Have you ever questioned what kind of leader you are and which roles truly suit you?
Today’s interview is with Leon Co-Founder and Former CEO John Vincent. Named after John’s father, Leon was founded in 2004. John became CEO ten years later in 2014 after his co-founder Henry Dimbleby stepped down. In 2017, Leon was named on The Sunday Times Fast Track 100 list, which ranks Britain's 100 private companies with the fastest-growing sales over the last three years. In 2021, the company was sold for a reported £100 million to the billionaire Issa brothers.
But look behind this success, and you’ll find a lot of lessons along the way.
John talks about:
- How to identify your personality type and which roles might suit you best as a founder
- Why every business needs disruptors, scalers and executors
- What John did wrong as a disruptive CEO
- Coming up with the idea for ‘healthy’ fast-food
- Their big mistake early on
- Why wise investors keep Founders in the driving seat
- His relationship with his co-founder
- What to do if you give away too much equity early on
- How much he actually made when they sold the business
- Why he wrote the book ‘Winning not Fighting’ which draws on the philosophy of Wing Tsun, an ancient Chinese martial art
- How identifying your fears can help you understand your desires
- Why he thinks it's unhealthy to have too many regrets
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