The Impact Multiplier CEO | Leadership and CEO Evolution for Scaling Businesses
Burn the plan B, bet the company on one disease | Hugo Fry (CEO, Topas Therapeutics) on leadership focus in biotech - S16E04
Sep 14, 2026 · 24 min · 10 segments
Founders, CEOs: what if keeping your options open is the very thing keeping you playing small? What if the drive that got you here is the exact thing that cannot take you where you are going next?…
Founders, CEOs: what if keeping your options open is the very thing keeping you playing small? What if the drive that got you here is the exact thing that cannot take you where you are going next? And what if leading your next chapter means letting go of the very thing you are best at? In this episode of The Defining Move, Richard Medcalf hands Hugo Fry, CEO of Topas Therapeutics, a move he has not made yet: stand up in front of the industry, put the Phase 2a data behind him, and declare that Topas is the company that will make celiac disease a market. Hugo has spent more than 30 years in pharma and biotech, with a track record of seeing what creates value across science, financing, partnerships, and deal-making. Topas Therapeutics is advancing a differentiated approach to establishing immune tolerance in autoimmune and immune-mediated diseases, with celiac disease as the lead indication. This conversation will push your thinking on leadership focus: what changes when the safer platform narrative is no longer available, how a CEO leads when there is no established regulatory or commercial path, and why the next source of leverage may be less about driving the plan and more about building the environment where others can help discover the path. Guest links: - Topas Therapeutics: https://www.topas-therapeutics.com/ \--- **BONUS RESOURCE – ACCOUNTABILITY CHARTER** Turn your leadership team into a strategic growth engine, without micromanaging or drama. Download and implement the Accountability Charter today. https://xquadrant.com/go/accountability/ \--- **GO DOWN THE XQUADRANT RABBIT HOLE** 📧 The Leverage Letter https://xquadrant.com/letter 📒 The 10X Reckoning https://xquadrant.com/reckoning/ 📕 Making TIME For Strategy https://xquadrant.com/time/ 🎧 The Defining Move Podcast https://xquadrant.com/podcast/ \--- **THE DEFINING MOVE PODCAST** The Defining Move is a podcast about CEO leadership for scaling businesses, and the CEO transformation that drives the next level of growth. The show helps founders and CEOs strengthen their CEO leadership, accelerate CEO evolution, and build executive teams and businesses that can scale without becoming dependent on the founder. Check out our newest episodes, in which Richard Medcalf hands one of the world's most accomplished CEOs a fictional defining move, already made, that changes the trajectory of their business. You’ll learn from how they think and how they lead when the stakes rise. And you’ll discover the hidden sources of leadership leverage that take them to their next level, and will take you to yours. https://xquadrant.com/podcast
Founders, CEOs: what if keeping your options open is the very thing keeping you playing small? What if the drive that got you here is the exact thing that cannot take you where you are going next?…
