High Net Purpose

The most enduring companies aren’t just built on strategy, they’re built on culture. For over two decades, Ric Lewis, founder of Tristan Capital Partners, has been showing what that really looks like. His firm has grown into one of Europe’s leading real-estate investment platforms, managing over $16bn in assets. Ric was also ranked #1 on the Powerlist 2019, recognising him as the UK’s most influential person of African or Afro-Caribbean heritage . In this episode, Ric reveals the cultural architecture behind Tristan: the balance between what he calls the “Ministry of Science” and the “Ministry of Magic” - the discipline to execute and the imagination to differentiate . In this episode, you will learn:How to build a culture that becomes a competitive advantage.Why authenticity and integrity can unleash high performance.Insights into some of Ric’s most important leadership principles.Ric's golden rule for managing time efficiently.Why radical candour is the most important thing in mentorship. If you want to understand what it really takes to build high-performance culture, this conversation is essential listening.Chapters:01:33 Building Tristan Capital Partners02:11 Ric's Personal Philosophy and Purpose10:03 Lessons from Competitive Sports12:04 The Journey to Building a Real Estate Empire17:55 Creating a Unique Company Culture25:42 Challenges and Strategies in Real Estate Investment27:56 Balancing Time and Saying No29:19 The Importance of Self-Care30:09 Finding Time to Think31:38 The Journey of Philanthropy40:21 Challenges in Mentorship42:11 Staying Authentic and Honest49:57 Next Generation and Succession52:55 Maintaining Health and Wellness

What if the only way to save nature was to run it like a business?In this episode, we sit down with Peter Fearnhead, CEO and co-founder of African Parks, the organisation protecting more of Africa’s wild landscapes than any other. Under his leadership, African Parks now manages 24 national parks across 13 countries, covering over 20 million hectares - a model that proves conservation can be financially sustainable, socially empowering, and ecologically transformative.Peter shares how he’s built one of the most ambitious conservation networks on Earth - from turning near-bankrupt parks into thriving ecosystems, to uniting governments, investors, and local communities behind a single mission. Along the way, we explore why conservation may hold the key to tackling wider economic, humanitarian, and climate crises, and what true leadership looks like in some of the world’s most hostile environments.This is the story of how business strategy is saving the wild. Chapters:00:00 Introduction to High Net Purpose00:42 Meet Peter Fern: CEO of African Parks02:17 Peter's Early Life and Passion for Nature04:51 Founding African Parks and Early Challenges07:17 The Public-Private Partnership Model11:35 Conservation Strategies and Law Enforcement14:25 Community Engagement and Economic Impact18:10 Restocking Wildlife and Park Success Stories24:07 Scaling African Parks and Future Goals26:09 Competition and Collaboration in Conservation29:12 The Importance of Authenticity in Leadership30:44 Inspiring Individuals in Conservation33:16 Challenges in Selecting the Right People34:43 Managing Media and Mistakes in Conservation36:57 Complex Trade-offs in Conservation Efforts47:51 Translocation and Conservation Strategies56:00 Personal Reflections and Advice

The next wave of billion-dollar companies aren’t being built in Silicon Valley – but everywhere else.For nearly three decades, Linda Rottenberg co-founder and CEO of Endeavor, has been at the centre of that shift. Known as “The Entrepreneur Whisperer,” she’s backed over 350 companies (64 of them unicorns), created “mafias” of founders paying it forward, and built a global movement that’s reshaping economies across 45+ countries.In this episode, recorded at Trinity College, Cambridge, Linda shares:How to scale a business while staying true to your mission.The secret underestimated multiplier behind entrepreneurship.Why the next generation of entrepreneurs will become more women dominant. What makes female founders different.The inside view on emerging frontiers and regions to watch.Linda shows how purpose-driven founders everywhere can scale big - without losing sight of their people or their values.If you want to understand how high-growth entrepreneurship is being redefined beyond Silicon Valley - and why it matters for the future of innovation - this conversation is a must-listen. 

