Leaders Win by Acting Like the Least Useful Person
I told an agency owner to act like the least useful person in the room. He’s a super smart, experienced practitioner, running a team of 20. Every sales call he joins, they close. Every call he skips, they don’t. He thought the fix was being on more calls. It’s not. When you show up and solve the problem, you train everyone—your team and your clients—that you’re the solution. They wait for you. They escalate to you. They discount everything anyone else says until you confirm it. Your awesomeness becomes the bottleneck. So I gave him this strange exercise: Next time you're in a meeting your team should be running, act like the least useful person in the room. Don’t run the meeting. Sit all the way in the back. When people ask you a question, redirect it to the person next most likely to knock it out of the park. Make everyone think, “Why is this guy even here?” Be the simpleton figurehead we always see in the movies. Not because you don’t know the answer. (You do.) But because, the moment you give it, you’ve just made yourself the blocker again. Heads up: it’s going to feel unbearable. You’re the most experienced person in the room, pretending you’re not. That charade has a shelf life. You can only fake it for so long before your ego makes you break character, or it forces your hand and you finally hire people who actually know more than you do. That’s the point. You act your way into it at first to develop the muscle memory, and then you make it real. If you want to stop being the answer to every question at your agency, stop answering every question.
Disney Adopts Netflix‑style Pre‑screened Analyst Q&A
On Disney earnings call, they seem to have adopted Netflix's approach of having analysts submit questions--rather than ask live--and then a Disney exec screens them and he put them to the CEO and CFO. This of course allows a...
Cut Through Noise: Discipline for Better Leadership Decisions
The world today is full of noise. The same headlines. The same opinions. Repeated again and again. The leaders who succeed are not the ones who react to noise - they are the ones who learn to identify what truly matters. In my...
Founders Need Insight, Not a COO—Build Dashboards First
unpopular opinion: most founders don't need a COO. the reason you feel overwhelmed isn't because you need someone to manage your team. it's because you have no visibility into what's actually happening. build the dashboard first. hire the COO never.
Silence on Trade‑offs Reveals Your Leadership Gap
Three questions to ask in your next leadership meeting: 1. What problem are we actually solving? 2. Who decides if we're solving it well? 3. What are we willing to give up to solve it? Watch how often the room falls silent on #3....
Your Treatment of Others Defines You, Not Status
No matter how educated, talented or rich you are, how you treat people ultimately tells all. https://t.co/fRYQIW0ORi
New Disney CEO Beats Earnings, Signals Major Shift
JUST IN: The new Disney CEO achieves an earnings beat as an important change is underway.
Microsoft Appoints Office and LinkedIn Chief to Lead Teams
scoop: Microsoft’s Office and LinkedIn chief now runs Teams in latest reshuffle. The departure of veteran exec Rajesh Jha has triggered another wave of organizational changes inside Microsoft. Full details 👇 https://t.co/wc20qWX7b0
Veteran Employees Turn Founders Leverage Deep Experience
Recently met a couple of founders who were employees for ~10-15 years before starting their startup I’m impressed on how they run stuff - building on their work experience Examples: - @Sirupsen at turbopuffer - @thdxr at OpenCode Don’t sleep on this kind of experience…
Create a Safe, Trusted Workplace for Honesty and Initiative
"You want people to feel safe enough to be honest at work but also trusted enough to take ownership and initiative." - Sloane Payne (EP.500) With thanks to @AlphaSenseInc, @CanoeAI, and SRS Acquiom.
CROs Must Fuse Operations Expertise with Data Insight
As the role of the Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) evolves, it becomes crucial for them to blend operational expertise with data-driven insights to drive growth effectively. https://t.co/0vZLQDXHAi
AI Forces Leaders to Choose Cuts or Productivity Gains
AI is forcing companies into difficult decisions. Some leaders are using it to reduce headcount, while others are using it to push productivity higher without expanding teams. The divide is becoming clear. AI may not eliminate all jobs, but it is changing...
AI Bypasses Info Gateways, Threatening Subscription Models
𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗖𝗵𝗲𝗴𝗴’𝘀 𝗰𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗮𝗽𝘀𝗲. It is a warning to every company built on access to information. Chegg was once worth around $13 billion. Students paid monthly fees to get help with homework, answers, and explanations. Then generative AI changed the equation....
CEO Joins LegalEng to Deliver Execution, Not Just Advice
Thrilled to be joining LegalEng Consulting Group as CEO. LECG is built around a simple but powerful idea: in-house legal teams don't need more advice. They need someone who will stay to build, implement, and run the thing with them. Strategy...
