Selling Your Business? Use These 5 Strategies to Protect It

Selling your business involves hidden risks that can erode its value. Here’s how to protect your company during the transaction process.

As a former tech founder and CEO who scaled a company that made the Inc. 5000 list multiple times before successfully exiting, I know firsthand the complexity and stress that selling a business creates. I’ve since coached dozens of growth-stage companies through strategic planning and exit preparation, witnessing how the deal process tests even the most substantial organizations.

Failing to prepare properly hurts valuations and creates unnecessary drama—and kills many potential deals entirely. The distraction factor alone can derail your growth trajectory precisely when performance matters most.

1. Know the real workload

Many founders vastly underestimate the time and energy demands of selling a business. Due diligence requests alone can consume 20-30 hours weekly from key team members for months. Daily business operations often suffer when leadership gets pulled into endless data rooms, buyer meetings, and legal discussions.

This performance dip doesn’t just hurt your current financials—it directly impacts your final valuation and can trigger devastating “retrade” where buyers demand price reductions before closing. Preparing properly isn’t just smart business—it’s valuation protection.

2. Build operational resilience

Before entertaining any acquisition offers, ensure your business can run without your constant attention. Implement robust meeting rhythms, clear accountability structures, and documented processes that allow the company to maintain momentum even when leadership bandwidth is constrained.

The strongest position for any sale is a business that demonstrates it can thrive with minimal founder involvement. This operational maturity preserves value during the transaction and increases buyer confidence and willingness to pay premium multiples.

3. Conduct mock due diligence

Nothing creates more unnecessary stress than scrambling to produce documentation buyers request during active deal negotiations. Proactively compile all contracts, financial statements, customer agreements, employment documents, intellectual property records, and operational data into well-organized repositories.

Consider engaging your accountants to perform a “quality of earnings” review before any buyer does, identifying potential issues on your timeline rather than during critical negotiation phases. Companies that approach due diligence confidently often maintain stronger negotiating positions throughout the process.

4. Assemble an experienced transaction team

The quality of your deal advisors directly impacts your outcome. Your neighborhood attorney or tax preparer rarely has the specialized knowledge required for selling a business. Invest in an investment banker familiar with your industry’s valuation models, an M&A-focused attorney who closes deals regularly, a transaction-experienced accountant, and a personal wealth advisor who understands the tax implications of various deal structures.

The right team provides market intelligence, negotiating leverage, and structural options that frequently pay for their fees many times over through improved deal terms.

5. Limit internal awareness

One of the most overlooked risks in business sales is the impact of transaction rumors on your workforce and customer relationships. Employees hearing about potential ownership changes often update their resumes before updating their projects. Customers getting wind of a sale may delay purchases or reconsider relationships.

Limit deal knowledge strictly to those essential to the process, implement confidentiality agreements, and develop careful communication plans for various scenarios. Maintaining business momentum requires maintaining team focus on growth rather than ownership speculation.

The difference between a successful exit and a disappointing one often comes down to preparation and focus management. By establishing clear deal parameters, building operational resilience, and assembling the right support team, you can navigate the complex sale process while protecting the business performance that makes your company valuable in the first place.

Are You Sourcing Real Feedback? Or Just Hoping for the Best?

If you want to update your strategy intelligently, you need high-quality inputs — not guesses about what might happen in your market.

In my experience scaling a technology company and coaching dozens of leadership teams through strategic transitions, I’ve learned that the quality of strategic decisions correlates directly with the quality of market intelligence feeding into those decisions.

The most successful leaders don’t rely on intuition alone—they build systematic approaches to gathering, processing, and acting on market feedback. Having applied lean principles in both software development and strategic planning, I understand that rapid iteration requires rapid learning, and rapid learning requires intentional intelligence gathering.

1. The intelligence imperative

Leadership agility isn’t just about moving fast; it’s about moving fast based on the right information. Too many leadership teams are flying blind because they don’t have consistent, reliable sources of market feedback. Without systematic intelligence gathering, strategic decisions become guesswork dressed up as analysis.

Great strategy depends on pattern recognition — and pattern recognition depends on surrounding yourself with high-quality signals. The most effective leadership teams build systems for continuously gathering insights, separating noise from signal, and feeding fresh data directly into their strategic planning process.

2. Customer intelligence as a strategic foundation

Your current and former customers represent your most valuable source of strategic intelligence. Schedule quarterly “strategic insight calls” with your top accounts, focusing on market trends rather than account management. Ask specific questions: What changes are you seeing in your industry? How are your priorities shifting over the next 12-18 months? Which vendors are you evaluating and why?

For churned customers, conduct exit interviews within 30 days of departure. Ask what alternative they chose, what market factors influenced their decision, and what industry trends they observed. These conversations often reveal competitive threats months before they appear elsewhere.

3. Expand your intelligence network

Create an advisory board with 5-10 people across prospects, partners, vendors, industry experts, and competitors. For prospects who didn’t choose you, schedule “market insight calls” 3-6 months after their decision. Position this as market research and ask what solution they selected, what factors drove their decision, and what trends they’re seeing.

Develop strategic partnerships with complementary vendors who serve your target market. Schedule quarterly conversations to share market observations and customer trends. Identify 3-5 industry analysts or consultants who track your market and engage them through speaking opportunities or information exchanges.

For competitive intelligence, attend industry events your competitors frequent, monitor their hiring patterns and partnership announcements, and connect with their former employees through LinkedIn for perspective on strategic direction.

4. Leverage your board

For those with boards, send specific intelligence questions to members prior to your meetings: What market trends are you seeing across your portfolio? Which competitive threats are emerging in similar companies? Allocate 20-30 minutes during board meetings for market intelligence discussion rather than just performance reporting.

Schedule quarterly one-on-one calls with each advisor focused purely on market insights. Prepare specific questions about industry trends, competitive positioning, and emerging opportunities. Request introductions to relevant industry contacts—CEOs in adjacent markets, industry experts, or customers of your competitors. Most board members will make these introductions if you’re specific about the intelligence you’re seeking.

5. Build systematic intelligence processes

Establish regular intelligence-gathering rhythms: monthly customer insight calls, quarterly partner discussions, and annual industry expert interviews. Create a shared intelligence database where all insights are documented using consistent categories—market trends, competitive threats, customer needs, and partnership opportunities.

Reserve the first 30 minutes of monthly leadership meetings for intelligence review. Conduct quarterly “intelligence synthesis” sessions where your leadership team identifies patterns across all intelligence sources. Assign one team member responsibility for coordinating intelligence gathering and ensuring insights influence strategic decisions.