What if compassion wasn’t just a virtue, but a science that could rewire your brain, reduce stress, and even extend your life expectancy?This conversation is one of our earliest recordings, now released for the first time, with the late Dr. James Doty: Stanford neurosurgeon, New York Times bestselling author, entrepreneur, and founder of Stanford’s Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education (CCARE).Recorded in our early days but never shared until now, this conversation captures Dr. Doty’s extraordinary wisdom on the science and practice of compassion. He explains how compassion rewires the brain, simple self-compassion techniques to silence the inner critic, and why compassionate organisations consistently outperform those built on fear.Along the way, he reflects on his own journey - from losing $80 million at the height of success to finding true fulfilment in service, and the role the Dalai Lama played in shaping his work at Stanford.Dr. Doty’s life was devoted to proving that compassion is not soft, but the foundation of human flourishing. We’re honoured to share this conversation from our archives as a tribute to his enduring legacy.To learn more about Dr Doty's life and legacy, visit: https://www.jamesrdotymd.com/Follow High Net Purpose on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/highnetpurpose

Everyone’s talking about ChatGPT—but what if the real threat from AI is happening elsewhere?Kristian Rönn is the co-founder of Lucid, a company helping governments track the movement and usage of AI chips globally. He previously founded Normative, the carbon accounting platform that helped shape EU and UK climate disclosure rules—and began his career researching existential risk at Oxford’s Future of Humanity Institute.He’s also the author of The Darwinian Trap, a bestselling book that explores how misaligned incentives—and short-term thinking—can push systems toward catastrophic outcomes. It’s a framework he now applies to AI, arguing that without global coordination, the very infrastructure powering this technology could spiral out of control.In this conversation, he explains why AI’s biggest risks aren’t in the models—but in the chips, supply chains, and silent diffusion happening behind the scenes.We explore:• Why frontier models are a distraction from the real governance challenge• The one global policy move governments must make before it’s too late• What a chicken sandwich teaches us about AI’s hidden complexity• And what carbon accounting taught Kristian about building systems that actually scaleIf you care about who’s really in control of AI—and how we avoid losing the plot—this is essential listening.Chapters00:00 – Intro: Welcome to High Net Purpose00:29 – Kristian Rönn: From Philosopher to AI Safety Pioneer01:31 – Early Life: What Shaped Kristian’s Worldview04:29 – The Impact of Peter Singer and Utilitarian Thinking08:31 – Exploring Existential Risks and the Road to AI13:20 – Building Normative: The Startup That Changed Carbon Accounting21:29 – Why Kristian Left Climate Tech for AI Governance23:22 – The Darwinian Trap: Why Good Incentives Lead to Bad Outcomes25:36 – Darwinian Demons vs. Cooperative Systems34:47 – The Challenge of Global AI Governance35:23 – Centralization vs. Decentralization in AI Control37:33 – The Chicken Sandwich Analogy: AI and Hidden Value Chains39:28 – Can Decentralized Governance Actually Work?40:49 – Enlightenment Thinking and Biological Drives45:11 – AI Assurance, Risk Management, and Value Chain Complexity48:27 – Who Should Govern AI? Security, Policy, and Global Standards53:09 – What the Future of AI Regulation Could Look Like01:05:18 – Final Thoughts: Purpose, Power, and What Comes Next

What if the most powerful secrets shaping our world were hidden in plain sight?Annie Jacobsen is America’s most fearless investigative journalist. A seven-time bestselling author and Pulitzer Prize finalist, she’s spent decades uncovering the truth behind the CIA, covert military operations, nuclear war planning, and the government’s deepest classified programs - from Area 51 to assassination missions you were never meant to know about.Annie pulls back the curtain on stories that challenge what we think we know about power, secrecy, and war. She shares what it’s like to earn the trust of the world’s most dangerous men - and why the truth is often stranger, and scarier, than fiction.You’ll learn:How Annie went from earning $0 as a writer to breaking into national security reportingThe advice that changed her life — and how it led to bestselling investigationsWhat it takes to gain the trust of CIA operatives and intelligence insidersWhy “alpha individuals” survive — and what their psychology reveals about resilienceHow secrets stay buried despite being technically declassifiedWhy U.S. ICBMs don’t have the range to hit North Korea without flying over RussiaThe chilling truth behind the 72-minute nuclear war scenarioHow a single miscommunication between the U.S. and Russia could trigger World War IIIChapters:00:00 Welcome to High Net Purpose00:24 Meet Annie Jacobsen: Master of Government Secrets02:45 Annie’s Purpose: Telling Astonishing True Stories05:13 From Struggling Writer to National Security Reporter09:31 Billy Waugh: The CIA’s Most Legendary Spy16:31 Inside the Shadow World of Espionage22:02 The Secrets Behind Intelligence and Covert Ops25:49 The CIA’s First Hunt for Bin Laden26:23 Clinton, Bin Laden, and the Mission That Didn’t Happen27:59 Disguises, Deception & Espionage Tactics Revealed29:05 From Field Reporting to Bestseller Author29:53 The Lucky Break That Led to Area 5130:58 Nuclear War Planning: Too Real to Ignore36:56 NATO, Russia, and the Future of Global Security42:12 Writing About Dangerous Truths: The Personal Risks45:56 Staying Grounded in a World of High-Stakes Secrets49:51 Final Words for Future Truth Tellers

