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.
JIFU CEO Kyle Copeland Calls for Simpler Direct‑Sales Model to Fuel Global Growth
JIFU chief executive Kyle Copeland says the company’s growth hinges on a streamlined direct‑sales model that links travel, wellness, and education into a single, easy‑to‑understand membership. He argues that simplicity, not ambition alone, is the key to scaling internationally while keeping members engaged.
JeraSoft and Communi5 Expand Partnership to Boost Telecom Billing Efficiency
JeraSoft announced an expanded partnership with cloud‑switching specialist Communi5, linking billing, rating and routing with switching platforms to streamline telecom operators' financial workflows. The move aims to improve call‑detail‑record handling, flexible pricing and margin visibility across wholesale and retail networks.
CBS Chief Bari Weiss Unveils Aggressive Overhaul of '60 Minutes' Amid Staff Cuts
Bari Weiss, the newly installed editor-in-chief of CBS News, announced a sweeping redesign of the flagship program '60 Minutes' and signaled another round of staff reductions. The move, framed as a bid to broaden the show’s appeal, has ignited fierce...
EY Deploys AI Agents to Automate Audit Tasks, Threatening Entry‑Level Jobs
EY rolled out a global AI‑agent framework inside its EY Canvas assurance platform, targeting 130,000 auditors and a 100% automation goal by 2028. The system promises faster, more accurate audits but could make entry‑level accounting roles harder to fill in...
PepsiCo Warns of $2 Billion+ Snack Margin Hit as Chip Prices Soar
PepsiCo told investors that soaring chip costs—some bags now over $7 and Doritos up nearly 50% at Walmart—could shave billions off its snack margins. The company is rolling out price cuts of up to 15% while Elliott Management has taken...
ExtensisHR Hires Veteran CIO Alan Missen to Overhaul HRTech Infrastructure
ExtensisHR announced the appointment of Alan Missen as chief information officer, tasking him with scaling the firm’s technology backbone and modernizing service delivery. The move underscores a broader shift among PEOs toward enterprise‑grade HR platforms, aiming to boost client experience...
Minimus Names Yael Nardi Chief Business Officer to Accelerate Secure Container Image Growth
Minimus announced Yael Nardi as its new Chief Business Officer, tasking her with scaling marketing funnels, strategic alliances and corporate development for its hardened container image platform. The hire reflects the company’s push to meet rising CIO demand for near‑zero...
Marcus Theatres Promotes CFO Jeffry Tomachek to President, Effective May 1
Marcus Theatres Corp. announced that Chief Financial Officer Jeffry Tomachek will become president on May 1, replacing retiring Mark Gramz. The promotion follows a three‑decade tenure that saw Tomachek oversee finance, construction, and marketing, positioning him to steer the fourth‑largest...
How Clorox Sets Sustainability Goals
Clorox overhauled its sustainability governance in 2023, establishing a quarterly executive committee that reports directly to the CEO and board. The new structure, guided by a steering committee led by CSO Niki King, now sets emissions targets and oversees scorecard...
Mandarin Airlines Looking to Suspend Hualien Routes over Low Demand
Mandarin Airlines is seeking to suspend its Hualien‑Kaohsiung and Hualien‑Taichung services due to persistently low demand, with load factors sinking to 20‑30 percent. The routes are projected to lose about NT$70 million (approximately US$2.2 million) each year, exacerbated by fuel costs now...
Rémy Cointreau Launches Three-Year Plan to Revive Growth
French spirits group Rémy Cointreau unveiled a three‑year RC Forward plan aimed at restoring profitability, especially in its struggling Cognac division. The strategy emphasizes margin improvement, operational streamlining, and a new Prestige Division for premium brands like Louis XIII. CEO Franck Marilly said the...
E303 | Customer Success Is Dead. Meet the Growth Department.
In this episode, host Andrew Michael talks with Alex Bogoski, founder of Amplify and author of *The Growth Department*, about redefining post‑sale teams as a unified "Growth Department" that drives profitable revenue rather than just service. Alex argues that customer...
