Apoorva Pande

I help tech founders scale to $10M+ ARR without burning out. 

Most of the founders that I work with are already smart and capable. They're just carrying too much of the business themselves.

My approach blends repeatable delivery systems, predictive client acquisition, and reinforcing your team's culture so that you can take a step back to enjoy life.

Let's connect. I'll teach you how to be profitable (while staying in control).

Hey LinkedIn! It's been a bit since I introduced myself. 

I'm Apoorva. Born in Australia, and currently live in Silicon Valley with my wife.

I run Focus Founders, where I help tech founders scale their companies from $500K to $10M+ without burning out.

What I believe:

- You're only a real founder if you have a predictable way to get customers and profit without having to push.
- The best businesses are profitable early, calm to run, and built to hold forever.
- Growth at all costs is a trap. I teach founders to build businesses around a joyful life.

What I've done:

- Helped scale a company (Juno, past job) from $300K to $10M 
- Built a mastermind of tech founders doing $500K to $20M 
- Helped 5+ companies cross $10M in booked revenue

What you'll get here:

- Real case studies from founders I work with
- Systems and frameworks to scale profitably
- Behind the scenes of building a business you actually enjoy
- Honest takes: what works vs what people tell you should work

I split my year between San Francisco and Miami. I play terrible golf. I spend time with my wife. I read a lot.

And I firmly believe you can build a $10M+ business without trading your health, family time, or sanity for it.

If that resonates, stick around.

Helping tech founders scale without burning out on their journey to $10M+

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I had this debate with a friend the other day.

He claims when people come into a big chunk of money, their first thought is:

- fast cars
- bigger house
- designer clothes

I'd go a different route, if I had an extra $100K lying around I'd probably eat more caviar. More caviar and more seafood. 

Life’s too short for boring food.

We helped 5 founders cross $10M in two years.

They all used the same framework: Our 34 recommended systems.

We’ve proven time and time again these systems are essential to jump from 7-figures to 8-figures... But most founders are missing 60-70% of them.

I compiled all 34 systems into one simple audit for you. 

Comment AUDIT and I’ll send it your way.

Fair warning: It will expose your blind spots. That's the point.

There's a trap that most tech founders fall into between $40K and $800K MMR.

I call it the "middle class" of founders.

- Below $40K, you can live well as an “indie hacker.” 
- Above $800K, it gets easier. Better valuations. More profit. Less stress.

When you're in between, it's brutal.

I worked with a founder at $2M/year who couldn't guarantee payroll every single month.

Every month was a reset:

Find a way to hit revenue → Deliver for clients → Put out fires → Start over

How we stopped the cycle:

1. TEAM CONDITIONING
Weekly meetings to reframe reality. When you're that exhausted, your mind sees repetitiveness. We helped the team stay hungry for problems.

2. THINK BIGGER
The biggest problem: Delivery.  We found someone better than her at solving client issues. That hire freed up her mental load.

3. NOT A BILLION DOLLAR COMPANY
We saved hiring a CEO, COO and CFO for later. Right now she really just needs:

- Lower costs
- Fewer people
- Cash coming in consistently

14 months later? $10M.

If you're in that middle class right now, I empathize with you. 

Focus on those three things. You can get out.

I leave soon to meet up with my business coach.

He’s incredible. Look him up (Eli Wilde).

- Top salesman for Tony Robbins
- Big on Human to Human connection
- Teaches cultural change vs just pushing products

I’ve learned so much from him in 5+ years but this phrase changed it all:

“Make decisions in the direction that drives your excitement about life forward. Not just the money stuff.”

Read that again. 

This phrase is why I actually enjoy my work AND my life. 

I teach founders to do the same. 

Making money is awesome. I’m here to help you make that jump to $10M+. Be ready to improve your life along the way.

I was on a sales call yesterday and could tell the founder had subconsciously capped themselves.

This is common. And why we teach LEVERAGED growth.

→ Leveraged Growth: Systems that remove you from the day-to-day and increase profit consistently

→ Old Growth: Hiring more people and raising more money

Most founders avoid scaling because they know:

More revenue = More headcount, meetings and chaos.

Doesn’t sound very enjoyable.

Leveraged growth looks like building:

Content that ranks and drives leads forever
Systems that automate what used to take 10 people

Growth without the chaos.

I find it comical that I run a company 100% remote. 

Me 15 years ago would be SHOCKED.

I used to scale companies in person. It was my strong suit. I went to as many events and in-person meetings as possible. And it worked!

Then... as the team grew and my California office expense was going up while the profit was going down, I had to majorly pivot.

Let me tell you, closing on zoom did not come naturally. (I can't be alone in this)

I couldn't buy the idea that people could build trust with me through a computer screen. 

Finally my business coach asked: "Why do you think that?"

I didn't have an answer.

I replaced the belief. Started closing at 80%.

I've learned that most sales problems are internal. It's a mindset.

Someone asked me for a book recommendation yesterday. Here’s my short list of MUST reads (business and life):

Hypomanic Edge: Why founders have more energy and production than most people. Removes the shame around being different as a founder.

Relentless by Tim Grover:  For when you need that Michael Jordan - level champion mentality.

