Welcome to the REAL. Leadership newsletter. 

This month’s newsletter is all about the challenges of leading and growing a scaling company. Whether it is finding the right people to lead your company, or facing the challenges of operating in hyper-growth mode there are top tips, insights and advice that will be invaluable for leaders everywhere.
What’s included in Talking REAL. this month?

  • If you are scaling a business and looking to find the right people to join your team then read the latest blog post from Steve.
  • If you are currently leading a fast growth company then head to the blog post from the VP of Jamf, Michel van den Berg, who explains the skills needed when you are continuously changing your structure.
  • Start-up CEO Douglas McCabe takes us through the journey of creating and building a new company and the lessons he has learnt along the way.
  • Finally, however fast your company is growing you need to understand the different personality types of the people you work with and how to communicate with them. Surrounded by Idiots is essential reading for any modern leader.


In this latest blog post from Steve, founder of REAL. Leadership, he discusses how to scale your business with the right people.

Do founders make great leaders? Do the passion and skills that got your business off the ground mean that you’re the best person to get your business to the next stage? Find out more here or if you’re facing similar challenges get in touch via steve@realleadership.consulting.


Some years ago, Michel van den Berg, Vice President & General Manager EMEIA at Jamf, would have said “if it isn’t broken, don’t fix it”. However, when you grow from 1300 to 2300 employees in 2 years, if you acquire different companies, and if you continue to operate in hypergrowth mode – you have no alternative than to be continuously changing your structure.
So what has Michel learnt about leadership during this rapid period of growth?
“You don’t build a business, you build people, then people build the business.”
Zig Ziglar


Douglas McCabe CEO of startup Fuelbetter, shares what he has learnt during his journey of creating and building his company. In this blog post he explains how leading others is difficult enough when you have a clear destination, and a clear and robust road-map for getting there. But what if the destination is not clear – or the road-map is based only on a few faint points of lights in an otherwise dark sky?

Find out more in this intriguing and thought provoking article.

Our choice of leadership book for this month is Surrounded by Idiots by Thomas Erikson.This offers insight into the four main personality types and provides methods and tips for how to use this insight in order to be more effective in getting your message across to each of them. Different people require different considerations when you’re trying to work alongside them or sell them on an idea. The more you know about each person’s personality type, the more effectively you’ll be able to communicate in your work life and private life.

What our clients have to say….“We have been working with Steve over the last year who has been providing both 1:1 mentoring and group workshop sessions to our members around the topic of leadership within startup and SME, scaling businesses.

We have had amazing feedback from members who have really valued the time, energy and expertise he brings to these companies who more often than not, want to engage in an ongoing manner to help them transform their businesses.

Sarah Nichols, Partnerships Director, Plus X 

We are really proud of the positive feedback and testimonials that we receive from the REAL. Leadership clients. Find out more here.

#leadershipskills #lessonsinleadership #leaderchat #leaders #leadershipdevelopment #leadership