At 25, Martha Lane Fox co-founded the early internet disruptor lastminute.com and became one of Britain’s first true digital pioneers.But it was surviving a near-fatal accident that truly reshaped her life and sense of purpose.Today, Martha leads far beyond technology. She is President of the British Chambers of Commerce, a crossbench peer in the House of Lords, Chancellor of The Open University, and sits on the boards of British Airways, Chanel, and Multiverse.Her work is reshaping business, education, and the future of digital transformation.In this episode, Martha shares her extraordinary story of resilience, reinvention, and leadership - and what it really takes to create lasting impact.You'll learn:The 3-question framework to use before saying yes to anything.How a near-fatal car crash changed everything, and nothing.The brutal reality still facing female founders.What most leaders get wrong about digital transformation.What it really takes to change government systems.The one decision she regrets from the Lastminute.com journey.Why legacy isn't about status - it's about example.Chapters00:00 – Welcome to High Net Purpose00:26 – Martha Lane Fox: Tech Pioneer & Digital Leader02:00 – Her Decision-Making Framework for Purpose & Impact03:46 – Why Diversity Fuels Innovation in Tech05:06 – Navigating Change in a Rapidly Evolving Digital World07:46 – Founding Lastminute.com: Early Startup Lessons11:06 – Her Life-Changing Accident & New Perspective15:41 – Advice to Young Founders & Entrepreneurs20:45 – From Tech to Government: Driving Digital Inclusion22:36 – Fixing the Digital Divide: Access, Jobs & Equity23:07 – How Tech Can Reconnect Local Communities24:16 – What Government Should Learn from Startups24:50 – Inside the Creation of GDS (Government Digital Service)25:57 – Lessons from Scaling Tech in the Public Sector26:16 – Why Prime Ministerial Backing is a Game-Changer27:15 – Building Effective Teams in High-Stakes Environments27:43 – Her Personal Growth Through Government Work29:25 – Joining the House of Lords: A New Platform for Change31:46 – The Real Role of Boards: Governance, Influence & Integrity34:51 – The Power of Mentorship in a Purpose-Driven Career37:47 – True Digital Transformation Starts with Culture39:26 – The Future: Climate, AI, and Diversity in Leadership41:55 – Family, Legacy & What Drives Her Now44:01 – Final Reflections from Martha Lane Fox

Andrew White is the founder of FundApps, one of Europe’s most under-the-radar success stories. Bootstrapped from a spare bedroom above a London pub, FundApps now monitors over $27 trillion in assets daily - roughly 17% of the world’s total AUM. Today, it’s a global reg-tech powerhouse, trusted by 5 of the world’s 10 largest hedge funds and several of North America’s biggest pension funds. Now, it’s on track to become Europe’s leading reg-tech unicorn. This is the captivating story of how an independent thinker built a values-driven business from the ground up, scaled globally, and never compromised. Listen to hear:• Why he turned down external funding• How bootstrapping became a long-term strategic edge• The moment that reshaped his idea of success• Why he hires for mindset, not credentials• How FundApps embedded purpose at the heart of its culture• Why he avoids meetings and believes indecision is the real killer• What it takes to serve the world’s largest asset managers while staying true to your valuesChapters:00:00 – Welcome to High Net Purpose 00:24 – Andrew White: The Quiet Disruptor 00:51 – Why He Never Fit the Mold 01:08 – From Pub to Product: Starting Fund Apps 01:23 – Becoming the UK’s First B Corp SaaS Company 02:00 – Finding Purpose in Code, Culture & Capital 03:09 – Growing Up Irish: Early Influences & Hustle 05:54 – How He Became a Reluctant Technologist 07:55 – One Backpack, One Year: Travel That Changed Everything 12:41 – How Fund Apps Was Born 16:22 – Bootstrapping to Success: Lessons from the Hard Way 18:07 – Playing the Long Game in a Fast World 21:11 – Selling to Banks? Here’s What No One Tells You 26:09 – Sticking to Your Vision (Even When It’s Hard) 28:54 – Scaling a Company Without Losing Soul 29:37 – How to Hire People Who Actually Fit 31:23 – The Secret to Retaining a High-Performing Team 32:33 – Why Purpose Beats Perks 37:25 – Fund Apps Goes Global 46:55 – Giving Back: A Founder’s Take on Philanthropy 53:04 – If He Could Start Again: Andrew’s Final Reflections