Ryan Musselman

Founder @ Coaches who Close

I create funny AI ads for B2B businesses and business owners without requiring you to be on camera, write scripts, think of content ideas, or build your personal brand.If you're serious about being funny (lol), book with me here and let's see if I can help: https://calendly.com/ryanmus/funnyads

Founder | Coaches who Close

Equipping coaches to close, scale, and enterprise with new clients, content engines, and constant lead flow.

I'm seeing 2 styles of LinkedIn content, and:

(one of them is becoming cringe) 😬

1) Authority Content
2) Narrator Content

Authority Examples 😬

“Stop giving value. Start creating gravity.”
“Here’s the ONLY way to grow on LinkedIn in 2026.”
“If you’re not doing this, you’re losing trust fast.”

Narrator Examples 

“Is online coaching dying?”
"Posts that hit lately feel less polished."
"LinkedIn might be going through its copycat era."

You'll spot Authority Content when it makes you feel:

1) Managed
2) Called-out
3) Prepped-to-buy

You'll spot Narrator Content when you FEEL:

1) Seen
2) Included 
3) Intelligent 

Narrator content challenges you to draw your own conclusions from the post. 

You become more insightful in this process, which causes you to value the creator's presentation of the information, ultimately leading to more trust with the person who posted.

Not saying you shouldn't do authority content. 

But I'm theorizing you can get the intended value of both styles by using narrator content more.

Here's the easiest way I've found to narrate:

Start (some) of your posts with:

"I'm seeing...
"I've noticed...
"These 5 emerging...
"The [thing] that's [getting result]...

Here's a full example hook to illustrate:

"The LinkedIn strategy that's getting clients for small accounts."

PS) Are you observing something similar?

Someone needs to hear this today ⬇️

We've wasted years of our life:

1) Responding to arguments
2) Defending our position
3) Explaining ourselves

Only to realize we never needed to:

1) Respond to arguments
2) Defend our position
3) Explain ourselves 

Build whatever career you want.

I'm seeing 3 big changes with organic content:

1) The Death of Posting M-F

(especially with LinkedIn content)

I used to post 7x per week, then went down to 5x. Then switched in and out of 3x to 7x posts per week. But now when I try to batch create, it appears my content hits less. I also no longer enjoy that strategy because it rushes my mind and ideas don't get to bloom. 

When I post less, but dig deep, it's just better all around. This is much more than a "quality over quantity" argument. I think it's a true behavior change in the creator and the reader. 

The bombardment of content from everyone, everywhere, all at once, is making us consume different and in ways we don't fully understand yet. But I think we're all feeling the heavy shift without being able to explain it. 

2) Long-form, Slow Growth, and Micro-audiences

Long, slow and micro is my new goal and I never thought I'd write a sentence like that. My view on content changed and thinking this way lets the "content pressure" melt off my soul. I don't only see "small" as the new "fast," I see it as the new "purpose."

(this may not be true of everyone)

This isn't another "1,000 true fans" argument. It's more about the internal dialogue that becomes the content people can relate to. The post you're reading now is an example of it.

I'm also not trying to build a mega-business. I'm into the idea of building a lifestyle business that requires very little maintenance, to the degree that it's not only lucrative financially but it's liberating with time. 

This enables the option to return to the corporate world (I've been missing the people, teams, goals, challenges). Plus, I'd have additional income that has a better ROI than a basic side hustle and enables me to explore time allocation to a role of my interest (I'm seeing many roles that I actually want - what is happening to me?!). 

3) Small Promises, Small Wins, Small Effort

Last week I asked myself: "Why does everything need to be a big promise and high-ticket cost? What if there were small promises that cater to a different part of the market?" 

Then I listened to a podcast about someone I’d never heard of who built a $10M business in 5 years using funny ads. Prior to hearing that episode, I was thinking similarly, so to me, that's less of a coincidence and more of a flashing sign. 

I've also gone into the deep end of studying ads and ad-based conversion funnels. My mind has completely shifted into "figure out ads." It's simply too high-leverage to ignore. 

