CEO/CXO coach. I help people move from confusion to clarity. I can help you identify what is coming in the way of your or your team's success, work on it, and realize your true potential.

I coach CEOs and senior leaders through the moments that define them.

Not the strategy decks. Not the board presentations.
The moments when everything they've built stops working. And they don't know why.

The pattern I see:

A CEO calls me. Business is growing. Numbers look good.
But something feels off.

Key people are leaving. The leadership team isn't aligned.
Decisions that used to come easy now feel heavy.
They've had coaching before. Nothing changed.

So I ask one question: "What are you not seeing?"

Silence.

That's where the real work begins.

What I do:

→ 1:1 Executive Coaching for CEOs and founders navigating blind spots, loneliness at the top, and the transition from operator to leader

→ Team Coaching for leadership teams stuck in silos, cold wars, and performative alignment

→ Group Coaching for rising leaders developing executive presence, strategic thinking, and leading through change

→ Workshops on vision, mission, business strategy, storytelling, and leadership development

→ B-School Teaching as Visiting Professor at top management institutes in India

How I work:

I don't fix leaders. I hold up a mirror.

I help them see the systems they've accidentally created. The patterns that made them successful. And now hold them back.

Most leaders who come to me are smart, successful, and stuck.
They've achieved what they were supposed to achieve.
And they're asking: "Why does it feel hollow?"

That hollowness isn't a bug. It's a signal they've outgrown their container.

Who I've worked with:

I have worked with leaders from 100+ companies, including:

→ Large companies like Adobe, Cisco, Barclays, Wells Fargo, Salesforce.com, Disney, Reliance, TVS, Indian Oil

→ Growth-stage businesses like 91mobiles.com, Finzly, River Law, Intoglo

→ Institutions like ISB, IIT, Great Lakes Institute of Management

I am also a co-founder of way2top.com, where we help mid-career professionals find clarity on who they really are. And discover opportunities aligned with their identity.

Because knowing yourself without testing it in the real world is just overthinking.
And chasing opportunities without knowing yourself is building someone else's dream.

1000+ coaching sessions. 100+ CEOs and CXOs.
One belief: Your team's dysfunction is your leadership made visible.

If that lands, let's talk.

Ramkumar R

Stop trying to motivate your team.

A CEO I coach was frustrated.

Employee engagement scores kept dropping.
So he did what most leaders do.

He added more.

Inspirational town halls.
Team lunches.
A new recognition program.
A motivational speaker at the quarterly offsite.

Six months later? Scores dropped again.

In our session, he said: "I'm doing everything the playbook says. Why isn't it working?"

I asked: "Have you asked your team what's making their job harder?"

He paused. "I ask what they need all the time."

"That's not the same question."

He ran an anonymous survey. One question: "What makes your job harder than it should be?"

The responses were brutal:

"Hours in meetings where I don't speak."
"Conflicting priorities from three different leaders."
"I don't know what success looks like in my role."

Not a single person asked for more motivation.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗶𝗿𝗿𝗼𝗿 𝗺𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁:
𝗛𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗺 𝘄𝗮𝘀𝗻'𝘁 𝘂𝗻𝗺𝗼𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱.
𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗱𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝗯𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝘆𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗺 𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝘁.

He realized the culture shift had to start with him.

So he modeled it. Cut his own meetings first. Made decisions he'd been sitting on. Killed two zombie projects publicly.

His leadership team followed.

No new perks. No speeches.

Next survey? Best scores he'd seen in years.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗿𝘂𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝘁𝗵:
𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗺 𝗱𝗼𝗲𝘀𝗻'𝘁 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝗮 𝗺𝗼𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗿.
𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗽 𝗯𝗲𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆'𝗿𝗲 𝗱𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗱.

Motivation isn't something you add.
It's what remains when you stop subtracting it.

💬 If you asked your team "what makes your job harder than it should be?" - what would they say?

♻️ Repost for a leader who keeps adding when they should be subtracting

Executive coach to 100+ CEOs/CXOs | Turning leadership struggles into success stories

My son rejected every productivity app on the market.

Even tried pen and paper.

He spent months searching. Nothing stuck.

Then he came to me: "Dad, can you build me something?"

I'd been searching for years myself.
Same result. But I'd never thought to just build one.

So yesterday, I sat down and did it.

From scratch. For both of us.

He was a tough customer.
"Dad, I need this."
"Dad, that's not working."
"Dad, can you add this?"

By night, he had everything he needed.

The photo? After his final round of testing.
Approval from the toughest client I've ever worked with.

It took me one day.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗶𝗿𝗿𝗼𝗿 𝗺𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁:
𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝘀 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗮𝗯𝗹𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝗵𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝗲𝘅𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗹𝘆 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁.

Five years ago, this would have taken me months.
Or I'd have to hire someone.
Or settle for "close enough."

Now? One day. One idea. One determined son.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗿𝘂𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝘁𝗵:
𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗱𝗼𝗻'𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗹𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗲𝘅𝗶𝘀𝘁𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝘆𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲.

The tools to create are more accessible than ever.
The barrier isn't skill. It's deciding to start.

What's something you've been settling for that you could just... build?

💬 Drop it in the comments

♻️ Repost if you've ever wished an app worked differently

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Certification by IIT Madras and PeopleFirst Consultants. Guiding the development of others in a systematic way, at their ‘being’ (inner strengths and purpose) and ‘doing’ (mastering competences) levels. 

* One of four students in the batch of 343 to be awarded both the ISB Young Leaders Award and the ISB Torch Bearers Award

* Among the top 1% of alumni across batches to be featured in ISB Portraits, a book celebrating alumni achievements

Recipient of 3 Gold Medals, 2 Cash awards, 4 merit certificates and 4 scholarships

I coach high-stakes leaders (CEOs, CXOs) to shatter limiting behaviours and unlock peak leadership performance. Follow me to find out how.

Hi! I am Ramkumar. I help CEOs, CXOs, and senior management teams identify what prevents them from achieving their goals and break free to unlock peak leadership performance. 

My clients include 
* large corporations like Adobe, Cisco, L&T, Thyssenkrupp, Bosch, Barclays, Wells Fargo, Vodafone, HP, Alstom, Disney, Danfoss, Reliance Industries Ltd., Indian Oil Corporation Limited, Bharat Petroleum, Salesforce.com, Sundaram Finance Group, Times Internet, TCS, and TVS
* small and medium businesses like 91mobiles.com, Anabond, Amrutanjan, Finzly, Rajaram Legal, Intoglo, SunEdison,
* prestigious educational institutions like Indian School of Business (ISB), Great Lakes Institute of Management and Indian Institute of Technology (IIT).
* individuals who want to work on their aspirations or overcome challenges in living their purpose. 

I am a certified Executive Coach from the Coaching Foundation of India (CFI), certified in Coaching with Depth (all three levels) from IIT Madras, certified in Advanced Team Coaching from the Coaching Foundation of India (CFI), a certified Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) Master Practitioner, an MBA from the Indian School of Business (ISB), Hyderabad, and a gold medalist in engineering from Delhi College of Engineering. 

