Most leaders think they're good at making decisions. The data says almost none of us are — and we can't even explain how we do it. In this episode of The Free Lunch, Eddie Ross sits down with Ernesto Weissmann, founding partner and Managing Partner for Europe at Tandem, one of the world's few consulting firms built entirely around decision-making, decision analysis and decision intelligence.

A former decision theory professor at the University of Buenos Aires, Ernesto has spent his whole career on one deceptively simple question: if decision-making determines our results, our companies and even our happiness, why does no one teach us how to do it well? We get into why companies are really just "factories that make decisions," why you should judge the process and never the outcome, and how the smartest organizations are already handing parts of that process over to AI.

A masterclass for any founder or leader who wants to stop deciding on gut feel and start deciding on purpose.

Chapters
00:00 – Cold open: is AI a friend or a foe?
04:30 – Welcome back: meet Ernesto & Tandem
06:50 – From decision theory to quitting his job to build a firm
10:30 – Why so many people make poor decisions
11:40 – Quality vs. quantity: the case for decision agility
13:00 – Decision architecture: why most companies aren't built to decide well
17:17 – Designing organizations by capability
18:00 – Decisions are power: change, politics & the "better-than-average" bias
21:00 – Judge the process, not the outcome
22:33 – High-impact decisions (and what oil & gas taught Tandem)
28:25 – The hidden cost of the decisions you don't make
30:19 – Why behavior follows objectives and compensation
31:17 – The "everything's green" culture problem
32:51 – Quick, good, or cheap — and the trap of paralysis by analysis
39:59 – The one-page brief: a lesson from Saatchi & Saatchi
41:48 – The Decision Leaders series: how CEOs, musicians and athletes decide
44:58 – From gripping the wheel to letting the machine drive
46:32 – Automated, augmented & assisted decisions (Unilever & Waze)
50:11 – Will AI quietly erode the power of the boss?
53:10 – Game theory when every competitor uses AI
55:43 – The human element machines can't replicate
56:53 – 1,000 AI agents and the future of scenario planning
1:01:08 – Ernesto's advice for founders in the growth phase
1:03:06 – "If you're not using AI, you're leaving money on the table"
1:04:00 – Friend or foe? Ernesto's final verdict

About the guest
Ernesto Weissmann is a founding partner of Tandem, a strategic consulting firm specializing in decision management that has worked with leading companies across Europe, the Americas, Africa and Asia. Argentine-born and now based in Madrid, he's a former professor of decision theory at the University of Buenos Aires.

About The Free Lunch
The Free Lunch is a podcast about leadership and the people who do it well — hosted by Eddie Ross. New conversations with founders, operators and experts who've learned how to lead.

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💬 What's the hardest decision you're facing right now? Tell us in the comments.

#TheFreeLunch #DecisionMaking #Leadership #AI #ErnestoWeissmann #Tandem #BusinessStrategy

Manuel Zamudio arrived in Spain in 2011, in the middle of a brutal financial crisis, with a plan that almost everyone called crazy: relaunch KFC in a country obsessed with its own food culture. A decade later, KFC has surpassed Telepizza to become the third-largest QSR brand in Spain — and Manuel went on to do something even bigger. He brought Krispy Kreme to Madrid.

In this conversation — recorded live at the flagship Krispy Kreme in Madrid, the first outside broadcast for The Free Lunch — Eddie sits down with Manuel to unpack the journey from mechanical engineer in Mexico City, to running brands at P&G, to leading KFC across Spain and Portugal at Yum Brands, to becoming a franchisee, to closing the joint venture that finally brought Krispy Kreme to Spain in 2024.

The launch broke records. 26,000 free half-dozens given away across Madrid. People queuing 20 hours before the doors opened. Golden tickets handing out free boxes for a year. And one detail that makes Krispy Kreme Spain unique in the world: it's the only Krispy Kreme on the planet without the word "DONUTS" on the logo. There's a legal reason — and it's a great story.

But the deeper conversation is about how you actually build something that lasts. Manuel shares why he believes "companies are not a family," the four values he runs every business by, why he uses the medieval wall of Ávila as a metaphor for company culture, and the rule that keeps his marriage healthy while he and his wife both work in the business.

