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In this episode I sat down with Rebecca Passmore, Group Chief Operating Officer at PureGym, one of the UK’s largest and fastest-growing fitness businesses.
Rebecca reflects on the formative moments that shaped her leadership philosophy — from growing up around a family business, to her early career at Aldi and Asda, and the lessons she carries into leading a fast-moving international organisation today.
The conversation explores work ethic, leadership style, mentorship, and why kindness and fairness remain central to how Rebecca leads.
Early influences and work ethic
Rebecca credits her early outlook on work to watching her father and grandfather run their own business.
Saturday mornings often meant her father heading to the office to deal with whatever needed doing — sometimes Rebecca got to tag along with colouring books while the adults worked.
Seeing first-hand the commitment required to run a business shaped her attitude to leadership and effort.
Today she describes herself as “all in” when it comes to work — not separating career and life into neat compartments but seeing them as part of the same journey.
Lessons from Aldi and Asda
Rebecca began her career on the graduate programme at Aldi before joining Asda, where several defining moments helped shape her leadership style.
One pivotal experience came during a difficult conversation with a senior leader who challenged her “command and control” approach when she moved from field operations into a central leadership role.
The feedback was direct and uncomfortable — but it forced Rebecca to recognise that leadership in a collaborative environment requires influence and relationships, not authority.
She still credits that moment as one of the most valuable pieces of feedback she ever received.
Backing your own judgement
Another turning point came when Rebecca organised visits to Aldi stores while helping develop Asda’s smaller supermarket format.
At the time, discount competitors were not always openly discussed inside the organisation.
Although the initiative drew criticism internally, it was the first moment Rebecca clearly remembers backing her own judgement — trusting that she was doing the right thing even when others disagreed.
It was an early lesson in leadership courage.
Kindness as a leadership principle
A third experience had the opposite effect.
After being dismissed by a senior leader during an introduction in the corridor, Rebecca remembers feeling the moment as unnecessarily unkind.
It became a personal promise: she would never treat people that way as a leader.
For Rebecca, kindness is not weakness — it means being fair, thoughtful, and adapting your leadership style to bring out the best in others.
The responsibility of leadership
Rebecca believes leaders must recognise the influence they have on those around them.
In organisations where teams are young and ambitious, particularly between the ages of 25 and 35, people are actively learning how to lead by watching others.
That means leaders must be conscious of how they show up — because behaviours and attitudes are often copied.
Advice to her younger self
Looking back, Rebecca’s advice to her younger self is simple:
Enjoy life more.
While academic grades are important, they only take you so far. Experiences, relationships, and becoming an interesting person are just as valuable when building a career.
Her message to young people today is to aim for strong results — but not at the expense of living fully and developing as a person.
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