BT Solutions Group

C-level expertise and perspective—without the full-time cost, hiring risk, or bandwidth strain.

I help founders, owners, and investors fix what’s broken, unlock growth, and build what’s needed to scale—faster, smarter, and leaner.

Who I Work With
✅ Startups with traction
✅ SMBs hitting ceilings—$1M to $10M
✅ Companies at $10M to $30M looking to reach $50M to $100M
✅ Founder-led orgs ready to scale
✅ PE & VC firms needing hands-on execution, EBITDA growth & value creation

As a Fractional COO and Advisor, I work in two ways:
• Hands-on leadership — stepping in as operator, integrator, or execution partner
→ 5–20 hours/week · 2–4 clients max · Monthly retainers
• Strategic advisory — providing clarity, planning, and decision-making support
→ 5–10 hours/month · 4–8 clients max · Monthly retainers

When needed, I scale through my trusted network—bringing in the right experts for Tech, HR, IT, Sales, Supply Chain, and more.

 Areas I support most:
🔹 Ops, Sales, Biz Dev, HR, Org Design, P&L, and Value Creation
🔹 Full P&L oversight—forecasting, modeling, KPIs, cost control, and funding readiness

Key Accomplishments
✅ Scaled a CPG distribution business from $0 to $100M ARR
✅ Reduced $20M in leases by 90% & turned $15M fleet liability into $2M profit
✅ Built GTM & investor-ready financials for startup beverage brand
✅ Created GTM plan for $10M Food Company 
✅ Cut costs 28% & grew subscribers 14x for $4M wellness e-com brand
✅ Built ops roadmap for $15M SaaS startup
✅ Ran in-house agency ops—brand, digital, content, and media

How I Drive Results
✔ Remove bottlenecks & unlock scale
✔ Strategic & financial leadership—P&L, KPIs, capital
✔ Build scalable systems & execution discipline
✔ Drive growth through GTM, sales, and business development

🔧 The OPTICS System™
Works with any framework (incl. EOS) to:
• Diagnose constraints
• Uncover growth levers
• Build scale-ready infrastructure
• Align teams & drive execution

📩 Let’s get you fixed.

Real work. Real results.

Fractional COO/Operator | Founder & CEO

Snake River Spirits

Investor-Led Turnaround | Fractional COO → F/T CEO & Board Member

Brought in by major investors to fix execution, cut costs, and reposition this liquor company after it burned through $12M in funding with no clear path forward. Transitioned from Fractional COO role to CEO and took full P&L ownership to drive profitability and restore investor confidence.

🔹 Key Wins:
✅ 2X EBITDA Growth – Increased margins through cost-cutting & operational efficiencies
✅ $2M in cost reductions – Eliminated waste & streamlined operations
✅ 2X revenue growth – Repositioned business to own key markets
✅ 2X new retail & distributor placements – Strengthened key relationships
✅ Secured $6M in new funding ($3M debt / $3M equity) – Backed by turnaround execution
✅ Expanded product portfolio – Launched innovation pipeline to drive future growth
✅ Fully restored investor confidence

💡 Proven expertise in value creation, financial strategy, and investor-driven turnarounds. Today I apply these hard-won experiences and skills towards being a Fractional Ops & Strategic Growth leader for startups, SMBs & investor-backed companies.

President and CEO/Board Member

Catapult Partners

COO & Strategic Growth Advisor | Value Creation for Investor-Backed Businesses ($0-$30M)

Led turnarounds, repositioning, and operational scaling across five investor-backed companies, including three startups and two SMBs ($10M & $30M ARR). Focused on driving efficiency, structuring growth, and advising on financial strategy and P&L management to improve forecasting, controls, and profitability—leading to investor confidence.

🔹 Key Wins From Select Engagements:
✅ 2X EBITDA growth – Expanded margins through cost optimization & operational efficiencies
✅ 30% efficiency gains – Cut waste, streamlined execution, and improved scalability
✅ 42% revenue growth – Scaled operations & negotiated growth-driving contracts
✅ Implemented 5X scalable infrastructure – Built CRM, ERP, BI systems for growth
✅ Led market repositioning – Expanded customer base & improved margins

🔹 Industries these companies operated in:
CPG & Beverage | E-Commerce | Supply Chain & Distribution | Health & Beauty | Medical Device

💡 Proven value creation—optimizing operations, driving EBITDA growth, and maximizing enterprise value. Today I apply these hard-won experiences and skills towards being a Fractional Ops & Strategic Growth leader for startups, SMBs & investor-backed companies.

