Building teams that multiply: Stoic leadership and the art of making people feel special with Yasar Ahmad

In this episode of the Leaders in Talent Podcast, Adriaan Kolff sits down with Yasar Ahmad, one of the most influential voices in global recruitment, for a deep, unfiltered conversation on what actually builds high-performance teams and scalable companies.

This is not theory. It’s real leadership under pressure, from bootstrapping and crisis management to culture design, candidate experience, and decision-making frameworks that scale.

If you lead people, build companies, or hire talent, this episode is your operating manual.

Timecodes:

01:22 Introduction: Yasar Ahmad and the conversation ahead

02:27 Entrepreneurship, anxiety, and the early years of building a company

08:23 Radical transparency and the hardest leadership decisions

10:01 When your team comforts you, culture in action

11:06 Why your worst employee sets the standard

12:22 Yasar’s leadership journey and learning through experience

15:09 The 5-minute journal and building self-awareness

17:06 Stoicism and controlling what you can control

18:40 The Belgian Horse Effect explained

20:16 Emotional regulation and leading without whiplash

22:04 High standards, North Stars, and continuous development

30:23 Decision frameworks and how leaders think under pressure

31:56 Mission, values, and culture that actually work

36:30 Marketing, content, and experience design in recruiting

39:29 Making candidates feel like the main character

42:24 How better interviews dramatically improve hiring outcomes

45:44 Why words and tone change everything

49:43 Recruiting is sales and why that matters

51:26 Final reflections and closing thoughts

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Follow Yasar Ahmad:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yasarahmad/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Yasar_Ahmad

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@yasarahmad_

Website: https://www.yasarahmad.com/

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Connect with Matchr: https://www.linkedin.com/company/matchr/

Get in touch with us: https://www.matchr.io/who-we-are/contact/

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Connect with Adriaan Kolff: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adriaankolff/

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RSS feed: https://media.rss.com/leaders-in-talent/feed.xml

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