulation, and government advisory

• Anyone curious about regenerative agriculture, food systems, and land use

• Builders who believe the next wave of innovation will be structural, not cosmetic

Chapters

00:00 Introduction

02:00 Mark’s worldview on cataclysmic change and entrepreneurial optimism

05:02 Systems change starts with cutting off harmful choices

10:03 Lessons from Dubai and the supermarket’s slow death

15:20 The origin story of Delphis Eco and quitting finance

17:37 Surviving 20 brutal years to finally see traction

19:07 Shifting from B2B to retail and staying lean

23:42 Letting tech run the business and outsourcing smartly

25:46 Hiring for attitude and losing good people as you grow

30:42 Rewilding unprofitable farmland for soil and social good

34:07 How farming, education and nature can solve each other

39:12 Book and podcast recs that shaped Mark’s thinking

40:52 The power of paradigm shifts and the coming wave

Book & media recommendations:

• Harmony — HRH The Prince of Wales: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0007413639

• Green Swans — John Elkington: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1785786431

• The Ministry for the Future — Kim Stanley Robinson: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0356508841

• Future Noughts (podcast) — John Richardson: https://www.comedy.co.uk/podcasts/future_noughts/

About the Guest:

Mark Jankovich is the founder and CEO of Delphis Eco, one of the UK’s leading manufacturers of eco-friendly cleaning products.

A former City finance executive, Mark now builds systems that challenge the hidden environmental damage of everyday industries.

He also works with the UK Treasury and leads projects in regenerative agriculture — connecting corporates, small farms, education reform and nature recovery.

📩 Sign up to the Scale To Win newsletter:

https://subscribe.monkhouseandcompany.com

🔗 Follow Dominic on LinkedIn:

https://linkedin.com/in/dominicmonkhouse

From a council estate in Oxford to a £100 million exit by age 37. Andrew Hulbert's journey isn't a polished Silicon Valley success story—it's raw, real, and packed with hard-won lessons about what actually matters when you're building something from nothing.

In this episode, Andrew breaks down the decade-long grind of scaling Pareto from his bedroom to a 500-person, £50 million turnover business serving the world's biggest tech companies. He shares why balance is bollocks when you're building, why bright yellow McLarens don't buy happiness, why you should retire early if you can, and how a council estate upbringing gave him the hunger and community mindset that fueled everything. This is a masterclass in bootstrapping, knowing when to go all-in, and actually achieving the goal you set out to hit.

What you'll learn:

💷 Why money doesn't buy happiness—but time does, and how an exit gives you that back

🎯 The truth about balance: why it's bollocks when you're scaling (and when it matters again)

🚀 How to build a £50M business with no funding, no backers, and no marketing budget

⚡ Why you don't need expensive marketing to make a massive splash in your market

👔 Why corporate life doesn't work for everyone—and why that's perfectly fine

🏆 How changing your peer group at 16 completely altered the trajectory of Andrew's life

Who should listen:

Bootstrapped founder-CEOs grinding through the early stages of scale

Anyone in corporate wondering if they should take the leap into entrepreneurship

Leaders thinking about exits, life after the business, and what actually matters

Entrepreneurs from non-traditional backgrounds looking for proof it's possible

Book recommendations:

The E-Myth Revisited - Michael E. Gerber - https://www.amazon.co.uk/E-Myth-Revisited-Small-Businesses-About/dp/0887307280

The Escape Manifesto - Escape the City - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Escape-Manifesto-Freedom-Meaningful-Living/dp/1783521430

Beer Mat Entrepreneur - Mike Southon & Chris West - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Beermat-Entrepreneur-Turn-Good-Great/dp/0273708074

About the Guest:

Andrew Hulbert is the founder of Pareto, a business he started from his bedroom at age 27 with nothing but a laptop and an idea. Over the next decade, he scaled Pareto to £50 million in annual turnover and 500 staff, serving some of the world's biggest tech companies before orchestrating a £100 million exit.

Andrew finished working at 37 and has spent the last two years decompressing on a farm in Oxfordshire, reconnecting with his wife, kids, and the life he built outside the business. He's known for his unfiltered honesty about the realities of entrepreneurship, his belief that balance is a myth when you're scaling, and his conviction that money buys time—not happiness. He's also refreshingly candid about buying (and quickly selling) a bright yellow McLaren that made him feel like a "bus wanker" from The Inbetweeners.

Sign up to receive our weekly Curious Leadership newsletter:

https://subscribe.monkhouseandcompany.com

Follow Dominic on LinkedIn:

https://linkedin.com/in/dominicmonkhouse

Chapters:

00:00 Introduction

01:00 From council estate to $100M exit in 10 years

03:56 Five things he believes that most people don’t

07:34 What time wealth really looks like now

12:14 Balance is bollocks and why he went all-in

15:00 Zero marketing budget but still won the industry

18:09 Donuts, logos and the power of experiential sales

21:04 Founder should never stop selling big opportunities

24:58 Social media success doesn’t equal real success

27:17 Parents as hidden entrepreneurs and early hustle lessons

29:12 How he built a loyal leadership team from scratch

35:54 Networking done right and the secret power of downtime

38:27 Three book recs for first-time founders

42:23 Escaping the trap and how his path diverged

As 2025 draws to a close, we're replaying some of the show's standout conversations from this year. This episode with James Kerr remains one of the most thought-provoking discussions. Whether you're hearing it for the first time or revisiting the insights, there's plenty here to fuel your leadership thinking as we head into the new year.

James Kerr is a writer, coach, and consultant who specialises in leadership, culture and mindset in high-performing teams. His global bestseller, 'Legacy' has been described by The Daily Telegraph as “the modern version of Vince Lombardi’s guides to coaching”, saying that "for those searching for genuine keys to team culture, it is manna from heaven".

James has worked with Tier One Special Forces, the English Premier League, international cricket, Formula One, America’s Cup, Major League Baseball, and Olympic pathways. He has guest lectured at Westpoint Military Academy, Sandhurst and Eton College and written for the BBC, Independent, Times and Guardian. His corporate clients have included Google, Spotify, Goldman Sachs, McKinsey & Co, Adidas, and Arc'teryx.

In this frank discussion, Dominic explores the synergy between individual leadership and collective vision, and the critical role of cultural evolution in maintaining relevance and potency. James shares how the iconic “Sweeping the Shed” mantra, revolutionised team culture at the All Blacks, and how these principles can be applied beyond the rugby field into business and everyday life.

Discover

The Role of Values in Sustainable Success: By embracing values such as humility, responsibility, and respect, the All Blacks created a foundation for long-term success, demonstrating that values-driven cultures outperform talent-driven ones.

The Power of Rituals and Symbols: The enduring significance of the Haka demonstrates how rituals and symbols can reinforce identity, unity, and purpose within a team.

Leadership Across Domains: The principles of leadership and cultural excellence are universal and can be applied across diverse fields, demonstrated by James’ work in sports, military, and business.

Neuroscience and Leadership: The interplay between neuroscience and performance underpins how understanding the brain's responses to fear and confidence can inspire leaders to strike a balance between challenges and support, fostering growth and accountability.

Connect with James - https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-kerr-09a70bb

Connect with Dominic - https://www.linkedin.com/in/dominicmonkhouse

Book recommendations:

Viktor Frankl - Man's Search For Meaning - https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/347571/mans-search-for-meaning-by-viktor-e-frankl/9781846046384

Daniel Kahneman - Thinking, Fast and Slow - https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/56314/thinking-fast-and-slow-by-kahneman-daniel/9780141033570

Daniel Coyle - The Culture Code - https://danielcoyle.com/the-culture-code/

Jim Collins - Good To Great - https://www.jimcollins.com/article_topics/articles/good-to-great.html#articletop

James' book Legacy is out now - https://danielcoyle.com/the-culture-code/

Dominic’s book Mind Your F**king Business is out now - https://www.monkhouseandcompany.com/mind-your-fking-business/

--------

Sign up to receive our weekly Curious Leadership newsletter: https://subscribe.monkhouseandcompany.com

Follow Dominic on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dominicmonkhouse

Most service businesses drown in the chaos between what customers ask for and what they actually need. Kit Cox has spent over a decade building Enate to solve exactly that, an orchestration platform that helps B2B service providers cut through vagueness, assemble data, and deliver consistently exceptional service powered by both AI and human workforce.

In this episode, Kit breaks down the three stages of service delivery, why culture trumps everything else as a founder, and how radical honesty, not "fake it till you make it" builds the customer relationships that actually last. He also shares why the best hires might have learned their most valuable skills in drama class, and why lawyers and IT departments as we know them might not survive the next decade.

What you'll learn:

🎯 The three critical stages of service delivery and where AI actually makes the difference

💡 Why culture is the single most important thing a founder can build

🤝 How brutal honesty creates stronger customer relationships than polished salesmanship

🧠 The "thousand types of clever" needed to build a company (and why education only tests two of them)

⚡ How to systematise hiring so you're finding values and attitude, not just skills

🔍 Why "what are you most proud of?" reveals more about a candidate than any competency question

Who should listen:

Founder-CEOs scaling B2B service or SaaS businesses, particularly those in the 50-100+ employee range

CTOs and COOs managing complex service delivery operations

Leaders implementing AI and automation in service environments

Anyone trying to move from bespoke chaos to scalable, repeatable customer success

Podcast recommendations:

13 Minutes to the Moon - BBC World Service - https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w13xttx2

Mindscape - Sean Carroll - https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/

About the Guest:

Kit Cox is the founder and CTO of Enate, an orchestration platform helping B2B service providers deliver exceptional services powered by AI and human teams. A manufacturing engineer by training and software engineer by passion, Kit has spent over a decade building Enate through three distinct phases, from bespoke services to a focused product for BPO providers, and now to a full-scale platform supporting service delivery in the age of generative AI.

Under his leadership, Enate has grown to approximately 100 people across the UK and India, achieving 40% year-on-year growth and reaching profitability in 2023. The company secured investment from Scottish Equity Partners in 2023 and now serves some of the world's largest service providers with a laser-focused account-based approach targeting just 100 key companies.

Kit is known for his commitment to culture-first leadership, his belief that successful customer relationships require radical honesty, and his conviction that it takes "a thousand different types of clever" to build a successful company, most of which aren't tested in traditional education. He champions curiosity as a hiring requirement and structures his company to act as one unified team across geographies, with India serving as a profit centre rather than just a cost-reduction play.

Sign up to receive our weekly Curious Leadership newsletter:

https://subscribe.monkhouseandcompany.com

Follow Dominic on LinkedIn:

https://linkedin.com/in/dominicmonkhouse

Chapters:

00:00 Introduction

01:42 The three lives of the business and early AI pivot

05:12 Five contrarian truths Kit believes about business and tech

07:56 Enate’s scale, global team breakdown and revenue growth

12:10 Why culture is a founder’s most vital responsibility

14:02 How values are taught, lived and kept alive at Enate

19:15 Brutal honesty as the foundation of long-term clients

22:05 How honesty leads to transformation and customer trust

26:16 Drama skills, sales success and the many types of clever

30:00 Hiring for values over credentials and traditional education

33:58 Why lawyers and IT departments are headed for extinction

37:44 The shift from IT-managed apps to integrated business tech

39:16 Scaling via customer success and embedded partnerships

42:36 Sales strategy, ABM focus and long buying cycles

44:46 Hiring systems, culture fit, and essential interview questions

49:04 Where Kit learns: podcasts, YouTube and curiosity sources

Some industries are easy to disrupt. Infrastructure isn’t one of them. But by focusing on adoption over features, clarity over complexity, and tempo over comfort, Shelley Copsey has built FYLD into a company reshaping how frontline operations work.

