Glenn is the Co-Founder of Simplify Holdings International, a company specialising in personal and automotive finance across New Zealand and Australia. Ten years ago, Glenn and his team spotted a gap in the New Zealand market—limited consumer finance options and an almost non-existent online experience—and built Simplify to solve it.

Today, over 17,000 customers have used Simplify, and the business is on track to write over $150 million in finance volume this financial year. Glenn now plays a more strategic role in the group while the day-to-day is led by the team.

In our conversation we talk about Glenn’s foundations: growing up just outside Melbourne, Australia, being told by a teacher at 16 that he’d prefer it if Glenn left school, and how he turned that moment into fuel. We revisit his early career in IT, leading teams older than him, and the leadership lesson that it’s more important to be respected than liked.

We explore his move to BMW Australia, starting in customer service, building relationships across the organisation, and the practical value of curiosity. We discuss the impact of losing his mum, a period of travel and reflection, and the shift from finance broking as a sole operator to deciding—after a pivotal Tony Robbins event in Los Angeles—to build a bigger business.

We then trace the path to Simplify: seeing the New Zealand opportunity, starting small, persevering through perceptions of being “too Australian,” growing a distributed team across NZ and Australia, installing a CEO, and stepping into a strategic role while keeping close to the team and partners.

Connect with Glenn

LinkedIn

Website

About Andy

I’m a business leader, coach, and the creator of the Fulfilling Performance framework—designed to help people bring more of themselves to what they do and experience greater fulfilment and performance as a result.

Over the past 25+ years, I’ve led and developed businesses including Alphabet UK, BMW Financial Services in the UK, Singapore, and New Zealand, and Tesla Financial Services UK. Alongside this, I’ve coached individuals and facilitated leadership development programmes in 17 countries across Asia, Europe, and North America.

In 2016, I founded Aquilae to support leaders and teams in the mobility sector and beyond. Through workshops, coaching, and peer mentoring, we enable high performance that’s also fulfilling—for individuals, teams, and organisations.

I’m also the host of CAREER-VIEW MIRROR, where I share the life and career journeys of key players in the automotive and mobility world to surface insights leaders can apply in their own context.

Learn more about Fulfilling Performance

Check out Release the Handbrake! The Fulfilling Performance Hub

Connect with Andy

LinkedIn: Andy Follows
Email: cvm@aquilae.co.uk

Join a peer mentoring team: Aquilae Academy

Thank you to our sponsors:

ASKE Consulting
Email: hello@askeconsulting.co.uk

Aquilae
Email: cvm@aquilae.co.uk

Episode Directory on Instagram @careerviewmirror

If you enjoy listening to our guests career stories, please follow CAREER-VIEW MIRROR in your podcast app.

Episode recorded on 23 October, 2025.

When I introduce leaders to the Fulfilling Performance framework with its four Diagnostic Questions, they invariably appreciate its simplicity. They find Step 1 relatively easy. This is the part where we use the four questions to identify the most likely sources of unseen friction or handbrakes as we call them.

I covered Step 1 in last week's Side Mirror episode where I explained how Fulfilling Performance is a simple tool we can use to act on engagement every single day.

Step 2 is to consider options, decide on an action and create a plan to release the handbrake.

Depending on the nature of the handbrake, Step 2 can be more complex and less straightforward. The options at your disposal and the quality of your plan will vary according to your level of leadership capability, experience and authority.

When we get to Step 2 in our workshops, leaders often ask me to share handbrakes that I or previous participants have identified with examples of how they released them.

So in this episode, I want to share four stories from my own career—each one showing a handbrake in action, linked to one of the Four Fundamentals: Clarity, Capability, Culture, and Purpose.

They’re real examples of what happens when a Fundamental is lacking—and what could have been done to release the friction.

About Andy

I’m a business leader, coach, and the creator of the Fulfilling Performance framework—a simple, practical way to help leaders cut through silos, get people pulling in the same direction, and build ownership and accountability, so organisations perform better and their people thrive.

Over the past 25+ years, I’ve led and developed businesses including Alphabet UK, BMW Financial Services in the UK, Singapore, and New Zealand, and Tesla Financial Services UK. Alongside this, I’ve coached individuals and delivered leadership programmes in 17 countries across Asia, Europe, and North America.

In 2016, I founded Aquilae (The Fulfilling Performance Company) to support CEOs and senior leaders in the mobility sector and beyond. Through workshops, peer mentoring, and coaching, we help reduce the unseen friction that drags on performance — and create teams where people deliver, grow, and work constructively together.

I’m also the host of CAREER-VIEW MIRROR, where I share the life and career journeys of key players in the automotive and mobility world to surface insights leaders can apply in their own context.

Learn more about Fulfilling Performance

Check out Release the Handbrake! The Fulfilling Performance Hub

Connect with Andy

LinkedIn: Andy Follows
Email: cvm@aquilae.co.uk

Join a peer mentoring team: Aquilae Academy

Thank you to our sponsors:

ASKE Consulting
Email: hello@askeconsulting.co.uk

Aquilae
Email: cvm@aquilae.co.uk

Episode Directory on Instagram @careerviewmirror

If you enjoy listening to our guests career stories, please follow CAREER-VIEW MIRROR in your podcast app.

Episode recorded on 21 October, 2025.

I was listening to an interview with Ellyn Shook recently. Ellyn is the Chief Human Resources Officer of Accenture where she is responsible for 774,000 people. She told Michael Gervais on his Finding Mastery podcast that if companies could figure out how to give their leaders tools to act on engagement every day they would see a big difference.

The Fulfilling Performance framework is that tool and in this Side Mirror episode I share how I introduce leaders to how it works and get them up and running with it in just a few hours.

About Andy

I’m a business leader, coach, and the creator of the Fulfilling Performance framework—designed to help people bring more of themselves to what they do and experience greater fulfilment and performance as a result.

Over the past 25+ years, I’ve led and developed businesses including Alphabet UK, BMW Financial Services in the UK, Singapore, and New Zealand, and Tesla Financial Services UK. Alongside this, I’ve coached individuals and facilitated leadership development programmes in 17 countries across Asia, Europe, and North America.

In 2016, I founded Aquilae to support leaders and teams in the mobility sector and beyond. Through workshops, coaching, and peer mentoring, we enable high performance that’s also fulfilling—for individuals, teams, and organisations.

I’m also the host of CAREER-VIEW MIRROR, where I share the life and career journeys of key players in the automotive and mobility world.

Learn more about Fulfilling Performance

Check out Release the Handbrake! The Fulfilling Performance Hub

Connect with Andy

LinkedIn: Andy Follows
Email: cvm@aquilae.co.uk

Join a peer mentoring team: Aquilae Academy

Thank you to our sponsors:

ASKE Consulting
Email: hello@askeconsulting.co.uk

Aquilae
Email: cvm@aquilae.co.uk

Episode Directory on Instagram @careerviewmirror

If you enjoy listening to our guests career stories, please follow CAREER-VIEW MIRROR in your podcast app.

Episode recorded on 15 October, 2025.