From the remnants of a war-torn Lebanon to the zenith of entrepreneurship, Tony Jamous shares the odyssey that led him to champion the remote work revolution with Oyster, a beacon for global job democratization. His tale is one of triumph over personal and professional battles, a testament to the resilience that forges not just successful business leaders, but pioneers of social change. We explore how Tony's dedication to mental health, personal growth, and societal impact intertwines with his business acumen to create opportunities that bridge economic divides and foster wealth equality across borders.
Venture with us as we unravel the fabric of mission-driven businesses, where profit meets purpose, and where the prosperity of people is as valued as the bottom line. Tony's insights illuminate the solitary nature of entrepreneurship and the challenges that come with fundraising and scaling a business. Yet, amidst these hurdles, we uncover the power of diversity, the importance of nurturing real-world role models, and the pivotal moments that define the trajectory of a venture.
Our conversation culminates in a vision for the future—one where sustainable leadership is the cornerstone of both mental well-being and environmental stewardship. Tony's perspective on rapid decision-making, impactful investments, and the cultivation of social capital paints a picture of a world where opportunities are no longer bound by geography. Join us for an inspiring narrative that challenges the conventional, promising a tomorrow where businesses not only thrive but also contribute to a more equitable and flourishing global community.
🎧 Check our podcast audio here: www.dialglobal.org/podcast
📱 Join our Membership to access our DIAL Global Community Network app here: www.dialglobal.org/community
📩 Contact us at hello@dialglobal.org or www.dialglobal.org/contact-us
🌐 Visit us on www.dialglobal.org
From the remnants of a war-torn Lebanon to the zenith of entrepreneurship, Tony Jamous shares the odyssey that led him to champion the remote work revolution with Oyster, a beacon for global job democratization. His tale is one of triumph over personal and professional battles, a testament to the resilience that forges not just successful business leaders, but pioneers of social change. We explore how Tony's dedication to mental health, personal growth, and societal impact intertwines with his business acumen to create opportunities that bridge economic divides and foster wealth equality across borders.
Venture with us as we unravel the fabric of mission-driven businesses, where profit meets purpose, and where the prosperity of people is as valued as the bottom line. Tony's insights illuminate the solitary nature of entrepreneurship and the challenges that come with fundraising and scaling a business. Yet, amidst these hurdles, we uncover the power of diversity, the importance of nurturing real-world role models, and the pivotal moments that define the trajectory of a venture.
Our conversation culminates in a vision for the future—one where sustainable leadership is the cornerstone of both mental well-being and environmental stewardship. Tony's perspective on rapid decision-making, impactful investments, and the cultivation of social capital paints a picture of a world where opportunities are no longer bound by geography. Join us for an inspiring narrative that challenges the conventional, promising a tomorrow where businesses not only thrive but also contribute to a more equitable and flourishing global community.
🎧 Check our podcast audio here: www.dialglobal.org/podcast
📱 Join our Membership to access our DIAL Global Community Network app here: www.dialglobal.org/community
📩 Contact us at hello@dialglobal.org or www.dialglobal.org/contact-us
🌐 Visit us on www.dialglobal.org
Hello, my name is Layla McKenzie-Dellis, Founder and CEO of Dialglobal, and you are watching the CEO Activist podcast. We decided to start this podcast because we wanted to do something really special and really unique and something that involved the modern CEO Before thinking innovative CEO of the current day times that really cares about putting the S in ESG and utilising diversity as a commercial lever with which to drive change for economic growth and long-term prosperity. Stay tuned, because we have got some epic guests on the show Today. I am joined by someone that can only be described as a truly phenomenal individual entrepreneur, ceo, founder. He's famously known as the sustainable CEO. Yes, it is Tony Gemos. He's famous for talking about everything from sustainability through to hybrid work, the future of work and what that truly means in a volatile and uncertain world, one in which we live in. Welcome to the show, tony.
Speaker 2:Layla, thank you for having me here. I'm excited to talk to you today.
