Mineral, part of Mitratech

●	Led a $25MM+ strategic growth initiative, developing a next-gen HR compliance SaaS platform, enabling a shift to a product-led growth model and unlocking new revenue channels.
●	Led discovery, assessment, and launch of an AI-powered HR agent enabling SMBs to self-serve regulated HR guidance, laying the foundation for scalable, enterprise-wide AI adoption.
●	Reduced vendor renewal costs by 30% through formalizing vendor management processes, enhancing service quality, and embedding continuous improvement practices.
●	Drove strategic alignment across the executive team by defining and operationalizing corporate strategy through OKRs, increasing cross-functional cohesion and value delivery.
●	Established and scaled a high-performing PMO to oversee critical transformation initiatives, ensuring governance, agile execution, financial discipline, and long-term operational excellence.

Vice President Strategic Transformation

Tyeideas, LLC

● Entrepreneur / Inventor / Owner @ Tyeideas, LLC B2C eCommerce retailer
● Invented and patented the DogTye® hands-free dog leash harness (patent granted Oct 2018), leading the full lifecycle from concept through market & competitive intelligence market validation through design, prototyping, and production.
● Built and operated a B2C e-commerce business on Amazon, managing product sourcing, listings, FBA fulfillment, and customer support.
● Drove go-to-market execution, including customer and competitive research, pricing, branding, and online launch, using reviews and performance data to refine the product and increase adoption.
● Owned P&L, inventory planning, and cash-flow management while coordinating with overseas manufacturers and logistics partners to maintain margins, quality, and in-stock performance.

Entrepreneur / Inventor / Owner / B2C eCommerce retailer

Slalom Consulting

●	Mineral Inc. - Led a multi-year transformation program to develop a new SaaS platform, consolidated two legacy systems, and increased annual recurring revenue (ARR) by 244%, with improved user experience, operational efficiency, and in-platform sales.
●	XPO Logistics Inc. - Led HRIS integrations using Boomi during strategic acquisitions of 150+ companies. Optimized HRIT workflow with ServiceNow to reduce manual work by 40%.
●	Portland General Electric (PGE) – As primary project lead for CSOC, led critical infrastructure OT SIEM security logging program to provide real-time threat detection and security monitoring to reduce cyber/operational risk by ~30%.

Senior Management Consultant

North Highland

●	Nike Inc. - Increased e-commerce efficiency by 60% in 3 months by optimizing Nike’s first-article digital imagery program, setting new benchmarks for digital marketing and boosting global online sales by 23%.
●	Lattice Semiconductor Inc. - Enabled scalable growth by leading a comprehensive current-state evaluation for Oracle ERP implementation, improving business performance and operational readiness.

Management Consultant

Advisicon

●	Led the consulting, design, & implementation of EPM systems for Fortune 500 clients, improving project delivery efficiency by 15–20%, enabling data-driven decision-making across business units, and equipping executives with real-time portfolio insights for cross-functional alignment.
●	Built and scaled PMO and portfolio governance frameworks that connected corporate strategy to project selection and resource allocation, improving on-time delivery and enabling leadership to manage tradeoffs across competing strategic initiatives, with advanced MS Project practices (dependencies/critical path/resource plans).

Director of Professional Services

Metro

●	Increased on-time project delivery by 30% by building and leading a centralized PMO, establishing project management governance, and improving cross-business unit alignment.
●	Enhanced organizational transparency by establishing consistent capital project reporting frameworks, improving stakeholder visibility, and accelerating decision-making and delivery.

Manager, Project Management Office

KBR, Inc.

●	Ran the regional QA program supporting the Department of State and U.S. military operations across six remote Iraq sites with a 55+ person team of SMEs, driving continuous process improvement efforts through 1,250+ monthly contractual inspections to ISO 9001 (Quality), 45001 (OSHA), DCMA (Defense Contract Management Agency) contractual standards.
●	Increased Quality Audit monthly on-time reporting by over 34.2% within a seven-month period using performance metrics and organic competitive incentives.
●	Built metrics and KPI dashboards to track nonconformances across construction, engineering, basic life support (food, fuel, water), logistics, fire services, medical, laundry, MWR, power gen, housing, waste disposal, airfield operations, property accountability, subcontractor compliance, operations and management (O&M) and contract compliance.

Senior Quality Management Leader

United States Army

Honorably Discharged. (Veteran)
Lead 87+ Soldiers

Officer

I turn strategy into outcomes by building the systems, teams, and operating rhythms that connect executive intent to measurable results. 
Former VP of Strategic Transformation with 15+ years across SaaS and consulting, I align C-suite priorities, product, and operations so organizations move faster and execute better. I have led a $25MM+ next-gen SaaS platform build, scaled ARR from $24MM to $86MM, launched an AI HR agent with real adoption and ROI, reduced vendor spend by 30%, and built high performing PMOs that drive cross-functional delivery.

𝗦𝗽𝗲𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹𝘁𝗶𝗲𝘀:
•	Corporate & Business Strategy
•	Strategy Execution & OKRs
•	Enterprise & Digital Transformation
•	AI strategy & Adoption
•	Portfolio & Program Management
•	PMO Leadership & Governance
•	Operational Excellence & Process Improvement
•	Change Management & Adoption
•	Roadmap & Investment Prioritization
•	KPI & Dashboard Design
•	Benefits Realization & Value Tracking
•	Risk & Dependency Management
•	Executive & Board Communications
•	Cross Functional Stakeholder Alignment
•	Vendor & Partner Management
•	Team Leadership, Coaching, & Development
•	AI Program & Use Case Delivery

Tye Trepanier

This Thanksgiving, I’m grateful for the conversations that pushed past small talk. People in my network took the time to ask better questions, challenge my thinking, and remind me to give back. That kind of support has given me real momentum during this career transition.

One thing I’ve noticed: a lot of professionals are quietly doing the same work. Whether they’re employed or between roles, they’re testing assumptions, sharing what they’ve learned, and helping others move forward. That kind of generosity compounds.

I won’t pretend it’s been effortless. Reaching out can feel vulnerable, but it builds resilience. For me, that’s looked like hosting short “strategy office hours,” swapping playbooks on OKRs, AI fluency, and transformation, and sharing lessons I wish I’d learned sooner.

I’m heading into the next chapter with gratitude and a clear intention: keep learning in public, keep serving, and keep connecting with purpose. If you’re on a similar path and want to compare notes, I’m always open to the conversation.

And to everyone who showed up for me this year... thank you.

~Tye

No alternative text description for this image

Continuing my learning journey to deepen my understanding of AI’s impact on strategy and transformation in the business world.

I joined a couple of my network buddies (Graeme Rudd & KC O'Carroll, fellow military veterans), and Spenser Meeks at AI Portland last night. What a blast!

I also ran into two former colleagues who are on their own AI learning journeys and giving back in their domains (Suzame Tong & Aimee Pedretti,).

We heard from two fantastic speakers from DevSwarm, CEO Mike Biglan, & CTO Trevor Dilley. They walked through high velocity engineering (HiVE) using their AI-assisted development platform and showed how they’re leveraging Toolhive.dev for secure MCP integrations to rapidly share a live AI development use case for MCP (Model Context Protocol).
 
I'm grateful to keep learning alongside smart people who are building, experimenting, and sharing what works.
 
❓If you’re experimenting with AI in your domain or transformation work, drop a note, I’d love to hear what you’re trying.

Executive alignment is not a meeting. It is a system.
LEADING EXECUTIVE ALIGNMENT: 5 Steps That Make All The Difference

Alignment at the top is not about a nice slide deck or checking a box in a strategy session. I have learned the hard way that misalignment, even among smart leaders, can stall initiatives before they leave the boardroom. Getting executives truly on the same page requires more than meetings. 
 Here is how to make it stick:

 1. AGREE ON THE OUTCOME, NOT THE PROCESS.
 Leaders often argue over “how” instead of “why.” Start with the end in mind, what success looks like for the organization. Once the outcome is clear, process debates are easier to resolve. Just as important, once your teams understand the “why,” they can better endure the “how.”

