Today's Management Pulse
Founder risk drives steep valuation discounts in owner‑led services firms
Dr. Dave Heath explains that founder‑dependency in owner‑led services firms mirrors the manager‑risk LPs assess in private‑equity funds. Buyers, banks and investors price this key‑person risk with 30‑50% valuation discounts or higher loan spreads. The risk stems from undefined decision authority, undocumented founder judgment, and missing exception handling.
Hayfin Taps Ex‑Goldman Executive Michael Marsh to Run €38bn Portfolio
Hayfin Capital Management named Michael Marsh, a nearly two‑decade veteran of Goldman Sachs, as head of investments. The newly created role puts Marsh in charge of the firm’s €38 billion ($45 billion) portfolio from its London office, signaling a push to sharpen investment execution at a mid‑size hedge fund.
IRIS Partners with Global Hotel Alliance to Launch Digital F&B Platform for 50+ Hotel Brands
IRIS announced a strategic partnership with Global Hotel Alliance (GHA) to embed its digital food‑and‑beverage ordering, Guest Directory and Mobile Concierge tools across GHA’s portfolio of more than 50 brands in 100 countries. The deal gives member hotels a 24/7,...
Milwaukee Police Probe Possible Misuse of Flock License‑Plate Reader System
Milwaukee police announced an internal investigation into possible misuse of the city’s Flock license‑plate reader cameras after a former officer was charged for personal tracking. The department has overhauled its audit process, slashing authorized users from roughly 400 to just...
CCP Games Rebrands as Fenris Creations After $120 Million Management Buyout
Icelandic studio CCP Games has been sold back to its founders for $120 million, prompting a rebrand to Fenris Creations. The deal restores independent board control and coincides with a minority stake and research pact with Google DeepMind, positioning the studio...
Cloudflare Q1 2026 Earnings Call Shows Revenue Surge and Margin Expansion
Cloudflare’s Q1 2026 earnings call highlighted a revenue surge driven by a 73% year‑over‑year rise in $1 million‑plus deals, record free cash flow of $84.1 million, and a wave of new large customers. The company also announced two multi‑year contracts worth $10 million...
Celtic Bank Teams with AI Firm Casca to Speed SBA Loan Approvals
Celtic Bank announced a partnership with San Francisco‑based AI company Casca to automate SBA 7(a) loan origination. The move promises to shrink processing cycles from months to weeks, leveraging Casca’s cloud platform to handle document collection, financial analysis and compliance.
Elon Musk's $100 Billion Lawsuit Targets OpenAI CEO Sam Altman's Leadership
Elon Musk is suing OpenAI for more than $100 billion, alleging the founders misappropriated a nonprofit. Testimony from former board members and executives has focused on CEO Sam Altman's chaotic management style and alleged safety lapses, raising fresh questions about governance...
STK-Parent One Group Says Cost-Cutting Efforts Are Paying Off
One Group, the parent of upscale‑dining brands STK, Benihana and Kona Grill, has intensified cost‑cutting measures that are now bearing fruit. In Q1, restaurant‑level operating margins rose 100 basis points year‑over‑year to 19%, with STK’s margin jumping 280 basis points...
Bowie State University Plans to Cut Nearly 80 Jobs
Historically Black Bowie State University in Maryland announced plans to eliminate 79 jobs as it confronts an $18 million budget shortfall for fiscal 2027. The deficit stems from declining enrollment, rising operating costs and a roughly 1 % cut in state funding,...
Porsche Shutters E-Bike, Battery, Software Subsidiaries as Part of Company Overhaul
Porsche announced the closure of three subsidiaries—Cellforce Group, eBike Performance, and Cetitec—affecting more than 500 employees. The move follows a sharp drop in sales across North America, China, and Europe, prompting a strategic refocus on its core automotive business. Porsche...
Cash Is King, Long Live Consumer Use Tax Automation
Amid heightened economic uncertainty, CFOs are tightening working capital and cash flow management. Indirect tax teams can boost liquidity by automating consumer use tax, which is often over‑reserved due to manual processes. Automation delivers higher determination accuracy, lowers accrual variance,...