Deep Work by Cal Newport:  Focus is everything. This book shows you how to protect it.

The Big Leap: How to get past achievement and find enjoyment. Most founders don't feel like they should feel good. This book challenges that.

Adult Children of Alcoholics and Dysfunctional Families: Almost every founder comes from a dysfunctional family. This book helps you understand those patterns.

The Road Less Stupid by Keith Cunningham: Great for decision-making frameworks.

The Creating Brain: The Neuroscience of Genius: For understanding how creativity and genius actually work.

What would you add?

I started running 5 miles a day... for work. 

I help founders get to $10M. It’s intense. My job requires me to:

- Think clearly
- Help people at a high level
- Constantly be on back to back calls

I found that movement kept me energized and focused.

I started by walking 5 miles a day and that evolved.

Your routine can look different. Your mind/body just needs something.

Here's some ideas (other things I do daily)

- Breath work
- Meditate
- Lifting 
- Bike

Try incorporating just one for 30min daily and see how your work improves.

We doubled our booked calls after I started focusing on me and my team's personal brand.

Prospects already recognize my name. They've read the insights. Trust is built before I send the first message.

If your personal brand:

- gives a glimpse into who YOU are
- adds specific value (insights, lessons, frameworks)

It's going to pre-qualify leads and shorten your sales cycle.

Here's your nudge to put the effort into your personal brand to propel your business.

Last week, I helped a founder navigate a turnaround.

If you’re not deep in the business world, a “turnaround” simply means:
Things aren’t going well and we have to fix the company while it’s still operating.

Revenue might be slowing.
Margins might be shrinking.
Pressure is rising.

But the scariest part of a turnaround is uncertainty.

Specifically, "When are we going to run out of money?"

Here’s how we eliminate that fear: A simple 13-week cash forecast.

It answers the question: "Do we have enough cash to survive the next three months?"

It shows:

- Exactly when money is coming in
- Exactly when money is going out
- How close you are to trouble before you’re actually in it

Without this visibility, founders are guessing... And guessing leads to panic decisions. (Random cost cuts, delayed action, emotional reactions)

When you can see your cash clearly, something powerful happens.

- Fear drops
- Clarity rises
- Decision quality improves

Cash clarity is often the difference between survival and collapse.

The gap between $500K and $10M:

Every business that scales has four foundations locked in.

- Focus
- Growth
- Finance
- Product delivery

GROWTH creates consistent demand → 
PRODUCT DELIVERY turns demand into outcomes people trust → 
FINANCE protects cash flow and decision quality → 
FOCUS keeps the founder and team aimed at the right problems.

You need all four. These foundations stabilize the company and the nervous system behind it.

My whole message is: Scale Happily.

What's wild to me, most founder problems trace back to the FIRST things we sacrifice.

- Time with family
- A real eating routine
- A consistent sleep schedule
- Not trading health for wealth

Learn WHY founders get stuck and HOW to get un-stuck: https://lnkd.in/dtwUdbJm

I was just telling a buddy about one of our fastest growing founders (Jan Rippingale, CEO of BluBanyan) 

She was in the mid-seven figures (growing fast, but drowning).

After a year of working with us, she crossed $830K/month and said she’s never felt CALMER.

Here's what changed.

The Problem:

- Remote, disconnected team
- Growing revenue, bleeding cash
- Jan was drained and unmotivated

What We Did:

1. INSTALLED CASH BUFFERS
She didn't realize how much cash they needed in reserves. Now they have months of buffer.

2. GOT SELECTIVE WITH CLIENTS
She got rid of the "I'll take any business" mindset. Bigger contracts. Better negotiation. 

3. MADE PROFIT THE NORTH STAR
Zero-based budgeting. Every dollar of profit is accounted for.

4. CLARIFIED MISSION & VISION
Every team member knows why they're there. The vibe is different. The team has fun while doing hard work.

If you’re drowning like Jan, start with one step to regain control.

Comment MONEY and I’ll send you a financial/budgeting process to get to $10M+. (make sure you're following me or you won't get it)

I see founders sell their companies for $50K when they could have stuck it out and sold for MILLIONS. 

This is exactly why we mandate all founders in our mastermind to take 7 days off every quarter.

Being a founder is INTENSE. Most want to quit 10-30% of the time.

My advice?

Have those feelings on a beach. Take 7 days off with NO laptop.

When you're on the beach thinking "I want to quit," you realize:

"I'm not even at work. Why am I thinking about this?"

You can assess the thought clearly.

You’ll likely realize you just needed space to: 

- regulate
- process those feelings
- remember why you love what you do and where you’re going.

Be the founder who takes care of themselves. The one who pushes through the trenches and gets to see their business thrive.

Core reason a founder's business succeeds or fails: Storytelling

Strong storytelling skills build trust faster and attract the RIGHT people.

When a founder struggles here, it’s because they don’t know their WHY.

- What core purpose gets them out of bed?
- The reason they started this company.
- The problem they saw in the world.
- The thing that drives more sales.

All other stories in your business branch out from this reasoning.

I’ve seen founders overcome this and scale over nine figures.

These are the wins that matter most to me.