6. Transform insights into strategic advantage

Conduct monthly “pattern recognition sessions” where your leadership team reviews intelligence gathered in the previous 30 days. Look for themes across multiple sources—similar competitive threats mentioned by different customers and consistent market trends reported by various partners.

Translate patterns into strategic hypotheses, then design experiments to test them. If intelligence suggests customers prioritize integration capabilities, create pilot programs to validate enhanced integration features. If competitive intelligence reveals service delivery struggles, test superior service as a differentiator.

Establish quarterly “intelligence-to-strategy” workshops where leadership explicitly connects intelligence insights to strategic decisions. Ask: Which insights challenge our current strategy? What new opportunities do our intelligence sources suggest? Track metrics like the percentage of strategic decisions influenced by intelligence and the accuracy of strategic predictions based on intelligence insights.

Strategic intelligence gathering isn’t just about staying informed—it’s about building the information advantages that enable superior strategic decision-making. By systematically gathering insights from multiple stakeholder groups and feeding those insights directly into strategic planning processes, leadership teams can move quickly and confidently in dynamic markets.

How to Move Fast Without Sacrificing Quality

Strategic advantage goes to the teams who plan faster, spot gaps sooner, and adjust quickly.

After facilitating strategic planning sessions for dozens of fast-growing companies, I’ve observed a consistent pattern that separates high-performing leadership teams from those that struggle with execution. The most successful teams don’t create more sophisticated plans—they create plans faster and iterate on them more frequently. Having scaled my own company through multiple strategic pivots, I learned that strategic clarity emerges through action and feedback, not through extended analysis.

Here’s my framework for getting started:

1. Speed over perfection

Most leadership teams make a critical mistake: they move too slowly through the strategic planning process, trying to get every detail right before they even start. But speed matters. Agile leadership teams work through the entire strategic process quickly, not because they want to be sloppy but because they know that clarity comes from movement. By rapidly mapping out assumptions, spotting gaps, and integrating new information as it comes in, they build better strategies and adapt faster.

In fast-changing markets, strategic agility is not about moving faster for the sake of speed — it’s about uncovering the truth faster and acting on it before competitors do. The goal isn’t rushing through strategic thinking but accelerating the feedback loops that improve strategic thinking.

2. Time-box your planning sessions

The biggest enemy of strategic speed is open-ended planning sessions that expand to fill whatever time is available. Without clear boundaries, teams fall into analysis paralysis, exploring every possible angle rather than making decisions with available information.

Implement a structured five-stage process with clear time limits for each phase, allocating total time based on the importance and complexity of the issue at hand. Begin by defining the strategic problem or opportunity you’re addressing. Next, define what success looks like—specific, measurable outcomes that indicate you’ve solved the problem. Establish criteria by which you’ll evaluate potential directions—factors like market size, competitive advantage, resource requirements, and strategic fit. Generate and discuss the options you want to consider, ensuring you have multiple viable alternatives. Finally, complete your justification and risk analysis for your chosen direction.

Set clear time boxes for each stage. This structured approach forces teams to move systematically through strategic thinking while preventing endless deliberation on any single element.

3. Build on rough drafts, not blank pages

Starting strategic planning with blank documents creates unnecessary friction and wastes valuable thinking time. Teams that begin with frameworks and rough strategies move faster because they’re refining rather than creating from nothing.

Use the “Strawman Strategy” approach to accelerate initial planning. Before your planning session, designate one team member to create a rough strategic framework populated with best guesses about priorities, market positioning, and key initiatives. This strawman isn’t meant to be accurate—it’s meant to be wrong in productive ways that stimulate discussion. Present this draft in the first thirty minutes of your planning session, then spend the remaining time identifying what’s missing, challenging assumptions, and improving the framework.

Teams consistently generate better strategies faster when they’re reacting to and improving a flawed starting point rather than building from scratch. The key is framing the strawman as a thinking tool, not a proposed solution.

4. Test assumptions through action

Traditional strategic planning relies too heavily on research and analysis to validate strategic assumptions. However, in dynamic markets, the fastest way to understand strategic viability is through small-scale implementation and market feedback.

Implement “90-Day Strategy Sprints” that transform strategic hypotheses into testable experiments. Instead of spending months researching whether a new market segment represents an opportunity, design a 90-day pilot program to test market responsiveness with minimal resource commitment.

For example, if your strategy assumes customers will pay premium prices for enhanced service, create a pilot program offering premium service to a subset of existing customers and measure both uptake rates and customer satisfaction.

Document your strategic assumptions explicitly at the beginning of each sprint, design specific tests for the most critical assumptions, and establish clear success criteria before implementation begins. This approach provides real market intelligence much faster than extended analysis while limiting downside risk through small-scale testing.

5. Accelerate decision cycles

Most leadership teams slow down strategic execution by applying the same decision-making rigor to every strategic choice, regardless of reversibility or resource implications. This approach creates bottlenecks that prevent rapid strategic iteration.

Apply the “80% Confidence Rule” to strategic decisions based on their reversibility. For strategic choices that can be modified or reversed without major consequences—like pilot programs, marketing approaches, or operational process changes—make decisions when you have 80% confidence rather than waiting for 100% certainty. Reserve extensive analysis for irreversible strategic commitments with significant resource implications, like major acquisitions or fundamental business model changes.

Establish clear criteria for categorizing decisions: reversible decisions get expedited treatment with defined decision timelines (typically one-week maximum), while irreversible decisions follow more thorough evaluation processes. This approach dramatically accelerates the pace of strategic implementation while maintaining appropriate caution for high-stakes choices.

6. Build strategic rhythm

Strategic planning shouldn’t be an annual event followed by months of execution without course correction. Dynamic markets require ongoing strategic iteration that maintains momentum while avoiding constant organizational disruption.

Establish “Strategic Pulse Meetings” that create a regular strategic rhythm without overwhelming operational focus. Schedule 90-minute monthly sessions focused exclusively on strategic progress, market intelligence, and course corrections.

These meetings follow a consistent format: the first 30 minutes reviewing strategic metrics and progress against goals, the next 45 minutes discussing new market intelligence and strategic implications, and the final 15 minutes making immediate strategic adjustments or flagging issues for deeper analysis.

Quarterly planning sessions extend to half-day strategic reviews that address more significant strategic evolution and set clear priorities. This rhythm ensures strategic thinking remains active and responsive while preventing the disruption of constant strategic pivots. The key is maintaining a consistent focus on strategic progress without letting these sessions devolve into operational problem-solving.

