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21st Century EntrepreneurshipAuthor: Martin Piskoric
The 21st Century Entrepreneurship Podcast is a 4 x Gold-Award weekly show that features interviews with cutting-edge leaders and successful entrepreneurs. We talk about the fundamentals of starting and growing a business, achieving and maintaining success, as well as the difficulties of entrepreneurship and its future. Subscribe to the 21st Century Entrepreneurship Podcast and never miss an episode, so you can stay on top of the curve and gain the knowledge you need to succeed in today's competitive landscape. Language: en Genres: Business, Education, Entrepreneurship, Self-Improvement Contact email: Get it Feed URL: Get it iTunes ID: Get it |
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Kyle Whitehill: When should founders hand over the CEO role?
Episode 97
Thursday, 16 October, 2025
Kyle Whitehill is a former Vodafone executive who spent three decades inside global giants like L’Oréal, Diageo, and PepsiCo before asking himself, “Am I not entrepreneurial?” Seven years ago, he found out—leaving the corporate world to lead a smaller, founder-built company and test whether discipline and responsiveness could thrive in an entrepreneurial environment.He explained that his leadership philosophy rests on four pillars: responsiveness, authentic purpose, governance, and accountability. “To engage customers effectively, you have to be responsive,” he said, adding that purpose must be “authentic, not just charity.” In practice, that meant creating initiatives like Project Heart, connecting 300,000 schoolgirls in rural Kenya to digital education and refugees in East Africa to vital communication tools.Whitehill’s stories reveal what happens when founders don’t know when to let go—or when corporate leaders forget to sell. “There comes a moment when the founder must yield leadership,” he noted, “so the company can professionalize and grow.” His insights bridge both worlds: how to keep the agility of a startup with the discipline of a corporation.For listeners, this episode offers a real-world roadmap for scaling responsibly—balancing entrepreneurial spirit with the systems that sustain it.Key takeawaysFounders must know when to hand leadership to experienced operators.Responsiveness builds trust faster than perfection or hierarchy.Authentic purpose drives engagement more than profit goals.Governance enables agility when aligned with a clear mission.Large companies can’t fake entrepreneurship—they must empower it.Passion without monetization risks the survival of great ideas.
