Ritmoo

Ritmoo helps fast-growing companies turn ambition into execution. Through strategic design, leadership workshops, and simple goal execution software, Ritmoo partners with leadership teams to clarify priorities, align on strategy, and build execution habits that stick.

We combine expert-led services with lightweight goal management software built on the NCT framework, which is ideal for teams that want clarity without the bloat of rigid OKRs.

Ritmoo has delivered fractional leadership across growth, marketing, GTM, and technology for companies like CLEVR, Software Improvement Group (SIG), Frends, vaylens, and Bnewable. 

We've also run high-impact programs for scaleups like Skytree, IECharge, Dott, Lightly.ai, ELP Network, Incision, and enterprise teams at ING and Tele2.

Co-Founder

Frends iPaaS

The European iPaaS built for mission-critical automation and loved for its usability. Frends iPaaS connects your systems, automates every business process, and gives you full visibility into your workflows. 

Frends iPaaS is a platform that offers tools to integrate applications in the compliant cloud, hybrid, and on-premises. With Frends, businesses can build integrations, automated processes, and APIs in BPMN 2.0-based Low-Code, which reduces costs in development, documentation, and management. Frends is made for BizDevOp teams and enables team collaboration.

Currently leading the GTM strategy and Marketing organization.

Fractional CMO

Angel investor in Pal, digital palliative home care solutions for families affected by life-limiting illnesses.

Private Investor

StayingBee

StayingBee is a community-driven accommodation sharing platform that connects you with trusted hosts from communities you already belong to, turning every trip into a meaningful experience, not just a booking.

It's almost like Couchsurfing meets Airbnb, but strictly for communities, like AIESEC, unlocking an untapped layer of the $400B+ alternative accommodation market.

In just a few months, the team has:
- Grown to 4,000+ users across 90+ countries.
- Hosted 100+ nights booked and listed 200+ homes.
- Launched pilots with the AIESEC community and generated revenue.
- Signed partnerships with global communities, including AIESEC International.
- Expanded into the startup ecosystem, with SLUSH as an official partner.

I'm part of their Supervisory & Management Board.

Board Member

Stolp

Break with the habit of always on, always connected. Stolp designs solutions and experiences that encourage daily moments to disconnect and spend time on what really matters.

Shilling

Shilling is a leading €30M early-stage VC in Portugal. Shilling invests in a wide range of verticals and seeks out the biggest opportunities across all B2B and consumer categories. Leveraging the concept of Founder LPs, Shilling brings much more than capital and offers through its Shilling Platform, direct access to successful founders and executives of leading companies. 

This platform supports entrepreneurs in validating and developing their ventures, which then accelerate their growth into global markets. I'm one of the Founder LP and investors into the fund.

Founder LP

vaylens

vaylens is an EV charging management software for businesses to manage and monetise their EV chargers. Making it as easy as possible for companies of any size to integrate electric mobility into their long-term success, vaylens is on a mission to make electric driving accessible to all. vaylens is based in Dortmund and is part of the KOSTAL Group.

Led interim marketing (replacing Head of Marketing during maternity leave), supporting brand launches in the UK and France, re-engineering revenue operations, and setting the 2025 marketing strategy.

Software Improvement Group

Software Improvement Group (SIG) leads in traditional and AI software quality assurance. Empowering organizations to become more resilient and agile by guiding them to enhance their software quality and security through deep source code analysis and tailored, strategic advice.  

As interim marketing & GTM lead, helped transition to a product-led business, revamped demand generation, evolved Revenue Operations, and launched the flagship event Scope. This led to a 40% YoY pipeline increase and a 20% growth YoY in closed ARR revenue.

Fractional GTM & Marketing Lead

CLEVR

CLEVR delivers digital transformation at scale by implementing Siemens and Mendix solutions to serve industries like manufacturing, retail, energy, and more. 

During this fractional service, I've designed the positioning strategy, revised GTM market approach built on partner-led growth and led (interim) the GTM and Marketing teams, resulting in a 100% pipeline increase and supporting the transition from loss-making to profit-making business.

Fractional CMO & GTM

IECharge

IECharge® is a high power electric vehicle charging solution developed by NW Group, first french unicorn in the energy transition. Advisory was focused on setting up the first Marketing & GTM foundation from website, communication, and approach to customers.

Advisory

Co-founder & CEO @ Ritmoo | Growth Advisor | Leadership Catalyst | GTM Strategist | Led growth in startups from €1 to 100m

I’ve spent my career helping businesses scale with purpose, transforming ambition into execution, and building teams that don’t just grow, but thrive.

With a track record of taking companies from €1M to €100M+ in revenue and scaling teams from 10 to 700 people, I’ve learned that sustainable growth comes down to clarity, trust, and relentless focus. Most notably at EVBox, where I served as Chief Growth Officer from 2015 to 2022, I helped lead the business from a small industry player into a global category leader — building a scalable go-to-market engine and culture of growth.

Today, I’m the co-founder of Ritmoo, where we combine expert-led leadership & strategy design services with simple, lightweight goal software — built for fast-moving teams that want strategic clarity without the bloat of OKRs. Our work spans scaleups, mid-sized companies, and enterprise teams across growth, marketing, GTM, and leadership transformation.

I also work as a fractional growth operator, partnering with high-growth scaleups to architect their go-to-market, sharpen their narrative, and build resilient, high-performing teams.

