Billy Samoa Saleebey

Founder of Podify | Launching Video Podcasts for Speakers, Authors & Founders | Amplifying Purpose-Driven Voices, Building Unstoppable Brands | Ex-Tesla

𝗠𝗬 𝗦𝗧𝗢𝗥𝗬:
In 2019, I left Tesla as the Head of Global Sales & Product Training and went ALL IN on podcasting

I left my career but I found my calling. Here's what happened 👇

Spent a decade making movies - My feature film, Rolling, won awards, went to festivals all over the world, and got picked up for distribution in 2009

In 2010, I decided to make a pivot

I wanted to make a difference so I got into the renewables space

Helped scale a small solar company scale to become one of the biggest in the country

Got recruited by SolarCity

When Tesla acquired SolarCity, I got the opportunity to create the Onboarding Program for Tesla

Every new hire who starts at Tesla, goes through this program

I became the Global Head of Sales and Product Training, one level removed from Elon

Then I got the call...

Elon didn't want a global head of sales training

I could have stayed in corporate, but it was time to do my own thing

I started my podcast, Insight Out

Quickly realized how much work it is, so built a team

It became clear that others could also use help, so I started Podify

Today we help 40+ podcasters produce, promote, and monetize their shows

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𝗖𝗔𝗥𝗘𝗘𝗥 𝗛𝗜𝗚𝗛𝗟𝗜𝗚𝗛𝗧𝗦 🚀
🎙️Insight Out - Top 1% Globally
▶️ Co-Founder & CEO of Podify
🎞️ Audience Award Best Feature - Rolling
🎥 Million+ views on YouTube
🤝 30K+ on LinkedIn - Millions of content views 
🏆 Top 100 LinkedIn Sales Star
🚗 Global Leader at Tesla
🥇All-Time Sales Record Holder
📺 Creator of SCTV 

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𝗠𝗬 𝗠𝗜𝗦𝗦𝗜𝗢𝗡 🌎
To help visionaries and change-makers amplify their VOICE to make their mark on the world!

______________________
𝗠𝗬 𝗖𝗢𝗠𝗣𝗔𝗡𝗬 🎙
We help podcasters and brands produce, edit, promote, and monetize their shows - Podify.com

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𝗠𝗬 𝗣𝗢𝗗𝗖𝗔𝗦𝗧 🎙
Insight Out dissects how the world’s most impactful people have made their mark - insightoutshow.com

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𝗪𝗛𝗢 𝗜 𝗪𝗔𝗡𝗧 𝗧𝗢 𝗠𝗘𝗘𝗧 🤝
People who are changing the world

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𝗪𝗛𝗢 𝗜 𝗪𝗢𝗥𝗞 𝗪𝗜𝗧𝗛 👊🏻
Brands, influencers, celebrities, podcasters, athletes, speakers, radio/TV personalities, entrepreneurs, and executives

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𝗙𝗨𝗡 𝗙𝗔𝗖𝗧𝗦 🤙🏻
🌎 World Traveller (42 countries 6 continents)
🍜 Ramen Addict
👨‍👦Dad to Kid Epic (YouTube)
⚾️ Little League Coach

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𝗖𝗢𝗡𝗧𝗔𝗖𝗧 𝗠𝗘 📲
📆 Book a FREE podcast strategy call:
calendly.com/billysamoa/podify

📫 Media requests: saleebey@gmail.com

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Co-Founder & CEO

Podify, LLC is a podcasting services and technology company that specializes in the production and promotion of digital media and podcasts. We work with podcasters and companies to provide audio editing, video editing, search engine optimization, web development, writing, analytics, transcription, publishing, media management, advertising, marketing, and social media support. Our clients subscribe to our monthly membership to receive these services and our mission is to help their podcasts achieve high production quality while reaching their target audience. We also create applications, technology, and automated tools to help create a more efficient workflow to produce a podcast.

This is 49.

One year away from 50…
 
And I feel like I’m just getting started.

Recently, someone my age told me they’re “slowing down.”

I feel the exact opposite.

The next half century?
I believe it will be the best chapter of my life.

This year has brought something even more powerful than progress.

Clarity.

I’ve crystallized who I serve and why.

I work with purpose-driven, mission-driven leaders and entrepreneurs.
 
People building companies that do well AND do good.
Businesses that exist for impact, not just income.