Thrust and Drag, Part 1: A System to Keep Momentum
In this episode Brian Scordato uses his near‑drowning triathlon story to illustrate the concepts of thrust (the forces that push a startup forward) and drag (the friction that slows it down). He explains that, just as swimmers achieve speed by...
Don’t Use AI to Automate a Bad Process — Including Performance Reviews
The article warns against using AI to automate performance reviews, a process many consider ineffective and anxiety‑inducing. It highlights that 13 % of companies claim to use AI for reviews, despite leading firms like Adobe, Microsoft, Netflix, and Accenture abandoning the...
5 Keys to Leveraging Your Time: Applying Lean Thinking to Maximize Impact
Applying lean thinking to personal productivity helps professionals treat time like a value stream, cutting waste and boosting impact. The article outlines five actionable steps: audit and eliminate non‑value‑added tasks, focus on high‑value activities using the Pareto principle, standardize recurring...
When the Founder Becomes the Bottleneck: Why Construction Leaders Struggle to Grow Their Business
Construction firms that hit the $1.25‑$3.75 million turnover mark often stall because the founder remains the sole decision‑maker. Greg Wilkes explains that this “founder trap” creates bottlenecks in pricing, site issue resolution, and client management, limiting scalability. He argues that growth...
Don’t Allow Deviance to Become Normal
The article highlights the danger of normalizing deviant workarounds that bypass formal Management of Change (MOC) reviews. It draws parallels from historic naval catastrophes, space shuttle failures, and modern industrial incidents to illustrate how shortcuts become entrenched and lead to...
Maharashtra Clears MSEDCL IPO, Approves Borrowing of over ₹32,679 Crore
Maharashtra’s cabinet approved a sweeping overhaul of its power distributor, MSEDCL, by assuming roughly ₹32,679 crore (about US$3.9 billion) of debt and converting it into 15‑year government bonds. The restructuring will split MSEDCL into a commercial‑consumer arm and a new agricultural‑focused entity,...
Giving Innovation a Spine: Why Organisations Need Governed Orchestration
The article argues that the next wave of legal technology must move beyond isolated productivity tools toward governed orchestration, a structured integration layer that embeds AI within controlled workflows. Autologyx is highlighted as a pioneer offering a framework to connect...
Incident Role Restrictions
The platform now lets administrators lock down incident roles and severity settings by incident type, ensuring only qualified users can act as leads or adjust criticality. New permissions allow organizations to restrict who can be assigned a role, what actions...
When a Good Boss Is Bad for Your Career
The piece argues that not all good bosses drive career growth, separating “stretch leaders” who broaden scope and expose employees to senior‑level reasoning from “comfort leaders” who shield teams from politics but limit development. Stretch leaders build judgment, visibility, and...
SaaStr 849: How We Built Our AI VP of Customer Success with SaaStr's CEO and CAIO
In this episode, SaaStr’s CEO and CAIO discuss how they built an AI‑powered VP of Customer Success using no‑code tools like Replit, turning a simple project‑management portal into an autonomous agent that handles onboarding, task tracking, and daily communications for...
Connecting Forecasting and Warehouse Decisions at Scale - with Jerod Hamilton of Tyson Foods
In this episode, Jerod Hamilton, Director of 3PL Warehouse Strategy at Tyson Foods, explains why modern distribution centers struggle with efficiency due to fragmented planning systems and static facility designs that quickly become outdated. He highlights how multiple, siloed forecasts...
Protect Your Time: Block One Hour for Focus
Distractions aren’t the problem—lack of control is. If you don’t protect your time, someone else will fill it with their urgencies. Try this: Block just 1 hour today for focused work. Decide in advance what you’ll do. Protect it. Small shift. Big difference. 👉 Read more...
AI-as-a-Service Unlocks Autonomous Digital Workers for Enterprises
The Next Big AI Shift Is Selling Digital Workers-As-A-Service Agentic AI-as-a-Service could make autonomous AI agents far easier for businesses to adopt, helping them skip major technical hurdles and move faster from experimentation to real value. This article explains why...
