On air

“If you’re a leader and you’re the smartest guy in the room, you’ve got real problems”- Jack Welch, CEO General Electric (1981 – 2001)

What makes a great leader and can that success be replicated?

Throughout his career, John has interviewed many of the world’s most accomplished figures across politics, business, the military, sport, film, and fashion. These conversations have offered rare insight into the qualities that set leaders apart.

If you were to bottle the science behind this success, what would it be? Is it as simple as discipline, determination and drive? Or do you also need the courage to take risk, the skill to delegate, the humility to hire people smarter than yourself, the emotional intelligence to spot and seize opportunity, and the stamina to operate under pressure. It’s the hunger to keep striving, to never be satisfied and the resilience to bounce back from failure, and sometimes the strategic edge to make tough, even unpopular decision. No two leaders are the same, but the patterns are there—for those willing to look beyond the surface.

“There are three ingredients for success – aggression, timing and skill – and if you have enough aggression at the right time, you don’t need that much skill”- Howard Marks, Chairman and Co-Founder, Oaktree Capital Management.

If we are all born with ‘tabula rasa’, a clean slate, what forges us – as individuals – and how do we turn negatives into positives? Understanding how and why some reach this zenith has been John’s fascination and the underlying thread running through his interviews. What drives you? What separates you from the rest? For Sir Richard Branson, it was the University of Life and a fearless appetite for risk. For Jack Welch, a fierce desire to succeed. Each story is unique, yet the outcome is shared: a path to success, forged by personal conviction and resilience.

Through his interviews, John aims to not only inform but to understand what makes people thrive.