2. ESTABLISH A CLEAR, SHARED LANGUAGE.
Terms like “agility,” “innovation,” or “value creation” mean different things to different leaders. Define the language upfront so conversations are about substance, not semantics. This often requires a simple “terms” dictionary to keep teams aligned.

3. BRIDGE THE STRATEGIC-OPERATIONAL GAP.
Executives think in big moves, teams think in tasks. Regularly translate strategic priorities into concrete, operational objectives that everyone can act on, then feed the results back up. One way to do this is by agreeing on three simple metrics for each major bet, Original, Target, and Actual. Track them honestly so the discussion centers on “what did we learn” rather than finger pointing and excuses.

4. CREATE VISIBLE ACCOUNTABILITY
 Assign clear owners for each critical initiative. Public dashboards, weekly check ins, and simple accountability charts prevent “alignment by assumption” and keep execution on track. Socialize the actual owners of the deliverables, and give them room to grow by having them report the learnings directly to the executive oversight group. This builds both ownership and capability.

5. TREAT ALIGNMENT AS A JOURNEY, NOT A ONE-AND-DONE TASK.
Alignment is not permanent. Revisit it regularly, adjust for new insights, and reinforce shared goals through action and communication. Leadership cohesion is maintained, not assumed. Setting clear metrics up front, by defining the Original, agreeing on the Target, and openly sharing the Actual, creates real alignment and shifts the conversation from blame to what was learned.

If your exec team is “aligned” on paper but not in practice, this is the work I help lead.
I have been there... I have done that…

"Action Favors the Bold"

𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲 𝗱𝗼𝗲𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝗼𝗻 𝗮 𝗿𝗼𝗮𝗱𝗺𝗮𝗽. 𝗜𝘁 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝘀 𝗯𝗲𝘁𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘀.

Transformation is not magic. It is a series of uncomfortable, intentional choices backed by a clear picture of the future. I share a simple way to visualize success and lead by example so your team moves with you, not after you.
 
 If you lead people, you lead emotions, stories, and choices. This video shares how to align all three so change sticks, not just starts. Save it for your next kickoff.

Drop one change you’re committing to this week in the comments so others can borrow it.


"Action Favors the Bold"

I’ve learned something about myself over the years: feeling completely out of my depth isn’t an “early career” memory for me. It’s a pattern. It shows up every time I jump into something new.

And honestly, that’s been true across my entire career.

Whenever I’m in that space, the skill that saves me every time is becoming a subject matter expert as fast as possible. Not pretending to know it all, but closing the gap quickly enough that I can add real value.

For me, that looks like digging deep into the research. Reading everything I can find—articles, books, case studies. Asking the people who have been there and done it. Taking a ton of notes so I can make sense of what I’m learning and connect it back to things I have done.

Consulting teaches you this the hard way. You get put in situations where you say, “Yeah, we can help with that,” and then immediately have to figure out how. And you do, because you have to! And because the team you’re supporting needs to feel like you’re invested enough to learn their world quickly. 

It’s a mix of keeping a smile on, figuring it out fast, and being honest about what you bring to the table.

And I’ve realized something important: Being out of your depth isn’t a sign you don’t belong. It’s a sign you’re stretching into the next version of your capability.

"Action Favors the Bold"

BUILDING PEOPLE: How I helped someone grow

Most leaders say they develop their people. Here’s what it looked like in real life.

I’ve noticed that our desire to learn comes in cycles.
We go from “head down, just surviving life” to short bursts of curiosity, to real excitement about going deep on a new skill.

One of my team members helped oversee a key program I managed. He was good at his job, but I knew formal certifications would boost his credibility, confidence, and long-term marketability.

I started by asking where he wanted to grow in the role. He wasn’t sure.
So I shared my own pattern: seasons where I binge on learning and certification, followed by seasons where my brain just needs to coast for a bit. I asked him to sit with that idea.

A few weeks later, I asked again. This time I came with options: specific classes and certifications that would strengthen the muscles he needed and make a bigger impact on the organization. I also made it clear the company would pay for it.

Then I backed off and gave him space.

On our next 1:1, his energy was completely different. He had picked a course, was excited to start, and finished the week-long class quickly. He immediately applied what he learned and leveled up the program in ways we hadn’t considered before.

The real point here isn’t the certification.
It’s recognizing the natural cycles of learning, catching people in that curiosity window, and guiding them toward opportunities that benefit both their long-term career and the organization.

As leaders, our job is to help people catch that next learning wave and leave them with skills that open doors long after they’ve left our team.


"Action Favors the Bold"

Not too long ago, back in 2010 or 2011, I was saying goodbye to a boss who was transitioning to a new role. I thanked him for his time, and he said something that stuck with me ever since:

"Tye, you know what makes you so great?"

I tilted my head and asked, “What’s that?”

He said, “It’s because you don’t take yourself too seriously.”

At the time, I thanked him and moved on. But looking back now, I realize how profound that advice really was.

It’s not about being casual or underestimating the work. It’s about leaving ego at the door and being truly authentic. 

I try to talk to people like human beings without heavy vocabulary, flashy talk, or trying to impress them into submission. The goal is to make people feel comfortable having real conversations.

I’ve seen so many leaders bring ego into the room. “I’m in charge. You’ll do what I say.” That rarely works. What works is meeting people where they are, respecting their perspective, and earning trust through authenticity.

That one comment forever changed how I lead. It reminds me to keep ego in check, focus on connection, and be real.

"Action Favors the Bold"

You don’t need better AI. You need to stop pretending your data is fine.

Scaling AI is brutal because it exposes every crack you've been hoping no one notices.

AI feels magical.

Until you try to scale it.

Bain & Company makes the point bluntly: "Many companies have yet to invest; or are just beginning to invest; in critical enablers for AI value realization, including end-to-end process redesign, disciplined AI governance, solid change management, executive commitment, and an effective data strategy."

And this isn’t new. Bad data has been the kryptonite of digital initiatives long before AI showed up.

The companies that actually win with AI aren’t just chasing the newest model; they’re investing in the data behind it. They set clear ownership, build governance into everyday workflows, and treat data like a real strategic asset.

The bottom line is this: AI will amplify what you already have. Weak data? Weak results. Solid data? Transformational results.

"𝗔𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗳𝗮𝘃𝗼𝗿𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗼𝗹𝗱"

Open article: Why AI Stumbles Without a Solid Data Strategy by bain.com

Most AI pilots stall before they scale. Data strategy and governance are not new, but they’re even more critical in the AI age.

Why AI Stumbles Without a Solid Data Strategy

One of the myths I wish more executives would let go of is the idea that AI adoption is all about efficiency or cutting costs.

Sure, AI can automate tasks and reduce time spent on repetitive work... but the real value comes from improving decision-making and empowering employees to do higher-value work. 

If leaders focus narrowly on efficiency, they risk sidelining the people who actually make AI successful: critical thinkers, problem-solvers, and those who understand the customer experience.

History is full of lessons here. Remember the outsourcing wave in the ’90s? Companies cut costs by moving IT and help desk roles overseas... only to bring them back when they realized some roles can’t be automated without damaging customer experience. 

AI is different, but the principle is the same: tools amplify humans. They don’t replace them.

"𝗔𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗙𝗮𝘃𝗼𝗿𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗕𝗼𝗹𝗱"

AI, digital transformation, strategy… we all chase the next shiny tool thinking it’ll fix everything. But the truth is, a lot of leadership problems existed long before AI showed up.

Bill Flynn hits it on the head: “Many leaders who excel early in their careers eventually become the very reason their organizations stall.”

Think about it. Early on, being the hero by solving problems personally, making snap decisions, and pushing hard can work. You get results. You rise. You feel unstoppable.

Then your organization grows. Complexity spikes. And suddenly those same “hero” behaviors are holding you back. 