N.C. Cat Dealer Finds Success By Adapting, Evolving
Gregory Poole Equipment Co. marked its 75th anniversary on April 1, 2026 and used the milestone to highlight rapid growth in its rental business. The Caterpillar dealer now operates 28 branches across eastern North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia, including a new...
Growth Is Efficiency; Expansion Is Adding Resources
Most founders think growth and expansion mean the same thing. They don’t. Growth means you cut costs, raise profit, build systems, and replicate without adding more of your time. Expansion means you hire more people and open more stores. If your business depends on...
Perplexity Hits $450M ARR, Outsmarts Google and ChatGPT
Perplexity just crossed $450M ARR. For context: → ChatGPT took 2 years to hit that → Google took 6 years to reach profitability → Perplexity is doing it with a fraction of the headcount The AI search war isn't coming. It's already over for traditional...
Huntington Ingalls Teams with GrayMatter Robotics to Pilot AI‑Driven Shipyard Automation
Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) announced a partnership with GrayMatter Robotics to pilot artificial‑intelligence‑enabled robots on its shipyard floor. The collaboration will test autonomous sanding, grinding, coating and inspection to address a shrinking skilled workforce and accelerate ship production, building on...
Time for a New AI‑Age Management Playbook
"All of us read and follow Andy Grove's 'High Output Management.' Its time for a new playbook built for managing in the ai age." - @wadefoster, Zapier #DorseyMode
Mid‑Sized Law Firms Accelerate Tech Overhaul to Counter Profitability Paradox
Mid-sized law firms are overhauling practice management, automation, and compliance workflows with modern legal‑tech platforms, a shift driven by expanding revenue opportunities but tightening margins. The move reflects a broader industry realignment where firms must balance growth against rising costs...
Tech Giants Slash 165,000 Jobs as AI Spending Ramps Up, Threatening Earnings Outlook
U.S. tech giants announced over 165,000 layoffs in the past year while accelerating AI investments, raising doubts about near‑term earnings and stock valuations. Microsoft, Amazon, Block, Meta and others are cutting staff as they shift resources to generative‑AI tools, prompting...
Macquarie Academics Question Redundancies
Macquarie University announced cuts of 60‑70 full‑time arts and science academic positions to save about $15 million annually, replacing them with casual staff despite rising enrolments in popular majors. Lecturers in media, communications and international studies say courses are being downsized...
Waymo Suspends New York City Robotaxi Tests After Permit Expiry
Waymo, Alphabet’s autonomous‑vehicle unit, announced it will cease robotaxi testing in New York City after its city and state permits lapsed. The move underscores growing regulatory friction as the company evaluates its next steps while other AV firms expand elsewhere.
Blackstone‑Tinicum Consortium Offers $1.6 Billion Cash Deal for Senior Plc
Senior plc agreed to a £1.275 billion cash offer from a Blackstone‑Tinicum consortium, translating to roughly $1.6 billion. The deal promises a 300‑pence per‑share payout and aims to take the engineering firm private, prompting scrutiny of the strategic rationale and potential impact...
Software Company Flew 120 Employees To Honduras For A Survivor-Style Retreat — It Turned Into A Fyre Festival
Plex, a software firm, flew 120 remote employees to Honduras in 2017 for a week‑long, Survivor‑style retreat that cost roughly $500,000. The event unraveled before arrival: the hotel’s general manager quit weeks earlier, the head chef left days before, and...
Beware Unfunded Liabilities: Visionaries Who Drain Your Resources
In business we call this an unfunded liability. Someone who shows up with vision, no capital, no execution, and expects YOU to finance the whole operation. He had ideas for my business. One month later: a broken website and a request for me...
Reviewing Audit File Assembly Procedures
Audit firms are being urged to tighten file assembly, completion and safeguarding practices after ICAEW’s Quality Assurance Department highlighted weaknesses. The new ISQM standards and ISA 230 require a written policy and a 60‑day deadline for final UK audit files. Firms...
