Extraordinary Leadership I Dagmara Asbreuk Coaching & Consulting

Extraordinary Leadership is a leadership transformation company that merges executive coaching, deep identity and energy work, and leadership advisory to help executives and teams lead with boldness making lasting impact & living a legacy behind.

We don’t just develop skills. We help leaders evolve from within to drive exponential business growth, team transformation, and a new era of leadership.

Check out: www.theextraordinaryleadership.com

CEO & Founder | Executive Leadership & Transition | Leadership Team | Keynotes

Redefining leadership and success in era of AI

Extraordinary Leadership PODCAST Host

Transformational insights to evolve your leadership, careeer and business with more joy and less efforts

Extraordinary Leadership Newsletter Author

AIIR Consulting

Senior Executive Leadership Coach

Positive Intelligence

Mental Fitness coach | Positive Intelligence

net4tec

Developed and lead 2 editions of a leadership development program for female leaders, focusing on building highly effective teams and growing talents.

EntreNous Program- Building Highly Effective Teams  - design and facilitation 

Kongsberg Automotive

Head of 2 global project purchasing teams serving 2 different Business Units.
Member of BU management teams and Purchasing management team.
Reporting directly to VP Global Project Purchasing & dottet line to (Sr) Executive VP of Business Units (Heads of Business Unit).
My mission was to implement a newly transformed organization focused on project execution, initiation & lead of supplier VAVE and supplier integration in customer projects on time and budget. Build organizational knowledge & develop teams and talents.

Global Project Purchasing Manager

DENSO

My mission was to strengthen the regional purchasing organization and supply base in Europe covering 11 plants. Together with my team of 3 project and commodity leaders, 7 purchasing executives and leaders in Europe we developed and implemented a regional direction and processes in key areas: supplier and risk management, organizational competency, and Supplier Relationship Management. 
Together with my team, we covered the area of raw materials and parts. 
One of my key roles was to develop my own team, guide and develop my members to become regional leaders.
Reported directly to Head of European Purchasing.

European Purchasing Manager

I initiated and led an establishment of a regional direction on Supplier Management for parts and raw materials, through new cross-functional cooperation. I led a project of 7 strategic buyers and managers from different locations in the European procurement organization that focused on developing key regional supplier management processes. 
I recruited, onboarded, and supported the development of a new European purchasing team.
Reported to Head of European Purchasing and dotted line to VP BU Purchasing.

European Purchasing Team & Regional Project Leader

My mission was to assure cost targets and supplier excellence for the whole portfolio of Aluminium & Flux (Raw Materials) for 7 plants in Europe and spend of 80mln€. 
The responsibility was from benchmarks and internal analysis, vision and strategy definition, guidance on market and price trends, alignment with key top stakeholders in regional management and BU’s to execution in cooperation with cross-functional stakeholders and plant buyers including contract management and negotiation of long-term agreements.
Beyond the above key role, I actively contributed to leveling up commodity management in the organization by establishing a regional standard

European Commodity Manager

I led an aluminum extrusion area and was responsible for strategy development and execution, supply base management, and cost management for 7 plants with a spend of over 40mln€.
Beyond that, I proactively contributed to the development of the regional commodity management function for raw materials, by building a supplier market and capability knowledge, and process efficiency.

European Commodity Buyer

FAURECIA AST, Mouzon, France

Responsible for assuring supplier readiness and meeting cost targets for French customers' projects. Managed suppliers for injection molding, stamping parts, and textile.

Project Buyer

Where inner expansion lead to quantum leaps in
leadership, organization & business.

Do you want to multiply your impact, grow your organization & business beyond limits, set a new standard & shape a new way of leading?

Do you look for 'out of standard' approach to leadership success? 

I partner with impact- and growth-driven CEOs, executives & founders who are ready to lead from a new paradigm -  where energy meets strategy, and success comes from within - effortlessly with  fulfillment &  joy.

My clients activate their highest potential, gain deeper clarity, elevate energy, and tap to intuition that transform their leadership & business growth.

This is what I call the New Leadership Paradigm — leading with vision, aligned energy, elevated consciousness, and magnetic presence, not pressure or overdrive.

It’s how extraordinary leaders unlock exponential impact, results & legacy with joy & ease.

My clients become legacy leaders attracting new opportunities effortlessly.
🚀 Leading boldly with clarity and conviction
🚀 Creating momentum with energy and trust
🚀 Feeling deeply fulfilled and present — at work and in life

Who am I?

Transformational & strategic partner to senior leaders with 15 years of corporate experience.

A visionary founder shaping the New Leadership Paradigm -  extraordinary success and fulfillment with more ease.

Dedicated to evolving leadership and unlocking true human potential.

Integrating neuroscience, energy, and quantum consciousness to leadership.

Grateful to partner with leaders from various organizations and businesses - including Maersk, Abbott, Chanel, Roche, and GE.

👉 Ready to explore the new paradigm & shape legacy?

https://calendly.com/dagmaraasbreuk/30-min-consultation

Dagmara Asbreuk

Starting your own business is one of the most exciting and demanding - career transitions.

Guiding many leaders through their transition into entrepreneurship, and building my own business, one truth became very clear:

Entrepreneurship is more than a career move - it’s your own evolution.

Your business grows to the level of your own growth.

