Sep 14, 2022Radical Transparency: Truth & TrustWhat is radical transparency or radical candor? A concept coined by Ray Dalio, billionaire founder and CIO of Bridgewater Associates, one of the world’s largest hedge funds, and further discussed in detail in his 2017 book Principles: Life & Work. Dalio believes strongly that radical transparency results in the…Transparency3 min readTransparency3 min read
Sep 7, 2022Leading & Leaning into AmbiguityAmbiguity is an asset. It is the white space in which the future is written. It’s the fuel that lights up founders and drives innovation. Ambiguity is a lack of clarity about how to interpret something; a difficulty understanding exactly what the situation is or will be; it’s the…Leadership3 min readLeadership3 min read
Aug 17, 2022Leadership Traits Driving Performance Today — Gendered or Not?“In order to fully integrate, we must first differentiate” - American Philosopher, Ken Wilber Feminine vs. Masculine. Soft vs. Hard Skills. Agentic vs. ??? (haven’t yet come up with a good antonym — help me out here!). EQ vs IQ. Transactional vs. Transformational. Are these labels helpful? They are…Leadership3 min readLeadership3 min read
Jul 14, 2022Who’s Got the Right Stuff for Your Team?If you want to scale your business, you must scale your team. Sounds simple in theory but, in fact, it’s not. Almost every founder I talk to lists finding the “right” people to hire as one of their biggest challenges. Why? Are there not enough talented candidates out there? Or…Company Culture3 min readCompany Culture3 min read
Jul 14, 2022The Midnight Library for Founders: Facing Regret & FailureStartup culture celebrates failure as a necessary part of success. As an inevitable part of the journey. And it is, no doubt. “Success represents the 1% of your work which results from the 99% that is called failure.” — Soichiro Honda, the Founder of Honda Yet, all too often, the…Fear3 min readFear3 min read
Jun 22, 2022Who’s Got the Right Stuff for Your Team?If you want to scale your business, you must scale your team. Sounds simple in theory but, in fact, it’s not. Almost every founder I talk to lists finding the “right” people to hire as one of their biggest challenges. Why? Are there not enough talented candidates out there? Or…Startup3 min readStartup3 min read
Apr 15, 2022Great Leadership: It’s About the ClimbIn order to scale a business, its founder(s) must scale their leadership skills. This is where I started last week’s blog post as well which, in turn, led me to revisit the Six Domains of Leadership Model (“SDL”), developed by Duke Professors, Sim Sitkin and Allan Lind, maybe because…Leadership3 min readLeadership3 min read
Apr 9, 2022Am I Good Enough?I would wager that everyone has asked themselves this question at some point. Or some version of it. As Founders scale their businesses, in venture-backed terms right around the time they raise their Series A, this question often keeps them up at night. As the business and team grows…Imposter Syndrome3 min readImposter Syndrome3 min read
Apr 9, 2022Why Co-Founders Scale at Different Speeds?I often talk about the challenges of scaling a business. Yet, a key challenge or impediment is founders’ ability to scale their own leadership skills. In the case of co-founders, one may scale faster while the other doesn’t keep pace with the speed of business growth. This can be a…Leadership3 min readLeadership3 min read
Feb 16, 2022Great Leaders Show Up with OptimismIn his recent memoir, The Ride of a Lifetime, Robert Iger, Disney’s Chairman and former CEO, lists optimism as one of his 10 core principles that contributed to his success. He correctly points out, — no one wants to follow a pessimist. Debbie Downers need not apply! Before we…Leadership3 min readLeadership3 min read