Music is another big part of my life. As an award-winning mridangam artist, I’ve performed in over 1000 concerts across the world. Teaching music is something I truly enjoy. I work with students from ages 3 to 80+, meeting them where they are and helping them grow at their own pace. My approach blends empathy and coaching principles with traditional music teaching, helping students not just in music but in their personal growth too.

If you’re a leader looking to grow or someone passionate about learning music, I’d love to connect. Let’s explore how we can learn and grow together.

Companies are racing to become "AI-first."
Step one: Flatten the org chart.
Step two: Fire the middle managers.
Step three: Watch everything collapse.

I'm seeing this play out in real time.

A tech founder I started coaching recently "streamlined" his structure.
Cut 4 layers of management to 2.
Now he has 23 people reporting directly to him.

His calendar? Back-to-back 1:1s.
His strategic work? Non-existent.
His best people? Already interviewing elsewhere.

He thought he was removing bureaucracy.
He actually removed the people who made the company work.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗶𝗿𝗿𝗼𝗿 𝗺𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁:
Middle managers aren't overhead.
They're the translation layer between vision and execution.

Remove them and here's what breaks:

→ Decisions bottleneck at the top
→ Junior people get zero coaching
→ Context gets lost between floors
→ The CEO becomes a full-time air traffic controller

Amazon increased its "builder ratio" by 15% last year.
Meta has been "flattening" since 2023.
Google cut manager and VP roles by 10% in 2024.

The logic sounds clean:
AI handles coordination. Managers are redundant.

The reality is messier:
AI can track tasks. It can't build trust.
AI can flag problems. It can't have the hard conversation.
AI can schedule 1:1s. It can't tell when someone's about to quit.

McKinsey found companies with top-performing managers saw significantly better shareholder returns over five years.

Turns out the "bloat" was load-bearing.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗿𝘂𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝘁𝗵:
The companies cutting middle management to fund AI
are destroying the human infrastructure that makes AI useful.

You can't deploy AI into a company
where no one knows who to escalate to,
where junior employees have no mentors,
where the CEO is drowning in direct reports.

AI doesn't replace management.
It exposes who never learned to manage.

The winners won't be companies with the flattest org charts.
They'll be the ones who knew what to protect.

💬 Has your company flattened? What broke?

♻️ Repost if you've seen this movie before

"I promote them, pay them well, give them autonomy. 
They still leave."

A CEO I coach couldn't figure it out.
"What else do they want?"

I asked: "What do they absorb that never reaches you?"

Silence.

The priorities that shift every quarter.
The board pressure you pass down.
The frustration from teams below.
The unrealistic timelines.

Your managers carry all of it.

And the data backs it up: 
According to Gallup, manager engagement has dropped to 27% 
- the sharpest decline of any group. 
They're being asked to do more with less, and it's showing.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗶𝗿𝗿𝗼𝗿 𝗺𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁:
𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗻'𝘁 𝗾𝘂𝗶𝗲𝘁 𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆'𝗿𝗲 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗲.
𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆'𝗿𝗲 𝗾𝘂𝗶𝗲𝘁 𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗸 𝗮𝗯𝘀𝗼𝗿𝗯𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗷𝗼𝗯.

Here's what your best people are doing right now:

→ Shielding their teams from the chaos above
→ Translating "we need this yesterday" into "we'll figure it out"
→ Smiling in town halls while drowning in private

And when they finally leave?

You'll say: "I had no idea."

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗿𝘂𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝘁𝗵:
𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗵𝗼𝗹𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝘁𝗼𝗴𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗳𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁.
𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂'𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗹𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄.

That CEO started one practice.

Every month, he now asks his direct reports:
"What are you absorbing that I should know about?"

First month: polite answers.
Month three: the truth.

That's when he found out his best person had already started interviewing.

One conversation. That's all it took to keep her.

💬 When was the last time you asked your managers what they're protecting you from?

♻️ Repost for a leader who's about to lose someone they didn't see struggling

They said they'd be back in 3 days.
They came back after 5.

In my earlier apartment complex, this happened every festival season.

Security guards. Domestic helps. They'd say "I'll be back in 3 days."
Residents would plan around that.
Then day 5 would pass. Sometimes day 6.

People got frustrated. Some argued. Some tried negotiating fewer days upfront.
None of it worked.
They came back when they came back.

So everyone just "factored in" the extra days.
Built resentment into the system.
Never once asked: "Why does this keep happening?"

I see the same pattern at work.

A founder I coach was ready to fire his ops lead.
"He's always late on deliverables. I can't trust him anymore."

I asked: "Have you ever asked him why?"

Silence.

Turns out the ops lead was covering for two vacant roles, managing a sick parent, and didn't want to "make excuses."

The founder had spent months building a case.
Never once had the conversation.

It reminded me of that apartment complex.

Years later, after actually asking, I learned what was really happening with those domestic helps.

The 3 days they mentioned? That was just the festival.
They also had aging parents to care for. Fields to check on. Siblings who needed help.

They knew if they said "5 days," people would push back.
So they said 3. And dealt with the complaints later.

Both sides assumed the worst.
Neither side talked.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗿𝘂𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝘁𝗵:
𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗴𝗮𝗽 𝗯𝗲𝘁𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝘀𝗮𝘆 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗱𝗼 𝗶𝘀𝗻'𝘁 𝗮𝗹𝘄𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗵𝗼𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘁𝘆.
𝗜𝘁'𝘀 𝗼𝗳𝘁𝗲𝗻 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗲𝘅𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗻𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗮𝘀𝗸𝗲𝗱 𝗳𝗼𝗿.

Trust isn't built by enforcing timelines harder.
It's built by understanding why they break in the first place.

The conversation you're avoiding?
That's the one that builds trust.

💬 When was the last time you asked "what's really going on" instead of just getting frustrated?

♻️ Repost for a leader who's tired of assumptions

We admire the CEO who turns around a failing company.
We call them heroic.

But someone on your team doing the same thing?
We call that duty.

The parent who skips dinner to finish work? Normal.
The colleague who stays late every night? Expected.
The friend who's always there when you need them? Reliable.
The partner who carries the weight so you don't have to? Routine.

Here's what I've noticed working with leaders:

We don't admire sacrifice in the people we depend on.
We just depend on it.

And the moment they stop, we feel betrayed. Not grateful.

The brutal truth:
Proximity doesn't make heroism less real.
It just makes it invisible.

The closer someone is, the more we mistake their sacrifice for their role.
Their love for their obligation.
Their choice for their default.

The mirror moment:

Who are you celebrating from a distance while expecting everything from up close?

No alternative text description for this image

"𝗚𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗲𝗰𝗵𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿. 𝗕𝘂𝘁 𝘄𝗲 𝗱𝗼𝗻'𝘁 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗱𝗼."

A CTO came to me after hearing this in his 360 review.

His team shipped 47 features that quarter.
The board knew about three.

"Your good work doesn't speak," I told him.
"You do."

"But shouldn't quality speak for itself?"

"When did quality alone ever get you promoted?"

Long pause. "Never. Politics did."

"Wrong lesson."