Trends in Outsourcing and Offshoring
The ICAEW report shows audit outsourcing and offshoring have accelerated, with chargeable hours offshored up 86% in three years and a projected 71% rise. Regulatory demands since 2016 and pandemic‑driven virtual work are key drivers, prompting firms to use ticketing...
Enhancing Your Firm’s Annual SoQM Evaluation
The article outlines ten practical tips for audit firms to strengthen their System of Quality Management (SoQM) under the International Standard on Quality Management (ISQM 1), which became mandatory in December 2022. It emphasizes that firms must conduct an annual, documented...
![Why Loving Organizations Are the Secret to Ending Burnout in Medicine [PODCAST]](/cdn-cgi/image/width=1200,quality=75,format=auto,fit=cover/https://kevinmd.com/wp-content/uploads/603e9e41-66d6-47f3-a831-f1f9c17489b3.jpeg)
Why Loving Organizations Are the Secret to Ending Burnout in Medicine [PODCAST]
Physician coach Dr. Apurv Gupta discussed his "loving organization" framework on the KevinMD podcast, highlighting how 19 health‑care exemplars use the INTEGRATE model to embed love into leadership, teams, processes and technology. He explained that these organizations achieve lower burnout,...
State Dept Recruits New Diplomats, but Plans to Keep Shrinking Its Workforce Next Year
Despite a recent recruitment push, the State Department is set to shrink its diplomatic workforce in FY 2027. Last summer’s layoff notices affected about 1,350 employees, with roughly 250 Foreign Service officers placed on nine‑month paid administrative leave and no plan...
NSW Council Considers 4-Day Week
Murrumbidgee Council in south‑west New South Wales is evaluating a four‑day work week for its 90 employees to address mounting financial pressures without raising rates. The proposal keeps 35‑hour weekly service delivery Monday‑Thursday, closing offices and libraries on Fridays while...
Founders Build Brilliantly, Yet Struggle Scaling Operations
The harsh reality is that most founders are terrible operators and people managers to start. I sure was. I had strong instincts for product design, and some innate leadership skills, but that’s not the same thing as leading a company with...
Track Daily Calls to Boost Prospecting Success
If you want to get better at prospecting, start tracking your activity. Not in your head. Not when it’s convenient. Every day. How many dials are you making? How many real conversations are you having? How many are turning into meetings? Download my free Fanatical...
Choosing AI Orchestration: A Practical Assessment Guide for Developers
Developers find AI agents impressive in prototypes but fragile in production, where timeouts, hallucinations, and compliance gaps emerge. AI orchestration layers add durable, observable coordination of agents, humans, and systems, turning ad‑hoc loops into governed processes. The article categorizes four...
Sony Will Lay Off Hundreds Of TV & Movie Studio Employees
Sony Pictures Entertainment announced a restructuring that will eliminate several hundred jobs across its film, television and corporate divisions, affecting a modest slice of its 12,000‑plus global workforce. The changes follow the appointment of Ravi Ahuja as chairman and CEO,...
Mamdani Selects New Mom & Pop Czar To Lead NYC Small Businesses and Slash Red Tape
Mayor Zohran Mamdani named Delia Awusi as New York City’s first “mom‑and‑pop” small‑business czar, charged with streamlining permits, inspections and fine processes for ultra‑small firms that generate $1‑2 million in annual revenue. Awusi brings a decade of leadership at a Brooklyn...
AI Sales Coaching Vs. Human Sales Coaching: The Hybrid Approach That Drives Results
Sales leaders face a coaching crisis: limited time, distributed teams, and complex cycles. A hybrid model that blends AI‑driven conversation analysis with human emotional intelligence is emerging as the solution. Research from ValueSelling and Aberdeen shows organizations using both achieve...
Nonprofit Playbook Looks to Help SNAP Leaders Manage Payment Error Rates
Starting October 1, 2027, states must keep SNAP payment error rates at 6% or lower or assume a larger share of program costs. The national error rate was 10.93% in fiscal 2024, meaning dozens of states could face extra expenses—up to $2 billion for...