In this episode, she breaks down the real levers of transformation: making work visible, removing friction, earning trust in high-risk environments, and rebuilding leadership as the company scales. Her insights go far beyond infrastructure - they’re a blueprint for any CEO trying to grow a company inside a resistant or complex market.

What you’ll learn:

🔍 The root causes of productivity breakdowns in scaling organisations

🎯 How to build products teams genuinely adopt and rely on

⚠️ Common failure points in organisational transformation — and how to overcome them

⚡ Practical strategies for maintaining operational tempo as your company grows

🧩 How to evolve leadership roles to match the organisation’s next stage

🛰️ Why organisational visibility unlocks high-quality, high-speed decisions

Who should listen:

1. Founder–CEOs and execs scaling teams, product, and operations
2. Leaders driving change in complex or fast-growing organisations
3. Investors and operators focused on AI-enabled execution and productivity

Book recommendations:

Any Human Heart - William Boyd

Amp It Up - Frank Slootman

Four Thousand Weeks - Oliver Burkeman

About the Guest:

Shelley Copsey is the co-founder and CEO of FYLD, an AI-powered fieldwork platform transforming operations for major infrastructure and utilities companies. She leads the company’s rapid scale-up across multiple regions, helping organisations deliver safer, more efficient, data-driven fieldwork.

With 25+ years across infrastructure, emerging tech, and organisational transformation, Shelley has founded, grown, and led multiple enterprise SaaS ventures. Her experience includes building GeoSLAM into a global geospatial leader (acquired by Faro), serving on the founding board of Coviu through its pandemic hypergrowth, and contributing to several CSIRO spinouts, including Emesent and PaidRight.

A Chartered Accountant with senior roles at CSIRO’s Data61, PwC, and KPMG, she has completed executive education at MIT and Stanford focused on AI and innovation. Her work has been recognised by EY Entrepreneur of the Year, Sifted 100, Tech Nation Future Fifty, and Startups.co.uk’s Hottest UK AI Companies.

Shelley is known for her leadership in AI adoption, scaling SaaS in complex industries, and delivering technology with real operational impact.

Sign up to receive our weekly Curious Leadership newsletter: https://subscribe.monkhouseandcompany.com

Follow Dominic on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dominicmonkhouse

Chapters:

00:02:04 - AI, Skill Shortages, and Industry Fallacies

00:04:25 - Worker Productivity and Motivation

00:06:34 - Shelley’s Move to the UK and Founding Story

00:08:24 - FYLD’s Growth Journey and Market Traction

00:09:25 - AI’s Societal Impact and Future of Work

00:11:45 - How FYLD’s Technology Works

00:13:55 - ROI: Productivity vs. Safety

00:15:28 - Adoption vs. Innovation in Construction

00:17:35 - Productivity Decline and Safety Regulations

00:20:22 - Scaling and CEO Time Management

00:22:08 - Leadership Team Evolution

00:23:58 - Board Composition and Support

00:28:05 - Systems and Scaling: CRM and Sales Process

00:31:30 - Go-to-Market Strategy and Enterprise Sales

00:33:58 - Hiring A-Players and Culture Fit

00:36:29 - Handling Toxic Hires and Fast Exits

00:36:52 - Book Recommendations

00:39:45 - Maintaining Culture During Growth

00:41:05 - Founder’s Role in Induction and Culture

00:42:17 - Work-Life Balance and Passion

Most enterprise AI projects crash long before take-off. Hype, bad data, cultural resistance, and “enterprise chaos” stop even the biggest organisations from getting value.

In this episode, Dominic speaks with Steve Salvin, founder & CEO of Aiimi, a data and AI company helping large organisations connect the messy, disconnected worlds of data, content, conversations, and operational history - and finally extract the insights buried inside.

Steve explains why most companies are still on “the first rung of the ladder,” why linking LLMs to enterprise data often backfires, and why the real breakthroughs come from agentic systems doing work humans can’t (or won’t). He also breaks down how to drive adoption inside your own teams, build a culture that celebrates experimentation and failure, and reinvent your leadership style as your company scales.

If you want to replace AI hype with genuine enterprise value - start here.

What you’ll learn:

💡 Why most organisations' data is too messy for GenAI to be useful

💡 The real difference between adaptive intelligence and token-prediction tools

💡 Why culture, not technology, derails adoption

💡 Power tools, champions, and performance management

💡 When to stop doing the work and start running the business

💡 The questions that reveal whether a candidate will raise the bar

Who should listen:

Founder-CEOs scaling from 30–150 people, CTOs/COOs trying to make AI stick, data/AI leaders, transformation teams, and operators frustrated that their organisation is “doing AI” without getting any value from it.

Book recommendations:

Feel The Fear And Do It Anyway - Susan Jeffers

Fierce Conversations - Susan Scott

Hope Is Not A Strategy - Rick Page

About the Guest:

Steve Salvin is the founder and CEO of Aiimi, a leading British AI company which he has bootstrapped since its launch in 2013. Their tech helps teams find, make sense of and retain control over their data, and is used by various FTSE100 companies as well as the likes of the FCA, PwC, and the UK government. Having worked in tech since the 80s, Steve is a serial entrepreneur and is passionate about building AI that empowers users and gives them more control.

Sign up to receive our weekly Curious Leadership newsletter: https://subscribe.monkhouseandcompany.com

Follow Dominic on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dominicmonkhouse

Chapters

00:01:44 - Aiimi's Founding Vision

00:02:52 - Disconnected Corporate Data

00:04:07 - Unlocking Value from Corporate Conversations

00:06:20 - AI Hype vs. Reality in Enterprises

00:08:45 - AI: Then and Now

00:11:36 - Practical AI Use Cases in Enterprises

00:13:35 - Extracting Knowledge from Calls and Messages

00:15:24 - AI’s Impact on Jobs and Productivity

00:17:25 - AI Adoption: Leadership & Cultural Change

00:20:01 - Engineering Teams & AI Power Tools

00:23:09 - Curiosity as a Leadership Requirement

00:24:34 - Celebrating Failure

00:27:26 - Agile, Experimentation, and Failing Fast

00:28:09 - Steve’s CEO Evolution & Leadership Lessons

00:32:02 - Book Recommendations

Can optimism really scale a company?

In this episode, Dominic chats to Dan Williams, CEO of Orean Personal Care, to explore what it really takes to lead through chaos - from doubling revenue in tough markets to leading with vulnerability, optimism, and Ironman-level discipline.

Under Dan’s leadership, Orean has grown from £3M to £30M turnover, becoming one of the UK’s fastest-growing contract manufacturers in the beauty industry — all while achieving B Corp certification and building a culture rooted in learning and care.

What you’ll learn:

💪 How training for an Ironman reshaped Dan’s mindset as a CEO

💡 The power of optimism when leading through adversity

❤️ Why vulnerability builds trust faster than authority ever could

🏭 How Orean scaled without losing its culture or values

📈 What it takes to grow sustainably - from £3M to £30M

If you’re a founder or CEO navigating the messy middle of growth — trying to scale your team, your systems, and your mindset — this is a masterclass in how to stay human while building something extraordinary.

Book recommendations:

Unbeatable Mind - Mark Divine

The Obstacle is the Way - Ryan Holiday

Start With Why - Simon Sinek

Man's Search for Meaning - Viktor E Frankl

About the guest:

Dan Williams is the CEO of Orean Personal Care, a UK-based contract manufacturer producing premium skincare, haircare, and wellness products for some of the world’s most innovative beauty brands.

Under his leadership, Orean has grown tenfold in revenue and achieved B Corp certification, balancing profit with purpose.

A lifelong endurance athlete, Dan brings his Ironman mindset into business — combining optimism, resilience, and relentless learning to build a company culture defined by progress, not perfection.

Sign up to receive our weekly Curious Leadership newsletter: https://subscribe.monkhouseandcompany.com

Follow Dominic on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dominicmonkhouse

Chapters:

00:01:00 - Dan Williams: Background and Personal Life

00:01:32 - Business Growth Journey

00:03:39 - The Importance of Optimism

00:04:53 - Vulnerability as a Strength in Leadership

00:06:44 - Challenges of Turnarounds and Maintaining Energy

00:08:24 - The Role of Sports in Personal Development

00:10:42 - Achieving Goals Through Determination

00:12:05 - The Impact of Belief and Support

00:13:22 - Leadership and Management Styles

00:16:03 - Promoting from Within vs. Hiring Externally

00:18:05 - Succession Planning and Employee Development

00:21:06 - Overview of Orean's Business Model

00:23:34 - Curiosity and Understanding Customer Needs

00:27:14 - Establishing a Five-Year Vision

00:30:02 - Building a Strategy for Growth

00:32:29 - Evolving Leadership Team Dynamics

00:33:09 - Time Management and Work-Life Balance

35:00.00 - Navigating Challenges in Leadership

37:19.00 - Balancing Passion and Time Management as a CEO

42:13.00 - Finding Balance Between Passion and Life

43:19.00 - Effective Hiring Strategies and Lessons Learned

45:23.00 - Mastering the Art of Interviewing

49:02.00 - Book Recommendations

AI hype is everywhere - but most of it is just noise. This episode cuts through it.

Dominic digs into what real artificial intelligence actually looks like with Daniel Hulme, Chief AI Officer at WPP and founder of Satalia and Conscium.

They explore why most so-called “AI projects” are really just automation in disguise, how to spot where genuine adaptive intelligence can unlock value, and what’s coming next - from synthetic audiences that test creative before launch, to the race toward conscious machines.

What you’ll learn:

1. Why most “AI” isn’t intelligent - and how to tell the difference
2. Where companies are misinvesting in generative tools
3. How WPP uses AI to transform creativity and decision-making
4. Why adaptive systems (not shiny models) are the real future of business
5. How Daniel thinks about consciousness, empathy, and what humanity looks like in an AI-powered world

Book recommendations:

Behave - Robert Sapolsky

Surviving AI - Calum Chace

Genesis - Craig Mundie & Eric Schmidt

About the Guest:

Dr. Daniel Hulme is one of the UK’s leading voices in applied AI, ethics, and technology.

He’s Chief AI Officer at WPP, where he leads strategy and deployment of AI across 100,000 people, and Founder & CEO of Satalia, the AI company he started from his PhD and later sold to WPP for a reported $100 million.

Daniel recently co-founded Conscium, an AI safety company that tests and verifies AI agents - and is exploring whether machines could soon become conscious.

He holds a PhD in Artificial Intelligence from UCL, where he’s also Entrepreneur in Residence, and was named by AI Magazine as one of the Top 10 Chief AI Officers globally.

Who should listen:

CMOs/CEOs/COOs, data/AI leaders, product & strategy teams, and founders deciding where to place AI bets (and what not to build in-house).

Sign up to receive our weekly Curious Leadership newsletter: https://subscribe.monkhouseandcompany.com

Follow Dominic on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dominicmonkhouse

Fundraising playbooks often skip the messy middle. This one doesn’t.

