Inspiring Leaders: A conversation with Alon Noy

I recently sat down with Alon Noy (Neuhaus), Co-Founder and CEO of Astelia, for the Inspiring Leaders series. We had an honest conversation about people, culture, and what it takes to build something that lasts.

A few highlights worth sharing:

🧬 Leaders are born and made. Alon believes it's a mix, some of it takes root in childhood habits and environment, but the rest is forged through years of real experience. Education alone won't get you there.

👥 Leadership is about people. People admire leaders who make them feel proud of themselves, who help them get better every day, and who give them room to influence their environment. Get that right and everything else follows.

🎯 Alignment is the hard part. Everyone wants to belong to a tribe moving toward one goal. The real challenge is aligning each person's individual path with the organization's and being willing to make tough calls when they don't fit.

🚢 Hire for the right mindset, not just the résumé. Even when a top-talent candidate looks perfect on paper, culture comes first. A bad hire can quietly wreck a team. Alon looks for people with the craziness to jump on a boat that might sink and help turn it into a rocket ship.

⚖️ Let people make mistakes. People don't grow by only doing what they're told. The leader's job is knowing when to give room to fall and when to step in without casting blame when things go sideways.

🚀 Set "unreasonable" goals. Aggressive targets force teams to think outside the box. Aim high and even the milestones along the way become wins.

🔁 Close the circles fast. The magic happens when people across teams talk to each other directly. Some of Alon's proudest moments was watching deals come together entirely without him.

🪞 Feedback is a blessing. The CEO seat is a lonely one, and people tend to tell you what you want to hear. Alon actively asks his team what he could do better because that mirror is the only way to grow.

👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Remember what actually matters. On family: "They're not part of your journey. They are the journey."

His advice for the next generation? Find a goal you can fall in love with and become obsessed with reaching it.

Alon, thank you for the candor and the wisdom. This one stays with me.