Build Services Around Your Strengths, Not Just Client Demands
When I launched my biz, I didn’t want retainers so I rolled out vip days and project work. Then I noticed that my services were stronger when I could also advise on day to day roadblocks, so I added consulting...
Porsche Cuts Jobs as It Refocuses Core Business
Porsche AG announced it will cut more than 500 jobs and shut down three subsidiaries—Cellforce Group GmbH, Porsche eBike Performance GmbH, and Cetitec GmbH—to sharpen its focus on core automotive operations. CEO Michael Leiters framed the move as essential for...
Warm Winter Leads Portland General Execs to Push More on Cost Savings
Portland General Electric (PGE) trimmed its 2026 weather‑adjusted load‑growth outlook to 1.5‑2.5%, down from last year’s 3.8%, after a milder Oregon winter reduced commercial and residential demand. The utility accelerated a cost‑saving program that already cut $25 million in spending and...
Planet Fitness Shares Drop 33% as Membership Growth Slows, Sparking Sales Model Concerns
Planet Fitness saw its shares plunge 32.9% to $42.91 after reporting higher first‑quarter earnings and revenue, while warning that membership growth is decelerating. The sharp sell‑off raises questions about the sustainability of its "cancel anytime" sales strategy and the broader...
Ripple CTO Dismisses Bank Adoption Concern, Cites Business Logic
Ripple’s chief technology officer David Schwartz answered a crypto‑investor’s question about whether banks would adopt XRP simply because it would make Ripple the world’s most valuable financial institution. In a one‑sentence reply, Schwartz said the profit motive alone isn’t enough...
Keeper Security Appoints Former ZoomInfo CRO Tim Strickland to Drive Revenue Growth
Keeper Security announced the hiring of Tim Strickland as its new chief revenue officer. The former ZoomInfo CRO brings over 20 years of SaaS revenue leadership, including steering ZoomInfo through an IPO and integrating multiple acquisitions. His mandate is to accelerate...
monday.com Rebuilds Platform Around AI Work Agents for 250,000 Enterprises
monday.com has re‑engineered its software into an AI work platform, placing autonomous agents at the heart of workflows for more than 250,000 enterprise customers. The overhaul adds one‑click links to OpenAI, Anthropic and Microsoft 365 Copilot and promises tighter security...
WWE Locks In President Nick Khan Until 2030 with $9 M Potential Annual Pay
WWE announced that President Nick Khan will remain in his role through 2030 under a revised compensation package. His base salary rises to $3 million in 2027 and performance bonuses could push total earnings to $9 million annually, underscoring the company's confidence...
Mercer, Syndio Team Up on AI‑Driven Pay Equity Platform
Mercer has formed a strategic alliance with Syndio to roll out an AI‑powered pay equity and compensation platform. The partnership blends Mercer's advisory depth with Syndio's decision‑intelligence technology, promising enterprises a faster, more transparent way to govern pay.
Bumble to Kill Swipe Feature as Paying Users Fall 21% to 3.2 M
Bumble announced it will remove the swipe mechanic that defined modern dating apps, a move confirmed by CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd amid a 21% plunge in paid users to 3.2 million and a 14.1% revenue decline to $212.4 million. The pivot leans...
Infleqtion Releases "The Business of Quantum" Report on Deep‑Tech Startup Strategies
Infleqtion has published a new whitepaper, "The Business of Quantum: Lessons from the Front Lines of Deep Tech," outlining commercial tactics, financing patterns, and operational hurdles faced by quantum‑focused startups. The report aims to guide entrepreneurs and investors navigating the...
Operations Is the Strategy: What The 2026 ALA Conference & Expo Made Impossible to Ignore
At the 2026 ALA Conference, Actionstep highlighted that law‑firm growth now hinges on treating operations as strategy rather than support. Speakers emphasized that client experience, clear SOPs, defined roles, and disciplined execution outweigh hiring more lawyers. A firm that grew...