COO  

We Pack Logistics

COO | Multi-Industry SMB Leadership (7 Companies, $100M+ Revenue, Family-Owned Businesses)

Led transformation across seven SMB & LMM businesses (including We Pack Logistics) under the HWH parent company, driving significant growth, profitability, and operational efficiency while overseeing P&L, financial strategy, and capital allocation across diverse industries.

🔹 Select Achievements:
✅ 3X revenue growth & 90% EBITDA increase – Diversified customer base and offerings while optimizing operations, streamlining processes & reducing inefficiencies
✅ 40% profitability boost – Diversified client base & secured Fortune 500/global contracts
✅ 20% efficiency gains – Digitally transformed operations (ERP, WMS, TMS, CRM), improving inventory accuracy & reducing errors

🔹 Industries these businesses operated in:
Food & Beverage | CPG & Distribution | Logistics & Supply Chain | Manufacturing & Contract Packaging | Warehousing, Engineering & Construction

💡 These experiences provided the equivalent of a "PHD" in operating SMBs and shaped my expertise in fixing, scaling, and optimizing businesses—experience I now bring to startups, SMBs & investor-backed companies as a Fractional Ops and Strategic Growth leader.

President of We Pack Logistics & COO of HWH Companies (Holding Co.)

Talking Rain Beverage Company®

Sales & Distribution Expansion | Sparkling Ice

Led sales growth during explosive expansion, scaling distribution and optimizing retail authorizations for national reach.

✔ 10X+ revenue growth – Built a 130-distributor network, streamlining national sales
✔ Reorganized & scaled sales team to align operations with surging demand
✔ Secured key retail placements, strengthening distribution partnerships

💡 Helped Sparkling Ice transition from a regional brand to a nationally recognized market leader.

Director of Sales

Red Bull

Pioneering Red Bull’s U.S. Distribution Model

One of the first U.S. employees at Red Bull, pioneered the company-owned distribution model, scaling operations, and leading P&L for three high-growth distribution businesses.

🔹 Key Achievements:
✔ Built & scaled two distribution businesses, growing from $0 to $30M and $3M to $40M ARR
✔ Optimized operations & increased EBITDA 2-3X through efficiency & profitability improvements
✔ Developed infrastructure & best practices that fueled national expansion

💡 This experience shaped my passion and expertise for building, scaling, and optimizing businesses and GTM strategies —skills I now apply as a Fractional Ops & Strategic Growth leader.

General Manager

Fractional Executive Leader / Advisor / Consultant

🚀 I’ve built and scaled businesses from $0 to $100M.

Now I help founders, owners, operators, and investors grow companies in the $0–$30M range — faster, leaner, and smarter.

As a Fractional COO / Operator & Advisor, I help businesses scale by fixing what’s broken, unlocking what’s next, and building what’s needed — across ops, sales, biz dev, org design, execution, EBITDA, and value creation.

💡 Who I Work With

✅ Startups with early traction trying to scale
✅ SMBs hitting a ceiling — what worked at $1M is breaking by $10M
✅ Companies pushing toward $30M — what got them here won’t get them to $50M or $100M
✅ Founder-led businesses looking to step out of the weeds
✅ PE & VC firms needing a trusted operator across portcos — bringing clarity, execution, EBITDA growth & value creation

🔧 My proprietary OPTICS System™ plugs directly into a business to: 

• Uncover bottlenecks
• Identify untapped growth
• Build the infrastructure, accountability, and execution needed to scale
• Reposition the company and provide a clear GTM plan

It works alongside any framework — including EOS — to accelerate progress and bring strategy to life.

🧠 Strategy + Execution = Results

Most consultants deliver frameworks with no follow-through.
Most operators execute but can’t design scalable strategy.
I do both — and make sure they work together.

