Off the Fence with Purpose

What does it take to step outside your comfort zone, change direction and build a thriving business?

In this episode of Off the Fence with Purpose, hosts Jim Walsh and Ellen Gunning sit down with Robin Jones, CEO and owner of Golden Bake, a frozen bakery snacking company in Dublin specialising in pastries and cookies. It is best known in Ireland for its Jambons pastries.

The conversation explores a remarkable career journey built on opportunity, ambition and the courage to evolve.

It was recorded just weeks before the 2026 EY Entrepreneur Of The Year Ireland programme winner is announced. Robin Jones is among the 24 shortlisted entrepreneurs selected from across the island of Ireland. The finalists have been shortlisted across three categories – Emerging, Established and International. Robin is one of the 8 finalists in the Emerging category.

His career began in tax consultancy with PwC before taking him to Zurich and Chicago, with ARYZTA AG the parent company of Cuisine de France where he progressed through senior leadership roles.

But his biggest career move was yet to come. When he learned that Irish frozen bakery business Golden Bake was for sale, Robin saw an opportunity to bring his international experience home, raise investment and take the entrepreneurial leap into ownership.

Since taking over in 2016, Robin has helped transform Golden Bake, growing the workforce from 57 employees to more than 150 and overseeing the introduction or development of around 100 products. From the much-loved jambon to innovative cookie cups, the business continues to evolve with changing consumer tastes, new opportunities and the growing demand for convenience.

But this conversation goes far beyond business growth. Robin shares his approach to building a strong workplace culture, underpinned by five core values: Fairness, Respect, Evolve, Support and Honesty. Discover how listening to employees, acting on feedback and creating an inclusive environment can help build a business where people feel valued and empowered to grow.

There are also valuable insights for anyone navigating their own career. Robin discusses the importance of making yourself visible at work, learning from other people's mistakes, finding mentors and thinking bigger about what might be possible. He also reflects on the uncertainty facing young people entering the workforce in an age of AI, with one clear message: don't be afraid to change direction simply because of the path you chose years ago.

And, in a delightful personal twist, discover how Robin's lifelong passion for DJing has shaped his leadership skills, from reading the room to understanding the importance of people's responses.

Tune in for an honest, insightful and inspiring conversation about leadership, entrepreneurship, workplace culture and the power of change.

Recorded at the Walsh studio in Dublin.
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What does it really take to be successful — and how can we make sure success doesn’t come at the expense of the rest of our lives?

In this engaging episode of Off the Fence with Purpose, Jim and Ellen are joined by Maurice Cullen, a former senior executive with major international companies including Unilever, Avonmore, Vodafone and Zurich, and now a leadership and people-development specialist with Leadership Management Ireland.

Maurice shares practical lessons from decades of experience helping managers and successful professionals become more focused, effective and fulfilled.
At the heart of the conversation is a deceptively simple idea: success comes from focus.

The conversation challenges listeners to identify the small number of high-payoff activities that genuinely make a difference in their roles — and to stop confusing being busy with being productive. Maurice explains why tackling the easiest items on a long to-do list can create the illusion of progress, while the most important work remains untouched.

Explore how to take greater control of your time, protect your priorities, deal constructively with interruptions and learn to say “not now” without alienating others are all touched on.

Maurice also explains why lasting change requires more than good intentions: new behaviours need time and repetition to become genuine habits.
But this isn't simply a conversation about workplace productivity. It covers the broader idea of “life balance”, rather than the familiar concept of work-life balance. It will encourage people to think about their “ideal week” — both professionally and personally — and then ask themselves: How can I make next week one per cent better than this week?

The conversation also explores stress, working from home, the importance of switching off, leadership in an age of AI, and why human interaction and communication may become even more important as technology advances.

Thoughtful, practical and full of memorable stories, this episode offers a refreshing reminder that career progress doesn't necessarily require dramatic change. Sometimes, identifying what really matters, protecting time for it and moving one per cent closer to the life you want can make all the difference.
The central message is simple: stop running on autopilot, decide what matters, and deliberately make space for it — at work and in life.
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The guest in this episode is Mac O’Brien an 18 year old entrepreneur who began building businesses when he was just 13.
If you listen once you will want to go back and listen again and again.

His stories and the lessons learned for someone so young in business will keep you enthralled.
He comes from an entrepreneurial family, his grandfather was the founder of Funderland which is said to be possibly the largest travelling Amusement Park event in Europe.

Mac began his business career at 13 by reselling sneakers and clothing, eventually moving into bulk buying and wholesaling. Then he moved into door-to-door window cleaning, where he knocked on approximately 4,500 doors and built a team of eight friends. He focused heavily on efficiency, reducing cleaning times from around 45 minutes to roughly 20 minutes and generating significant weekly revenue.

Website development, came next offering local businesses free websites in exchange for recurring monthly fees. This evolved into his current AI-focused company, ACMR, which helps SMEs identify opportunities to use AI, automate processes and improve operational efficiency. Rather than relying on subscription software, Mac's approach emphasises building customised systems that businesses own as assets. He estimates that the business will hit its first million euros in sales shortly.

A major theme is Mac's ability to identify knowledge gaps and turn them into business opportunities. He secured an early €3,000 AI consulting deal after meeting a group of solicitors and explaining how AI could improve their businesses. He subsequently built a team, including a technical co-founder, and expanded internationally to recruit talent.