I see there are at least 2 camps on how to build your business:
1️⃣ Chasing best strategies, working very hard, pushing a lot - ending up in exhaustion

2️⃣ Building a business from aligned inner place & from the new paradigm of leadership (energetic, intuitive, conscious)

I am choosing the number 2.

That path definitely requires an inner growth & shift in leadership paradigm.

👉 Here are 9 beliefs that were paradigm shifting in my business.

Some of them are opposite to traditional approaches.

To succeed with your business, you must become the leader your vision and business require. 

That is a strategic priority, not a nice to have.
Everything starts there.

Which beliefs do you run your business with?
—-------
➡️Follow me to discover a new paradigm of leadership.

📩 Join the Extraordinary Leadership Newsletter for insights transforming your leadership and business: https://lnkd.in/d3Xsf3Va

I guide CEOs & Executives to be legacy leaders of the new paradigm - evolving organization, business & life to new dimension | Executive Leadership, Transition & Transformation Partner | Keynote Speaker

9 beliefs that shifted paradigm in my business

You Don’t Need to Push Harder - You Need to Restore Flow.


You can have the right strategy, vision, and goals but when your flow is blocked, even the smallest action feels heavy.

You start doubting yourself.
Overthinking. Procrastinating.
Feeling disconnected and depleted.

Recently, a client came to me feeling exactly that.

Her nervous system was protecting her - not because she wasn’t capable, but because it didn’t yet feel safe to expand and move forward.

That’s where the real shift begins.
- From doing more → to being more aligned.
- From forcing movement → to creating safety, space, and trust inside.

This is how leadership evolves in the new paradigm - Quantum Leadership.

Leading with awareness of the Law of Resonance.
Prioritizing inner state alignment before action and strategy.

Because who you’re being - not just what you’re doing - shapes your results.

Flow can not be forced.
Flow is a natural state of inner alignment where everything begins to move again with ease and less efforts.

Every journey to restore flow unfolds through three natural stages:
1️⃣ Regulate 
Calm the nervous system, create inner safety, let energy move again.

2️⃣ Elevate 
Release resistance, rebuild confidence, expand capacity for ease and trust.

3️⃣ Stabilize 
Anchor habits that sustain flow and hold more success with grace.

When you restore flow, clarity returns.
Confidence expands.
Creative momentum reignites.

You don’t rise by pushing harder - you rise by aligning deeper.

Your next executive role won’t come because of your experience.


At this level, your expertise and results are already expected.

They’re the entry ticket - not the differentiator.

What truly makes the difference in landing your next executive role and thriving in it - is your magnetic presence & energy you radiate when you speak, listen, and lead. 

The way people feel when they’re with you.
The trust, calm confidence, and certainty you radiate.
That quiet power that makes others feel “I want to work with this person.”

Because presence speaks louder than any resume.

And it’s what creates opportunities that logic alone can’t.

In my work with executives navigating transitions, I often say:
👉 “It’s not about doing more - it’s about becoming & being more.”

To create your next chapter intentionally, you need:

1️⃣ Aligned clarity from within - knowing not just what you want next, but who you’re becoming to succeed.

2️⃣ Courage in letting go - of identities, beliefs, patterns, or environments that no longer reflect your potential or next level.

3️⃣ Embodied presence - transpiring trust, confidence, certainty, and your next-level self.

These shifts help you become magnetic - naturally attract the right opportunities, clients, and roles.

People feel it.
They trust you.
They choose you.

Whether you’re preparing for your next executive move, attracting strategic clients, or elevating your leadership team - the path begins with you “Becoming magnetic”.

This is what we focus on in the first phase of The Legacy Leader™ - helping executives reconnect with their essence, elevate their state, and embody the leader their next level requires.

If you’re standing at the edge of your next chapter - let’s explore 
the faster, and most aligned way forward.

Every time you’re called to your next level…

It’s because your soul desires expansion.

It wants you to grow, serve at a deeper level, impact more people and live from your fullness.

And that requires you to rise.
Again. And again. And again.

After all, you’re not here to play small.
You’re being invited to lead from the bigness of who you truly are.

There are two ways your next level calls you forward:

1️⃣ You aspire for more.
More impact.
More meaning.
More joy, abundance, growth, fulfilment.
More alignment in your career - bigger roles, broader influence, deeper purpose.

2️⃣ Life pushes you forward.
Through challenges, stagnation, misalignment, disconnection, or results that no longer match who you are becoming.

Both circumstances lead to the same invitation:
Rise higher from within.

Every time you choose to rise higher, above the current self and paradigm.

You rise to your truest, highest and most powerful self.
And everyone you lead rises with you.

And here’s the truth:
Each time you go through this process, supported and equipped - you move through it faster.

Your leadership expands faster.
Your impact grows faster.

👉 So here is a reflection for you today:
Where are you invited to rise?
What legacy are you invited to step into?

—---

✨ If you know you’re meant for your next level - not someday, but now, then The Legacy Leader™ is your space.

It’s where CEOs, executives activate multidimensional growth, and rise into leaders who set a new standard - for themselves, their teams, and their organizations.

📩 Get in touch if you want to explore this evolution.