Speaker 1:Thank you so much. I've been excited about this for many weeks. I'm very bad at poking, so I'm clearly showing my enthusiasm to everyone here. Freddie very kindly intro'd us and said if you want someone inspiration, tony is your man. Tell us, in your own words, a little bit of about how you came to be where you are today. Obviously, any entrepreneur dreams of being a unicorn, least of all being one who has done it twice and now, obviously, being CEO of Oyster. Talk to us about the journey.
Speaker 2:I would love to talk about the journey, but before, as a sustainable human being, I have to get my dog my push out. He's trying to push the door there and actually the bonus everybody to see Fatouche.
Speaker 1:He is absolutely gorgeous. He's absolutely gorgeous. We have three called Maud, blanche and Daphne. What breed is he?
Speaker 2:Because I have a King Charles. Oh he's a King Charles.
Speaker 1:He's a very funny one.
Speaker 2:He needs to go out. Give me back in five minutes.
Speaker 1:You've been upstage. Tony now by your dog. He's very lovely and I'm sure everyone's wanting to hear much more about him as well. But anyway, let's go back to where we were.
Speaker 2:I got back to the journey. I got back to the journey. But when I say my gardener this morning admitted to me that he's been taking pictures with Fatouche and it made him famous on TikTok, so he's a star dog. Anyway, let's talk about the journey here. So I was born in Lebanon in 1980, in the middle of the Civil War. I spent the first 10 years of my life in that environment and then, the moment I had the chance to leave because it was a failed state, post-war country, no economical opportunity I left. I was 17. I left a friend and studied computer science. Eventually I moved to London.
Speaker 2:I started working in the telecom industry a few years later and 13 years ago I started my first technology startup from San Francisco called Nexmo. That was an API business that went 200 million or 30 million in the first five years Look at public in mid-2016 by doing a reverse merger with Vonage, a company public at that time. That led eventually to their acquisition by Ericsson for a $6.5 billion. So I left the business. I decided I want to take some time off, focus on my well-being, on my mental health. Coming from a childhood growing in a war situation has developed in me hypersensitivity, post-traumatic stress disorder, hyper-stress response, fear response that I was really committed to solve during a year and a half, took a year and a half off, and I did a lot of work personal work, growth work and that work led me to decide that I want to put my effort and my skills into building something meaningful, something that I believe in, and that led me to Oyster. So Oyster is global employment platform that is a mission-driven company. First and foremost, it is on a mission to make the world more free and equal by democratizing access to global job opportunities, and I got to that realization in January.
Speaker 2:So I started the business in January 2020 and I got the realization in day 2019 that I want to make sure that people like me don't have to leave their countries, don't have to leave their tribes, their communities, just for a better job opportunity. And, if you think about it, brain drain is the biggest issue why emerging economies remain emerging. Just to give you some data points about the opportunity there are 85 million jobs going unfulfilled in the West, according to BCG. That's $8.5 trillion economic loss. That's two times the size of Germany economy. And at the same time, you have over a billion knowledge workers coming into the workforce in the next 10 years, mostly from memory economies.
Speaker 2:So it was clear to me that a platform like Oyster, using software to make global hiring as easy as local hiring, can not only be a successful venture, but can also deliver impact in areas of wealth and equality reduction brain reduction. So, armed with that vision and this impact mindset January 2020, I started Oyster. Then remote work became a reality, much faster than we thought it's going to become. Actually, we were expecting it to accelerate, but it accelerated 50x faster in 2020. And so we knew that we had to go fast.
Speaker 2:So we built an amazing company in a short period of time. Oyster today is around 600 people distributed in 80 countries, from over 100 nationalities, gender equal and really a true mission-driven company. We are a benefit corporation, we are the only B Corp in our category and we raised that $220 million in three years, grew faster than Google in the first year, grew faster than Slack in the first three years, and just can't be more grateful to be doing what I'm doing. Align was my purpose and surrounded with people from all over the world coming to build something that, ultimately, is not really comfortable for me.