In this panel episode, three founder–CEOs who actually closed rounds in the last year unpack how fundraising in the UK really works - from brutal pre‑seed rejections to Series A droughts, and everything in between.

They break down the tactics that moved term sheets, the traps that wasted weeks, and how to run a tight process: negotiating with leverage, surviving due diligence, and choosing investors you’ll still want to text when the wheels wobble.

We get into ARR “magic numbers”, family offices, co‑leads, board control, and why capital = time - so if you’re going to raise, spend it to move faster.

What You’ll Learn -

• Running a process: staged “sexy → deep” data rooms, deadlines, partner‑first intros, FOMO at events like SaaStock.
• Numbers that matter: why $5m and $10m ARR are real gates for many funds; how fund size dictates your exit math.
• Investor fit: difference between US vs EU/UK funds, VCTs, growth equity, family offices - and what each expects from you.
• Negotiation & leverage: controlling access, not sending the deck without a meeting, co‑lead trade‑offs, when to push back.
• Due diligence without burnout: what to prepare, what to outsource, and why you still need extra hands even if you’re “organised”.
• People and pace: raising to move faster (recruiters, senior hires), opening in the US, and hiring outside London.



About the Guests -

Jo Saxby- Co‑Founder, Spruce

Software for heat‑pump installers; accelerating decarbonisation of buildings. Latest raise £3m+; ARR moved from hundreds of £k to ~£1m run‑rate by Christmas. Pre‑empted round, sequencing, and pitching smarter.

Paul Archer - CEO & Founder, Duel

Enterprise brand‑advocacy platform powering growth via passionate fans for top fashion/beauty/retail brands. Recently raised $16m; ~$4m ARR at raise, targeting $10m ARR near term. Co‑lead lessons, NYC expansion, beachhead strategy.

John Readman - Founder & CEO, ASK BOSCO®

AI marketing & e‑commerce analytics. Raised £4.1m from a VCT; ~£3m ARR. Four‑day week with full pay/benefits; board structuring before the round; due‑diligence war stories and wins.

Sign up to receive our weekly Curious Leadership newsletter:  https://subscribe.monkhouseandcompany.com

Follow Dominic on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dominicmonkhouse 

Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts: 

https://link.cohostpodcasting.com/52495078-fc00-41b8-a42e-9371bb2fa3e0?d=sZwdKMGh4

Aytekin Tank - founder & CEO of Jotform, host of the AI Agents Podcast, and bestselling author of Automate Your Busywork - shares how he grew Jotform from a developer’s pain point into a 700‑person automation company serving 35M+ users. He explains why Jotform chose to replace itself with AI before someone else did, how users steered them from “AI that fills forms” to AI customer‑service agents, and why AI is the fourth tech revolution after PC, internet, and mobile. His north star: build tools that make people’s lives easier and give them time back.

What You’ll Learn -

• Why “disrupt yourself with AI” is a defensible strategy for leaders
• Jotform’s evolution: Forms → Sign (e‑sign), Apps (no‑code mobile apps), Tables, workflows
• Real support gains from AI agents (resolution rate jumps, faster response times, redeploying humans to higher‑value work)
• Practical channels working today: Gmail drafts, Instagram DMs, web chat, presentation agents
• Leadership lessons: fix the bottleneck, ship MVPs, learn from customers, scale with curiosity

Book Recommendations -

Creative Selection - Ken Kocienda

The Goal - Eliyahu Goldratt

No Man’s Land - Doug Tatum

About Aytekin Tank -

Founder & CEO of Jotform (2006 → 35M+ users). Host of the AI Agents Podcast. Bestselling author and regular contributor to Medium, Fast Company, and Entrepreneur. Began as a software developer in New York automating repetitive web forms - sparked the idea for Jotform. Expanded the platform with Jotform Sign, Jotform Apps, and Jotform AI Agents that help users complete forms, answer questions, and get instant, on‑brand support.

Sign up to receive our weekly Curious Leadership newsletter:  https://subscribe.monkhouseandcompany.com

Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/monkhouse-and-company

https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/curiousleadership

Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts: 

https://link.cohostpodcasting.com/52495078-fc00-41b8-a42e-9371bb2fa3e0?d=sZwdKMGh4

What if the secret to skyrocketing your business lies not just in sales, but in understanding your customers on a deeper level? In this episode of Curious Leadership, Dominic Monkhouse chats with James Peach, award winning speaker, investor and brand marketing expert whose portfolio includes roles at Innocent, Uber, and Vinted, about customer obsession, and how it shapes brand marketing strategies that resonate and influence buyer perceptions. 

James dives head first into the very essence of brand marketing, how it transcends mere promotion to become a powerful tool for problem-solving and emotional engagement. Hear how effective brand marketing can transform what customers think about a business, driving loyalty and growth, and how the greatest challenge impacting every business lies in measuring brand impact versus direct sales metrics.

Discover the vital collaboration between both brand and growth teams and how clear purpose is essential for motivating employees to enhance organisational efficiency - a principle not just applicable to large corporations but impacts all businesses, regardless of size or industry. Reflecting on his scale-up experience, James shares how fast-paced decision making can dramatically influence brand perception and the importance of maintaining a customer obsession throughout the journey.

James's story is not just confined to corporate boardrooms and beanbags; it crosses over into global adventures and personal growth by pushing himself to the max - 2 years of solo cycling across the world, mirroring his leadership philosophy - embrace discomfort for growth and leverage experience for success.

Book recommendations:

Good to Great - Jim Collins

Radical Candor - Kim Scott

When the Dust Settles - Lucy Easthope

What Got You Here Won't Get You There - Marshall Goldsmith

Sign up to receive our weekly Curious Leadership newsletter:  https://subscribe.monkhouseandcompany.com

Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/monkhouse-and-company

https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/curiousleadership

Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts: https://link.cohostpodcasting.com/52495078-fc00-41b8-a42e-9371bb2fa3e0?d=sZwdKMGh4

What happens when you lead three HR tech brands through growth, acquisition, and the AI revolution?

Phil Coxon is in the thick of it.

In this episode, Dominic is joined by Phil Coxon, Managing Director of Breathe, Elmo UK, and RotorGeek - three HR and workforce management platforms tackling different ends of the market.

Phil shares what he’s learned scaling global businesses like Criteo and Mindbody, and how he’s now applying those lessons in the world of SME and enterprise HR software. From sales strategy and product orchestration to company culture and AI integration, this episode dives deep into what it takes to lead through disruption and transformation.

Phil also discusses how Breathe is deploying Gemini AI internally, how they’re navigating shifting regulation, and why whiteboard sales still beat PowerPoint pitches every time.

• Scaling Across Markets: How Phil navigates leading three brands (Breathe, Elmo UK, and RotorGeek) that serve wildly different customer profiles—from micro-SMBs to global enterprises.
• Whiteboard Sales Magic: Why abandoning PowerPoint in favour of live co-creation on a whiteboard leads to the most memorable and successful sales pitches.
• The AI Assistant Mindset: How Breathe is embedding Gemini into daily workflows, from sales to implementation, and why every employee is encouraged to spend an hour a day with AI.
• Security and Trust in AI: The rigorous compliance approach Phil takes to integrating AI in HR—where data sensitivity is non-negotiable.
• Driving Sales Without Demand: Why great sales today means educating customers who weren’t planning to buy—and how regulation is helping create urgency.
• From IPO to Impact: Phil’s reflections on scaling Critéo from $30M to $2.3B, leading teams in Manhattan and across the globe, and what stuck with him.
• Cultural Synergy After Acquisition: Lessons in merging different business cultures without breaking what works—from emergency ward scheduling to HR platforms.
• Mandatory Training Saves Lives: How small steps like cyber security and equality training aren’t just box-ticking—they can protect 147-year-old companies from collapse.
• The Fast-Follow Product Strategy: Why speeding up the delivery of customer-requested features is Breathe’s north star—and how AI-generated code will make it happen.

Phil Coxon is the Managing Director of Breathe, Elmo UK, and RotorGeek. With a background in global SaaS, adtech, and scaling tech companies, Phil now leads a suite of HR products focused on small businesses through to large-scale enterprise clients.

Key Topics Covered:

• Why culture is the key to post-acquisition success
• How AI is supercharging sales, engineering, and implementation
• What it takes to sell HR tools to buyers who aren’t looking
• The future of engineering with code-generating AI
• Why clarity beats complexity in modern leadership

Where to Find Phil:

• LinkedIn – Phil Coxon

• The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey
• The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead
• Dark Matter by Blake Crouch

--------

Sign up to receive our weekly newsletter:

https://subscribe.monkhouseandcompany.com

Follow us on LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/company/monkhouse-and-company

https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/curiousleadership

Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts: 

https://link.cohostpodcasting.com/52495078-fc00-41b8-a42e-9371bb2fa3e0?d=sZwdKMGh4

Ivo Dimitrov is co-founder and Chief Venture Officer at Finum, a neobank and financial solutions provider for SMEs and freelancers across Europe. Previously serving as CPO for five years, Ivo transformed his role to focus on high-risk, high-reward products, particularly AI accounting solutions. Before Finum, he co-founded a startup incubator (before the term existed) that launched hundreds of products, including the successful Modul Bank, now a top-three fast-growing SME bank in Russia. Based in Berlin, Ivo brings over a decade of fintech and product development experience to building the future of AI-powered business tools.

In this episode, Dominic explores the evolution from traditional product management to venture-focused innovation with Ivo, who's pioneering AI accounting solutions that promise to revolutionise how SMEs handle their finances. From his unique "Chief Venture Officer" role to the strategic decision to orchestrate rather than build AI models, discover how Finum is creating proactive AI agents that handle accounting tasks automatically while ensuring human oversight and trust.

The conversation delves into the psychology of AI adoption, the importance of conversational UI design, and why the future belongs to companies that can integrate seamlessly into emerging AI platforms rather than compete with them. Ivo shares hard-won lessons from launching AI products in regulated industries and explains why "storytellers" are more valuable than ML engineers in today's AI landscape.

• Orchestration Over Creation: The biggest mistake AI companies make is trying to build their own models instead of orchestrating existing foundation models from OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google. Time-to-market and adaptability are more crucial than proprietary technology.
• The Storyteller Role: Success in AI products requires "storytellers" - people who can explain complex requirements to AI models in simple terms. This skill is more valuable than traditional ML engineering for most AI applications.
• Conversational UI Revolution: The future of software interfaces isn't traditional buttons and forms, but enriched conversational experiences that dynamically present the right UI elements based on context and user requests.
• Proactive vs Reactive AI: The most valuable AI products don't wait for user requests - they proactively identify opportunities, send reminders, and take action, requiring only verification rather than instruction from users.
• Platform Integration Strategy: As AI platforms like ChatGPT become dominant, success will come from seamless integration rather than platform competition. Think App Store dynamics rather than trying to build competing ecosystems.
• Trust Through Transparency: AI adoption in high-stakes domains like accounting requires insurance backing, clear reasoning explanations for every decision, and the ability for users to easily override AI choices when needed.
• The Psychology of AI Acceptance: Humans apply zero-tolerance standards to AI errors while accepting much higher error rates from humans. Overcoming this requires strategic trust-building and demonstrable value delivery.
• European Market Complexity: Despite appearing unified, Europe requires country-specific approaches - Germans spend 12-17 minutes reading terms and conditions that French users skip through in 7-10 seconds, fundamentally affecting product design and adoption strategies.

