In this episode of iGaming Leader, Leo sits down with Emma Blaylock, CEO of Pretty Technical and a tech leader who helped launch Kindle UK and drove early streaming at Sony. Emma shares how vulnerable leadership creates safe-to-fail teams that learn fast, stay calm under scrutiny, and execute with focus. The conversation explores helping your team feel safe-to-fail, hiring to your weaknesses, data-driven decision making, handling cashflow shocks, and female leadership in male-dominated rooms—offering practical insights for founders, product leaders, and execs across iGaming. Guest Bio Emma is an experienced business strategist and technology commercialist, having practised formal management consultancy at Deloitte and strategic investments, acquisitions and cross-group business development at Sony’s Corporate Development and M&A group in the U.S.  After Sony, Emma joined Amazon and delivered strategic initiatives to launch and grow Kindle in the UK and other European markets. Emma holds a BSc in Computer Science from the University of Nottingham and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management in Chicago. Key Topics Discussed 00:00 – Admit gaps: building a safe-to-fail culture 03:00 – Tech throughline: impact, innovation, disruption 05:00 – Bezos-level detail: data-driven calm under pressure 08:00 – Disrupting UK market with Kindle 10:00 – From imposter feelings to confident leadership 14:00 – Modelling vulnerability and psychological safety 22:00 – From Amazon to start-up: risk, family, flexibility 27:00 – Fundraising, COVID, and making hard calls 31:00 – When a big client can’t pay: cashflow and redundancies 39:00 – Raise-the-bar hiring: fill your weaknesses Memorable Quotes “No one's going to remember everything at the top of their head and have the answers for everything, that's not realistic.” “It's okay to be vulnerable around that, right? And honest around that. And then, as a team, you grow.” “That imposter syndrome we all talk about, I think it's always there, but you, you become more confident in what you can do and confident in where your weaknesses are.” “It's about having a culture that embraces failure, but then quickly learns from it.” Connect with Emma Blaylock:https://prettytechnical.io/linkedin.com/in/emmablaylockhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/pretty-technicalFollow Leo Judkins on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leo-judkins/Subscribe to the iGaming Leader newsletter: https://www.igamingleader.com/signupJoin the iGaming Leader Mastermind: https://www.igamingleader.com/

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