Strategic speed isn’t about sacrificing quality—it’s about recognizing that strategic quality emerges through rapid iteration rather than extended deliberation. By moving quickly through planning cycles, testing assumptions through action, and maintaining strategic rhythm, leadership teams can build competitive advantage through strategic agility.

How You Make a Plan Matters More Than the Plan Itself

Many companies fail to recognize that the planning process itself ultimately determines whether a strategy succeeds or fails.

Throughout my years advising leadership teams on strategic planning, I’ve witnessed a consistent pattern: companies often judge the quality of their strategy by the sophistication of the final document rather than the strength of the process that created it. The most effective strategic plans I’ve seen weren’t necessarily the most elaborate or analytically impressive—they were the ones developed through processes that prioritized engagement, clarity, and commitment from those responsible for execution. When the planning process itself is overlooked, even brilliantly conceived strategies often fail to gain traction.

1. Process over documents

Many companies spend significant time developing a detailed strategy but overlook the importance of how that strategy is created. The planning process itself—who is involved, how decisions are made, and how alignment is built—is what ultimately determines whether a strategy can be executed successfully. Without the right people in the room, clear discussions, and real commitment, even a great strategy is likely to fail.

An effective strategic planning process includes the right mix of stakeholders, open and honest conversation, clear decision-making, and a focus on building alignment across teams. It creates a shared understanding of goals and ensures the people responsible for execution are fully committed. Without this foundation, even the most well-designed strategy will struggle to gain traction.

2. Engagement creates ownership

The fastest way to undermine strategic execution is to have a small group develop the plan in isolation and then “announce” it to the broader organization. This approach almost guarantees resistance, misunderstanding, and lackluster implementation.

Instead, involve key stakeholders early and throughout the process. This doesn’t mean everyone needs equal input on every decision, but it does mean intentionally engaging those who bring valuable perspective or will be critical to implementation. When people participate in developing a strategy, they develop a sense of ownership that drives commitment during execution.

The most successful planning processes I’ve facilitated carefully balance inclusivity with efficiency. They create meaningful touchpoints for input while maintaining a clear decision-making structure that prevents analysis paralysis. This balance ensures the resulting strategy reflects diverse perspectives while remaining focused and actionable.

3. Debate surfaces reality

Strategic planning discussions should be forums for honest conversation about market realities, organizational capabilities, and potential obstacles. Too often, these sessions become performative exercises where participants say what they think leadership wants to hear rather than surfacing uncomfortable truths.

Effective planning processes establish psychological safety that encourages candid dialogue. They create space for challenging assumptions, questioning historical approaches, and acknowledging competitive threats. Without this honesty, strategies end up built on wishful thinking rather than reality.

The quality of these conversations directly impacts the quality of the resulting strategy. Plans developed through robust debate and thoughtful consideration of multiple perspectives consistently outperform those created in environments where dissent is discouraged or difficult conversations are avoided.

4. Clarity drives alignment

Ambiguity is the enemy of execution. When strategic plans contain vague language, undefined terms, or competing priorities, they create confusion that paralyzes implementation efforts. The planning process should drive toward clarity on goals, roles, resources, and metrics.

This clarity emerges through the discipline of making explicit choices and tradeoffs during the planning process. Which opportunities will you pursue and which will you deliberately ignore? Who owns each strategic initiative? What resources will be reallocated to support priorities? When these questions remain unresolved, execution inevitably stalls.

The most effective planning processes I’ve observed include structured mechanisms for ensuring this clarity—from decision frameworks that force prioritization to responsibility matrices that make ownership unmistakable. These mechanisms transform abstract strategic concepts into concrete action plans that teams can implement with confidence.

The strategic planning process itself is as important as the content of the resulting plan—perhaps even more so. By focusing on engagement, honest dialogue, and clarity throughout the planning journey, organizations develop not just better strategies but the shared understanding and commitment required to turn those strategies into reality.

Discussion Questions:

How does our current strategic planning process build or undermine ownership?

Where might we be avoiding difficult conversations during our planning discussions?

What specific mechanisms could we implement to increase clarity and alignment?

A Great Strategy Is Useless If People Don’t Get it

A strategy that remains clear only to leadership is a strategy that will fail in execution, no matter how brilliant it might be on paper.

In my work with scaling companies across various industries, I’ve consistently found that the difference between organizations that execute effectively and those that struggle isn’t the sophistication of their strategy—it’s the clarity and simplicity with which that strategy is understood throughout the organization.

Having facilitated hundreds of strategic planning sessions, I’ve seen firsthand how executives often mistake complexity for depth, creating strategies that sound impressive in the boardroom but collapse in implementation. The most successful companies invest as much in strategic clarity as they do in strategic development.

Democratize your strategy

A strategy that only your leadership team understands isn’t enough. For a company to execute effectively, everyone—from middle managers to frontline employees—needs to clearly understand what the business is focused on, whom it’s serving, and how it wins. When your strategy is too complex or your positioning is unclear, people waste time, duplicate efforts, and make decisions that pull the business in the wrong direction.

A simple, well-defined strategy benefits more than just your internal teams. It helps suppliers, partners, and vendors understand how to support your goals. It gives customers clarity about what you offer and what you don’t. It makes referrals easier because your network knows exactly whom you serve. And inside your business, it streamlines decision-making, capability-building, and long-term planning. Simplicity isn’t just a communication tool—it’s a strategic advantage.

The simplicity stress test

Most leadership teams overestimate how well their strategy is understood throughout the organization. To assess real strategic clarity, I often conduct a simple exercise with clients: Ask people at different levels of the company to write down in one or two sentences what the company does, whom it serves, and how it differentiates. The inconsistency of responses is typically eye-opening.

This exercise reveals not just communication gaps but strategy gaps. When frontline employees can’t articulate your core positioning, it’s not simply a messaging problem—it reflects fundamental uncertainty about where the business is heading and why. This uncertainty manifests in misaligned priorities, decision paralysis, and wasted resources.

The most effective companies I’ve worked with can pass this clarity test at every level. Their strategies aren’t necessarily simple in development, but they’re simple in articulation—clear enough that anyone can understand and apply them to daily decision-making.

Clarity creates decisiveness

Strategic clarity accelerates decision-making throughout an organization. When everyone understands the core focus and positioning, they can evaluate opportunities and challenges through a consistent lens. This shared understanding eliminates the need to escalate countless decisions to leadership.

Consider how many decisions are made daily across your organization—from resource allocation to customer interactions to product development priorities. Without clear strategic guardrails, each decision becomes a potential detour from your intended direction. With clarity, these countless daily choices align naturally with your broader objectives.

