Learning Is Painful. Can Emotion Make You a Better Founder? | Mike LeBlanc

About this episode

Can emotion make you a better founder?

Most leaders spend years sharpening their intellect. Mike LeBlanc believes the learning that changes a founder runs deeper. It's emotional.

After serving 13 years as a Marine Corps officer, Mike co-founded Cobalt Robotics, which grew to a $360 million valuation. Today, he is co-founder of Foundation Future Industries, building humanoid robots with a long-term vision of creating a $50 billion company.

In this conversation, we explore why founder growth is deeply personal, how emotion shapes leadership, why startups become bureaucratic, and what it takes to keep evolving as your company grows.

In this conversation, we explore:

• Why Brian Chesky believes companies grow only as fast as founders learn
• What Aristotle understood about emotion that many leaders still miss
• How a startup became "more bureaucratic than the Pentagon" with only 60 people
• Why emotional growth often matters more than intellectual growth
• What founders must become as their companies evolve

If you're building a company that you hope will outlast you, this conversation offers a different way to think about leadership, growth and organizational evolution.

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CHAPTERS

00:00:00 Learning Is Emotional, Not Intellectual

00:04:05 Why Did Aristotle Change the Way You Thought About Emotion?

00:12:17 When Did This Philosophy Get Tested in Real Life?

00:19:13 Brian Chesky's Lesson Every Founder Should Hear

00:22:24 When Did Learning Become Painful for You as a Founder?

00:27:36 How Did a 60-Person Startup Become More Bureaucratic Than the Pentagon?

00:37:42 How to Continuously Reinvent Yourself?

00:43:42 How Do You Lead Founders, Investors and Brilliant Engineers at the Same Time?

00:51:36 What Does It Really Mean to Build a $50 Billion Company?

01:02:30 Are Great Companies Built More on Emotion Than Intelligence?

01:08:18 Why Is Building a Company a Spiritual Journey?

01:09:45 Looking Back, How Has Mike LeBlanc Changed?

01:13:22 Getting In Touch and the Book : "What If Anger Is the Answer?"

01:15:07 Behind the Scenes Thoughts

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Episode Show Notes and Deep Dive

📚 Deep Dive, Show Notes and Reference Reading: https://www.awayre.com/learning-that-changes-founders/

Connect with Mike LeBlanc

🔗 Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mike-leblanc-20783b114/

🌐 Foundation Future Industries: https://foundation.bot/

🌐 Mike LeBlanc: https://officialmikeleblanc.com/

Connect with Bhavesh Naik

🔗 Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bhaveshnaik/

🌐 Website: https://www.awayre.com/

The Business Philosopher Within You Podcast

🎬🎙️📖 Website: https://www.awayre.com/business-philosopher-within-you-podcast/

🦸‍♀️Be a Guest: https://www.awayre.com/business-philosopher-within-you-podcast-guest/

Explore how self-awareness can help your build a self-sustaining organization that outlives you:

🧙‍♂️ ⁠https://www.awayre.com/hire-a-fool/*Take Founder Dependency Snapshot*

📸 https://www.awayre.com/founder-dependency-snapshot/

Music by Yrii Semchyshyn (Thank You!):

https://www.patreon.com/yuriisemchyshyn