And I'm the author of Teams in Hell – How to End Bad Management, my practical playbook for building trust, clarity, and adaptability inside modern teams. You can buy it on Amazon here: https://www.amazon.com/Teams-Hell-How-End-Management/dp/9090401318/

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🚀 Highlights summary
- Co-founder of Ritmoo | Goal software + leadership programs for strategic clarity and execution
- Fractional Growth Operator | Supporting scaleups like SIG, CLEVR, Frends, Dott, vaylens, and more
- Former Chief Growth Officer, EVBox | €5M → €100M+ revenue, 10 → 700 people
- Head of Product Growth, Talentsquare | Built growth strategy through to exit in 2015
- Former Global President, AIESEC | Leading the world’s largest youth-led org
- Angel Investor & LP | Backing early-stage founders via Stolp, Pal, and Shilling VC
- Writer | Teams in Hell (June 2025), exploring how to fix modern leadership from the inside out

🏓 Fun Facts
- Former pro table tennis player, with several championships in Portugal
- Proud dad to two daughter with Duracell-level energy

Hugo Pereira

Your best people are falling behind. 
And you're letting it happen.

Here's the truth about AI adoption: the biggest threat isn't the technology. It's your best performers who think they don't need to adapt.

We love to talk about AI in absolutes. 
You're either all-in or you're a dinosaur. 
You're disrupting or being disrupted.

Non-sense.

The real question isn't whether your team uses AI. It's what kind of learning you're enabling, and whether you're creating the conditions for progress.

𝗦𝘁𝗼𝗽 𝘄𝗮𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗳𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻. 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗺𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘂𝗺.

Last week, as part of my fractional work with Frends, we did something simple but powerful. We blocked out half a day, a Friday morning, for what we called a "Data & AI Deep Work Session."

Every team member picked one of three paths:

1. Learn and build an AI workflow
2. Test AI tools in their actual work
3. Extract data insights OR document a key process 

No pressure to master everything. 
No mandate to become an AI expert overnight. 
Just deliberate practice and learning.

𝗛𝗲𝗿𝗲'𝗿𝗲 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘀:

- The social media intern built a workflow to analyze monthly results and spot patterns. Half a day. Done.
- The lead content person created a system that processes industry news and drafts weekly articles. We published the first one. It was good.
- The B2B demand gen marketer dug into website traffic data and found 2 things we'd completely missed. We reprioritized the roadmap quickly afterwards.

𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲'𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁: this is a company that sells an enterprise-grade integration and workflow automation platform.

The easy route would have been for marketers to go with n8n or Zapier. Instead, the mandate was to work with our own product, even if technically tougher.

Now they understand better what they're selling. They speak closer to the language of their customers. 

That's not just AI adoption. That's commercial advantage.

𝗠𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗮 𝗿𝗵𝘆𝘁𝗵𝗺, 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗮𝗻 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘁.

Once a month. 
Bimonthly. 
Quarterly. 

Pick your pace based on your reality, not some guru's playbook.

The teams that win aren't the ones going all-in on day one.  They're the ones building adaptability into their operating system.

Your best performers got there by learning faster than everyone else. Don't let comfort kill that edge.

---

I’m Hugo Pereira, co-founder of Ritmoo and fractional growth operator. I’ve led companies from €1M to €100M+ while building purpose-driven, resilient teams.

Follow me for unfiltered takes on growth, leadership, and scaling what matters. My book 𝘛𝘦𝘢𝘮𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘏𝘦𝘭𝘭 – 𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘰 𝘌𝘯𝘥 𝘉𝘢𝘥 𝘔𝘢𝘯𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 is out now on Amazon.

Fractional Growth (CMO/CGO) | Co-founder @Ritmoo | Author “Teams in Hell – How to End Bad Management”

If Series A feels hard, then Series B will break you.

I've recently had small advisory sessions with 3 scaleups in B2B SaaS, who are struggling at this exact stage.

Here's my view on why this is a tougher Series than the previous one:

At Series A, you're proving the idea works. 
At Series B, you're proving the company works.

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𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗯𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗸𝘀 𝗯𝗲𝘁𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝗦𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗔 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗦𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗕:

→ 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗳𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗺
Scrappy generalists can't scale you forward.

→ 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗲𝘀 
What worked for 20 people creates chaos at 100.

→ 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗰𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲
"We're a family" dies when you're hiring 10 ppl / month. 

→ 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘁 𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗼𝗺𝗶𝗰𝘀 
Investors want sustainable growth, not just growth.

→ 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁 𝗽𝗼𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴
Competitors now take you seriously.

---

To add to the above, these are other implications to consider:

𝟭. 𝗖𝗮𝗽𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗶𝘀 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗮𝗴𝗮𝗶𝗻 
Series A investors threw money at potential. Series B investors want proof of capital efficiency, so your previous high burn-rate won't do good any longer.

𝟮. 𝗔𝗜 𝗶𝘀 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗲𝘁𝗶𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗮𝗱𝘃𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗴𝗲𝘀 
That product moat you built? Your competitor just replicated it with AI in 3 months. Defensibility is harder to prove.

𝟯. 𝗧𝗮𝗹𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝗽𝗶𝗰𝗸𝗶𝗲𝗿 
The "join a rocket ship" pitch doesn't work when layoffs are everywhere. Series B hiring is a war, not a hunt.

𝟰. 𝗢𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗱𝗲𝗯𝘁 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝘀 𝗳𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿 
Every shortcut you took at Series A (messy data, duct-tape workflows, financial agility to prove some 'made-up ARR') now costs 10x to resolve.