That clarity is shaping everything:
• I’m rebranding my podcast to Built For Impact (this is the first time I'm publicly sharing this)
• I’m interviewing leaders whose missions are bigger than themselves.
• I’m telling stories of companies that prove business can be a force for good.

And something interesting is happening…
I’m attracting the right people.

Founders.
Operators.
Builders.
Leaders who care deeply about the dent they leave in the universe.

On the personal side:

I’ve been walking more. A lot more.

So far this year I've lost 16 pounds.

16 more to go to be a high school weight!

But beyond the weight, walking has also given me mental clarity.
 
Time to think.
Time to listen. (to books, podcasts, friends)
Time to reflect.

My wife created a "birthday table" for me with photos from every season of my life.

It stopped me in my tracks.

The seasons.
The growth.
The setbacks.
The wins.

Life isn’t about the destination.
It’s about the journey.

And the journey is measured less by net worth…
and more by the value of your relationships.

My wife.
My son.
My parents.
My extended family.
Cousins who texted today.
Friends who reached out with a birthday call.

It’s the people.
That’s the real wealth.

I think about life as a wheel:
Love
Family
Friendship
Health
Wealth
Purpose
Work

If one part is missing, the ride gets bumpy.

My goal now is simple:

Build a life where the wheel is full and balanced enough to roll smoothly.

More ups than downs.
More depth than noise.
More purpose than pressure.

And if you get a random text from me in the coming weeks, just saying hello…

It’s intentional.
Relationships matter.

49 feels like alignment.

And I’m excited for what 50 and beyond will bring.

If you’re building something that makes the world better I’d love to connect.

Built For Impact.

I'm excited to share that my feature film Rolling is now on Amazon streaming! Last year, we landed a new distribution deal, which means a new generation can watch it!

Before Podify, before Tesla, before solar...I spent a decade in the film industry. 

And you may not know, I directed, produced, and co-wrote a feature film. 

Yes...

Over 20 years ago, a group of friends came together to make a movie about ecstasy.

We took it to film festivals around the world, it won multiple audience awards for best picture, got picked up for distribution, had a small theatrical run, and was on Netflix, and all the major platforms. 

The DVD was even on the shelves at Blockbuster (remember those days?!?!)

But more than valuable than these milestone achievements, was how working on the movie impacted my life, and the lives of so many who were involved. 

We were young. We were ambitious. We had no idea how meaningful that journey would become.

What started as a creative project turned into lifelong friendships resulting in deep bonds and relationships I still treasure to this day. 

Many of the cast, crew, and producers from that film are still very close. Even marriages happened because of Rolling!

That experience shaped more than a movie…it shaped my life.

Now, 17 years after its original 2009 release, Rolling is streaming on Amazon as part of a new distribution chapter that will bring it to multiple streaming platforms.

I’m incredibly grateful.

Many have asked for a link to watch it, so here it is!

If you have a chance to watch, share, or help us introduce it to someone new, it would mean the world.

Here’s to stories that keep rolling.

Here is the link to Rolling on Amazon:

Those extra holes on Converse sneakers aren’t decorative.
They’re optional capacity.

Yes, they help with ventilation.
That’s the obvious part.

They’re performance features designed to:
 
Lock the heel in place during lateral movement
Reduce foot slip under load
Increase stability during training

Most people never use them.

Not because they’re useless.
But because no one told them they existed.

That same pattern shows up everywhere in business.

Not in obvious ways.
In expensive, quiet ones.

Examples I see all the time:
• Calendars used for meetings: not energy design, focus blocks, or recovery
 • CRMs used as databases: not automation engines or follow-up systems
 • Cameras used on auto: while manual settings could double output quality
 • Teams hired for execution: while their strategic leverage goes untapped
 • PM tools used for tasks: not dependency mapping, risk surfacing, or clarity
 • Podcasts used for distribution: not relationship-building, deal flow, trust
 • Social media used for awareness: not audience research, message testing
 • SOPs written for compliance: not speed, delegation, or creative freedom
 • Analytics viewed as reporting: not behavioral insight or decision guidance

Here’s the truth:

Most people don’t need better tools.
They need deeper fluency.

Tool switching feels like progress because it’s visible.
Mastery feels slow because it’s internal.

But leverage lives in depth.

The people who compound fastest don’t add more.
They extract more.

They ask better questions:
- What am I only using at a surface level?
- What feature did I skip because it felt “advanced”?
- What capability would change outcomes if I actually learned it?