Speaker 1:Wow, for those that know me, I'm really lost words, but I almost don't know what to say. First, tony, I take my hat off to you from coming from Lebanon, in a place that is ultimately a war zone, coming from such adversity to building something that not only has created a tremendous amount of jobs and opportunity but is also supporting levelling the playing field, which is absolutely critical. And something that I observe with founders is the deep interconnected tissue that they have with their childhood and how they've grown up through to then being able to self-identify aspects of mental health and meaning and purpose. It's just absolutely phenomenal.
Speaker 1:And where you talk about this change in the workplace over the last decade and certainly you know we'll be seeing this for the next decade as well it's clear that you're utilizing diversity and equity and sustainability as commercial levers for economic growth, prosperity and success. One thing that I was thinking as you were speaking is that talent really truly is everywhere. The numbers that you quoted are off the Richter scale, and it's sad to know that, even though talent is everywhere, opportunity is not, and so to be able to, with platforms like Oyster, to deliver this impact at scale and to grow faster than Google, I mean, oh my God, you can say, that is another level.
Speaker 2:Look, we hire 80% of people at Oyster from emerging economies. It's a forcing function from the top. It's been great. For us, one of our core values is elevating talent and it works well here internally to elevate talent from emerging economies to participate and access these amazing job opportunities we have here in the West. But that's only Oyster. We support over 1000 customers around the world to do the same. We have seen the ratio of emerging economies hiring from 20% to 30% in the last 18 months on our platform and we are on track of sending a billion dollar of foreign bank investment into emerging economies per year from 2025 and beyond, and that leads us to our success.
Speaker 2:By the way, we're not doing it just because it's nice or because it's aligned with the economy. We draw a lot of intelligence and strategy in making sure being mission driven drives financial results. So an example we position our product not only to be scalable from an HR compliance standpoint so our customer can hire anyone anywhere and look at the world as one country, but also because we make them talent competitive. We give them tools and the insight to treat Mary and Athens fairly and give her a great employment contract to make sure Mohammed Morocco get the health benefit he deserves and to make sure Valentina and Argentina can get equity and participate in the upside of the business, and that's what our customer want. The way we are positioning Oyster to use our mission and connect with the hearts and minds of our customer and their employees around the world is the soul of this company and what makes us financially successful.
Speaker 1:I love that you pulled the hearts and minds piece there, because I'm such a believer that you cannot have prosperity and commercial success without winning the hearts and the minds of the many. And clearly you're fantastic at storytelling through meaning and value, but also having the interventions through data and research that also have that impact. I've seen too many people and organisations over time get so incredibly focused on data that they then forgot the human aspects. Likewise, at the other end of the scale, we see so many stories and polarizing viewpoints in the media with governments, with world micro-micro issues, that actually we have to be able to cut through that and look at the real facts and figures and the data behind those so that we can work out what that means and what a path is for. And so I think what you've described so very beautifully there is how, transcending those two worlds of the data, the value, all of the intrinsics, plus the hearts, the minds, the meaning and why we exist to serve, bringing them together, create something exceptionally, exceptionally special.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and it's also because we're doing this to role model. We want to show that being emission driven returns better return for investors and entrepreneurs who take this path. This path of being emissionary can succeed widely more than if they don't. That's, for me, is critical, especially at the world is face increasingly with challenges such as environmental challenges, mental health challenges, economical challenges that we actually demonstrate that going and addressing these challenges in the world is a great business opportunity. Like, you don't have to go build a social network that makes people addicted to be successful, you don't have to build an e-commerce conglomerate. That is about making you make impulse purchase with one click, by button, to be successful in the world. Like, you don't have to play that game. You can play a different game, a more powerful game. Actually, simon Sinek calls it the infinite game in his latest book. It is about having a just cause. It's about a building great organization. It's about being the other experiment and this is what drives long-term success. And we want Oyster to be a role model for other entrepreneurs.
Speaker 1:And that's it absolutely. It is the business and the individual in yourself. It is entrepreneurs that make these businesses successful. I was speaking to someone recently explaining that with corporate organizations and look our. I adore corporate organizations. They are predominantly our customer, but ultimately the corporate words that are spoken need to be turned into sustainable actions. And actually investing in entrepreneurs, investing in innovative businesses, is the way forward, because you're practicing what you preach, you're putting your money where your mouth is.