---

From seeing the best companies succeeding at Series B, I find that they might have the below in common:

→ 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗼𝗯𝘀𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘁 𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗼𝗺𝗶𝗰𝘀 
Revenue growth without efficiency is a death sentence now.

→ 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝘀𝘆𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗺𝘀
Not more tools. Systems for decisions, accountability, and execution.

→ 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗼𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝘇𝗲 𝗿𝘂𝘁𝗵𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗹𝘆 
With so much going on, the ability to communicate clearly what matters and don't is critical for speed of execution.

→ 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝗲/𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗲 𝗳𝗮𝘀𝘁 
This isn't popular, but many early team members can't scale any longer (hardest decision, most important).

---

Series A forgives mistakes. 
Series B punishes them.

Most founders aren't ready for that shift. 
But again, many learn from it and grow to do even better later on.
---

I'm Hugo Pereira, co-founder of Ritmoo and fractional growth operator. I've led companies from €1M to €100M+ while building purpose-driven, resilient teams.

Follow me for unfiltered takes on growth, leadership, and scaling what matters. My book 𝘛𝘦𝘢𝘮𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘏𝘦𝘭𝘭 – 𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘰 𝘌𝘯𝘥 𝘉𝘢𝘥 𝘔𝘢𝘯𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 is out now on Amazon.

At one of the early stage startups I worked for, we hired a VP of Sales too early that nearly destroyed our whole sales motion.

Not because the person was bad, but because the company wasn't ready.

I've watched startups make the same hiring mistakes over and over: burning cash, killing momentum, and creating org debt that takes years to fix.

These are the most common hires that kill startups:

𝟭. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 "𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗱 𝗲𝘅𝗲𝗰" 𝘁𝗼𝗼 𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗹𝘆
You just raised Series A. 
Revenue is €2m ARR. 
You're at 15 people.

Your investors tell you: "Hire a VP of Sales from a unicorn.", so you do.

You pay €180k + equity. 
They have an impressive resume. 
They've managed teams of 50+.

What happens: 
→ They try to build the org they had previously 
→ They want a team, budget, and tools you can't afford 
→ They're used to running plays, not inventing them 
→ They leave in 9 months. You've burned €200k+.

The reality: Senior execs from big companies often can't operate in early-stage chaos.

𝟮. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 "𝗰𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗳𝗶𝘁" 𝘄𝗵𝗼 𝗰𝗮𝗻'𝘁 𝗲𝘅𝗲𝗰𝘂𝘁𝗲
You're scaling. 
You interview a candidate who loves your mission, says all the right things.
You hire them because "culture is everything."

What happens: 
→ They're great in meetings but can't ship 
→ They talk strategy but avoid execution 
→ They're well-liked but not effective

The reality: Culture fit without execution is just an expensive friend.

𝟯. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 "𝘄𝗲'𝗹𝗹 𝗴𝗿𝗼𝘄 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺" 𝗵𝗶𝗿𝗲
You need a senior engineer. 
You interview someone amazing, they're at a FAANG company making €250k. 
You can offer €120k + equity.
They say yes. You think: "We got lucky!"

What happens: 
→ They expect resources and processes you don't have 
→ They're frustrated by the lack of infrastructure 
→ They miss their old job's stability 
→ They leave in 6 months

The reality: Overqualified hires often regret the trade-off.

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗴𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗽 𝗵𝗶𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗹𝗼𝗼𝗸𝘀 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲:
1. Hire for the now, not the future. Get someone who can execute in your current chaos with potential to grow 
2. Prioritize learning velocity over experience. Adaptable beats polished in early stage
3. Avoid the "brand name" trap. A VP from Salesforce isn't automatically your answer

The best hires I've seen were sometimes underqualified on paper, but overperformed because they matched the company's reality, not its aspirations.

Before your next senior hire, ask: 
→ Can this person operate with our current constraints? 
→ Are they energized by ambiguity or paralyzed by it? 
→ Are we hiring for the company we are or the company we wish we were?

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I'm Hugo Pereira, co-founder of Ritmoo and fractional growth operator. I've led companies from €1M to €100M+ while building purpose-driven, resilient teams.

Follow me for unfiltered takes on growth, leadership, and scaling what matters. My book 𝘛𝘦𝘢𝘮𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘏𝘦𝘭𝘭 – 𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘰 𝘌𝘯𝘥 𝘉𝘢𝘥 𝘔𝘢𝘯𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 is out now on Amazon.

Don't outsource your critical thinking. 
You'll need it, with or without AI.
AI won't save you from lazy judgment.

Busy work is the real workplace enemy.
It's high intensity but low impact. 

It creates the illusion of productivity while delivering zero real results. 

People feel good about it because it makes them think they're doing something real. But they're not.

Teams running at full speed, meetings back-to-back, Slack constantly buzzing, everyone claiming they're swamped. 

But when you look at the results, chances are that nothing meaningful is getting done.

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A mindset shift is required, for deep work to happen:

𝗦𝗵𝗶𝗳𝘁 𝟭: 𝗙𝗿𝗼𝗺 "𝗔𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗶𝘁𝘆 = 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀" → 𝗢𝘂𝘁𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘀 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝘂𝘁𝗽𝘂𝘁𝘀 
Stop measuring how much people are doing. Start measuring what actually moves the needle. Deep work isn't about volume. It's about impact combined with intensity.