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗶𝗿𝗿𝗼𝗿 𝗺𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁:
𝗩𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗶𝘀𝗻'𝘁 𝗽𝗼𝗹𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗰𝘀.
𝗜𝘁'𝘀 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝘁 𝘀𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗲.

"What problem did your team solve that nobody else could?"

He lit up. Talked for twenty minutes straight.
Architecture breakthroughs. Impossible deadlines met. Crisis averted.

"Who knows this?"

"My team."

"That's the problem. You're hoarding the lessons."

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗿𝘂𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝘁𝗵:
𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗾𝘂𝗶𝗲𝘁 𝗲𝘅𝗰𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗶𝘀𝗻'𝘁 𝗵𝘂𝗺𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆.
𝗜𝘁'𝘀 𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳𝗶𝘀𝗵𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀.

We started simple.

Every Friday, one internal blog post.
Not "what we built."
"Technical decisions explained."

Month 1: Product teams bookmarked it.
Month 2: CEO started sharing excerpts with the board.
Month 3: Sales started using his posts to explain "our tech advantage".

He wasn't promoting.
He was teaching.

One year later:
Engineering became the first call for strategic decisions.
His team's methods spread across three departments.
Board meetings now included his technical insights.
Three of his engineers got promoted – they'd learned to teach too.

Same work. 
Different visibility.
Different trajectory.

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝘀:

Stop documenting wins.
Start documenting lessons.

The failure that taught you something?
Worth more than ten successes nobody knows about.

𝗕𝗲𝗰𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗻𝗼𝗯𝗼𝗱𝘆 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗱𝗼,
𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗰𝗮𝗻'𝘁 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝘆𝗼𝘂.

𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗰𝗮𝗻'𝘁 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺.

💬 What breakthrough is trapped in your head that could transform how others work?

🔁 Share this for the leader whose best work is invisible.

🔔 Follow Ramkumar R for mirrors that turn quiet excellence into teaching moments.

The CEO wasn't the problem.
The AI vendor wasn't the problem.
The problem was a question no one could answer.

A CEO I coach told me in March: "We're replacing the team with AI."

I asked: "If that team disappeared tomorrow, before any AI is in place, what breaks?"

He started talking about the AI roadmap.

I stopped him: "No. Tomorrow. No AI. They're just gone. What happens?"

Long pause.

"I'd have to ask my COO."

So he did. In our next session, he told me what happened.

The COO didn't know either. Said he'd check with the ops director.
The ops director listed tools. Not outcomes.
No one could say what would actually break.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗶𝗿𝗿𝗼𝗿 𝗺𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁:
𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻'𝘁 𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗺 𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗔𝗜 𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗱𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗷𝗼𝗯.
𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺 𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗻𝗼 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝘃𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗲.

When no one knows what breaks, anything sounds replaceable.

The cuts went through anyway.

By October:
→ Two major clients had escalated. Problems the ops team used to catch before they reached leadership.
→ The remaining team was underwater.
→ HR was reopening the same roles.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗿𝘂𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝘁𝗵:
𝗔𝗜 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗲 𝗷𝗼𝗯𝘀.
𝗕𝘂𝘁 𝗶𝗳 𝗻𝗼 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗯𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗸𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗼𝗻𝗲,
𝘆𝗼𝘂'𝗿𝗲 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮 𝘁𝗲𝗰𝗵𝗻𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝘆 𝗱𝗲𝗰𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻.
𝗬𝗼𝘂'𝗿𝗲 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮 𝗯𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗼𝗻𝗲.

Before you sign off on the next "AI restructuring," ask one question:

"What breaks if this function is gone tomorrow?"

If no one in the room can answer that clearly, you're not approving a strategy.

You're approving a guess.

💬 When was the last time you asked "what breaks" before approving a cut?

♻️ Repost for a leader who approves what no one fully understands

A CEO told me last week:
"I have two companies inside my company."

One group is curious about AI.
They experiment. They ask "how could this help?"
When something doesn't work, they try a different prompt, a different tool.

The other group decided AI is overhyped.
They tried ChatGPT once. Got a mediocre answer.
Concluded it's not for them and went back to their old ways.

Same company. Same roles. Same salaries.
Completely different trajectories.

I'm seeing this pattern across every organization I coach.

The gap isn't about age or technical skill.
It's about curiosity vs. dismissal.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗶𝗿𝗿𝗼𝗿 𝗺𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁:
𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝘀𝗻'𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗘𝘅𝗰𝗲𝗹 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗰𝘂𝘁𝘀.
𝗧𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗺𝗮𝗱𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮 𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘁𝗹𝗲 𝗳𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿.
𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮 𝗱𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝗼𝗳 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝗲𝗿 𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗹𝘆.

Previous tech shifts created small advantages.
This one creates classes.

One senior leader I work with was firmly in the second group.
"I've been successful for 20 years without this stuff."

Three months later, he's using AI daily.
Not because he became a believer.
Because he watched a junior colleague get promoted ahead of him.

Now he's the one his team comes to for AI shortcuts.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗿𝘂𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝘁𝗵:
𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗼 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗺𝗶𝘀𝘀 𝗔𝗜 𝘁𝗼𝗱𝗮𝘆
𝘄𝗼𝗻'𝘁 𝗯𝗲 "𝗯𝗲𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗱" 𝗶𝗻 𝟮 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘀.
𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆'𝗹𝗹 𝗯𝗲 𝗶𝗿𝗿𝗲𝗹𝗲𝘃𝗮𝗻𝘁.

Not because AI replaced them.
Because someone who embraced it did.

The question isn't whether AI will change your career.
It's whether you'll be the one using it — or replaced by someone who is.

💬 Which company are you in?

♻️ Repost for someone who needs to hear this before it's too late

Stop satisfying yourself with low attrition.

A CEO I coach was proud of his numbers.

"Only 8% turnover. My team is stable."

So I asked: "When was the last time someone challenged you in a meeting?"

He couldn't remember.

"How many new ideas came from your team last quarter?"

Silence.

"What's your innovation rate?"

Longer silence.

His "stable" team wasn't stable.
They were stagnant.

I asked him to do something uncomfortable.
Talk to his five longest-tenured people. One question:
"What have you stopped suggesting because you knew nothing would change?"

The answers broke him:

"I stopped proposing new tools three years ago."
"I used to flag process issues. Now I just work around them."
"I learned that speaking up here means more work, not more impact."

These weren't disengaged employees.
They were defeated ones.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗶𝗿𝗿𝗼𝗿 𝗺𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁:
𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗼 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗵𝘂𝗿𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗼𝗻𝗰𝗲.
𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗼 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝘆 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗽 𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗵𝘂𝗿𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗱𝗮𝘆.

The ones who quit make noise on the way out.
The ones who stay quietly rot from within.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗿𝘂𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝘁𝗵:
𝗟𝗼𝘄 𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝘀𝗻'𝘁 𝗮 𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻 𝗼𝗳 𝗮 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗹𝘁𝗵𝘆 𝗰𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲.
𝗦𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀 𝗶𝘁'𝘀 𝗮 𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻 𝗻𝗼 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗲𝘀 𝗲𝗻𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵 𝘁𝗼 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝘃𝗲.

That pride in low attrition? He dropped it.