A founder in our community recently closed a $30M deal after doing the internal work we emphasize inside Focused Founders.

- We talk a lot about strategy.
- We talk about financial clarity.
- We talk about operational discipline.

But none of it works without mindset alignment.

Twice a year, we bring a group of founders together in Miami for an in-person Mastermind. It’s about tactics but it’s also about helping leaders think differently under pressure, expand their perspective, and make better decisions at scale.

Ram Chella attended our last Mastermind and clearly put the work into practice.

Seeing founders apply what they’ve learned and create real-world outcomes like this is why we do what we do.

If you're curious about his journey and how he approached the deal, you can watch the full case study here:
https://lnkd.in/dYtGEBFg

Proud of the work. Even more proud of the execution.

Open video: Words from Investment Pro that became 10M+ Group CEO - Ram Chella on youtube.com

Words from Investment Pro that became 10M+ Group CEO - Ram Chella

A tech startup founder just got started with us. He asked how to build a “winning team”. 

Here’s step one. 

At least once a month, you have to look at the entire month and ask:

- How many demos did we run?
- How many sales did we close?
- How many leads did we generate?
- How far were we from what we projected?

Then we have to go BEYOND the numbers.

The REALLY important question: What happened throughout the month?

- Were you going to too many conferences?
- Did you have to fix product stuff?
- Did personal problems come up?

You need to identify what's stopping you. Then take that stuff off your plate.

You don't want excuses stopping your growth.

Learn exactly how to build a winning team: https://lnkd.in/dPUDAxTR

Open video: Building A Winning Team on youtube.com

Founders who make it to $10M+ are often highly creative people. The definition of “creative” in this case is probably NOT what you’re thinking.

The best form of creativity is actually a very functional type of person that follows frameworks and models.

Even the best artists follow frameworks. They learn:

- Composition
- Color theory
- Brush techniques

Business growth is the same. There’s no reason to start from scratch. 

Here's your framework:

- Cold outreach
- Partnerships
- Content
- SEO
- Ads

Then make micro-adjustments based on YOUR market. 

That’s the creativity.

I met a guy in Vancouver years ago.

He was past $1M. Needed to get to $10M.

$10M is actually simple. It's the same formula for everyone:

1. You already have a product that works
2. Position it so the market understands what you do/knows they need it
3. Get in front of as many people as possible
4. Deliver more customer outcomes for less money over time

Here's why this founder was stuck:

He said: "I can't sleep. All I think about is how am I going to do this?"

He was SO stuck in the "how" that he couldn't hear anything I said.

"I gotta figure it out. I gotta figure it out."

Analysis paralysis. Complete mental loop.

I see founders do this often. They overcomplicate it.

"What if I did this funnel?"
"What if I tried that channel?"
"What if I rebuilt the product?"

It's funny, but if you're stuck in this loop, humor usually gets you out.

I asked him: "What's your favorite way to waste time?"

He looked confused. "What?"

"Like, when you're procrastinating. What do you do?"

"I... I don't know. Watch YouTube videos about productivity?"

"So you're watching videos about how to be productive instead of being productive?"

He laughed. First time in our conversation. That laugh broke the pattern.

When founders get too intense about the outcome, they disconnect from reality. They stop seeing what's right in front of them.

ACCELERATING READINESS | ENABLING GROWTH | POWERING POSSIBILITIES

I help individuals, teams, and organizations move from potential to readiness to performance by focusing on the critical missing link — Readiness. Readiness is the coming together of 5 components like Skills, Speed, Self Awareness.......With 29+ years of global leadership across HR, OD, Learning, and Business Growth roles, I blend action research, coaching science, and experiential methods to curate hyper-personalized talent journeys.

As the Founder of myDayOne, I lead the creation of IoB-powered digital solutions and readiness acceleration platforms that unlock alignment at the behavior level — enabling career growth, leadership effectiveness, and business scalability. My work integrates the best of behavioral science, gamification, data analytics, and OD tools, with a focus on real-world application and measurable RoI.

I believe in this simple mantra:
“Develop talent your biggest asset in Business. Accelerate Talent readiness. Ensure future-ready success stories.”


Core Strengths:
- Blending cutting-edge technology with behavioral science
- Engineering high performance through gamification
- Crafting engaging learning experiences through storytelling
- Designing scalable organizational development interventions
- Facilitating sustainable behavior change

Professional Journey:
Diverse experience as:
- OD Practitioner & Change Catalyst
- Learning & Development Specialist
- HR Leader & Strategist
- Executive Coach & Facilitator
- Process Visualizer & Entrepreneur

Education & Certifications:
Proud alumnus of premier institutions:
- XLRI & TISS
- Organisation Development - XLRI, ISABS, CODE & TiSS 
- HR Systems - TuV Rheinland, Mercer Learning & Aon LC
- Human Process  - Relations Institute (TA), ChangeWorks (Appreciative Inquiry), AE Institute (RECBT)
- Experiential Learning - Sullivan Institute, LSP & Thomson Associates
- Coaching - ICF, Gallup, Hogan, Kornferry, NLI
- Story Telling (TM International, IIM-A, ZASW)  

Beyond Business:
Actively volunteered with non-profit organizations, believing in business as a force for good.

