Leaders Of Tomorrow Podcast

What if the trait you thought made you strong is the very thing holding your growth back? Chris Thomson welcomes back Phil Lombardo, a Student Works veteran who went from a $125,000 rookie business to coaching a $4.4 million team, and who is now stepping into a role helping run a $50 million company. Phil opens up about the ego that once held him back, why your minimum acceptable standard matters...

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 counterintui...

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 i...

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 f...

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 t...

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, Mar...

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 tea...

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 fo...

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 mi...

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...

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 m...

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 wit...

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 compa...

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...

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. L...

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...

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 ho...

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, r...

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 powe...

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...

What if the only thing standing between you and a million-dollar breakthrough is how fast you’re willing to learn from chaos? In this electrifying conversation, Luke Montemurro, a third-year math prodigy at Queen’s University and Student Works superstar, reveals the real playbook behind scaling a student-led business from zero to $1 million. Discover how he went from rookie mistakes and 11 pm brea...

Ever wondered why some grads break through while others get stuck spinning their wheels? If a safe resume and a perfect 10-year plan have fallen short for you, this episode is your wake-up call. In this best-of collage edition, Chris Thomson gathers the most revealing stories from alumni and leaders like Zack Kembar, Rob Signoretti, Lance Spitzig, Michael Glinter, Brennan Basnicki, and Alim Bhanji...

Ever wonder why so many driven young leaders stall out before reaching real greatness? What secret really takes raw ambition and forges it into a six-figure reality? In this episode, Chris Thomson sits down with Student Works Management Program veteran Brayden Willmott, a former Team Canada skier turned business builder. From battling complacency and ego to creating over $230K in sales and aiming...

Do you feel like you’re drowning in to-dos, but real results keep slipping out of reach? What if the secret to breakthrough productivity isn’t doing more, it’s doing more of what matters most? In this gripping Leaders of Tomorrow collage episode, Chris Thomson curates frontline wisdom from high-achieving alumni and coaches like Zack Kembar, Landon Roberts, Jadan Hauser , Jakob Graham , Paul Prevos...

What if mastering a few simple habits could transform your life, multiply your freedom, and let you have it all? This episode features an electrifying conversation between Chris Thomson and Dylan Puchniak, a record-breaking Student Works alum who left engineering for real estate and now dominates both sides of the Ottawa-Gatineau market. Discover why finishing what you start is just the beginning,...