The most strategically nimble companies I’ve advised maintain simple, transparent positioning that functions as a decision filter. Team members at all levels can quickly assess whether an opportunity fits the strategy or represents a distraction, creating organizational coordination without bureaucratic control mechanisms.

Simplicity enhances external relationships

Strategic clarity extends beyond your internal teams to shape how external stakeholders engage with your business. When customers clearly understand your positioning, they bring you appropriate opportunities and refer complementary business. When partners and suppliers know exactly what you’re trying to achieve, they contribute more effectively to your success.

This external alignment often creates compounding advantages. Customers who understand your focus bring you more of the right work. Referral sources who grasp your positioning send you qualified leads. Partners who comprehend your strategy help extend your capabilities in complementary ways.

By contrast, businesses with ambiguous positioning find themselves constantly educating stakeholders about what they do and don’t do—a time-consuming process that creates friction in every relationship.

The communication investment

Achieving organization-wide strategic clarity requires deliberate, sustained communication efforts. It means distilling complex strategic thinking into memorable language, creating visual representations of your positioning, and repeatedly reinforcing key themes through multiple channels.

The most effective companies treat strategic communication as an ongoing initiative rather than a one-time announcement. They incorporate strategic reminders into regular meetings, create environmental cues in physical and digital workspaces, and regularly test understanding through informal conversations and structured feedback.

This investment in communication pays dividends through faster execution, higher engagement, and more aligned decision-making. When everyone understands the plan, implementation accelerates dramatically.

Strategic simplicity isn’t about dumbing down your approach—it’s about distilling complex thinking into actionable clarity that enables everyone to contribute to your success. By making strategic understanding universal rather than exclusive, you transform your strategy from an abstract document into a powerful operational advantage.

Discussion questions:

How consistently could people across our organization articulate our core strategy?

Where do we see evidence of strategic misalignment in day-to-day decisions?

What communication mechanisms could we strengthen to improve strategic clarity?

Stop Drowning in Data and Start Winning

The most effective leaders maintain a clear distinction between day-to-day operations and long-term strategy. Here’s how to separate the two.

The most common mistake I see leadership teams make is conflating operational excellence with strategic progress. This separation isn’t merely semantic—it fundamentally changes how teams allocate resources, make decisions, and ultimately, grow. So you have to measure these two classes of metrics separately.

Operational dashboards track internal day-to-day performance—like revenue, profit margins, and customer satisfaction. When it comes to operations, these are crucial metrics, but they measure the effectiveness of your current business model—not your progress toward future competitive advantage.

A strategic dashboard should help leadership monitor progress toward competitive advantage and long-term outcomes, such as share of wallet with ideal customer segments, adoption rates of next-generation products, or development progress on proprietary technologies that will create future barriers to entry.

Follow these tips when building your dashboards:

Align With Your Value Proposition

A strategic dashboard, again, is all about long-term. It should track a small set of well-defined, balanced KPIs that reflect your most important strategic priorities and help you stay focused on future value creation. The goal is to improve decision-making, keep teams aligned, and ensure accountability.

Start by identifying the core priorities that matter most for long-term growth—those that go beyond day-to-day operations and directly support your strategic goals. Then, translate those into measurable indicators.

What makes a metric truly strategic is its connection to your unique value proposition and competitive positioning. The question isn’t just, “Are we performing well?” but rather, “Are we building the capabilities and position that will create sustainable advantage?” This distinction changes everything about how leadership teams allocate their attention and resources.

Keep it focused and balanced

The power of a strategic dashboard comes from its selectivity. While operational dashboards might track dozens of metrics, effective strategic dashboards typically focus on 5-9 core indicators that collectively tell a complete story about strategic progress.

This selectivity serves two crucial purposes. First, it forces leadership to achieve clarity about what truly drives future value creation—a discipline that itself improves strategic thinking. Second, it creates focus throughout the organization by signaling what matters most amid countless competing priorities.

The most effective strategic dashboards I’ve helped develop maintain balance across several dimensions: leading and lagging indicators, financial and non-financial metrics, and measures that span different time horizons. This balance ensures that short-term pressures don’t override long-term value creation and that financial outcomes don’t come at the expense of building sustainable capabilities.

Link Strategy to Execution

A well-designed strategic dashboard bridges the gap between abstract intentions and concrete tactical execution. It transforms lofty strategic objectives into measurable, manageable components that teams can act upon and track over time.

This linkage solves one of the most persistent challenges of strategic implementation: connecting high-level direction with day-to-day decision-making. When teams can see how their work directly impacts strategic metrics, they make better prioritization decisions and allocate resources more effectively.

The most successful companies I’ve advised use their strategic dashboards as central alignment tools. They review these metrics in leadership meetings, incorporate them into team objectives, and reference them when making trade-off decisions. This consistent connection between metrics and decisions ensures that strategy drives action rather than remaining a theoretical exercise.

Evolve

Strategic dashboards shouldn’t remain static. As your market evolves, the competitive landscape shifts, and strategic priorities adjust, your dashboard must evolve accordingly. The metrics that mattered during market entry may differ from those that matter during scale-up or maturity phases.

Effective leadership teams review their strategic metrics quarterly to ensure alignment with current priorities and annually to ensure alignment with evolving market conditions. They’re willing to retire metrics that no longer serve as useful indicators and introduce new ones that better reflect changing strategic imperatives.

This willingness to evolve measurement approaches differentiates truly strategic organizations from those trapped by historical reporting conventions. The question isn’t “What have we always measured?” but rather “What should we measure now to guide future success?”

A thoughtfully designed strategic dashboard transforms strategy from an occasional planning exercise to an ongoing management discipline. By focusing leadership attention on the metrics that truly drive future value creation, you create the conditions for sustained, strategic growth rather than merely efficient operations.

Action Items

Here are some questions to help you design your strategic dashboard:

• What capabilities drive our competitive advantage, and how might we measure their development?

• How effectively do our current metrics distinguish between operational performance and strategic progress?

• What leading indicators would give us earlier visibility into our strategic momentum?

Having guided dozens of leadership teams through developing and implementing growth strategies, I’ve observed that the difference between companies that successfully scale and those that plateau often comes down to how well they measure their strategic results. The companies that grow most consistently are those that measure what truly matters for long-term value creation.

Want to Increase Innovation and Drive Change in Your Organization? Try This 1 Simple Meeting

While most productive meetings need an agenda, an Open Space meeting intentionally doesn’t use one.