-------
✨ Lifting the baseline you operate from
✨ Releasing what no longer belongs to your path
✨ Shaping the next version of you
✨ Expanding safety in your body to hold more
✨ Strengthening your ability to lead your mind - so it supports, not sabotages, your expansion
✨ Elevating your state
✨ Embodying new ways of thinking, being, and leading

Your soul desires expansion.

Here’s a reminder I returned to in my own leadership journey this year -
and one I believe many leaders need to hear.


For a long time, we’ve been taught that growth is about becoming.
Becoming better.
Becoming stronger.
Becoming more confident.
Becoming our “next-level self.”

But here’s the truth:
Leadership growth is not about becoming.
It’s about embodying the powerful & true you - you already carry inside.

The one your mind often tries to doubt, minimize, or confuse.

The shift happens when you move from:
❌ “Who do I need to become?”
to
✨ “Who am I being called to embody right now?”

Because the truth is:
Your highest identity isn’t somewhere in the future.

It already exists within you - waiting to be attuned to, not chased.

You do not need to create it.
You need to attune to the frequency that already exists.

This is the paradigm shift that changes everything:
→ your decisions
→ your presence
→ your energy
→ your clarity
→ your impact

Leaders don’t rise by striving.
They rise by remembering their truth and attuning to its frequency.

So if you’re in a season of transition, uncertainty, reinvention or stuckness -
let this be your anchor:

You already hold the identity your next chapter calls for.
Your work is to attune to it - not become it.

This is what we do in The Legacy Leader™ - guiding CEOs, executives, and founders in attuning to their higher identity, so multidimensional growth becomes inevitable.

Want to know more. Let's connect.

Most leaders and teams challenges don’t come from strategy.

They come from inner patterns leaders need to master.

This week on the Extraordinary Leadership Podcast, I sat down with Christopher Salem - workplace strategist, bestselling author, and EQ expert - to unpack the real drivers behind high-performing teams:

How leaders manage emotions, communicate, and create psychological safety.

What moved me most was Chris’s honesty.
He shared how early emotional patterns shaped his leadership… until he chose to break through and lead from clarity, grounded presence, and intention.

In this episode Chris share his simple yet powerful framework - “Five Things You Can Control,” - any leader can use to build psychological safety, ownership, and sustainable high performance:

In this episode we unpack each of the 5, and especially:
✅ How assumptions destroy trust and what to replace them with
✅ Shifting from reactivity to grounded response
✅ Aligning behavior with the leader you want to be
✅ How attitude shapes influence
✅ Taking aligned action that actually moves the needle

If you want to elevate your communication, team collaboration and impact as a leader - this conversation is a must.

👉 Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://lnkd.in/dKFcQ3Tr

The 5 EQ Drivers to Master in Leadership and with Teams with Chris Salem

Your mind cannot realize what your body cannot hold.


This year reminded me how vital it is to strengthen the body’s capacity - the nervous system’s ability to hold expansion toward bigger visions and goals.

Because no matter how strong your mindset - if your nervous system isn’t ready, it will slow you down.

In my work with executives, embodiment of the next-level self is always at the forefront - because you cannot realize your next chapter without elevating your inner baseline.

The version of you that got you here - your current identity, beliefs, emotional range, and energetic capacity - cannot take you there.

That’s why ambitious leaders who focus only on strategy or skills often repeat the same patterns again and again.

Because the same inner architecture keeps recreating the same results.

To realize your next-level vision, the baseline must elevate.

👉 The challenge is this:
Your current baseline feels safe and familiar - to both your mind and your body.

So when you step into a new level of growth, discomfort and resistance naturally arise.

The mind starts to overthink, confuse, sabotage.
The body contracts, freezes, or numbs out.

👉 whispering: “You want to expand… but I’m not ready yet.”

If you push through this phase, your nervous system moves into overdrive -
and eventually, it will force you to stop.

It might look like tiredness, exhaustion, lack of clarity, disconnection, procrastination, or even physical symptoms.

You are not falling behind - it’s a sign of expansion.

And your body says: “Pause. Integrate. Expand your capacity within.”

This is where true leadership transformation happens.
The nervous system becomes your gateway.

When your body- nervous system - feels safe to hold more- you can hold higher levels of responsibility, vision, and impact.

➡️ That’s when leadership becomes magnetic.
➡️ That’s when influence feels effortless.
➡️ That’s when results multiply.

Grateful for the new discoveries and somatic tools I now bring to my clients who are navigating the same expansion.

Because…
Your vision cannot grow beyond what your body - nervous system - can hold.

👉How much capacity are you allowing your body to build for the next level you’re stepping into?

----------
✨Follow me for insights on evolving yourself and your organization into the next era of leadership.

📩 Join the Extraordinary Leadership Newsletter to receive insights, reflections, and practices that transform your leadership and business: https://lnkd.in/d3Xsf3Va

Strategy & Finance Executive | Scaling Impact-Driven Companies Beyond $10M | Strategic CFO | Certified Scaling Up Advisor

Scaling Founders Beyond $10M with Strategy, Financial Clarity, and Leadership Expansion

Most companies stall not because of lack of effort—
but because the founder has outgrown the systems, strategies, and financial models that once worked.

At Ascend Growth Ventures, we partner with CEOs of $3M–$10M companies to implement Scaling Up, strengthen financial infrastructure, and elevate leadership teams—building businesses that scale profitably and predictably, without burning out the founder.