He killed three "stable" projects no one believed in.
He promoted someone who'd been ignored for two years.
He started asking in every 1:1: "What have you given up on here?"

Two people left after those conversations.
Good. They should have left years ago.

The ones who stayed? Started contributing again.

Retention isn't loyalty.
It's just presence.

Contribution is loyalty.

💬 If your team answered honestly: what have they given up on?

♻️ Repost for a leader who mistakes stability for health

Stop trying to fix your "difficult" employee.

A CXO I coach was ready to fire someone.

Her star performer had become "difficult."

Pushing back in meetings.
Questioning every decision.
Tension in every interaction.

So she did what most leaders do.

One-on-one feedback sessions.
A performance improvement plan.
Sent her to a communication workshop.

Six months later? Nothing changed.

In our session, she said: "I've tried everything. She's just not coachable anymore."

I asked: "What changed right before she became difficult?"

Long pause. "We reorganized six months ago."

"And?"

"She went from reporting to me to a new middle manager."

"What else?"

"She lost decision rights on projects she used to own."

The brutal truth:
Her employee wasn't difficult.
She was suffocating.

The CXO didn't restructure. She clarified decision rights with the middle manager. Defined what autonomy this person needed to keep.

The "difficult" behavior disappeared in two weeks.

The mirror moment:
The problem wasn't the reorganization.
It was reorganizing without thinking through what she'd lose.

You don't fix difficult employees.
You fix what made them difficult.

If your star performer suddenly became "difficult," what did you change six months ago?

Growth requires change, but thoughtless change breaks people.

Repost for a leader about to fire the wrong person.

A CEO I coach snapped at his CFO in a board meeting.

The CFO had flagged a risk. Reasonable concern. Nothing personal.

But the CEO cut him off mid-sentence. Tone sharp. Words dismissive.

The room went quiet.

After the meeting, he came to me: 
"I don't know why I did that. I knew he was right."

I asked: "What was the first thing you felt when he spoke?"

"Threatened. Like he was questioning my judgment."

"And what did you actually think, two seconds later?"

"That he was doing his job. That I should've thanked him."

Two seconds. That's all it took to go from reaction to response.

But he didn't have those two seconds.

Four hours of sleep. Back-to-back meetings. 
A board that had been grilling him for weeks.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗶𝗿𝗿𝗼𝗿 𝗺𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁:
𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝗻𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗱.
𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗲𝗱.
𝗕𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗴𝗮𝗽 𝗯𝗲𝘁𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺 𝘀𝗵𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂'𝗿𝗲 𝗿𝘂𝗻𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗻 𝗲𝗺𝗽𝘁𝘆.

Willpower didn't change.
The gap did.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗿𝘂𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝘁𝗵:
𝗬𝗼𝘂'𝗿𝗲 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁.
𝗕𝘂𝘁 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗴𝗮𝗽, 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘄𝗼𝗻'𝘁 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗱.

Sleep protects the gap.
Boundaries protect it.
Saying no protects it.

The real work isn't noticing you reacted badly.
It's building a life that gives you the two seconds to choose.

💬 When was the last time exhaustion made you react instead of respond?

♻️ Repost for a leader who's one bad night away from a decision they'll regret

Stop celebrating employees who never ask for raises.

A CEO I coach was proud of his "low-maintenance" team.

"My best people never complain. Never ask for more. They just deliver."

I asked: "When was the last time any of them got a raise without asking?"

He paused. "We have a process. They know how it works."

"And the ones who never ask? What happens to them?"

Longer pause.

"They stay at the same salary."

I asked him to pull up his attrition data from the last two years.

The pattern was brutal:

→ Top performers who never asked? Almost all gone.
→ Average performers who negotiated? Still there.
→ The "low-maintenance" ones? Working for competitors now.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗶𝗿𝗿𝗼𝗿 𝗺𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁:
𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗼𝗻𝗲𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗼 𝗻𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗮𝘀𝗸 𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗻'𝘁 𝗹𝗼𝘆𝗮𝗹.
𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆'𝘃𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗱 𝗯𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘆𝗼𝘂'𝗹𝗹 𝗹𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗻.

They asked once. Maybe twice. Got nothing.

So they stopped asking you.
And started answering recruiters.

Your "easy" employees aren't easy.
They're already gone. You just don't know it yet.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗿𝘂𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝘁𝗵:
𝗦𝗶𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗶𝘀𝗻'𝘁 𝘀𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘀𝗳𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻.
𝗜𝘁'𝘀 𝗮 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗹𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗯𝗲𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗱𝗿𝗮𝗳𝘁𝗲𝗱.

The employees who push back, who negotiate, who make noise?
They still believe the system works.

The quiet ones have already checked out.

💬 When was the last time you gave a raise without being asked?

♻️ Repost for a leader who thinks silence means satisfaction

"Your generation has it easy."
"You have to be highly incapable to lose what's already built."

That's what people say about family business successors.

The data says otherwise.

90% of startups fail.
Only about 30% of family businesses survive to the second generation.
Roughly 12% to the third.
Single digits to the fourth.

A successor has roughly the same odds as a first-time founder.
And worse odds than a repeat entrepreneur.

A second-gen promoter I coach told me:
"My father built this in 30 years. If I lose even 10%, I'm the one who destroyed it."

I spent the last few months teaching and coaching the family-based entrepreneurship class at Great Lakes Institute of Management.
The challenges these leaders face? Almost no one empathizes with them.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗶𝗿𝗿𝗼𝗿 𝗺𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁:
𝗙𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗺𝗶𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗮𝗶𝗹.
𝗦𝘂𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗼𝗿𝘀 𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗼 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗳𝗮𝗶𝗹.

Here's what I've seen:

→ Advisors who optimize for "not losing" rather than winning
→ Boards that remember their grandfather, not their vision
→ Teams that respected the founder, but test the successor
→ Every stumble has a thousand witnesses with long memories

Founders earn trust once.
Successors earn it every single morning.

The failures you count are dramatic collapses.
The ones you don't see? Legacy businesses that quietly shrank. Became irrelevant. Sold off divisions piece by piece.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗿𝘂𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝘁𝗵:
𝗜𝗻𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮 𝗯𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗶𝘀𝗻'𝘁 𝗶𝗻𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝘂𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀.
𝗜𝘁'𝘀 𝗶𝗻𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀.

Different challenges. Comparable odds. Zero empathy.

That's why I coach them.

💬 Are you a second or third-generation leader? What's the hardest part no one talks about?

♻️ Repost for a successor who's tired of hearing "you had it easy"

A CEO I coach told me he has 12 advisors.

Board members. Consultants. Investors. Industry veterans.

Still feels completely stuck.

"So why do you still feel stuck?" I asked.

Long pause.

"I have plenty of people telling me what to do. I have no one to think with."

His board gives him direction. That's their job.

Investors push for growth. That's their job.

Consultants solve problems. That's their job.

But none of them are there for the conversation before the decision.

The one where he's not sure yet.

The one where he's thinking out loud.

The one where he needs to be wrong before he can be right.

He's not alone.

Studies show half of all CEOs experience significant loneliness.