True Success Lies Beyond Narrow Corporate Rewards
Something to remember: corporate recognition systems can be extremely narrow. They reward visibility, and short-term outputs. They do not always measure emotional intelligence, resilience, insight, relationships, or the ability to redesign your life. Yet those are the things that shape...
Engineers Evolve Into AI Orchestrators, Not Coders
Anthropic engineers reportedly haven’t handwritten code in 3 months. That sounds insane until you see how the best teams are starting to work. They’re not sitting there typing every line anymore. They’re running multiple agents in parallel, reviewing the work, giving feedback,...
How to Create an Effective Employee Onboarding Process
Most onboarding programs stall at paperwork, leaving new hires to navigate alone. A performance‑driven onboarding framework defines outcomes, structures learning, and accelerates productivity. By setting clear expectations and leveraging technology as a facilitator, companies turn hires into contributors faster. The...
Master the Enrollment Conversation Before Launching New Ventures
Before jumping feet first into the deep end for your next business endeavor, practice having the "enrollment conversation." (The kicker? It's one most of us have never had. 👀): https://lnkd.in/eJmszYDM
‘Peanut Butter’ Pay Raises Are Not yet Mainstream, Mercer Finds
Mercer’s QuickPulse Compensation Planning Survey shows 2026 merit raises averaged 3.1%, with total pay increases at 3.4%, just shy of its 3.5% forecast. Only 4% of the 756 employers surveyed applied uniform “peanut butter” raises, preferring performance‑based adjustments. Payscale’s 2026...
Day 5: Bridging Personality Differences in 1:1 Meetings
The final day of the Mastering 1:1 Meetings Challenge spotlights how personality differences shape the effectiveness of one‑on‑one conversations. Using the 16Personalities framework, the post outlines five core trait pairs that influence expectations, communication style, and perceived productivity. It urges...
How We Turned Support Into a Revenue Engine at Intercom
At the end of 2024 Intercom repurposed its support organization into a consultative revenue engine, leveraging the capacity freed by its AI‑first Fin product. By running small‑scale, volunteer‑led pilots and measuring against control groups, the team proved that proactive outreach...
11 "Anti-Procrastination" Prompts for the Overwhelmed Entrepreneur
The post introduces a suite of AI‑driven micro‑task prompts designed to break overwhelming entrepreneurial projects into five‑minute, concrete actions. It illustrates the approach with a media production client who stalled on a high‑value contract until a physical‑first‑step prompt restored momentum....
GM Lawsuit Claims Forced Ranking System Targets Older Workers for Termination
General Motors introduced a forced‑ranking performance system in 2024, aiming to cut its white‑collar workforce by about 10% annually to create space for younger hires. A veteran engineer, Shujat Khan, alleges the system was used to target him for termination...
Funding Projects Leaves Products Perpetually Half‑Finished
Project funding is how large organizations control their budgets. It is also, rather inconveniently, how they ensure their digital products stay permanently half-finished. The mechanics of it are almost elegant in a depressing sort of way. A project gets funded, a...
Best Construction Management Software for Construction Teams in 2026
Construction firms are increasingly turning to digital platforms to tackle rising costs, tighter timelines, and stricter compliance. The 2026 roundup highlights five leading construction management solutions—Procore, Autodesk Construction Cloud, Buildertrend, Fieldwire, and Velappity—each tailored to different project scales and team...
Polyfunctional Robots Outperform Humanoids in Business Value
🤖 Humanoid robots get the headlines, but the robots that create the most business value may look very different. In this video, I explain what polyfunctional robots are and why they could become far more important in real business operations...
Shift IT Focus From Spend to Real Value Metrics
RT IT is great at tracking spend, not so great at proving benefits. Time to move beyond inputs and measure "honest time savings, productivity gains, and market share." #CIO @Star_CIO https://t.co/qPKuOVY8TH
How One Bad Business Partner Cost Me Years of Business Growth — and How You Can Avoid the Same Fate
A founder recounts how an imbalanced partnership derailed the growth of his digital marketing agency. Despite strong sales pitches, a chaotic backend and a partner lacking operational expertise caused missed deadlines, client churn, and stalled scaling. The piece highlights warning...