Connect with Ivo- https://www.linkedin.com/in/millt/

Book Recommendation

Dominic’s book Mind Your F**king Business is out now

Sign up to receive the weekly newsletter:

Dr. Jon Finn wrote his best-selling book ‘The Habit Mechanic’ (which took him over 20 years) because his life’s mission is to help people to be their best in the challenging modern world.

He founded the award-winning Tougher Minds consultancy and has three psychology-related degrees, including a PhD. He has worked in performance psychology, resilience, and leadership science for over 20 years. He also writes regularly for Forbes.

Tougher Minds uses cutting-edge insights from psychology, behavioural science, neuroscience, and world champions to help organisations develop “Habit Mechanics” and “Chief Habit Mechanics”—resilient people, outstanding leaders, and world-class teams.

Having trained and coached over 10,000 people, Dr. Finn, and his colleagues, work with global businesses, high-growth startups, individuals, elite athletes, coaches and teams, leading educational institutes, families, the UK government, and think tanks.

In this episode, Dominic explores AI's impact on the workforce and the journey of integrating AI into behavioural science and habit formation. Inspired by Geoffrey Hinton's work on neural networks, learn how blending traditional methods with cutting-edge AI enhances understanding of brain function and behaviour.

Dr. Jon shares the concept of brain states - recharge, medium-charge, and high-charge - and how AI can revolutionise workflows by automating routine tasks and co-working with humans on complex tasks. Looking forward, we explore the concept of creating high-performing human-AI teams, guiding individuals and businesses toward harmonious collaborations with AI, enabling unprecedented speed and efficiency in achieving goals.

Discover

Automatic Thinking: Human thoughts and behaviours are largely driven by automatic or semi-automatic processes. This is influenced by biases and past experiences, which affect the ability to generate truly conscious and unbiased ideas.

Emotional Regulation in Athletes: In elite sports, the ability to regulate emotions plays a pivotal role in determining whether young athletes maintain or lose their professional status as they age.

Effort and Performance: Sustained success in any field relies on consistent effort, ongoing learning, and the ability to perform effectively under pressure, particularly in challenging or high-stakes situations.

Training Gaps in Mental Performance:  While athletes typically receive extensive training in physical, technical, and tactical aspects, they often lack structured training on understanding and improving their cognitive and emotional processes.

Risks from AI in the Workplace: AI is disrupting workplace roles that involve medium-energy tasks, and people unable to adapt or up-skill are at risk of being replaced. Emotional regulation and the ability to shift to higher-performance states are critical for adapting to these changes.

Paulo Savaget is Associate Professor at University of Oxford’s Department of Engineering Science and Saïd Business School. He holds a PhD from the University of Cambridge as a Gates Scholar and has a background working as a researcher, consultant, and entrepreneur, finding innovative solutions for a more inclusive world.

His research covers the mechanics of entrepreneurship through a 'systems lens' and with a special focus on large-scale socioenvironmental issues (poverty, climate change, and global value chains etc). He has a particular interest in working with practitioners to find and explore solutions for systemic problems in situations where resources are scarce, stakes are high, and time is short.

In this episode, Dominic learns how “scrappy organisations” tackle complex problems through innovative strategies such as piggybacking on existing systems and navigating loopholes in regulations. With Paulo explaining the importance of systems thinking and unconventional approaches to problem-solving. Hear about how businesses can navigate regulatory landscapes, repurpose technology, and leverage self-reinforcing behaviours to create effective workarounds.

Paulo advocates innovation, resourcefulness, and adopting a scrappy mindset in addressing complex problems for individuals and organisations.

Discover

Resourceful and Unconventional Problem-Solving: Creative solutions can be achieved by thinking outside the box and using limited resources in innovative ways to overcome complex challenges.  

Hacking Systems for Impact: Significant change can occur by finding innovative ways to navigate or bypass existing systems and challenges, much like hackers do in their domains.  

Holistic Solutions through Systems Thinking: Looking at problems as part of interconnected systems rather than isolated issues enables more comprehensive and effective problem-solving.  

Inspiration from Scrappy Organisations: Resource-constrained businesses and organisations demonstrate how leveraging opportunities like loopholes and existing systems can lead to remarkable success.  

Innovation Without Large Budgets: Success can lie in strategic thinking, resourcefulness, and ingenuity, proving that high impact doesn’t always require massive financial resources.

Book recommendations:

Hans Rosling - Factfulness

Adam Grant - Originals

Paulo’s book The Four Workarounds is out now

Dominic’s book Mind Your F**king Business is out now

Can AI revolutionise the way your business operates, or even redefine entire industries?

This special episode of Curious Leadership was recorded as a live panel at the CEO Summit 2025, where Dominic was joined on stage by guests Neil Marley, Kevin Bradley, Pedro Arriaga, and John Readman to explore how AI is driving business productivity and innovation across various sectors.

Neil reveals how Neologik pivoted from its roots in training technologists to harnessing AI for document automation, a strategic shift mirroring the evolving job market. Kevin brings a unique perspective on Omegro's strategic growth within Constellation, while Pedro shares how AI has supercharged productivity at his facilities management platform, Pego. John shares insights on AI's transformative role in digital marketing, moving beyond predictive analytics to empower data-driven decision-making at Modo25.

Our panellists offer their perspectives on how businesses can navigate the challenges and opportunities presented by AI, balancing the human role of integrating it into teams, and how to align employee mindsets with technological advancements. 

Hear about the rapid evolution of software development and how agile methodologies can accelerate innovation, including advice on overcoming tech debt, enhancing user interaction through voice prompts, and the competitive edge offered by quick MVP development and AI-driven platforms.

As AI continues to shape industries, we explore the need for education to prepare the next generation with skills in question formation, philosophy, ethics, and domain-specific expertise. 

Elaine Jobson is a dynamic CEO, board director, and culture strategist with over 30 years of experience scaling fitness and wellness brands across Australia, Africa, Asia, and Europe.  

As CEO of Jetts Fitness, she spearheaded the Management Buyout (MBO), restoring the brand to private ownership and founder-driven leadership. Under her guidance, Jetts has flourished, expanding into new markets and repositioning for sustainable, high-performance growth.  

Elaine’s passion for values-driven, high-performing cultures is at the heart of her leadership philosophy. Her book, High Performance Through Happy People, captures her insights on building thriving teams that deliver exceptional results.  

A sought-after keynote speaker, Elaine energises audiences at industry conferences, leadership summits, and corporate events, sharing expertise on leadership, culture strategy, franchising, and team performance. Known for her sharp operational and commercial acumen, Elaine is a proven leader in strategic growth, franchising, and culture transformation - making her one of the most impactful figures in the industry today.

In this episode, Dominic uncovers how the implementation of a Net Promoter Score (NPS) should be a business philosophy rather than just a survey. With Elaine providing insights on identifying detractors through customer feedback, the importance of delivering what she calls “brilliant basics”, and the significance of empowering her club managers and staff to enhance customer service to create a positive culture.

Elaine also shares the rapid growth and expansion of the Jetts Fitness brand, their franchise model, commitment to good profit, the evolving perception of fitness as a means for mental health, and looks ahead at opportunities in the global fitness market, particularly in emerging territories like India.

Discover

How Leadership Drives Growth: Strong leadership is essential for managing growth, stabilising operations, and adapting to changing business environments.

How to Build a Positive Culture: A happy, engaged workforce leads to higher performance and better organisational outcomes. Culture is a key driver of long-term success.

How Metrics Can Improve Performance: Tools like customer satisfaction scores provide valuable insights and help businesses refine their services to meet customer needs, fostering loyalty.

Opportunities in Emerging Markets: Expanding into new markets with growth potential requires strategic planning, market understanding, and partnerships to capitalise effectively.

How Scalable Business Models are Key: Structuring businesses to scale - for instance, through franchising or other replicable models - enables sustainable growth and adaptability across regions.

Book recommendations:

Elaine’s book High Performance Through Happy People is out now

Dominic’s book Mind Your F**king Business is out now

Joseph Michelli is an internationally sought-after speaker, author, and organisational consultant who transfers his knowledge of exceptional business practices in ways that develop joyful and productive workplaces with a focus on customer experience. His insights encourage leaders and frontline workers to grow and invest passionately in all aspects of their lives.

A Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Publishers Weekly, Nielson BookScan, and New York Times #1 bestselling author. Joseph’s most recent book, All Business Is Personal, features proven strategies for boosting customer loyalty, engagement, and sustainable growth, and offers insights leaders can apply across industries to create high-performing, customer-focused organisations.

Joseph holds the Certified Speaking Professional designation from the National Speakers Association (NSA). He is a member of the Authors Guild, an editorial board member for the Beryl Institute's Patient Experience Journal (PXJ), and is on the founders' council of CustomerExperienceOne. Other achievements include winning the Asian Brand Excellence Award and being named as one of the Top 10 thought leaders in Customer Service by Global Gurus. He received his master's and doctorate from the University of Southern California.

In this episode, Dominic explores the intersection of AI and human interaction, questioning the ability of AI to replicate genuine human care and creativity, and the complexities of customer experience, loyalty, and referrals. With Joseph advocating the necessity for CEOs to be passionate and unreasonable in their pursuit of exceptional customer service. He explores strategies for activating referrals, the importance of emotional engagement, and the design of customer journeys that foster loyalty. 

Joseph shares his insights on the transformation of patient experience in US healthcare, and the innovative approach that led One Medical to being acquired by Amazon. Emphasising the importance of redesigning processes to enhance care delivery, he highlights the cost reduction achieved through proactive health management and the role of technology in creating human-centric services. 

Discover

The Power of Emotional Connection in Business: Building an emotional connection with customers, beyond merely offering a product or service, fosters loyalty and helps establish a strong brand identity.

The Importance of Customer Experience: Exceptional customer experience can significantly impact a business's success. By fostering emotional connections and going beyond basic transactional value, businesses can create loyalty and referrals among their customer base.

Word-of-Mouth as a Powerful Marketing Tool: Customer referrals play a crucial role in business growth. Companies that focus on delivering exceptional experiences often benefit from organic word-of-mouth promotion, resulting in reduced sales and marketing costs.

Balancing Cost-Cutting with Customer Experience: While reducing costs is a strategy some businesses consider, focusing solely on cost can lead to commoditisation. Prioritising customer experience and value can differentiate a business and create long-lasting success.

The Influence of Net Promoter Score (NPS): Net Promoter Score is a useful metric for understanding customer loyalty and satisfaction. By asking customers how they found the business, insights can be gained that highlight the importance of customer recommendations and the overall impact of positive experiences.

Book recommendations:

Joseph’s book

James Dawson and Richard Doherty are seasoned professionals from the fintech and financial services industries, each bringing decades of expertise to their respective fields.

James Dawson, founder of Humble Technology, has over 21 years of experience in fintech. His career has been dedicated to addressing and overcoming the challenges fintech startups face in sales. James believes that many fintechs fail not due to a lack of funding but because they rely too heavily on relationship-driven sales rather than employing proven, science-backed methodologies. As a former Head of Europe at OpenFin, a leader in desktop interoperability, James successfully built high-performing teams and developed his own sales techniques. To share his strategic insights, James created the Fintech Sales FastTrack programme - a framework designed to help startups establish predictable and scalable revenue systems. In addition to his fintech achievements, James also owns Humble Grape, a wine bar and merchant that imports high-quality wines from 600 small vineyards across 22 countries, exemplifying his entrepreneurial versatility.