That’s how pros separate themselves from hobbyists.

Not by owning more gear.
 
By understanding what they already have.

Before you buy the next tool, platform, or system:

Learn the extra lace holes.

What’s one tool you already use every day that you suspect you’re under-utilizing?

Most people think this tiny pocket inside your jeans is just a design quirk.
It’s not.

It was originally made for pocket watches.
 
Later, people used it for coins.
 
Today, it mostly does… nothing.

And that’s the point.

The pocket didn’t fail.
 
It did exactly what it was designed to do.
We’re the ones who forgot why it exists.

That’s how systems quietly turn into drag.
Not because they’re broken.
 
But because their original purpose disappears and no one questions them anymore.

This happens in business all the time.
 • A weekly meeting no one can explain
 • A report everyone produces but no one uses
 • A tool the team inherited, not chose
 • A process defended with “we’ve always done it this way”

At some point, the context changed.

The system stayed.

High-performing founders don’t just optimize execution.

They re-audit intent.

They regularly ask:
 • Why was this built?
 • What problem did it originally solve?
 • Would we still design it this way today?

Because scale doesn’t collapse from bad ideas.

It collapses from forgotten ones.

If you can’t explain why something exists in one sentence, it’s already costing you.

🐸 Are we the frog in the AI pot...warming slowly, smiling calmly, and not realizing what’s coming?

Most big shifts don’t feel like emergencies at first.

They feel like conveniences. Efficiency. Progress.

Until one day the temperature isn’t “warm” anymore.
 
It’s… different.

And with AI... the water is heating fast.

Where the “temperature rise” really is

The credible risks aren’t killer robots.
 
They look more like this:
• Quiet job replacement, not overnight, but drip-by-drip
• Enormous power concentrated into very few companies
• Truth becoming harder to verify
• Increasing dependency → decreasing human capability
• Economic & social pressure on people who can’t adapt fast enough
• AI influencing decision-making at scale without transparency

Most people don’t notice risk as long as life seems easier
 
That’s the “warming water.”

The uncomfortable truth

AI isn’t inherently an existential threat

But misaligned incentives + rapid capability growth + global scale = real risk if we don’t take governance and alignment seriously

And hoping it turns out fine has never been a great strategy

So what do we do, practically, right now?

Here’s a simple framework I use when thinking about “future-proofing” in an AI world:

1. Awareness over denial

Don’t panic. Don’t dismiss.
Stay informed through credible sources, not headlines or hype.

2. Augment, don’t compete

Assume AI becomes a baseline tool, like calculators or the internet.
 
Ask daily:
“How does AI make my work 10–100x more effective?”

People who partner with AI will outpace those who avoid it.

3. Invest in deeply human skills

These compound in value:
• judgment
• ethics
• leadership
• creativity
• storytelling
• relationships
• taste
• emotional intelligence

AI amplifies these, it doesn’t replace them easily.

4. Own something AI can’t take

Ideally more than one of these:
• your audience
• your reputation
• your network
• your perspective
• your domain expertise

These are moats.

5. Push for responsible guardrails

Support:
• transparency
• safety research
• alignment work
• policies that protect humans
• accountability in powerful AI systems

We want progress, but with brakes, seatbelts, and airbags.

6. Build resilience

Assume change will accelerate.

Design your life & business for adaptability:
• recurring learning
• multiple income paths
• flexible identity (you are not your job title)

Antifragile beats comfortable.

The big mindset shift
The danger isn’t that AI becomes smarter than us tomorrow
The danger is we slowly hand over agency without noticing

We outsource:

thinking → decision-making → meaning.

The “frog” doesn’t die because the water gets hot.
 
It dies because it stops paying attention.

My takeaway

AI isn’t doom, it’s leverage.

But leverage amplifies everything, including our blind spots

The goal isn’t fear

It’s clear-eyed responsibility, proactive adaptation, and building the kind of society that remains human-centered even with non-human intelligence

Most people spend their entire careers operating inside systems they never bother to understand.

They use them.
Rely on them.
Complain about them.

But they don’t question them.

That tiny hole on the top of a pen cap is a perfect example.

Not because it’s clever.
But because almost no one ever asks why it exists.

And that same blindness shows up everywhere in business.