Not because they lack people. Because they lack this conversation.

Over 60% say it affects their performance.

The higher you rise, the more this happens:

• Fewer peers who understand your reality
• More decisions you can't discuss openly
• Less room to think before you're expected to know

You're surrounded by people who need you to have answers.
And no one who helps you find them.
This isn't weakness.

This is architecture.

Advice is everywhere. Thinking partners are rare.

That's the gap I fill.

When was the last time you had a conversation where you didn't need to have the answer?

"I don't care about visibility."
He said this while flying to Singapore for a 15-minute panel.
Same CEO has a PR agency on retainer.

The hunger for visibility never disappears.
It just changes costume.

Entry level:
→ Posts about "Day 1 at [Big Company Name]"
→ LinkedIn Learning badges
→ "Grateful for this opportunity"

Mid-level:
→ Speaker at local meetups
→ "Honored to be featured in [industry blog]"
→ Panel photos with other mid-level folks

Senior leaders:
→ Industry awards nobody's heard of
→ "Keynote at [Regional Conference]"
→ Board positions at nonprofits

C-Suite:
→ Forbes interviews
→ "Humbled to ring the bell at NSE"
→ TEDx talks (the ones with the x)

Top of the pyramid:
→ Davos selfies
→ WEF panels
→ Photos with heads of state

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗶𝗿𝗿𝗼𝗿 𝗺𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁:
𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗻 𝗽𝗼𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗳𝗿𝗲𝗲 𝗹𝘂𝗻𝗰𝗵 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗖𝗘𝗢 𝗽𝗼𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗗𝗮𝘃𝗼𝘀?
𝗦𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱. 𝗗𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗯𝘂𝗱𝗴𝗲𝘁.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗿𝘂𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝘁𝗵:
𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲'𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗴𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻.
𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗺 𝗶𝘀 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝘁𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗱𝗼𝗻'𝘁.

Own it.

♻️ Repost for a leader who says they don't care about visibility (but definitely does)

Your team is lying to you.
And you're paying them to do it.

I coached a CEO last year.
Built a $200M company. 400 employees. Industry awards.

His 360 feedback came back.
#1 development area: Listening.

He was stunned.

"I have an open door policy. My team can tell me anything."

So I asked him one question:
"When was the last time someone disagreed with you in a meeting?"

Silence.

He couldn't remember.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗶𝗿𝗿𝗼𝗿 𝗺𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁:
𝗛𝗶𝘀 𝗱𝗼𝗼𝗿 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗻.
𝗛𝗶𝘀 𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘀 𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗰𝗹𝗼𝘀𝗲𝗱.

Here's what happens when you become CEO:

Everyone agrees with you.
Nobody challenges you.
Your ideas always "make sense."
Your jokes are always funny.

Not because you're right.
Because you're powerful.

The 360 finally said what his team couldn't.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗿𝘂𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝘁𝗵:
𝗠𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗖𝗘𝗢𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗸 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆'𝗿𝗲 𝗴𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘀.
𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆'𝗿𝗲 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗴𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁 𝗯𝗿𝗼𝗮𝗱𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀.

They ask for feedback.
They don't create safety for it.

Talking built empires.
Listening saves them.

If you're a CEO reading this:
When was the last time someone disagreed with you? To your face?

If you can't remember, that's not loyalty.
That's fear.

💬 When was the last time someone told you that you were wrong?

♻️ Repost for a CEO who needs to hear this

Most CEOs don't make decisions.
They make conclusions.
Then hunt for evidence to feel right.

A founder I coach was convinced his VP of Sales had to go.

"He's not a culture fit."
"The team doesn't respect him."
"I just have a feeling."

I asked: "What data are you looking at?"

He listed three incidents. All from the last month.
All interpretations, not facts.

I asked: "How are you defining culture fit?"

Silence.

"Who else on your leadership team would fail that definition?"

Longer silence.

He'd already decided. He was just collecting proof.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗶𝗿𝗿𝗼𝗿 𝗺𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁:
𝗛𝗲 𝘄𝗮𝘀𝗻'𝘁 𝗲𝘃𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴.
𝗛𝗲 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗳𝘆𝗶𝗻𝗴.

I see this pattern constantly:

→ CEO decides someone is "not working out"
→ Starts noticing every mistake
→ Ignores every win
→ Builds a case that sounds objective
→ Fires them feeling vindicated

The decision came first.
The evidence was curated later.

This isn't leadership.
It's confirmation bias with authority.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗿𝘂𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝘁𝗵:
𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗵𝗶𝗴𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗴𝗼, 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗰𝗹𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀.
𝗦𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗯𝗮𝗱 𝗱𝗲𝗰𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗳𝗲𝗲𝗹 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝗴𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝗼𝗻𝗲𝘀.

Before your next big call, ask yourself:
Did I look at the evidence and decide?
Or did I decide and then look for evidence?

💬 Ever caught yourself doing this?

♻️ Repost for a leader who decides first and justifies later

Some CEOs don't solve fires. They start them.

A CEO I coach says "we need to talk about this NOW" constantly.
His team? Exhausted.
His business? Stagnant.

I asked him: "What happens when nothing is urgent?"

He paused. Then: "I get restless. Like something's wrong."

That's when I knew.

He wasn't responding to fires.
He was starting them.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗶𝗿𝗿𝗼𝗿 𝗺𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁:
𝗛𝗲 𝘄𝗮𝘀𝗻'𝘁 𝗮𝗱𝗱𝗶𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗶𝘁𝘆.
𝗛𝗲 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗮𝗱𝗱𝗶𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗲𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱𝗲𝗱.

But the real damage wasn't to him.

The cruelest part?
His best people stopped caring.
They'd seen too many false alarms.

When a real crisis hit, no one moved fast.
They assumed it was just another drill.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗿𝘂𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝘁𝗵:
𝗦𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗖𝗘𝗢𝘀 𝗱𝗼𝗻'𝘁 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝘄𝗵𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗼𝘀.
𝗦𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗶𝘁.

Calm feels like failure.
Stability feels like stagnation.
Peace feels like irrelevance.

So they manufacture emergencies.
And their teams pay the price.

That CEO? We worked on one thing:
Sitting with calm without calling it a problem.

He'd built his identity around being the fixer.
Without fires, he didn't know who he was.

Last month, his COO told him something no one had said in years:
"This is the first time I've trusted your priorities."

💬 Ever worked for a leader like this? Or been that leader yourself?

♻️ Repost for someone whose "urgency" is exhausting their team

"I'm loyal to this company."
That's what she told herself for 8 years.

Then she saw the offer letter. 
Not hers. The new guy's. Sitting on the printer.

40% more than her salary. Same role. Half her experience.
The guy she was asked to train.

She didn't quit that day. 
But she left that day. 
The resignation just took three months to arrive.

Her CEO was stunned. "She blindsided us. No warning signs."
"Really?" I said. "When did you last adjust her pay?"
Silence.
"When did you last tell her where she stood?"
More silence.

"But the new hire had skills she didn't," he said. "He was worth it."
"Skills you had 8 years to build in her," I said. 
"And instead, you asked her to train her replacement. At a discount."