Richard Doherty, meanwhile, leads the technology practice for Asset & Wealth Management at Publicis Sapient, a prominent consultancy in financial services and digital business transformation. With over 20 years of experience in technology and financial services, Richard specialises in helping firms align their technological initiatives with business strategies. His expertise lies in implementing large-scale technological changes, including system overhauls, data transformations, and technology-focused innovations. Richard advises business leaders on building future-ready operating models that leverage technology to drive innovation, generate revenue, cut costs, and mitigate risks. By collaborating with both business and technology stakeholders, Richard fosters alignment that enables firms to ensure sustainable and expedited transformation in highly competitive markets.

Together, James and Richard exemplify leadership and innovation in their fields, uniting expertise in sales strategy, technology, and enterprise transformation to shape the future of fintech and financial services.

In this episode, Dominic explores methodologies used by founder-led sales to scalable sales operations. Learning that in the early stages of business development, a relentless focus on an initial product offering is essential. For example, for Amazon it was books and for Google it was search functionalities - even though their objective was expansion and market domination.

With James and Richard emphasising the importance of aligning sales strategies with marketing efforts, they encourage leaders to nurture a growth-oriented mindset among sales personnel. Hear their insights on the complexities of building successful sales engines that can withstand the rigours of today's competitive landscape.

Discover

Business Growth and Focus: Successful companies often start by focusing on a single, straightforward offering before expanding into larger and more complex operations. This focus is essential in the early stages to build a sustainable foundation.

Sales Transition Challenges: Transitioning from founder-led sales to scalable, enterprise-level sales processes is a significant challenge for businesses, especially in the fintech sector. It requires a particular skill set and mindset to scale sales effectively from small to large operations.

Collaborative Expertise: Leveraging the collaboration of industry experts with diverse professional backgrounds, such as consulting and financial services, can help scale businesses by addressing complex challenges and driving transformation.

The Importance of...

Mike Hicks' connection to investing in mid-market companies dates back to 1994, when he worked at the EBRD, contributing to the creation of the first private equity fund in Romania. After overseeing a joint venture between Creditanstalt Investment Bank and Advent International, he developed a keen interest in enhancing investor-management interactions, dedicating over 20 years to this pursuit.

In 2010, Mike founded Catalysis, following several years of leading a similar practice at Grant Thornton. With the support of skilled colleagues, he has managed over 375 projects since the company's inception, Mike advocates the importance of coachability and partnership in navigating the complex landscape of mid-market firms.

In this episode, Dominic explores the myths and realities of private equity as Mike dismantles common misconceptions about management and investment partnerships. Highlighting the nuanced dynamics between investors and business leaders, he explains that in smaller companies, collaboration often trumps the fear of management changes. 

Discover

The Role of Private Equity in Business Growth: Private equity plays a crucial role in providing funding for businesses, particularly those lacking tangible assets for traditional bank loans, such as tech companies. It serves as an alternative to the UK's shrinking bank funding market by offering equity, facilitating business growth, and providing management teams a pathway to personal wealth.

Misconceptions About Private Equity: Management teams often face misconceptions about private equity investment. Some assume operations will continue unchanged, while others fear losing control to investors. In truth, investors aim to add value and collaborate for improvements without seizing control of the business.

Team and Organisational Alignment: Aligning the management team’s capabilities with the business's needs is crucial. This match depends on the business model's complexity, market conditions, and growth goals. Businesses often require guidance to optimise their leadership teams to effectively meet these demands.

Governance and Strategy in Management: Effective governance should balance strategy formulation and operational execution without overwhelming management. Boards should prioritise maintaining this balance to ensure alignment with value creation rather than focusing solely on financial oversight. Keeping boards small and focused helps avoid operational inefficiencies.

Mistakes in Scaling Businesses with Private Equity: Common mistakes in scaling businesses post-private equity deal include neglecting due diligence insights, misunderstanding strategy, underestimating organisational inertia, confusing change activity with results, hastily making key personnel decisions, and suffering from unbalanced governance. Avoiding these pitfalls is essential for the success of private-equity-backed ventures.

Higher Multiples with Demonstrated Scalability: Businesses that can demonstrate scalability, such as sustainable growth and robust operational capacity, are more likely to attract higher multiples and favourable responses from investors during deals, highlighting the importance of long-term strategic planning.

Book recommendations:

Rory Sutherland - Alchemy

Kat Thorne is a positive habits international keynote speaker, teacher and consultant. Her life story of workaholism, breakdown and burnout inspires global audiences to make one small habit change. Former Global Commercial Director & CEO, after losing everything in 2016 due to a health scare, she had no choice but to start again. Kat now works with organisations, leaders and individuals around the world to create one small positive habit change that actually results in increased well-being & resilience.

Kat says “Burnout, anxiety, and stress are at an all-time high. People are the most important asset. The better people look after themselves, the better they perform in all areas of life. The result? A healthier, happier and high-performing work and home life”.

In this episode, Dominic explores how small changes can have a monumental impact on our personal and professional lives, with Kat challenging the outdated notion of separating work from home life, emphasising how intertwined they really are. An advocate of how quality rest shapes his energy levels and daily performance choices, Dom explains the impact of technology on his mood and productivity, highlighting the delicate balance between connectivity and wellbeing. 

We also explore how positive habits can transform work environments, and the power of how small yet consistent changes can improve team dynamics, health, and productivity. From breaking the cycle of multitasking in meetings to achieve genuine engagement, this episode provides actionable insights for both personal and professional growth. Whether it's encouraging kids to embrace creativity without screens or finding simple ways to be present, you'll come away with a toolkit for fostering meaningful change in every area of your life.

Discover

The Power of Morning Routines: Establishing a positive morning routine, like waking up early and dedicating time to self-care, can lead to significant improvements in both personal well-being and professional performance. Starting your day with intention sets a positive tone for everything that follows.

Small Changes, Big Impact: Implementing small, positive habits - such as engaging in just 10 minutes of physical activity each day - can be transformative. These manageable changes can lead to increased energy, improved mood, and greater productivity in both personal and work life.

Integrating Personal and Professional Life: Recognising the interconnection between personal habits and professional success is key. By fostering positive habits in your personal life, you can enhance your performance, satisfaction, and effectiveness at work.

Mindful Technology Use: Be mindful of how and when you consume information, especially through technology. Checking your phone or emails immediately upon waking can inject unnecessary stress and negativity into your day. Instead, create a morning practice that supports a positive mindset.

Overcoming Resistance to Change: While making positive changes, you may encounter resistance or negativity from others. Understand that this is a common challenge, and focus on the long-term benefits of your new habits. Staying committed despite external pressures can lead to profound personal growth and transformation.

Book recommendations:

Dominic’s book Mind Your F**king Business is out now

Keith Ferrazzi, founder of Ferrazzi Greenlight, is a pioneering executive coach, thought leader, and New York Times #1 bestselling author. For over two decades, he’s transformed Fortune 500 companies, unicorn startups, and governments by challenging teams to break silos and embrace "teamship" over leadership. As the leader of the Greenlight Research Institute, Keith drives innovation in team performance and collaboration. His Radical Innovators Collaborative unites bold thinkers for groundbreaking ideas and best practices. A prolific writer featured in Harvard Business Review, Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, and more, Keith’s books include Never Eat Alone, Leading Without Authority, and the cutting-edge Never Lead Alone. In 2024, he received the prestigious Coaches 50 Award, honouring the world’s top executive coaches. Beyond coaching, he’s a philanthropist and strategic investor committed to driving meaningful social impact.

In this episode, Dominic explores innovative collaboration methods such as co-elevation and constructive conflict, the need for a shift from individual resilience to collective team resilience and the potential of AI in shaping future team structures. Keith shares anecdotes from coaching executive teams and the insights gained from his research on high-performing teams, highlighting the importance of collaboration, feedback, and a culture of candour in achieving team success. Hear his thoughts about moving away from traditional hierarchical models to more fluid, self-managed teams, advocating for a culture of openness and shared responsibility.

Discover

Shift from Leadership to Teamship - Leaders are encouraged to empower their teams to self-manage rather than controlling or micromanaging by transitioning from a traditional leadership model to "teamship" - where responsibility is shared across the team. This helps dismantle silos within organisations, fostering collective accountability and better performance.

Candour Over Conflict Avoidance - Radical transparency and open feedback are critical for high-performing teams. Avoiding conflict often leads to mediocrity, while embracing candid and constructive feedback leads to innovation and trust. Practical tools like "candour breaks" and stress testing enable teams to comfortably critique ideas and improve collaboration.

Asynchronous Collaboration and Agile Practices - Traditional meeting-centric collaboration methods are inefficient. Harnessing asynchronous collaboration (e.g., collecting input via shared documents) and agile sprints can make decision-making faster and more inclusive. This modern approach aligns team efforts around Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and prevents siloed working.

Redefining Teams Beyond Org Charts - Teams aren’t merely those on the organisational chart. Instead, they should be built dynamically around specific goals or KPIs. For example, solving a sales issue may require involvement from marketing, product, and finance—not just the sales department. This approach reduces finger-pointing and fosters cross-functional ownership.

Practices for Building Resilient and Celebratory Teams - High-performing teams focus not only on achieving results but also on maintaining team well-being. Practices like monthly "energy checks" ensure team members support one another during challenging times. Additionally, celebrating successes creates a culture of positivity and enhances morale. Peer-to-peer recognition is particularly impactful and energising.

Book recommendations:

Andrew McAfee - The Geek Way

It was a daily grind of ‘win the work, do the work, get paid for the work, only to have to find more work to replace the work’ that led David Hart (known as the ‘Agency to SaaS guy’) to sell his agency and embark on a new SaaS business.

After founding digital agency Codegent in 2004, by 2014, after acquiring another agency, Thin Martian, David felt like he was on the treadmill to nowhere. In 2016, he launched SaaS business, ScreenCloud, which hit 8 figures in ARR after only six years and continues to see strong growth year-on-year. The switch has created significant financial value for him and his co-founders, investors and staff. 

David now advises other agencies and early-stage SaaS founders on scaling their own products, He sits on five boards as a NED and is the author of Productized: Stop Selling Time and Transition to Selling SaaS. 

In this episode, Dominic uncovers the strategies and mindset shifts necessary to transform a service-oriented business into a thriving SaaS company. We explore the contrasting dynamics of hiring and growth between the agency and SaaS models and the critical role of building an experienced team to achieve rapid expansion. David lays bare the exhilarating yet daunting task of burning through investment to scale revenue, the importance of aligning with market needs and avoiding the pitfalls of launching products without demand.

Discover

Start by Testing Your Idea: Before creating a product, it's important to make sure people actually need it. You can do this by asking potential customers questions that get to the heart of their problems. A good product should either help people make money, save money, or solve an important issue they worry about.

Moving from Services to Products: David transitioned from running a company offering services to selling a product. This shift allowed his business to grow faster and become easier to scale compared to offering services.

Spending Money to Grow: To grow a software business like ScreenCloud, David had to spend money up front, especially to get new customers. Investors encouraged him to spend boldly to grow quickly, even if the business wasn’t immediately profitable.

