Entrepreneurship and Leadership

In this podcast interview, Richard Lucas hosts Ben Bradbury [https://www.linkedin.com/in/benbradbury/], founder of Reading Rhythms [https://readingrhythms.co/], to discuss the back story leading to founding Ben's his unique reading-themed events. Ben sharing his entrepreneurial journey, including early influences and the inspiration behind Reading Rhythms, which aims to reduce loneliness through shared reading experiences. We learn about the early role model and nudges Ben had from his mother and uncle, his first steps in entrepreneurship and work as a teenager. We hear about the positive and importantly negative lessons he learned from those experiences. We hear how Reading Rhythms emerged from Ben solving a problem he had in his own life, of finding time to read, and making connections with other readers in New York, and their “breakthrough moment when the New York Times published an article about what Reading Rhythms/ Richard and Ben explore the operational aspects of the business, highlighting its growth, revenue model, and the implementation of a management structure to address coordination challenges across multiple chapters, and work on efficiency and processes. We learn about their use of the Clifton Strengths [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CliftonStrengths] assessment process, their rigorous and demanding approach to taking on and supporting new Group leaders and Ambassadors, and discuss similarities between Reading Rhythms, the TED-TEDx network and the NBN. The NBN as an organisation and Richard as the host of this channel, and very aligned with what RR is doing, and their enthusiasm is clear for the tone of the podcast Links: * 3 steps to turn everyday get-togethers into transformative gatherings [https://www.ted.com/talks/priya_parker_3_steps_to_turn_everyday_get_togethers_into_transformative_gatherings] - Priya Parker * Mark McKergow * Host Leadership - book [https://www.amazon.com/Host-Mark-McKergow/dp/0954974980] * Host Leadership - why "hosting" is an important type of leadership [https://youtu.be/hG23v5VzB-0?si=3Mp3MkRTzdu9xeSk] | Mark McKergow  * How Village-in-the-City builds micro-local communities worldwide [https://youtu.be/hrv_g7QDHhc?si=2hPxcCFStFxL-lYz] | Mark McKergow Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/entrepreneurship-and-leadership [https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/entrepreneurship-and-leadership]

Robert Rosenkranz was described by Bill Bowder as “the most powerful titan on Wall Street you’ve probably never heard of." As CEO of Delphi Capital Management the value of its assets under management grew to U$20 billion, and its value grew 100 fold. While his book The Stoic Capitalist [https://bookshop.org/a/12343/9781399423236] (Bloomsbury, 2025) – has the tag line “advice for the exceptionally ambitious” there are powerful lessons that anyone can take from his story. In the podcast, we hear about the power and impact of the negative role models his unemployed father and communist mother played, leading to intense financial stress Robert wanted to avoid in his own life. Robert shares many aspects of how a stoic philosophy guided him and can guide others. --The positive influence of his extensive reading of the biographies of those who succeeded --The important of regarding obstacles as opportunities for growth --The value of focussing on areas we have control over --The value of time --The importance of reason over emotion, without ignoring the importance and impact of emotions on decision making processes --When and how to take risk and go “all in” --How to interview people --The important of selecting the right partners in life and business --His own approach to philanthropy, including his work supporting research into Longevity, modern art, and the debate of ideas Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/entrepreneurship-and-leadership [https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/entrepreneurship-and-leadership]

