A handshake is not a shareholder agreement. Today doesn’t guarantee alignment tomorrow. Even down to roles and responsibility, equity splits, how you’re going to exit the business. They all need to be formalised before the emotions enter the room.

Money is not everything, but it unlocks everything for me.

I started at the bottom and we were doing $5 million. By the time I exited that company, I led one of the largest acquisitions in New Zealand, actually, for the Konica Minolta business over there at 130 million.

People that come from modest roles into an organisation that enables them and believes in them and grows them into more. I think that they can hold on to a little bit of fear in terms of now I have this, that I’ve never had it before, I might lose it all. And it doesn’t change who they are, but I think it amplifies everything about their new position in life, whether that is tied to money or power or respect.

Meet Alex Frew on Season 2 Episode 4 of Go Beyond Busy. You will also find out what that weird noise is in the background! Go to GoBeyondBusy.com.