How Leigh Jasper deals with the pressures of listed leadership.

This week, I sat down with Leigh Jasper. He co-founded Aconex back in 2000, took it from a private startup to a public company to an eventual acquisition by Oracle, and sits on the board of SEEK.

In short, Leigh’s seen the full arc of public leadership. What it gives you, what it takes from you, and how to survive - and even thrive - through the process.

What I learned: The pressure of public leadership comes not just from scrutiny, but from the loss of agency and the perception gaps between performance and price.

Read on for key insights, or you can grab the transcript here.

Leading under a spotlight.

As a listed CEO, everything becomes public, even your mistakes. There’s no hiding. And if you don’t take control of your headspace, it quickly disappears.

“If I didn’t structure my time well, I was just continually running from one thing to the next. And if you make a mistake, it’s very public,” says Leigh, who also recalls Aconex being the most shorted stock on the ASX at one point. 

“There can be times when it runs very smoothly and it’s great to be public. But when it’s not, it’s quite tough.”

The disconnect between inside and outside.

The market’s perception of performance often drifts far from the reality inside the business. That misalignment, especially when the work is going well, can be a major source of frustration.

“We’d be going well, but the market wouldn’t think we were. Or vice versa, we might have had a few issues and the market thinks we’re going great.” 

Even reporting seasons didn’t always realign it.

“We’d go out with great results and think the market would like it, and it didn’t. It was like shouting into the void.”

Loneliness multiplies the pressure.

As CEO, there are few people and places to take the pressure. You’re often too exposed to share fully with the board, and too senior to speak candidly with management.

“You can’t always talk to the board about everything. And you certainly can’t talk to management sometimes if you’ve got issues.”

Leigh relied heavily on mentors and an exec coach. 

“I had someone who kind of had my back, because the board doesn’t always, and management may, but you can’t always talk to them.”

Clear comms shapes the investor base.

You get the shareholders you deserve. The only way to attract and retain aligned investors is to be direct and consistent with what you’re doing and why. 

“You’ll get a range of views. One investor wants all-in on growth, the next one wants profitability. The key is being really clear about the plan. If you don’t communicate clearly, you can end up with shareholders across the map.”

By year two or three, Leigh had seen the upside:

“We had a more aligned shareholder base, because we clearly communicated what we were trying to do.”

Have an open culture, even when it’s hard.

Aconex kept a radically open culture, even post-listing. That meant hard questions weren't just accepted, they were encouraged.

“The day after we listed, someone stood up at our town hall and asked: ‘You’ve never been a public company CEO. Why should you be running the company now?’”

Leigh answered honestly.

“I said, two years ago, five years ago, ten years ago, I was always running a company bigger than I’d run before. So I had to grow.”

“We were quite open with what we were trying to do. And I was also open that I hadn’t done this before, and I was going to get stuff wrong.”

You are not your company.

One of the hardest lessons as a founder-CEO is separating your identity from the business. Leigh learned to detach from the day-to-day market noise and see the role for what it is: a job.

“It’s easy to take it personally. But one of our shareholders said: ‘It’s a job. Just treat it as a job.’”

“You might not want to do that job in five years. Or maybe the board doesn’t want you to. But it’s still just a job,” Leigh reflects.

De-risk when possible.

Public market rules often make it hard for founders and directors to sell down. But holding everything creates unnecessary risk and Leigh encourages founders to de-risk early.

“You don’t want all your chips 100% tied up in the company you’re building.”

“Taking a bit off the table didn’t mean selling out. It meant I wasn’t going to be destitute if something went wrong.”

Leigh noted that one of their investors actually encouraged it.

“He said, ‘You’ll swing for the fences more if you de-risk a little.’ And he was right.”

Read the full conversation. 

There’s no shortcut to the pressure that comes with public leadership. But there are ways to protect yourself. De-risk early, separate identity from outcomes, build a tight support circle, and communicate clearly with both teams and investors. 

Thanks again to Leigh for the conversation.

You can read the edited transcript here or watch the full video here. If something here resonated with you, share it, forward it to a colleague, and talk about it with your team. 

We’ll be back next week with another story from someone who knows pressure.

Until then, structure your headspace, build your buffers, and lead with clarity.

Cheers,
Ben