✔ Strategic planning, positioning & growth clarity
✔ Execution, systems & accountability
✔ Biz dev, sales team buildout & GTM that drives revenue

🛠 How I Drive Results

✔ 360 audits & execution roadmaps
✔ Operational clarity + team alignment
✔ GTM execution & revenue acceleration
✔ EBITDA growth, value creation & margin expansion
✔ P&L, forecasting & capital planning
✔ EOS-compatible — I can plug into or alongside any system
✔ I step in as a true Integrator when needed

📊 Industry Experience

🛒 CPG & Beverage — Built national distributor networks. Led GTM, sales, ops, and growth for brands like Red Bull, Sparkling Ice, Alani Nu, and Prime.
📦 E-commerce, Fulfillment & Marketing — Scaled subscription ops, overhauled fulfillment, led in-house marketing agencies and external partners, and tied brand + media to revenue.
🏭 Manufacturing, Supply Chain & Commercialization — Oversaw and scaled manufacturing companies, restructured production floors, and led product dev, sourcing, co-manufacturing, logistics, pricing, trade marketing & distribution — from idea to shelf.

📩 If growth is stalling, ops are messy, or scale feels out of reach — let’s fix it.

Real work. Real results.

Bill Mattoon

Ranked #1 in Branding | AI Strategist for High-Stakes Communications | I Help You Attract Premium Clients, Stages & Global Media | 35M Views

Iza Montalvo is an award-winning journalist, founder, and speaker whose work has been recognized on the floor of the U.S. Congress.

She works at the intersection of media, reputation, and influence, shaping how leaders, companies, and experts are seen, trusted, and remembered.

Over the past 15+ years, Iza has helped craft public narratives and media strategy for U.S. elected officials, public figures, advised C-suite executives at Fortune 100 and 500 companies, and partnered with product and go-to-market teams to launch and scale complex technologies. 

Her specialty: translating high-stakes ideas, from AI platforms to enterprise systems into human stories people understand and believe.

Her own platform has reached more than 50 million people, building a 115k-strong audience in a single year. 

She has been featured in Times Square, recognized by Forbes as a LinkedIn expert, and ranked #1 globally for branding and positioning by Favikon.

Whether on stage, online, or on the page, Iza challenges one belief:
talent isn’t enough, visibility shapes opportunity.


IZA MONTALVO 🧲

This isn’t persuasion.
It’s how the brain works.

Most offers don’t fail because the product is weak.
They fail because the decision feels hard.

Carousel created by Tom Pestridge.

Every buying decision runs on a few shortcuts.
Ignore them and strong offers stall.

9 principles that shape buying decisions:

✅ Anchoring Bias
✅ The Framing Effect
✅ The Contrast Effect
✅ The Affordability Illusion
✅ The Power of Free
✅ The Rule of 3
✅ The Paradox of Choice
✅ The IKEA Effect
✅ The Endowment Effect

Good marketing isn’t deception.
It’s structure.

It aligns the offer with how decisions happen
so value doesn’t need explanation.

📌 Save this before you price or package anything.
♻️ Share it with someone who builds offers.

NEUROMARKETING CONCEPTS TO KNOW

I lost time trying to “figure things out myself.” Speed matters more than pride.

So in 2023, I made a rule:
If I want to learn something fast, I hire the best.

I treat this as a practical decision.

Jobs are contingent.
Markets are cyclical.
Titles are temporary.
Skills are portable.

I’ve seen people lose income, security, and status.
The ones who recovered weren’t unusually confident or optimistic.
They were competent.

They could do something useful in more than one setting.
They didn’t need ideal conditions to function.
They weren’t dependent on a single system continuing as planned.

One distinction:

You’re not paying for information.
Information is easy to access.

You’re paying to shorten the gap between not knowing and being able to act effectively.

There’s evidence behind this way of thinking.

The World Economic Forum estimates that 44% of workers’ skills will change by 2027, driven by technology and shifting business needs.

Skills that only work in one role or one environment don’t age well.
That’s why I don’t see learning skills as a gamble.
I see it as limiting downside.

When you invest in property, equities, or a role, you rely on external conditions holding.
When you invest in skills, you increase your ability to operate when they don’t.

The filter I use before investing in a skill:

Can I use this in more than one role or industry?
Does it improve how I think and decide, not just what I produce?
Would it still be useful if my current job disappeared?

If the answer is no, I skip it.
If things went wrong tomorrow, I wouldn’t be starting from zero.

I’d be starting with capabilities I can apply again.
That’s the difference.

PS: If you’ve built a skill that paid off later than expected, share it below, those examples are more useful than advice.

♻️ Repost to help spread this message

When I say it's never too late, I mean it because I've lived it.

