Jes Santoro, Chief Revenue Officer at Cadent, joins Jeremy Bloom for a candid conversation about leadership, mentorship, emotional intelligence, and building high-performing teams in today’s fast-changing media and advertising landscape. Jes shares lessons from nearly three decades in the industry, why mentorship goes beyond training, and how great leaders balance data-driven decision making with empathy and authenticity. From career growth to accountability and company culture, this episode is packed with practical insights for modern leaders.

Takeaways

Mentorship is about support, inspiration, and helping people grow.
Training develops skills, mentorship develops people.
Great leaders balance emotional intelligence with data-driven decision-making.
Career growth is rarely linear, and curiosity matters most.
Accountability works best when built on trust and authenticity.
Strong leadership starts with self-awareness and surrounding yourself with great people.
People stay where they feel supported, valued, and connected to purpose.
Positivity and calm leadership create stronger teams.

Chapters

00:00 Jeremy welcomes Jes Santoro to the podcast.

01:24 Jes shares his career journey from agencies to CRO at Cadent.

03:42 How leadership changed after COVID and remote work.

06:28 Jes explains his three-step mentorship philosophy.

09:27 The mentor who shaped Jes’s leadership approach.

12:38 The difference between training and true mentorship.

14:37 Why emotional intelligence matters more than ever.

18:37 Self-awareness and building balanced leadership teams.

20:48 Career growth is not linear.

23:11 Creating accountability without fear-based leadership.

26:05 The importance of purpose, trust, and authenticity.

27:07 Final leadership advice and reflections on the industry.