What it takes to build 2 unicorn businesses. Personal and professional insights from Oyster CEO.
Tony Jamous, co-founder and CEO of Oyster, a global HR management platform, reveals the core principles of empathy-driven leadership and shares insights on what it takes to build unicorn businesses.
Reflecting on his journey from starting in sales to building 2 unicorn businesses, Tony discusses what it takes, the leadership and culture required particularly in remote work environments.
Throughout the episode, we explore how companies that fail to adapt to remote work risk losing top talent, as today’s workforce increasingly values flexibility and work-life balance.
Tony emphasises the importance of leaders modelling the behaviour they expect from their teams, creating a culture where psychological safety fosters innovation and risk-taking.
He introduces the concept of asynchronous communication, a strategy he uses to reduce emotional triggers and biases.
Additionally, Tony shares insights from his own personal transformation, highlighting the importance of growth, trust and adaptability in leadership.
Tony discusses the key factors in building 2 unicorn businesses.
Key segments
Empathy-Driven Leadership: A New Paradigm (03:38)
Building Trust in a Remote Workforce (06.35)
The Tools for Effective Remote Collaboration (09.37)
Transformative Leadership: Lessons from Personal Experience (15:15)
Key Factors for Business Success (18:05)
Final Thoughts and Tips for Emerging Leaders (20.29)
 
Connect with Tony Jamous https://www.linkedin.com/in/teljamou/
 

Leadership lessons learnt from first hand experience at Amazon, Google and The Gates Foundation.
John Rossman specialises in solving complex problems, he shares how leaders can make high-stakes decisions with clarity, velocity, and effective communication. 
John shares his experience of observing and working with big bet leaders such as Jeff Bezos, Amazon and Satya Nadella, Microsoft. 
Key Topics:
Big Bet Leadership - Making ambitious decisions with clarity, speed, and communication.
Lessons from Amazon - Leadership lessons from launching Amazon Marketplace and scaling in today's hyper digital landscape by making bold moves and with sharp thinking.
Customer Obsession - Aligning strategy with delivering customer value.
Communication - The role of storytelling and proactive communication in successful leadership.
 
Books Mentioned:
Big Bet Leadership by John Rossman
The Amazon Way by John Rossman
The Lean Startup by Eric Ries
Thinking in Systems by Donella H. Meadows
Good Strategy, Bad Strategy by Richard Rumelt
Connect with John Rossman:
Visit bigbetleadership.com for more resources and tools.
Connect with John Rossman on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-rossman/

An important and thought-provoking episode with Dr Suzanne Wertheim to discover how your leadership language might be negatively impacting you and the business.
Suzanne explains why being intentional with the language leaders use is crucial. Yet despite good intentions leadership language is often misaligned and causes problems in the workplace.
If you're a leader or managing a team this episode is a must listen to ensure your words encourage clarity, inclusivity, and positive engagement within your team.
Suzanne highlights that whilst good intentions guide our actions, it's crucial to reflect on whether our language is in alignment, otherwise our language can cause problems in the workplace.
Suzanne encourages listeners to seek feedback on their communication styles to ensure they’re using language that reflects their values and goals.
In sharing her own errors, Suzanne underscores the risks of language on autopilot. Offering practical advice on how leaders can handle mistakes in a way that builds trust and respect, turning moments of failure into opportunities for growth and understanding.
Key Segments:
Why our language patterns are sending a bad message (06.42)
Learning from Personal Language Mistakes (16:40)
How best to overcome a langage faux pas (20.51)
Does Your Language land well and what to do if not (25.36)
Rethinking Professional Behavior (27:29)

