Break the Rules with John Mullins

This week on the Evolving Leader podcast, co-hosts Jean Gomes and Scott Allender talk to John Mullins. John is Associate Professor of Management Practice in Marketing and Entrepreneurship at London Business School, has written four books and has had more than 50 articles appear in publications that include Harvard Business Review, The Wall Street Journal to name but a few. 

John’s latest book ‘Break the Rules! The Six Counter-Conventional Mindsets of Entrepreneurs that Can Help Anyone Change the World’ was published in January 2023.

0.00 Introduction

2.48 Can we start by getting to know you a little?

3.54 Tell us about your entrepreneurial ventures.

7.46 How does your body of work apply to everyone (not just entrepreneurs in start ups)?

11.30 What advice would you give to a young entrepreneur to help them avoid early failure?

13.41 If you could go back to your 25 year old self where you were a young entrepreneur, what would you say?

15.15 Entrepreneurs can often be very defensive about their product and their idea. What have you learnt about the ability to hear differing perspectives?

17.01 Moving to your latest book, can you give us the pitch and why you wrote it?

21.40 So let’s talk through those mindsets. Let’s start with ‘Yes you can’ and how does this change conventional thinking?

23.43 Next you have Problem First not Product First logic. What have you learnt about those who succeed in this respect think and act differently?

28.40 The next of the six mindsets is Think Narrowly not Broadly. That’s pretty counter intuitive, so tell us more about that.

30.55 The fourth mindset is ‘ask for the cash, ride the float’. Tell us about that.

35.03 Have you had any experience with your clients adopting that principle in an otherwise conservative environment?

36.53 The fifth mindset is Beg, borrow but don’t steal. Tell us about why this is important.

42.26 And finally there is Instead of Asking for Permission, Beg for Forgiveness. What convention is this breaking?

45.05 How have you seen that principle handled well in a corporate environment?

48.26 You conclude the book by saying that not every entrepreneur displays these mindsets, but Lynda Weinman (the founder of Lynda.com) seems exceptional as she seems to display many (if not all). Can you tell us a little about her story?

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The Evolving Leader is researched, written and presented by Jean Gomes and Scott Allender with production by Phil Kerby. It is an Outside production.

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After more than 5 years of hosting The Evolving Leader, Jean Gomes and Scott Allender are launching their new show The Mindset Economy in January 2026. The new show will explore how to live better, work smarter and be connected in a more uncertain world where machines can think. 

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