The mirror moment:
She didn't leave for money. 
She left because she did the math on how much you valued her. 
And the answer was on that printer.

The brutal truth:
The most dangerous employees aren't the ones complaining. 
They're the ones who just went quiet.
They're not checking out. They're checking options.

And they won't tell you. 
They'll train the new guy, smile in meetings, 
and hand in their notice the week after the project ships.

Loyalty doesn't die loud. 
It dies the moment someone feels stupid for staying.

💬 Be honest - are you doing this to someone on your team right now?

🔁 Share. Someone in your network needs this mirror today.

🔔 Follow Ramkumar R for more uncomfortable leadership truths.

As larger than life it may seem, I’m often torn between a desire to improve the world and a desire to enjoy the world. 

Enabling people, products & processes on their growth journey, through my work at Growth Collective, has helped me achieve the strife, to make the world a better place, while enjoying the process of doing it. 

-- I bring an overall industry experience of 24 years, focused on product, technology, coaching & entrepreneurship. Across domains of insurance, BFSI & ecommerce. 

-- My experience & passion lies in working with individuals, academia  & organizations, enabling career growth, process transformations & product innovations to maximize potential.

-- I'm a Harvard Business School, PLD graduate & an Erickson & Gallup coach.

-- I'm passionate about Leadership Development & performance coaching. I use a strengths focused approach to convert ideas into actions. 

-- I have skillfully built cross-functional teams across geographies & coached leaders with a focus on progress & productivity leading to profitability.

-- My extensive global experience enables me to understand various cultural nuances enabling organizational transformations & strategically developing partnerships & business relations. 

-- I leverage my technology & product experience, to enable teams to develop best engineering practices, agile methodologies & human centered design thinking for innovative product building.  

-- My startup experience enables me to bring order to chaos & enable leaders to navigate cross-functional teams through ever changing landscapes

-- I have spearheaded agile transformations for organizations, enhancing predictability, productivity, quality of products/services & agile mindsets with teams. 

-- I am an enthusiastic contributor to various industry and academia events for design thinking, career counselling, women in technology, diversity championing, leadership development etc.

Reach out to me for  - 
1-1 or team coaching for
      -- Leadership Development 
      -- Performance Coaching
      -- Personal Branding
Enabling teams for 
       -- Design Thinking
       -- Agile & other team enablement
       -- Growth mindset, socio-emotional skills
       -- Product management
Business Coaching
        -- Enabling Entrepreneurs & their teams make traction on their product journey.

Some of my clients- Microsoft, Cisco, Zetwerk, Target, OneSheild, Odessa, Grundfos, IIM, Indian Oil, Meredith & others.

When not working I can be found exploring -  places, books, cafes, people, technologies & many other interesting things the world offers.

Janet Rajan

This is one of the most underrated product stories I’ve come across in India.

While working in an office in Bengaluru, Chandrashekhar Mondal would often look outside and see hundreds of daily-wage workers at labour chowks negotiating work in real time, with no structure, no guarantees, and no leverage.

For most of us, that’s just part of city scapes that we usually ignore. But for him, that was a sad memory etched deep into his brain as it was a regular occurring reality from where he came, his home town Gopalganj.

𝗧𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗰𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗸𝗲𝗱:

"If there could be LinkedIn, Indeed for white-collar jobs, then why not a platform for these blue-collar jobs?"

That was when 𝗗𝗶𝗴𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗟𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗖𝗵𝗼𝘄𝗸 was born. 

Before building anything, he did what good product teams do first: he went to where the users were.

He spent months at labour chowks across cities, observing how hiring actually happened. Three core problems showed up consistently:

1. 𝗜𝗻𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗮𝘀𝘆𝗺𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗿𝘆. Workers didn’t know who was hiring. Employers didn’t know who was reliable.
2. 𝗭𝗲𝗿𝗼-𝘁𝗿𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗶𝗻𝗳𝗿𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲. No identity verification, no proof of work history, no accountability on either side.
3. 𝗣𝗮𝘆𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝗮𝗳𝗲𝘁𝘆 𝗿𝗶𝘀𝗸. Delayed payments, wage manipulation, and no escalation path if something went wrong.

This wasn’t a “marketplace problem”. It was a trust problem.

So the first version of Digital Labour Chowk wasn’t an app. It was a Facebook group.

A deliberately low-tech MVP that tested one assumption: 𝗜𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗱𝗲𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗹𝘆 𝘃𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵 𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿, 𝗱𝗼𝗲𝘀 𝗯𝗲𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗶𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲?
And it did.

Once there was proof of usage, Chandrashekhar raised ₹10 lakh from an incubator, and every product decision after that focused on reducing risk, not adding features.

The app introduced four critical product layers:

• Identity verification for both workers and employers
• Direct bank account linkage to eliminate wage disputes
• Two-sided feedback with real consequences, not vanity ratings
• A 24/7 helpline for on-site issues

None of this is innovative in isolation, but what’s powerful is where it was applied.

Today, Digital Labour Chowk has over 100,000 registered workers and 2,800+ employers.

It has changed the lives of thousands and continues to do so today!

Now, a worker now knows before showing up:
– who is hiring
– what the pay is
– whether the employer is verified

That single shift changes the power dynamic.
This is a reminder I often come back to:

Great products don’t always create 𝗻𝗲𝘄 𝗯𝗲𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗶𝗼𝘂𝗿. 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘀𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗹𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝘆 𝗲𝘅𝗶𝘀𝘁𝘀. and make it fair.

And that’s often the hardest product problem to solve.

Love how Digital Labour Chowk has changed so many lives! This is what good products are like. 

#productmanagement #productdevelopment #productgrowth

In 2025, I woke up one morning and didn’t know which city I was in.
That moment said more about my year than any milestone ever could.
 
2025 was intense, fast-moving, and deeply formative, but there’s still one truth I’d like to admit: 
 
I spent 2025 in overdrive. 
 
Yes, I’m a coach, grounded in clarity, reflection, and perspective.
But I’m also an entrepreneur, where momentum, movement, and messiness are part of the job.
 
And I ended up living in airports more than I’d like to admit.
 
While I continued coaching, building and travelling, life gave me signals to slow down in ways I hadn’t planned for -
 
– A product idea that was close to my heart was put on the back burner
– An MMA injury that forced me into a physio–travel–work loop
– My Dad fell sick when I was running our first community event in Bangalore.
 
And in a self-coaching moment, I realised the year wasn’t about moving faster, but about holding life, work, and responsibility together without dropping any of them.
 
It taught me to be grateful for:
 
➡ Clients who said, “It’s okay, we’ll figure it out.” 
➡ Team and collaborators who stepped in to support. 
➡ Friends who checked in without needing explanations. 
➡ And a deep love for the work I do, even on the hard days.  
 
Most importantly, this year reminded me that you don’t always have your life perfectly handled.
 
It’s about continuing to show up thoughtfully, imperfectly, and supported.  
 
I ended 2025 -
Clearer about how I work.
More grounded in what I build.
And deeply respectful of the fact that leadership doesn’t pause when life happens - It adapts. 
 