𝗦𝗵𝗶𝗳𝘁 𝟮: 𝗙𝗿𝗼𝗺 "𝗠𝘂𝗹𝘁𝗶𝘁𝗮𝘀𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝘀 𝗲𝗳𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗲𝗻𝘁" → 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗲𝘅𝘁 𝘀𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗸𝗶𝗹𝗹𝘀 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀 
Every time you jump between tasks, you lose focus. Deep work requires sustained attention on high-impact tasks. Multitasking doesn't make you faster. It makes you slower and less effective.

𝗦𝗵𝗶𝗳𝘁 𝟯: 𝗙𝗿𝗼𝗺 "𝗖𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗮𝗯𝗼𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗺𝗲𝗮𝗻𝘀 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻" → 𝗦𝗶𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗯𝗲 𝘀𝗮𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗱 
Early in my career, while at AIESEC International, we had three hours of complete silence every morning. No meetings. No interruptions. Just deep work. It wasn't mandated, people protected it because they understood its value. That's when transformative work happened.

𝗦𝗵𝗶𝗳𝘁 𝟰: 𝗙𝗿𝗼𝗺 "𝗨𝗿𝗴𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗮𝗹𝘄𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝗻𝘀" → 𝗛𝗶𝗴𝗵-𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗰𝘁 𝗯𝗲𝗮𝘁𝘀 𝗵𝗶𝗴𝗵-𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗶𝘁𝘆 
Urgent feels important. But urgent rarely moves the company forward. Deep work focuses on high-impact tasks that actually matter, even when they're not screaming for attention.

𝗦𝗵𝗶𝗳𝘁 𝟱: 𝗙𝗿𝗼𝗺 "𝗥𝗲𝗺𝗼𝘁𝗲 = 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗺𝗲𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀" → 𝗔𝘀𝘆𝗻𝗰 𝘂𝗽𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘀, 𝘀𝘆𝗻𝗰 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗱𝗲𝗰𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 
When Covid hit, we eliminated countless meetings and shifted to async updates. We created time-blocked deep work sessions, where everyone worked silently together. It probably saved the team mental health.

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The path from busy work to deep work starts with one decision: 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝘁𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗺'𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗰𝘂𝘀 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲.

Create meeting-free zones. 
Define clear deliverables. 
Celebrate focused achievements.

Your team doesn't need more hours. 
They need fewer distractions and clearer priorities.

The diamond is there. 
Stop digging for pebbles.

---

I’m Hugo Pereira, co-founder of Ritmoo and fractional growth operator. I’ve led companies from €1M to €100M+ while building purpose-driven, resilient teams.

Follow me for unfiltered takes on growth, leadership, and scaling what matters. My book 𝘛𝘦𝘢𝘮𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘏𝘦𝘭𝘭 – 𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘰 𝘌𝘯𝘥 𝘉𝘢𝘥 𝘔𝘢𝘯𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 is out now on Amazon.

Many leaders still see vulnerability as weakness.
I've seen it happen over and over. 

Leaders resist vulnerability because they think it means encouraging weakness. So, they build cultures where people are scared to speak up when they need help.

The result is teams that hide problems instead of solving them. Here are 5 myths about trust that keep teams stuck:

𝗠𝘆𝘁𝗵 𝟭: 𝗩𝘂𝗹𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 = 𝗪𝗲𝗮𝗸𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 
Wrong. When someone admits they're struggling with a deadline or need support, that's not weakness. That's courage. Teams that support vulnerability get stronger. Teams that punish it fall apart.

𝗠𝘆𝘁𝗵 𝟮: 𝗛𝗶𝗴𝗵 𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗻𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗶𝘀 𝗮 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝘀𝘀𝘂𝗲 
Most times, It's not. People don't leave because of money. They leave because of low trust. When trust is missing, everything else falls apart, including retention. Fix the trust problem, not just the salary.

𝗠𝘆𝘁𝗵 𝟯: 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗽𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗰𝘆 𝗺𝗲𝗮𝗻𝘀 𝘁𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 
It doesn't. When EVBox's IPO was delayed, we couldn't share why for legal reasons. I acknowledged with the team what we couldn't say and why. Transparency isn't always about full disclosure. It's about honest communication within boundaries.

𝗠𝘆𝘁𝗵 𝟰: 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗺𝘀 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝗶𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗱𝗼𝗻'𝘁 𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗸 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺 
They multiply. When people hide overwhelm or burnout, you end up with high turnover and absenteeism. I've watched businesses fail because employees weren't comfortable speaking up.

𝗠𝘆𝘁𝗵 𝟱: 𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗴 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗻𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗽 
The opposite is true. Leaders who can't express vulnerability can't get help when they need it most. Their teams learn to hide problems too.

-

Low-trust cultures don't protect teams. 
They break them.

The role of a leader isn't just to execute strategy. It's to create an environment where people trust each other enough to do their best work.

When trust is high, teams take risks, make decisions, and admit mistakes without fear. 

When trust is low, hesitation and politicking take over.

𝘕𝘰𝘸, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘮𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘣𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘐 𝘢𝘤𝘵 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴?

Start small. Pick one component that could improve trust on your team. 𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗼𝗱𝗮𝘆.

---

I’m Hugo Pereira, co-founder of Ritmoo and fractional growth operator. I’ve led companies from €1M to €100M+ while building purpose-driven, resilient teams.

Follow me for unfiltered takes on growth, leadership, and scaling what matters. My book 𝘛𝘦𝘢𝘮𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘏𝘦𝘭𝘭 – 𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘰 𝘌𝘯𝘥 𝘉𝘢𝘥 𝘔𝘢𝘯𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 is out now on Amazon.

Language translation when expanding to new markets, especially in Europe, simply isn't enough.