I’ve seen it firsthand. Leaders default to "doing" when "building" would serve better. But what really scales is building systems that empower others to make strategic decisions without waiting for your stamp of approval.

"Action Favors the Bold"

Open article: Great Leaders Empower Strategic Decision-Making Across the Organization by hbr.org

Great Leaders Empower Strategic Decision-Making Across the Organization

If your team doesn’t understand your strategy, you don’t have a strategy... you have a memo.

I’ve seen it often. Teams get handed the “perfect plan” and promptly check out because the plan doesn’t tell them why it matters. It doesn’t connect the dots between their day-to-day work and the bigger picture. That’s where stories come in.

A good story does three things: it shows the problem, it lays out the path forward, and it makes each person’s role clear. 

When you do that, people don’t just comply... they actually care. And they start thinking creatively about how to make the change work in real life.

The teams I’ve witnessed embrace change fastest are the ones who hear the story and say, 𝘰𝘬𝘢𝘺, 𝘐 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘪𝘵. 𝘏𝘦𝘳𝘦’𝘴 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘐 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘢 𝘥𝘪𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦. They see the impact on customers, on the organization, and even on themselves.

"𝗔𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗳𝗮𝘃𝗼𝗿𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗼𝗹𝗱"

I’ve always thought the principles of building AI or driving transformation would translate neatly from one industry to another. Turns out…not even close.

Reading Sol’s reflections on pharma reminded me of the first time I stepped into a highly regulated, science-driven business. My instincts told me to start where I’d been most effective before: in commercial operations, customer experience, and revenue impact. 

I quickly learned that wasn’t where the leverage was.

It’s a humbling lesson I’ve seen replayed countless times across industries: the playbook that works in one context can be entirely the wrong tool in another. 

Your leverage points (the places where change actually sticks) are defined by the mechanics of the business, not by your assumptions.

"𝗔𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗳𝗮𝘃𝗼𝗿𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗼𝗹𝗱"

I thought building AI in one industry would be almost the same in others…phew. 😅

Pharma was a completely different beast.

- In consumer goods, the product drives everything. 

- In entertainment, it's the creative output.

- In travel, it's the experience.

But pharma? Pharma is different.

Here's what I learned:

In pharma, urgency is dictated by patents and molecules. And it starts with R&D. Let me elaborate.

Because if a pharmaceutical company owns the patent for a molecule, they control a drug or vaccine for 10, 15, 20 years. 

That gives them control of an entire therapeutic area and dictates market functions for a decade or more. If someone needs the drug and you're the only one who makes it, you already won.

This insight changed where I focused my energy as a change agent.

Here are the 3 lessons this experience taught me.

1. Don't assume one playbook works everywhere.

2. Every industry has its own center of gravity. In pharma, it's the science to start. Follow the money and the power structure.  My effectiveness depended on understanding how they made their margin and profit. Not just understanding the business, understanding the actual drivers of profit.

3. Pick your battles based on leverage, not just opportunity.  There was plenty to do in commercial, , plenty of ways to add value. But those big leaps? They were harder to sell internally.

If I could do it over, I'd have focused my energy on R&D and manufacturing from day one based on the circumstances. 

Which industry surprised you the most when you got inside the engine room?

I'd love to hear your experiences in the comments below.

Measuring Real Competitive Advantage from AI: 5 Steps That Make All the Difference

I’ve seen organizations celebrate reduced headcount or faster reports, only to realize months later that their competitors had pulled ahead with entirely new business models powered by AI. Measuring real advantage means going beyond efficiency and asking if AI is actually shifting the game! 

Here’s how to do it:

1. Track impact on revenue and market share, not just cost. Look at how AI drives new sales, expands into untapped markets, or improves customer retention. If the bottom line moves only because of lower expenses, you’re optimizing for survival only. 

2. Measure time-to-market advantage. Competitive edge comes from speed. Track whether AI reduces the time from idea to launch, enables faster decision-making, or accelerates innovation cycles. A tool that simply automates a report doesn’t count; one that shortens your go-to-market by weeks does. 

3. Evaluate customer experience lifecycle gains. AI should enable more meaningful interactions. Measure engagement lift, churn reduction, or adoption rates of new AI-driven features. Customer impact often signals real strategic value faster than internal metrics.

4.  Link AI outputs to business objectives. Raw accuracy or model performance is meaningless if it doesn’t move the needle. Create explicit KPIs for strategic outcomes: revenue growth, market expansion, or customer loyalty.

5. Review and adjust with frequent loops. Regularly assess whether AI insights are still translating into better decisions than your competitors. If not, iterate!

"Action Favors the Bold"

Ever wonder how your custom AI agent actually decides what to say?

I had to share this visual from Tom Yeh on the unseen math behind vector databases.

In simple terms:
When you ask a question, your AI is not “searching documents” the old way. It is:

* Turning your question and all the source documents into vectors (numbers).
* Storing those vectors in a special database.
* Using math to find the closest match so it can pull back the most relevant chunk of knowledge.

That pipeline is called Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG), and it is what powers things like:
* A customer service agent that can answer from your help center
* An internal chatbot that knows your policies, playbooks, or SOPs

I worked on this back in late 2023 when wiring up vector databases for real use cases was much harder than it is today. Now we have services that handle most of the heavy lifting so teams can focus on the strategy of what knowledge to load and how it should be used.

If you are experimenting with AI in your org, this is the mental model to keep in your back pocket.

Credit: Original post and visual by Tom Yeh

14. Can you calculate a vector database by hand? ✍️
[Like] if you can follow the calculation.

Vector databases are revolutionizing how we search and analyze complex data. They have become the backbone of Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG).

How do vector databases work?

[1] Given
↳ A dataset of three sentences, each has 3 words (or tokens)
↳ In practice, a dataset may contain millions or billions of sentences. The max number of tokens may be tens of thousands (e.g., 32,768 mistral-7b).

Process "how are you"

[2] 🟨 Word Embeddings
↳ For each word, look up corresponding word embedding vector from a table of 22 vectors, where 22 is the vocabulary size.
↳ In practice, the vocabulary size can be tens of thousands. The word embedding dimensions are in the thousands (e.g., 1024, 4096)

[3] 🟩 Encoding
↳ Feed the sequence of word embeddings to an encoder to obtain a sequence of feature vectors, one per word.
↳ Here, the encoder is a simple one layer perceptron (linear layer + ReLU)
↳ In practice, the encoder is a transformer or one of its many variants.

[4] 🟩 Mean Pooling
↳ Merge the sequence of feature vectors into a single vector using "mean pooling" which is to average across the columns.
↳ The result is a single vector. We often call it "text embeddings" or "sentence embeddings."
↳ Other pooling techniques are possible, such as CLS. But mean pooling is the most common.

[5] 🟦 Indexing
↳ Reduce the dimensions of the text embedding vector by a projection matrix. The reduction rate is 50% (4->2).
↳ In practice, the values in this projection matrix is much more random.
↳ The purpose is similar to that of hashing, which is to obtain a short representation to allow faster comparison and retrieval.
↳ The resulting dimension-reduced index vector is saved in the vector storage.

[6] Process "who are you"
↳ Repeat [2]-[5]

[7] Process "who am I"
↳ Repeat [2]-[5]

Now we have indexed our dataset in the vector database.

[8] 🟥 Query: "am I you"
↳ Repeat [2]-[5]
↳ The result is a 2-d query vector.

[9] 🟥 Dot Products
↳ Take dot product between the query vector and database vectors. They are all 2-d.
↳ The purpose is to use dot product to estimate similarity. 
↳  By transposing the query vector, this step becomes a matrix multiplication.

[10] 🟥 Nearest Neighbor
↳ Find the largest dot product by linear scan.
↳ The sentence with the highest dot product is "who am I"
↳ In practice, because scanning billions of vectors is slow, we use an Approximate Nearest Neighbor (ANN) algorithm like the Hierarchical Navigable Small Worlds (HNSW).

Daniel Svonava, co-founder of Superlinked, generously lent his immense knowledge about vector databases to me by reviewing a draft of this post and providing valuable feedback. Follow him to learn more about vector databases.

#vectordatabase #rag  #deeplearning #llms #database #embeddings #aibyhand

Repost this ♻️  to help people in your network understand vector databases.

Hey my peeps, check out Raja dispel the AI productivity myths.
His message aligns well with the AI content I have shared here on LinkedIn

Thanks Raja.

Fractional Chief AI Officer | Creator of AWARE™ Driving AI ROI, Adoption & Revenue Per Employee | Ex-Deloitte

Myths are for bedtime stories.
Let’s dispel the AI productivity ones.

𝐌𝐲𝐭𝐡 𝟏 - AI Should NOT be Used just for Productivity Hacks 

I once led an ERP implementation where the sponsor kept saying: 
“We’ll start with the low-hanging fruit.”

But AI actually does have low-hanging fruit. And it’s immediate.

They buy back time. 
Time → becomes problem solving. 
Problem solving → becomes value.

With AI, the low-hanging fruit is the meal.

Your time saved is 𝑓𝑢𝑒𝑙 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑖𝑛𝑛𝑜𝑣𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 you seek.

(ERP implementations have no low hanging fruit, the sponsor got let go)

𝐌𝐲𝐭𝐡 𝟐 - You Need 47 AI Tools to See Results
Move over Fast & Furious, there are more AI tools being released than Vin Diesel sequels.

Here’s the truth: You don’t need a tool zoo. You need one or two tools - and fluency.

Your Copilot alone - used well - can unlock millions in value. 
(See post from Yesterday in comments)

𝐌𝐲𝐭𝐡 𝟑 (𝐦𝐲 𝐅𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞) - “AI is a Fad, We Can Wait and See”

AI adoption is not a tech race. It’s a behavioral race.

Your competition knows, believes that and is scaling accordingly.

Those who start learning now will think differently, work differently, and lead differently - long before the “wait and see” crowd even realizes the gap has formed.

By the time most leaders notice the shift, they’ll already be on the wrong side of it.

𝐷𝑜𝑛’𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑘 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝐵𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑘𝑏𝑒𝑟𝑟𝑦 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑖𝑃ℎ𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑙𝑎𝑢𝑛𝑐ℎ𝑒𝑑.

Cheers - Raja Sampathi
Executive Coach | AI Leadership | AI Adoption

PS: Part 3: Mastery drops tomorrow

𝐏𝐏𝐒 - Which AI myth riles you the most?

Great post from George Paras. 

I also keep seeing the “𝗮 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗻 𝗶𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗮 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝘆” mantra floating around LinkedIn, and it makes me pause. Not because I disagree, it’s absolutely true, but because so many posts stop at the catchphrase. Their one-pagers look like cool eye-candy, but miss the core elements of strategy.

It reminds me of times early in my career when I thought I had a strategy simply because I had a document full of bullet points and timelines. Looking back, that “strategy” didn’t guide tough choices. 

It didn’t force me (or my team) to make hard calls about where to play or how to win as defined by Roger Martin. It was a plan, yes, but it wasn’t strategic thinking in action. True strategic action is how we "Transform" our organizations.

What fascinates me is why so many leaders conflate the two. My experience tells me it often comes down to comfort. 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝗻𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗶𝗯𝗹𝗲. 𝗕𝘂𝘁 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝘆 𝗶𝘀 𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗲𝗿. It's about imagining futures that don’t exist yet and committing to them even when uncertainty is high.


"𝗔𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗙𝗮𝘃𝗼𝗿𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗕𝗼𝗹𝗱"

Everyone is saying a plan is not a strategy.

But, do you know who said it first?

The answer is B) Roger Martin.

Lately, I've seen an influx of templated 'a plan is not a strategy' posts in my feed gaining suspiciously high engagement, some over 3,000 likes, and some of which has prompted Roger to comment with a polite reminder to give some credit to his thinking. 

But beside the issue of lack of giving credit, the increasing cut + paste 'a plan is not a strategy' posts on here are also pretty unhelpful. Why? Because they do not get into the core of why execs often mistake a plan for a strategy, and the "advice" is flawed and muddled. 

More helpful advice? If you really want to know why a plan is not a strategy, then go to YouTube, search for "a plan is not a strategy" and hit play on the original viral video from Roger Martin that has over 6 million views. 

Have you seen the video? What did you learn? Why do people confuse a plan and a strategy? Share your views and answers below. 

-----------------
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P.S. A link to the video is in my first comment.
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𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝘆 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗱𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝘁𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝗯𝗲𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝘅𝘁 𝗔𝗺𝗮𝘇𝗼𝗻... 𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝘅𝘁 𝗕𝗹𝗼𝗰𝗸𝗯𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿.

In this article, Roger Martin makes that clear. 

I really like this quote from him: “Simply, what has changed most in strategy is the diminished efficacy of throwing spaghetti at walls and playing-to-play.”

We’ve been trained to chase multiple initiatives, hedge bets, and hope something sticks. But today, with customers discovering value instantly and fixed costs dominating investment, half-hearted plays get exposed fast. Winners now win bigger, and losers get crushed quicker than ever.

We also can't overlook AI as a powerful new accelerant in strategy today. But no algorithm is going to pick your Where-to-Play (WTP) or How-to-Win (HTW) for you. That’s the human part. 

𝗦𝗼 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲’𝘀 𝗺𝘆 𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗮𝘄𝗮𝘆: focus ruthlessly, invest decisively, and use AI to speed execution... not to make up for lack of clarity.


"𝗔𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗙𝗮𝘃𝗼𝗿𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗕𝗼𝗹𝗱"

Open article: https://www.fastcompany.com/91434102/whats-changed-most-strategy-44-years by fastcompany.com

https://www.fastcompany.com/91434102/whats-changed-most-strategy-44-years

AI is moving faster than most strategies can keep up with. But here’s the thing: AI won’t rescue a weak strategy. 

Shadow adoption is already happening, the barriers to entry are nonexistent, and the benefits are obvious. Employees are using AI tools every day. Some organizations are formalizing it with structured tool adoption. And then there are the rare few using AI to completely rethink how they operate.

The nuance? Incremental gains from tools feel good. They create momentum. 

But without anchoring AI adoption to a bigger strategic vision, to not only to improve efficiency, but to reimagine your organization, all that momentum can just be spinning wheels. 
AI is a lever. It can amplify your strategy, or accelerate failure.


"𝗔𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗙𝗮𝘃𝗼𝗿𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗕𝗼𝗹𝗱"

Open article: Does Your Organization Have An AI Strategy? by forbes.com

Your organization needs an AI strategy. The real question is: how do you develop a strategy when the disruption itself is still unfolding?

Does Your Organization Have An AI Strategy?

𝐌𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐜 𝐄𝐱𝐞𝐜𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐂𝐲𝐜𝐥𝐞𝐬: 6 𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐩𝐬 𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐌𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐀𝐥𝐥 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐃𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞

Strategic plans are easy to write, but notoriously hard to execute. I’ve seen brilliant strategies die in endless meetings or get lost in a sea of competing priorities. 

Here are 6 steps to break your team out of THAT cycle, and create new cycles that actually help execute your strategies:

𝟏. 𝐂𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐲 𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐩𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐢𝐠𝐡-𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐭 𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐬. Don’t overcomplicate things. Identify the 2–3 outcomes that matter most, and make sure everyone understands them. Everything else is context. 

𝟐. 𝐁𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐤 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐠𝐲 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐜 𝐞𝐱𝐞𝐜𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐜𝐲𝐜𝐥𝐞𝐬. Monthly or quarterly check-ins are better than “annual strategy reviews.” Shorter cycles let you adjust early and keep people accountable without overburdening them. Think like John Doerr in the OKR process.

𝟑. 𝐀𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐧 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐠𝐲 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐝𝐚𝐲-𝐭𝐨-𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤. If strategy feels like a distant memo, it won’t stick. Make sure team objectives, meetings, and reporting are connected to the bigger picture in a tangible way. "Perform" gets in the way of "Transform". Your efforts have to be selectively prioritized.

𝟒. 𝐋𝐨𝐨𝐩 𝐢𝐧 𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐧𝐭, 𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧-𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐜 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤. Use simple touchpoints: weekly stand-ups, team retrospectives, or one-on-ones. The goal is to catch obstacles, misunderstandings, or challenges before they grow into bigger problems. This is the learning phase: “What broke, and how can we fix it?” Remember, no finger-pointing here!

𝟓. 𝐌𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞. Instead of tracking everything yourself, create visible accountability. Teams should know who owns what, what progress looks like, and where they can step in to help. Publicly available live dashboards and stop light KPIs so anyone at anytime can see when a problem exists. Stop hiding failure, culturally adapt to using challenges as a warning tool to help guide the journey.

𝟔. 𝐓𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐠𝐲 𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐳𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬. Expect change. Make review points for updates, test new approaches, and let the plan evolve. Strategy that can flex, is strategy that works.

"𝗔𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗳𝗮𝘃𝗼𝗿𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗼𝗹𝗱"

I always appreciate it when Roger digs into parts of strategy that most leaders treat like an afterthought. His newest piece on management systems hit me harder than I expected. 

Not because of what he wrote (though it’s worth reading), but because of what it made me notice in my own work.

I’ve seen teams obsess over choices and capabilities, only to get tripped up by the invisible stuff: how decisions actually get made, how information moves, how people coordinate when no one’s watching. 

In my experience, those systems rarely break in dramatic fashion.

The part Roger made me reflect on is this: leaders love being architects of vision, but far fewer lean into being architects of systems. 

I’ve certainly had phases in my career where I thought the strategy was the “important” work and the operating rhythms, decision rules, and feedback loops were housekeeping someone else could worry about. But the more experienced I become, the more I realize how much leverage sits there.

"Action Favors the Bold"

#Strategy

Founder & President at Roger L. Martin, Inc. and author of A New Way to Think

I have just posted my latest Playing to Win/Practitioner Insights (PTW) piece, this one on the fifth – and oft-overlooked – box of the Strategy Choice Cascade and is called Revisiting Management Systems. https://lnkd.in/evz2Kvqr


For me, it is an historic and nostalgic post because it is the 250th piece in the series – a milestone I never imagined reaching. It revisits the first piece in the series, which was called The Role of Management Systems in Strategy. This piece is co-authored with friends and former Monitor Company colleagues, Steve Goldbach and Geoff Tuff, both senior partners at Deloitte. 

This piece argues that if Where to Play/How to Win is the heart of strategy, and Must-Have Capabilities the muscles of strategy, Enabling Management Systems (EMS) comprise the essential nervous system of strategy.

The piece points out the dangers of detrimental drift in EMS and how to counteract drift by continuously honing your EMS.

It argues that as a leader, a key part of your job is to act as Chief Systems Designer and lays out the four key components of that job. 

Enjoy! #strategy

Open article: Revisiting Management Systems by open.substack.com

Google

Director - Key Accounts

Head of ISV's & Marketplace Sales - NorthAm

Head of Sales - Central US

Team Lead Google Cloud North Central US

Strategic Account Manager - Google Cloud Platform

Northwestern University Medill School

Current Lecture:  “Marketing Strategy" a course within the Master’s in Integrated Marketing Communications degree program.

Guest Lecturer

Suffolk University - Sawyer Business School

Adjunct Professor - Lecturer

Responsible for solving customer challenges related to storing, securing, and analyzing data leveraging EMC's federated solution portfolio to enterprise customers across multiple industries.

Sr. Strategic Account Manager

Oracle

Oversee business development, sales and marketing across Oracle's Application portfolio of solutions including ERP, HCM, CRM, and Social Marketing & Automation across the Midwest. Leverage outstanding organizational, people and performance management skills to deliver results across pillars. Collaborate with C-level executives to drive key account adoption for Oracle's new cloud based application solutions.

Area Sales Manager

Microsoft

Responsible for commanding complex sales processes, and presenting value propositions to C-level executives and line of business executives. Additional responsibilities include sales management of Dynamics channel partners providing value by helping create winning strategies and collaboratively working with partners to drive accountability and results. Accountable for the achievement of CRM revenue quota attainment and customer acquisition goals for accounts in the Midwest area.

Sales Executive-Dynamics CRM

Responsible for driving sales of large-scale, mission critical Line of Business solutions with SQL Server, BizTalk Server and complementing Development technologies to strategic enterprise account base of both major and global organizations in the Chicago area.  Additional responsibilities include aligning sales priority areas (Business Intelligence, Oracle/DB2 to SQL Database Migration, Java to .Net Migration, Application Consolidation) with target platform solutions by creating and executing innovative programs to influence sales opportunities and exceed revenue targets.

Enterprise Solution Sales Professional Platform

With 15+ years in tech and as a Google Cloud leader, I empower executives and teams to unlock transformative potential through authentic leadership. I guide ambitious leaders to:

Show Up:  With clarity and conviction, breaking through limiting patterns
Speak Up: With an authentic voice that translates complex tech value into compelling narratives
Step Up: Confidently to seize opportunities, driving both personal advancement and organizational growth

My approach combines strategic vision and relationship cultivation to fuel revenue growth while developing high-performing teams. I help companies differentiate through AI and cloud solutions, anticipating customer needs and shaping competitive strategies that drive innovation.

Beyond Google, I share my expertise as an adjunct professor at Suffolk and Northwestern Universities and deliver keynote speeches that inspire leaders to embrace digital transformation authentically.
My mission? To ignite your passion for innovation while helping you create lasting impact!

Lilah Jones

I'll be in Panama on Thanksgiving.

With my husband and kids. Nobody else.

I've never hosted a big Thanksgiving. Never wanted to.

Just because you see it in movies doesn't mean it's your dream.

While others were planning seating charts for 20, I was booking flights.

While they stressed over turkey temperatures, I researched beach temperatures.

While they performed family obligations, I chose family adventures. Adventures where we actually talk to each other instead of around each other.

The guilt used to be loud:
"Aren't you afraid to travel right now?"
"You have a big family, don't you want to spend it with them?"
"What kind of example are you setting?"

The kind where my kids learn that traditions should add to your life, not subtract from it.

This year: Panama.
Last year: Punta Cana.
Next year: Already booked.

A client messaged yesterday: "Just told my family we're going to Greece for Thanksgiving. They're furious. We've never been more excited."

Another: "I'm only inviting people I actually want to see. That's three people."

A third: "We're doing Thanksgiving in January when flights are cheap and nobody's stressed."

Your obligation isn't to perform traditions that were never yours.

It's to create ones that actually fit the life you're building.

What tradition are you ready to stop pretending to want?

I hit 150% to target at Google and felt like a failure.

The happy hour I hosted a few months ago wasn't a goodbye party—it was an activation celebration.

Watch friends and coworkers that I've learned from and grown with hug me. Look at their faces. They're not sad I'm leaving Google. They're celebrating that I'm finally choosing myself.

For years I was the top performer who felt empty. Crushing quotas while my soul was crushed. Closing impossible deals while my chest stayed tight every Sunday night.

Everyone saw success. I felt suffocation.

"You're crazy for walking away from Google money," they said.

They were right. The good kind of crazy. The kind that stops performing success and starts creating it.

I spent 100's of Sundays medicating a job problem with weekend escapes and expensive distractions. Telling myself it would get better after the next promotion. The next quarter. The next reorg.

My body knew what my spreadsheets wouldn't admit: I was past my Activation Point.

Now I help executives who've been taking anxiety medication for Sunday nights finally admit they're in the wrong life. The ones hitting 200% to target while feeling 20% alive.

The sales dashboards are closed. The logo on my chest is mine now.

I didn't quit my job. I started my life.

What target are you crushing that's crushing you?

"Maybe you should consider a different career path."

That's what my skip-level said after I teared up presenting our Q3 QBR.

Not because the quarter was bad. We'd crushed our goals.

I teared up because I was proud. Proud of my team, proud of what we'd built, proud of the impossible thing we'd just pulled off.

But tears in tech = weakness.

At least, that's what I'd been taught.

I went home that night and updated my resume. Considered my options. I was done apologizing for caring.

I was three days into my job search when my mentor called.

"Before you run, try something. Document every emotional reaction at work for one month. What it's telling you."

My journal, Week 1:
**Monday:** Frustrated in planning → No clear priorities
**Wednesday:** Anxious before standup → Unpredictable manager
**Friday:** Energized after customer call → I love strategy

Week 3:
**Thursday:** Angry during forecast review → VP kept moving targets

The pattern was impossible to ignore.

My emotions weren't random. They were data.

I used that data to:
• Propose a new planning framework (adopted company-wide)
• Transform my manager relationship with one direct conversation
• Pivot into GTM strategy where I thrived

Eighteen months later?

That same skip-level asked me to coach his directs on "executive presence."

The person who told me to consider a different career path was now asking me to teach his team what I'd learned.

I told them:

Your emotions aren't unprofessional. Ignoring them is.

Think of emotions like a dashboard in your car.

That anxiety light? Check something.
That excitement gauge? Shows what's working.
That frustration warning? Points to problems before crisis.

The leaders who win aren't the ones who feel nothing.

They're the ones who know how to read their emotional dashboard and translate it into action.

For one week, try this:
At the end of each day, write down:
• One strong emotion you felt
• What triggered it
• What information it might be giving you

Don't judge it. Just observe.

By week three, you'll have data more valuable than any performance report.

What emotion are you feeling right now reading this?

That's data too.

li_at

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LinkedIn Login, Sign in | LinkedIn

My inbox is empty on Black Friday.

No sale alerts. No "door busters." No 70% off anything.

I unsubscribed from everything three years ago.

Just because retailers invented a shopping emergency doesn't mean you have one.

I used to wake up at 3am to shop. Spreadsheet color-coded by store priority. Group texts coordinating strategies.

Then I did the math:
Hours spent: 12
Stress level: Maximum  
Things I needed: Zero
Money "saved": -$500 
Now my Black Friday tradition: I don't shop.

I buy what I need when I need it. Not when someone tells me it's urgent.

A client texted yesterday: "Deleted all shopping apps. Saved $3K by doing nothing."

The best deals aren't in your inbox. They're in deciding what you actually value.

My Black Friday cart? Empty. 

My day? Full. 

Panama with my family.

No discount code needed.

Your wallet isn't the only thing that needs protecting from Black Friday. Your peace does too.

What would you do with your day if you didn't spend it shopping?

"But I make $400K. I should be grateful."

A client said this after taking The Sunday Night Test.

She'd been feeling that Sunday dread for 18 months. Red flag result. Clear as day.

But she kept dismissing it because of her comp.

I asked her: "What's the hourly rate on misery?"

Silence.

Then: "There isn't one high enough."

Your salary doesn't cancel out misalignment. It just makes you feel guilty for noticing it.

I've coached hundreds of tech leaders through their Activation Points. The ones making $500K+ actually take longer to act. Not because they have more to lose. Because they think their discomfort is the price of success.

It's not.

Success isn't tolerating what drains you.
It's finding where your talent meets your energy.
It's Monday mornings that feel like possibilities, not prison sentences.

That client? She's now 4 months into a role that pays $380K.

She sent me a DM on Sunday night: "First time in 2 years I'm planning my week instead of dreading it."

$20K less. Infinitely more alive.

What price are you putting on your alignment?

"I don't have time for networking in December."

That's what I told myself at Google while watching my peers get promoted around me.

Then I did the math on my loneliness.

My December 2019:


• 200+ hours working on Q4 reports nobody read
• 14 holiday parties where I talked about weather
• 0 meaningful career conversations
• 1 promotion passed over (again)


My December 2025:


• 2.5 hours writing 15 emails
• 3 keynotes booked 
• 2  workshops
• 4 conversations that reminded me why I do this work


Only 22 days left in December.

While everyone's planning their January outreach, December relationships are being claimed right now.

But here's what I don't usually share:

12 of those 15 emails? Crickets.

I felt like an idiot. Almost deleted my drafts folder.

Then email #13 hit. A former Microsoft colleague I hadn't talked to in 18 months:

"Your timing is perfect. We need exactly what you're building. When can we talk?"

The emails that worked weren't:

• Cold pitches
• Desperate asks
• Copy-paste templates

Today's  newsletter breaks down:
→ The 5-sentence email structure (with 4 variations)
→ How to pick your 15 people (hint: not who you think)
→ What to say when they respond with "What do you need?"
→ The follow-up that turns a catch-up into a collaboration

Plus: My "Relationship Activation Guide" - normally $97, free this week only.

Because most of us are sitting on career-changing relationships we're too scared to activate.

→ Comment ‘GUIDE’ and I’ll share the link with you.

December is ticking. Who's the one person you've been meaning to reach out to for months?

"We need you to set the tone for 2025."

The CEO called me three weeks before their kickoff.

“Your usual keynote/Sales Kickoff?" I asked.

"No," he said. "We need something different. Our engagement scores just hit a five-year low. But our stock is at an all-time high."

I knew exactly what that meant. The company was winning. The people were leaving.

"What message do you want to send?" I asked.

"That 2025 will be different."

"Will it?" I pushed back.

Long pause. "That's why I'm calling you."

The Kickoff That Changed Everything:

Instead of another "Year of Innovation" speech, we got real.

I took the stage in front of 500 employees at this 8,000-person tech company:

"Raise your hand if you've updated your LinkedIn in the last 30 days."

Half the room. Including the entire leadership team.

The CEO's jaw dropped.

"This," I said, "is your real engagement score."

What I Taught Them:

The difference between companies that thrive and companies that survive are:

Surviving Companies:
 • Announce initiatives
 • Share platitudes about culture • Promise "changes coming soon"
 • Celebrate last year's wins • Ignore the elephant in the room

Thriving Companies: 
• Acknowledge the truth
 • Address what everyone's thinking • Make commitments with dates
 • Own their failures • Turn elephants into conversations

For Your 2026 Kickoff, A Moment of Truth:
Your employees have heard every corporate buzzword. They've survived every "transformation." They've endured every "pivot."

What they haven't heard? The truth about what 2026 really holds and how you're going to navigate it together.

January is 6 weeks away. Your best people are deciding right now whether your kickoff will be the one they remember, or the one that confirmed their decision to leave.

Which will it be?

My team's retention went from 67% to 100% with three questions.

Not pizza parties. Not ping pong tables. Questions.

Every Friday at 3pm, I asked:
1. "What felt hard this week?"
2. "What are we not talking about?"
3. "What would make next week better?"

Fifteen minutes. Every week. Non-negotiable.

Week 1: Crickets. "Everything's fine."
Week 2: "The forecast process is killing morale."
Week 4: The floodgates opened.

"Pipeline reviews feel like theater."
"I'm drowning in Slack."
"I don't understand this pivot."

My manager pulled me aside: "That felt uncomfortable. You're letting them complain."

"I'm letting them tell me the truth."

Within three months:
• Close rate increased 40%
• Zero attrition (people stopped interviewing)
• Engagement scores topped company charts

The same manager who called it "touchy-feely"? He now runs these sessions with his team.

Here's what most leaders miss:

Your team's frustration is data about broken processes.
Their anxiety is data about unclear expectations.
Their silence is not satisfaction—it's resignation.

But you'll never access this intelligence if you only ask "how are things?" in 1:1s and wait for exit interviews to learn the truth.

The framework works because:
• It's consistent (same time weekly)
• It's specific (not "how are you?")
• It's actionable (we fix what surfaces)

The real magic? It sends a message: Your experience matters. I'm listening.

This was the best team I ever worked with. Not because they never complained. Because they trusted me enough to tell me what was actually broken.

Start tomorrow. Ask one question: "What felt hard this week?"

Then actually listen. Don't defend. Don't explain.

Just say: "Tell me more."

Which of these three questions would scare you most to ask your team?

"I need to be ready for whatever 2026 brings."

Sarah said this during our first coaching session in September.

"What are you seeing?" I asked.

"New CEO starts in January. Reorg rumors. My peer just got 'promoted' to a role with no direct reports."

She laughed, but it was hollow. "I've survived three layoffs. I know the playbook."

"What if you didn't just survive this time?" I said. "What if you thrived?"

The 2026 Executive Playbook (what we built together):

Instead of waiting for January surprises, Sarah got strategic:
✓ Documented her 2025 wins before year-end reviews
✓ Built relationships with incoming leadership team
✓ Launched thought leadership (LinkedIn grew 5K followers in 6 weeks)
✓ Had coffee with five CEOs ("networking for the new year")
✓ Created three potential exit strategies

Sarah created options: 
• Internal promotion to EVP (they created the role for her) 
• Two competing offers from F500 companies
• Board advisor position at a startup 
• Consulting opportunity at 3x her rate

"What did you choose?" I asked her last week.

"The EVP role," she said. "But I negotiated it like I had nothing to lose. Because I didn't."

For Executives Entering 2026:
January brings new leadership, new budgets, new org charts. The question isn't whether change is coming—it's whether you'll be ready to leverage it.

Executive Coaching for Your Pivotal Year:
I help senior leaders turn uncertainty into opportunity. Because 2026 shouldn't happen to you—you should happen to 2026.

Three months from now, will you be scrambling or strategizing?

What's your 2026 power move?

We've normalized dysfunction so completely that we need a test to tell us we're miserable.

A director sent me a slack message yesterday at 7:30pm: "Just realized I've been taking anxiety medication specifically for Sunday nights. For two years."

He thought this was normal. No one ever asked him why he got anxious on Sundays. His leadership team never noticed his Monday morning face. His  direct reports  never questioned why he scheduled no meetings before 10 AM on Mondays.

Everyone was performing the same play: Work is supposed to feel this way.

It's not.

I spent 104 Sundays at Google telling myself the same story. Until my husband called me out and I created The Sunday Night Test.

Five questions. 60 seconds. Zero denial.

Because your body already knows what your mind won't admit: You're past your Activation Point.

Today's newsletter drops the complete framework:
→ The 5-question diagnostic that cuts through the rationalization
→ Red, yellow, and green flag indicators (most people are surprised by their results)
→ Why high performers normalize dysfunction longer than anyone else
→ The 90-day activation timeline for when you score red

One client took it and shared:  "I've been medicating a job problem with therapy for a life problem."

Your Sunday nights aren't lying to you. You're just really good at not listening.

Newsletter drops this afternoon→ Link in comments

What dysfunction have you been calling "normal"?

58 leaders took The Sunday Night Test yesterday.

83% discovered they've been past their Activation Point for over 6 months.

One VP wrote me: "I've been telling myself 'just get through Q4' for three years straight."

Another: "I thought everyone felt sick on Sunday nights. Turns out my team loves Mondays."

A director at Meta: "14 months. I've been in the wrong role for 14 months and convinced myself it was imposter syndrome."

The patterns were clear:
• Average time ignoring the signal: 11 months
• Most common lie we tell ourselves: "It'll get better after [insert event that never fixes it]"
• The moment they knew: When they couldn't answer Question 5 without their chest getting tight

Question 5 was: "What would I do if I trusted this feeling?"

Every single person who scored red knew their answer immediately. They just weren't ready to say it out loud.

Your body has been trying to tell you something. The Sunday Night Test just gives you permission to finally listen.

Full test + interpretation guide on the blog → Link in comments

How long have you been ignoring your Sunday nights?

I created something that shouldn't need to exist.

The Sunday Night Test Scoring System.

It breaks down exactly what your results mean:
➤ 🔴Red flags (3 clear indicators you're past your Activation Point)
➤ 🟡Yellow flags (warning signs to monitor)
➤ 🟢Green flags (signs you're aligned)

Plus the "Timeline to Action" framework:
• Red flag: Your 90-day exit strategy
• Yellow flag: Your 30-day monitoring plan
• Green flag: Your quarterly check-in system

One client used it and discovered she'd been yellow for 6 months without realizing she was sliding toward red.

"I thought the occasional Sunday dread was normal. The scoring showed me I was one quarter away from burnout."

She course-corrected before hitting her Activation Point. Still in the same role, but renegotiated scope and boundaries.

The system includes:
➤ Detailed scoring rubric for all 5 questions
➤ Action plans for each result level

Comment "SCORE" and I'll DM you the complete system.

Because knowing your score is step one.
Knowing what to do about it is everything else.

What would change if you had a clear action plan for your Sunday nights?


Because every Sunday you don't is another week you'll never get back.

How do you want to feel tomorrow night?

"You're too emotional for tech."

I sobbed in the Google bathroom for 7 minutes after my manager said it.

Seven. Minutes.

I counted every single one while hiding in the third-floor women's restroom, mascara running, wondering if he was right.

Maybe I didn't belong here.

Maybe tech wasn't for people who felt things.

Maybe I should just go back to playing it safe—numb, buttoned-up, robotic.

Four years later, that same manager asked me to train his team on emotional intelligence.

The irony wasn't lost on me.

But here's what actually happened in those four years:

I stopped apologizing for reading the room.

I started treating my emotions like data—because that's what they are.

That tension in my chest during calibrations? It meant we were about to lose someone. Every single time. The person we were rating as "meets expectations" while debating their "growth areas" for 20 minutes? Gone within 90 days. My gut knew before the spreadsheet did.

And I built the highest-performing, most engaged team in our org. 100% retention. Top engagement scores. Zero drama.

The three words I wrote in my journal that day?

"Emotions are information."

Not weakness. Not unprofessional. Not "too much."

Information.

For Leaders: Your team doesn't need you to be a robot. They need you to be real.

For High Performers: Your biggest criticism might be pointing to your biggest gift.

What emotion have you been apologizing for that's actually trying to tell you something?

I watched myself on video yesterday.

Strutting through Bloomingdale's. My friend beside me, both of us in our 40s.

"We look powerful," she said.

"We look like ourselves," I replied.

At Google, I dressed to disappear:
• Hoodies to fit in
• Sneakers to seem approachable
• Muted colors to not stand out

Then I got laid off. Started over. Realized something:

The women who get remembered don't dress to disappear.

They dress like they already have the job they want. Not the one they have.

My client Rebecca proved this. "I feel invisible in meetings," she told me.

"What are you wearing?" I asked.

"Business casual. Appropriate."

"Appropriate for being forgotten?"

Next week: Best blazer. Red lipstick. Grandmother's vintage brooch.

"The CFO who'd never noticed me asked my opinion first. Got invited to the strategy session."

Nothing changed except how she showed up.

Your presence is your first negotiation—before you speak, present, or pitch.

That video of me in Bloomingdale's? We weren't shopping for clothes.

We were shopping for courage.

And courage looks really good in leather.

What armor are you ready to put on?

So excited for this new partnership with Eagles Talent Speakers Bureau!  I continue to be massively impressed with this team and am looking forward to an activated 2026!

Fractional CRO | Sales & Executive Leadership Coach & Speaker | Helping B2B Companies Scale from $5M to $50M+| Ex-Google | Follow for daily posts about Activation, Leadership, and Breakthrough Performance

President at Eagles Talent Speakers Bureau

Excited to announce our new managed speaker at Eagles Talent Speakers Bureau: 

Lilah Jones, a former Google sales and leadership executive! Lilah specializes in teaching The Activated Leader approach, helping leaders and teams overcome obstacles and drive progress.

Lilah Jones at a Glance:
- With 9 years of experience on Google Cloud’s founding sales team, contributing to its growth from startup to a $106B enterprise.
- Offers interactive keynotes that empower teams to uncover barriers, make tough decisions, and craft actionable plans.
- Through her Activation Methodology™, teams learn to address challenges, embrace change, and align their efforts with performance and purpose. 

#leadership #inspiration #sales #activated #motivation #change #performance #google #googlecloud

Last night at 8:47 PM, you felt it again.

That tightness in your chest. The clenched jaw. The dread about Monday morning.

You've been feeling it every Sunday for months. Maybe years.

Just because you call it "Sunday scaries" doesn't mean it's normal.

I spent two years at Google telling myself the same lie. Every Sunday, same feeling. Every Monday, same performance.

My husband finally called me out: "You've been doing this for 104 weeks."

That's when I created The Sunday Night Test. Five questions that take 60 seconds:

1. What am I physically feeling right now?
2. How long have I been feeling this on Sundays?
3. What story am I telling myself about why?
4. If nothing changed, would I still feel this way next year?
5. What would I do if I trusted this feeling?

If you've been feeling it for 3+ months and nothing's actually going to change, you're not stressed. You're past your Activation Point.

Your body isn't anxious. It's trying to tell you something.

A client took the test after 14 months of Sunday dread. "What if this feeling is my future self trying to pull me forward?" she asked.

Yes. Exactly that.

Tomorrow's newsletter breaks down the complete Sunday Night Test, including:
→ How to interpret your results (red, yellow, or green flags)
→ Why we spend years ignoring the signal
→ What happened when I finally listened to mine
→ The 3 paths forward once you know the truth

Your Sunday night feeling isn't lying to you. You're lying to yourself about what it means.

Ready to get honest?

Subscribe for tomorrow's deep dive → Link in comments

What did your body try to tell you last night?

"Half my team just quit."

The director paused.

"Actually, they're all still here. But they're gone."

I knew exactly what she meant.

When a whole team gets managed out together, they don't leave immediately. They leave strategically. Together.

"What did your team do?" she asked.

"They got smart. And scared. But they turned that fear into leverage."

The signs were everywhere: 
• Budget mysteriously frozen 
• Their GM stopped coming to standups
• Hiring freeze "just for Q3" (it wasn't) 
• Projects suddenly needing "more alignment" 
• The phrase "exploring strategic options"

Instead of competing for lifeboats, they built a ship:

Week 1: Created a shared document. Every achievement, every metric, every win from the past two years. Not for HR—for their portfolios.

Week 2: Started "lunch and learns." They called it team building. Really? Interview practice.

Week 3: Everyone updated LinkedIn. Same day. Same time. The algorithm loved it. Recruiters noticed.

Week 4: They negotiated as a unit. If the company wanted smooth transitions, they'd pay for them. All of them. Properly.

Eight weeks later, all but one landed somewhere better.

Three started companies. Two became VPs elsewhere. The rest? Got 40% raises.

(The one who didn't? Already had an offer. Left week 2.)

"But how do you get a team to work together when they're scared?" the director asked.

"You remind them that their competition isn't each other," I said. "It's the narrative that they're disposable."

The smartest teams don't scramble for individual lifeboats.

They build an ark.

And the companies that manage out entire teams? They're not eliminating problems. They're creating competitors.

How many of your people are still here but already gone?

Half my team just quit

"Your meetings got moved to 4pm on Fridays."

Marcus texted me this. "All of them. Every week."

"You know what that means, right?" I replied.

"Yeah," he said. "They're managing me out."

Last month, I shared Marcus's story in a workshop with 50 VPs. Half of them went pale.

"We do this," one admitted. "The Friday thing. We actually call it 'the parking lot.'"

Another VP raised her hand: "What happened to Marcus?"

"He saw it coming six weeks before they did," I said.

The Early Warning System (what I teach in every workshop):
✓ Sudden schedule changes (Fridays = death slot)
✓ Removed from email chains "by accident"
✓ Your ideas need "more research" (others' don't)
✓ Budget cuts mysteriously target your projects
✓ New hire with your skillset for a "different" role

"But here's what leaders don't realize," I told the room. "When you make these moves, you're not managing people out. You're training them to manage up."

Marcus proved it:
Week 1: Documented every achievement, metric, win
Week 2: Launched LinkedIn presence (12K impressions first post)
Week 3: Coffee with five competitors ("market research")
Week 4: Spoke at industry conference they'd denied him for two years
Week 5: Three offers on the table
Week 6: Negotiated his exit like a merger

"Where is he now?"

"Running competitive intelligence for your biggest rival," I said. "His first project? Recruiting your top performers. He knows exactly who's getting the Friday treatment."

The room went silent.

One VP finally spoke: "How do we stop creating Marcus situations?"

"You don't manage people out," I said. "You manage them up or you manage them well. There's no middle ground anymore."

For Leaders: Every "parking lot" move you make trains someone to become your competition. My workshop helps you spot the signs before you create them.

For Individuals: Getting those Friday 4pm vibes? You're not being paranoid. You're being prepared.

What parking lot are you sitting in right now?

Five months ago, a senior director DM'd me:

"I just got passed over for promotion. Again. They said I need better 'executive presence.'"

Translation: Stop caring so much.

Meanwhile, the person who got promoted? Can't read a room. Loses top talent quarterly. But hey—great poker face.

We worked together for 8 weeks.

Last week he messaged me: "I got the promotion. And a 30% raise."

What changed?

He stopped apologizing for reading the room better than anyone else. He started using it as his superpower.

First, we reframed his "too much" as his competitive edge:
When he sensed tension and addressed it → conflict resolved in minutes instead of weeks
When he pushed back because "something felt off" → saved three months of wasted work
When he advocated for struggling team members → retained talent competitors were courting

Then we built his translation framework:

Not: "I'm worried about the team."
Instead: "Velocity dropped 40% in two weeks. Three people mentioned unclear priorities. We need to address this."

Not: "This doesn't feel right."
Instead: "I'm seeing three signals that contradict this approach. Let me walk you through them."

The promotion conversation:
His VP said: "You've developed a remarkable executive presence."

He almost laughed. Because he'd changed nothing about his emotional intelligence.

He just stopped hiding it.

Here's what I've learned after 9 years at Google and coaching dozens of leaders:

**Your emotions are data.** Most leaders just don't know how to read them.

That "gut feeling" about product direction? Pattern recognition from thousands of micro-signals.
That frustration in meetings? Your brain spotting inefficiency faster than any dashboard.

The leaders shaping the future won't be robots. They'll be the ones brave enough to feel—and smart enough to use what they feel strategically.

Ready to turn "too emotional" into your executive edge?

Let's talk about how to translate what you feel into what the business needs. 
Drop a comment below or DM me if this resonates.

Which leader will you be? The one who feels less, or the one who wins by feeling more?

You're about to say yes to hosting Thanksgiving. Again.

Even though you're exhausted.

I get it. I spent years prioritizing what I thought were obligations while secretly resenting every minute.

Hosting when you're depleted?
Attending when you need solitude?
Performing gratitude when you're actually resentful?

Everyone thought I had it together. Meanwhile, I was counting down the hours until everyone left.

My breakthrough came when I realized: 𝗠𝘆 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗹𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗳𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗸𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗺𝘆 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹 𝗹𝗶𝗳𝗲.

Tomorrow's newsletter reveals what happened when my client Maya finally said "I can't host this year."

Spoiler: Her family thanked her for it.

The exact words she used (and why they worked)

Why "finding your executive presence" and fake gratitude share the same root problem

The framework that helps my clients stop performing and start choosing

Your voice is buried under years of doing what's expected instead of what's true.

Ready to excavate it?

Subscribe for Tuesday's deep dive → Link in comments

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The Battle

Tye Trepanier

Lilah Jones

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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);}Tye Trepanier's LinkedIn Performance

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