I will master that process with good copywriting. The right set of ads, for the right mini-course, with the right kind of small promise, small win, and small effort...there's something special about that. I'm going to figure it out.

PS) What are you seeing with online content?

If you write for their benefit, you'll sell a transformation.

If you write for your benefit, you won't sell much.

Written for your benefit: 

“Sign-up for my weekly content newsletter.” 

Written for their benefit: 

“Become a content mastermind in 90 days.”

I like the idea of dedicating 1 post per week to:

→ a listicle of lessons from posting on LinkedIn that week.

(it challenges you to pause + reflect)
(it's human-driven to the core)
(great for relatability)

So, 5 lessons from creating content this week:

1. I officially feel “back”

I stopped posting for 3 months but recently started again. Believing my content would be THE catalyst for building a coaching business on LinkedIn is why I made the jump from corporate America in 2023. Glad I took the risk. And glad to be back.

2. We're all going to post & grow in 2026

I stopped believing in LinkedIn for awhile. Like when they got rid of pinned comments, created LinkedIn Games, and hurt our reach. But then I stopped pouting and got back to work (already seeing growth from text-only posts again). We'll all grow if we slow down, get 1% better with every post, and write well for our audience, we'll grow.

3. I've been craving a return to LinkedIn Lives

I used to do this in 2023 - every week. My buds Luke and Jasmin would send me a video segment and my LinkedIn Live felt like a live podcast/show. I shouldn't have stopped, so I'm rebuilding it. And I've always wanted a podcast, so, 2-birds-1-stone. 

5. I enjoy teaching content strategy + offers again

For awhile, I deeply explored changing how I help people. Then I returned to text posts and started trusting my creativity again. Then had a client earn a literal $200K month from his offer launch, another earn $40K, another hit his first ever $30K, another do $14K, followed by a $16K, then another got $5K. So I snapped out of my funk and once again, got back to work.

PS) All methods for offer sales work if you focus.
(get better and don't quit 🙂)

One of these sounds like work.

The other sounds like relief.

1) Feature (what it is):
“Weekly templates + prompts”

2) Outcome (what it does):
“Never stare at a blank post again”

PS) You need both. But lead with outcomes.

Well, looks like human-written LinkedIn posts (with text only) still work. 

Btw, I recommend going to my profile and reading that middle post. It's about a content style called "Narration Content."

Separates you from the robots. 

All 3 of my top posts, that were text only, used that style.

PS) There's nothing wrong with using images. These findings are from testing.

The Practical Professional | Ignoring 99% of AI news to focus on the 1% that matters. Follow for systems that win back your weekends.

Early in my career, I hit the "More for Less" trap.

My workload was skyrocketing, demands were increasing, but my paycheck was stagnant. 

I was waking up earlier and working later just to keep my head above water, living with a constant baseline hum of stress that I was always falling behind.

Deep down, I felt like an imposter.

I watched colleagues with 10+ years of experience effortlessly manage projects while I scrambled. My biggest fear wasn't failing—it was settling. I was terrified I would accept a "good enough" life just because I didn't have the hours in the day to fight for a "great" one.

So, I tried to escape via the job market. But it was brutal.

I spent months applying, landing interviews, and getting to the final round, only to be told: "We went with someone who has more experience."

I was losing by inches. And the constant rejection was exhausting.

Then, I made a pivot.

I stopped treating AI as a "hobby" and started treating it as my "Senior Partner."

I realized I couldn't out-work people with a decade of experience, but I could out-leverage them. I stopped just "doing the work" and started building AI systems to coach me through it.

The shift was immediate.

Instead of memorizing generic interview answers, I built AI tools to cross-reference my research and generate hyper-customized questions that blew interviewers away. At work, my AI systems started flagging risks I would have missed, training me to see projects like a veteran.

