A rapid rise to trusted adviser

By his own admission, New Zealander Toss Grumley is a ‘tamed entrepreneur’—but his passion for business hasn’t dimmed. Leaving school at 16, he climbed the ranks in wholesale, became a general manager by 25, and never looked back.

“I’ve got better at focusing over the years and learned it’s not good to try to do a million things at once,” he says.

Toss’s career took a new turn when his now-wife encouraged him to think beyond New Zealand and Australia. “She told me I needed to be more international – and look at going to a top tier university. That led me to Warwick with its reputation for being entrepreneurial, respected and business focused.”

Although he initially enrolled on the Global Online MBA, he soon pivoted to study in person—drawn to the energy of face-to-face learning.

“I found it rewarding just being around people, and more time efficient – particularly when you are working full-time back home.”

Finding focus, building confidence

Despite not finishing school, Toss was accepted at WBS thanks to the strength of his essays and test scores. He valued the School’s real-world perspective and credits one coaching course in particular as transformative. It inspired his dissertation on coaching entrepreneurs—something that’s shaped his daily work ever since.

“It made me think deeply about how I do things, the context, the framework, the terminology,” he says. “Instead of just having knowledge, I can actually explain why I think a certain way.”

A trusted partner for business owners

Today, Toss runs Grumley+Company, advising a select group of 250 owner-led businesses. He’s also an investor, board member, and arts gallery advisor. Despite his success, he keeps his consultancy deliberately lean: just him and a PA.

“My pledge to clients is that it’s always just me.”He helps entrepreneurs sharpen their vision and focus—getting the fundamentals right, then designing the strategy like an architect.

“People tend to be experts at what they do. What they are often missing is best practice and how to think about things.”

Execution, not distraction

What sets his clients apart? Single-mindedness.

“It’s so easy to just start running around and bouncing off walls. My top performing clients are all incredibly focused. They don’t try to do multiple things at once or add random services. They are directional in their thinking and they just execute to perfection.”

Though he started out young, Toss sees himself—and his clients—as relatively risk averse. “Probably 20 per cent of them I’ll encourage to slow down and be more cautious, and the other 80 per cent I’ll try to nudge them along.”

He doesn’t waste time dwelling on missteps. “If the path ahead is perfectly smooth, I don’t think you’re really trying to get somewhere. You can get very caught up in sunk costs, but wasting time ruminating on past mistakes is a terrible thing. You need to learn from it and get on as quickly as possible.”