In an industry defined by speed, scale, and constant reinvention, leadership can easily become transactional. Dashboards replace dialogue. Growth eclipses meaning. And yet, some leaders choose a different path, one that puts people, purpose, and progress back at the centre.
Rick Jones is one of them.
With more than a decade shaping the AdTech ecosystem, and a career spanning global tech leaders and fast-growing startups, Rick has learned to navigate complexity without losing clarity. Along the way, he became a Fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts, and founded Los Campos Football Club, a community-driven initiative that says as much about his leadership philosophy as his professional achievements.
In this new episode of Leaders of Change, Rick shares a vision of entrepreneurial leadership rooted in curiosity, responsibility, and human connection. Not as theory. As lived experience.
Entrepreneurship is a mindset
For Rick, entrepreneurship doesn’t start with funding rounds or pitch decks. It starts earlier, with attention and care.
“Entrepreneurship is the land of possibilities, of wonder. It’s saying “what if” to every question, solving the wolrd’s problems and see no limits.”
Across roles, companies, and markets, that mindset stays constant. What changes is the context. The pace has accelerated. Technology now amplifies every decision, every success, every mistake. But beneath that acceleration, something essential remains unchanged: human motivation.
People still seek meaning. Progress. Belonging. “You need to explain the emotion and the prupose of why people are doing things”. Leaders who understand this adapt faster and build organisations that last.
Leadership must connect
Having led teams in global tech giants, Rick has distilled leadership down to a few non-negotiables:
- Listen with intent. Not to reply, but to understand.
- Communicate the “why.” Clarity creates momentum.
- Be human first. Trust is built through consistency, not hierarchy.
Authentic leadership, in his view, is relational. It recognises the person behind the role, whether that’s a client navigating growth or a team member shaping their own path.
That’s also why Rick stays close to the ground. Away from abstractions. Close to behaviours, questions, and sometimes uncomfortable truths.
“Spending time with people is non negotiable. If you want to know what people value, you need to be where they are, listening, observing, learning continuously.”
This belief in connection as a leadership principle resonates strongly with the vision shared by Lemya Soltani, co-founder of Next Broadcast Media, who approaches leadership through the lens of empowerment.
Growth with purpose
In a performance-driven industry, purpose is often reduced to a statement. Rick treats it as a filter. Every decision passes through the same lens: Does this genuinely improve people’s lives? Does it give teams space to grow? Does it reflect a company we’d be proud to stand behind?
If not, the opportunity, no matter how lucrative, loses its appeal. Growth, he believes, only matters when it lifts others with it.
“To the bigger you get as an organization, or as a community, you have to make sure that the individuals and the group their values their purpose their goals are as much aligned as possible because that’s how you stay together.”
Lessons from the pitch
Founding a football club is a commitment, to time, to people, to community. For Rick, Los Campos FC became a living laboratory for leadership.
Football, he says, teaches everything business needs to remember:
- You win together. You lose together.
- Everyone has a role. No one carries the team alone.
- Culture isn’t written. It’s lived—week after week, rain or shine.
The parallels are obvious. So is the lesson: performance and joy are not opposites. They’re partners.
Influence comes with responsibility
As a Fellow of the RSA, Rick sees AdTech not just as an economic force, but a cultural one. “We have to remember that as an industry, we do have a positive impact.” At the intersection of data, media, and people, the industry shapes how the world is experienced. With that influence comes choice.
We can design for transparency.
We can support media that strengthens society.
We can ensure innovation benefits many, not few.
Leadership, here, is about intention.
Perspective beyond borders
Leading international teams has also reshaped Rick’s understanding of empathy. Different cultures value different things: pace, humility, directness, consensus. Great leaders don’t impose one worldview. They build bridges between many. “Empathy is recognising that your perspective is just one of many.” It’s a lesson that extends far beyond work. Into how we listen. How we judge less. How we understand more.
The better advice? Always look up
Looking back, the advice Rick wishes he’d received earlier is simple:
“Always look up and slowing down. There’s a much bigger picture there to inspire you.”
Ten years from now, success won’t be measured in titles or exits. It will be measured in impact—on companies that stood for something, on people who felt supported, on communities that grew stronger.
That’s entrepreneurial leadership, redefined.
Thanks
We would like to warmly thank Rick Jones and the teams at Adform for their generous welcome and the depth of the conversations we shared. Beyond the insights, it was the openness, the intellectual honesty, and the genuine quality of the exchanges that made this moment very special. These are the discussions that move an industry forward, rooted in experience, driven by purpose, and shaped by people who care about what they build.