Agentic Systems Redefine Workflows, Merging Talent with Execution
Agentic systems push end-to-end workflow redesign, where roles and decisions stop following fixed paths. Talent and leadership become execution layers, since people and agents now work inside the same process. Source @McKinsey Link https://t.co/9j9AgUCwUt via @antgrasso https://t.co/QilMNzMFO7
Management Isn't the Only Career Path for High Performers
Rethinking Career Progression: Why Management Isn’t the Only Path Forward https://t.co/zUedSc25Su Not every employee is suited to/interested in/effective at management. Yet orgs continue to push high-performing individuals into leadership roles to the detriment of individual & co https://t.co/7VbeJ0Ic1h
The Overlooked Metric That Shapes Long Term Recruitment Success
Recruitment agencies often tout client‑centricity, yet most fail to measure satisfaction systematically. As firms scale, intuition gives way to silent drops in client happiness, which later manifest as reduced repeat business, lower margins, and lost PSL agreements. The article argues...
Top Reps Win by Reaching Real Pain Fast
I've personally reviewed over 2,500 discovery call recordings. The single clearest difference between top producers and average reps has nothing to do with personality, product knowledge, or closing technique. It's how fast they get to real pain.
70‑Year‑Old Saves 10+ Hours Weekly Using AI
I reclaimed 10+ hours a week using AI. At age 70. With zero technical background. Now I help other business owners do the same—inside a mastermind of leaders who are actually implementing. A handful of spots remain. https://t.co/B3ac1JrQNc
Everybody Wants to Rule the AI World
The Vergecast episode dissects the chaotic 2024 ouster of Sam Altman from OpenAI, spotlighting Mira Murati's deposition that revealed a board driven by informal text messages. It also covers OpenAI’s rumored push to launch a ChatGPT‑focused smartphone amid intense competition....
One Woman on Site Boosts Construction Team Productivity
Andrea Janzen, Ambition Theory, says research shows when there is at least one woman on a construction team, everyone on the team is more productive, and explains why this is. Learn more on The Peggy Smedley Show. https://t.co/l5Do5FeQ1G #TPSS #IoT...
AI Projects Fail Without Stakeholder‑Driven Business Focus
Stakeholder Management and Stakeholder Engagement were both top breakout signals this week. Not model news. Not platform updates. Stakeholder skills. Because most AI projects don't fail on technology. They fail because someone forgot to ask what the business actually needs.
SAP S/4HANA Rollout Can Halt Operations for Months
Implementing SAP S/4HANA can be catastrophic. One company's rollout shut down operations for 6 months, leaving products off shelves nationwide. Major projects demand flawless execution. #SAP #ERP https://t.co/AypmgCE56m
Strong Ops and Takeout Boost Texas Roadhouse Sales
The restaurant operating environment today couldn't be more stark between the high performing operators and those that are struggling to get by. Consumers are paying for value, experience and are embracing the brands they know will deliver.
Master Project Revenue Estimation in One Detailed Guide
I’ve been working on a doozy of a newsletter issue to answer a question I get a lot: 👉 How do you estimate the revenue a project will create? I finally wrote a detailed guide on it. It’s going out in tomorrow’s...
Tame Churn First, Then Chase 100% NRR
First get your cancellation rate under control (at least for your ICPs), and then focus on creating NRR ≥ 100%. Here’s the full story, with a real-world example, of why this is the correct order of operations, and how to measure...
Fragmented AI Costs Fortune 500 $161 B Annually
Non-strategic AI implementations are costing the Fortune 500 an estimated $161B a year in what researchers call the "fragmentation tax" - duplicative work, misaligned priorities, & coordination chaos eroding productivity gains. #AtlassianTeam26 #CIO #AI https://t.co/X27BnHM7xc