Episode
#25 PureGym CEO: Cancer Made Me a More Empathetic Leader
- Podcast
- Big Boss Interview
- Published
- Feb 12, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 2684
- Processing state
not_requested- Canonical source
- http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0n0g6t5
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Summary
Clive Chesser, chief executive of PureGym, says surviving cancer fundamentally changed him as a leader — deepening his empathy and reshaping how he approached life, including changing career.. His diagnosis came during an extraordinarily difficult period in December 2021. While leading his then pub business through a complex private equity transaction, he was experiencing persistent breathlessness and fatigue he initially attributed to long COVID. After noticing swollen lymph nodes in his neck, members of his family — several of whom are senior doctors — urged him to undergo further tests. He completed them just before finalising the business deal. Christmas brought what he describes as an unimaginable sequence of events. On Christmas Day, his father-in-law died while his wife isolated at home with COVID. Shortly afterwards, Chesser received confirmation that he had cancer in his lymph nodes. The following day, he says, he faced the hardest moment of his life: telling his three teenage children he had cancer. At the time, Chesser was marathon-fit, training regularly and running annually. That physical condition proved critical during treatment. His fitness enabled him to tolerate more aggressive radiotherapy and additional chemotherapy rounds, improving his chances of full recovery — which he ultimately achieved. The experience, he says, transformed his sense of purpose and made his subsequent appointment as PureGym’s chief executive feel profoundly aligned with his personal journey. That personal conviction underpins what he describes as a broader fitness revolution reshaping the UK gym industry. Nearly half — 47% — of PureGym’s January 2025 joiners were aged 25 or under, reflecting what Chesser sees as a generational shift in attitudes to health. Younger members, par…