From Manager to Founder: The Next Startup Mode
.@jack started it, @brian_armstrong built on it, most 2025 vintage startups are running it. What is it called? Manager Mode -> Founder Mode -> _____ Mode
Leading From Within: Collaborative Studio Leadership
The studio is an ecosystem, and I lead from inside the work… side by side with my team, at the table, in it. That is my leadership. XK. https://t.co/7CHRbBjwpS
Choosing Integrity Over Short‑Term Revenue Pays Off
Turned down a four-figure engagement this morning. The client wanted me to 'just facilitate' a reorg they'd already designed. The design was the problem. Saying no to misaligned work is structural alignment for your own practice. Cost me potential revenue. Bought me...
Eliminate Obligations: Subtraction Creates Space, Not Just Saying No
Subtraction is harder than saying no. Saying no prevents future obligations. Subtraction kills current commitments. Subtraction creates space. Stop seeking more time. Eliminate obligations. Click to learn 7 ways to practice subtraction. https://t.co/KZ8PmqKDRl
Redesign Work: AI Agents Boost Human Agency
Every firm will need to reconceptualize work as they build agentic systems. As AI and agents take on more of the execution, the opportunity is to expand human agency and redesign how work gets done. An in-depth look from the team at...
7 Warning Signs Your A‑Player Is About to Quit
Losing an A-Player sucks. I lost an A-player once and I didn’t even see it coming. Never let that happen to you. Here are 7 signs your top performer could be on the move: 1. Communication Dips 2. Routine Slips 3. Overly Agreeable 4. Conflict Aversion 5....
Accountability Means Understanding, Not Micromanaging—Evolve with Digital Twin
Holding people accountable means understanding them and their circumstances well enough to assess whether they can and should do some things differently, getting in sync with them about that, and, if they can't adequately do what is required, removing them...
Former Tyson CEO Donnie Smith Discusses Leadership Insights
Last week, Donnie Smith, former CEO of Tyson Foods, joined us for a Dean’s Dialogue. Watch the full conversation. ⬇️ https://t.co/7XdQomPD9c
Inclusion in Decision-Making Outweighs the Decision Itself
"What we choose matters, but how we choose matters more. Because in the end, people might forget the specifics of a decision, but they rarely forget how they were included, or excluded, in the process." Great Ideas Often Fail Without Great Conversations...
Kim Lomis Named CEO of Macy Foundation
Thrilled @KimLomisMD is the new CEO of @macyfoundation–which focuses on health profession education (I'm on the board). Kim has had an extraordinary career as a surgeon, educator, & leader @VanderbiltU and @AmerMedicalAssn, & has a great vision for Macy at...
Only Adaptable, Hands‑on Leaders Survive in Agent-Driven Work
Strong agree -- "The two types of people that will not survive are pure people managers, and people that are rigid and don't want to change and evolve." A ton of managers couldn't do the work of their direct reports and...
Grow Faster by Doing Less; Stop Being the Bottleneck
Want to grow faster? Start doing less. You started your business KNOWING you could make a difference. And for a while, hustle got you here… The late nights. The 80-hour weeks. The weight of knowing it’s all on you. But here's what I...
HubSpot’s Early Culture Code Inspires AI‑native Playbooks
One thing that really worked for HubSpot in the early days was that we published our "culture code" which, at the time, was quite unique. I'm waiting for someone to create a version of that for a truly ai native company....
Brockman Says Sam Fired for Lack of Candor
Brockman confirms that Sam was fired for not being consistently candid. Crazy that @karaswisher blocked me for saying that the board fired Sam for not being consistently candid, when that is in fact what happened. But she did. And continues to do...
Analyst Year Highlight: Unscripted, Honest AMA with Arvind
MyPOV - One of the treats / highlights of the analyst year - AMA with @ArvindKrishna ... Always non scripted. Honest. Matter of fact with a dose of good humor. #IBMThink https://t.co/u2YtboO8qK
Real Work: Painful Decisions that Protect Your Business
“Working hard” is the wrong frame. Real work is making decisions that hurt your soul but save your business. Here's what every level actually cost me: https://t.co/5jQuU2E9Eo
Xbox Revamps Leadership to Blend Legacy and Fresh Expertise
Microsoft's Xbox chief says today's Xbox platform changes are all about "promoting leaders who built Xbox and bringing in new leaders with consumer and technical expertise we do not yet have." https://t.co/w1w8EJy23P
Neocloud Lambda Hires Ex‑Sprint CEO, Pivots to Data‑center Expansion
Neocloud Lambda names former Sprint chief Michel Combes as CEO. Co-founder and former CEO Stephen Balaban moves to CTO as the company's looking to raise more funds to invest in data center capacity, develop its own properties https://t.co/TtM96o2aJA
AI Forces Leaders Back Into the Trenches
Lots of possible takes on today's Coinbase announcement, but this passage caught my eye. If this becomes a trend, it will be quite disruptive to tech's managerial layer. It was something I was acutely aware of during my comms career: the...
