In this insightful episode of "Leaders, Innovators, and Big Ideas" (LIBI), host Rea Hailley engages with Ron Szekely, a seasoned business coach specializing in helping founder-led companies scale effectively. Ron shares his extensive experience transitioning from corporate juggernauts like L'Oreal to coaching smaller enterprises. The conversation highlights the critical transformation needed in leadership and structure for scaling businesses, the challenges of maintaining accountability, and the exciting yet daunting integration of AI in business practices. Ron offers practical strategies to avoid the pitfalls of stagnation and propel businesses towards sustainable growth and innovation.

Thank you for listening to the Leaders, Innovators and Big Ideas podcast where we showcase fascinating people who are Leaders, Innovators, and have Big Ideas!

Host: Rea Hailley Driven by a deep-seated belief in the power of entrepreneurship, Rea leads New Idea Machine in empowering businesses with innovative digital solutions. Having witnessed the grit and triumph of her parents building a business from scratch, Rea is passionate about enabling significant revenue growth and seamless operations for startups and Small/Medium Businesses, ensuring their dedication translates into tangible success.

Guest: Ron Szekely lives and works at the intersection of creativity and commerce, helping leaders build compelling businesses, brands, and teams with the potential to change the world.

He has always viewed the business world as a delicate dance between art and science. Growing up as a magician performing at children's parties, Ron discovered early on the power of suspending disbelief, imagining potential outcomes, and reading a room. This early fascination centered on unrealized futures, endless possibilities within designed constraints, and parameters of control. Ron studied both marketing and design at university, with ambitions of working in advertising—an environment where controlled creativity serves the needs of business.

Ron’s career in marketing spans 25+ years, including executive roles with global enterprises such as L’Oréal, Sanofi, and Keurig, where he led large teams and managed multi-million-dollar budgets. While he thrived within the structured environment of large corporations, he has also been drawn to the passion and drive found in entrepreneurial ventures. Transitioning to founder-led companies, Ron served as Head of Marketing and Innovation for several of Canada’s fastest-growing consumer goods brands, skillfully blending profitable growth with purpose-driven brand experience.

Ron has experienced the full spectrum of the business world, from large corporate structures to scaling start-ups to founding his own marketing agency. Throughout his journey, he has developed a deep appreciation for the spirit of possibility that fuels growth. His passion for entrepreneurship led him to create BOS360, a proprietary and progressive business coaching methodology and practice. BOS360 fuses the art and science of business across strategy, brand, and team—unlocking growth and cultivating happy, healthy, high-performing companies.

Ron is not a traditional business coach. He immerses himself empathetically in his client’s business to uncover their unique value, asking the uncomfortable questions and leveraging inversion and varied mental models to turn obstacles into opportunities, finding the simple path to greatness. For Ron, true growth is where intelligence becomes creative.

At his core, Ron Szekely is a business idealist, believing that perception is reality. Grounded in truth, he uses optimism to help light the path forward for inspiring entrepreneurs. Ron firmly believes that optimism is a success builder and a strategy that can be operationalized to create scalable businesses and a better future.

Show Links:

• BOS360 

Show Quotes:

"A doom loop happens when you really get caught in the short term... It's making sure that they step back a little bit and recognize that they're in a doom loop."
"It's the only tool that will tell you how to best utilize it ... Have you asked it? ... It will go in detail about the industry overall, about their specific company."
"Becoming better and better at what they do, the more they do it ... creates a momentum where the bigger they get, the easier it gets."

Credits...

This Episode Sponsored By: New Idea Machine

Episode Music: Tony Del Degan

Creator & Producer: Al Del Degan