Focusing on One Thing Is Key: David realised that trying to create multiple products at once made it hard to succeed. Instead, focusing on creating one strong product helped him and his team direct their time, energy, and resources more effectively.

Learning from Early Failures: Before ScreenCloud, David worked on many products that didn’t succeed. He learned that talking to potential customers early on and finding out if they’d actually pay for a solution are critical steps to avoid wasting time and money on ideas that won't work.

Book recommendations:

April Dunford - Sales Pitch & Obviously Awesome

Rob Fitzpatrick - The Mom Test

David’s book Productized is out now

Dominic’s book Mind Your F**king Business is out now

Maria Ross, a keynote speaker, author, strategist, and empathy advocate, believes cash flow, creativity, and compassion can coexist. Founder of Red Slice, she advises organisations on leveraging empathy for better engagement. She authored ‘The Empathy Dilemma: How Successful Leaders Balance Performance, People, and Personal Boundaries’ and hosts ‘The Empathy Edge’ podcast. A dynamic speaker, Maria has addressed top conferences like TEDx, The 3% Conference, and Salesforce, with her insights featured in outlets such as MSNBC, NPR, Forbes, and Huffington Post.

In this episode, Dominic explores empathy's role in leadership and business success. With Maria explaining how empathy can be cultivated, especially in education, and addresses the challenge of balancing empathy with performance. Maria introduces the five pillars of empathetic leadership - self-awareness, self-care, clarity, decisiveness, and joy - offering a framework to enhance empathy while ensuring high performance. They explore effective leadership, the role of decisiveness, joy, and empathy in workplace culture, and how leaders can make tough decisions without causing team stress.

Discover

Balance Empathy with Action: Empathy doesn’t mean avoiding tough decisions. Instead, it’s about acting compassionately while staying focused on goals. Gathering different perspectives helps make thoughtful choices, but avoid overthinking - decisiveness keeps progress on track.

Clarity and Transparency Build Trust: Clear communication is essential. Whether setting boundaries, making decisions, or solving problems, being explicit about your intentions reduces misunderstandings and creates trust. Explaining your rationale helps others feel heard and valued, even if they don’t agree with your decisions.

Empathy Can Be Learned and Strengthened: Empathy is a skill that can grow with practice. Similar to building a muscle, environments that promote listening, curiosity, and collaboration can nurture this ability. Making an effort to understand others’ experiences leads to stronger connections and better outcomes in every aspect of life.

Empathy Drives Problem-Solving and Innovation: Empathy allows you to understand others' needs, fears, and motivations, which can lead to better solutions in any situation. Empathy isn’t just about relationships - it’s also a catalyst for better decision-making and innovation.

Book recommendations:

Rob Volpe - Tell Me More About That

Dr. Adam Dorsay - Super Psyched

Robin Dreeke - Unbreakable Alliances

Anna Liotta - Unlocking Generational Codes

Maria’s books The Empathy Dilemma &

Kaihan Krippendorff is a world-renowned business strategist, innovation authority, and CEO of Outthinker Networks - a powerhouse of chief strategy and innovation leaders shaping the future of business. A former McKinsey consultant, he’s heralded as one of the top 30 global thinkers in strategy and innovation by Global Gurus and Thinkers50, with a proven track record of helping organisations generate over $3 billion in transformative growth.

The bestselling author of six books, including Outthink the Competition and Driving Innovation from Within, Kaihan’s latest work, Proximity, is a Next Big Idea Club must-read endorsed by thought leaders like Adam Grant and Malcolm Gladwell. He’s a go-to voice for innovation and strategy, regularly writing for Harvard Business Review and Fast Company and hosting podcasts like Outthinkers and The Chief Strategy Officer.

Kaihan has partnered with global giants like Microsoft, IBM, Procter & Gamble, and JP Morgan, while teaching at top institutions like Wharton Executive Ed and NYU. A sought-after speaker and media contributor, he inspires audiences worldwide, blending his global perspective and multicultural insights from his base in Miami, Florida.

In this episode, Dominic explores the intricacies of strategic thinking and the critical distinction between strategic planning and true strategy. With Kaihan highlighting the growing importance of proximity in value creation, focusing on how businesses can innovate closer to the moment demand arises. They also examine the shifts in various industries including the evolution of defence technology, the disruptive impact of 3D printing on manufacturing, the need to rethink inventory and production processes, and how AI is reshaping information delivery.

Discover

Proximity as a Strategic Advantage: How businesses can achieve competitive advantages by creating value closer to the time and location where demand appears. Examples include Coca-Cola's Freestyle machines and advances in 3D printing for customisable solutions.

Strategic Insights from Ancient Principles: The 36 strategic patterns derived from ancient Chinese fables, such as “Seize the Deer in the Headlights Moment” and “Embrace What’s Been Abandoned,” which empower businesses to outthink competitors and exploit overlooked opportunities

Shifting from Planning to Creation: Traditional strategic planning processes and shifts in focus toward narrative-driven strategy, emphasising the power of constraints in sparking innovative ideas.

Sustainable Innovation in Multiple Industries: How proximity can lead to both environmental and business advantages. Real-world examples of sustainability-driven innovations include hydroponic farming and lab-grown meat, to eliminating waste in production and inventory management.

Book recommendations:

Bruce Greenwald - Competition Demystified

Marcus Collins - For The Culture

Dr. Sandra Matz - Mindmasters

Kaihan’s books Proximity and The Art of the Advantage are out now

Dominic’s book

James Kerr is a writer, coach, and consultant who specialises in leadership, culture and mindset in high-performing teams. His global bestseller, 'Legacy' has been described by The Daily Telegraph as “the modern version of Vince Lombardi’s guides to coaching”, saying that "for those searching for genuine keys to team culture, it is manna from heaven".

James has worked with Tier One Special Forces, the English Premier League, international cricket, Formula One, America’s Cup, Major League Baseball, and Olympic pathways. He has guest lectured at Westpoint Military Academy, Sandhurst and Eton College and written for the BBC, Independent, Times and Guardian. His corporate clients have included Google, Spotify, Goldman Sachs, McKinsey & Co, Adidas, and Arc'teryx.

In this frank discussion, Dominic explores the synergy between individual leadership and collective vision, and the critical role of cultural evolution in maintaining relevance and potency. James shares how the iconic “Sweeping the Shed” mantra, revolutionised team culture at the All Blacks, and how these principles can be applied beyond the rugby field into business and everyday life.

Discover

The Role of Values in Sustainable Success: By embracing values such as humility, responsibility, and respect, the All Blacks created a foundation for long-term success, demonstrating that values-driven cultures outperform talent-driven ones.

The Power of Rituals and Symbols: The enduring significance of the Haka demonstrates how rituals and symbols can reinforce identity, unity, and purpose within a team.

Leadership Across Domains: The principles of leadership and cultural excellence are universal and can be applied across diverse fields, demonstrated by James’ work in sports, military, and business.

Neuroscience and Leadership: The interplay between neuroscience and performance underpins how understanding the brain's responses to fear and confidence can inspire leaders to strike a balance between challenges and support, fostering growth and accountability.

Book recommendations:

Viktor Frankl - Man's Search For Meaning

Daniel Kahneman - Thinking, Fast and Slow

Daniel Coyle - The Culture Code

Jim Collins - Good To Great

James' book Legacy is out now.

Dominic’s book Mind Your F**king Business is out now. 

In this conversation, Ben Hunt-Davis shares insight into what drives and empowers an Olympic gold-winning team. A Former Olympic rower turned successful entrepreneur, Ben is the author of the acclaimed book Will It Make the Boat Go Faster?

Tune in for invaluable insights from Ben’s illustrious rowing career, recounting the journey from consistently finishing at the bottom to clinching Olympic gold. Discover the transformative power of team alignment and purpose, the crucial role of feedback and trust, and the non-negotiable importance of shared goals—whether in sports or business.

This episode delves into the details of team dynamics, the impact of clear communication, and the courage to embrace discomfort for the sake of improvement. Tune in, and let’s make your business unstoppable!

Takeaways

• Finding team alignment and purpose.
• Fostering a culture that values collective success over individual glory.
• The pivotal role of clear goals and regular feedback in driving continual improvement.
• Everyone brings different strengths and life situations to the table. Leveraging those differences to optimise performance.
• Embracing open, honest feedback as a tool for growth, even when it’s uncomfortable.

Timestamps

(00:00) Title with Ben Hunt-Davis.

(01:05) Coining A Phrase.

(03:10) Uni Drop Out To Full-Time Athlete.

(08:01) How Clear Expectations Lead To Gold.

(11:27) Helping A Team Get Clarity and Purpose.

(13:52) Team Dynamics.

(17:44) Constructive Conflict.

(19:09) Improving Focus and Learning.

(22:34) Helping Others Improve With Uncomfortable Truths.

(25:19) Difficult Real-Life Scenarios.

(27:02) Quick Fire Questions.

(32:58) People a bit better inspire relatable progress.

(33:54) Dad advises but feels unqualified for career guidance.

About Ben Hunt-Davis

Ben is an experienced performance coach, facilitator and world-class keynote speaker. Ben has spent the last 20+ years specialising in translating his Olympic-winning strategies into everyday business success.

Specifically focusing on leadership and team development, Ben has designed and run training courses, conferences and events for more than 100 different organisations.

Ben and executive coach Harriet Beveridge published the best-selling book Will It Make The Boat Go Faster? in 2011. Their real-world application of Ben’s rowing crew’s strategies, habits, and mindset is world-renowned. The performance principles underpinning their story still shape the philosophy of our business today. Ben is an expert in galvanising executive teams and organisations behind a shared ‘Crazy Goal’.

Ben consistently leads and inspires teams to deliver exceptional results. He is a three-time Team GB staff member at the Summer Olympics and chair of organising committees for two international rowing events in the UK.

Follow Ben Hunt-Davis

Website: https://willitmaketheboatgofaster.com/ 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benhuntdavis?originalSubdomain=uk 

X: https://x.com/olympianben 

Books by Ben Hunt-Davis

Will It Make The Boat Go Faster

Book Recommendations

James Holland books - https://griffonmerlin.com/ 

Mentioned in this episode:

Get Mind Your...

In this conversation, Chris Fenning – communications expert, coach and author – deep dives into transforming workplace communication. Tired of inefficient meetings? Chris suggests empowering all participants to take charge, seeking clarity on agendas, and addressing distractions head-on to boost engagement.

Chris offers his unique perspective on communication, including his methods for delivering impactful updates and simplifying complex topics. From his advice on honing email effectiveness to his insights on intertwining leadership skills with everyday exchanges, Chris offers valuable tools for ensuring your message is heard loud and clear.

Listen and get practical tips on breaking down the barriers to effective communication in the workplace and how to leverage AI's potential. Chris shares book recommendations and a fresh outlook that will leave you inspired. Whether you're an intern or an executive, this episode promises actionable strategies to revolutionise how you connect and convey your ideas. So, let's jump in and learn how to mind your f**king business more efficiently!

Takeaways

• Clarity is key for clear communication.
• Shared responsibility for effective and efficient meetings.
• How to handle distractions and bring conversations back politely.
• Positive problem solving to demonstrate competence.
• Top tips for effective email communication.
• Goal, Problem, Solution Communication Model.
• Public Speaking vs. Communication Fundamentals.

