#275: $2 Billion Lender Explains Why Successful People Feel Empty - James Ostroburski OAM

About this episode

James Ostroburski discusses the emptiness that can accompany success and the importance of mental health.

Why can success still leave you feeling empty? In this episode, I speak with James Ostroburski OAM, a banking executive, entrepreneur, philanthropist, and mental health advocate. James built and led a lending business that deployed over $2 billion, while privately navigating depression, burnout, ADHD, and the pressure of always needing to achieve more. We talk about ambition, identity, childhood pressure, mental health, and what happens when everything looks successful from the outside but something feels wrong underneath. This episode will change how you think about success, pressure, and the cost of ignoring your mental health. James Ostroburski is the founder of Tyalla Capital and former CEO of Kooyong Group (now Avant Finance), where he led over $2 billion in lending, and continues to be involved in philanthropy and mental health advocacy. Timestamps: (00:00) Introduction (00:31) Success, Yet Empty (01:55) Two Speed Childhood (03:39) Ballet Pressure Cooker (09:03) Stoicism And Balance (10:21) Why Finance Chose Him (14:35) ADHD Finally Named (17:16) Investec To Culture Shock (24:10) Grief And Breakdown (26:06) Treatment And TMS (30:47) Quitting And Finding Purpose (32:28)…

People in this episode

Host: Nick Bracks

Guest: James Ostroburski OAM

Topics covered

• success
• mental health
• ambition
• identity
• burnout
• philanthropy

Keywords

• success
• mental health
• depression
• ADHD
• burnout
• philanthropy
• identity
• ambition

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Tyalla Capital, Kooyong Group, Avant Finance

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