Many years ago, when I was CEO of the first technology company I founded, we started having all-day quarterly meetings with our staff. Because many of our people worked remotely and on client sites, we rarely all saw each other at the same time, so these meetings became important for maintaining our cultural cohesion.

The first quarterly meeting we held was full of presentations and breakout sessions centered on different topics we knew. While the meetings were successful, we also got a lot of feedback reminding us that we missed several topics and that some of the topics could have used more or less time.

It’s important to mention here that our company was one of the first Lean/Agile consulting firms. We were steeped in new ways of building teams and processes. So, when one of our developers came back from a conference where they used a crazy meeting format called Open Space Technology which has no predefined agenda and let’s attendees choose the topics. We tried it. And ever since then, it’s become one of the most powerful meeting formats I know.

Open Space meetings don’t work for every meeting, so you can’t do away with agendas forever. However, Open Space meetings are great when you are bringing together a group of people who have many different potential topics to discuss and the priorities are not immediately clear.

I use this format for summits and retrospectives where we need to uncover the topics as a group and prioritize them as we go. Open Space meetings are also great when you suspect new topics will come up during the process and you’ll need to re-prioritize them in real time.

Here are a few simple guidelines for running your own Open Space meeting.

1. Choose a theme or a focus

While I keep the agenda open, I do create a general area of focus for the meeting. I’ve used “sharpen the axe” to focus on process improvement or “stronger bonds” to think more about team engagement and culture. Choose something that identifies a know concern but still leaves the topics open.

2. Set good ground rules

A meeting with no agenda needs good ground rules to stay focused and work well. Here are the three that I use.

“Vote with your feet”: If you’re not learning or contributing, move to a different topic.

“Yes, and”: (No “buts” rule.) Don’t tear down ideas; find a way to build on it.

“Tackle issues, not people”: Focus on the underlying issue, and don’t make personal attacks.

3. Start with a brainstorm

Every Open Space meeting starts with a discussion of the theme and a brainstorming of topics. Make sure you’re not being critical at this stage; be open to any potential discussion topic. Don’t rush this step; often the best topics come up late in this process and after a long moment of silence.

I have team members write ideas on index cards (one per card) so that we can organize as we go. I keep extra index cards around so we can add new ones as they come up during the session.

4. Select discussion facilitators

The power of an Open Space meeting is that you are empowering people to talk about what they want to talk about. Choose, don’t assign, facilitators who are most passionate about the topics.

5. Work in self-organizing teams

I generally set up multiple rounds of meetings in time slots of 30-45 minutes with 15-minute periods for regrouping. For each round, I get volunteers for 3-5 topics and then have people self-organize into meeting groups.

After the round ends, we regroup and each facilitator presents a short summary of the discussion, key insights, and any recommendations for the larger group.

6. Document notes and action items

Make sure to have each team submit a one-page summary of the discussion including the topic, the facilitator’s name, names of those who attended, key discussion points, takeaways, and any other recommendations.

This summary can be handwritten on paper and taped to a wall so people can see the results. If you have good connectivity, you can also collect information on an online document as you go.

7. Reflect on the process and learning

At the end of the meeting, take some time to reflect on the process. At the end of the meeting, I like to have each person share their biggest takeaway along with one personal action item. You can also have people rate the meeting and suggest changes for future formats.

Open Space meetings are not a lazy-person’s substitute for properly planned meetings. Instead, they are a tool you can use when the situation calls for deeper dives into emergent topics. And remember: like all powerful tools, you need practice to use Open Space meetings. You also need to know when, and when not, to apply them.

Most Companies Get Pricing Their Products and Services All Backwards. Here’s How to Get Your Right

Don’t leave money on the table. Here’s how to get your pricing right and put more money in your pocket.

While it’s not hard to price a product or service to sell, it’s much harder to find the one that maximizes profits. Many companies play it safe, leaving too much money on the table as they try to maximize their close rate rather than the amount of cash that goes to the bottom line.

Here are some of the key pricing factors to consider. While there is no magic formula, experimenting with these strategies will increase your success and the amount of money that falls into your pocket at the end of the day.

1. Think about its value, not its cost.

Many people start the process of figuring out how to price their products or services by the costs that go into producing and delivering them. While you need to know your costs, that’s not how you should determine your price.

Instead, start by calculating the value you create for your clients. How much more revenue do they make? How much more profit? Do you increase sales or lower costs or remove risks? Answer all of these questions and then use this data to calculate your optimal pricing.

2. Calculate the cost of inaction.

One thing many people fail to do is calculate the prospect’s cost of inaction. It’s easy to see the cost of your product or service, but often times the client’s real cost comes from doing nothing. Be sure to consider the factor of time on these costs as well. When a buyer has less time, they have fewer choices and face increased risk and pressure. You should increase your prices accordingly.

3. Remove the buying risk.

Sometimes clients are hesitant to buy because they are not sure you can deliver on it even though they can see the benefit. While testimonials work well to convince people, sometimes you need to use a stronger strategy. If buyers remain skeptical but interested, offer them a satisfaction guarantee (we keep working until you’re happy) or a money-back guarantee (you get all or part of your fee back if you’re not happy).

If you’ve done a good job prospecting, these will be rare. Work into your fees a small percentage of clients that don’t work out or result in extra work. It’s often easier to do this than what you would spend on sales and marketing

4. Deliver a 10x return.

A good rule of thumb is that you want your clients to get getting a ten times return on your fees. So if you charge $50K for your services, then they should be seeing $500K or more in value. This could be top line growth, reduction of expenses, or a removal of high-impact risk. Ten times leaves the buyer with a solid business case for the sale.

5. Sell on emotions, but justify with logic.

The research shows that people make decisions using emotions and then justify them using logic. People want to do business with people they know, like, and trust. Yet we often forget that and try to push a sale through based on business rationale.

By demonstrating that buying your product or service is easy, that working with you is a pleasure, and that you can be counted on to deliver the results you promise, you will be able to demand a premium price in the market. While other reasons might make business sense, people would rather pay more for knowing they will enjoy the process.

6. Have a rock solid positioning stratey.

Your best pricing strategy is to have a great positioning strategy. Seth Godin’s book Purple Cow explains how the challenge in business is standing out. One of the best ways to do that is to focus on a specific type of customer and to offer a unique and interesting set of qualities and attributes based on their needs.

Doing so will make you stand out and make it hard for prospects to choose your competitors. When you’re the only option that truly meets the needs of your target customer, they will happily pay more because you solve their problem well without the fluff and complexity of other options.