In this episode:

— Why he bet on Spain during one of its worst economic crises

— The real reason Krispy Kreme can't say "donut" in Spain

— How they engineered the most-talked-about brand launch in Madrid

— Why companies should never call themselves "a family"

— The four values: integrity, determination, positivity, generosity

— What it takes to work alongside your spouse (and why she doesn't report to him)

— Why brands outlast people — and the responsibility that comes with that

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 — Intro

02:00 — Cold open: companies aren't families

04:00 — Live from Krispy Kreme Madrid

05:00 — From mechanical engineer to brand manager

06:20 — The P&G years: marketing as a business school

14:00 — Moving to Yum Brands and arriving in Spain

28:30 — Launching KFC during Spain's financial crisis

31:40 — How KFC overtook Telepizza

34:00 — Becoming a franchisee and the road to Krispy Kreme

36:30 — Why you can't say "donuts" in Spain

40:00 — Fresh every day: the Krispy Kreme promise

42:00 — Inside the launch that broke records

57:00 — Building culture: the Ávila wall metaphor

1:01:30 — The four values

1:05:20 — Why companies are NOT a family

1:09:00 — Working with your spouse: the rules

1:14:30 — Brands outlast people

ABOUT THE GUEST

Manuel Zamudio is the CEO of Krispy Kreme Spain and co-founder of Cárdenas Investment, the operating group behind KFC Spain (where he served as Regional General Manager for Spain & Portugal before becoming a franchisee in 2017), Sano, and Krispy Kreme Spain (launched 2024 as a joint venture with the brand). Born in Ecuador, Mexican by nationality, based in Madrid since 2011.

Can you build a seven-figure business without sacrificing your family?Today’s guest, Beth Mazza, argues that the "starving founder" archetype is a myth that holds back some of the world's best potential entrepreneurs. As a 4-time entrepreneur, mother of four, and co-founder of Female Mavericks, Beth has mastered the art of "Entrepreneurship Like a Mother"—a philosophy built on extreme execution, high-performance teams, and unclenching the need for total control.In this episode, we dive deep into the mechanics of moving from a corporate "safety net" to true financial freedom. We discuss the transition from solopreneur to CEO, the specific math required to hit seven figures, and how the dawn of AI is acting as a massive equalizer for founder-led services businesses.Whether you are a mother looking to launch, a corporate leader feeling the itch to build, or a founder struggling to scale, this conversation is a masterclass in leadership, resilience, and the power of brand.In this episode, we explore:0:00 - Introduction: Great Product, Team, Culture, and Brand.2:15 - Why a company is not a family (and why that’s a good thing).10:45 - The Corporate Illusion: Why your job is less stable than you think.18:30 - The "Control Freak" Trap: How to scale by letting go.25:00 - The Math of Success: Building 5-year revenue and execution models.34:15 - Raising Money vs. Bootstrapping: What you actually need to start.45:50 - AI for Founders: How technology is changing the game for services.55:20 - Entrepreneurship Like a Mother: The mission for 10,000 moms.

AI is Changing Everything: Entrepreneurship, Jobs & the Future of Work | Abraham Lopez | The Free Lunch PodcastWhat happens to your career when AI can do your job better, faster, and cheaper? In this episode of The Free Lunch Podcast, host Eddie Ross talks with Abraham Lopez , 26-year-old AI entrepreneur and investor , about the real impact of artificial intelligence on business, leadership, and the global workforce.Abraham founded Correcto, an AI writing assistant used by students across Latin America, and ERA Capital, a venture fund investing exclusively in early-stage AI companies (including Anthropic, the company behind Claude AI). He shares how he went from studying at Cambridge to building two companies before turning 26.🔑 Key takeaways from this episode:00:00 Introduction01:31 Abraham's journey: King's College London → Cambridge → AI founder06:50 How Cambridge funded his first startup12:08 Why the opportunity cost of entrepreneurship in your 20s is zero14:08 AI is lowering the barriers to starting a business15:29 How entry-level jobs in consulting and banking are changing RIGHT NOW17:47 Will AI replace most knowledge workers?20:08 AI costs are going DOWN, not up — here's why23:03 Why everyone is suddenly talking about Claude and Anthropic27:20 Where AI agents still fail (and where they work)28:09 Which big tech companies won't survive the next 10 years?32:55 The SaaS crash explained: how investors are repricing software stocks37:29 AI as a strategic tool: the Block/Square layoffs explained40:12 Will AI create more jobs than it destroys?44:18 How AI will transform education and healthcare47:31 The growing inequality problem nobody wants to talk about48:20 Robots, self-driving cars, and the future of physical work50:19 Waymo, autonomous vehicles, and why regulation is the bottleneck54:56 Why leadership must become MORE human in the age of AI01:03:17 Are software engineers being replaced by AI?01:06:36 Claude Code vs Cursor: the future of AI coding01:08:42 AI-generated music: will Spotify survive?01:10:44 Book recommendations: Atomic Habits & How to Win Friends and Influence People📚 Books mentioned:Atomic Habits — James ClearHow to Win Friends and Influence People — Dale CarnegieWhere's My Free Lunch? — Eddie RossAbout The Free Lunch Podcast:The Free Lunch is a podcast about leadership, business strategy, and the forces shaping our future. Hosted by Eddie Ross, each episode features candid conversations with founders, investors, and leaders navigating today's fast-changing world.#AI #ArtificialIntelligence #Entrepreneurship #FutureOfWork #AIJobs #StartupFounder #ClaudeAI #Anthropic #VentureCapital #Leadership #AIAgents #SelfDrivingCars #Waymo #TechInvesting #FreeLunchPodcast #AIStrategy #SaaS #MachineLearning #AIStartups #FutureOfAI