Let's Connect:
Whether you're:
- Leading a corporate transformation
- Scaling your business
- Driving organizational change
- Building high-performing teams

Jithesh Anand

While most companies competed for Tier-1 college graduates, Sridhar Vembu was hiring from Tamil Nadu villages. People said it wouldn't work. Zoho now has 150 million users and never raised a rupee from VCs. 

Vembu's bet was simple: talent is everywhere, opportunity isn't.

Instead of pulling people out of small towns and into Bengaluru, he moved the work to where they already lived. 

Zoho set up real development offices in places like Tenkasi, Mathalamparai, and Kumbakonam. 

In 2004, he launched Zoho Schools of Learning to train rural youth in software development without requiring a college degree. 

Over 2,000 graduates later, about 15-20% of Zoho's engineers have no traditional degree.

Here's why this worked when others said it couldn't:

1. Investing early means people grow alongside the company instead of constantly looking for the next move.

2. When survival costs drop (no crushing rent, no killer commute), people can actually focus on getting better at their work.

3. Build your own pipeline and you stop fighting over the same pool everyone else is fishing in.

4. Where people see a future, readiness builds faster. Jobs feel temporary. Careers feel real. 

What makes this powerful isn't that a tech company operates from villages. It's that success no longer required leaving home. 

For a lot of families, that's the difference between one person rising and an entire community moving forward.

PS: If training your own talent takes two years but solves hiring for a decade, do you think that trade off is worth it?

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Business Analysis: Business Benefits Realization

Critical Thinking and Problem Solving

LinkedIn Marketing Lead Generation For B2B Sales And Coaches

certification in basics of financial markets

$50M+ in Client Revenue | Helping Companies Generate 10+ Profitable Meetings Every Week | Meet the Right Person at The Right Time | Appointment Setting | Personal Branding | Thought Leadership

You: My team gives me these long lists of “so-called leads” but none of them are really interested in my offering. It's frustrating to waste my time and money on dead-end conversations.

Me: In 45 mins a month, I’ll get you business-ready decision makers book appointments with you.

People you dream to land as clients

You think I am lying?

Guarantee: I’ll get this in 3 months or less OR I work for Free until I do.

From past 3 years, I’ve been consistently 

⭕Identifying people with buying intent
⭕Creating offers which makes your potential customers feel stupid to say No
⭕Decoding viral-worthy content
⭕Generating content that attracts leads, not just impressions

With all this knowledge I have made a proven system that can be installed in your account to: 

✅Generate appointments, Minus fake and non-profitable calls
✅Viral content 

Results: 

10,000+ Contacts  profitable discussions generated from every industry you can imagine

Gains millions of views on LinkedIn every month

Still not convinced?


Check out my FEATURED section and if you come back.
Here is my Introduction:
To begin with,
I started marketing in my childhood( literally I was 12 years old) for my Papa’s business.
But when I entered my young adulthood I developed a taste for Economics and decided to join the corporate world in the field of economics as a profession.
Soon I realized it wasn’t my cup of tea, and followed my natural instinct - marketing as my career.
Today, I am a Growth hacker with a passion for helping business professionals set up meeting with people you want to work, at scale
And an entrepreneur committed to achieve client satisfaction, while driving the growth of both our team and Leads ‘N Latte.
I know you hate spending endless hours and money on leads who will never convert. 
So did I honestly!
Therefore, I handmade a system that will make you a thought leader and generate profitable meetings without spending a dime on ads or cold calling.
With a retention rate of more than 90% and 100+ happy customers, you get access to a system which is tested and tried so that you get the cream of the crop.
If you’re ready to exceed your sales targets,
Let’s talk.
DM me on LinkedIn, directly book a free 1-on-1 consultation session on the calendar: https://calendly.com/leads-n-latte/free-consultation-for-linkedin-lead-gen?month=2022-06 
Till then, Keep prospecting.

A Public Relation and Communication Case study

Client Success Stories at Leads 'N Latte

A Creative Desiging and Content, Video Marketing agency

Zoho

Leadership/Org Devpmt Specialist| Founder-myDayOne | Board Director/Advisor | Exec. & Team Coach (ICF/HOGAN/GALLUP/HarvardTDS/KornFerry/AoN/ISABS/RECBT) | Experiential Facilitation (Lego/Thomson/Sullivan/IAF) | XLRI,TISS

Most companies treat exits as closed chapters. Deepinder Goyal just reopened hundreds of them by publicly inviting ex-Zomato employees back. That decision says everything about how he thinks long-term.

Deepinder wrote an open letter to former employees on LinkedIn saying, "If you used to work at Zomato, whether you chose to move on or I was the one who asked you to leave, I want you back."

As a startup zomato has lived through chaos, pivots, layoffs, restructuring, and profitability pressure.

People left during those years. Some walked away. Some were asked to go. Most companies would pretend that chapter never happened.

Deepinder acknowledged it. He said the company has evolved. And if alignment exists again, there's a place for you here.

Over 400 people in the Eternal ecosystem are already "boomerangs", employees who came back for second or third stints. 