AI Will Dismantle Middle Management, Empower Value Creators
AI is enabling companies to replace managers Middle-management bureaucracy is going to be eliminated. Intelligence at the center, AI-powered value-creators at the margins.
Coinbase Admits Crypto Slump, Risky Untested Gamble
There's more detail+honesty in this note on layoffs than 10 other ones combined, whether you like it or not. A few: - Crypto is in a down market, as is Coinbase's business right now - Fear of doing nothing is losing - A...
Leadership Accountability Drives True Culture Transformation
Accountability: The Non-Negotiable in Culture Transformation - CX Journey™ https://t.co/q8EEonrIvP Culture changes when leaders model values – and hold each other to them. Leaders are the culture. If they can’t hold each other accountable, no one else will. https://t.co/BecMw1B6ZK
The $200M‑$500M Leap Is Healthcare’s Toughest Scale
Scaling a healthcare unicorn looks a lot different from the inside. @_KateRyder and I go deep on why the $200M–$500M jump is the most challenging phase, the absolute absurdity of pitching postpartum care to rooms full of "trolls", and why...
Transform Leaders to Influence Others Through Coaching Programs
RT @JoeContrera Speaking, coaching, and leadership development programs that will engage, change, and influence your leaders so they can more effectively influence others. Learn more here: https://t.co/tnVkOiV0eu #leadership #leadershipdevelopment #leadershipcoaching https://t.co/oSfIHLX59K
Jim Bridenstine Steps Down, Gabe Sherman Takes Helm
Jim Bridenstine is stepping aside as Managing Partner of The Artemis Group. He remains majority owner and will be Partner Emeritus. Gabe Sherman is the new Managing Partner. https://t.co/5RUe0HaK54
Founders Overthink Decisions, Masking Reputation Protection
Founders are disproportionately good at generating reasons to revisit decisions. It often looks like intellectual rigor. It often feels like staying open. Sometimes it is. And sometimes it's an attempt to anticipate every possible criticism so there's no risk to reputation.
Decades‑Long IBM‑Aramco Partnership Evolves with AI
Next up - a convo between @IBM's @ArvindKrishna with @Aramco's Sami All-Ajmi, an IBM customer since the punch card era. #IBMThink https://t.co/YWtJAeY82h
AI Efficiency Drives Layoffs Amid Pandemic Over‑hiring
Today we made the difficult decision to lay off a decent chunk of our employees b/c AI has made everyone more efficient In unrelated news, our stock price is down 50% and we massively over-hired coming out of the pandemic
60% of Employees Report Toxic Bosses, Study Finds
6 in 10 workers say they have a toxic boss, study finds: https://t.co/DMG743i6Br #workplace #employees #managers #leaders
Outperforming Leaders Turn Data Into Accountability and New Options
Every company has dashboards. Few have a system for accountability. The leaders who outperform use data to make different decisions, allocate capital differently, and see the fourth option others miss. #Strategy #Leadership #DecisionMaking #Innovation https://t.co/ITZftd870u
Ask Leaders Their Autonomous Decisions to Expose Misalignment
RACI charts don't fix decision rights. They document them after the misalignment has already cost you a quarter. Want real role clarity? Ask each leader: 'What decisions can you make this week without asking permission?' Then watch them squirm. That's the diagnostic.
Leadership Quality Beats Numbers Every Time
On the importance of studying management quality > just numbers: "Like his father, Shelby studied history and learned the rudiments of accounting, balance sheet diving, and Security Analysis 101 on the side. Like his father, he valued the intangibles of corporate...
Great Managers Mentor, Not Just Boss
Many managers act like "bosses" instead of "mentors." The reality is, all the best managers are actually mentors.
CEOs Must Master AI Risk‑Reward or Face Extinction
So why did i bring this up? Not because i think something is wrong with AI. Nor that i think it should be used less. I still believe there are 2 types of companies.. Those that are great at...
Seeking Approval Leads Founders to Business‑Killing Decisions
Founders who need everyone to like them will make every decision that kills the business.
C‑Suite Leaders Convene to Explore Tech‑Driven Opportunities
We launched something special last Friday @TheWrap in collab with my friend Irving Azoff and @Pollstar . We called it “Culture & Capital,” a forum 4 bringing together C-suite leaders from across music, film, television to debate the opportunities created...