I just sat down with Nicola Calabrese on the Multilingual Content Podcast to talk about something most companies get wrong when expanding internationally. 𝘗𝘚: 𝘓𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘰𝘥𝘤𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯.

They think cultural differences = translation.
They're not.

Culture shapes how people make decisions, perceive value, and what trust even means.

Here's what actually matters when you go global: 
𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁 𝘁𝗲𝘀𝘁𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁. 𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗲𝘀𝘁𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲.

At EVBox, we learned this the hard way across Europe:
• Netherlands: sustainability drove buying decisions
• Germany: engineering specs came first
• UK: convenience and future-proofing mattered most

Same product. 
Completely different customer journeys.

--

𝗙𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗚𝗧𝗠 𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗶𝗽𝗹𝗲𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮 𝗻𝗲𝘄 𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁:
1. Nail product-market fit in your home market first 
2. Look for demand signals (inbound requests, competitor activity) 
3. Build infrastructure to support properly (local partners, someone on the ground) 
4. Have resources and attention to give it a real chance 
5. Understand the regulatory landscape upfront

𝗢𝗻 𝗔𝗜 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗺𝘂𝗹𝘁𝗶𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘂𝗮𝗹 𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁:
For Frends, we recently added a conversational AI experience right at the start of the homepage instead of standard CTA buttons (not a rigid chatbot with rules, but an AI that was trained on over 7000 questions). 

In less than three months = 500+ unique conversations. People aren't just navigating websites anymore. They're want to have conversations.

We trained the model to answer in Swedish if you write in Swedish, German if you write in German. The content? All in English. The AI adapts.

But here's one issue: AI understands patterns, not culture. Humor that works in the US can fall flat in Germany. Directness that's normal in the Netherlands can feel rude elsewhere.

And the other issue: AI still hallucinates. Even with a lot of trained data, it still gives wrong answers from time to time and doesn't adapt quickly enough to new information that replaces old one.

The solution for now is to keep humans in the loop. 
Audit weekly. 
Stay hybrid.

--

I'm 𝗛𝘂𝗴𝗼 𝗣𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗶𝗿𝗮, co-founder of Ritmoo and fractional growth operator. I've led companies from €1M to €100M+ while building purpose-driven, resilient teams.

Follow me for unfiltered takes on growth, leadership, and scaling what matters. My book 𝘛𝘦𝘢𝘮𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘏𝘦𝘭𝘭 – 𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘰 𝘌𝘯𝘥 𝘉𝘢𝘥 𝘔𝘢𝘯𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 is out now on Amazon.

I've seen dozens of companies fail at OKRs.
Same pattern every time.

The CEO stops logging into the tool by week 3.
Not because they're lazy. 
Not because they're too busy.

Because deep down, they know the truth:
𝗠𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗢𝗞𝗥 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗿.

Here's what I see in every company that fails at goal-setting:

→ Goals are set in a 2-day offsite with post-its and tons of coffee 
→ Everyone nods excited about "ambitious but achievable" targets 
→ The goals get entered into whatever tool the VP bought last quarter 
→ Week 1: People update their progress religiously
→ Week 3: Updates become sloppy (probably even written by AI by now) 
→ Week 6: The CEO hasn't logged in since the kickoff 
→ Quarter-end: Everyone rushing to update everything before the board meeting

The tool isn't the problem.
𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗺 𝗶𝘀 𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗼𝗳 𝗮𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗰𝗹𝗮𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗼𝗻 𝘄𝗵𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗺𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀.

When goals are disconnected from daily work, when they're written to impress investors instead of guide decisions, when they're too many or too vague, people smell it immediately.

And the CEO stops logging in because facing that disconnect is painful.

But here's what most companies miss entirely:
𝗢𝗞𝗥𝘀 𝗮𝗹𝗺𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗻𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗰𝘂𝘀𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 "𝗵𝗼𝘄" 𝗼𝗿 𝗮𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗻 𝗼𝗻 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝗶𝗰 𝗯𝗲𝘁𝘀.

Everyone agrees on the "what" (grow revenue 3x, reduce churn, expand to X region). But then nobody aligns on: 

→ Which bets we're making to get there 
→ What we're saying no to 
→ How we're sequencing the work 
→ What trade-offs we're willing to accept

So teams pick their own interpretation of "how" and wonder why nothing connects.

Leaders massively underestimate how much alignment is required. 

They think setting goals = creating alignment. Well it doesn't.

Goals without shared understanding of the path forward are just wishful thinking with a deadline.

I've worked with companies from all growth stages. The ones that actually achieve their goals have three things in common:

→ 𝗙𝗲𝘄𝗲𝗿 𝗴𝗼𝗮𝗹𝘀 (3-5 company-level max, not 47 cascaded nightmares) 
→ 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝗮𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗼𝗻 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝗶𝗰 𝗯𝗲𝘁𝘀 (not just the goal, but how we'll get there) 
→ 𝗗𝗮𝗶𝗹𝘆 𝗿𝗲𝗹𝗲𝘃𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 (teams reference goals in real decisions, not quarterly reviews)

Your OKR tool is probably fine.
Your alignment on the "how"? That's what's missing.

If your CEO isn't in the tool, it's not a software problem.

It's a belief and alignment problem, disguised as a goal-setting problem.

---

I'm Hugo Pereira, co-founder of Ritmoo and fractional growth operator. I've led companies from €1M to €100M+ while building purpose-driven, resilient teams.

