A podcast by Vaughan Owen
The architecture of ambition. The psychology of risk. The divergent paths we take in business.
Two kinds of people.
One kind builds empires inside the machine.
The other burns the machine down and builds something new.
Vaughan Owen, Uncaged
"Through behavioural economists, rogue operators, and founders who've walked both worlds, we dissect the architecture of ambition: what drives it, what derails it, and what separates those who build empires from those who optimise them."
Latest Episodes
Prof Adrian Saville·Founder, Cannon Asset Managers & Professor, GIBS
Most academics stay in academia. Most entrepreneurs stay in their lane. Adrian Saville has spent three decades refusing to pick one, building an investment firm, selling it, and starting again. Twice.
Koo Govender·Business Leader & Strategist
What does it mean to start over, lead differently, and find your footing again after the ground shifts beneath you? Koo Govender on reinvention, identity, and the courage to go first.
Patrick Hull·SVP Talent, Culture and Leadership at Heineken
Patrick Hull left. Built his own firm. Then chose to go back inside - first Unilever, then Heineken in Amsterdam. He has lived both worlds deliberately. This conversation is about what that choice actually requires.
David Brear·Co-Founder & CEO, 11:FS
David Brear spent a decade inside every corner of financial services before walking out and co-founding 11:FS. His signature provocation - digital banking is only 1% finished - was dismissed by the industry. The industry was wrong. This conversation is about building a conviction the room isn't ready for, and what happens when you say it out loud.
Margaret Hartigan·Founder & CEO, Marstone
Margaret Hartigan spent years as a top quintile adviser at Merrill Lynch. Then she walked away and started from zero. This conversation is about what that actually costs - the internal shift, the founder reality nobody warns you about, and what risk tolerance means when the stakes are personal.
Kaveri Camire·Partner & Commercial Lead, ISG
Kaveri Camire spent twenty years inside IBM moving toward the hardest, most undefined problems in enterprise technology. SVP and CMO at DXC. Now launching the CMO practice at ISG. This conversation is about what it means to name something before anyone else has the language for it.
The Host
The Host
Vaughan Owen is a serial entrepreneur and co-founder of OwenKessel, a top 5 South African agency with clients including McDonald's, Heineken, and Diageo, acquired by Publicis.
He now runs Owen+Co, providing strategic marketing to global clients. He's built, scaled, exited, and started again. Uncaged is his platform to explore the cognitive architecture of risk with people who've lived it, not theorised about it.
About Vaughan
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