By integrating Scaling Up, Exponential Organizations, and CFO-level financial insights, we deliver a complete, battle-tested system for sustainable, high-performance growth.

🔹 We Work With CEOs Who Want To:
✔️ Scale revenue and profits without chaos
✔️ Build self-managing leadership teams
✔️ Unlock hidden cash flow and improve financial decision-making
✔️ Sharpen their strategy for exponential growth
✔️ Prepare for capital raises, acquisitions, or exits

🔹 Our Core Focus Areas:
  * Strategic Scaling Up Implementation

  * Financial Strategy & Cash Optimization

  * Leadership Team Development

  * Systems for Predictable Growth

  * Valuation Prep and Exit Strategy

✅ Why Work With Me?
25+ years of experience scaling businesses from the inside out:
➡️ Regional CFO, GE Gas Power (LATAM, +1.5GW record year)
➡️ Strategic finance and underwriting leadership at GE Capital
➡️ Business/project development for 8-figure ventures
➡️ Trusted advisor to founders scaling past $10M and beyond

✅ Industries We Specialize In:
✔️ Clean Energy & Decarbonization
✔️ Industrial Goods & B2B Services
✔️ Impact-Driven Companies
✔️ Scaling Coaching & Consulting Firms

🧠 If You're Ready to Scale Intelligently and Sustainably

Let's have a strategic conversation about where you are—and where you can go.

Easiest way to work with me?

Book a private power hour call and let's create your vision.
https://calendly.com/cruzagamboa/90-min-power-hour

Cruz Gamboa

Some companies don’t stall because of strategy.
They stall because of perception.

You can have the right model, metrics, and playbook—
and still struggle to scale
because trust isn’t in the culture.

We think scaling is about systems, KPIs, and offers.
But it’s really about energy, alignment, and belief.

Teams don’t reject initiatives.
They reject inconsistency.
They sense when the leader says one thing
and embodies another.

Every interaction in a growing company is a mirror—
it reflects the culture that’s actually being built.

Before you refine your next OKR,
refine your presence.

Because the best strategy in the world can’t fix a trust gap.

➡️ People follow clarity before they follow goals.
➡️ Integrity scales faster than intensity.


#leadership #scalingup #growth #trust #mindset

The market tells stories. Your financials & metrics tell truth.

In 2001, Amazon's stock cratered from $113 to $6.

Wall Street declared it dead.

Let's be clear: that had to be terrifying. Even for Bezos.

Watching 95% of your valuation evaporate. Hearing the whispers. Feeling the pressure from every direction.

But here's what separated him from founders who fold in those moments, he kept coming back to his dashboard:

Customer acquisition costs...improving. 

Fulfillment efficiency...improving. 

Contribution margin per unit...improving. 

Defect rates...declining.

The stock price reflected fear. 

The operating metrics reflected reality.

Confidence isn't the absence of fear. It's choosing to trust what you can measure over what you can't control.

This is Financial Intelligence: knowing which numbers actually predict your future, especially when everything around you is screaming that you're losing.

Watch the video. Bezos is calm. 

Not because he wasn't scared, but because he had clarity.

He knew exactly what was true inside his business.

That's how you survive what looks like a reversal, and come out the other side stronger.

That's how $6 becomes $1.7 trillion.

So here's my question for you:

What would it be worth to have that kind of clarity the next time everything feels like it's falling apart?

To know—not hope, not guess—that you're on the right track?

That's the game worth playing.

Check out comments for details

#founder #growth #ceo #scalingup

Helping Founders Break the $10M Ceiling | Strategy, Cash Flow & Leadership Systems | Scaling CFO

𝗙𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗠𝗶𝗹𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗦𝗵𝗲𝗲𝗽 𝘁𝗼 𝗠𝗶𝗹𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗠𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀.

Hamdi Ulukaya didn’t just build a yogurt brand, he redefined an industry.

No investors. No marketing budget. Just purpose, grit, and belief.

In 2005, he saw an ad.
An abandoned Kraft yogurt factory.

Everyone saw a money pit.
He saw possibility.

He didn’t have the money.
So he took a loan.

Bought the factory.
Kept 5 employees who believed when no one else did.

No income.
No sales.
No marketing.
Just faith, and a recipe from home.

Two years later, in 2007, Chobani was born.

No ads. Just bold packaging and pure taste.

Retailers hesitated.
But the people loved it.

Within 5 years, #1 yogurt in America.

Over $1B in sales.
The giants, Dannon, Yoplait, couldn’t catch up.

He stayed private.
Gave 10% of the company to his employees.

Hired refugees.
Put people before profit.

When asked why, he said:

👉 “Business is the strongest force for good, if it puts people first.”

From a shepherd in Turkey…
To a billionaire who still walks the factory floors.

Lesson?
You don’t need investors.
You need integrity.
You don’t need luck.
You need courage.

Because the dream still works, if you do.

Loved this story. Let me know your comments. 

What problem in your business keeps calling for your most creative energy?

#CEO  #FOUNDER #GROWTH #SCALINGUP

Two friends, Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield.

One dropped out.
One got rejected from med school.
But both wanted to build something.

First idea: bagels.
Too expensive.
So they pivot to ice cream.

No experience. No investors.
Just a $5 correspondence course from Penn State.
$2.50 each.

They find an abandoned gas station in Vermont.
Borrow $12,000.
Do the renovation themselves.