7. Don’t set your pricing in stone.

Since customer situations and the value of your product or service are continuously changing, consider changing your price as well. We pay a lot more for next-day delivery (far more than it costs the company) and we pay many times more for a soda in a movie theater than we do at the supermarket. Why not charge different prices for different situations?

While pricing is both an art and a science, getting it right is critical to business success. There are many factors to consider and variables to estimate. Just keep in mind that just like beauty is in the eye of the beholder, the price that works best is the one that your customer are willing to pay.

6 Books About Managing People That Every CEO Should Read

If you’re a CEO who struggles with managing people, here are six must-read books that will help you up your game.

Being a CEO doesn’t come with an instructional manual. And for most founders who end up in the top job of their business, they usually have little to no management and executive experience. Most early-stage, high-growth business leaders find that they have created a successful, thriving business but have no idea on how to manage people.

As a business coach, I work with many first-time CEOs who have big ambitions but also know they need help to grow themselves and their companies. One of the things I do is help them be better leaders and better managers by leveling up their skills and perspectives. Learning to better manage their teams is usually on top of the list.

While there are many ways to learn, here are six of the best books I’ve found on how to better manage people that I recommend to all my CEO clients. If you’re a new CEO struggling to manage your team, this is a great starting point to develop your people skills.

Drive by Daniel Pink

Pink does a great job in breaking down the complex issues of what motivates people into three basic areas. With my CEOs, we speak about AMP: autonomy, mastery, and purpose. Any time we discuss how to motivate a team or an individual, we check in on these three elements and how they can use them to drive engagement and performance. It’s a simple concept that can lead to big results, when applied well.

Crucial Conversations, by Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan, and Al Switzler

Business is full of tough conversations. Unfortunately, many people deal with this by either avoiding conflict or picking a fight. These authors explain how to get clear with your own needs and wants first, create an environment that will foster deep connection and sharing, and honestly listen and consider other people’s needs and wants. Only then can you find true solutions and put in place a plan of action that will create real change. This is a book on life, but it’s great for the office, too.

Radical Candor, by Kim Scott

While many people avoid giving feedback to direct reports and colleagues, Scott does a great job of explaining why the truly professional and caring thing to do is to provide radical candor. Only through open, honest, direct, and timely feedback can someone grow and learn. Saying nothing is not being nice–it’s being apathetic.

Now, Discover Your Strengths, by Marcus Buckingham

I’m a big fan of personal and professional development and I recommend to all of my executive clients that they create a culture of continuous improvement. And while everyone has weaknesses that need to be managed, you’re far better off focusing on your strengths. Buckingham does a great job of helping people find the things they are good at and passionate about, to fuel their growth.

Mindset, by Carol Dweck​

This book is a game changer for most managers. Dweck shows us why regardless of our skills, experience, genetics, or aptitude, the most influential factor on our ability to learn is whether we think we can do something or not. Those people with a growth mindset will be far more likely to change, and those with a fixed mindset will be far less likely. So before you put together the training plan, coach the mindset first.

Power of a Positive No, by William Ury

I still remember the first time I read this book and how it changed both my professional and personal life. One of my core values is to be of service to people and help them. But I found myself saying yes to everything and trying to help everyone and as a result spreading myself too thin and not being very effective. Ury taught me to develop a clearer picture of my bigger goals and purpose and to use that to say “no” to many requests so that I could say “yes” powerfully to the ones that truly mattered to me.

The six above are just a start. There are countless other books on managing people and how to create a great culture in your company. And you should strive to read all of them if you want to be an exceptional leader. People management is not just a good skill to have, it’s what will drive your professional success and the success of your company.

Struggling to Stay Connected as Your Business Grows? Try This 1 Weekly Habit

As your business grows it can be hard to stay connected to your team. This one weekly communication habit can help.

Being in a high-growth company is both fun and exciting. As the founder of a five-time Inc. 500/5000 company, I’ve experienced it firsthand. And as a business coach, I’ve also worked with dozens of CEOs who have been on that rocket ship as well.

And while it’s thrilling, it can also be isolating for the CEO. As the company grows, you spend more time focusing on selling customers, pitching investors, attending conferences, and meeting with suppliers and partners. All of this means less time with your people and hanging around the office.

The result is that you become less connected to your team. And while some of this is just a natural consequence of growth, effective CEOs put in place good habits to minimize the impact.

The best CEOs I work with make a habit of sending out a weekly communication to everyone in their company to keep everyone informed and up to date on what’s happening at the highest level. For some it’s an email; for others it’s quick video, blog post, or Slack message. Regardless of the format and medium, there are several things they all focus on and include whenever possible. If you’re a CEO on the go and want to improve your connection to your people, here’s what you should include in your weekly message.

1. Start with wins.

The best thing you can do is highlight wins. People love good news, and it sets the tone for the entire company. Keeping things positive while being realistic and acknowledging challenges will keep people motivated and optimistic about the future. The trick here is to be specific and detailed and use recent examples and avoid being vague or using platitudes.

2. Recognize individual performance.

While not everyone wants to be called up on stage to accept an award, it’s a great practice to call out individuals for exceptionally good performance. Where you can be specific and explain the organizational impact and benefit. Recognition is one of the most powerful motivators at your disposal. Further, you not only reward the individual for their work, you inspire everyone else to rise to the challenge. And the best part is it doesn’t cost you a dime.

3. Reiterate strategy and priorities.

One of your key responsibilities as CEO is to clarify strategy and define priorities. It’s not enough to send out a presentation once a year. You need to beat the drum and reiterate the message frequently. Research shows that people need to hear things multiple times before they remember it. Don’t assume that just because you mentioned something once in a company meeting that it’s on top of people’s minds; you need to keep it there.

4. Highlight examples of core values.

Too many companies develop a set of core values, paint them on the wall, and then forget all about them. Core values only work if they are alive and actively talked about. Your weekly communication is a great place to mention people’s actions which exemplify your values. Focus on the details and explain why their actions are a good example of each value.

5. Address concerns and questions.

If you know there are lingering questions or concerns in the office, be proactive and address them publicly. Rumors spread quickly and are difficult to correct once they infect the company. Address hearsay with facts and figures. If the concerns are legitimate, acknowledge them and explain what is being done to address the issue and when people can expect follow-up and resolution. Employees do not expect perfection, but they do expect transparency.

6. Ask for feedback and insights.

Communication doesn’t just trickle down. Take the opportunity to ask for insights, feedback, information, and input on key company issues and initiatives. Often the people on the ground know more about what’s going on than management does. Leverage people’s detailed knowledge and perspective. One note of caution: If you ask for and receive feedback, make sure you reply and recognize the contribution and explain how you have applied or will apply it. There is no better way to squelch future feedback than for people to feel like it’s going into a black hole.