They didn't return because they had no options. They returned because something about the place still mattered.

Here's why this matters for organizations- 

1. People who leave carry institutional memory. Re-engaging them isn't just filling seats; it's reclaiming knowledge about how work actually gets done.

2. Acknowledging an imperfect past is how you signal evolution. Deepinder didn't sugar-coat it. He named it.

3. Alumni are long-term brand equity. Whether they return or not, how you treat exits shapes reputation for years.

If people leave and never look back, that’s data. If people leave and still feel connected, that’s culture. If people are willing to return, that’s leadership.

PS: If you left your current organization, would you ever want to return?

The most well-intentioned phrase in leadership might also be the most dangerous one. And almost every manager has said it.

"Don't worry, you'll figure it out."

I've watched leaders say this to new managers, first-time project leads, and people stepping into responsibilities they've never handled before.

The person nods with a brave smile on their face. But what they're actually thinking is
👉 Where do I even start?
👉 What does success look like? 
👉 Which decisions am I allowed to make? 
👉 Who to involve?
👉 And where are the real risks?

When none of that is clear, even capable people start operating defensively. 

Leaders often read this as hesitation or self-doubt. Most of the time, it's simply because the person is operating without readiness. 

Here's how you can build readiness before it becomes a problem:

1. Stop assuming experience equals readiness. Years of execution don't automatically build judgment. People need exposure to real decisions, not just time in the system.

2. Ask people how they'd handle situations before giving them the answer. That one shift moves someone from following instructions to building their own thinking muscle.

3. Build a habit of reflection into how your team works. What went well, what didn't, and why, that simple loop turns experience into something people can actually use next time.

4. Let people own something real before the stakes are high. Early responsibility with guidance available is one of the fastest ways to build genuine confidence.

Encouragement is important. But it works best when people aren't spending all their energy figuring out the basics first.

That's the kind of readiness SPARCLE by myDayOne helps organizations design from day one.

PS: Do you think "you'll figure it out" builds confidence or just transfers pressure?

The difference between a high-performing team and an average one isn't talent. It's whether the leader is ready to actually lead them. 

When leaders aren't ready, even high performers start operating below their capability. They begin conserving energy because they don't know where it's safe to push.

You'll see it in how they work: 
👉 They stop taking initiative without checking first. 
👉 They over-prepare for routine decisions. 
👉 They ask for approval on things they used to handle on their own.

This happens because the environment teaches people that waiting is safer than deciding on their own. And teams adjust their behavior based on how leaders manage- 

1. Speed of action: If leaders change their decisions unpredictably, people stop deciding and start constantly checking in.

2. Quality of ownership: Leaders who blame mistakes create teams that execute tasks but avoid accountability for results.

3. Direction of effort: When leaders don't clarify trade-offs, teams work hard in different directions with little momentum.

4. Comfort with tension: When disagreement gets shut down, teams stop raising concerns until damage is already done.

5. Willingness to grow: Leaders who blame failure create teams that stay inside proven methods even when growth demands innovation.

Before you question your team's capability, look at the environment you created. 

Most underperformance comes from people navigating unclear leadership instead of solving actual problems.

PS: Are you building a team that acts when you're not around, or one that waits for you to give direction?

You think you're approachable. Your team thinks twice before bringing you bad news. That gap between your intention and their experience is costing you more than you realize. 

Most leaders have a story about themselves. "I'm approachable." "I empower people." "I don't micromanage."

Ask their teams privately, and you often hear a different version.

Leaders aren't being dishonest. But they experience themselves through intention, while their team experiences them through impact.

👉 A leader remembers the one time they invited dissent. The team remembers the ten times dissent felt unsafe. 
👉 A leader feels calm because they're processing internally. The team experiences silence as disapproval.

This gap widens with seniority. The higher you go, the fewer people tell you the unfiltered feedback. 

Over time, leaders start operating inside a mirror that reflects who they believe they are, not how they're actually experienced.

Self-awareness at senior levels isn't a personality trait. It's a system. 

You can't rely on occasional feedback once your role creates distance from the frontline. You need structured ways to see yourself as others experience you, repeatedly and safely.

That's where Assessment & Development Centers help. 

⤷ myDayOne uses simulations, role plays, and real scenarios to show leaders how they actually behave under pressure. 
⤷ Feedback comes from multiple trained assessors, reducing bias.
⤷ Insights convert into actionable development plans that track progress over time.

Organizations that develop leaders who last don't leave self-awareness to chance. They build structured ways for leaders to see themselves as their teams actually experience them.

PS: Do you think most leaders know how their teams actually experience them, or are they operating on assumptions?

Good work doesn't speak for itself. It gets interpreted through relationships, trust, and influence. That's just how organisations function. And ignoring it can cost you your career. 

I've seen deeply competent people stall for years because they assumed performance alone would be enough. 

On the other side, I've seen average performers advance because they understood timing, alliances, and perception.

Politics exists wherever decisions affect resources, visibility, and power. 

What hurts careers isn't politics itself, it's being naive about it. 

Ignore politics, and you become invisible. 
Fight it emotionally, and you get labeled. 
Understand it calmly, and you become effective.

