Jose Tolosa has been an effective and transformative business leader for decades, with executive experience as CEO of Meow Wolf, Chief Transformation Officer of Viacom and ViacomCBS, and COO of Viacom International Media Networks. His track record is replete with examples of scaled creative-first, globally-minded businesses, with a leadership style focused on transformation and team alignment. But he didn’t make it so far on his own, very few leaders do.
From the rich mentorships and professional relationships that defined his career path and professional journey, to the foundations of his leadership style and philosophy, Jose Tolosa has learned much in his years of experience. As he transitions to the next stage of his career, Tolosa has had the opportunity to reflect on the lessons that shaped his leadership.
“I try to make the complex simple, transform chaos to clarity, and move people forward in tough moments,” says Tolosa. “I’m comfortable making hard decisions, but I do it with empathy and transparency. People know where I stand and they know I care.”
Mentors, Guides, Relationships
The most important things for a professional to build and develop are the relationships with peers, leaders, mentors, and teammates. All business is built on relationships, whether that’s leaning on an extensive and established network to find new opportunities, or reaching out to a peer to connect over new ideas and potential business dealings, or asking someone else to be a mentor or mentee. Jose Tolosa has been able to learn much from such relationships, both personally and professionally, his entire life, and their importance cannot be understated.
For Tolosa, some of the most impactful relationships in his life have been the ones he built early on with the Jesuit priests and teachers that guided him from middle school through college. They helped him shape his understanding of success and fulfillment that he still carries today: that of living a life of service and working to make the world a better place, all without compromising his values. He credits these early role models with instilling in him the responsibility for growth and development that stayed with him through every career decision and turning point.
“Their influence shaped not just how I think, but how I live and lead,” he says. “They’ve helped me think through how to lead with intention, how to stay rooted in values, and how to find meaning in the work I do.”
Recognizing and cherishing the opportunities to build relationships with peers and others within his industry has been a cornerstone of Jose Tolosa’s success, but doing so required putting himself out there and demonstrating his passion, his skill, and his work ethic. Viacom’s senior executives like Bob Bakish and Pier Gazzolo wouldn’t have given him the early chances at Viacom to advance his career by appointing him to head of strategy for Latin America, a path that eventually led to his ascension to Chief Operating Officer at Viacom International and Chief Transformation Officer of Viacom and ViacomCBS, opportunities that arose because he showed initiative early on. Tolosa’s advice to young leaders is simple: be curious, and be a helper.
“Take up the projects or roles no one else wants to do, the messy and difficult ones,” he explains. “Offer help to anyone that seems to need it, offer empathy. Try to be someone other people want to work with, and someone who is always available. Ultimately, the title and the responsibilities will come over time.”
Foundations of Leadership
Given multiple successful years as a leading executive in large companies, Jose Tolosa has had plenty of opportunities to forge and refine his leadership philosophy and style, but one thing has been a constant in every iteration: clarity. One of the keys to Tolosa’s growth-facilitating leadership has been clarity in vision, clarity in communication, and clarity in loyalty. This is especially valuable in times of stress, when members of the team may look to leadership for guidance, stability, and reassurance.
“There will be a lot of noise as you progress on your goals and it’s important to quickly assess whether anything has changed in relation to the original goal,” Tolosa says. “If not, reinforce the path for everyone else. If yes, reassess and quickly decide how to shift on the next course of action.”
An effective leader needs to be able to make decisions quickly, efficiently, and effectively, but they also need to be able to connect to other people and build the relationships that make a team function as a unit. Throughout Tolosa’s career, these relationships have been built on trust and honesty, leveraging clear communication and rejecting transactional office politics in favor of mutual interest and understanding. Tolosa has been a successful leader in large part because he is clear about his loyalty to his teams, demonstrating authentic empathy through his down-to-earth leadership style.
“I welcome feedback and try to keep my ego at the door,” he says. “Without getting defensive, and always reflecting before reacting, it’s important to understand the truth in what you’re hearing and be in a position to make the necessary changes. I think this is fundamental to grow as a leader.”
That leadership style itself has been honed over time as Jose Tolosa identified the most crucial qualities of leadership. Agility, emotional self-management, clarity of purpose, resilience, authenticity, and humility—these are the core qualities that Tolosa believes are the baseline requirement for anyone to be an effective leader. Being able to adapt quickly to change, push through challenges, stay grounded for the team, set a clear direction, and be willing to admit mistakes are all necessary components of leading a team successfully in the modern age, but Tolosa doesn’t believe they are static traits. Instead, these are muscles that any leader, himself included, should be working to strengthen every day.
“My key strength is bringing clarity to complexity, seeing the full picture, identifying what matters, and aligning the team on a path forward,” says Tolosa. “Maintaining calmness with confidence is important. And being authentic and honest, always working to build strong relationships, is another key strength I’ve used throughout my career.”
