Your Tone Is Costing You | Anisa Telwar Kaicker | Oxford Talks Podcast | EP26

Описание: What if the real reason people shut down around you is not your strategy, but your *tone*?

In this episode, Anisa Telwar Kaicker, the global founder of Anisa International, shares the unglamorous truth behind building multinational companies without a college degree, starting at 24 after her family business collapsed, and being “trained” by a formidable mother who insisted she be called by her name, not “mom.” The lesson stuck, but so did the hardness.

She opens up about the moment she realised her harsh tone was creating fear, not results, and how a divorce, being humbled, and a Dale Carnegie training forced a brutal reset in how she leads, listens, and earns trust.

We also go deep on what most people never see:
Why bringing teams back to the office cost her 30% of her workforce
How she thinks about cross-cultural leadership, communication, and outcome alignment
What it takes to build premium, ethical beauty tools with 70+ patents while refusing to become a commodity
Why manufacturing in China still makes sense, even when tariffs hit *145%*
The uncomfortable truth about trust: it is boundaries, not vibes

If you have ever been told you are “intense,” if you have ever struggled to trust people, or if you want to lead without leaving fallout behind, this one will hit.

🔍 Inside the Episode:
00:00 — He flew in from Atlanta… and goes straight to the point
00:22 — No degree, no plan… then the family business collapsed
01:32 — “Don’t call me mom.” The Fatima moment
12:56 — At 15, she became the adult in the house
17:02 — “I wasn’t always kind.” The leadership regret
19:11 — Divorce + being humbled: the reset that brought her humanity back
21:23 — The harsh tone realization (and why it stopped working)
28:35 — Power creates fear, even when you don’t mean it
37:41 — Returning to office cost her 30% of staff
46:15 — Tariffs hit 145%… and everyone told her to leave China
54:24 — 70+ patents: how she reinvented the makeup brush
02:06:00 — Trust isn’t a vibe. It’s boundaries.

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