The results spoke for themselves:
→ Reclaimed my weekends and afternoons (giving me time to plan my wedding stress-free).
→ Secured a promotion and a raise at my previous role.
→ Landed a Senior-level role at my top-choice company.
→ Beat out candidates with 5-10 years more experience.
→ Secured a max-range salary offer without needing to negotiate.

Now, I’m on a mission to help others do the same.

I teach ambitious mid-career professionals how to build their own "AI Advantage" to work smarter, not harder. 

No code. No hype. No "tech bro" jargon.

Just practical systems to accelerate your career and get your time back.

Follow me here on LinkedIn for weekly breakdowns on how I use AI to hack the career ladder.

Wyatt Brocato

Stop being a Job Seeker.
Start being a Job Shopper.

The dynamic is broken.
Most candidates act like beggars.
They hope to be picked.

This reeks of desperation. 
And desperation kills value.

Flip the script (the Madeline Mann method):

1. The Audit
Don't just answer questions. Grill them.
↳ "How does this role drive revenue?"
↳ "Why is this position open?"

2. The Product
You are not an employee. You are a B2B service provider selling a solution.
↳ Treat the interview like a sales call.

3. The Rejection
Be willing to walk away.
↳ Nothing signals value like the ability to say "No."

When you shop, you hold the leverage.

If you automate this, I can guarantee you're losing at least 6+ hours a week:

Automating the "Task."
While ignoring the "Purpose."

This tweet perfectly captures the absurdity of the "Agentic Future"

And if you've spent more than 5 minutes on X or LinkedIn recently, you've probably seen a ton of posts saying how work is dead and how AI going to be replacing all forms of work.

For starters... work isn't going anywhere.

AI has actually enabled both the company and the employee to unlock better work! (think about the last time you asked AI versus Google searching)

But, there's one thing 99% of people are missing:

We are building tools to do things that shouldn't be done at all.

We are about to enter a world where:
↳ My bot emails your bot.
↳ Your bot negotiates with my bot.
↳ They schedule a meeting neither of us wanted (or needed) to attend.

The goal isn't to make the meeting easier to schedule.

The goal is to cancel the meeting.

Guard your time. Even from your own agents.

What AI trend do you think people have blown way overboard?

♻️ Repost to share with your network (and to help all the AI Hype Tech Bro's)

Originality is the most expensive mistake you can make.

We are taught that to stand out, we must innovate.
We are told to disrupt the industry.

The data says the exact opposite.

Humans are biologically biased toward the familiar. 

The paintings in the Louvre are not the most famous because they have the best brushwork. 

They are famous because they were the most widely distributed.

In your career, being original looks like a threat. Being predictable looks like an asset.

Stop trying to be a disrupter.
Become a Consistent Utility.

Show up so often that your expertise feels like a law of physics.

That is how you build a moat.

Everyone thinks competition is their biggest threat.
(You may want to bookmark this)

They see thousands of creators posting every day. 
They see founders launching new tools every week. 
They assume the market is too crowded to even bother trying.

The market is only crowded at the starting line.

Out of 1,000 people who start today, 990 will give up within a year. Your competition is not other people. Your competition is your own impatience.

Here is the 4-step survival protocol to outlast them:

1. Audit the Messy Middle
↳ Look at your 10 most recent "failures." These are not losses. They are Pillar Pieces.

2. Identify the Drop-Off
↳ Where did your peers stop posting? Double down exactly in that spot.

3. Stay Married to the Problem
↳ Your first solution is just a DVD. Your ultimate goal is Streaming.

4. Repurpose the Friction
↳ Turn your technical roadblocks into "How-To" guides for those behind you.

Consistency is not a personality trait. It is a competitive advantage.

When building is free.
Caring becomes expensive.

This is the "Hidden Risk" of 2026.

We have unlimited leverage.
We have zero differentiation.

If you launch a SaaS product today, 10 clones will launch tomorrow.

The software is no longer the moat.

The New Moat is Trust.