Ben can’t even taste properly, a condition called anosmia.
So he focuses on texture.
Big chunks. Wild swirls. Bold flavours.

What others saw as a weakness became their edge.

Within months, lines formed outside the door.
Free Cone Day became a tradition.
Word spread fast.

Few years later, they launched Cherry Garcia.
The brand took off across the country.
Soon, Ben & Jerry’s was making over $500M a year.

All from $12,000 and a $5 course.

Lesson?
You don’t need the perfect start.
You need creativity, courage, and the guts to turn constraints into leverage.

#scalingup #ceo #founder #growth

𝗠𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗿𝘀.
𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗱𝗼𝗻’𝘁.

Steve Jobs said it best, the greatest people are self-managing.

They don’t need direction. They are the direction.

When you’re scaling, this is the difference between speed and stagnation.

You can’t build a $10M company micromanaging every move.
You build it by surrounding yourself with people who:

➡️ See the problem before you do.
➡️ Fix it without asking.
➡️ Then tell you how they made it better.

That’s who scales companies.
Not followers.
Not “yes” people.
Builders.

If you have to keep pushing your team to move, 
you don’t have a scaling problem,
you have a people problem.

The truth?
The best teams don’t need managing.
They need mission.

Hire those who act like owners.
Give them the target.
Then get the hell out of their way.

That’s how you scale.
That’s how you win.

#scalingup #ceo #founder #growth

They emailed eBay 200 times.
eBay ignored every single one.
Most people would’ve given up.

But Marc, Oliver, and Alexander Samwer weren’t “most people.”

They cloned eBay.
Launched it in Germany.
Executed with speed and perfection.
Within months… eBay bought it back for $43 MILLION.

Then the brothers doubled down.
They built Rocket Internet, the company that turned cloning into a billion-dollar machine.

They copied.
They improved.
They scaled.
And they sold again, and again, and again.

Here’s the truth:

👉 They weren’t chasing approval, they were chasing execution at scale.
👉 They didn’t wait to be discovered, they created their own leverage.
👉 They mastered the one principle most founders overlook:
Doing it better beats doing it first.

Critics called them “copycats.”
But behind the noise, the Samwer brothers built an empire worth billions.

Most people stop when they hear “no.”
The one who succeed?
They push when it’s uncomfortable.
They build when others hesitate.
They turn rejection into momentum.

If you want outsized results, do what most won’t:
Step past comfort.
Step past doubt.
Step past fear.

Because the biggest payoffs live right beyond the point where almost everyone quits.

#scalingup #growth #ceo #bostonfounders

He built a dating site that generated exactly zero activity.
No users. No traction. No revenue.

Most leaders call that a failed model.
I call it an early audit.

Three ex-PayPal employees launched “Tune In Hook Up,” expecting market fit.
What they got was silence.
Operational cost? Rising.
User acquisition? Non-existent.
ROI? Negative from day one.

But here’s what mattered:
They reviewed the data instead of reacting to the emotion.

They noticed users trying to upload videos
Not for dating, but for everyday moments.
Unintended behaviour, but real demand.

So they executed the smartest financial move any early-stage team can make:
A low-cost pivot.

Same infrastructure.
Same upload system.
Zero additional burn.
Just a shift in positioning:
Share any video.

And that decision changed their entire valuation trajectory.

Users scaled exponentially.
Cost per acquisition plummeted.
Engagement skyrocketed.
Suddenly, they weren’t running a dating site…
They were running the internet’s first true video platform.

By 2006, their risk profile had flipped
High growth. High virality.
And high legal exposure.

Enter Google.
They offered $1.65B in stock for a business that still had no established monetisation engine.
From a financial lens?
That’s called derisking the future.

Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim accepted.
Smart move.
They transferred operational liability…
And secured generational wealth.

Today, YouTube contributes over $40B in yearly ad revenue
and sits at a valuation north of $500B.

All from a product that started as a complete miss 
until the data told a different story.

Lesson:
You don’t scale perfection.
You scale what the market proves it wants.
Listen to the numbers, not the narratives.
And never underestimate the ROI of a well-timed pivot.

#CFOInsights #Leadership #Strategy #Scalingup

She sold her engagement ring for $10,000.
Ten years later, Vicky Tsai built a $500M skincare empire.

Most people call that crazy.
I call it commitment.

She walked away from a six-figure job…
Moved back into her childhood bedroom at 30…
Got rejected for 18 months straight…
And kept going anyway.

1,000 units.
Her last $5,000.
No safety net. No backup plan.

Month one? $2,000 in sales.
Most people quit here.
Vicky didn’t.

She packed every order by hand.
Wrote thank-you notes to strangers.
Built trust one customer at a time.

Then the internet found her.
Demand exploded.
Sephora called.
And the bedroom startup became one of the fastest-growing skincare brands in America.

In 2019, Unilever bought Tatcha for $500 million.
The $10,000 ring she sold?
It turned into 50,000x.

Lesson?
You don’t need permission.
You need conviction.
And the courage to burn Plan B. 

#ceo #founder #growth #scalingup

She was 20. A housewife. No experience. No degree.

Just a dream, and a recipe for chocolate chip cookies.

Everyone said it would fail.
“Cookies? That’s not a business.”

Banks said no.Experts laughed.