Speaker 1:Smes and other growing enterprises makeup, certainly in the UK, the vast amount of the economy, and so if organizations are not investing in those businesses, investing in those people, investing in that diversity, they are not ever going to get the innovation that is needed. And it makes me sad when I see entrepreneurs and it's been challenging at times for myself even raising so when I hear that you've raised these phenomenal amounts of money, I just think it's incredible. We raised just over half a million for 10% in the business a year and a half ago and that was like another job in and to itself. I think the worlds of those startups, those entrepreneurs, is so far at times, I think, removed from the land and the world of the corporate that I want so much in podcasts like this to showcase and shine a light on how much skills there are there, because the tenacity to get stuff like that done and put the foot to the metal it is hard those special, special people and to a point you talk about role models, often at dial. We call these real models because, like yourself, you have lived it, you've breathed it, you've slept it. Your blood, your sweat, your tears have gone into building that business and to learn on the job. Essentially, it's just crazy, it's incredible, incredible.
Speaker 1:I got to ask, if you don't mind, tony, and partly for myself and all the other people there that are already being inspired by this podcast, what were some of those inflection points that allowed you to make the businesses that you've had and invested in a success? Because a big part of entrepreneurship is lonely. You spend such a lot of time in your head in your office, awake at night, thinking about what to do and no one gives you a book that says this is what you do to grow. These are the people you need to reach out to, network, work with and those kind of things. What are some of the inflection points, the things that you learn, because obviously you've gone from here to here.
Speaker 2:The first thing I've learned is a critical importance of having the best team possible and develop an environment in which they can be ultra successful and collaborative. This is my second company and when I started this company, the first person I hired was an executive search consultant who was running the largest executive search firm in Europe in technology, and we sat down and we developed a talent strategy who should be in my C-suite in my executive team? How are they going to collaborate together? What profiles? How do you maximize diversity in that team? And we went and executed on that. We've hired over 10 executives through this thorough executive search process based on the strategy, and each hire we make is an inflection point in the business, because they comment and they take whatever their function is to the next level, and so that gets me really excited when I see a new leader joining me on this path and giving them the empowerment and the platform for them to grow and shine. It takes us with them, and I have numerous examples of that.
Speaker 2:But if you think about more economical inflection points, it was the pandemic. We started this business in January 2020. We raised our seed rounds in February. The moment the money hit the bank account, we went into lockdown and that was the last investor I met in person at Oyster was my seed investor before they invested. Everybody else I met them after they invested. And that inflection point because that was a launchpad for the business we had to go fast. We were overwhelmed with customer demand and we had to be visible quickly. And the second inflection point is the market macroeconomical challenge. That happened started two years ago with inflation. So we were this company has raised a lot of money, growing really fast, depending on the employment markets, and suddenly interest rate went up and we were forced to go as fast as possible to be an efficient company. And that totally transformed our leadership style and our goals. And we you know, two years later we're editing in a much better position than we entered.
Speaker 1:So and it is an inflection point.
Speaker 2:It is absolutely an inflection point because we depend on the capitalistic system to grow and I believe mission-driven companies are companies that are successful, have to use the system, has to use all the possible tools that are provided by the system to grow and deliver on the mission. And luckily, in that period of time, the percentage of employees we have on the platform in emerging economies went up 35% Because they need to find talent in a more cost-effective location where customers meant that they need to venture beyond their offices. So that has helped us as well in that regards.
Speaker 1:And I guess it also then had the residual effect of diversifying the talent, going to cost-efficient or less in a Western world place. It's also diversifying the talent, increasing the innovation. What I'm getting from everything that you said there is that business growth and success is made up of numerous inflection points. Everything is an inflection point. It seems to me that you've really capitalised on the opportunities of each of the inflection points to not only number one start with the talent and the skills and upping the gene pool of the experience that you have within the business but also how you have navigated so very quickly through speed of decision-making and efficiencies. And it's interesting because I think that, coming back to some of our earlier points, is really where fast growth in office businesses can really teach large organisations how to move at pace. When you are an entrepreneur and you're working in an environment that is so dependent on many different factors, you absolutely have to have no choice but to make decisions, make them quickly, mobilise people, influence people quickly and often change the course at a rate of knots, certainly in comparison to large kind of organisational structures or corporate businesses.
Speaker 1:Tony, I feel like this is a brilliant podcast because it actually feels to me like I'm learning so much very, very selfishly, but I know all of our listeners will be getting a lot from this podcast too. I would be completely remiss if I didn't ask what the future holds, not only for you personally. But where do you see some of the trends, not only in human capital, but economic growth, also from a macro point of view, because we're obviously seeing lots and lots of world issues going on, which, of course, impacts businesses and the people and the talent within them. So talk to me about the future, tony.
Speaker 2:I'd like to imagine a future where the opportunity is distributed around the world and not concentrated in expensive, rich places in the West. I'd like to see the future where organisations employ people from anywhere. They look at the world as their oyster and not as different countries with different regulations. I'd like to see the future where work is more meaningful and more sustainable. I'd like to see more mission-driven companies making sure that they are building businesses that do no harm and some of them add additional value, positive impact for this world. And the future is going to be remote for sure.
Speaker 2:Remote is critical to enable that change. If you want to distribute the wealth around the world, you need to enable remote work, because remote work means that Muhammad in Nigeria doesn't have to leave London and he can earn five times more what he's earning today in Nigeria and get that money into the Nigerian economy. So Nigeria does not have enough hard currency coming into their economy, so their interest rate when they want to go and raise money in government bonds is not 15%, but it's more closer to 2%. What European countries have even 0% negative interest rate? Why in Europe and in the US and many of these developed nations, we have great infrastructure, great schools, great health system, because we can borrow money at 0%, while Nigeria is at 15%. This is where the inequality is. So I believe global hiring and power by remote work is critical to unlock or distribute wealth on this planet.
Speaker 2:And once you make people feel that they are worthy to be here on this planet and not have problems and have nuts, then I believe everything else will come in place. We will have less wars, we will have less anxiety from work, we will have less competition, hopefully, I mean this is a vision I'd like to see for the future. It might not happen, but I do believe that it's needed. It's needed to go in that direction because, if you think about it, it's only in the last 200 years that these trends of industrialization and capitalism have accelerated and they've made a lot of positive impact. Today, even if you are in a less developed country, you don't have to die with a pain from your tooth right. But it also created side effects in terms of inequality, and social media is exaggerating that right now. You cannot hide in your 19th century mention and, friends, nobody see your wealth right, everything is exposed right now.
Speaker 1:You've brought up some incredibly pertinent points there, and just on your last one, you're absolutely right when you talk about people not being able to hide in their mansions. There is this worldwide digital culture of transparency, for good and for bad. You mentioned social media that anyone can take to Twitter or X as it is Sorry no and say what they think, or create negative, positive narratives. Say what they think of leaders. There is so much more accessibility when it comes to things like that. Like you, I'm a true believer that long gone are the days of the white ivory towered hierarchical glass offices in the corner of a workplace where no one dare speak to the CEO. Now more than ever, ceos are required to be activist CEOs. They are required to be much more things to many more people, both in broader society but also in the business. And you talked about generations and things like this before. I think a good portion of that trend rightly so is because of these generations within the workplace. We have more generations now in the workplace than we ever have seen in a lifetime, and these generations will not stand for anything else. And then all of these different platforms and social media platforms that allow that freedom of speech, force CEOs and leaders to really take note of other social aspects. And I guess, also just picking up on one of the other points that you made around Belonging, you know, making people feel that they belong. I think it's such a pertinent point because that belonging, it goes to the very heart of our DNA as human beings. I'm sure we can all remember a time I certainly can where I've walked into a room and I felt that I was not Deserving to use your word of being there. And you know, I think a lot of that is exaggerated by, you know, this systemic.
Speaker 1:You know you know education systems, things like that, you know. You know I used to work in exact search and I noticed that the higher up the classical corporate hierarchy you go, the less and less people I see that, you know, looking sound like yourself or looking sound like me. Despite getting a first-class honors degree, I couldn't get a job in any of the corporates and so I spun out and you know I did my own thing and so you know I really loved it or so, behind mission-driven organizations and Entrepreneurships. And it also sustainable investing that you mentioned I would love To pick up on. Is that it's sustainable investing piece.