At 40, I:

got married for the first time
had my second child
quit my corporate career in news
built my first serious business
traveled to my dream city in Europe 
bought my first investment property

At the same time, life didn't stop happening.

I lost a job. 
My husband got sick.
I spent years trying to find the right support for my child with additional needs.
I got scammed online.
I had to reinvent myself.
I found success again. 

If you're new here, I want you to know this:

You're not late.
You're not broken.
You didn't miss your one chance.

Some of us move slower because we're carrying more.
We are figuring out things as we get older and wiser. 

If you're in the middle of a reset, this isn't the end of your story.
It's the part where you realize what you're really made of.

PS: What's one thing you started later than you "should have" and still made happen?

Award-Winning Founder, Journalist & Speaker | Top 1% Creator | Former U.S. Congress Communications Director

Kindness matters more now than it used to. 
Or at least it feels that way. 

Sometimes it’s a smile, a helping hand, or a simple gesture that brightens someone’s day. 

Work has sped up, gone remote, stripped back to tasks and messages and calendars. 
A lot of the human stuff has thinned out.

There’s data behind that feeling. 
Studies on modern workplaces show declines in perceived empathy and connection as work becomes more digital. 

Gallup has found that only a small fraction of employees feel genuinely seen or cared about at work, even when performance stays high.

During remote learning, a professor logged into what he assumed was just another final Zoom class. 

Same faces. 
Same screens. 
Nothing to mark the end.

Then the cameras came on.
One at a time.
Every student holding a handwritten sign.

"Thank you".
"For caring".
"For showing up".
"For treating us like people".

He stopped talking.
Just looked at the screen for a second.

Then said is a whisper: “You’re gonna make me cry.”

Someone recorded it. 
The clip made its way around. 
People shared it, saved it, sent it to each other.

Psychology research explains why moments like this are so memorable. 

Under stress, the brain holds on to emotional experiences more than information. 
Facts blur. 
Feelings don’t.

That semester was full of isolation, deadlines, and glowing rectangles. 
And this is what stayed with people.

Not the material.
Not the grades.
Not the lectures they crammed for.

Being noticed.
This isn’t really about teaching.
It’s about leadership. 

Or maybe it’s about what leadership looks like when all the extras fall away.
If you manage people, build things, mentor someone, the impact you have usually shows up later.

In trust.
In who sticks around.
In moments you never planned for.

That’s the part people carry with them.

🎥 Video credit: Brain Nourishment, IG
♻️ If you believe in kindness, pass it on.

Perspective arbitrage is worth 30% more revenue.
Research on cultural adaptation found this pattern.

Companies that adjust products and messaging see higher revenue growth than those that don’t.

Most companies already have this advantage.
They just don’t see it.

What is perspective arbitrage?

The ability to profit from insights others can't access because you think in multiple cultural contexts.

Inside organizations, this ability is often treated as translation.

I’ve seen the cost of that mistake.

A company planned to enter a new market.
The discussion centered on translation and launch timing.
One person raised a different concern.

The product story didn’t match how customers in that market judged value.
That observation changed the launch plan.
Projected revenue increased threefold.

Nothing new was added.
The decision changed.

So why does this keep getting overlooked?

1/ It gets framed as language
“I can help translate.”
Instead of: “This won’t work the way we expect.”

2/ Differences get set aside
Teams aim for speed and miss context.

3/ Observations don’t carry forward
Adjustments get made in meetings,
then disappear once the decision is done.

When insight isn’t named, it doesn’t influence the next choice.
Seeing across cultures isn’t a soft skill.
It’s how blind spots get caught early.

Many bilingual professionals are hired for language.
The ones who advance earn trust for how they think.

Perspective arbitrage isn’t a personal advantage.
It’s how companies avoid making the wrong call.

Your cultural lens isn't just heritage.
It's a business advantage.

🔁 Share if you've used cultural insights to drive business results
➕ Follow me IZA MONTALVO 🧲 for more

Founder | Top 1% Creator | Journalist | Former U.S. Congress Communications Director | 50M Views

Intelligence opens doors. 
Adaptability keeps you moving.

Someone with less experience just got promoted 
over 5 people who'd been there longer.

Same role. 
Same manager.
Happened over 18 months.

The difference wasn't talent.
It was how they responded when things changed.

When feedback came, they didn't defend it. 