Here's how you can handle it strategically- 

1. You're excluded from important discussions
❌ Don't: Complain to peers
✅ Do: Ask decision-makers directly how you can contribute

2. Your boss favors another employee
❌ Don't: Compete emotionally or withdraw
✅ Do: Focus on delivering visible value and building direct trust

3. A co-worker tries to draw you into complaining about leadership
❌ Don't: Participate casually
✅ Do: Listen neutrally and steer the conversation back to work

4. A colleague undermines your work 
❌Do not: Mirror the behaviour
✅ Do: Document work and communicate progress transparently

5. A mistake becomes public
❌Do not: Pass the blame
✅ Do: Own the issue and show corrective action 

Office Politics isn't about winning against others. It's about protecting your ability to do meaningful work over the long term.

PS: Do you think understanding office politics is a survival skill or something that shouldn't matter if the work is strong enough?

Office Politics

A 360° report tells you how people experience you. It doesn't prepare you for the moment you're under pressure and need to respond differently.
 
That gap is where most leadership development breaks down.

When leaders receive their 360° feedback report, they read it once, feel a mix of validation and discomfort, and go back to the same habits. 

Nothing in their environment changes, so behavior doesn't either.

360° shows perception, not practice. It doesn't show you how to behave differently when you're short on time, facing conflict, or navigating a decision with no clear answer. 

Feedback also arrives months after the behaviors occurred. By then, the emotional context is gone. It feels abstract, not actionable.

Leaders grow when three things happen together, repeatedly:

👉 Stretch situations that reveal how someone actually responds under pressure.
👉 Specific, timely reflection that connects feedback to a real moment they remember.
👉 Repeated cycles of trying, adjusting, and trying again until new behavior feels natural.

That's how myDayOne helps by combining simulations, real-time feedback, and role-linked development so learning becomes capability, not just a report.

PS: Have you ever received feedback that made complete sense but changed nothing about how you actually led?

At Zappos, you could hit every sales target, outperform your entire team, and still get fired.
Tony Hsieh designed it that way during his tenure on purpose. 

Because he noticed something during Zappos' rapid growth, some of the best performers were quietly damaging the environment around them. 

Collaboration dropped. Trust between teams weakened. Service mindset started fading.

So he made culture 50% of every performance review. Assessed through peer feedback and internal reviews. 

If you consistently failed the culture evaluation, your numbers couldn't save you.

Here's why this matters for leaders building growing teams:

1. Tolerance defines culture more than value statements. The behaviors you allow from your best people quietly set the real norms for everyone else.

2. Psychological safety comes from consistency. When teams see that no one is above behavioral standards, trust deepens and collaboration becomes natural.

3. Culture becomes a capability when it's measured. Teams that share clear behavioral expectations handle pressure better and spend less energy navigating internal friction.

4. Protecting culture early is always cheaper than repairing it later. Once negative patterns spread, rebuilding trust can take years.

The cost of keeping a high performer who damages your environment is always larger than the cost of letting them go.

PS: Do you think companies should weigh behavior and results equally in performance reviews?

If no one stepped up decisively the last time your organization faced pressure, the problem wasn't courage. It was readiness that was never built. 

Crisis doesn't create leadership. It exposes whatever was already there.

When pressure rises, people don't suddenly develop judgment or composure. They fall back on habits formed over the years
👉 How they think?
👉 How they handle ambiguity?
👉 Whether they take ownership or wait for direction?

If no one steps up, it's because the organization lacked prepared people. 

So treat leadership development as infrastructure, not succession planning paperwork.

If you want to know whether your bench is ready, don't wait for a crisis. 

⤷ Create controlled situations that require leadership. 
⤷ Let someone lead a cross-functional initiative. 
⤷ Ask mid-level managers to handle difficult stakeholder conversations. 
⤷ Rotate responsibility for high-stakes decisions with guidance available.

Then observe how they think, communicate, and recover. 

Strong organizations don't hope the right leader appears when things go wrong. They ensure multiple people are capable of stepping forward when needed. 

Because resilience doesn't come from one heroic individual, it comes from distributed, practiced leadership.

PS: Do you think organizations should treat leadership development as infrastructure or only address it when succession planning forces the issue?

It takes most new hires 6 to 9 months to become fully productive. The surprising part is that almost none of that delay is about skill. 

What actually slows people down is the invisible system they walk into.

Every organization has unwritten rules 

⤷ How decisions really get made
⤷ Who influences what
⤷ What behavior gets rewarded and what gets punished

No onboarding document covers this.

So new hires spend months observing, second-guessing, and waiting for permission before they start acting with confidence. 

By the time they finally understand how things work, half a year has already passed.

Here's how leaders can build readiness from day one:

👉 Give context before tasks. When someone understands why the organization operates the way it does, they start making better calls much earlier.

👉 Trust new hires with real problems early. Meaningful challenges with available guidance accelerate readiness far more than weeks of shadowing.

👉 Make feedback frequent and behavioral. Small course corrections in the first few weeks prevent months of misalignment later.

👉 Connect learning directly to real work. Development that sits outside the workflow rarely gets applied. When it's tied to what someone is actually doing, they internalize it faster.