Founders who:
 • Post content without understanding distribution
 • Hire people without understanding incentives
 • Build offers without understanding friction
 • Scale teams without understanding failure points

They’re using systems they’ve never studied.

The best operators do the opposite.

They zoom in on details most people ignore.
They ask questions that feel “too small” to matter.
They assume nothing is accidental.

That’s where leverage hides.

Here’s the part most people don’t know:

That hole isn’t decorative.
It’s there because pen caps are a choking hazard.

If someone inhales or swallows the cap, the hole allows air to pass through the trachea and reduce the risk of suffocation.

It’s not a branding choice.
It’s not a design flourish.
It’s a safety requirement in many countries.

Which is the real lesson.

Great systems don’t optimize for best-case behavior.

They design for worst-case reality.
The founders who win long-term aren’t the most creative.
They’re the most curious.

They understand why things exist before trying to change them.

Because once you understand the system, you stop fighting it,
 and start using it.

This is what great marketing looks like...and most founders will completely miss why. 👇

Not because they’re bad marketers.

But because they’re addicted to explaining instead of revealing.

Here’s the truth:

People don’t believe claims.
 
They believe behavior.

This ad works because it doesn’t say anything.

It forces your brain to conclude the message on its own.

And when your brain completes the story…

You trust it more.

That’s persuasion at a neurological level.

Here are 7 reasons this ad outperforms 99% of marketing:

1. It externalizes the benefit

Bad marketing says:
“We’re delicious.”

Great marketing shows:
“Look what happens when this exists.”

Show the impact, not the features.

2. It creates behavioral proof

No testimonials.
No guarantees.

Just implied truth:
“If cats are climbing walls for this… it must be irresistible.”

Implied truth > stated truth.

3. It uses object-centered storytelling

You don’t see the brand talking.

You see the world reacting to the brand.

That shifts the story from:

“We are great”
to
“This changes behavior”

That’s much more powerful.

4. It builds desire through pursuit

Movement = attention.
But pursuit = desire.

When something is being chased, our brain automatically assigns it value.

Most brands talk.

Great brands make you lean toward them.

5. It collapses logic and emotion into one frame

Logic says:
 “This product must be good.”

Emotion says:
 “I want the thing everyone wants.”

When those stack, you win.

6. It removes the need for copy

If you need paragraphs to explain your value…

You don’t have clarity.

This ad is a masterclass in strategic subtraction.

The fewer words required, the stronger the idea.

7. It makes the audience do the thinking

And when people participate in the meaning…

They remember it longer.
And defend it harder.

Because now it’s their conclusion, not yours.

This isn’t just ad creativity.

It’s a lesson for anyone building a brand, podcast, or company:

Stop telling people what you do.
Start showing the world that changes when you exist.

When your work genuinely creates transformation…

You don’t need to scream.

You just need to design moments where the truth is undeniable.

Thoughts?

What cold plunging taught me about running a business
I’ve been experimenting with cold and hot therapy.

And the evidence is overwhelming:
 
Stress your body in the right way… and it gets stronger.

It turns out the same principle applies to business.

Here’s how.

1. The hardest part is getting in

Staring at cold water is worse than being in it.

Same with:
 • Shipping the first product
 • Posting the first video
 • Making the first sales call

The anxiety before action is always louder than reality.

Action quiets fear.

2. Discomfort builds capacity

Cold exposure trains your nervous system.

You learn to stay calm while it’s uncomfortable.

Business is constant discomfort:
 • Firing
 • Hiring
 • Saying no
 • Raising prices
 • Making decisions with imperfect data

Your success depends on how well you self-regulate when things get hard.

3. Adaptation happens slowly, then suddenly

The first plunge shocks your system.

By the tenth?
 
You breathe. You focus. You handle it.

Business works the same way.

At first, every problem feels like a crisis.
 
Over time, your tolerance grows.

Leaders aren’t born calm.

They train for calm.

4. Consistency beats intensity

One ice bath doesn’t change anything.
Neither does one great post.
 
Or one amazing quarter.

Small repetitions build big identities.

Do the right thing.
Do it again tomorrow.

5. Exposure reveals weak points

Cold shows you:
 • Where your breath breaks
 • Where your body tenses
 • Where you lose control

Business does too.

Pressure exposes:
 • Weak systems
 • Bad assumptions
 • Fragile culture
 • Missing processes

Pressure isn’t the problem.
Hidden fragility is.

