S5 E9: The Qualities that Define Exceptional Leaders with James Caan CBE

The Inspire Podcast

In this episode Bart speaks with James Caan about what he looks for in entrepreneurs he wants to back and invest in. James has had an incredible career, creating and selling multiple companies in the human capital space including Alexander Mann and Humana Capital, as well as serving the British government in multiple capacities including Chairman of the Startup Loans initiative, which invested in entrepreneurs who wanted to start their own businesses. James joins Bart to talk about his new venture, Recruitment Entrepreneur and the qualities he looks for that are predictors of success in leaders, and his advice to those looking to develop their potential to attract, inspire and motivate people in the service of driving business growth. Visit Recruitment Entrepreneur's website to learn more: https://ca.recruitmententrepreneur.com/ and check them out on Linked In here: https://www.linkedin.com/company/85333304 00:29 Show into 01:14 Introducing James 02:46 Early career 05:55 Worldwide recruitment business 07:50 Passion for helping entrepreneurs 08:15 Approached by Dragon's Den 09:40 Writing the book 11:01 Helping government support entrepreneurs 13:49 Commander of the British Empire 15:31 Recruitment Entrepreneur Business 17:11 What gets in the way of building a successful business 17:27 Undercapitalization 17:44 Good billers - but not good business builders 20:39 Attracting talent and building teams 21:18 3 qualities needed to attract talent 21:56 Building to scale 22:16 Articulate your vision 22:57 People want to develop 23:37 Who exemplifies this charismatic leader? 25:39 How to build high-performing teams 26:06 Lead by example 26:59 Develop both technical and strategic sides 30:07 Moving from individual to leader... 31:21 Why do you want to make the change? 32:37 Are you aware of what's involved? 33:16 How do you know you've gone high enough? 34:28 Bart summarizes some points 35:43 Shared learning is very effective 37:59 Where people can find more? 38:46 Thank yous 39:07 Outro