In this episode of The Secret Life of Great Leaders, Michael Bunting speaks with Gorm Tuxen, a Danish-born entrepreneur who first came to the US as an exchange student in the mid-1970s, fell in love with the country, and spent years working toward a permanent return. By 1982, a sponsor in his graduate program helped him land a role setting up a US subsidiary for a major English furniture manufacturer, which eventually led him into founding his own venture: a chain of Scandinavian furniture stores at a time when IKEA itself was still unknown in America.Together, they explore how the instincts that make someone a strong salesperson need real translation once other people's execution enters the picture. Gorm describes his core discipline as framing ideas as open assumptions, inviting a team's questions and concerns before anything is decided, since forcing an idea onto people tends to close their ears entirely. Michael shares a live example from his own team's Green Zone practice, one of his own growth areas being to involve his team in decisions that affect their work, and the two trace how a leader's own directness can quietly work against that same intention without them noticing. The conversation turns to genuine curiosity as a daily practice, learning to observe what's actually triggering a reaction in a conversation, checking an assumption mid-flow, and staying with the discomfort of a team member's pushback long enough to actually hear it.It closes on something more personal: Gorm's reflection that leadership means holding your own ideas lightly, throwing the pebble into the pond and staying focused on the ripples it creates. If you've ever wondered whether your best intentions as a leader are landing as control, this episode offers a grounded way to think about what it actually takes to get people to buy in, built around one image Gorm returns to again and again: the leader's real place is at the back of the room, watching, listening, and asking what else the team needs.

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