And that feels like a good place to start the next year.
Happy 2026, everyone!
 
#newyear #growth #entrepreneurship

OneShield Leadership Award

Erickson Certified Coach

Gallup Strengths Coach

Founder, Growth Collective | Product Leadership Coach | Gallup Strengths & Executive Coach | TEDx Speaker | MSME Entrepreneur of the Year 2023 | Building in Stealth

Co founder of the Cincinnati Chapter and continue to volunteer actively as a member of the core team for the Boston Chapter.

I started 2025 by writing this quote on the first page of my diary
And this is how I’d want to start every year from now on. 

So I had read 𝗧𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗸 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗚𝗿𝗼𝘄 𝗥𝗶𝗰𝗵 in 2024, and one line from that book really stuck with me.

"Your ambitions are only thoughts until they're paired with a definite purpose backed by a burning desire."

This quote has a story behind it that Napoleon Hill (author of the book) shares.

He talked about how this man, Edwin C. Barnes, was wholeheartedly passionate about wanting to work with Thomas Edison. 

Not dream about it. Not talk about it. 𝗛𝗲 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗵𝗶𝗺.

But Barnes had nothing. No money. No special background. No big network.

One day, he literally showed up at Edison’s office and asked for a chance. 𝗛𝗲 𝗱𝗶𝗱𝗻’𝘁 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝗯𝗶𝗴 𝗿𝗼𝗹𝗲 𝗼𝗿 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗽𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆. 𝗝𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗮 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁.

So Edison agreed. 
Edwin started at the very 𝗯𝗼𝘁𝘁𝗼𝗺.

He only got small tasks. The progress was painfully slow, and he had to wait years.
But throughout, his intention never changed.

He outright said, “This is what I want, and I’m willing to work for it.”

That 𝗯𝘂𝗿𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗱𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗿𝗲 eventually turned into a real partnership with Edison.

This really makes you think about how people view their dreams.

Most people want things.
Very few people decide what they want.
And even fewer decide what they’re willing to give for it.

Edwin didn’t second guess anything. Neither did he delay it. He knew what his burning desire was, he took action, he got what he always wanted. 

And that’s the truth I want to carry into 2026.
A dream becomes possible the moment you stop wishing for it and start preparing for it.

So just like 2025, my 2026 is not going to be about just goals I’d like to achieve.

It’s about clarity in knowing what I want, the discipline to do the work it asks for,
and enjoying the person I become in the process.

That’s how I’m stepping into 2026. 
How are you?

Apple’s simplicity isn’t just a UX preference.
It’s an organizational choice.

People often talk about Apple’s products like they’re just the result of great taste.

But a lot of what feels “simple” on the surface is actually 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗶𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗵.

Apple limits:

• Customization
• Variations
• System-level control

Not because users don’t want options.
But because 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗼𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗺𝘂𝗹𝘁𝗶𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲𝘅𝗶𝘁𝘆.

More options mean:

• More edge cases
• More QA
• More support
• More things that can quietly break

Apple chooses a different trade-off:
𝗳𝗲𝘄𝗲𝗿 𝗰𝗵𝗼𝗶𝗰𝗲𝘀 → 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗰𝘁𝗮𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 → 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗮𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆.

That’s not just design thinking.
That’s 𝗮𝗻 𝗼𝗿𝗴𝗮𝗻𝗶𝘇𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝘁𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝘁𝘀 𝗮𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝘁𝗼 𝗱𝗲𝗹𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗾𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗮𝘁 𝘀𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗲.

Many user experience and product decisions can actually be 𝗼𝗿𝗴𝗮𝗻𝗶𝘇𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗱𝗲𝗰𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗴𝘂𝗶𝘀𝗲.

And great PMs don’t just design for users, they also design for the system that supports the product.

So, what feature in your product exists not because users demanded it but because your org couldn’t afford the alternative?

#productmanagement #uiux #decisions #leadership

𝐌𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐀𝐈 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧.

Think about it. When we open ChatGPT, we:

• Give it clear prompts
• Adjust the question if the answer isn’t right
• Change the lens if we want better outcomes
• Iterate, refine, and try again

But when it comes to our own thinking at work, we do the opposite.

Here are 𝟓 𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫, 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐥𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐲 𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐀𝐈:

𝟏. 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲

Your brain works on inputs too.

Instead of:
❌ “This is messy. I don’t know what to do.”

Try:
• “What’s the next smallest decision I could make here?”
• “If I solved this problem, what would happen?”

Clarity follows the question.

𝟐. 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐬, 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞

Ask “What’s wrong?” → your brain finds flaws.
Ask “What’s possible?” → it finds options.

Same situation. Different lens. Different results.

This is why great leaders don’t just solve problems, they 𝗿𝗲𝗳𝗿𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺.

𝟑. 𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭 > 𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟-𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐬𝐦

You wouldn’t tell ChatGPT, “You’re stupid, figure it out.”

Yet many leaders talk to themselves that way daily.

Self-talk isn’t soft. It’s 𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗾𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆.
Better signal → better thinking.

𝟒. 𝐑𝐞𝐩𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐛𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐲

One insight won’t rewire your brain. One workshop won’t either.

What works is repetition:

• Asking better questions daily
• Pausing before reacting
• Reframing the same pattern again and again

That’s how judgment improves.

𝟓. 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐲 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞. 𝐄𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐟𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫. 𝐉𝐮𝐝𝐠𝐞 𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬.

The best product leaders, founders, and decision-makers I work with all do this well.

They treat thinking as a 𝘀𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗯𝗼𝘅, not a test.

AI doesn’t make you smarter. It reveals how you already think.
So, the only real upgrade available is still 𝘆𝗼𝘂.

𝐒𝐨 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐬𝐤 𝐨𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐫𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐰?

#LeadershipThinking #DecisionMaking #MentalModels #AI

Not every week needs a sprint plan.

Some Sundays, I don’t open my planner.
I don’t map, stack, or optimize.

I just look back and nod at the version of me who made it through last week.

The tired one.
The hopeful one.
The one who almost gave up midweek but didn’t.
The one who said “no” when it would’ve been easier to say “yes.”
The one who winged it, and somehow, it worked.

Have you had one of those weeks?
Where the win was just... 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩.

No reset.
No miracle morning.
No 7-step strategy.

Just a breath. A stretch.
A quiet little moment of credit for the human who showed up anyway.

The world can wait. 

#MindfulProductivity #SelfGrowth

Pixar has a meeting that most leaders would be deeply uncomfortable sitting in.

Imagine this.

• You walk into a room with your unfinished work.
• Not your polished deck.
• Not your “final version.”

And the people in the room?

• They’re not your bosses.
• They don’t have approval power.
• They can’t overrule you.

They just watch and listen.
And then they tell you honestly what isn’t working yet.

Pixar calls this room the 𝐁𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐭.

Ed Catmull, cofounder Pixar, writes about it in his book 𝘊𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘵𝘺, 𝘐𝘯𝘤.

How directors regularly bring rough cuts of their films into this space.

• The feedback is blunt.
• Specific.
• Sometimes uncomfortable.