The market was ruled by Oreos and Chips Ahoy.

But Debbi Fields didn’t care.
She took a $50,000 loan with her husband.

Rented a small store in Palo Alto.

Rent: $800/month.
Failure wasn’t an option.

Opening day:
By noon, not a single sale.
She panicked. Grabbed a tray.
Walked outside.
“Try one. They’re free.”

That one line changed everything.
Crowds formed.

They sold out by evening.

She baked fresh every 2 hours.
Never sold day-old cookies.
If they sat too long, she gave them away.

Advisors hated it.
Customers LOVED it.

Year one: $200,000 in sales.
Then store #2.
Then San Francisco.
Then malls.
Then the world.

By the 1990s:

➡ 600+ stores
➡ $500M in annual sales
➡ And a new category: premium cookies

All from one woman who ignored logic and trusted her gut.

The takeaway:
If everyone says your idea is crazy,
you might just be onto something.

#scalingup #founder #growth #ceo

He got fired.
The company he built said, “We don’t need you anymore.”
Everyone forgot him.

But Steve Jobs didn’t stop.

He poured tens of millions into a failing company called Pixar.
Everyone thought he was crazy.
Most would have quit.

12 years later… that gamble sold for $7.4 BILLION.

Here’s the thing:

👉 He wasn’t chasing money. He was chasing vision.
👉 He embraced risk when others ran from it.
👉 He bet on what he believed in, even when the world said no.

Most people quit right before the payoff.
The real winners? They push through when it’s hardest.
They see opportunity where others see failure.

If you want massive results, you need to do what most won’t.
Step past comfort. Step past doubt. Step past fear.

Because the biggest payoffs live just beyond the point where almost everyone quits.

#scalingup  #growth #ceo

Steve Jobs

He built pole barns to pay for college.

Decades later, John Menard Jr. built Menards, an $18B home improvement empire.

Most people call that luck.

I call it financial discipline.

He opened a small lumber yard in 1964…

Kept prices rock-bottom by building his own factories…

And built every store with cash, not debt.

No investors. No loans. No noise.

While others chased speed and Wall Street, John chose control.

He knew his margins by product line. He tracked cash flow like a pilot tracks altitude. He made the numbers his single source of truth.

Store by store. State by state. Slow, steady, unstoppable.

When 2008 hit, he didn't scramble; he expanded.

Today?

340+ Menards stores. $13B+ revenue. 3rd third-largest home-improvement chain in America. Still 100% private.

The lesson?

You don't need to grow fast. You need to grow right.

That means: 
→ Knowing your profit margins by service line 
→ Tracking cash flow weekly, not just at tax time 
→ Building systems so the business works, not just you

Financial clarity isn't about being a "numbers person."
It's about building simple, repeatable habits that let you scale with confidence.

Have the courage to own every decision, starting with your numbers.
#founder #growth #businessmindset #financialclarity #scalingup

Most people think success comes from working harder, dreaming bigger, or thinking smarter.

Here's the truth: none of that matters if you don't act.

In one simple test, a $50 bill was up for grabs. 

Everyone wanted it. 
Everyone talked about it. 
Everyone wished they had it…

Except Debbie.

She stood up. She walked forward. She took it.

That's it. 

That's the difference between winners and everyone else.

While everyone else burns time and money chasing online strategies that become less effective every day…

The smartest entrepreneurs thriving in 2025 are walking away from their screens and adding an extra 7-figures through live events.

Real humans. In-person communities. High-profit partnerships.

The ultimate advantage in the age of AI isn't replacing humanity with efficiency; it's experiences that are deep, connective, transformative, and profitable.

Getting face-to-face with your ideal clients AND peers is the most consistent solution to the Trust Recession.

I'll be at Event Profit Engine in Austin (December 10-12)...and I still have 4 discounted tickets.

If you're ready to get clarity on the financial blind spots keeping you from scaling, this is your moment.

Don't sit in the room wishing. 

Be Debbie.

P.S. Stop waiting for perfect timing. The money, the deal, the break… it's waiting for the first person who moves. Will it be you? DM me AUSTIN for ticket details.
#scalingup #CEO #founder #growth

Most founders don't fail because of competition.
 They fail because of the blind spots they never see coming.

Cash looks fine… until it doesn't. Revenue grows… but profit disappears. You hire fast… and spend months fixing mistakes. You work harder… but scale refuses to unlock.

I spent 20+ years at GE Capital navigating these exact challenges at a corporate level.

Closing an $800M+ power plant deal? That taught me cash flow precision. Managing international transactions? That revealed the profit leaks most miss. Building high-performance teams? That showed me the cost of hiring fast vs. hiring right.

Those frameworks didn't just help me lead deals—they gave me the blueprint for scalable growth.

Now I help founders apply these same battle-tested systems to their businesses.

The 7 blind spots in this carousel? They're the ones holding 90% of founders back from predictable, profitable scale.

If you want to go deeper… Download my free ebook in the comments. 

Fix the blind spots. Scale with clarity. Build a business that runs like a pro—because you learned from one.
#scalingup #founder #ceo #growth

7 Blind Spots

𝗛𝗲 𝗵𝗮𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗮.
𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝘁𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿.

Most founders know Pinterest.

Almost no one knows Paul Sciarra, the guy who paid early salaries out of his own pocket, skipped taking income, and carried the company when no one else believed.