Every CEO I’ve worked with who’s implemented this habit of weekly communication has complained that it’s one of the hard things they’ve done. When you’re trying to close deals, set strategy, and raise the next round of capital, finding the time and energy to send out your weekly note is a significant chore. But these same CEOs also say it’s one of the best things they do to keep in touch with everyone in the company and ensure that everyone is aligned around a clear message and direction.

I Teach Leaders to Solve Problems. Here’s My 6-Step Framework

If you want to get good at growth, get good at fixing problems. Here’s how to do it predictably and repeatedly.

As a strategic coach, I work with high-performance leadership teams to build growth roadmaps. Oftentimes, the companies double in just six to 12 months. These growth rates expose issues and cracks in the business that must be addressed quickly. Identifying these issues quickly and systematically solving them is key to successful and sustained growth. Having both a framework and experience using it will improve any business’s prospects.

Here’s mine:

1. Review and reflect

I start by carefully reviewing what happened. Collect as much data as possible on what led up to the situation and how things played out. It’s key here to get perspectives and opinions from as many sources as possible. I like organizing things in timelines and swimlanes for different people, teams, and departments. Here, we stick to the facts and try to weed out inferences and assumptions.

2. Find critical issues

Once the situation is mapped out, we look for where issues occur. These could be errors, delays, rework, wasted resources, or unnecessary operational complexity. I have the team dig into these and find the most important issues. I like having them plot what they find using a matrix of likelihood and impact so we can focus on a few issues that are causing the most problems.

3. Define the problem

Once we have a handful of things to investigate, I have the team clearly define the problem, why it exists, and how it’s causing it. Once everyone is clear and in agreement on this, I have them articulate three to five success criteria that, once met, would mean that we’ve solved the problem or improved the situation significantly and sufficiently.

4. Look for systemic causes

Once the problem is defined, we can start looking for underlying causes. I like using a fishbone or tree diagram to visually map these out. Each cause needs to be independent and clearly contribute to the problems. Avoid generalizations and edge cases. For example, don’t just say increased shipping costs. Say 22 percent of shipments go out as partial orders, which has increased average costs by $1.24 per order.

5. Pull multiple threads

Once we have several options, we can start finding causes of those causes using the same logic. I call this iterative triangulation as we start broad and narrow down the factors as we go. Sometimes we might hit a dead end, and we need to crawl back up the process to investigate another path. Eventually, we’ll find a few core issues that are really driving the problem.

6. Listen to your gut

Sometimes this can be a difficult process, and you’ll find several factors. First, I suggest focusing on the factors you can actually do something about. Second, focus on those that can be addressed with clear changes to business systems and processes. Finally, I have people check in with their guts; when they get that sinking feeling when they hit an issue, it probably means it’s the one to focus on.

Root cause analysis can be more of an art than a science at times, but being systematic and developing a repeatable process will help it not feel like witchcraft. Teams that do this again and again and get good at it can dramatically improve their learning cycle time and can out-deliver and innovate against competitors.

How to Hire for Cultural Fit and Avoid Costly Mistakes

A bad cultural fit can erode trust, create friction, and even drive away top talent.

Having founded, scaled, and successfully exited a high-growth company, I’ve seen firsthand how hiring the right people can make or break an organization. As an Inc. 500 CEO-turned-business coach, I’ve helped countless leaders refine their hiring strategies to ensure strong individual performance and a thriving company culture.

While technical skills and experience are essential, hiring employees who align with your company’s values and mission is the key to long-term success. A bad cultural fit can erode trust, create friction, and even drive away top talent. However, with the right approach, you can build a team that performs and strengthens your organization from the inside out. Here’s how to do it.

1. Define and validate your company culture

Before assessing cultural fit, you need to be crystal clear on what your culture is. Many companies have aspirational values posted on their walls but fail to live them daily. To make culture a hiring tool, ensure your core values are more than just words—they should be consistently modeled and reinforced behaviors within your organization. Validate them by talking to employees, observing workplace interactions, and ensuring they align with business decisions. Culture isn’t what you wish it to be—it’s what happens when no one is watching.

2. Weave your values into job postings

Your hiring process should filter in candidates who align with your values and filter out those who don’t. Embedding your company’s culture into the job description is a great way to do this. Instead of using generic job postings, incorporate your values into how you describe the role and the work environment. Use language that reflects how your company operates, and be upfront about the expectations regarding collaboration, decision-making, and accountability. This will naturally attract candidates who resonate with your culture and deter those who don’t.

3. Align company communications with reality

If your website and external branding paint a picture of an innovative, fast-paced company, but your internal culture is more bureaucratic and slow-moving, new hires will quickly feel misled. This disconnect can cause frustration and disengagement. Ensure that your company’s public-facing communication—on your website, in social media, and in interviews—reflects your internal culture. Employees should recognize the company they applied to when they walk in on their first day.

4. Use behavioral and scenario-based interview questions

Instead of asking candidates if they align with your values (which encourages rehearsed answers), present real-world scenarios they might face on the job and ask how they would respond. For example, if teamwork is a core value, ask: “Tell me about a time when you had to collaborate with a difficult team member. How did you handle it?” Look for responses that demonstrate alignment with your company’s values and decision-making style.

5. Give candidates choices to reveal priorities

A more advanced technique is to ask candidates to choose between two equally reasonable options, each reflecting a different value. For example: “If you were leading a project and discovered a major issue the night before a deadline, would you (A) push forward to meet the deadline and address the issue later or (B) delay the launch to ensure quality, even if it impacts the schedule?” Their choice will tell you whether they naturally lean toward your company’s approach to problem-solving and prioritization.

6. Incorporate social interactions in the hiring process

Interviews can be formal and scripted, making it hard to assess how someone interacts in a work setting. Creating informal social interactions—like a team lunch or coffee chat with their potential colleagues—can provide insight into how candidates naturally communicate, collaborate, and carry themselves. This helps you see whether they genuinely fit into the team dynamic and company culture in an unscripted environment.

7. Use multiple interviewers for a well-rounded perspective

Cultural fit is subjective, and one person’s impression may not be enough. Have multiple team members—especially those who would be working directly with the candidate—participate in the hiring process. Comparing notes can help identify alignment (or misalignment) that one person alone might miss.

A great hire is someone who not only has the skills to perform but also the values to thrive in your organization. Getting this right will enhance individual performance and strengthen the overall company culture.

