Leaders Of Tomorrow Podcast

What if the leaders who rise fastest are the ones who insist they are not that important?

Chris Thomson sits down with Nick Eaves, Chief Operating Officer at Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment and former President and CEO of Woodbine Entertainment, in the conversation that started it all: the very first Leaders of Tomorrow interview. A Student Works alum, Nick built his career on a counterintuitive idea: none of us are that impor...

Most young entrepreneurs hit the same ceiling. The business can only grow as far as they can personally reach. The ones who break through stop trying to do it all and start building something bigger than themselves.

In this collage episode, host Chris Thomson pulls together the operators who did exactly that. You will hear how they planned the number before chasing it, recruited the right people instead of the available ones, learne...

What happens when a self-described average kid walks into a room full of high performers and refuses to get left behind?

Chris Thomson sits down with Matt Celeste, a fourth-year University of New Brunswick student who joined Student Works knowing no one and got two leads in his first three hours of marketing.

They dig into the mindset shift Matt calls an ego death, the leverage move that let him focus almost entirely on sales, and th...

What if the fastest way to level up isn’t adding more, but removing what’s quietly holding you back?

Chris Thomson hands the room to Amer Abu Shakra, StudentWorks record-breaker and co-founder of Contracting.com, for a rare orientation-style talk built entirely from his own story. From a childhood in Jordan to a $500,000 sales year, Amer traces how three lessons rebuilt him.

He gets honest about the year he wasted almost ...

What if the difference between quitting and a record-breaking season is just one more no?

Most people think sales is about confidence and the perfect pitch. The operators who last know it is really about stamina, consistency, and staying in the game long after everyone else walks away.

In this collage episode, Chris Thomson gathers the sharpest sales lessons from Amer Abu Shakra, Chris Caruso, Mark Cox, Esfar Sarker, Nikos Violetis, ...

Laura Tamburro – How To Turn 100% Turnover Into President's Club

What if the business problem you keep hitting is really a personal one?

Chris Thomson sits down with Laura Tamburro, a Western University student and top Student Works operator stepping into a coaching role, for one of the most honest conversations on the show.

Laura opens up about the year she nearly walked away, the 100 percent team turnover that forced ...

What if finishing what you start is the one edge that survives the AI era?

Chris Thomson sits down with Brett Patrontasch, a Student Works top rookie who founded the painting franchisor Scholars at Your Service, scaled the workforce app Shyft past 2 million users, and recently summited Mount Everest. He is now building Servo, an autonomous lawn care startup.

They get into the honest middle of a founder's career: the wins, the venture...

What actually changes between a good first year and a breakout one?

Chris Thomson sits down with three of the program’s most improved operators, Josh Shafter, Lizzy Lavalley, and Josh Burke. Each one cleared six figures in their first season, then came back and roughly doubled it.

They get honest about what was really holding them back the first time, complacency, a reactive grind, and a victim mindset, and how habits, recruiti...

What if the mindset shifts that change everything only show up after you fail?

Mindset gets talked about like it is positive thinking. Stay motivated, believe in yourself, think bigger. But the real shifts usually happen when things get uncomfortable, when you fail, when effort alone stops being enough.

In this best-of collage, Chris Thomson gathers the strongest reflections on mindset from across the program. Zach Weiler and Landon ...

What if the riskiest move in your career is refusing to take any risk at all?

Chris Thomson sits down with Mark Tanel, a Student Works alumnus who now leads national sales for Dulux, now Canadian Industries Limited. Fifteen years ago Mark was a Queen’s Commerce student headed straight for accounting, until one elective changed his mind and his entire path.

They get into the calculated risks that moved Mark across the country, t...

What actually separates the operator who doubles their business from the one who stays stuck?

Chris Thomson sits down with three of the most improved operators in the Student Works painting division, Jack Buiter, Ali Baksh, and Owen Chilvers, to unpack how they went from rough first years to breakout seasons. Each of them hit a wall early: inconsistency, fear of what people think, a big vision with no plan, and each found a way thro...

What if your biggest failure was the secret catalyst to your future success?

This episode features a hard-hitting conversation between Chris Thomson and Hugo Geoffroy, COO of Elevate Club and Student Works alumnus, as they pull back the curtain on what it really takes to go from cocky rookie to transformative leader. Hugo’s journey is raw: from a disastrous start to running a rapidly scaling company in his late 20s, he shares ...

What if the only thing standing between you and a million-dollar breakthrough is your mindset?

This week, Chris Thomson invites six-year Student Works veteran Hugh Hunt to reveal the path from confused university student to high-performing operator, coach, and soon-to-be member of the million-dollar club.

In a raw, no-fluff conversation, they unpack the brutal realities of leadership, the traps of complacency, and the unexpected joy...

Are your goals stuck on paper, or do you really know how to bring them to life?

This thrilling collage episode features candid stories and hard-won strategies from Payam Zamani, Andrew Thompson, George Walsh, John Morgan, and Tycho Koren, young leaders who turned bold visions into breakthrough results.

You’ll hear what happens when excitement fades, setbacks pile on, and the process gets gritty. Learn proven, real-world goal-se...

What if the only thing holding you back is the story you tell yourself?

In this high-voltage episode, Chris Thomson talks to Madison Hetherington, founder of Propel Marketing and Student Works alum, who quietly turned exposure and experimentation into a seven-figure company before age 30. Together, they go beyond surface-level wins, diving into the real setbacks, the mindsets that nearly sabotaged everything, and how unwavering purp...

What if the real key to explosive growth was learning to coach, not just grind harder?

In this no-holds-barred episode, Chris Thomson sits down with Connor Leslie, a medical science student whose journey from crew member to $650K business operator will challenge everything you think about leadership, teamwork, and personal transformation.

Together, they unpack why most young leaders plateau and how radical systems, powerful networks...

What does it really take to escape mediocrity and create a life most only dream about?

This episode dives into the remarkable transformation of Marc Pumple, from an “unemployable” Canadian student to a commercial real estate powerhouse generating over $65 million in deals. The conversation unpacks why the path to true entrepreneurial freedom demands more than work ethic. It takes self-ownership, relentless decision-makin...

What if the secret to high-performance leadership was not about you, but about how you fuel those around you?

In this energizing episode, Chris Thomson sits down with Ulysse Deschênes, one of Canada’s top young operators, to reveal what really drives ambitious students to outpace even their own goals.

Discover how Ulysse’s journey from ambitious student-athlete to standout business leader was powered by authenticity, rel...

Are you lying to yourself about what it really takes to succeed?

In this energized conversation, Chris Thomson sits down with Gabriel Milling, VP of Sales at ECG Brands, whose career leaped from fine dining busboy to leadership heights in record time. Together, they unpack the surprising habits, hard-won failures, and transformative relationships that fueled a business from $2.6M to $70M in seven years.

Get inside the heads of leader...