👉 Track readiness, not training completion. The real question isn't whether someone finished the module. It's whether they can take decisions and collaborate independently.

Companies invest months in finding the right people. The return on that investment depends on how fast those people are set up to contribute. 

When readiness is designed into the system, organizations stop losing those first six months to uncertainty. 

That’s exactly what SPARCLE by myDayOne helps organizations do: build readiness from day one.

PS: Do you think most onboarding programs prepare people for the role, or just introduce them to it?

The gap between attending training and changing behavior isn't about willpower. It's about something most organizations never design for.

Memory.

Most people leave training genuinely energized. They take notes. They commit to applying what they learned.

Then Monday happens. Inbox. Deadlines. Meetings. Small fires everywhere.

And the training dissolves because nothing in their day reminded them to remember. 

Human memory prioritizes what helps you survive today, not what you learned last week in a conference room. 

If a concept isn't revisited, practiced, or triggered in the environment where work actually happens, it fades.

Organizations design training as an event: deliver content, check attendance, move on. But behavior change needs design inside the workflow.

If you want people to actually change- 

→ Create cues in the environment where work happens, not just in training rooms.

→ Build in reflection loops so people can process what they're learning while doing real work.

→ Provide feedback that sharpens understanding before patterns harden.

→ Give people repeated chances to practice the same skill in different contexts.

Behavior doesn't change because information was delivered. It changes when learning becomes part of daily experience.

That's why we built SPARCLE. To help organizations turn one time training into continuous growth with personalized readiness journeys. 

Do you think training fails because of the content or because of what happens after?

Top performers get promoted into leadership roles regularly. About half of them struggle within the first year. The problem starts with what gets measured before the promotion happens.

High performance shows you can deliver. Leadership requires the ability to empower others to deliver.

That shift doesn't happen automatically. It has to be built carefully, intentionally, and with the right lens.

Most organizations promote based on output. What they should measure is readiness across five dimensions:

1. Self: 
Do they know how they show up under stress? 
Can they receive feedback without becoming defensive?

2. Situational: 
Can they adapt their style across different contexts? 
Leading a turnaround isn't the same as scaling growth.

3. Social: 
How do peers experience them? 
Are they respected across functions, not just above or below them?

4. Strategic: 
Do they link execution to outcomes? 
Not just today's tasks but future goals, without being asked.

5. Sustained: 
Can they lead consistently, not just during training or crises? 
Momentum matters more than moments.

Top performers win by doing. Leaders win by building people who can do. 

Until organizations measure for that, promotions will keep feeling like risks instead of progressions.

PS: What's your biggest learning when promoting someone into leadership?

Two people work equally hard for five years. One becomes indispensable. The other stays stuck. The difference? Whether they stopped to reflect or just kept executing. 

When you're drowning in work, reflection's the first thing that's sacrificed. Deadlines are tight. Messages pile up. Clients need responses.

So you tell yourself you'll think properly once things calm down. Except they don't.

Over time
👉 You start solving the same problems on repeat without realizing it. 
👉 Decisions get made fast but they're reactive. 
👉 You keep making the same mistakes.

You're moving fast. You're handling a ton. But you're not actually growing. 

And that gap eventually shows up in how your career unfolds: 

Execution without reflection: Success depends on how much you personally push
Execution with reflection: Success depends on systems and people you’ve strengthened

Execution without reflection: Your workload grows with your competence
Execution with reflection: Your influence grows while your workload becomes selective

Execution without reflection: You are valued for reliability
Execution with reflection: You are valued for judgment

Execution without reflection: You get pulled into urgent work repeatedly
Execution with reflection: You are trusted with decisions that prevent urgency

Execution without reflection: Burnout risk increases as responsibility increases
Execution with reflection: Resilience increases because you understand what truly matters

Execution gets you noticed today. Reflection builds where you end up five years from now.

PS: When was the last time you paused to reflect on what you're learning?

Execution with reflection 

The fastest way to damage a struggling culture even further is to throw more activities at it. And that's exactly what most leaders do the moment something feels off.

I've seen this play out many times.

A leader can feel something's off even when the results look fine. 

⤷ People are polite but not honest
⤷ Meetings happen but nothing real gets said
⤷ And the spark that used to drive the team has dimmed.

And that's when the instinct to act fast kicks in. Offsites get planned, fun Fridays appear on the calendar, and town halls get scheduled back-to-back.

It reminds me of something called the wild horse effect. 

When a wild horse is bitten by a bat, the bite won't kill it. But the horse panics and starts running faster and faster, not because the bite is dangerous but because it wants to escape the discomfort. Sometimes the horse runs until it collapses.

Leaders do the same thing. A small signal of cultural discomfort appears and instead of understanding it, leaders increase activity. 

The problem was never a lack of events or energy. It was the organization signaling that something needs attention
👉 How is trust maintained?
👉How clarity flows? 
👉 And how leadership shows up when things get uncomfortable?

If you don't understand that root, you end up treating symptoms year after year, wondering why nothing sticks. 

Offsites and celebrations have their place. But they work best when they reinforce a healthy culture, not when they're used to cover up a strained one. 

