May 2Member-onlyHow to have X-ray vision in high-stakes conversationsOn the night of May 2, 2011, when SEAL Team Six kicked in the front door of al-Qaeda’s Osama Bin Laden, they had the next best thing to X-ray vision. Instead of conventional two-tube night-vision goggles, each elite soldier was wearing a pair of $65,000 four-tube NVGs that expanded their…Leadership3 min readLeadership3 min read
May 2Member-onlyThe Hidden Pitfalls Of Servant Leadership“One of the signs of someone who was wise is that they disseminate responsibility,” the late actor Chadwick Bosman told Trevor Noah on The Daily Show: “They use everybody’s skills, they don’t try to do everything. You can’t be everywhere at one time.” He was speaking about his role in…Leadership5 min readLeadership5 min read
Apr 24The #1 mistake founders make when handling conflictImagine you’re having a dinner party for a few friends. If a mouse were to suddenly scurry across the floor, it’d probably cause surprise and some discomfort (maybe some panicked screams if there are rodent-phobic guests 🙋🏻♀️). But you could address the situation quickly, and the impact on the meal…Founders2 min readFounders2 min read
Apr 12How one CEO founder used EQ to turn an unsupportive board into allies (in <90 minutes)There’s so much pressure in our work lives to get it right: It just doesn’t feel safe to experiment with new ways of being and interacting. So even when a situation isn’t working, we default to the same coping strategies. They may not be effective, but they feel familiar. 🤷🏼♀️ …Founders3 min readFounders3 min read
Mar 31Member-onlyCatching The Next Wave Of Investment Opportunity: Three Misperceptions About Deep Tech That LPs Need To ForgetIn 2016, Mubhij Ahmad and Timothy Day were finishing their graduate studies at UC Berkeley and struggling to get resources to support early validation of their work: developing a novel treatment for colon cancer and other diseases that could deliver gene therapy via a pill. At the time, Patrick Scaglia…VC5 min readVC5 min read
Mar 25The smart but risky move only 1% of founders makeThere’s something I often advise my founder clients to do when they’re fund-raising: Include a slide with a list of “Reasons Why You Might Not Want To Invest.” VC Harry Stebbings gives the same advice and yet, in thousands of pitches, he’s seen very few founders actually do it.Scaleup3 min readScaleup3 min read
Feb 17The secret power of “high-leverage practice”Back in 2014, Odell Beckham Jr made one of the greatest catches in NFL history. The commentators and crowd alike went wild at this incredible feat of athleticism. But gifted as Beckham is, it didn’t just happen out of the blue. He had actually been practicing this specific catch.Founders3 min readFounders3 min read
Feb 15How to change your mind (w/o losing face)A doctor friend of mine once had a serious disagreement with a partner in his radiology practice. 👆🏻 My friend thought they should be specialists. 👇🏻 His partner thought they should be generalists. They couldn’t resolve the conflict and, eventually, it split up the partnership. Years later, the two ran…Decision Making2 min readDecision Making2 min read
Feb 6“True life is lived when tiny changes occur.”As human beings, we’re prone to “change blindness.” That’s when there’s a change in our environment and we don’t notice it. Even a major change right in front of us. In one study, over half of the people who were asked directions on the street didn’t notice when the person…Leadership2 min readLeadership2 min read
Feb 6The #1 mistake you’re making with feedback (and the tiny tweak to fix it)I started studying piano at the age of five. Since then, I’ve taken hundreds of lessons and performed in dozens of master classes. So I’ve gotten all different kinds of feedback. Often, it wasn’t helpful and sometimes it was downright demotivating. Like the professor at Juilliard who told me: “You…Leadership3 min readLeadership3 min read