Timestamps

(00:00) Be More Effective in Communication with Chris Fenning.

(00:17) Early Life Crisis Leading To Comms.

(04:36) Learning How To Teach.

(06:48) Clear, Concise, and To-The-Point Methodologies.

(09:20) Asking The How.

(11:40) Goal, Problem, Solution.

(14:08) Safety in Mediocracy.

(18:16) Psychological Safety in Leadership.

(19:09) Delivering Bad News.

(21:05) Effective Emails and AI.

(26:55) Clear Communication in Questions.

(29:32) When Should Comms. Be Taught?

(32:42) Teaching Across Levels.

(34:41) How To Do Meetings Differently.

(39:35) Quick Fire Questions with Chris Fenning.

(41:40) Book Recommendations.

About Chris Fenning

Chris Fenning helps us master our communication at work. He helps experts talk to non-experts, teams talk to executives, and much more. Chris's practical methods are used in organisations like Google and NATO, and have appeared in the Harvard Business Review. He is also the author of multiple award-winning books on communication and training that have been translated into 16 languages. 

Find out how Chris can help you at www.chrisfenning.com 

Follow Chris Fenning

Website: https://chrisfenning.com 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-fenning/ 

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmIXD8AIH-LUV-B1V5KJ4Ww 

Books by Chris Fenning

The First Minute: https://chrisfenning.com/books/#the-first-minute 

Effective Emails: https://chrisfenning.com/books/#effective-emails 

39 Ways to Make Training Stick:

Today we are re-sharing one of our most controversial episodes so far, with the man who's been called the UK's Most Hated Sales Trainer, Benjamin Dennehy.

Benjamin joins Dominic as they discuss the art of selling and the common misconceptions about sales. This is truly a sixty-minute conversation that will change how you look at sales!

Benjamin explores the importance of self-confidence, being in control, and understanding the motivations behind prospects' questions. He emphasises the need for salespeople to focus on having meaningful conversations and helping prospects discover their needs rather than pushing products or services.

He also highlights the importance of hiring and training salespeople effectively and challenges the traditional sales approach of show up, throw up, and hope for the best. In this conversation, the UK's Most Hated Sales Trainer shares his unconventional approach to sales and prospecting.

He emphasises the importance of getting prospects emotional and focuses on the purpose of a prospecting call. He also discusses the need for consultative selling and the importance of asking probing questions. The conversation covers topics such as the future of cold calling, the myth of 'people buy people,' and the risks and rewards of entrepreneurship.

Takeaways

• Sales is the art of conversation and enabling prospects to discover their needs.
• Good salespeople are self-confident and in control, while poor salespeople often beg and plead.
• Salespeople should focus on understanding the motivations behind prospects’ questions and avoid making assumptions.
• Hiring and training salespeople effectively is crucial for success in sales.
• The traditional approach of show up, throw up, and hope for the best is ineffective. The purpose of a prospecting call is to get the prospect emotional.
• Consultative selling requires asking probing questions and understanding the prospect’s pain points.
• Cold calling will become more challenging with the rise of AI, but there will still be a need for skilled salespeople.
• The myth that ‘people buy people’ is not entirely true; people buy people who are like them.
• Entrepreneurship requires taking risks and being willing to fail.
• Success in sales is about mastering a methodology and continuously improving.
• Salespeople should focus on critical thinking, communication, and emotional control.
• It’s important to know when to quit and when to persevere in business.

Timestamps

(04:00) Book Recommendations and the Misconception of Sales Books

(07:19) Why the UK's Most Hated Sales Trainer is Hated

(09:08) The Problem with Traditional Sales Approaches

(23:19) The Art of Asking and Answering Questions in Sales

(28:44) Creating Comfort and Lowering Walls in Sales Conversations

(31:25) Getting Prospects Emotional: The Purpose of a Prospecting Call

(33:44) Consultative Selling: Asking Probing Questions and Understanding Pain Points

(35:42) The Future of Cold Calling and the Rise of AI

(39:03) The Myth of 'People Buy People'

(45:49) The Risks and Rewards of Entrepreneurship

(50:40) Mastering a Methodology: Continuous Improvement in Sales

(51:33) Critical Thinking, Communication, and Emotional Control in Sales

(59:51) Knowing When to Quit and When to Persevere in Business

About Benjamin Dennehy

He’s been called the UK’s most hated sales trainer and the GOAT of cold-calling; Benjamin Dennehy is an engaging and entertaining trainer and speaker. He will shake up your thinking about your role and function in sales with humour, insight and psychology.

Benjamin is The UK’s Most Hated Sales Trainer, but why?

Marketing of course. He made it up. There is no international body that measures hostility towards sales...

In this special episode, we hear from Dominic and other industry experts (Michelle Hulse, Director of Revenue Operations at PAX8, Paweł Nicał, a pioneering RevOps expert from Poland) from the UPGRADE'24 conference. 

Revenue Opertions is at the heart of this panel discussion. Listen in to how aligning sales, marketing, and finance creates a seamless customer journey. Michelle shares examples from PAX8 and how they revolutionised their lead handling with data-driven strategies. Dominic provides a walk through of the strategic implementation of OKRs and how RevOps can drive sustainable growth without the need for constant funding. Paweł discusses the critical metrics for RevOps success and the role technology plays in this unified approach.

Real-world examples are shared of optimising sales performance, leveraging AI for operational efficiency, and the philosophical underpinnings that make RevOps a game-changer across industries—from SaaS to any business with a recurring revenue model. Whether RevOps is a buzzword or the future of strategic alignment, this discussion reveals its undeniable impact on business agility and growth.

Takeaways

• Collaboration is Key: Revenue Operations joins the dots between Marketing, Sales, and Customer Experience providing a seamless workflow instead of silos.
• Strategic Growth through OKRs: Objectives and Key Results are significant for structuring tasks and teams.
• Tech and Innovation in RevOps: pioneering technology tool 'Clay,' which integrates various data sources and automates processes, enabling "all bound" operations.
• AI can automate data collection, but humans will always lead creative strategic decisions.

Timestamps

(03:35) Panel Introductions from Karol Popa: UPGRADE’24

(05:31) What is Revenue Operations?

(08:51) Is RevOps A New Way Forward or Just A Buzzword?

(13:53) When To Bring RevOps Into Business.

(18:03) Example of RevOps Teams in Pax8.

(22:13) Silo Focus Needs To Align.

(23:37) Steps To Start With RevOps In Your Business.

(26:33) Different Functions In A RevOps Team.

(29:00) Strategic Growth Opportunities.

(34:21) Aligning Teams With Data.

(38:03) Real Impact and KPIs.

(44:19) Segmentation of Ideal Partner Profile.

(49:16) Technologies For Effective RevOps.

(55:37) AI in Revenue Operations.

(58:22) Boldest Experiments Within RevOps.

(01:03:39) Use RevOps To Drive Innovation & Strategic Change.

About UPGRADE'24

The UPGRADE'24 conference took place on 21-22 November 2024 in Wrocław, Poland. Organised by ITCorner, the event focused on the technology sector and catered to business owners and C-level executives in the IT industry.

The conference addressed strategies for adapting to market changes, methods to enhance business growth and profitability, and opportunities for networking and knowledge exchange with industry leaders. Attendees participated in talks, workshops, and panels designed to help businesses stay competitive during rapid technological transformations.

For more information about UPGRADE'24, please visit www.letsupgrade.pl or search for #UPGRADE'24 on social media platform.

Follow UPGRADE'24

Website: https://letsupgrade.pl 

About Dominic Monkhouse

Founder of Monkhouse & Company, Elite Business Coach and CEO Mentor, author of two smash hit books 'Mind Your F**king Business' and 'F**k Plan B’ and Host of the Top 2% Global Podcast 'Mind Your F**king Business’; Dominic Monkhouse is on a mission to demystify business growth. As a Founder and CEO, he has a track record scaling up award-winning technology service businesses and has been called ‘Britain’s best boss’ for his habit of...

In this conversation, Kevin Dutton explores the fascinating world of cognitive flexibility and how adaptability in decision-making can pave the way to success in business. Known for his groundbreaking work on psychopathy, Dr Kevin Dutton is a British psychologist now working down at the University of Adelaide in Australia. He's the author of a number of books including, Flipnosis: The Art of Split Second Persuasion, Wisdom of Psychopaths, and A Good Psycho's Guide to Success (co-authored with Andy McNabb).

Kevin shares his unique perspective on psychopathic traits, likening them to a mixing desk of personality settings. We'll delve into his thoughts on "precision-engineered psychopathy," the benefits of certain psychopathic traits in professions, and the crucial distinction between "good" and "bad" psychopaths. From humorous anecdotes to profound insights, this episode is packed with thought-provoking discussions. Whether you're curious about how low empathy scores impact leadership or how Kevin's fearless nature led him to the brink of risk-taking, this conversation promises to enlighten and entertain.

Takeaways

• Cognitive flexibility is crucial and the importance of adapting decision-making strategies.
• Precision-engineered Psychopathy can be advantageous in specific professions, from surgeons to CEOs.
• Decoupling emotion from behaviour in difficult conversations
• Unpack the distinctions between harmful and beneficial psychopathic traits.
• Empathy types and their impact.
• Psychopath Quiz: Test where you fall on the psychopathy spectrum with Kevin’s personality test!

Timestamps

(00:00) Being a Good Psychopath with Kevin Dutton.

(04:17) Public understanding of psychology.

(05:19) Why study psychopaths?

(08:03) Kevin’s upbringing and journey.

(13:08) Defining “psychopath”: traits and stereotypes.

(18:12) Hot empathy and cold empathy.

(20:40) Quiz: Are You A Psychopath?

(26:21) Measuring psychopathic personality.

(28:07) Training traits and emotion regulation.

(33:42) Tips for making difficult conversations in business.

(37:49) Quick Fire Questions.

(45:41) Book Recommendations.

About Kevin Dutton

Professor Kevin Dutton, PhD, FBPsS, is one of the world’s foremost authorities on psychopaths. Having spent the last twenty years at the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, he was appointed in 2022 as Australia’s first Professor of the Public Understanding of Psychology at the University of Adelaide. He is a Fellow of the British Psychological Society.

Kevin is the author of the acclaimed bestsellers Flipnosis: The Art of Split-Second Persuasion, The Wisdom of Psychopaths: Lessons in Life from Saints, Spies and Serial Killers, The Good Psychopath’s Guide to Success (with Andy McNab), and Black and White Thinking: The Burden of a Binary Brain in a Complex World. The Wisdom of Psychopaths saw him awarded a ‘Best American Science and Nature Writing prize, and Black and White Thinking was nominated by the Big Ideas Club as one of the must-read non-fiction titles of 2021.

Kevin’s work has been translated worldwide into over twenty-five languages, and his writing and research have been featured in Scientific American, New Scientist, the Guardian, the Times, Psychology Today, the New York Times, the Wall St Journal, the Washington Post, Newsweek, Slate, USA Today among other publications. He regularly publishes in leading international scientific journals and speaks at conferences around the world.

Alongside his academic commitments, Kevin also consults in the elite sport, business, and military sectors and often appears on radio, TV, and podcasts. He also co-hosts the podcast Psycho Schizo Espresso with Iron Maiden front man, Bruce Dickinson.