In this exceptional episode, Bob Burg, the renowned and prolific best selling author discusses the core principles of the Go-Giver philosophy and how they apply to leadership and success.
Bob emphasises the importance of providing value to others as the key to personal and professional success. Our conversation delves into how leaders can develop an approach of giving over getting as the fuel for business success.
Key Points Discussed:
The Go-Giver Philosophy:
The importance of shifting from a "getting" mindset to a "giving" one.
Success is directly proportional to how much value you provide to others.
Five Laws of Sustainable Success:
Bob breaks down the five laws from his book, including the Law of Value, the Law of Compensation, the Law of Influence, the Law of Authenticity, and the Law of Receptivity.
Leadership and Influence
How true leadership is about serving others and helping them achieve their goals.
Influence is about pulling, not pushing—how attraction, not coercion, builds lasting influence.
Blind spots in Leadership
Bob discusses how leaders often have blind spots—areas where they might be unaware of their own biases or shortcomings.
The importance of self-awareness and feedback in identifying and addressing these blind spots to become more effective leaders.
Common Misconceptions
Addressing the myth that giving leads to being taken advantage of.
Explaining how being a Go-Giver is not about being a doormat but about creating value and creating win-win relationships.
Handling Objections
Why trying to overcome objections isn't the best approach.
Memorable Quotes
“Give Exceptional Value to Enjoy Extraordinary Results."
"Blind spots are the areas where we are unknowingly holding ourselves back; addressing them is key to becoming a more effective leader."
Resources Mentioned
Book: "The Go-Giver" by Bob Burg and John David Mann
Website: www.thegogiver.com
Bob Burg https://burg.com/
Self Determination Theory of Motivation
https://www.apa.org/members/content/intrinsic-motivation
Dondi Scumaci https://dondiscumaci.com/compliance-will-never-take-you-where-commitment-can-go/
5 Leadership Thoughts from Mark Sanborn
https://blog.leadr.com/5-leadership-thoughts-from-mark-sanborn
John Maxwell Books
https://www.amazon.co.uk/stores/author/B001H6NROC 
Principles of Success, Ray Dalio
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Principles-Success-Ray-Dalio/dp/1982147210
Everybody Matters, Bob Chapman, Raj Sisodia
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Everybody-Matters-Extraordinary-Caring-People/dp/1591847796
Leaders Eat Last, Simon Sinek
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Leaders-Eat-Last-Together-Others/dp/1591845327/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=

How To Achieve Innovation in Business: Disrupting a Traditional Industry
In this episode, we delve into how two visionaries are transforming a highly traditional industry with a world first innovative product that promises both cost savings proven return on investment and environmental benefits.
Episode Highlights:
Meet the Disruptors: Our guests, George Kochanowski, a former chemical engineer and founder and CEO of Staxxon, and Richard Danderline a finance expert are pioneering the development of folding shipping containers. With over $2 billion spent annually on repositioning empty containers, their solution offers significant cost reductions and positive environmental impacts.
The Journey of Innovation: Discover how George’s inquisitive mind led to the creation of this revolutionary product. Despite being told his idea was impossible, George’s perseverance, strategic planning, and entrepreneurial mindset are now challenging long-standing industry norms.
 
Driving Change: Insights on how to effectively introduce innovation in a traditional industry.
Mindset Matters: Strategies for maintaining a strong mindset in the face of setbacks.
Smart Conviction: The balance between blind faith and informed confidence in achieving success.
Uncommon Sense: The importance of unconventional thinking in driving progress.
Join us as we explore the fascinating story of Staxxon, and learn from George and Richard's experiences in innovation, resilience, and leadership.

Statistics point to only one-third of employees being happy at work.
Yet there are considerable benefits to having a happy workforce.
We welcome Richard Clarke to discuss how he's achieved workplace happiness. Richard is founder of the tech business Secret Source and has studied behavioural and well-being science.
Having always been obsessed with the concept of happiness from a young age Richard travelled the world to discover how to achieve this state of being.
Realising he wanted to build a business to make people happy, he relocated to Gran Canaria and set up his company.
Richard’s goal has never been about making money, the goal is a higher value, where the team feels psychologically safe and enjoys going to work.
Understand how Richard achieves workplace happiness. The impact it has on business growth and the importance of having a personal WHY – the reason for being.
 
🎯 We also discuss:
How to let go of the reins as a leader and trust the team
Why every decision is focused on the happiness it creates
How it benefits clients
How to create psychological safety within the team

Why Revolutionising Leadership Matters and
How To Achieve It
Welcome to an inspiring episode with Todd Kuckkahn, a renowned keynote speaker and leadership coach revolutionising leadership and culture.
We delve into the critical aspects of communication and why many companies consistently get it wrong.
Todd shares his unique approach to performance reviews by focusing on three essential questions that ensure employees are happy and help prevent difficult performance conversations.
We explore the importance of living by our values and navigating situations where team values differ from your own.
Todd emphasises a crucial point: If you lead by title alone, you’ve lost touch with reality.
He recounts his experience where a fear of making mistakes was rife, and why adopting a different perspective is vital to business success.
🎯 Our conversation covers a range of insightful topics, including:
The challenges of emotional intelligence at the C-suite
The benefits of being challenged, and accountability with consequences
How servant and spiritual leadership principles can transform organisational culture
How we treat others matters to business success
Why leadership is about influence and connection not titles