Here is the SOP to build it:
1. Show the "Why", not just the "How"
↳ AI can explain the code. Only you can explain the philosophy behind the architecture.
2. Optimize for "High Fidelity" interaction
↳ Stop using bots for customer support. Talk to users. That conversation is your research lab.
3. Share the Failure
↳ Trust is built on vulnerability. Share what didn't work.

Do things that don't scale.
Because the AI can do everything else. 

What's one thing you've seen outsourced that people should start doing manually again?

♻️ Repost to help someone who needs to see this

If you believe these 3 lies, your job search will take 6+ months longer than it needs to:
(You may want to bookmark this 🔖)

If you've spent more than five minutes on LinkedIn recently, you've probably seen creators giving terrible career advice.

Most of it is pure engagement bait.

Here is the reality of what actually works right now, and exactly how you can fix your approach today.

1. "Just give people a chance, they can learn on the job."
↳ The reality: Companies are fiercely protecting their margins right now. They aren't running charity training programs.
↳ The fix: You must prove you can solve their exact problems on day one. Treat your interview like a 90-day onboarding presentation.

2. "It's simply a numbers game."
↳ The reality: Spamming 500 applications with one resume doesn't increase your odds. It just accelerates your burnout.
↳ The fix: Treat your job search like a B2B sales campaign. Pick a "Target 10" list. Research them deeply. Quality will always beat volume.

3. "You have to stay positive all the time."
↳ The reality: Forcing a smile after a brutal final-round rejection is toxic positivity. You're allowed to be frustrated.
↳ The fix: Turn that negative emotion into data. Look at the exact stage where you were rejected and audit your answers. Find the leak in your funnel.

Which piece of toxic job search advice irritates you the most?

♻️ Repost to save your network from bad career advice.

Stop trying to automate "Chaos."

I catch myself doing this constantly:

I have a task that takes 10 minutes.
I think, "I can use AI to automate this to less than a minute."

Then I spend:
↳ 2 hours writing the prompt.
↳ 1 hour debugging the output.
↳ 1 hour realized edge cases break the logic.

I spent 4 hours to save 10 minutes.

The "Heck Yes" Audit:

(Before you spin up a new agent, audit it through these 3 filters)

Unless the task is:
↳ High Frequency (Daily)
↳ High Stability (Unchanging)
↳ High Volume (Massive data)

...Just do it manually.

The "Messy Middle" of using AI is realizing that manual work is often the fastest path. 

What's one task you tried automating only to realize it was easier to do it manually?

♻️ Repost to help your one friend who is trying to automate every small task they get

Most people quit for the wrong reason.

They quit because "It's hard."
But "Hard" is where the profit is.

You need to know the difference between The Dip and a Dead End. 

1. A Dead End (The Trap)
↳ Sign: You work hard, but nothing changes. The market is shrinking (e.g., "Flash Developer").
↳ Action: Quit immediately. Don't be "Resilient." Be smart.

2. The Dip (The Filter)
↳ Sign: It's hard, but the people on the other side are winning big. (e.g., "AI Strategy").
↳ Action: Push harder. The difficulty is the moat.

The Delusion Protocol ♟️:

To get through The Dip, you can't be rational. You have to be slightly delusional.

In tomorrow's newsletter, I break down the 3-Step Protocol to weaponize your belief system and survive the 2026 market chaos.

Join 1,200+ professionals getting the breakdown: wyattbrocato.site

Don't quit the Dip.

I used to think my side projects were failures.

I have folders full of code that never went live.
Drafts that were never published.
Ideas that were "too simple" to share.

Then I looked at the OpenClaw protocol.

People mocked the founder's GitHub profile because he "failed" 43 times. But he did not fail. Those 43 projects were the underlying tools and modules that made his ultimate success possible. He built an army of assets in public.

I started treating my deleted work as raw material.
I stopped waiting for perfection.

Trust went up. Friction went down. The army is finally useful.

Want a surefire way for your value to be seen?
(Save this for your next performance review).

Recently, Pinterest announced  their laying off 15% of their workforce for AI, meanwhile IBM is triple down on the amount of entry level jobs available.