He wasn’t a “supporter.”
He was the architecture.

And then the quiet part of startup life happened.
Not a blow-up.
Not a fight.
Just… inches.

One meeting he wasn’t invited to.
One decision he didn’t have visibility into.
One board conversation that happened without him.

By the time Pinterest crossed millions of users and raised over $100M…
Paul was out.

He walked away with ~$15M.
Not nothing.
But painful when your original idea becomes a $25B enterprise.

This isn’t a story about betrayal.
It’s a story about leadership, governance, and identity.

𝗙𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗱𝗼𝗻’𝘁 𝗹𝗼𝘀𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝗶𝗻 𝗮 𝗱𝗮𝘆.
They lose it when:
 • they stop owning the financial strategy
 • they delegate governance without understanding it
 • they avoid hard conversations
 • they let investors define the path
 • they disconnect from the role of architect

You can build something extraordinary…
and still get written out of your own success if you don’t stay in the seat you were meant to own.

𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝘀𝘁 $𝟯𝗠–$𝟭𝟬𝗠 𝗳𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝗻.
The product works.
The company has traction.
Teams are growing.

 But governance, capital strategy, and leadership identity aren’t keeping pace.
That’s the real risk.

𝗟𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗼𝗻:
Your idea can change the world,  but only if you stay in the role of architect as it scales.

Own your equity.
Protect your seat.
Upgrade your thinking.
Build with intention.
The threat isn’t being pushed out.
The threat is drifting out of your power.

𝗤𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻:
 Are you building like the founder…
 or leading like the architect?

#ceo #founder #scalingup #growth

He was dropped at an orphanage at seven.
No food. No money. No choice.

By 14, he was on a factory floor, making metal frames.
One wrong move crushed part of his finger. Permanent injury.

Most people would quit. Most people would settle.
He didn’t.

He watched. He learned.
Every machine. Every process. Every decision.
Night classes. Every penny saved. Knowledge accumulation.

At 26, he opened a tiny eyewear shop in the Italian Alps.
Nothing fancy. No connections. Just him, a few employees, and an obsession with understanding the craft end-to-end.

Most competitors sold parts. He had a different idea: make complete frames. Control the product. Own the market.

By the 1980s, he was making designer frames for fashion houses.
By 1995, he bought LensCrafters—suddenly he controlled both the product and the retail.

Then came Ray-Ban.
Everyone said he overpaid $640 million for a dying brand.
He didn’t see risk. He saw opportunity.

Ray-Ban wasn’t just glasses anymore.
Movies. Celebrities. Fashion statements.
Value multiplied. Brand exploded.

He kept buying. Oakley. Sunglass Hut. Prada. Versace. Chanel. Pearle Vision.
Vertical integration? Check. Market dominance? Check. Monopoly? Almost.

When he died in 2022, Leonardo Del Vecchio had $25.8 billion.
One orphan. One factory worker. One relentless learner.

Lesson:
You don’t need luck. You need mastery, observation, and relentless execution.
Start small. Learn everything. Then own the ecosystem.

#ceo #scalingup #growth #founder

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Passion isn’t happiness.
It’s pain.
It’s grinding when no one is watching.
It’s suffering through every mistake, every rejection, every late night, just to build something nobody thought was possible.

Jensen Huang didn’t follow the market.
He didn’t wait for AI to be big.
He invested 10,000 engineer-years ahead of demand.
He pivoted Nvidia from graphics chips to AI dominance.
That’s vision. That’s first-principles thinking. That’s suffering smarter than everyone else.

Breakthroughs aren’t born in comfort zones.
They’re born when you refuse to quit, when you embrace the grind, and when you’re willing to suffer today for what the world will celebrate tomorrow.

Extraordinary isn’t given.
It’s earned.
Through struggle.
Through relentless work.
Through being willing to do what everyone else won’t.

If you want to be great, get comfortable being uncomfortable.

#scalingup #growth #ceo #founder

Mastermind Scaling Dinner 

This past Wednesday night in Boston, twelve leaders got uncomfortably honest about their real constraints.

No pitch decks. No surface-level networking. 

Just the Hero's Journey framework and one question: 

"What's actually stopping you from scaling?"

Three principles guided the conversation:

🪞 Your Business is a Mirror 

The bottleneck in your business is a reflection of a constraint in your leadership. 

Stop fixing symptoms. Fix the leader, and the business scales.

🐉 Constraints are Your Greatest Leverage

 Your biggest constraint is not a problem—it's the dragon guarding your next treasure. 

The right constraint, once identified and solved, unlocks massive, non-linear growth.

⚖️ Not All Success Has the Same Price

 You can build a company that breaks you, or one that fulfills you. 

Alignment + Clarity = Sustainable Success.

🎯 What showed up:

Estate planning. Cybersecurity. Medical devices. Food distribution. Banking. Fractional sales leadership. IT services. M&A law. Green infrastructure. Urban revitalization. Job search acceleration.

Different industries. Same truth: Every business grows until it hits a constraint, then grows no further.

The magic wasn't in solving everything in one night. 

It was in naming the real constraint out loud - not the sanitized version we tell at networking events, but the 2am version that keeps us up.

Some constraints were about capital. Others about people, partnerships, or positioning. A few were about letting go of what got them here to embrace what gets them there.