Mac is strongly focused on bootstrapping rather than venture capital, preferring experienced advisers and sustainable growth. He aims to build an Irish-native technology company before potentially expanding internationally. His ambitions extend beyond business, including robotics and eventually entering politics and going for the Irish presidency.

Some of the lessons you will hear from Mac’s short but extensive careers are:
Start early and learn by doing: Practical experience can develop valuable skills faster than theory alone.
Turn skills into scalable systems: Mac repeatedly looked for ways to improve efficiency and create recurring revenue.
Listen to experienced people: He believes conversations should be roughly 80% listening and 20% speaking, with strong follow-up questions.
Identify genuine market gaps: His AI business grew from recognising that companies knew they needed AI but lacked the knowledge to implement it.
Ambition requires focus—but balance matters: His intense commitment has driven rapid progress, though his 16–18-hour workdays also highlight the importance of considering sustainability and personal wellbeing.

Mac’s enthusiasm is infectious
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Coming from a family with a strong work ethic provided Sarah Carey with the necessary strength to overcome adversity and learn many life lessons which benefitted her in her business career. Her family business encompassed auctioneering, retail, teaching, farming as well as a strong involvement in local politics, her father William was a councillor on Meath County Council for 47 years.

These life lessons stood her well through a range of careers which included: marketing roles with Esat Telecom and Cape Clear, strategic consultant and writer with Cuil, the internet search engine, radio presenter with national station Newstalk, newspaper columnist with Irish Times, Sunday Times and Irish Independent, a Director of Strategic Communications with Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) as well as chair, MC, facilitator and speaker at many national conferences and events.

In this conversation with Jim and Ellen she discusses the ups and downs of this varied career. She entered Trinity College to study history aged 17 and although always wanting to be a journalist, immediately on graduating she went to work with the Education Building Society (EBS).

On advice from a friend, she wrote to entrepreneur Denis O’Brien seeking work with the newly formed Esat Telecom. She went through some intense interviews and was given the choice of three jobs; she chose one in marketing. When she told her boss in the EBS he told her that if it didn’t work out there would always be a place for her at the EBS. Although she later saw examples of misogyny in various workplaces this was one of the many men, she worked with who had no such attitude towards woman.

Describing her career, she said that there were lots of bumps along the way but also events that energised her. Writing a blog while at home following the birth of two of her children led to becoming a columnist with the Sunday Times. It was something she was reluctant to take but the Irish Editor at the time would not take no for an answer, say that as she was writing a daily blog called GUBU- “An Irish woman’s social, political and domestic commentary” she would be well capable of writing a weekly column.

Her lessons and advice from what she terms her portfolio career included:
*Get involved. Her involvement in debating, research and networking in Trinity College stood to her in her working career, particularly now when chairing, MCing and facilitating at conferences and events.
* If you are facing adversary, keep going, you have no choice.
* Understand what’s on social media is only a tiny tiny part of life.
* Don’t stay in a negative environment.
* For management. If having an issue with staff, listen to them.
* Stay calm under pressure.

This is an energetic conversation covering a whirlwind of a career.
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#Career tips #Trinity College #Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School #Marketing #Overcoming adversary #Irish Independent #Irish Times #Sunday Times #Newstalk #Appeals Board of the Architects and Chartered Surveyors #Denis O’Brien #Philip Boucher-Hayes #Tom McEnaney #Fiona McHugh #Terry Prone #Enda Kenny
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For Denis Donohoe being bi-lingual paved the way for a career that brought him from Ireland to Asia through the UK and Eastern Europe and back to Ireland.

It is a career that involved various management and marketing roles in the world of cosmetics, confectionary, football and charities.

To land his first major work placement he used his love and fluency in French to target French companies in Ireland and found himself in Vichy, a brand the International company L’Oréal. He rose through the ranks as Deputy General Manager Ireland, General Manager Poland, Deputy Regional Director-East Europe and Nordic Countries, Regional Director-Asia and Managing Director -UK & Ireland. However as the final logical move was a senior role in head office in Paris, probably the first non-French person to achieve that status he decided to return to Ireland, mainly as he had a young family at the time.

Before returning he had a short stint as Global Head – Wholesale and Distribution with Crabtree and Evelyn in London where he helped develop the company’s international network of distributors.

Back in Ireland he did an MBA and was the lured by an Executive Search person to apply for a job as Commercial Director of Lir Chocolates. Helping to double Lir’s export sales in two years earned the company nominations in every Irish export awards in 2019.

However spending three hours every day driving from Dublin to Navan and back was a key issue in making another career change when an Executive Seach person entered his life again. Knowing that he was a lifelong supporter of Shamrock Rovers FC he was brought in as CEO of the football club and there learned to the intricacies of event management.

The benefit of becoming known and networking then led to a place on the board of a charity, Village Counselling Service in Tallaght, County Dublin.

In between he bought and then sold a beauty salon in Dalkey, Co. Dublin..

One key lesson Denis has learned in his career is to under promise and over-deliver. If you don’t perform the consequences cascade everywhere, he says. You are adding pressure on those you report to who may have to report to someone further up the management ladder and perhaps your peers/colleagues who may have to have to take on additional work to put right the non-delivery. As he says that the closer you get to the top of an organisation the greater the pressure to deliver.
A great example from Denis in how to have respect for your colleagues came in his move to Poland where his Polish was non-existent. But to ensure that his Polish colleagues who had no English or French were not at a disadvantage he did an intensive course in Polish.

This episode provides an intriguing look into the workings of a global organisation and how how being adaptable can help you move up the corporate ladder and switch careers if circumstances change or luck comes calling.
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