Scot Chisholm & Co. 

Every week I tackle management, operations & startup topics that are helping 100,000+ people become better leaders.

Scot’s Newsletter

Highland

Highland is a “school” & community for founders. If you're a founder/CEO, we should talk!

Founder & Chief Professor

Tall Timbers Holding Co.

A family office and holding company with wholly owned businesses, private investments, and property holdings.

Managing Director & Founder

GoFundMe

After the merger of Classy and GoFundMe, I’ve taken on a strategic advisory role to the CEO & executive team, mainly focused on longer-range product strategy and M&A

Strategic Advisor, GoFundMe & Classy

Classy

Founder & Strategic Advisor (Acq. by GoFundMe, 2022)

Founder & Chairman

Classy is a SaaS giving platform that powers the fundraising of over 10,000 nonprofit organizations. Classy is a certified B-Corp, has a team of 300+ people and has raised over $5 billion for social good since 2011.

CEO & Founder

In Classy’s earliest days, we hosted large scale fundraising events with the goal of connecting millennials with local nonprofits in the San Diego area.

CEO & Founder (pre tech company)

Haskill Creek

Haskill Creek is a new type of self-care store. Imagine a healthier & more holistic version of a Walgreens or CVS. Family owned business.

Co-Founder

ALBION SC

Albion Soccer Club is one of the top youth soccer franchises in the United States with over 10,000 players and hundreds of teams across the country.

Co-Owner

Save Farmland

Save Farmland is a nonprofit organization with a mission to protect and promote small farms in Flathead Valley, Montana, and beyond.

Abundant Montana

Board Member

AERO Montana

Abundant Montana (a program of Aero), makes it easy for anyone to find and choose local food in Montana.

Advisory Board

CEO, Highland & Haskill Creek • Founder of Classy (acq. by GoFundMe) • Founder of nonprofit, Save Farmland

Multi-time founder but operator at heart. 

Industrial engineer and lean six sigma nerd by training. 

Now I write about management, operations & startup topics that are helping 200,000+ people become better leaders.

scotchisholm.com/newsletter


MY BACKGROUND ————— 

🚀 Founder of Classy, a SaaS platform for 10k+ nonprofits raising billions per year. 

🎗️Acquired by GoFundMe in ‘22 to create the largest giving platform in the world. Together we’ve raised over $30 billion for individual & nonprofit causes. 

🏔️ Founder of Highland, a private community & leadership “school” for high-potential founders. 

🏡 Co-founder of Haskill Creek, a much healthier version of a Walgreens or CVS. 

🧑🏼‍🌾 Founder of Save Farmland, a nonprofit protecting local farmland. 

⚽️ Co-owner of Albion Soccer Club, top youth soccer club in country

❤️ Board experience: Nature Conservancy, Abundant Montana, Team Rubicon, Street Soccer USA, Montana Pediatric Cancer Foundation 


👇 WAYS TO CONNECT —————

→ Podcast / speaking oppty? email: partner@scotchisholm.com

→ Join my free newsletter: https://scotchisholm.com/newsletter-linkedin-profile

→ Check out my private community for founders: www.joinhighland.com

Scot Chisholm

Sh*tty managers ruin lives. 
Great managers change them. 

I’ve managed hundreds of people over the last 20 years. 

One of my biggest takeaways is the massive difference between an average manager and a truly great one. 

But, here’s the truth:

No one starts out as a great manager (literally no one). 

And, becoming a great manager can be learned by anyone. 

Just focus on these 12 habits:

1/ Provide business context
2/ Set high standards
3/ Take full ownership
4/ Focus (then focus again)
5/ Create operating cohesion 
6/ Lead with data
7/ But be decisive 
8/ Let your team make decisions
9/ Don’t give sh*tty feedback
10/ Take feedback like an adult
11/ Listen more than you talk
12/ Always be learning

The gap in quality managers is large, but the right behaviors are simple. 

Focus on these 12 habits daily and you’ll be ahead of 99%. 

What habits resonated most?
Let me know in the comments 👇

⁂

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Operator & Investor • Founder of Classy (acq. by GoFundMe) • Building Highland, Just, Haskill Creek

12 insanely simple habits to become a high performing mana

Leadership is misunderstood.

Building Classy taught me that the best leaders aren't necessarily the ones with the biggest titles, or the ones who can charm a room.

Some of the best leaders in our 300+ person company were individual contributors at the very bottom of the org chart. Young managers. First-time team leads.

Over the years I started noticing what made these unlikely leaders so effective. They had traits that, quite honestly, my executives lacked at times. Including me.

Over time I boiled them down to 10 core traits that our best leaders always exhibited. It’s no surprise they rose fast within the company. Many are still there today, 15 years later.  

The very best leaders: 

• Clarify - Never assume everyone understands
• Believe - Push forward when everyone doubts
• Adapt - Evolve rapidly without ego
• Anticipate - Solve problems before they explode
• Persist - Get kicked in the teeth, get up anyway
• Empower - Create leaders, not followers
• Own - Own failures without excuses
• Hold the line - When quality dips and others compromise
• Always Learn - Learn and grow faster than the company
• Lead by Example - Live values when no one's watching

Most leaders start off strong in a few, but not all of these traits. You must intentionally develop them over time. It's a lifelong thing. 

But many executives forget this. Maybe they were great once. But they start slipping. They stop learning. They get cocky. I've seen this too many times. 

I don't care where you’re at in your career. Keep these traits in mind. And never stop developing them. 

⁂

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Top 10 traits of the very best leaders:

Every high performance culture starts with this… 

I recently asked a founder about his culture. And he started talking about free lunches and other perks. 

This is not culture. 

He was a coaching client of mine, so I nicely explained… 

Here's what real culture looks like: 
→ A shared purpose. Everyone understands and resonates with the 'Why'.

→ Excitement about the future. The vision is clear to all and it creates an almost kid-like excitement about the future.

→ Strong empathy and trust. Great orgs know if you neglect empathy, trust evaporates.

→ The correct level of accountability. People know you're building a championship team.

→ Mutual respect and encouragement. High performers have admiration for each other.

→ Hunger to learn and improve. Without being asked. That's the diet of champions.

→ Aligned financial incentives. Compensation that's aligned to the organization's top goals.

→ Career mobility. Lots of opportunity, with clear expectations around advancement.

→ Work-life balance. Clear boundaries that are enforced across the org.

→ Pride in the work. Numbers one through nine create an amazing sense of pride. You'll find yourself bragging about work to complete strangers.


When you get the culture right, people are excited to show up, employees self-manage, and retention is extremely high. 

And great business results naturally follow.

 ⁂

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10 signs of great culture.

Most people waste their leadership meetings. 

Do this instead: 

When I was building Classy I got this meeting wrong for years. We’d talk about everything BUT the important stuff. Too much time wasted on low-level “issues”. Too many tangents and distractions. Everyone left feeling:

• Confused
• Misaligned 
• Unaccountable

I talked to advisors and scoured the internet for help. But it took loads of trial and error to land on a meeting structure that actually worked. We stuck with it for nearly ten years. 

One of the major improvements was focus. Teams spend months setting goals only to let them collect dust. Your leadership meeting should be your #1 checkpoint for progress. 

Once we got “tight at the top” as a leadership team, everything started to change. More results, less talk. It became the tip of the spear of our entire operating rhythm.

To this day, I call it your most important meeting. If I only had one, it’d be the leadership meeting. 

The entire leadership team meeting structure is in the carousel. Copy it for your own company and let me know what you think. 

⁂

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How to nail your  leadership meeting every time:

This is the part of leadership no one prepares you for…

Going from IC to manager is hard.

But becoming a manager of managers is brutal. 

You’re no longer managing the work… you’re managing the people who manage the work.

Vanilla management advice no longer works. Instead, focus on these 7 things:

→ Provide clarity and context. If they don’t have context, they can’t give context. And their teams will be flying blind. Make sure your managers always know: Why are we here? Where are we going? How are we doing? Your job is to arm them with the information they need to lead.

→ Work through, not around. When someone skips your manager and comes to you with a problem, resist the urge to solve it on the spot. This robs your manager of the chance to learn and improve themselves. Listen. Ask questions. Then loop your manager in to address it. Build leverage through them, not around them.

→ Set a team rhythm. Establish a recurring cadence with your managers. Weekly or bi-weekly team meetings work best. Create a high-performance environment that focuses on progress against goals. But feels safe for the managers to help each other, unblock projects and always stay aligned.

→ Create additional checkpoints. Checkpoints ensure your managers stay on top of things. Your early warning system. 1x1s for coaching and calibration. Quarterly reviews for deep dives. Occasional skip-levels to stay connected. But don’t overdo your 1 on 1s. Great managers shouldn’t need tons of special attention.

→ Don’t do their job for them. When your manager is struggling, it’s tempting to pick up their slack. Don’t. They need to own the outcome fully. You can coach them, help connect the dots, resource things. But don’t do the work for them. They’ll never develop into a strong manager this way.

→ Create P2P accountability. Peer-to-peer accountability is stronger than top-down. Great managers don’t want to let their peers down. Review each other’s goals. Share progress openly. Set standards together. Your team helps you keep the bar up for everyone.

→ Avoid over trusting. It’s tempting to say: “They’re experienced, they’ll figure it out.” This is blind faith. When a manager is sending off smoke signals through any of the prior steps. Missing goal after goal. Showing up weak at checkpoints. With no correction on the horizon. It’s time to take action. Don’t trust forever. The buck still stops with you.

⁂ 

Putting it all together... 

How to manage managers: 

• Provide context
• Work through manager
• Set team rhythm
• Create checkpoints 
• Don't' do their job
• Create p2p accountability 
• Avoid over-trusting

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How to manage managers (even as a newbie)

Most people think goals fail because the team screwed up. 

They’re wrong. 

99% of goals fail because of poor leadership.

It doesn’t matter what framework you use…

→ OKRs
→ Rocks
→ SMART

If you’re sloppy with your approach, the company won’t hit its goals. 

That’s on you. 

I learned this the hard way, running a company with hundreds of people. 

Now I see it working with nearly 100 CEOs across all industries. 

Here are 7 non-negotiable rules that will make your goal-setting 10x better…

(regardless of your framework) 

⁂

Rule 1 –  
Focus (then focus again):

• Maximum three goals, period
• Goals aren't task lists
• Everything priority = nothing priority

Rule 2 – 
Always be measurable: 

• Three metrics maximum per goal
• Measure outcomes, not tasks
• "$1M ARR" beats "update deck"

Rule 3 – 
Challenging but realistic: 

• Impossible goals kill momentum
• Stretch without delusion
• No sandbagging, mutual accountability

Rule 4 – 
Never forget the ‘why’: 

• No context leaves team guessing
• Each goal deserves a 'why'
• 1-3 sentence rationale

Rule 5 – 
Track consistently:

• Break annual into monthly
• Weekly red/yellow/green updates
• Never leave dashboards stale

Rule 6 – 
Create accountability:

• Use leadership meeting
• Address every yellow or red
• 20% status, 80% solving

Rule 7 – 
Align incentives:

• Pay goals to comp
• Ignore the OKR purists
• Bonus plan is perfect for this

Does this resonate? 
What rules would you add?
Let me know in the comments 👇

 ⁂

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How to actually achieve your company goals in 2026

If there's one thing you do on Linkedin today... 

I'd be forever grateful if you'd consider applying, or sharing this role with someone you really respect. 

Christopher Himes & I started dreaming up this company about a year ago.  Now the dream has turned to reality. 

With a fresh round, a tiny team of insane talent, and a massive opportunity in front of us... 

We. are. ready. to. go!

Who wants to join us? 

p.s. We're not listing this company as "stealth" because that's dumb. But you'll learn way more about the market, opportunity and product when you apply. Trust me its badass. 

🔥

AdXMinds

The Founder's Fable

Birlasoft

Senior Director - Talent Acquisition

WinWire Technologies Inc.

* Heading the Recruitment function (Lateral, Leadership & Campus) for India & US geographies.
* Leading a geographically distributed team of 16 members to achieve result-oriented goals across the parameters of quantity and quality.
* Primarily responsible for attracting talent across levels with expertise in digital technologies including Cloud, Modern Data Platform, Mobility, Security, UI/UX, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning.
* Managing end to end recruitment process life cycle (sourcing, screening, coordinating interviews, facilitate offer process, post offer engagement and onboarding).
* Directly working with CXO level stakeholders across regions to strategize growth plans and facilitate target based hiring and ramp up.
* Focusing on key strategic initiative like promoting Employer brand, leveraging Employee Referral Program, attracting Leadership talent and improving Diversity hiring.

Head of Talent Acquisition

Wipro Limited

* Talent Partner Central Service Functions
• Leading hiring for SBU's like Human Resources, Strategic Marketing, Finance, Central Procurement, Legal & Compliance, Operations, CIO, CTO, GSE & ERM.
• Build Leadership Next for Wipro & enable business strategy through agile & smart hiring
• End to end recruitment including sourcing, research based talent mapping, interviews, salary negotiation and onboarding.
• Managing CXO level stakeholders and presenting a single view on Leadership hiring
• Market intelligence and Competition mapping to create a talent pool
• Track and report key metrics designed to measure and predict staffing activity.

* Heading the Global MBA Campus Hiring & Engagement
• Hiring MBA graduates from 60+ Premier and Eminent MBA campuses in India
• Hiring freshers including the Legal & CA Campus programs for India 
• Hiring from Top 20 B-Schools worldwide for the new Global 100 initiative
• Engagement initiatives across MBA Campuses to improve Wipro’s brand equity
• Lead Corporate Induction program for all MBA Campus hires 
• Drive post offer engagement initiatives with the new hires across campuses in the form of multi city events

Senior Director (Talent Partner - CSF & Global Head – MBA Campus Hiring and Engagement)

Senior Manager - Human Resources

OnMobile

Handled 4 different portfolios during this tenure:
• Organisation Effectiveness for a 1000+ people organisation spread across both national and international locations
• Hiring Lead for all Sales & Pre-sales requirements across the Client Facing Units (CFUs)
• Business HR Head handling the entire gamut of HR activities for Client Facing Units (CFUs) across national and international locations
• Head - Recruitment for OnMobile - Leading a team of 8 members catering to both Lateral & Campus hiring needs of the organisation

Tally Solutions Private Limited

Handled 2 diverse portfolios during this tenure:
• Lead Training & Development - Managing training requirements for a 1000+ people organisation and Tally Academies across India (approx. 800)
• Anchored Soft Skills training programs for in house employees 
• Vendor coordination & negotiation for external training requirement

• Managing Corporate HR & OD - Leading ]a team of 6 to provide entire gamut of HR services (Employee engagement, Training & development, Performance Management and HR Operations) for an approx. 700+ people organisation (including 14 Regional Offices across India.)

Manager - Corporate HR & OD

First Consulting Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: FCGI)

• Significantly contributed in achieving CMMI level 5 for Training and Development Dept.
• Managing training requirements for a 500 people organisation across the globe
• Contribution in the rolling out and implementation of Performance Management System.
• Handling recruitment for IT and non-IT positions within the organisation. Also coordinated with the different Engineering colleges for campus recruitment.
• Organizer & facilitator of the Induction Program & Team building exercises (OBL – Outbound Learning Programs).
• Handling employee grievances by conducting one on one meeting with employees and recording and sharing feedback with their respective managers at the same time tracking for closure.

Senior Executive - T & D

Oracle India Pvt Ltd.,

• Creating & Designing courses into the various tools, offered by Oracle globally.
• Posting the courses offered by Oracle on the web for customer registration.
• Making Course title, Duration, Price, Audience changes to courses.
• Working on various JAVA & VB based software & tools like GSIAP, WDDI, OTA and CAT. 
• Handling Courseware Requests (OUCWR & SS) for customers
• Uploading and downloading files like Student & Instructor Guides, PowerPoint’s from different workspaces like OUCR, OUWCR, OURC and OFO etc.  
• Setting up different accounts (Internal/Partner/Approver) on the Digital Express website (DX) for customers for Ordering & Tracking of Courseware.

Oracle University - Coordinator

NIIT

Handled 3 different roles during this tenure:
• Recruitment - Fulfillment of Junior to Mid level requiremnts
• HR portfolio - Personnel Files Management, Handling Payroll & Admin issues, Recording & maintenance of Attendance & Leave records, Arranging for meetings – Skip level, group gathering, open house and feedback sessions & Generating Offer / Appointment letters for new joinees
• Event Management - Organised various National Level activities like Seminars, Conferences (e-commerce by Sugata Mitra) and Marketing activities in the benefit of the organisation.

HR Executive & Senior Academic Counselor

90K+ I Top Voice I HR Leader I Top 100 HR Influencers I DE&I I Global Speaker I Corporate Mentor I Happiness Coach I Career Coach I LinkedIn Influencer I President-WICCI KA HR Council I ★The TOP Person Ambassador★

As the Founder, I am dedicated to helping businesses achieve rapid growth through HR and digital marketing solutions.

Hey, I’m Shikha Gupta, with over two decades of experience in Human Resources across the IT Industry. A forward thinking strategist, I craft HR strategies aligned with evolving needs of the business while optimising their systems towards operational efficieny

Throughout my career, I have had the privilege of empowering thousands of students and young professionals in achieving their dreams by securing them opportunities at leading multinational companies

My passion for empowering people towards their success has been the driving force behind my transitions from a Senior HR Leader to an Entrepreneur

I am committed to leveraging my extensive experience and expertise in HR to empower business grow 10x in the digital era.

Through the innovative digital marketing strategy and personalised mentorship and guidance, I Asim to propel organisations towards their mission, visions by maximising their potential for success.

With a firm belief in the transformative power of Entrepreneurship, I am delighted to turn my passion into profession by making a meaningful impact on the business and people I serve.

After all, the purpose of human life is to serve others, right?

Connect with me over a cup of tea /coffee… What’s your choice?

Shikha Gupta

𝐒𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐤 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭.
𝐒𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐟𝐚𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐢𝐧 𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲.
𝐊𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐤𝐚 𝐆𝐚𝐮𝐝’𝐬 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐛𝐨𝐭𝐡.

Sixteen-year-old Kanishka Gaud had one dream — to wear the uniform and join the National Defence Academy.

But life took a tragic turn on November 12 when she met with an accident and was later declared brain-dead.

In their most painful moment, her parents made a decision that only the bravest hearts can make —
they donated her organs, allowing her to live on by saving five people at AIIMS Jodhpur.

✨ Her liver and kidneys saved three lives.
✨ Her eyes gave sight to two people.
✨ Her courage and spirit now live through them.

Kanishka may not have joined the NDA, but she still served the nation — in the most profound way possible.

A salute to her.
A salute to her parents.
And a salute to every family that chooses hope in the face of loss.

Few lessons and learnnings for makind:
🔹 Legacy isn’t defined by age — it’s defined by impact.
🔹 Courage isn’t only on the battlefield; sometimes it’s in a hospital hallway.
🔹 Organ donation is the greatest gift one human can give another.
🔹 Heroes don’t always wear uniforms — sometimes they are 16-year-olds with a dream.
🔹 Even in tragedy, humanity can shine its brightest.

Did this resonate with you? Share your thoughts / story in the comments — let’s inspire each other. 👇

(Repost♻️ to spark a fire in someone’s heart!)🔥

Image credit: Respective owner 

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Shikha Gupta (L.I.O.N)

🚀 Inspiring 200K+ I Ampilfying Brand Influence I 100+ Strategic Partnerships I Content Strategist | Elevating Personal Brands | Accelerating Growth I HR Leader Ex-BirlaSoft, Wipro, Oracle, WinWire, Onmobile I DM -Collab

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