Leaders Unscripted

Conversations with leaders about the challenges they’ve faced and what they’ve learned.

Listen

19: A Blind CEO on a Mission to Help Companies Prioritize Disability Inclusion with Ablr’s John Samuel

Episode cover image

Awareness of disability in business leaders is far from normalized, which makes the mission of John Samuel and Ablr absolutely paramount.

A visually impaired CEO who’s gained the confidence to be open about his disability, John is creating opportunities for greater equity and inclusion in business.

His impactful story and charming optimism made for a rousing conversation in the latest episode of Leaders Unscripted.

This Episode Covers:

  • John’s experience of vision loss and navigating the working world
  • The dangers of contorting ourselves to others’ perceptions of leaders
  • Leadership being inclusive to all
  • Founding Ablr and embodying its key principles
  • John’s biggest leadership challenges
  • How other leaders can contribute to the growing need for DEI

Episode Highlights:

“When I got to Cameroon, I had to start a company from scratch. I built a team around me on the ground, and within the next 14 months we had immediate success. We generated $12 million in revenue, $2.4 million in profit, and spread it across the continent over the next three years. That was my first experience of being a CEO.” - 4:20 - John Samuel
“In my professional life, I was scared and I didn't disclose my vision. I thought companies would see it as a liability. I should have been at the highest level of confidence. I started this $45 million company, but when it came to looking for jobs, I was super low on confidence.” - 10:20 - John Samuel
“Leadership can be inclusive of all people. Having those differences is what makes each person a good leader. I don't think there's one cookie cutter good leader.” - 18:05 - John Samuel
“Are we really as effective when we’re trying to contort ourselves to fit a stereotype?” - 18:30 - Suzan Bond
“As a kid, I wanted to be a CEO because my dad was an executive of a large organization. Talking about what you see as a leader… my dad was a leader.” - 27:30 - John Samuel
“One of the things about an initial startup team is that you become very close, because you are putting all your trust in these people. We ended up having to let people go, and that was so tough.” - 35:35 - John Samuel
“Spend time and talk to people, talk to leaders with disabilities - proximity builds empathy.” - 38:45 - John Samuel

Links & References:

Constellary: https://www.constellaryhq.com/

Suzan Bond: https://www.linkedin.com/in/suzanbond/

John Samuel: https://www.johngsamuel.com/

John Samuel (LinkedIn): https://www.linkedin.com/in/johngsamuel/

John Samuel’s ‘Don’t Ask the Blind Guy For Directions’: https://www.johngsamuel.com/book/

Ablr:https://ablr360.com/