He came up with the sleep service in first class at British Airways. Now he's building AI that predicts what you want to book before you even search. This conversation will change how you think about travel, technology, and leadership.

Andy Owen Jones has spent 35+ years at the cutting edge of travel technology — from British Airways and Virgin Atlantic to founding SmartSeer, a company using predictive AI to transform how online travel works. In this episode of The Free Lunch Podcast, Eddie Ross sits down with his former Amadeus colleague to explore how AI is reshaping the travel industry, why most online travel agencies missed their biggest opportunity, and what leaders need to understand about probability and uncertainty.

Whether you're in travel, tech, or leadership — this one's packed with insights.

🕐 TIMESTAMPS00:00 — Introduction01:22 — Starting at British Airways as a programmer in 198802:32 — The flat bed idea: changing first class from luxury to sleep05:23 — Leaving travel for NatWest and Deloitte06:10 — Learning change management in San Francisco07:30 — Running IT at Virgin Atlantic before Y2K08:06 — Building an online travel agency during the dot-com boom09:01 — Arriving at Amadeus and saving the Tui deal10:23 — How caching and "big data" transformed travel search11:24 — Founding BD4: modelling individual user behaviour14:05 — Moving from certainty to probability-based personalisation16:37 — SmartSeer's pitch: the right product for the right person19:03 — Predictive AI vs generative AI — what's the real difference22:14 — His 2017 AI presentation that nobody cared about23:50 — Will AI be a game changer or a game massager for travel?25:14 — Why online travel agencies never used the data they had29:05 — Is AI actually going to change things radically?32:16 — The real disruption timeline: 2-3 years out34:35 — The age of the niche entrepreneur36:52 — The hidden cost of AI nobody talks about39:28 — Security nightmares and the wrapper startup trap43:35 — Micro-businesses, universities, and the future of work48:13 — Why doctors might train completely differently in 20 years49:49 — Amazon's soulless shops and why humans still matter54:04 — What education should look like now57:16 — Leadership in the age of AI: storytelling, vision, and poker01:01:14 — "Find the right customer for your product, not the right product for your customer"

🔑 KEY TOPICSAI in travel, predictive AI vs generative AI, travel technology evolution, online travel agencies, personalisation, British Airways flat bed history, SmartSeer, change management, leadership in uncertainty, future of education, entrepreneurship, probability thinking

🎙️ ABOUT THE GUESTAndy Owen Jones is co-founder and Managing Director of SmartSeer, a travel technology company using predictive AI to personalise the online travel experience. He previously held senior roles at British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, Amadeus, and founded BD4.

🔗 CONNECT

Andy Owen Jones on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aowenjones/

SmartSeer: https://www.smartseer.com

Eddie Ross on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eddie-ross-3350711/

📌 ABOUT THE FREE LUNCH PODCASTThe Free Lunch is where we have engaging and useful conversations about leadership in all its different forms. New episodes weekly.

👉 SUBSCRIBE for more conversations with leaders who are shaping the future.