So, what's that mean for you?

Due to AI, just "doing the job" isn't enough anymore. You need to move from being a "Doer" to an "Owner".

If you just "show up and grind" everyday, you're going to be replaceable (and it's not for the reason you think)

It's not because the work you do is bad, it's because your boss doesn't know the impact your work has.

Here is the shift you need to make immediately:

1. The Shift in Language
→ Old Way: "I updated the database schema."
↳ New Way: "I reduced query latency by 40%, saving $2k/month."

2. The Shift in Process
→ Old Way: "Is there a ticket for that?"
↳ New Way: "I noticed a gap in the user flow, here is a proposal to fix it."

3. The Shift in Value
→  Old Way: "I can solve this issue."
↳ New Way: "I know how to solve this issue and connect it to driving revenue."

The Takeaway:
Don't wait to be told what to build.
The "Spec" is the trap. The "Solution" is the career.

I used to think "Big Words" meant "Big Salary."
(but I completely missed this one truth):

Complexity is a tax on your career.

I would write emails filled with corporate jargon ("synergy," "unlock," "paradigm"), which I thought added intelligence and authority... but in reality it just muddied my message.

But, there's a bigger risk when you aren't clear with your communicate:
→ When you confuse people, they don't think you're a genius.
↳ They think you're a risk.

Here is the 3-Step Clarity Audit I run on every email (Steal this):

1. The "Revenue" Test 
→ Does the first sentence explain the money or the speed? 
↳ Poverty Language: "Optimizing the backend latency..." 
↳ Wealth Language: "Checkout is 20% faster, increasing conversion." 

2. The "Fifth Grader" Test
→ Remove every word a 10-year-old wouldn't know.
↳ Delete: "Leverage," "Utilize," "Bandwidth."
↳ Keep: "Use," "Time," "Help."

3. The "Visual" Test
→ If it's more than 3 sentences, make it a bullet list. 
↳ If it has more than 3 commas, break the sentence. 

Clarity isn't dumbing it down.
It's the ultimate form of respect.

Fame is not about craftsmanship.
It is about who stays in the room the longest.

I was sitting on my couch this weekend reading Hit Makers by Derek Thompson.

He tells the story of Gustave Caillebotte. Not a legendary painter. Just a guy with money who bought art from his broke friends named Monet, Renoir, and Degas. When Caillebotte died, he donated his entire collection to the French government.

The public saw those exact paintings in the museum over and over again.

That repeated exposure created the Impressionist canon we revere today. They did not become the best because they were the most technically gifted. They became the best because they became the most familiar.

Three months ago, I had 11 drafts sitting in a folder.

I told myself I was just holding myself to high standards. That was not perfectionism. That was me misunderstanding what the work is actually for. The work is not for the museum. The work is for the moat.

Here is what I learned about why most ambitious professionals never build one.

They judge their tenth repetition against someone else's ten thousandth.
They change their core message every week to chase the latest trend.
They wait for a viral moment instead of engineering for consistent exposure.
They treat a failed attempt as a dead end instead of raw material for the next one.

The OpenClaw founder's GitHub had 43 failed projects before his hit. Critics laughed. But those 43 failures were not wasted. They were the modules that made his 44th attempt unstoppable.

Your drafts are not failures.
They are assets waiting to be deployed.

I just did a deep dive on the exact 3-step protocol to build a Familiarity Moat in your career, your job search, or your business without needing to be the smartest person in the room.

You just need to stay in the room long enough to become the obvious choice.

Join 1,200 ambitious professionals reading the full breakdown tomorrow morning: https://buff.ly/NNM0AJe

Stop blaming the online job portal.
Start building a better outreach system.

The advice to completely ignore online applications is broken.

Gurus will tell you the portal is a black hole.
They say it's a massive waste of time.

This assumes you are acting like a robot.

Applying to 100 jobs with a generic resume guarantees you'll get ignored, which is a volume strategy based purely on panic. Automated systems filter out panic.

The real strategy is high-touch execution.