6. Recovery matters as much as stress

Cold. Heat. Rest.
Stress + recovery = growth.

If you only run your business in “stress mode,” you burn out.

Leaders who last schedule:
 • Thinking time
 • Delegation
 • Boundaries
 • Real rest

Not because they’re soft.
Because they’re serious.

7. You never stop feeling the cold

It doesn’t get easier.
You get stronger.

Business doesn’t calm down.
 
You grow into the version of yourself who can handle it.

And that’s the game.

If you’re a founder or leader, ask yourself:

Where do I need more controlled discomfort?
 
And where do I need more intentional recovery?

Because growth doesn’t come from comfort.

It comes from learning how to stay steady in the cold.

Better Every Day Studios

I work with companies and non-profits ranging from multi-national corporations to sole proprietorships, helping them create original content, develop learning strategies and implement solutions. The goal is to dramatically streamline learning through focused and behavior-based content which saves time and money while improving outcomes.

Founder

Space Systems Command

Reserve Officer

hearme.app

I advised an exciting start-up addressing the epidemic problem of loneliness and improve mental wellness using the power of empathetic listening.  The app uses AI filtering to pair users, according to their needs, with trained, peer listeners.  We are really excited about all the potential impact!

Advisor

City Storage Systems

Learning & Development Partner

SpaceX

I was responsible for training and development programs across all SpaceX facilities. My team ran our weekly new employee orientation program, numerous leadership development programs and content creation for the company. We are committed to creating the highest caliber learning experience for our dedicated and passionate workforce.

Manager, Training and Development

I was responsible for the development and deployment of training resources for the SpaceX launch team at Vandenberg AFB. Content ranged from technical system knowledge to required corporate training and was presented in a variety of modalities. I successfully re-organized Environmental, Health and Safety training course material for all of SpaceX, a process which saved the company thousands of work hours per year.

Technical Trainer

US Air Force Reserve

I was responsible for providing command and control support for NASA and NASA-sponsored missions to the International Space Station. In this position I also provided quarterly updates to the Reserve component of the Joint Space Operations Center on activities in the commercial space sector and regularly led seminars on the status of human spaceflight activities and the NASA Commercial Crew Program.

Chief, Human Space Flight Support

Hirepurpose

Online Contributor

United States Air Force

As a KC-10 Instructor Pilot, I instructed new Air Force pilots in the areas of Air-to-Air Refueling, Overseas Navigation and Takeoff/Departure/Approach/Landing procedures. With over 1000 hours of instructional flight time in the KC-10 and other aircraft, I am used to a very high stress instructional environment.

In my role as Wing Executive Officer I coordinated/led 26 divisions in the simultaneous completion of seven personnel management  programs and organized/edited performance & promotion reports for the 6000 member organization.

Wing Executive Officer / KC-10 Instructor Pilot

• Led 12 member Operations Control Center to organize over $88 million worth of worldwide missions which moved 1.2 million pounds of cargo
• Streamlined 10 organizational programs for two squadrons saving 1400 personnel hours per year

Chief Mission Controller / KC-10 Instructor Pilot

Squadron Executive Officer / KC-10 Aircraft Commander

Assistant Flight Commander / KC-10 Pilot

Flight Commander / T-1 Instructor Pilot

I help technical managers lead teams who solve big problems | Speaker, Facilitator, Trainer | ex-SpaceX, Air Force Pilot & recovering Ironman

KIND OF LIKE ROCKET FUEL FOR YOUR LEADERS 🚀
If you're trying to grow great leaders from within but they keep stumbling…
If your new managers are overwhelmed, underprepared, or just not leading...
 👉 Call me. I’ve got you.

MY GOAL 🎯
Turn high-performing employees into high-impact leaders.
Make your leadership bench stronger, more confident, and ready to scale.

WHO I WORK WITH 🔧

HR & Talent Development leaders who are:
 → Promoting first-time managers
 → Improving their organizations leadership culture
 → Building internal leadership programs that actually work

HOW I HELP 🧠

Part Strategic Consultant, Part Instructional Designer, Part World-class Facilitator.
⦾ Keynote events
⦾ Workshops & Offsites
⦾ Custom program development
⦾ Live and Virtual Facilitation
⦾ On-demand content creation
⦾ Group coaching
⦾ Train-the -Trainer

Whether you're trying to reduce turnover, strengthen team culture, or prepare your future leaders — I help you make leadership development stick.

Let’s work together to build better managers, better companies, and a  better world.

WHAT CUSTOMERS ❤️ ARE SAYING 

Marie Burgos - VP, People at Skyryse 
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I can honestly say he exceeded all expectations in the creation and delivery of trainings on feedback and trust for people leaders in our organization. Matt has a unique ability to read the room and pivot effortlessly between sessions, adjusting his style to connect with every type of manager. Whether working with new leaders or those with more experience, he tailored his approach to ensure everyone felt engaged and understood. 

Jacob Bamattre - Director, Talent Development at Vast Space
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Extreme knowledge and experience in our industry with top-notch facilitation skills and impactful, relevant, action-oriented content. I've received several ad hoc follow-ups from our attendees where they commented on the value of the learning experience. I would 100% recommend Better Every Day Studios to my friends and professional network.

Kathy Mantado - Chief People Officer at XPRIZE Foundation
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
XPRIZE loves working with Matt and his team at Better Every Day. They've created tailored workshops on our company values and hiring and interviewing. It is a pleasure working with such an efficient, expedient and knowledgeable team. I highly recommend Better Every Day!

Matt Gjertsen

I train great engineers to be great managers | Speaker, Facilitator, Trainer | ex-SpaceX, Air Force Pilot & recovering Ironman

I’m excited to share that we are hiring a Sr. Director, Learning & Leadership Development for Honeywell Aerospace at a really pivotal moment.
As we prepare to become a standalone, publicly traded company, this role will help shape how learning shows up for our global workforce of about 35,000 employees. The focus is on setting enterprise learning strategy, building strong leadership and manager capability, and standing up a modern, scalable learning organization for the future.
If you know a learning leader who would be a great fit, I would truly appreciate your recommendations. Please feel free to share the posting with your network or take a look yourself here: https://lnkd.in/gTd7p8dk

Open article: Sr Director, Learning & Development by careers.honeywell.com

When you set goals for your team, they need to make sense. 🤔 Given all the talk about AI, 🤖 I think it is important that we take a second to talk about number 5 on this list and why it is last.

The goal a leader is to improve the long-term performance of their team.

With AI tools everywhere, the simplest way to make this happen is to take the tasks you are currently doing and automate them.

This will let you...

- Write reports faster.

- Respond to emails quicker.

- Generate longer and more detailed meeting notes.

But none of that matters if the tasks that you are currently doing don't contribute to the long-term performance of the team.

Elon Musk, when talking about the initial design of Starlink, famously said, "The best part is no part." At the time he said that I was involved in a project of writing documentation for several different teams. This led me to my own rephrasing:

"The best document is no document."

Unless you are a publishing company, the goal isn't to write documents. So having a tool that will let you write more documents, faster, isn't necessarily helpful in driving long-term performance. In fact, it might lower performance because now all those documents need to be maintained.

The next time you set a goal for your team to automate some task, make sure to ask if the task even needs to be done in the first place.

Before we all drown in endless reports, presentations, and emails being generated by our amazing new AI agents.

Some behind the scenes photos of the amazing DisruptHR event in San Francisco last night. 🎉 Congrats to all the speakers for tackling such an impressive challenge of the speaking format.

This was actually my first HR event since moving up to the Bay area and it couldn't have gone any better.

✅ Met great people
✅ Shared inspiring ideas
✅ Filled with amazing energy
❌ Got stuck in SF rush hour traffic

Thanks to Christy Tonge for putting on the event and Megan Gage for bringing me in as a discussion group leader. 

No matter how much AI does in the workplace and our lives, in-person events are still the place to be.

What is the next event you are going to?

Whether you care much about space or not, NASA 🚀 provides a lot of amazing case studies into why leadership and culture matter. Let's take a moment to talk about the Starliner saga.

Way back in 2014, both Boeing and SpaceX were given a contract to develop spacecraft capable of taking astronauts to the International Space Station. 

The contract for Boeing was worth $4.2 billion.

In May of 2020, SpaceX successfully completed their first crewed mission to the ISS, Demo-2 and have since flow 1o more crewed missions for NASA along with several for other customers.

The timeline for Boeing is a bit different.

Boeing launched their first uncrewed test of Starliner in 2019, but it wasn't able to reach the ISS because of software issues.

3 years later, they re-attempted the flight and did successfully reach the ISS, but had several issues with failed thrusters on the flight.