Speaker 1:I think you've just done it. You know textbook perfect. You know Getting investment into businesses that are meaningful is absolutely critical, but it isn't so easy. I mean, we already know that just such a fraction of Investment you know VC funding and the likes goes into minority businesses. You know even less into to female minority businesses. You know talk to me about. You know the why is and what you've seen when it comes to sustainable investing, and you know people wanting and why we should do this more, because I still believe that means a real kick into the media.
Speaker 2:Like I think for me, layla, that if you think about Capitalism, there's the real true power of capitalism is to put money in places that matter. And Unfortunately, more recently especially, was the advancement of trading technologies. It became a game of maximizing mathematical number, return, profit and and most investment decisions actually on on the stock market are made by algorithm. Now people are not involved in these decisions. Ai is going to take that to the next level At the same time. So there's this trend, this trend of Algorithmic capitalism, capitalism that is pretty much not managed, right? So it's really about maximizing a number, even though you can. Today, you can make money by investing in companies doing deforestation in the Amazon. It's possible. Today, people are doing that, right. I mean even even investment. That looks like great investment from from From an environmental standpoint, might not be. I mean the investment. Tesla mean. Tesla is true, it's kind of making the world. Moving the world into electrical cars. Got half of the car CO2 emission is on manufacturing. What about batteries, right? So? So it's half-baked solution to get you to buy things you don't need again.
Speaker 2:So, but there are some positive trends, right? So the positive trends is that the, the money that is invested in this world is changing hands. There's a new generation that is happening. So there's a new generation of asset owners that cares about where their money is invested. So that's why ESG indexes started to happen. Like, I want to invest only in companies that are supposed to be good companies and they don't harm their environment, they don't harm their employees, the humans that worked for them, or so, and and that's just gonna continue people, these asset owners, are looking for meaning where their money is invested. And that's why you see the whole investment industry Whether it's private equity companies, the OVC, public investment companies are all developing impact products, impact funds and the challenge of this of these of these funds. So they raise a lot of money From this new generation wealth owners that want to make it different with their investment.
Speaker 2:But that's not enough companies to invest in, because many of the companies that are worthy of investment are not necessarily Mission-driven companies, right, they are the companies that build social networks that makes people addicted, or the company that makes Ecommerce sites that makes people buy things you they don't need in one click. So, so, so there's a need. That's why it's a coding for all entrepreneurs to build mission-driven companies and connect the impact of their business financially and non financially, to their mission and and oyster. We want to prove that. Want to prove that being mission driven is actually great for a turn on investment and and impact. Entrepreneurs should be Will be more rewarded financially and if you're not, so, if you're really looking for success that is defined today in our society, be mission-driven, so well said.
Speaker 1:That was massive my face, and also makes me breathe a sigh of relief that someone like yourself is saying things really truly are going in this direction as we see them, and it makes me think actually a lot about a, a framework that you probably know about it. You know the, the wealth economy, you know sustainable prosperity beyond GDP and USD and things like that, and I was musing as you were talking on, you know, this notion of what wealth is and the fact that you're essentially saying look beyond the numbers you know, historically it might not have been, everything is mission-driven look beyond the numbers, look at the innovation, look at the impact on society, not just those numbers, because actually, you know, in the wealth economy, certainly the framework, certainly there are all these things which are far less tangible, things like social capital, human capital, natural capital, which really have far more wealth beyond the fiscal value of those, those numbers. That and you know, as you say, that is, that is true sustainable investment. I can't tell you how much it pleases me hearing you talk about the new generations of asset owners that care and seeing indexes and funds Really starting to invest sustainably.
Speaker 1:I like the warning as well, for you know, look, I think AI can do great things, but I do like the warning. But I don't know If we're just looking at these numbers and we're purely putting an AI bought into our stock exchanges. And how can we truly provide the best outcomes for the future generations of leaders, which is what this is all about, tony. What a tremendous podcast. Before we wrap and I do my best to summarize very quickly Is there anything that you would like to add or any words of final wisdom that you would like to share with our audience?