They listened. 
Took notes. 
Applied it without ego.

When a new system rolled out, they learned it first. 
While others complained, they were already fluent.

They copied what worked. 
Emails. 
Meetings. 
How to handle pushback. 

Same personality. 
Upgraded execution.

They admitted gaps early. 

"I haven't used this before. 
I'll learn it this week." 
Speed beats pretending.

They systemized mistakes. 

What went wrong. 
Why it happened. 
What changes next time. 

Fix once. 
Avoid forever.

Research shows 64% of senior leaders say: 
a growth mindset enhances productivity and performance. 
Source (TalentLMS)
and 94% of employees would stay at a company longer 
if it invested in their career development.  
Source (LinkedIn)

The pattern is clear: 
Internal promotions happen 20% faster than external hires 

PS: What's one habit you picked up from watching someone else work?
♻️ Share with your network of high-performers

Most leadership misses one simple truth:
Connection isn’t one-size-fits-all.

My 9-year old son’s teacher proves this every morning.
At the classroom door, she gives her students five ways to be greeted:

High-five
Hug
Fist bump
Smile and nod
“Good morning”

That’s it.

No pressure.
No forcing energy.
Just choice.

What matters isn’t the options themselves
it’s what they mean.

👉 You get to decide how you want to be seen today.

Some mornings kids want closeness.
Some mornings they want space.
Some mornings they just want acknowledgment without attention.

And every choice is respected.

That small moment does something powerful:
It gives students agency before the day even starts.

When people are acknowledged in ways that work for them, engagement follows.

They participate more.
They take risks.
They trust.

It made me think about leadership.

How often do we decide for people how connection should look?
How often do we mistake our preference for a universal rule?
The best leaders don’t demand sameness.

They design for difference.
Because confidence doesn’t grow from being managed.
It grows from being met where you are.

♻️ Worth sharing with someone who leads people.

Some fires don’t burn you all at once.
They warm you first 🔥 

You stand close.
You tell yourself it’s manageable.

You adjust instead of stepping back.

Until one day you realize...
you’re not tired.
You’re scorched.

I used to stay near things that were silently burning me.
I thought endurance was a virtue.
It isn’t.

There’s research that backs this up.

Studies on chronic stress show the body reacts before the mind does: 
elevated cortisol, muscle tension, sleep disruption, long before people consciously label a situation as “toxic” or unsustainable.

That’s why logic rarely gets you out first.
Your nervous system tries to.

What finally changed things wasn’t a conversation.
Or closure.
Or an apology.

Relief came the moment I stepped out of the burn radius.

That’s emotional intelligence.
Not reading the room
reading the heat in your own body.

Those Sunday night knots?
That’s not anxiety.
That’s information.

Psychologists call it somatic signaling, the body flagging prolonged threat when the mind is still negotiating.

Signs you’re standing in the fire:

🚩 You explain it more than you enjoy it
🚩 You’re depleted, not restored
🚩 You don’t recognize who you’re becoming
🚩 Every interaction feels like careful movement
🚩 You’re giving fuel, getting smoke back

Leaving doesn’t mean you failed to control it.
It means you stopped pretending you could.

Sometimes, the bravest thing you can do 
is walk away and chose yourself.

♻️ Repost to share this message with your network.

Ranked #1 in Branding & Positioning | AI Strategist for High-Stakes Communications | I Help You Attract Premium Clients, Stages & Global Media

Your biggest limit isn’t skill. 
It’s self-perception.

Before effort.
Before chances.
Before experience.

I didn’t apply for leadership roles
because I didn’t see myself there yet.

That took me longer to admit than I’d like.

You don’t try everything you can do.
You try what feels right for someone like you.

That starts early.

The jobs you apply for.
The roles you raise your hand for.
The rooms you expect to be in.

Over time, this view becomes familiar.

You learn what you’re known for.
You learn what people come to you for.
You learn what feels normal to reach for.

Then something bigger shows up.

A role with more responsibility.
A chance to lead instead of help.
An opportunity that could change things.

You pause.
You read it twice.
You tell yourself to wait.
You think you need more time.

So you stay where you are.
The work stays busy.
The results stay good.

But nothing really changes.

While that view stayed the same:

Skills stayed boxed
Growth slowed
Opportunities passed you by

Nothing broke.
Nothing failed.
That’s how limits work.

