 Hello So my name is Julian. I'm the CEO and founder of we Fox and I'm a serial entrepreneur So I've found it around eight companies in my life so far and today I want to talk about my biggest single biggest Learning I've made over the last few years So of course what you always see in the media is how well businesses are doing Currently we have a couple of scratches, but that's generally the picture that is portrayed, right? So we have big companies, right our company for example in Since 2015 more than 600 million in revenues We have been able to grow to more than 1300 employees We are now the number one inter tech in Europe when it comes to size Valuation wise we are actually the number one inter tech in the world. So the media celebrates this We have been this year for example The number one in terms of how much has been raised in terms of inter tech globally and you see by far Right and these are the type of messages you would see in the media when you look from the outside in But today I want to be brutally honest to you and I want to share my most important learning This most important learning can be summarized like this No matter how glittery it seems No matter how straight the path towards success seems The success of a company is Limited by the personal limitations of its CEO The company is like a plant and The plan wants to grow The plan wants to become a big tree and The CEO is like a cage Around the plant Keeping the company from growing where it could and And the single most important job of a CEO is To increase the size of the cage So I want to tell you a little story about how I came to realize this So when we started in 2015 I Was not an insurance guy. I was in technology and I swore I never want to become an insurance guy You know why because my father is an insurance guy So I wanted nothing to do with insurance in The end we saw the potential we saw that someone has to do it So we started we Fox in 2015 and I called up my father and I was like that. Can you please help me? Can you come and work for me? So he started working for me. I was his boss That's a weird story and I could talk about it and my learnings for a long time but The most relevant piece of experience that happened was one employee one day coming to me and we were already 150 people or so and that person said Julian So now you've got your dad here and you're running the company and I can tell you one thing The family dynamic between you and your dad Can be felt to the last part of the company and you and your dad You are taking the company hostage By trying to solve your interpersonal issues inside of this company and Then it was like boom. I realized what I As a CEO have as a responsibility and what is the impact of me? my personal limitations my biases on the growth of my organization and And I realized that What I have to do is I have to work hard on myself To become the best possible CEO that this company deserves and this means I have to go where it hurts and The first thing that I did was fire my dad and Since then this is my credo Because we all know this This is the process of transformation and as a CEO, but also as a team leader If you don't become an expert at this process and Go through this process as a part of your daily routine You're not going to be the best possible version. You're going to keep your company your team hostage So we all know how this works We are in our comfort zone Everything kind of seems like it works. Well We go to work We feel comfortable with the people we meet we will feel comfortable with the tasks we do We will comfortable with the conversations we have we go to dinner with friends We go to bed and everything kind of works But you all know what I'm talking about There are these cognitive dissonances The things that don't really make sense the things that kind of make us feel uncomfortable and Our normal reaction is we push them away We try to ignore them and It's a sad story But most people live their entire life by trying to push away What makes them feel uncomfortable and try to stay in their comfort zone their entire life until they die and look Back at their life and regret it so what You have to do as a CEO as a good CEO It's you have to go and look For what makes you feel uncomfortable What doesn't make sense? Instead of pushing it away You have to go and approach it and what happens then is not nice It's actually the hardest thing for us humans we become fearful Because things That have always made sense start not making sense anymore Especially when you're a CEO by the way because something Must have worked well in order for you to be so successful in order for you to build up a billion-dollar business In order for you to raise one point three billion dollars in order for you to build a company with 1,300 people something must have worked well you must have found that success formula so now Challenging yourself and actually Thinking about Whether the way you have acted is Actually the way you should act going forward and whether certain behaviors patterns of yours that have made you successful You might have to leave behind you is a damn scary thing and Actually when I sit with my management That's what I request of them. I tell them people We are here because we have acted the way we have and Each one is here because of your unique skills But where we're going is A place where none of us has been and If we stay the way we are we're never going to get to where we want to be So what I ask of you is Question everything that you consider your strengths that you consider your identity and Jump with me into a dark cold water It's like a caterpillar a caterpillar that becomes a beautiful butterfly But the caterpillar goes through a lot of pain I don't know if you know that just before the caterpillar becomes a butterfly It actually looks like the caterpillar is dead For two three days. It's not moving All the energy is out Everything is gone. It looks like this is lifeless and this is what happens in the process of human transformation as well You will go through a process of confusion You will go through a process of identity crisis. You will go through a process of depression There is no way around it but then You start figuring out That there's something good in pain and Then you realize that you have learned your lesson and Then you start understanding that this is something that changes your life That changes the way you treat other people that changes the quality of your family life and that changes your qualities as a manager or as a CEO and then You recognize That you never ever want to be your old self That this old self that you thought was so successful Was actually so damn limiting and You are thankful for having gone through this journey and the difference between great CEOs and bad CEOs is That good CEOs Look for what makes them feel uncomfortable and they don't just wait until it's too late Because we all know that if we wait Life is going to put us into a position where we have to go through it. Anyways, it might be us losing our job It might be a dear friend or family member dying Life will push us into these moments So what I can recommend to all of you is go and look For what makes you feel uncomfortable go and look For things that you believe make you weak and vulnerable and go all in and make that your daily routine and Manage that process yourself become strong enough and find joy in pain Because without pain. There's no evolution And without going through this process You will not become a great CEO There are CEOs that have a huge amount of talent. I can tell you I'm not one of them These CEOs they are born with a huge cage So they can grow big plans without doing this work But at one point They will have to do this work Either they want to or they have to So I believe in the unlimited potential of every single human being I Believe everyone can be a CEO and everyone can build billion-dollar businesses and everyone can be the best possible version of a CEO to their organization and unleash their potential But you have to be willing To go through the process and there's no shortcut. So thank you very much