In this podcast, Matthew talks about his late entry into entrepreneurship, taking advantage of opportunities that emerged as Kindle offered a new way to distribute books. In his career as a journalist with well known business publications he enjoyed talking to entrepreneurs, even having his editor turn down his pitch to interview Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. Starting a business was something he had always been open to, but journalism came first until quite late in life. He shares how his initial idea of publishing short-form books from well-known authors pivoted into the bigger opportunity of publishing back catalogues. Matthew describes how and why larger publishers missed the boat due to conservative pricing and a feeling that ebooks might just "go away." He discusses the importance of a "problem-solving mindset," persistence, and being ready to hustle. We learn what being a fiction author has in common with being an entrepreneur, and how crucial it is to handle and manage rejection. Matthew also delves into his path to an exit, the loyalty he felt to his authors and staff, and the challenges of management and leadership. He particularly highlights the learning process of dealing with the fact that the founder is often more motivated than the people they hire. Links relevant to the interview. Matthew’s books Death Force series [https://www.amazon.co.uk/Death-Force-Book-One-ebook/dp/B004BDOJ90/ref=sr_1_3?crid=3MV3SZDZR0H84&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.V_lcP8vBM5MS1CT3UkwgR9km-PRtZ1I7znMBg0SCndFm6gJdsM6eg7RheFnz039i0fls8t0cVM0Cg4aSzYbmFWe5u9MD2_J6fqQLhw8VWBlkB7mxMzKPzeBXWC4mLcr6fLLxoJcZjBm-MYe7upk0plt3-NFnfHCW85Le19Mzacx4bENaq1Di0_45hIaFubRZmVskk1GrHbk-cOFKSEnMoTolt8HCAQgiVBvaoIUysAA.AYt9RZ-sGRnN1PwvQJjt1RBqlaUQe7Dpcqertd9NEuM&dib_tag=se&keywords=matt+lynn&nsdOptOutParam=true&qid=1733821006&s=digital-text&sprefix=matt+lynn%2Cdigital-text%2C125&sr=1-3] Lume Books [https://www.lumebooks.co.uk/]  Joffe Books [https://joffebooks.com/] - acquired by Lume Books Matthew’s Bio * Daily Telegraph - columnist - 2013-2024 * Money Week - columnist - 2008-2024 * Bloomberg - columnist - 1999-2012 * The Sunday Times - Reporter and columnist - 1992-2000 * Business magazine - reported - 1988-1991 * Asiaweek, Hong Kong - 1986-1988 * Financial Adviser magazine - 1985-1986 * Founder - Lume Books - 2013- 2023 Author * Death Force - Hodder Headline - 2010 * Fireforce - Hodder Headline - 2011 * Shadow Force - Hodder Headline - 2012 * Ice Force - Hodder Headline - 2013 * Insecurity - Random House - 1997 * The Watchmen - Random House - 1999 Education: * Balliol College, Oxford. Politics, Philosophy & Economics. Richard Lucas’s TEDx talk on Opportunity Readiness  [http://www.ted.com/talks/richard_lucas_to_change_the_world_start_with_yourself?subtitle=en]and on Why everyone should embrace rejection [https://youtu.be/j0wB1-s21q4?si=cYRPcPSAzDnYzKwu&t=92] Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/entrepreneurship-and-leadership [https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/entrepreneurship-and-leadership]

Richard interviews BBC Journalist Dougal Shaw about his book CEO Secrets based on the BBC Series CEO secrets in which he interviewed 100s of CEOs. When Dougal first began as a business journalist at BBC, he wasn’t particularly interested in the topic. Prior to his new career, he was training for doctorate in history. He began creating content for social media, interviewing CEOs who found themselves in the BBC offices. He then shifted to producing miniseries, talking to different CEOs every single week. Dougal has taken years of interviews and analyzed them for patterns in the lives and behaviors of CEOs. The pattern that stood out most was the difference between CEOs who founded their own company, and CEOs who hadn’t, what Dougal refers to as “corporate climbers.” The founders were brasher, more prone to extemporaneous speech, and sometimes quite eccentric. Meanwhile, the corporate climbers were highly-prepared and behaved like participants in a job interview. He also noticed certain traits among the younger founders. Many of them, reassuringly, appeared to be wise beyond their years. This early maturity was frequently catalyzed by a traumatic event in their family like divorce or death. Entrepreneurship for some became like a coping strategy. It was something they could throw themselves into at an early age. Dougal also discusses the challenges of interviewing CEOs, especially when they bring along their PR teams to coach them. Getting past the censors is one his goals, especially when his agenda differs from the CEO’s. Dougal views himself as somewhat of a psychologist, attempting to coax real and authentic answers out of his interviewees. The best answers for the audience are ones that surprise, not boilerplate jargon.  As well as focussing on ideas in the book they discuss who he would have liked to interview, and what Dougal is going to do next. They were introduced by Peter Cowley, whose extraordinary story was featured on the NBN a few months ago here, or go to to the Public Success Private Grief website here  [https://www.ps-pg.com/] Listeners can get get a 25% discount if they use the code ‘CEO25’ on the Bloomsbury website here [https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/ceo-secrets-9781399403658/] Get the latest on the CEO Secrets series by subscribing to the newsletter [http://bit.ly/43n9xFU] CEO Secrets is now out as a book [https://linktr.ee/ceosecretsbook]! Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/entrepreneurship-and-leadership [https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/entrepreneurship-and-leadership]

In this episode Richard interviews not an entrepreneur but a business journalist with detailed knowledge of the Polish and British business landscape from the perspective of someone who has helped facilitate business between Poland and the United Kingdom in both directions. Listeners will learn of examples of Polish entrepreneurs acquiring British companies post-Brexit, and hear a discussion of whether the next generation of Poles will be as hungry for success as the first generation of post communist entrepreneurs. Michael Dembinski, born in London to Polish émigré parents, studied at Warwick University and The City University London; worked at the CBI, for nine years as editor of monthly magazine CBI News, before moving to Poland with his young family in 1997. In Poland he worked on several publishing projects before setting down with the British Polish Chamber of Commerce, where he’s been for over 20 years. Since 2007, Michael has been blogging about Poland and matters metaphysical on his blog, W-wa Jeziorki. [https://jeziorki.blogspot.com/] Linkedin  [https://www.linkedin.com/in/michal-dembinski-b2594a6/] British Polish Chamber of Commerce [https://bpcc.org.pl/] Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/entrepreneurship-and-leadership [https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/entrepreneurship-and-leadership]