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Listen to this week’s podcast episode, Ep.213: Leadership Lessons, KPIs, and Insights After Scaling from 10K to 40 Million, with Jon Morris, using the player below, or click here.

Most leaders do not wake up one morning and decide to “be a leader”. They start by trying to build something. Whether that be a product, a service, a team, a business. Leadership shows up later, usually when things become harder than expected.

That is very much the story behind this week’s conversation on Leading with Integrity. My guest, Jon Morris, took a $10,000 prize from a business plan competition and turned it into a digital agency that grew to nearly $40 million in revenue over sixteen years. He later exited the business and now works with other founders and service-based companies, helping them make better decisions using financial data.

What made this conversation particularly interesting was not the headline numbers, but the way Jon talked about leadership as a constant balancing act between logic and emotion, performance and care, speed and reflection.

One of the strongest threads running through the conversation was Jon’s long-term view of building a business. Rather than focusing on an early exit or a fixed timeline, he talked about treating growth as something gradual and cumulative, more like training for a marathon than sprinting toward a finish line.

This mindset shaped many of his leadership choices. Planning years ahead rather than months. Accepting that growth is uneven. Investing steadily rather than chasing quick wins. It also influenced how he thought about pressure, because not every year needs to be dramatic for progress to happen.

For leaders (and entrepreneurs), especially newer ones, this is a useful counterweight to the constant noise around rapid success. When everything feels urgent, it becomes tempting to make decisions that look good in the moment but create problems later.

A significant part of the episode focused on financial data and decision making. Jon is very open about being comfortable with numbers, while also recognising that many leaders are not. In service-based businesses, especially creative or people-led ones, numbers can feel uncomfortable, cold, or even threatening.

What came through clearly is that avoiding numbers does not make the emotional side of leadership easier. In fact it quite often makes things much more difficult. Financial data does not remove emotion from decisions like restructuring, hiring, or letting people go. It simply makes the trade-offs more visible.

One of the more open moments in the conversation was Jon describing how often the numbers pointed toward decisions he didn’t want to make. Leadership, in those moments, isn’t about detachment but about having the emotional strength to act responsibly, while still finding a way to treat people with dignity and respect.

This is where leadership becomes real: Data without humanity leads to harm. Humanity without data leads to denial.

Another recurring theme was simplification. Jon talked about leaders who track hundreds of metrics and mistake volume for insight. More data doesn’t automatically mean better decisions. In many cases, it creates confusion, delay, and false confidence.

What he argued for instead was focus. Focus on a small number of KPIs (‘Key Performance Indicators’) and measures that actually tell you how the business is performing. Cash position. Profit margin. Revenue growth. Not because these numbers are perfect, but because they force clarity.

From a leadership perspective, this matters because complexity often becomes a hiding place. Leaders delay decisions by asking for more information, while their teams lose direction because priorities shift weekly. Simplification is not about ignoring detail, it’s about choosing what really matters and being disciplined enough to stick with it.

This also links directly to communication, because when leaders are clear on what they are measuring and why, teams have a better sense of what ‘good’ looks like. That clarity can reduce anxiety, improve alignment, and speed up effective decision making.

Jon was very clear that the earliest hires in a business have an outsized impact. When teams are small, every performance issue is amplified, every misalignment costs more.

At the same time, he spoke at length about care, respect, and how leaders handle difficult situations. Holding high standards does not mean treating people badly, letting someone go doesn’t mean they are a bad person (even if there is a performance issue). Leadership shows up in how those moments are handled, not just whether they happen.

This is where many leaders struggle, emotional bonds form quickly in small teams and these kinds of decisions feel very personal. Understandably, avoidance and procrastination creeps in. The conversation with Jon highlighted how important it is for leaders to define what good performance looks like early, communicate it clearly, and act consistently when standards are not met. Not acting is still a decision, and often a costly one.

Decision making came up repeatedly, particularly the tension between acting too quickly and waiting too long. Jon described himself as a fast decision maker by nature, while also acknowledging the value of slowing down when needed.

What mattered more than speed was commitment, once a decision is made, leaders need to stand behind it, communicate it clearly, and be able to adjust if new information emerges (but without constantly ‘flip-flopping’). Constant second guessing erodes confidence, both for the leader and the team.

This part of the conversation will resonate with many managers who feel stuck between wanting certainty and knowing it is rarely available…

Toward the end of the episode, Jon reflects on mistakes he would handle differently with hindsight. Moving too quickly before a product was ready, overselling capability, setting expectations that reality could not yet meet.

These are not unusual mistakes, but they are instructive ones. They underline how leadership, management, business ownership, are shaped as much by missteps as by successes. We learn more from our mistakes, so shouldn’t be afraid of making them. But what matters is whether we can be honest about where things are, both with ourselves and with others.

There was also a strong thread around learning: Reading, reflecting, seeking mentorship, and being open to feedback from the team. Leadership doesn’t stop developing once a title is achieved; in many ways, that is when the real work starts.

This conversation with Jon reinforced something that comes up often on the podcast, but from a different angle: Leadership is not a solo pursuit, however much it may seem that way, true leadership is only a part of a team effort shaped by people and choices made under pressure.

What stood out was the lack of big ticket glamour or overnight success in Jon’s account. No shortcuts. No single defining moment. Just years of decisions, adjustments, learning, and responsibility. Consistency is a word we hear a lot these days, and after meeting Jon I’m convinced this is the kind of consistency that actually matters. It may not make for a flashy headline, but it is a far more realistic picture of what leadership actually looks like in a real business.

If you are leading a company, a team, or a function where numbers and people intersect, there is a lot here to reflect on.

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Catch the full episode here: https://smartlink.ausha.co/leading-with-integrity/ep-213-leadership-lessons-kpis-and-insights-after-scaling-from-10k-to-40-million-with-jon-morris-leadership

Or, if you prefer video, then here’s the YouTube link: https://youtu.be/yrnkbnyU4uI

Tune in next week for a conversation on the big topics (like spirituality, strategy, and conscious leadership) and the small ideas (like avoiding micromanagement, learning from mistakes) with my next guest, Joanna Zhang.

And until then: Be a Leader Not a Boss,

- David

In case you don’t know me that well, I’m David Hatch and I’m here to help new managers and first-time founders with their leadership skills, so they can become leaders not bosses, lead with integrity, and build happier, higher performing teams, more effective organisations, and, ultimately: successful businesses.

If you’re feeling stuck, overwhelmed, or simply ready for your next chapter as a leader, the Integrity Leaders community offers tools, conversations, and support to help you grow one step at a time. If you have a healthy love of sci-fi and want to learn more about leadership, then this is the community for you. Solopreneurs also welcome. 😉

Here’s the link: Integrity Leaders: Community membership and learning, for new leaders or first-time founders.