They don’t stop you.
They guide what you try.

People who move ahead see themselves doing more.

They apply sooner.
They speak up earlier.
They step into roles they grow into later.

That starts with how they see themselves.

Different view.
Different actions.
Different results.

Change how you see yourself,
and the line moves.

Little by little.
You reach higher.
You stay in the room.

You try things that once felt out of reach.
That’s how limits lift.

PS: What’s one limit you’re ready to question?
♻️ Share this with someone who needs it.

A bad boss makes weekdays hell. 
A great one gives you Sundays off. 

I’ve worked for managers who made me dread Mondays.
And managers who made me want to take on things I didn’t feel ready for.

The difference wasn’t title or tenure.

7 signs you’re working with a great manager:

They remember what you told them weeks ago.
They ask how it turned out without checking notes.

When you mess up, the first question is:
“What do you need to fix this?”

They back you in rooms you’re not in.
You hear about it later, casually, from someone else.

Bad news doesn’t trigger panic.
It starts with: “Walk me through what happened.”

They give you work that makes you pause before saying yes.
The kind that forces you to rise.

Their one-on-ones aren’t updates.
They’re honest conversations about what’s stuck and what’s next.

When they’re wrong, they say it.
Out loud in front of others.
Then they move on.

The best managers don’t just manage work.
They change what you think you can do.

If you've got one, appreciate them. 
If you don't, become one. 

PS: What’s one thing a great manager did that you still remember?
♻️ Share if you believe good leaders deserve recognition.

5 mindsets I see in every successful person 
(you’re not born with this)

95% of people want to be high performers.
Only 5% install the mindset required to sustain it.

The difference isn’t effort.
It’s how they interpret pressure, failure, and time.

I’ve had to consciously rewire these myself, especially after hitting plateaus where “working harder” stopped working.

Here are 5 mindset reframes that separate winners from everyone else:

Reframe #1: Failure
Every setback is data.
Every obstacle reveals something.

❌ "I'm afraid of making mistakes."
✅ "Mistakes show me what to fix."

Reframe #2: Discipline
Pressure isn't the enemy.
Avoidance is.

❌ "I don't feel like doing it."
✅ "I do what needs to be done."


Reframe #3: Time
You don't find time.
You protect it.

❌ "I don't have time."
✅ "I protect what matters most."


Reframe #4: Success
Success isn't motivation.
It's repetition.

❌ "I hope this works."
✅ "I make it work through action."


Reframe #5: Opportunity
Momentum beats timing.
Action beats waiting.

❌ "I'll start when it's right."
✅ "I start now."

Your mindset determines your ceiling.
Reframe how you think.
Change what you achieve.

♻️ Repost this if it helped.

>>5 MINDSET REFRAMES OF HIGH-PERFORMERS<<

The best KPI no one talks about 👇🏽
because you can’t measure it

It’s how your team feels on Monday morning.
You won’t find it in a dashboard.
It won’t show up in a report.

But you notice it straight away.
It’s there when people walk in.
In the energy they bring.

In whether ideas get shared or kept to themselves.
In how people treat each other before the meeting even starts.
That tells you more than most metrics ever will.

What tends to move that needle:

1/ Keeping people interested
Not just busy.
Not just ticking tasks.
Engaged in what they’re building.

2/ Keeping people informed
Sharing the why, not just the plan.
Letting people see the bigger picture, not just their lane.

3/ Keeping people involved
In decisions that affect their work.
In changes they’ll have to live with.
In wins they helped create.

4/ Keeping people inspired
Through trust.
Through space.
Through leadership that doesn’t rely on pressure.

You can track every number in the business
and still miss the important one.

How many people want to be here.
Look at how your team show up in the morning.
That’s the real dashboard.

Old thinking built control.
New thinking builds outcomes.

Good people don’t leave bad companies.
They leave bad leaders.

Treat people like a risk and you’ll churn talent.
Treat them like an asset and they’ll grow the business.

This isn’t a culture debate.
It shows up in revenue. 

Here's what works:

→ Hire for behavior, train for skill
→ Give people freedom to get results
→ Apply the same rules to everyone

The business owners I work with get this.
They don't build places where people count down to Friday.
They build places where people want to show up.

This change is happening now.

The best leaders aren't building better companies.
They're building places where people grow.