Find out more about Kevin and his...

Summary

In this conversation, Matt Phelan, the co-founder of the Happiness Index and author of "The Business Case for Happiness" and "The Happiness Index, " shares valuable insight into measuring emotions in the workplace. Matt challenges the old business adage, "If you can measure it, you can manage it," emphasising that understanding and supporting employee happiness leads to better performance.

Listen to this entrepreneur’s story, which led to pioneering the integration of happiness metrics in workplace culture. Highlighting Richard Branson's belief that employees come first, Matt introduces his data-driven approach to fostering workplace happiness and its significant impact on business outcomes.

The episode explores the complex relationship between measuring and managing happiness and the importance of emotional well-being in the workplace. Matt also offers book recommendations and practical advice for enhancing happiness at work, making this a must-listen for any leader eager to disrupt the norm and prioritise employee satisfaction.

Takeaways

• Mythbusting the business concept, “If you can measure it, you can manage it.”
• Understanding the correlation between happiness and productivity.
• Professor Jeremy Dawson’s fascinating NHS hospital research.
• Breaking down the Employee Net Promotor Score questions.
• Debating in the office or work-from-home models.
• Pixar’s global emotions framework.

Chapters

(00:11) From digital agency to workplace happiness with Matt Phelan.

(03:48) The Happiness Index V1

(05:54) Measure it and understand it better.

(07:52) Changing the value prop.

(09:23) Defining happiness as an understandable business metric.

(13:26) Employee Net Promoter Score questions.

(17:23) TED Talk - Super Chickens.

(20:22) Solving different problems from client to client.

(24:31) Are happier employees more productive?

(27:01) Happy Hospitals vs. Unhappy Hospitals.

(28:53) In The Office or Work From Home?

(31:40) Building Relationships.

(34:08) Quick Fire Questions with Matt Phelan.

(39:18) Book recommendations.

About Matt Phelan

Matt Phelan is the co-founder of the Happiness Index, an organisation that aims to understand what makes people happy at work and how that relates to their work performance. He is a self-confessed proud geek and a supporter of decent people.

Matt’s career started when he founded a digital marketing agency called 4Ps Marketing when he was 25 years old. After driving this agency to immense success, Matt and his partners sold the company and opted to double down their investment to go again.

The Happiness Index is a SAAS platform that helps organisations measure their key employee engagement and happiness drivers. 

Follow Matt Phelan

Website: https://mattphelan.co.uk/ 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewphelan/ 

X: https://twitter.com/MatthewPhelan 

Happiness and Humans Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/7h6wCWnjsgOIZSR6h0DKbq 

Book Recommendations

Freedom To Be Happy: The Business Case For Happiness by Matt Phelan

The Happiness Index by Matt Phelan

Summary

Farley Thomas, the co-founder and CEO of Manageable joins today’s conversation and shares his revolutionary insights on empowering organisations through highly skilled management. 

Farley highlights the incredible impact of upskilled, confident, and competent managers on organisational success, and why traditional training methods often fall short, diving into the practical approaches his company adopts and drawing fascinating parallels between language learning and workplace skills training. 

Farley also unpacks the critical importance of practice and real-world application in management training, supported by eye-opening examples and personal experiences. From the harmful effects of untrained management on employee well-being to innovative solutions like the Leadership Capacity Profile, this episode is packed with actionable insights that challenge conventional leadership development, advocating for early-career focus and continuous learning that can transform the future of work.

Takeaways

• The concept of Empowerment and the importance of skilled management.
• Ineffectiveness of traditional training and the importance of practice over theoretical knowledge.
• The Impact of poor management on employees and Manageable’s approach on managers training.
• Differences between Managers and Leaders.
• Evaluating leadership capacity- a hypothetical scenario for discovering leadership potential among contributors.
• Skill development and behavioural change through practice.
• Redefining leadership and management roles- ​​reallocating training resources towards early career managers.

Timestamps

(02:15)  Introducing Farley Thomas - the Concept of Empowerment and effective management in organisations.

(14:01) Traditional Training vs. Practical Application.

(18:01) The five principles of Manageable’s effective training programs- the importance of data-driven efforts, bite-sized training, social learning, live sessions, and role models.

(24:00) The impact of Poor Management on Employee Well-Being.

(28:00)  Effective Leadership and Management Practices (Manager vs. Leader).

(34:01) Continuous learning and resource allocation for early career Managers.

(45:00) Thomas’ personal reflections and business advice (critique of work practices).

(54:02) Book Recommendations

(57:00) Final Thoughts and future vision.

About Farley Thomas

Farley Thomas is the co-founder and CEO of Manageable, the leadership-skills-focused EdTech firm on a mission to give everyone the gift of a great manager. 

Prior to founding Manageable in 2020, Farley established a highly successful executive coaching and leadership advisory practice in 2014. He has been advising and coaching CEOs and their teams across diverse industry sectors ever since. 

The core of his previous corporate experience was gained at HSBC, where he was CRO at HSBC Asset Management for over a decade, ultimately setting up and leading teams in over 30 countries worldwide. He has consistently been trusted to develop new initiatives, products and markets.

Follow Farley Thomas

Website: https://www.manageable.works

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/farleythomas/

Manageable Conversations Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/manageable-conversations/id1586790766

Book recommendations

Summary

In this conversation, Marques Colston, a former NFL player transitioned to leading the boardroom playbook, dives into the dynamic world of sports and business ventures. Marques discusses his innovative investments in the sports value chain, including sports medicine, technology, and fan engagement. The conversation covers Marque's insights on the socioeconomic impact around stadiums, the rising popularity of lacrosse, and his hands-on approach to parenting. He also opens up about coaching his son's football team and the importance of instilling resilience in his children.

Marques also shares his football crossover strategy to finding sustainable and scalable investments, his philosophy on team dynamics, and the challenges athletes face when transitioning from professional sports. From founding Champion Venture Partners to raising a $100 million fund, Marques Colston's story is a testament to innovation and resilience.

Takeaways

• Marques’ investment portfolio focuses on the sports value chain.
• From athlete to investor, Marques seamlessly transitioned from the field to venture capitalism.
• Marques introduces his three levels of awareness—self, peripheral, and situational.
• Understanding team dynamics and individual roles can maximise collective performance.
• A focus on democratising investments, making it more accessible for others.
• Marques shares his parenting approach to build resilience.

Chapters

(00:00) From Football Field to Business Strategy with Marques Colston.

(03:43) Run down of Marques Colston’s 10-year football career.

(06:13) Introducing Champion Venture Partners, a fund that invests in sports companies.

(07:00) Democratising private investments for average investors.

(12:51) Humble beginnings and embracing challenges to strengthen growth.

(14:37) Sports teach resilience and self-awareness through adversity.

(16:59) Marques Colston’s career highlights include consistency.

(20:04) Motivation as an internal standard.

(21:50) Transitioning from professional football to next career.

(23:36) Early career investments built skills and confidence for the next steps.

(30:16) Evaluating scalability and sustainability of businesses.

(35:37) Creating access to opportunities in alternative investments.

(37:27) Changes to opportunities in the pandemic.

(40:10) Taking football team experience into executive coaching.

(45:12) Culture and leadership impact performance and rewards.

(46:06) Quick fire questions with Marques Colston.

(49:12) Book recommendations.

About Marques Colston 

Marques Colston is a former NFL star now leading wins in the business field of venture capitalists. He is a Founding Partner at Champion Venture Partners, a fund dedicated to innovative investment opportunities that generate meaningful returns in the sports ecosystem.

Marquesis humble about his outstanding 10 year career as a wide receiver for New Orleans Saints. He was the Saints all time leader in receptions, receiving yards, touchdowns, and he played a key role in their super bowl victory in 2009. Since stepping off the field, he's seamlessly transitioned into the world of business applying the same Creating Separation mindset that defined his football career.

Over the last 15+ years, he has become a trusted leader in business strategy, private equity, and sports business, driving sustainable growth for companies across various sectors. He's passionate about supporting athletes in navigating the shift from professional sports to business, creating a pathway and holding the door open for those coming up behind him.

Marques wants to democratise investment capability, or the ability of people to invest in early-stage businesses. His current $100 million fund

Summary

In this conversation, Minette Norman, a seasoned leader and author, explores psychological safety, leadership myths, and managers' real impact on employee wellbeing. Minette shares her journey from technical writer to leading an enormous team of 3,500 engineers at Autodesk without learning any code. 

Minette has a genius way of simplifying the complex. She shares insight from her two books, The Boldly Inclusive Leadership and The Psychological Safety Playbook, giving you tangible how-to’s. Minette successfully navigated resistance to collaboration in her long-held position in Silicon Valley. From book recommendations to actionable insights for creating safe and productive work environments, this episode is packed with wisdom for aspiring leaders and curious minds alike.

Takeaways

• Debunking leadership myths and offering a model of vulnerability.
• Psychological safety fosters an environment where team members can openly ask questions, make mistakes, and share ideas without fear.
• Career pathway options for leaders and individual contributors.
• Building an inclusive workplace with the tipping point percentage.
• Offering the How-To guidance leaders are seeking.
• The importance of having an open mind in business.

Chapters

(00:00) Collaborating Ideas With An Open Mind With Minette Norman.

(03:08) Minette’s Journey From Technical Writer To Leader.

(04:59) Transforming Workspace Culture and Unify Teams.

(06:54) Overcoming Resistance To Collaborative Coding and Internal Competition.

(10:57) Importance of Yearly Summit In-Person Gathering.

(12:01) Adapting Meetings to Equalise Space & Include Quieter Individuals’ Insights.

(14:52) Reasons Behind The Boldly Inclusive Leader.

(17:36) Conceit of Leadership.

(21:47) Psychological Safety, Inclusion & Interpersonal Risk Taking.

(24:28) Co-Authoring Focused on How To Increase Psychological Safety.

(26:27) Asking For Other Points of View With An Open Mind.

(28:16) Learning From Mistakes.

(31:59) Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Leadership Conference.

(35:17) Overcoming Affinity Bias To Embrace Diverse Groups.

(38:49) Loneliness in the Workplace.

(41:39) Quickfire Q&A with Minette Monkhouse.

(47:02) Book Recommendations.

About Minette Norman 

Minette Norman is an author, speaker, and leadership consultant who previously spent decades leading global technical teams in the software industry.

Minette has extensive experience leading internationally distributed teams and believes that when groups embrace diversity in all its forms, breakthroughs emerge, and innovation accelerates. Before starting her consultancy, her most recent position was as Vice President of Engineering Practice at Autodesk. Responsible for influencing more than 3,500 engineers around the globe, she focused on state-of-the-art engineering practices while nurturing a collaborative and inclusive culture.

​Minette is a keynote speaker on inclusive leadership, psychological safety, collaborative teams, and empathy. Named in 2017 as one of the “Most Influential Women in Bay Area Business” by the San Francisco Business Times and as “Business Role Model of the Year” in the 2018 Women in IT/Silicon Valley Awards, Minette is a recognised leader with a unique perspective.

​Minette is the author of The Boldly Inclusive Leader and the co-author of The Psychological Safety Playbook.

Minette holds degrees in Drama and French from Tufts University and studied at the Sorbonne Nouvelle in Paris.

Follow Minette Norman

Website: https://www.minettenorman.com/

LinkedIn: