How to transform teams like a Growth CTO - Mike Jones

Super Powered: Leadership, Strategy, Decision Making & Peak Performance - Stories & Strategies from World-Class Performers for Executive Success

Ever wondered what it takes to turn a struggling tech team into a high-performing engine of growth?

Mike Jones has done it not once, but twice - taking uSwitch from a £5M acquisition to part of a £2B exit, and transforming Love Holidays into a travel powerhouse that sends more people abroad than Heathrow could handle in a month.

But Mike's superpower isn't just technical expertise - it's understanding how structure, communication and culture need to evolve as companies grow. A former ThoughtWorks consultant turned scale-up specialist, he's developed frameworks that help teams transition from scrappy startups to scalable enterprises while keeping their innovative spirit alive.

Key Talking Points

• The three critical pillars for scaling tech teams: organisation structure, business-focused communication, and letting people leave their mark
• How Mike transitioned from explaining technical concepts to business outcomes, leading to better exec team alignment
• Why autonomous, cross-functional teams built around long-lived problems outperform traditional functional structures
• Managing stress through exercise and breathwork while scaling companies

Links & Resources:

• Mike's LinkedIn
• Mike's Blog
• Book Recommendation: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
• Podcast Recommendation: Chris Williamson
• Referenced Tool: Obsidian for note-taking

Today's Exercise: The Leadership Journal

This note-taking system helps leaders stay on top of rapid context switching while extracting meaningful insights from day-to-day work. It combines bullet journaling with scheduled reflection time to turn chaos into clarity.

Steps to Apply:

1. Schedule two daily 5-10 minute meetings with yourself - one to start and one to end the day
2. Use bullet journaling symbols to categorize information (• for tasks, ▲ for delegated items, ○ for events)
3. Review notes at day's end to extract tasks and action items
4. Start each day by reviewing previous notes and intentionally choosing priorities
5. Set aside 30 minutes weekly to synthesize key ideas into a "second brain" system
6. Track evolution of ideas and decisions by maintaining searchable archives