Order my USA TODAY Bestselling book: toxicgrit.com TOXIC GRIT: How to have it all and (actually) love what you have. It will help you create a new approach to ambition and find space for all the diverse parts of yourself. Join 75K+ others who read my newsletter 🧩 Life's a Game at amandagoetz.com. It’s full of free tips to play the game of life at a whole new level. In 2018 I found myself at the height of my marketing career with 3 kids under the age of 4 and filing for divorce. In a world telling me to find alignment......I realized that was impossible. The work version of me didn't want to leave early to go be with the kiddos. The mom version of me didn't want to miss a moment with them. I wanted to be fiercely independent and yet also wanted to find love again. Other versions of me didn't want to feel responsible for anything or anyone. This diversity within me led to the creation of my Character Theory Framework. This framework helped me to create space for the 10 characters that make up the movie of your life:  The CEO → wants to pursue big goalsThe Partner → desires companionship  The Soloist → cares about personal growth and development The Caregiver → deep desire to take care of others and show up for themThe Goddess → wants to be desired and pursue pleasure  The Lazy One → loves to couch rot, no goals whatsoever The Socialite → values connection The Creative → desires creation and creativity The Doctor → your inner health &amp; wellness character The Explorer → craves novelty And it helped me. I was able to let go of the idea of balance and give permission for hierarchy, boundaries and the transition sequences necessary to embody these diverse characters. So I put it all in a book and it was an instant best seller!! I'm so excited for you to create space for all parts of you and to see ambition as multi-dimensional. Follow me here for advice as I build a multi-hyphenate life as a CMO, Author, Mom of 3 and getting married again. 

Amanda Goetz

I took a month from posting to really sit with myself and think about what I wanted for 2026. Here’s why….

I spent a lot of the last year in survival mode. 
After a divorce with 3 small kids I was always proving. Pushing. Needing to provide for my family. 

But now I’m on stable ground and yet my nervous system hasn’t caught up. I still feel like I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop. 

That I need to prove I’m worthy. 
That I need to prove I’m smart. 
That I need to prove why I’m here. 

So this year my word is ENOUGH. 

And I’m going to spend the year learning what enough looks like. 

To be enough. 
To earn enough. 
To do enough. 

I love my new CMO role. 
I have a new exciting writing project this year. 
I’m hosting season 2 of the Girlboss podcast. 
And my weekly newsletter is a constant creative outlet. 

That’s enough. 

More isn’t always better. 

So if you are also planning to drive the speed limit in 2026 - follow along here as I’ll be sharing what I’m doing and learning along th way.

USA TODAY Bestselling Author of Toxic Grit | 2x Founder (acquired) 5x CMO | Mom x3 | Keynote Speaker | Subscribe ➡️ 🧩 Life’s a Game Newsletter

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I’ve been struggling with 2 things lately:

1) it’s clear that when I spend less time on social media, my mind is clearer and I can write from a place of curiosity and purpose. 

But then when I contribute to social media I feel like I’m feeding the beast that is stealing our curiousity and clarity. 

2) The loss of social from the media. 

The closer I got to big creators, the more I found out about the “teams” behind their posts and replies. I can also clearly tell when someone is using AI to reply to posts. 

So what are we actually doing here? 

The point is to connect and inspire. To evoke thoughts and inject nuance into conversations. To drive awareness to things that people may not see from their seat in this world. 

Anyway….if I’ve been a little MIA on here it’s because of these thoughts. 

I deeply crave meaningful conversations and I am trying to find the right medium to having them.

Another great episode of Ambition 2.0 with @girlboss and Malissa Clark 

Check it out anywhere you get your podcasts!

🗣️ Repeat after us: You can love your job and still be a workaholic.

In this episode of Ambition 2.0, Amanda Goetz sits down with Malissa Clark, a professor at the University of Georgia, Director of the Healthy Work Lab, and author of Never Not Working: Why the Always-On Culture Is Bad for Business—and How to Fix It, to break down what workaholism can look like in real life (spoiler: it’s not just about working long hours). 

They get into the sneaky “working light” tasks that we tell ourselves don’t count as work (like sending emails while watching TV or checking Slack between errands), how leaders accidentally create always-on teams, and so much more. 

🎧 Listen to the full episode here: https://lnkd.in/eKd9rtCv 

💻 Or watch the episode on YouTube: https://lnkd.in/eRqNjSN6

Continuing on my journey of “enough” - it’s important you plan your work around your life. Not the other way around. 

I approach my yearly planning the same way I approach building a marketing calendar as a CMO. 

I slice the calendar in 4 ways:

- Annual tentpoles & events
- Quarterly launches
- Monthly beats
- Weekly non-negotiables

Reminder: Use this link to get your 🧩 Life's a Game Planning calendar. ⬇️⬇️

Open article: 🧩 Life's a Game: Your 2026 Game Plan by amandagoetz.kit.com

Today’s newsletter has already gotten more replies than I normally get. I think this topic resonates…

Check it out and let me know. ⬇️

https://lnkd.in/eHCRCS4b

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Loved this convo with Alexa von Tobel - check it out and let me know what you think!