In 2024, Boeing launched their first crewed test mission, and though it did reach the station, a lot went wrong. So much went wrong that NASA decided Starliner was unsafe to return home in, turning the planned 8 day stay for the two astronauts into a 9 month stay. 

A new report from NASA has declared the last mission as a Class A mishap.

Reading the report makes it clear that there were times where both the Starliner crew and potentially the ISS were in greater risk than has ever been disclosed before.

The quote below is from a statement the new NASA administrator, Jared Isaacman, made with the release of the report.

New technologies always involve hardware challenges. Problems pop-up that you can't expect. Things take longer. New solutions have to be found. That isn't surprising.

Moving through those challenges safely requires the right culture and the right leadership.

Once you get those, anything is possible.

NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Next month I am going back to my flying roots 🛫 and speaking at the LA Aviation Summit. There are a lot of reasons I am excited for this.

1️⃣ I always love going back to LA

2️⃣ A conference with the ocean as a backdrop 😁

3️⃣ Small conferences mean build great relationships with great people

4️⃣ Talking about the topic of leading through change

The truth is that change is no longer an event, it is now the environment. The best leaders and the best organizations embrace this fact and use it to stay ahead of the competition.

For this event, I am going to be breaking down the key lessons I have watched leaders employ to help their teams thrive in changing times.

If you are in the aviation world and care about improving leadership in times of change, this belongs on your calendar.

Get your tickets here:
https://lnkd.in/eaJcxjcE

Many thanks to ONE OF A KIND AGENCY for bringing me into this event.

I just got this warning for the first time when making a comment. 😳 The impact of this feature is going to be really interesting to me because I think it is a good idea but can also see if going wrong. ⚖️

A feature like this came up just this morning, during a conversation.

We were talking about having AI monitoring your email and flagging if you were using a communication style that was likely to work with the person you were sending the email to.

So much research shows that taking a second to reflect is really important in making good decisions.

But will the people that need this most actually listen?

For people who use social media as a way to demean people, this will probably only embolden them or anger them because they think "the system" is trying to parent them.

This needs to be a research paper in a few months.

For context, I am guessing that this warning came up because I used the word stupid in my comment. The usage of the word was not directed at someone but used to illustrate a common thought process, so I kept it in.

Wonder if I have a flag on my account now or something.

When trying to build a culture of feedback, we need to stop focusing on how to give feedback and instead focus on how to ask for feedback. If you are a manager, this is what you need to do.

1️⃣ Ask for feedback that is specific.

Too many managers simply ask, "Do you have any feedback for me?" This puts a lot of work on the individual to figure out what to say. Instead, ask something like, "What could I have done better in that meeting?"

2️⃣ Always thank people for giving you feedback.

How you respond to feedback makes a difference. If you clearly listen and say thank you, even if you don't agree, it sets a tone that you are open to feedback and it will be rewarded.

3️⃣ Report back any changes you make.

No one will take the time to give you feedback if they don't think it is making any difference. When someone gives you feedback that results in you doing something, make sure to let them know.

The clip below is from the latest episode of the VHTB Podcast, featuring insights from Justus Kilian from Space Capital, as well as Seyka and Brian Mejeur from AdAstra Talent Advisors. 

Check out to the full episode here:
YouTube: https://bit.ly/4sooBQo
Spotify: https://bit.ly/3YRPxue
Apple: https://apple.co/4q3Zn8k

As a manager, the most powerful tool 🔨 you have to improve performance is coaching. Effective coaching starts with the right mindset, and without it, you won't be successful.

When I teach people about coaching, I like to differentiate between two mindsets.

1️⃣ The expert mindset

2️⃣ The coaching mindset

The expert mindset is the place where most people start. It is what got you promoted. It is what we all think is the best approach. "My people come to me because they want solutions so I will provide them answers."

This works well in the short term, but it does nothing to improve performance over the long term.

The coaching mindset stops trying to provide solutions.  It focuses on asking the right questions and getting your people to come up with their own solutions. 

This is how you build long term capability on your team so you don't have to be the one solving every problem.

Next time a member of your team comes to you with a problem, stop yourself from providing an answer. Take a breath and ask them what they think they should do.

You might be surprised with what they say.

Quick summary of my biggest mistake as a new leader and how you can avoid the same thing.

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The Battle

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Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Billy Samoa Saleebey's LinkedIn Performance

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