PS: Do you think most culture problems are about what's visible or what's underneath?

A new person joins your team, earning more than people who've been there for years. Leadership calls it "market rate." The existing team sees it differently. 

They see proof that staying wasn't worth it.

Your best performer just watched someone walk in the door making more than them. 

That person doesn't know the customers yet. Doesn't know which stakeholder actually makes decisions. Doesn't know why the last three attempts at this failed
.
But they're getting paid more.

The person who stayed? 

⤷ They covered when the team was short. 
⤷ They fixed the processes that were broken. 
⤷ They carried the knowledge no one thought to write down. 

And now they're doing math. Wondering what loyalty actually bought them. This is what happens when organizations postpone growth until it's too late. 

Promotions delayed. Development conversations pushed. Recognition left to "next quarter."

And when the need becomes urgent, leadership pays a premium for someone external because they didn't build capability within anyone internal.

But here's what organizations often miss- 

Existing people already understand how things work here. When you invest in their readiness, they grow into new roles in weeks while external hires spend months just learning the terrain.

People don't leave because someone new got hired. They leave because they realize growth happens faster outside than inside. 

When you build people before you need them, hiring feels like scaling instead of correction.

That's what SPARCLE by myDayOne helps organizations do. Build readiness before urgency forces you to buy it externally.

PS: Are you investing in your current team before the need to hire externally becomes urgent?

You scroll LinkedIn for two minutes and close the app feeling like you're falling behind. Everyone's getting promoted while you're still figuring things out. Here's what nobody's telling you.

What you're seeing isn't someone's career. It's their announcement board. Nobody posts 

👉 "Spent six months confused in my role" 
👉 "Struggled with imposter syndrome this quarter" 
👉 "Made a decision that didn't work and had to rebuild confidence."

Careers are not like ladders going upwards. They go up, flat, down, sideways, quiet, then suddenly visible. 

Most growth happens in phases that don't look impressive to post online. 

The comparison loop starts when we measure our behind-the-scenes against someone else's published moment.

Here's what shows up on your feed vs what people actually experience- 

LinkedIn: “Excited to announce…”
Real life: “I hope I can handle this new responsibility.”

LinkedIn: Everyone seems ahead
Real life: Most people feel behind sometimes

LinkedIn: Celebrates the award photo
Real life: Carries the rejections behind it

LinkedIn: Career moves look confident
Real life: Most decisions are made while still figuring things out

LinkedIn: Title updates look like success
Real life: Titles often come with silent pressure

Everyone you see doing well has had seasons they never posted about. 

If it feels like you're behind, you're probably just in the part of the story that hasn't been posted online. 

PS: Have you ever posted a milestone on LinkedIn while struggling with something you'd never share?

what we see on LinkedIn vs reality 

I've seen teams grow from 50 to 100 people and still struggle with the same problems. More people didn't solve anything. It just spread confusion across calendars. 

When there's a performance gap in the team, hiring feels like the answer. It's visible. It's decisive. It tells everyone you're taking action.

Then the new people arrive. And within weeks, 

⤷ They're asking the same questions the existing team couldn't answer. 
⤷ They're waiting in the same approval queues. 
⤷ They're sitting in meetings trying to figure out who actually makes decisions here.

The problems don't get solved. They get distributed. Now you have 100 people unclear about priorities instead of 50.

I've seen this play out enough times to know the pattern. 

Teams don't always struggle because they're understaffed. 

They struggle because something structural is broken: unclear ownership, slow decision-making, conflicting priorities, or leaders who can't let go.

Hiring into that just makes the system complex.

Before adding headcount, ask these questions: 

👉 What specific work isn't getting done? Is the blocker skill, authority, or bandwidth? 
👉 Who on the current team could solve this if we removed what's in their way? 
👉 If we hire someone strong tomorrow, what would stop them from hitting the same wall?

Most leaders skip this because diagnosing the system is harder than opening a job requirement. 

But adding people to a broken system doesn't fix it. It just makes it more expensive to fix later.

PS: Is adding people to a struggling team the solution, or just a delay tactic that makes the real problem harder to see?

Strategy, technology and resources are great—but if your people aren't aligned, nothing meaningful grows.

After 30 years in HR and OD, from advising boards to consulting to building HRtech, I’ve learned that the most powerful tool you have in any transformation is actually yourself.

That’s the core of why I chose the Organization Development Certification Program (ODCP) by ISABS ODCP.

It isn’t just another line on a resume. It’s a deep dive into behavioral science that changes how you "read a room" and sense what’s happening beneath the surface of a system. 

Whether I’m coaching a CXO or navigating succession planning at the board level, the OD lens is now simply how I operate.

If you are a Business leader, HR leader, consultant, or founder looking to move beyond "fixing" problems and start mastering the "mess" of human systems, I highly recommend giving ODCP a look.

It didn’t just add to my professional practice. It reshaped it.

Check out the video below to hear more about my journey.

If you're curious about exploring ODCP for yourself, I've added the program details and link to express your interest in the comments below. 


#OrganizationDevelopment #LeadershipCoaching #ODCP #ISABS #HumanCapital #ChangeManagement #ExecutiveLeadership

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