Follow me for unfiltered takes on growth, leadership, and scaling what matters. My book 𝘛𝘦𝘢𝘮𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘏𝘦𝘭𝘭 – 𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘰 𝘌𝘯𝘥 𝘉𝘢𝘥 𝘔𝘢𝘯𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 is out now on Amazon.

Gorilla - Energy data applications

Imagine a world where selling carbon-free energy is as easy as selling bananas at the farmers market.

Gorilla wants to empower the global shift to carbon-neutral energy. We do it through one of a kind energy data applications.

In order to enable our company vision and mission, the People Team mission is to enable Data Rangers (our employees) to grow individually and as a troop by creating easy to use and elegant people solutions.

VP of People

Jangala

Growth cycles in business are broken.

And leaders and teams are feeling the whiplash from everchanging internal and external headwinds.

The ultimate hack to grow resilient organizations has been under our noses all along. 

Jangala People Solutions is a playground to experiment with how leaders and teams harness 3.8 bn years of nature's blueprints, psychology, and neuroscience to:

► Explore how Regenerative Design principles can shape sustainable organizational practices and foster long-term resilience.

► Cultivate Nature-Inspired Leadership by integrating nature's wisdom into leadership strategies for innovation, resilience, and organizational health.

► Embracing the Adaptive Cycle to navigate scale, change, reorganization within fast moving environments.

Services: Leadership Coaching and Development. Teams Coaching and Development, Workshop Facilitation

People Advisory, Leadership & Teams Facilitator

Offbeat

Offbeat is one of the leading L&D communities where L&D professionals accelerate their career.

Mentor

Philips

HR plays a critical role in ESG and social impact. 

As the corporate landscape shifts towards prioritizing sustainability and social impact, my pivot into a sustainability role at Philips aligns with the evolving expectations of both consumers and employees.

I was committed to leveraging my people and culture expertise to enable Philips businesses and external organizations to set and meet their ESG goals, and foster culture of sustainability within the organization

The skills accrued here have deepened my understanding of ESG and how as HR professional I can further addressing social aspects, such as inclusion, diversity, and equity, and talent processes.

Sustainability Strategist - Philips Innovation Services

Miro

Imagine scaling from 350 to 1000 employees in < 12 months during the pandemic.

I built and scaled the L&D and Culture function at Miro from Series B - C during this crazy hypergrowth to answer these questions:

"How do we scale our company without losing our culture?"
"How do we build a culture as collaborative as our product?
"How do we stay nimble as we expand?"

Leading a team of learning designers and agile coaches, we built people solutions like products to  ensure our culture didn't "break".

...

Head of People Solutions Design  

PwC Australia

The aim is not to be an agile organization. The aim is to achieve your business objectives with agility. 

This was one of the core principles Christopher Webb and I co-founded the Agile Advisory around in 2017 when the applications of agile outside of software development were still in it's infancy. 

Our goal was to help organizations avoid cutting and pasting scrum across all their departments and saying 'ta da' "we're agile".

Instead we grew an inclusive and diverse multi-disciplinary team to work with clients to redesign their operating models and refresh their ways of working.

In doing so we aimed to bring organizations closer to their customers and employees, and to increase speed to value by developing viable and feasible solutions. 

I specifically focussed on leadership agility, and teams development + delivery using agile ways of working and human centred design methods to deliver better outcomes. 

Highlights: 

► Designing and implementing company-wide New Ways of Working simulation training to 30 000K employees using more LEGO than one person would buy in their lifetime.

► Establishing social labs innovation approach and delivering large group facilitation to enable the cross-sector teams to collaborate and prototype solutions to end homelessness in a generation.

Senior Manager - Agile Advisory, Technology Consulting

Deloitte Australia

Think strategically, solve complex problems, format slides fast.

In my interview I said I'm a corporate hippy, they said you're hired, and on Day 1 I was shipped out to a mining and metal company ....

Not quite the regenerative green warrior project I expected, yet to do this day it remains one of the best projects of my life.

Why? I got to work with amazing client leaders and it's where I cut my teeth on:

Buidling and faciltiating strong team dynamics globally, managing global strategic change, global learning and development strategy, the ups and downs of stakeholder engagement and M&A / demergers....

... and it's when I became an accidental technologist.

It's also where I learned consultants' obsession with slides and spreadsheets. 

If you can't beat them join them. So I pivot-tabled, hypothesis treed, and powerpointed my way on several projects for national banks, insurers, and retailers. 

Until I was selected among 20 people nationally to go on a 3 day immersion with the  Design and Visual Storytelling team.

It's here that I unearthed my natural tendency for human-centred design (HCD) and its powerful methods, which evolved into working on agile software development projects, and agile coaching, and  learning and development solutions.

I knew that my future work would always boil down to:

Understand the problem + Build the right things + Build the things right.

...

Human Capital Management Consultant

Croydon Council

Organisational Change & Development - Learning and Development - Product Development 

Croydon Council:
In a post Global Financial Crisis climate, Croydon Council received a mandate form the federal government to cut costs by £200 million by 2018. Subsequently the council commenced a large scale restructure and review of services. To assist the ensuing changes the Chief Executive initiated a 3 year values based culture transformation for the organisation (approx. 2000 employees). As one of four core members in the Change and OD team Vanessa delivered the following high quality services:

Culture Transformation
- Mobilisation of culture change champion network \
- Leadership and project management 
- Development of learning forums and materials to equip and empower staff with change conversation capabilities.  These initiatives increased employees’ change skillset, augmented employees’ sense of work efficacy and opened communication channels between different departments
- Change project evaluation  

Leadership
- Middle Management Leadership Skills Audit 
- Logistics Management for annual senior leadership summit for 300 senior leaders 
- Future leadership capabilities scenario mapping to enable leaders to lead and manage political,    economic, technology and social change reforms

Online Learning
-  Designed, developed and maintained  user centric change  and L&D intranet sites to support staff communications and e-learning

Leap Partnership:
- Working with FTSE 100 clients such as Lloyds TSB, Sage and Honeywell to develop a prolific teams inventory which helps teams in their learning and development functions and overall performance

Organisational Change and Development Consultant

Mendas Ltd.