You apply online, but you don't stop after you hit submit. Here is the exact method I used to land an interview at Netflix without an internal referral:

1. The Application
↳ Submit your highly tailored resume through the standard portal so you exist in their database.

2. The Hunt
↳ Find the specific recruiter or hiring manager attached to that department. Do not message the CEO. Message the person whose daily life improves if the role is filled.

3. The Direct Pitch
↳ Immediately reach out directly over LinkedIn or email. Reference your application and pitch one specific solution.

Your message should look like this:
"Hi [Name], I just applied for the [Role] position. I noticed your team is currently focusing on [Specific Company Goal based on your research]. At my last company, I built a system that solved a similar issue and saved us 10 hours a week. I'd love to show you the framework."

Stop acting like a desperate applicant.
Start acting like a targeted consultant.

I got rejected in the final interview round 5x in a row.
My inner critic told me I was totally unqualified.

Here is how I turned those failures into a max-salary offer (more than once).

The first one hurt the most. It was a top-choice company. The recruiter told me I was a shoe-in, but two days later, he called to say they went with someone else.

I immediately landed four more interviews.
I got to the final round for all of them.
I received zero offers.

Instead of buying into toxic positivity, I looked at my failures as data.

I analyzed exactly what happened in each round. I realized I was answering their questions perfectly, but I wasn't connecting my answers directly to their business problems.

I was selling my past instead of their future.

Instead of saying, "I managed a team of five people," I needed to say, "I built a workflow that saved my team 10 hours a week, which is exactly how I plan to solve the bottleneck you mentioned."

I fixed that one missing link.

My sixth interview led to an amazing offer.
The company revoked it 48 hours later and cut the salary in half.

I didn't care because I had finally cracked the code.

Two weeks later, I landed my seventh interview and got back-to-back offers.

The skills I learned in that job search helped me land the next few jobs opportunities down the line - even years later. 

Look at your recent rejections objectively.
Where did the process break?

Double down exactly in that spot.

How to prep for a high-stakes interview like a senior partner.
(Steal my exact 4-step framework)

Most candidates walk into an interview and wait to be interrogated.
They hope the hiring manager likes them.
This reeks of desperation.

When you shop for a job, you hold the leverage.

Here is the exact protocol I use to control the narrative and turn interviews into offers:

1. Stalk the Interviewers
↳ Find your interviewers on LinkedIn. Review their past projects and their tenure. People hire people they understand and feel comfortable with.

2. The Six-Month Audit
↳ Pull the last six months of company news, board reviews, and financial reports. You need to know exactly what's happening in their specific world, which is vastly more important than general industry news.

3. Borrow the Know-How
↳ Use AI to query specific books related to your role. I always reference frameworks from The First 90 Days. I ask AI: "Based on this job description, what are the top 3 priorities a new hire should focus on in the first 90 days?"

4. Paint the Future
↳ Don't try to solve their biggest problem live in the room. Your goal is to paint a picture of a future solution. Ask them, "What does success look like for this role in six months?" Then show them a clear road to get there.

Stop begging for a job.
Start pitching a solution.

Stop paying for multiple AI subscriptions.
You only need one to build massive leverage.

Creators tell you to buy ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity.

They'll tell you that you need a specific tool for every specific task.

This is a massive waste of money.

It's idiotic to pay for more than one subscription. (and maybe 2 at most)

If you code daily, get Anthropic. If you just want a great chat interface, get OpenAI. If you want a powerful research engine, get Perplexity, which is all I have paid for since 2023.

The tool doesn't make you productive.

Your workflow makes you productive. When ChatGPT first launched, I collected a new tool every week. I spent more time managing my stack than actually working.

I only got better when I picked one model and optimized it.

Pick your core engine. Cancel the rest.

3 toxic AI trends you need to ignore right now.
Most of them are pure engagement bait.

If you follow tech news, you are probably panicked about your job.