Speaker 2:Well, I think this is possible because of what I call sustainable leadership, which is this new framework I'm developing, I'm using right now, and it is about taking care of yourself as a leader. First, know how to lead yourself first, so you can be credible and earn the right to lead others and take care of others and, as a result, take care of the planet. So it means that for me, it means that I need to ensure that I'm non-reactive at work, that I take care of myself, take care of my body, my mind, my relationships and model the way for others. So, for example, if I send a message at 2 am in the morning to my team and I expect them to reply, they're going to model me, right. They're going to start having anxiety from Slack. If I work over the weekend and send an email over the weekend, then they're going to start working in the weekend, right. So this is how I see this like if I really manage myself and take care of myself, not react and have boundaries and take care of myself, I take care of others automatically as a leader.
Speaker 2:And as you adopt that method of sustainable leadership taking care of yourself and taking care of others and you think about yourself, as everybody. Right, then they can extend it to the environment. So if I don't take care of my environment here I live in Cyprus. If I trash Cyprus and destroy Cyprus, then how can I build businesses right? I mean, just by forcing my employees to go to the office, I'm doubling their CO2 emissions, so totally unnecessary. So how do I feel if I'm hurting my environment to maximize profits just by forcing my employees to go to the office? How would I feel about that? There's something called echo anxiety. So essentially, our actions, when we heard the environment, we don't realize it. We actually hurt ourselves, we feel anxious, we feel depressed by shifting your mindset and your behavior to reduce your harm or eliminate your harm or the world in a more intentional way does the opposite effect create more mental.
Speaker 2:better mental health, you know, create less anxiety, and this applies as well as, like all connected sustainable leadership is about taking care of yourself, taking care of others and taking care of your environment.
Speaker 1:Tony, thank you very much. What a perfect way to end this podcast with those wise words about self, others, sustainability and the profound effect that the actions we take have on wider society. I normally summarize the podcast at the end and some of the learning points, but this is definitely going to be very hard for me, so I will just pick a couple of the key learning points that I had. The tenacity and the resilience is something that I think is phenomenal that you've demonstrated. I think it serves as real model ship for many others. Contrary to where you may have come from, you deserve to be here, you know. I think that the learning in this world and this environment and Tony is is fantastic proof that true success, not only fiscally but also in humanitarian ways, can happen if you push through that adversity. Focusing on the self, but also focusing on the self of the many, is key, knowing at the same time that you can't do everything.
Speaker 1:I love how you talk, tony, about this strategy around talent. Everything that you do is based around people and how actually business as a whole is. This. Inflection is the smorgasbord of inflection points, with talent being the central key to that to upskill and develop the business capabilities Every time a brand new person comes into the business, and you know, then, some of the final points. The speed of decision making, the innovation that comes from truly investing in businesses that are meaningful and that matter, is key, something that organisations and funds must think about, and individuals to, in order to promote sustainable investing.
Speaker 1:I love a quote that I wrote down here that you said was put money in places that matter. You know, mohammed in Nigeria doesn't need to leave to go to London. One day, there will be a world where he can do what he does where he's at and bring wealth into that economy, really leveling the playing field of wealth and opportunity that exists in the world. As we said right at the start, talent is everywhere and opportunity is not, and I thank entrepreneurs and CEOs like you, who are actually not just talking about it but making it happen. That is social capital, that is inspiration, and that is truly the way that we want to go into the future, looking beyond the numbers and to the people. Tony, I know that was just a little bit but, I, hope I summarise as much as I could then.
Speaker 2:Thank you, Anna. Great summary.
Speaker 1:My name is Lain McKenzie-Dellis. I'm the founder and CEO of DialGlobal. You've been listening to the tremendous Tony Jermas of Oyster, the sustainable CEO. Please do hit subscribe and please do join our community of over 60,000 people that have downloaded this podcast. You can get it on Apple Spotify. We would be so grateful if you left us a review, or you can visit us at wwwdallglobalorg. See you again very soon.