Client Delivery: National Health Services (NHS), UK Government Organizations (NDA), Smith and Williamson Accountants

Business Psychologist

Munro & Forster

Client Delivery for Nestle Carnation, La Roche-Posay, Roche Diagnostics and Ronald McDonald House Charities

Commercial and Healthcare Graduate PR Analyst

VP of People at Gorilla | In the pursuit of employee significance | Leadership & Career Coach | Illustrator | Corporate Hippy - views expressed here are my own

What do you get when you cross a business psychologist + an accidental technologist + agile coach + a tree hugger?

A global People & Culture leader, who embraces her corporate hippy persona to revitalize organizations worldwide.

I currently lead the global People Function at Gorilla - energy data applications, a fast growing series B SaaS scale up. 

I've held leadership roles at Miro, PwC, Deloitte and Philips where I've built, shaped and scaled cultures.

I know what it takes for startups and scaleups to design their People strategy for future success.


My career highlights include:

► Scaling the L&D and Culture function at Miro from series B - C. 

► Developing social labs approach for cross-sector teams to protoype solutions to end homlessess in a generation in Australia for The Constellation Project.

► Designing and implementing the Global IT Learning strategy, and Change Management and Comms approach for the most complex demerger in australian history (mining and metals company). 


Find out more:

Illustrations - I simplify complex ideas through the power of picture
https://www.instagram.com/nessmonsequeira_illustrations

The Nature of Leadership + Career Newsletter - is filled with practical tips and focuses on how leaders and employees can redesign the work experience.

https://nessmonsequeira.beehiiv.com/

Vanessa Monsequeira

A rising tide lifts all boats.

And right now, that tide looks like women building change, and breaking the status quo.

Here are some awesome women creating new and big things in my network:

💜 Marie Chaproniere has launched Behind the Mask, a community and platform for business leaders to take off the false faces we wear and connect on a deeper, more human level.

💜 Karla Calinawan is redesigning parental leave for startups, scaleups, and grown-ups - making work work for parents.

💜 Daisy Ilaria is calling BS on performance for the sake of performance redefining what truly matters through her new services.

💜 Kasia Pokrop is helping businesses support women through every phase of life with her “Three M’s” approach: Menstruation, Motherhood, and Menopause.

💜 Shenin Lebrun, co-founder of Hustle & Heart, built The Sisterhood — a community helping diverse women build their skills, careers and make lasting presence in business.

💜 Elena Avramenko 🇺🇦 is creating experiences for parents and kids to vibecode together (and I'm beaming with friendship pride that she was one of 200 women chosen for Lovable’s She Builds hackathon).

Connect and learn with them.
Support what they’re building, by sharing their stories or becoming a customer.

When women build, we all rise. 


#leadership  #womenmakeimpact

Vanessa Monsequeira - चित्रलेखा

VP of People at Gorilla | Building Employee Experience as a Product | In pursuit of making work suck less | Leadership & Career Coach | Corporate Hippy - views expressed here are my own

A black background graphic with the headline “When women build…” in white and purple text. Below are six circular portraits, each outlined in purple, featuring women leaders: Marie Chaproniere, Karla Calinwan, Daisy Illaria, Kasia Pokrop, Shenin Lebrun, and Elena Avramenko. At the bottom, the phrase “we all rise.” appears in white and purple text.

This week I attended my third PX Immersive by SapienX.

It's a space where we explore how product, engineering, marketing, and customer experience principles can help us design People Experience as a Product.

I joined Marie Krebs and Katja Vincetić on a panel to unpack how PX and agile ways of working actually show up in HR, beyond the theory.

What discussed:
🔥 The art of inspiration, but not copying and pasting. 
🔥 How to fall in love with the problem space.
🔥 Understand the problems you’re solving before you jump to solutions.
🔥 How to structure your People team based on your size, context, and problem-solving approach.
🔥 The importance of learning  from marketing! Launching People Products 🔥 deserves more than a message and a deck.
🔥 I shared a practical recap on using the Double Diamond for performance design — if you missed it you can read more here https://lnkd.in/eYCHiAgt

People Experience isn’t a set of policies, it’s a system we design, test, and evolve. When we build like product teams do, we get closer to real employee needs, faster.

Why I keep coming back:
💜 PX Immersive is hands-on, human, and humbling.
💜 The biggest learnings happen in the informal moments — and in the community that now feels like family.
💜 Meeting beautiful new folks from all around the world.

Huge thank you to Luke O'Mahoney and Nishita O'Mahoney and Liesa Miller  or curating such a powerful space, all the work behind the scene and to Alicia Grimes Adam Horne John Faulkner-Willcocks Chris Metcalfe  Thomas Forstner Becki Nazareth Jessamine Ringer (PCC, Assoc CIPD) Rafael Guper for the wisdom, laughter, and support.

📌 If you haven’t joined a PX Immersive yet -  there are three opportunities next year!