Gurus want you to feel behind so you buy their course. The most practical professionals are completely ignoring these three distractions:

1. Autonomous Agents
↳ The hype: Bots will do your entire job for you while you sleep.
↳ The reality: A prominent tech exec recently used OpenClaw to organize her emails, which then proceeded to ignore her instructions and safeguards and deleted all her emails because its memory wiped. The security risks are massive. Let the dust settle first.

2. Coding Tools for Non-Coders
↳ The hype: You must learn Claude Code to survive.
↳ The reality: If you write code, it's amazing. If you don't, 90% of you are perfectly fine completely ignoring it. Don't add complexity you don't need.

3. The Weekly Tool Hunt
↳ The hype: There is a new secret app that will save you 10 hours.
↳ The reality: Collecting tools is just procrastination dressed up as productivity.

The best way to react to the news is not reacting at all.

Which AI hype trend makes you roll your eyes the hardest?

If you automate your job search, I can guarantee you're losing leverage.

We are about to enter a world of AI absurdity.
Your bot will apply to a job posted by their bot.
Their bot will auto-reject your bot.

This completely ignores the purpose of hiring.

Companies don't hire resumes. They hire humans who can solve specific, painful problems. Using AI to do the exact same thing as everyone else just makes you part of the noise.

This creates a massive divide between two types of candidates.

The Anxious Applicant:
↳ Uses an AI tool to spam 200 generic applications a week.
↳ Waits passively for a company to pick them.
↳ Panics during interviews because they know nothing about the company.
↳ Views every rejection as a personal attack on their worth.

The Practical Professional:
↳ Researches 5 target companies deeply.
↳ Reads the last six months of board reviews to find the actual pain points.
↳ Uses AI to analyze the company's public data and suggest operational gaps.
↳ Views rejection as feedback, which allows them to constantly tweak their pitch.

One works frantic hours and feels completely exhausted.

The other protects their mental health, creates immense leverage, and negotiates for maximum salary.

Volume is for amateurs. Leverage is for professionals.

Success requires a crazy level of delusion.

If you look at the data, you should quit.
If you look at the odds, you should stop.
If you look at the competition, you should shrink.

The "Rational" move is always to play it safe. 
↳ Staying in the same job
↳ Same career path
↳ Same industry

But "Safe" is where careers go to die.

The people winning in 2026 are the ones who ignore the odds: 
↳ They apply for roles they "aren't qualified" for.
↳ They ask for prices they "shouldn't" get.
↳ They build projects that "won't" work.

Imposter Syndrome is good.

It means you are aiming higher than your current reality!

Want to bridge the gap? 

Start being a little more delusional in your job search and career.

The skills that made you a Top 1% Performer are the exact skills that will fail you as a Leader.

"What got you here won't get you there."

Save this list. You need to unlearn these 3 habits immediately: 

1. The "Rightness" Trap 
↳ The Habit: Arguing to be "correct" on minor details.
↳ The Cost: You win the battle, but you lose the trust. 
↳ The Fix: Stop asking "Am I right?" Start asking "Is this worth the relationship?" 

2. The "Value-Add" Trap 
↳ The Habit: Tweaking every idea your team brings you ("Great, but change X").
↳ The Cost: You improve the idea by 5%, but you kill their ownership by 100%.
↳ The Fix: If it's an 8/10, say "Great job" and get out of the way.

3. The "Smartest in the Room" Trap 
↳ The Habit: Starting sentences with "No, but..." to show your intelligence.
↳ The Cost: Your team stops bringing you ideas.
↳ The Fix: Start with "Yes, and..." or simply "Thank you." 

You don't need to learn more to get promoted.
You need to stop doing the things that are keeping you small.

taplio

The Battle

Ryan Musselman

Wyatt Brocato

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Performance ScoreRyan Musselman's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreWyatt Brocato's LinkedIn Performance

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The Battle

Ryan Musselman

Wyatt Brocato

Followers

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Engagements

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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);}Ryan Musselman's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreWyatt Brocato's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance ScoreRyan Musselman's LinkedIn Performance