🤝 The vulnerability created immediate value: Real partnerships forming. 

Actual introductions being made. Problems being reframed. Resources being shared.

Thank you to Adrian Mendoza and the Mendoza Ventures team for hosting us.

And to everyone who showed up: Marco A. Schiavo , Geoffry Gilton, Joshua Sigsworth, PT, DPT, Dominic Endicott, Jacques Cohen, Maud Dentico, Vasant Narayan, Raffi Yardemian, CSL, Paul Smith, Alex Khalarian, and Sam "Butch" Nigro.

This is what happens when you build community around truth instead of transactions.

The Mastermind dinner happens monthly ( but we are taking a break in December). If you're a founder or executive in Boston or Greater Boston working on something real and willing to get honest about your constraints, let's talk.

We are going to start hosting Metro West dinners as well. More to come.

P.S. - Curious about finding the constraint for your business? Drop a comment or DM.

Most founders don’t fail because they’re lazy.
They fail because their goals are small.

Small goals keep you grinding.
Big goals force you to rebuild the system.

When you raise the target to 10x, everything changes:
your strategy, your thinking, your standards, your circle.

You stop playing in the crowded middle
and start operating where very few people dare to go.

10x isn’t harder.

It’s cleaner. 
It’s clearer. 
It’s smarter.

Stop playing safe. Start playing big.

I learned this lesson the hard way.

I wanted to grow my LinkedIn presence to 100K in a year.
I had 2k followers. 

A few people said that it would take years and that I was unrealistic.

Maybe they would have been right - if I'd believed them

I tried anyway. 
I took a course to learn from others who were ahead of me.
I showed up here every day.
Continuously improved my content (and my mindset)
Hired people to help me.

Did I accomplish my goal?
NO. 

I am still at 72k followers today, a year into that challenge.
But I am still grateful for the results. 

Can you imagine what would have happened if I had played small?
I may be at 15K followers at best. 

And that's the whole point. 

Even if you miss the 10X mark, it beats linear thinking. 

This same principle is why I help founders identify the 7 financial blind spots killing their scale - because small thinking about money keeps you grinding, while 10x financial clarity forces you to rebuild the system.

Want to apply 10x thinking to your finances? 

I've identified the 7 blind spots most founders miss. 

Download the guide; link is in the comments. 

#founder #ceo #growth #scalingup

10X Thinking = 10 X Results

He bought a bankrupt textile factory for $15 million.
Forty years later, Bernard Arnault built a $500B luxury empire.

Most people call that impossible.
I call it vision.

He didn’t invent anything.
He didn’t design a product.
He didn’t chase trends.
He just saw what others couldn’t.

Buried inside that dying company was a forgotten gem: Christian Dior.
Everyone overlooked it.
Arnault didn’t.

He sold everything except Dior.
Bet the house on one iconic brand.
And rebuilt from zero.

Then he made an even crazier move
He went after LVMH.
Louis Vuitton. Moët. Hennessy.
The crown jewels of French luxury.

The elite hated it.
The media mocked it.
It was the most hostile takeover France had ever seen.
Arnault didn’t blink.

He bought the shares quietly.
Took control boldly.
And turned LVMH into a global machine.

One acquisition at a time.
Fendi. Tiffany. Givenchy. Sephora.
Dozens of brands reborn under one ruthless strategy:

Let creators dream.
But keep the business razor sharp.

While tech giants chased disruption…
Arnault chased timelessness.

While others discounted…
He raised value.

In 2023, he became the richest man on Earth.
Quiet. Precise. Unshakeable.
He outplayed every tech titan without writing a single line of code.

Lesson?
You don’t need to invent.
You need to see the hidden gem
And have the courage to bet everything on it.

#entrepreneur #growth #businessstrategy #founder #scalingup

𝗛𝗲 𝗱𝗶𝗱𝗻’𝘁 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗽𝗵𝗼𝘁𝗼𝘀.
𝗛𝗲 𝘁𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗮 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗺 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝘁 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗼 𝗮 𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗼𝗻-𝗱𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗮𝗿 𝘀𝗼𝗹𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻.

Back in the early 2000s, Jon Oringer wasn’t building empires, he was just trying to find affordable stock photos for his tiny online business.

But what he found instead… was an opportunity.

Stock images back then cost $300+ per photo, a luxury small creators couldn’t afford.

So Jon did something different:

▶ Bought a camera
▶ Took 100 photos a day
▶ Built his own website
▶ Uploaded 30,000 photos
▶ Charged $49/month for unlimited downloads

That’s how Shutterstock was born.

No fancy investors. No marketing team.

Just a subscription model, executed brilliantly.

He wasn’t selling images,
he was selling convenience, freedom, and access.

And the best part?

Every sale cost him nothing to reproduce.Pure passive income.

By the time Shutterstock went public in 2012,
Jon still owned 55% of it.

His net worth crossed $1 billion,
built from a camera, a simple website, and consistency.

That’s not luck.
That’s vision meeting execution.

Because the smartest entrepreneurs don’t wait for an opportunity,
they create it by solving a problem once
and selling the solution over and over again.

𝐋𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐨𝐧:

Stop chasing “new.”
Find one problem.

Solve it better than anyone else.
Then systemize, scale, and sleep while your solution works for you.

#Entrepreneurship #ceo #BusinessModel #founder #scalingup

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