📌 And if you’re curious about getting involved in PX as a Product, I’ve shared resources to help you refresh how you think about HR.

Photo credit: Milica Sapic

#peopleexperience #peopleasaproduct #leadership

Two colleagues sitting side by side at a fireside chat event, smiling warmly. A presentation slide behind them shows the event host and branding for SapienX. The setting is cozy, with exposed wooden beams and natural light.

Two colleagues sitting side by side at a fireside chat event, smiling warmly. A presentation slide behind them shows the event host and branding for Sapien. The setting is cozy, with exposed wooden beams and natural light.

Can you scale a culture without breaking it?
Can you scale a culture with soul?
Yes .....and no.

Dorothy Mankey and I have been on this journey twice , first at Miro, now at Gorilla - Energy data applications.

We’ve seen where culture thrives. And where it breaks.
Because culture isn’t the values on your website
It’s what happens when pressure hits.
It’s the behaviours you role model.
And the ones you tolerate… even when you shouldn’t.

Next Wednesday with Ania Hajdrowska we’ll be on the Santander Stage at Valencia Digital Summit (#VDS2025) to talk about: 

Scaling with Soul: How Culture Powers Growth in Climate Tech

We’ll explore:
💜 How to scale without losing your values
💜 Why psychological safety is the foundation
💜 What human-centered leadership looks like in the age of AI
💜 The critical role of psychological safety in building "fearless organisations"

At Gorilla, our founders seeded a strong cultural DNA, and we’ve had growing pains too.Some of our biggest lessons came from the moments things cracked, and how we chose to rebuild.

👋🏽 If you’ll be in Valencia, come say hi.
And if you can’t make it, we’ll share takeaways and reflections from the panel after.

Looking forward to sharing and inspiring with Ingrid Tappin 🏳️‍🌈 Gwen Kolader Ingeborg van Harten

#VDS2025 #Leadership #PsychologicalSafety #ClimateTech

Vanessa Monsequeira, VP of People at Gorilla, announced as a speaker at Valencia Digital Summit 2025. The event takes place October 22–23 at the City of Arts and Sciences in Valencia. The image features Vanessa smiling beside the text “Thrilled to be a speaker at #VDS2025,” with the event branding and Startup Valencia logo.

As a leader have you ever thought about the cost to company when employees feel invisible or irrelevant?

People rarely say, “I feel invisible.” or “I feel irrelevant.”

But if you don’t spot the signs, you’re missing one of the earliest detections of your biggest cost to company.

I see it all the time:
 👉🏾 People showing up every day, but not really there.
 👉🏾 Leaders armouring up instead of opening up.
 👉🏾 Motivation fading.
👉🏾  Performance declining.

In this 3-minute video, I break down how to spot the signs, including:
— 2 pathways where this shows up when employees don’t feel valued
— 4 hidden costs to company growth
— 3 things leaders can do right now to turn it around

Here’s a sneak preview: 
— The “I’m not enough” spiral
— The “I’m relevant” bravado that turns into armour
— Fear-based outputs
— Turnover, settlement, and reputational costs

And the solutions?
—  They start with listening, rewarding, and leading honestly.
—  If you lead people, or if you’ve ever felt invisible at work, this one’s for you.
—  Watch to see how it shows up, and how to fix it before it spreads.

👇🏽 What’s one thing you do to make your people feel seen and significant at work?

#employeeexperience #leadership

Leadership training doesn't work.

Not unless you do the inner work of leading yourself too.

The irony is I studied organizational psychology and leadership in my post-grad.

But what I learned about actually leading didn't come from books as much as it came from necessity.

Back in 2014, I got my first leadership role on a large project.

I couldn't be more excited to "be seen as a leader."

Reality hit me like a truck:

👉🏽I sucked at delegating. I played favorites with high performers (ashamed to admit that now). 
👉🏽I followed textbook frameworks more than actually listening to feedback spoken and unpsoken from my team.
👉🏽I'd work until midnight wondering if I was doing enough in my role, and whether people respected my leadership.

I kept working harder.

Because that's always the solution, right?

It frustrated me constantly, but it was nothing new:
— Relationships fail when you avoid the uncomfortable conversations.
— Health fails when you ignore what your body is telling you.
— Leadership fails when you silence what's happening inside you.

Remember: there's always a bigger picture ↓
— Building partnerships through honesty, not just performance.
— Creating wellness by listening to signals, not pushing through them.
— Developing leaders by processing emotions, not suppressing them.

There's a bigger picture in leadership than just achieving outcomes.

It's about bringing a team on a journey while staying grounded in yourself.

It's built through self-awareness, brick by brick.

It will feel more authentic, more sustainable, and more effective when you stop optimizing and start integrating.

So the next time you think "How do I become a better leader?":

1. Look inward before you look outward for another framework.
2. Ask yourself honestly: do I need skills training, or do I need coaching to process what's actually happening?
3. Stop exhausting options to "fix" your leadership and start uncovering what unmet need is driving your behavior.

Great leadership usually emerges when you stop performing competence and start processing what's true.


#leadership #leadershipdevelopment #selfawareness

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The Battle

Hugo Pereira

Vanessa Monsequeira

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Performance ScoreVanessa Monsequeira's LinkedIn Performance

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taplio

The Battle

Hugo Pereira

Vanessa Monsequeira

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

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);}Hugo Pereira's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreVanessa Monsequeira's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance ScoreHugo Pereira's LinkedIn Performance