In this episode of Ambition 2.0, host Amanda Goetz sits down with Alexa von Tobel—the founder of LearnVest (where she raised $75M and successfully sold it to Northwestern Mutual) and current founder and managing partner of Inspired Capital—to unpack the resilient mindset that has shaped her successful career, from founder to venture-capital veteran.

Alexa dropped out of Harvard Business School and poured her life savings into LearnVest, a multimillion-dollar business idea—despite warnings from nearly everyone around her that she was making a big mistake. She did it in the middle of the 2008 economic recession, no less.

🎧 Watch or listen to the full episode, now live on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts! 

https://lnkd.in/eq-wEGjd

Open video: From Harvard Dropout to VC Powerhouse: How to Bet on Yourself with Alexa von Tobel | Ambition 2.0 on youtu.be

From Harvard Dropout to VC Powerhouse: How to Bet on Yourself with Alexa von Tobel | Ambition 2.0

GM/Operator for Consumer AI | Product, Strategy & Commercial Leadership | ex-Meta | MBA & MSc | Board Director

I build and scale consumer AI products, turning complex opportunities into commercially powerful, trusted, real-world outcomes.

Across my career in consumer tech, gaming and AI, I’ve become the operator people call when they need clarity in ambiguity or when a business hits an inflection point. I solve problems teams haven’t yet defined, and my sweet spot is the intersection of product strategy, commercial leadership and organisational execution, grounded in deep fluency across AI, data and consumer behaviour.

I’ve led teams and product-direction work across startups and Meta’s $XBN consumer apps business, consistently aligning product, engineering, commercial and marketing teams to deliver measurable growth and resilience.

I’m one of the few operators who can join the dots between AI, data, experience, growth and organisational systems and turn them into consumer products that scale, regardless of company size. I believe profitability and responsibility should reinforce each other, not compete.

What I Do Today:

🔹 Fractional GM / CPO
Product, commercial and operational leadership for scaling consumer tech and AI businesses (Series  A+).

🔹 AI Strategy Advisor
Helping executives set clear AI strategy, prioritise real opportunities, and build the organisational foundations for sustainable transformation.

🔹 Thought Leadership & Education
Speaker, writer and creator of The AI Leadership Lab, my digital programme for decision-makers navigating AI.

Former senior leader in Meta’s $XBN consumer apps business, where I led marketing science and data product strategy across EMEA. I partnered with product, engineering, sales and marketing to shape roadmaps, navigate privacy disruption and deliver industry-wide impact during high-volatility periods.

I’ve taken a consumer app from concept → beta, built AI and product roadmaps, led category expansions, designed operating models adopted across regions, and built high-performing teams that consistently delivered results.

My leadership is grounded in respect, integrity and growth. I create clarity, align teams, and build environments where high standards, autonomy and humour can coexist.

I am motivated by building products that serve real human needs, earn long-term trust, deliver meaningful commercial outcomes and balance innovation and responsibility.

If you’re working on something ambitious in consumer tech or AI and need strategic, product or commercial leadership to scale with confidence, I’d love to talk.

📌 Executive MBA (First Class Honours) | Certified in AI Product Management
🌐 kate-minogue.com

Kate Minogue

Sharing a clip from my recent conversation with Mark Kelly AI Ireland that feels urgent right now.

Last week's news about Grok and X highlighted a critical issue. Their decision in response to the backlash to put harmful capabilities behind a paywall is shortsighted and doesn't truly address the dangers of the platform functionality.

The reality: People will use AI in ways you don't expect.

We cannot assume users will act responsibly so we have to design for responsibility from the start.

Everyone is debating whether responsibility lies with the tech company or the user. The answer is BOTH. Pointing fingers isn't how you relinquish your own role in this.

The risk areas we discussed in Consumer AI included:

→ Mixed AI literacy across a global, diverse user base
→ Vulnerable demographics like children and the elderly
→ Bad actors exploiting deepfakes and misinformation

We also discussed OpenAI's formalised consumer business shift over the last 6 months, and how that changes everything from strategy to product to distribution.

Link to the full conversation in the comments.

Postiv.AI helped me to create this accompanying post for the video! I find the conversational style of edits really helps me refine what I am trying to say.

It may be hard to believe but in the last two weeks we have had a normal year's worth of Consumer AI announcements!

I've already spoken a lot about all that is happening with Grok and xAI and the push for regulation there. But that isn't the only headline we have had since the start of the year.

So if you've missed them, here are the other key themes of the first two weeks of Consumer AI headlines and developments.

- Google made a huge push towards realising agentic commerce with their announcements at a retail conference this week. While some of the themes overlap with the direction OpenAI are moving we can't discount the outsized impact Google have with anything they do in this space.

- As Google and others expand their task remit and embed their models across existing apps it will become less about "using AI directly" and more about it being everywhere.

- The Apple/Google announcement puts to bed a lot of speculation since the Apple Intelligence delays and disappointments. If you have an iPhone I hope you like Gemini!

- ChatGPT launched their health feature formally in the US. While many debate whether this is good or bad, I say - people were using it for this anyway. While this is a "pushier" way to ask for your health data it also brings the use case into the light and hopefully the realm of regulation.

- Finally, January is CES time so while it didn't overshadow any of the headlines above it is worth knowing how we might encounter more physical AI this year and in the near future.

Thanks postiv.ai for the carousel help! I do really enjoy the funny words used in the platform when its "thinking".

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