#AI #TravelTechnology #Leadership #PredictiveAI #TravelIndustry #FreeLunchPodcast #Entrepreneurship #FutureOfWork #SmartSeer #OnlineTravel

Can one person build a billion-dollar company with just a handful of AI agents? Tom Capone thinks so, and he's building the tools to make it happen.In this episode of The Free Lunch Podcast, host Eddie Ross sits down with Tom Capone, the founder and CEO of L3NS.ai (https://www.l3ns.ai), the world's first AI product marketer designed to take disruptive products from zero to one million users. Tom shares how his journey from running a marketing agency that generated over $54 million for brands like L'Oréal, Uber and Huawei led him to build an AI-native platform that automates the entire product marketing process, from strategy to execution.They explore the shift into the agentic era of AI, why entrepreneurship may be the best defence against job displacement, and how founders can leverage AI growth agents to distribute products at a fraction of the traditional cost. Tom also shares his take on the future of work, why university might not be the right path for everyone, and what it really takes to recruit world-class talent as a young founder.Whether you're a startup founder struggling with distribution, a marketer curious about AI automation, or someone thinking about the future of business — this conversation is packed with insight.🔗 CONNECT WITH TOM CAPONE:🌐 L3NS.ai: https://www.l3ns.ai🐦 X (Twitter): https://x.com/tomcapone11💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomcapone/🎙️ ABOUT THE FREE LUNCH PODCAST:Hosted by Eddie Ross, The Free Lunch explores leadership, entrepreneurship and the forces reshaping how we build and run businesses — from AI transformation to founder mindset.⏱️ TIMESTAMPS:00:00 — Introduction to Tom Capone and L3NS.ai02:06 — From marketing agency to AI product marketer03:44 — Where are we in the AI revolution?04:28 — The agentic era: from search engines to task execution06:00 — AI is democratising entrepreneurship07:17 — Infrastructure players and the future of AI capabilities09:43 — The speed of AI evolution: plateau or acceleration?10:47 — Will AI replace jobs? Positioning yourself for the future14:49 — Can everyone be an entrepreneur?17:04 — Micro economies and the future of work19:22 — Inside L3NS.ai: how the product works24:36 — The two-agent system: strategy and execution27:05 — Zero-prompting and self-optimising AI campaigns29:15 — Tom's entrepreneurial journey and leadership lessons30:08 — Screening 800 people to find the right CMO32:06 — Articulating mission and vision as a founder34:11 — Why AI integration is the ultimate competitive advantage36:38 — The rise of personal brands and founder-led marketing41:16 — AI: friend or foe? The B2C vs B2B divide43:35 — AI personal assistants and the future of consumer tech45:57 — Pre-order L3NS.ai and join the closed beta48:07 — Advice for the next generation: rethink education51:34 — Why first-principles thinking matters more than degrees

How do you build a business that scales profitably while actually doing good in the world?

In this episode of The Free Lunch, Eddie Ross sits down with LeiLani Kirai, the powerhouse founder of Be The Change HR. LeiLani’s path to entrepreneurship wasn’t a straight line—it was a survival story. After a toxic workplace pushed her to a physical breaking point, she took a soul-searching road trip that led to the creation of a "conscious capitalism" HR firm.

LeiLani reveals her unique Social Impact Model, explaining how her for-profit business provides essential job-readiness training for survivors of sex trafficking. We also dive deep into the "unfiltered" side of leadership—from the necessity of "healthy arguments" to why most scaling companies are overspending on executive hires.

In this episode, we discuss:

• The Burnout Wake-up Call: How a medical leave led to a cross-country pivot.

• Smart Scaling: Why you don't need a VP of HR at 50 employees (and what to do instead).

• Culture vs. Strategy: Why leadership behavior is the ultimate driver of company culture.

• The Triple Bottom Line: Balancing people, planet, and profit without losing your mind.

• Data-Driven Leadership: How an HR professional learned to "run circles" around a P&L.

Whether you are a founder trying to scale your team or an employee looking for a more "human" workplace, LeiLani’s insights on vulnerability and truth in business are a masterclass in modern leadership.

#Leadership #HR #Entrepreneurship #ConsciousCapitalism #SmallBusiness #CompanyCulture #TheFreeLunchPodcast

We dive deep into how the "sick care" industry prioritizes symptoms over root causes, why chronic disease rates are skyrocketing despite record spending, and the perverse incentives keeping patients dependent on pills rather than cures. Tom breaks down the Ascend Medical approach to breaking this cycle and reclaiming true patient autonomy.

In this episode, we discuss:

• The "Tapeworm" Economy: How the medical system drains resources without improving outcomes.

• Sick Care vs. Health Care: Why modern medicine excels at acute trauma but fails at chronic disease.

• The Ascend Medical Mission: How Tom Bowen Wright and his team are challenging the status quo.

• Reclaiming Autonomy: Practical steps to take control of your metabolic health and advocate for yourself.

• The Future of Wellness: How to opt out of the broken system and build true longevity.

🔍 Topics: Tom Bowen Wright, Ascend Medical, Healthcare System, Big Pharma, Metabolic Health, Chronic Disease, Patient Advocacy, Preventative Medicine, Medical Ethics.