And then comes the part that surprised me the most when I first read about it:

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗱𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗿 𝗱𝗼𝗲𝘀𝗻’𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗲𝗲𝗱𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸.

• No pressure to agree.
• No forced alignment.
• No decision required in the room.

That single choice changes everything.

• People stop posturing.
• They stop defending.
• They actually listen.

The conversation shifts from “𝘋𝘰 𝘐 𝘢𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘦?” to “𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘮 𝘐 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘯𝘨?”

Catmull puts it simply –

“𝐂𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐨𝐫 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐢𝐭 𝐢𝐬𝐧’𝐭 𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐥.”

That’s how Pixar repeatedly takes stories from “this isn’t landing yet” to films that stay with us for years.

𝐆𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐬 𝐝𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐢𝐝 𝐭𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬.
𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐬𝐞𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐡𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐲 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫.

#LeadershipMindset #WorkplaceCulture #CreativeLeadership

This is the email that didn’t just get Airbnb noticed, it got them believed in.
Before Airbnb was Airbnb, it was 𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘦, 𝘳𝘶𝘯𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘺, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘭𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘺 𝘱𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘠𝘊 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘦.
 
What changed their trajectory wasn’t a pitch deck. It was 𝗮𝗱𝘃𝗼𝗰𝗮𝗰𝘆.
 
Justin Kan saw something in the founders, not just the idea and emailed Paul Graham asking if they could still apply to Y Combinator.
 
Paul replied:𝘈𝘱𝘱𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘰𝘯𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵.
 
They did. They got in.
And 𝗔𝗶𝗿𝗯𝗻𝗯 survived long enough to become inevitable.
 
This wasn’t luck. It was 𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝘀𝘁.

And how did they build it? - 
 
1. 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗱𝗲𝗲𝗽𝗹𝘆 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗺-𝗿𝗼𝗼𝘁𝗲𝗱
They didn’t talk in abstractions. They talked about 𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯’𝘵 𝘢𝘧𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘥, 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘢 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘺, and 𝘢 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘵. Advocacy starts when someone can 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭 the problem, not just understand it.
 
2. 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗱 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘃𝗶𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗮𝗿𝗿𝗼𝗴𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲
Early Airbnb wasn’t polished, but the founders were 𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘭𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘥. Not defensive. Not over-selling. Just clear that they were going to keep pushing until it worked.
 
3. 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘀𝗰𝗿𝗮𝗽𝗽𝘆 𝗶𝗻 𝘄𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗱 𝘀𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀
Selling cereal boxes. Taking photos themselves. Manually fixing supply issues.
None of this “scaled” but it signalled something critical to believers: 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘥𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘶𝘯𝘨𝘭𝘢𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬.
 
4. 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗺𝗮𝗱𝗲 𝗶𝘁 𝗲𝗮𝘀𝘆 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝘃𝗼𝘂𝗰𝗵 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺
Justin Kan didn’t have to 𝘪𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵 belief he could 𝘱𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦: effort, clarity, and follow-through. Advocacy happens when someone can confidently put their reputation on the line for you.
 
5. 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝘆 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗱𝗼𝗼𝗿 𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗱
Trust creates opportunity. Preparation decides whether you can walk through it.
 
Great products don’t just need users. They need 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀.
 
And champions are built through:

· Consistency over charisma
· Clarity over cleverness
· Action over articulation
 
People advocate for people they 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗲𝗻𝗱𝘂𝗿𝗲, not just to impress.

If someone had to vouch for 𝘺𝘰𝘶 today, what evidence would they point to?

I deeply trust Gmail because it knows when I’m about to embarrass myself.
Specifically, the moment I hit send and it gently asks:
“𝗗𝗶𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗮𝗱𝗱 𝗮𝗻 𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁?”
 
No judgement.
No drama.
Just… help.
 
Early in my career, I didn’t have Gmail.
And yes, I absolutely sent emails that said “Please find attached” with nothing attached.
 
What I love about this feature is how tiny it is.
 
In a product as complex as Gmail, it’s almost invisible.
But the impact? 𝗛𝘂𝗴𝗲.
 
Because it’s 𝗽𝗮𝘆𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻.
 
It understands how humans actually work:

→ We write emails while multitasking
→ The attachment is always “one last thing”
→ We proofread the content, subject, CCs
→ And only realise the mistake after we hit send
From a product lens, that’s the brilliance.
 
This feature doesn’t change the email workflow.
It changes 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝘄𝗲 𝗳𝗲𝗲𝗹 𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝘁.

Most products try to solve problems by adding more:
𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗽𝘀, 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗼𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀, 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗹.
 
Gmail did the opposite.
 
It removed just enough friction to reduce that tiny spike of anxiety right before “Send.”
 
Same philosophy behind the ‘Undo Send’ feature.
Not a productivity hack, an emotional safety net.
 
And that’s the product lesson I keep coming back to.
 
Great products don’t just 𝗼𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗶𝘀𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝗼𝗿 𝗲𝗳𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝘆.

They 𝗱𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗲𝗺𝗽𝗮𝘁𝗵𝘆, for very human moments like distraction, hesitation, regret.
 
So sometimes the most powerful thing a feature can do is - 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗳𝗲𝗲𝗹 𝗮 𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘁𝗹𝗲 𝘀𝗮𝗳𝗲𝗿.

Okay, your turn -
Which product feature has quietly saved you from a very human mistake?
 
#productmanagement #productthinking #ux #empathyinproduct #gmail

When you’ve 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘥 the problem,
you design the solution differently.

At the recent The Product Folks event,
Antony Dick shared how using the very mouse he helped build at Logitech, sharpened his design instincts.

When you 𝘢𝘳𝘦 the user,
every click becomes feedback.

It reminded me of udaan.com ’s founding story.

They didn’t start with a pitch deck.

They started with 𝗺𝘂𝘀𝗰𝗹𝗲 𝗺𝗲𝗺𝗼𝗿𝘆 from Flipkart,
battling broken supply chains,
patchy credit cycles,
and manual wholesale buying.

Instead of chasing new-age users,
they built for 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘱𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘷𝘦𝘴:

→ people in logistics
→ sales heads
→ small traders
→ ops managers

They didn’t guess what B2B buyers needed.

They knew because they’d been them.

They 𝘥𝘰𝘨𝘧𝘰𝘰𝘥𝘦𝘥 the idea every step of the way:
the broken pipes,
the payment issues,
the real India retail complexity.

When product builders are also the users,
you skip vanity
and build what actually works.

If you had to use your own product every day,
what would break first?

The person who talks the most in a meeting is often seen as the smartest.

And that’s a problem.

It’s called the 𝗕𝗮𝗯𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗘𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗰𝘁.

We subconsciously equate
volume with value.
Speed with clarity.
Confidence with correctness.

But real thinking often happens quietly.

The best insights I’ve seen usually come from someone who:
• pauses longer
• speaks less
• asks sharper questions
• and lands one sentence that reframes everything

Meanwhile, constant talking can feel productive
while avoiding real thinking.

Leadership isn’t about filling silence.
It’s about knowing when silence is doing the work.

If you want to be perceived as thoughtful, don’t aim to say more -

Aim to say the one thing that actually changes the conversation.

#Leadership #Thinking

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