PS: Which shift has made the biggest difference where you work?
♻️ Share this if you agree

"If you want to change the world, start off by making your bed."
William H. McRaven

If you can’t do the small things right
You’ll never do the big things right 

That’s a Navy SEAL lesson to remember. 

Admiral William McRaven said it best in a commencement speech that has been watched over 100 million times.

It comes down to one simple idea:

Make your bed.

It sounds silly.
It isn’t.

True leadership isn’t built in big moments.
It’s built in what you do every day.

When small things slip, bigger things follow.
1/ Start with one finished task
Before email.
Before meetings.
Before anyone needs you.
Do one small thing you can complete.
You start the day with a win.

2/ Use hard moments to pull people together
In SEAL training, the toughest tasks can’t be done alone.

When something breaks:
→ Don’t avoid it
→ Don’t carry it solo
→ Bring someone in and work through it

Teams don’t bond when things are easy.
They bond when things feel challenging.

3/ Notice what others skip
Details tell the truth.
What you check shows what you care about.
People trust leaders who pay attention.

4/ Say what didn’t work
In training, failure was normal.
What mattered was owning it and learning fast.
When leaders talk about mistakes, people stop hiding.
Trust goes up.

5/ Make one person feel seen
In the hardest moments, one comment kept people from quitting.
Leadership lives here.
In checking in.
In noticing effort.
In showing up when it’s uncomfortable.

The gap between good and great isn’t talent.
It’s doing the small things.
Every day.

video credit: IG

♻️ Share this with your network of high-performers

Built your credibility face-to-face.
Keeping it offline is the bottleneck.

I analyzed 50+ leaders’ online presence last year.

Not to study content.
To see where opportunity breaks.

The pattern showed up across the same roles:

📣 Investors.
📣 Executives.
📣 Founders.

People with track records.
Very little to verify in public.

That gap creates credibility leaks.
If you’re missing deals, it’s usually coming from 1 of these 4 places:

1/ Your wins are hard to find
Media features buried
Exits never named
Board seats invisible
If someone has to work to understand your background, they won’t.

2/ Your language sounds like everyone else’s
Careful phrasing
Safe opinions
Nothing that shows judgment
You don’t look wrong.
You look replaceable.

3/ Your presence doesn’t match your level
Generic posts
Helpful tips
No authority markers
You wouldn’t hire this version of yourself.

4/ Your footprint is too light to confirm influence
Search doesn’t validate you
So decisions move on without you

Here’s what that costs in practice:

❌ Investor intros that don’t progress
❌ Board seats that go to visible peers
❌ Speaking invites that never land
 
When leaders fix this, the shift is predictable.

✅ Inbound increases.
✅ Demand rises.
✅ Opportunities start finding them.

Same experience.
Clear positioning.

If you want to close the leaks:

1 / Look yourself up like capital would
First three results only
Do they show relevance?

2 / Put proof where attention goes
Headline: the win that opens doors
About section: the track record you already have
Once a month: explain one real outcome

3 / Remove corporate or technical language
Write how you speak in closed rooms
State what you believe
Let judgment show

4 / Leave authority trails
Share how you decide
Break down calls you’ve made
Show the method behind results

Staying quiet doesn’t protect your name.
It makes it easier to pass over.

PS: Where is your credibility leaking?
♻️ Share with your network of high-achievers

>>Your Perception Capital VS Your Intellectual Capital<<

The mistake doesn’t define you.
It’s what you do next.

This video shows that.
The chair breaks.
The performance continues.

There’s no pause or restart.
The movement changes.
The routine carries on.

That pattern shows up in real work.
When something goes wrong in front of people, they don’t stay on the error.
They watch what happens next.

This lines up with what Atul Gawande describes in The Checklist Manifesto after studying surgeons, pilots, and emergency teams.

Mistakes are expected.
What counts is whether the work keeps moving.

People tend to notice three things:

1/ does it stall or continue
2/ does form hold or break
3/ does ownership stay visible

That’s what shapes judgment.

When something breaks in public, decide fast:
what still works
what needs to change

Then move forward.
The error passes.
The response stays.

Everyone has a version of this moment.
VC: motivatengrwvin

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Iza Montalvo 🧲

Ranked #1 in Branding | Award-Winning Journalist Turned Founder | Ex-US Congress Director | Atract Premium Clients, Global Media & Stages 🧲

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