In this episode of The Free Lunch Podcast, Eddie Ross sits down with David Wheldon OBE for a wide-ranging conversation about leadership, brand, and the human side of business.

David’s career spans four decades at the highest levels of global advertising and marketing, with senior roles at Coca-Cola, Vodafone, and Barclays, as well as serving as President of the World Federation of Advertisers. But this episode isn’t about job titles — it’s about what experience actually teaches you over time.

Together, Eddie and David explore what real leadership looks like when the pressure is on: the importance of clarity over charisma, why defining success early prevents failure later, and how leaders shape culture through the smallest everyday actions. They talk candidly about managing up, giving credit, delivering feedback, and understanding your impact on others.

This is a thoughtful, honest conversation for anyone who leads people, builds brands, or wants to understand how successful organisations really work behind the scenes.

🎧 Listen to the full episode for lessons drawn from experience — not theory

Is the hourly rate killing the legal profession? Today on the Free Lunch Podcast, we sit down with Matthew Dashper Hughes, Director of Development at Gunnercooke, to discuss the firm that is radically disrupting the UK and international legal landscape.

Matthew shares his incredible journey from a philosophy degree and selling advertising space to leading a £63.5m management buyout and becoming COO for Theo Paphitis at Ryman. Now, he’s coaching lawyers to think like business owners.

We dive deep into the "Gunnercooke Model"—a fee-share structure that challenges the traditional equity partnership pyramid. We also explore the "Thinking Time" habit that saved his business during lockdown, why culture is simply "what you tolerate," and how AI is forcing lawyers to move from billing for time to billing for value.

If you are interested in the future of law, leadership psychology, or business growth, this episode is packed with actionable insights.

🎧 LISTEN ON SPOTIFY:https://open.spotify.com/show/6625dIpxNqmGjkesjN2TBk?si=9e095fa8fb42424a

📖 GET THE BOOK:Discover the leadership principles behind the podcast in Eddie's book, Where's My Free Lunch?👉 https://www.wheresmyfreelunch.com/

⏱️ TIMESTAMPS:

• 00:00 - Intro: Who is Matthew Dashper Hughes?

• 02:53 - From Philosophy to a £63.5m Management Buyout.

• 06:30 - The "Thinking Time" exercise that saved Matthew’s business during COVID.

• 08:11 - The problem with the traditional Law Firm "Pyramid" model.

• 16:14 - What is the Gunnercooke Model? (Fee share explained).

• 22:15 - Money Mindset: Why lawyers struggle to price their value.

• 32:00 - Culture is what you tolerate: The "Whiteboard Exercise."

• 35:48 - International culture gaps: UK vs. USA vs. Germany.

• 40:00 - Leadership vs. Management (The Ladder & The Wall).

• 48:00 - Dealing with "Wicked Problems" and Black Swan events.

• 51:50 - How AI will disrupt the legal industry (Efficiency vs. Effectiveness).

• 01:03:30 - Final advice: Put your own oxygen mask on first.

📚 BOOKS & CONCEPTS MENTIONED:

• The Road Less Stupid by Keith Cunningham (Concept: Thinking Time)

• The Culture Map by Erin Meyer (Navigating cultural differences)

• No Rules Rules: Netflix and the Culture of Reinvention by Reed Hastings & Erin Meyer

• Show Me The Money by Matthew Dashper Hughes (Matthew’s book on value and pricing)

• Bloom's Taxonomy (The hierarchy of learning)

• The Eisenhower Matrix / Boston Box (Complexity vs. Clarity grids)

💡 KEY QUOTES:

• "If you think war, you get war. If you think peace, you get peace." — Darryl Cooke

• "Management is about efficiency and climbing the ladder of success; leadership is about making sure the ladder is leaning against the right wall." — Stephen Covey

• "Culture is what you tolerate and what you promote."

• "The most important tool in any leader's toolkit is a mirror."

🔗 CONNECT WITH US:

👤 Follow Matthew Dashper Hughes:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewdashper-hughes/

• Gunnercooke: https://gunnercooke.com/

👤 Follow Me :D

• Connect with me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eddie-ross-3350711/

• My website: https://epr.business/

• Get my Book: https://www.wheresmyfreelunch.com/

👍 If you enjoyed this episode, please LIKE and SUBSCRIBE for more leadership conversations!

#Gunnercooke #LegalInnovation #Leadership #BusinessPodcast #FutureOfLaw #ManagementBuyout #Coaching #AIinLaw #FreeLunchPodcast #MatthewDashperHughes