The Power of a Big, Hairy, Audacious Goal: How to Choose Yours

Over the years, I’ve identified five types of goals that successful companies use to set their long-term direction.

I’ve worked with countless companies on setting bold, long-term strategies, and one thing remains true: The best businesses know exactly where they’re headed. And as a former founder and CEO who scaled a company onto the Inc. 500 list multiple times, I’ve seen firsthand how a big, hairy, audacious goal (BHAG) creates clarity, alignment, and momentum.

A great BHAG isn’t about finding the perfect goal—it’s about choosing a compelling one and getting everyone moving in the same direction. If half your team is climbing one mountain while the other half is climbing another, you won’t reach the summit. Over the years, I’ve identified five types of BHAGs that successful companies use to set their long-term direction.

1. Quantitative BHAGs: The number-driven target

A quantitative BHAG focuses on achieving a specific, measurable milestone. These goals work well when a company wants to define success in clear numerical terms—revenue, market share, or operational scale. The advantage of this type of BHAG is that it removes ambiguity, giving teams a direct and focused target to chase.

Examples: A company may set a goal to become a $1 billion company by 2030, forcing it to rethink its growth model, acquisitions, and customer expansion strategy. Another example is capturing 50 percent of the electric scooter market within 10 years, requiring dominance in distribution, brand recognition, and supply chain efficiency. A SaaS business could commit to serving one million paying customers worldwide, driving product development and customer retention innovation.

2. Qualitative BHAGs: The reputation or market position

Not every BHAG is tied to numbers. A qualitative BHAG focuses on brand identity, reputation, or cultural impact. Companies that adopt this type of BHAG are driven by purpose and reputation. This works especially well for mission-driven businesses or industries in which trust and credibility are paramount.

Examples: To lead the market, a fashion brand aiming to become the most respected name in sustainable clothing must rethink its supply chain, materials, and branding strategy. A nonprofit could set a BHAG to eradicate hunger in its community, aligning fundraising, partnerships, and distribution to maximize impact. A technology company might declare its ambition to be the leader in ethical AI, ensuring that all its product decisions reinforce transparency, fairness, and responsible innovation.

3. Competitive BHAGs: Taking on an industry giant

Some companies thrive on a direct competitive challenge. This type of BHAG aims to overtake or outperform a major rival. It’s a rallying cry that unites teams and creates urgency by defining success in relation to another player. A well-executed competitive BHAG forces a company to sharpen its strengths and relentlessly push innovation to close the gap or take the lead.

Examples: Nike’s legendary BHAG in its early days was simple—Crush Adidas. This mindset drove aggressive product innovation, marketing, and sponsorship deals that changed the sports apparel industry. A fintech startup could set a goal to outpace PayPal in transaction volume within a decade, requiring a focus on customer trust, seamless user experience, and strategic global expansion. A newer social media platform could commit to surpassing TikTok in engagement among Gen-Z users, meaning it would need to build cutting-edge features and community-driven interactions.

4. Role model BHAGs: Emulating the best

Some companies look outside their industry for inspiration instead of focusing on internal goals or competitors. A role model BHAG is about applying a successful approach from another business category to your field. This approach works well when an organization sees a proven model that aligns with its vision and adapts it to its specific strengths.

Examples: A fitness technology startup might aim to become the Apple of home fitness technology, focusing on sleek design, seamless software integration, and a high-end customer experience. An airline might strive to be the Southwest Airlines of private aviation, bringing cost-effective and efficient air travel to a new market through innovative pricing and streamlined operations. A B2B consulting firm could set a BHAG to become the McKinsey of the small-business sector, ensuring world-class strategy services are accessible to growing companies.

5. Transformational BHAGs: The caterpillar-to-butterfly

This BHAG is for companies that need a fundamental reinvention. When an industry is shifting rapidly, businesses that successfully redefine themselves before they’re forced to do so win the future. A transformational BHAG is about becoming something new, leveraging an existing core strength to move into a different space. The defining characteristic is that once the shift happens, the company, as it existed before, is effectively gone.

Examples: Merck transitioned from a petroleum company to a pharmaceutical leader, capitalizing on its chemistry expertise to enter a vastly different industry. IBM evolved from a hardware manufacturer to a cloud and AI powerhouse, completely reshaping its workforce, product focus, and brand identity. Netflix transformed from a DVD rental-by-mail business into the world’s leading online streaming service, requiring a complete overhaul of its business model, technology infrastructure, and content strategy.

The most important step in setting a BHAG is picking one. A company that debates endlessly and fails to commit ends up stuck in strategic limbo. The right BHAG doesn’t need to be perfect—it must be bold, clear, and inspiring enough to align and motivate the entire organization. The companies that execute best aren’t those that choose the “right” BHAG but those that rally behind a clear vision and pursue it relentlessly.

How to Build Feedback Systems That Actually Work

The best leaders don’t just tolerate feedback—they actively pursue it as a strategic advantage.

Too many leaders operate in echo chambers of their own making, never hearing the crucial insights and feedback that their teams can provide. This isolation doesn’t just hurt morale—it damages organizational performance and stifles innovation.

After spending more than a decade building high-performing leadership teams and coaching executives in fast-growth environments, I’ve learned that the difference between good leaders and great ones often comes down to how effectively they seek and act on feedback.

The best leaders don’t just tolerate feedback—they create structured systems for hearing difficult truths, and actively pursue feedback as a strategic advantage. They recognize that their teams hold insights that no executive can see from their vantage point alone.

Here are five things they focus on to leverage feedback effectively.

1. Psychological safety

Employees simply won’t share honest feedback unless they feel secure doing so. When I work with leadership teams, we often discover that previous attempts to solicit input resulted in defensiveness or even subtle retaliation. Creating psychological safety requires leaders to demonstrate that constructive criticism is valued, not punished.

Start by responding to feedback with genuine curiosity rather than defensiveness. Ask follow-up questions that demonstrate you’re trying to understand, not counter-argue. Significantly, this safety must extend beyond direct reports to permeate all levels of management. Remember that employees watch how you handle feedback from others to determine whether sharing their own perspectives is worth the risk.

2. Growth mindset

Leaders who view feedback as a learning tool rather than criticism naturally foster cultures of continuous improvement. This requires framing challenges as opportunities for development and reinforcing that mistakes and adjustments are normal parts of growth.

When receiving challenging feedback, try articulating what you’re learning from the input rather than focusing on whether you agree with it. This subtle shift models vulnerability and demonstrates that feedback is a pathway to improvement, not a judgment of worth. Teams quickly mirror this attitude, creating environments where ideas and insights flow more freely.

3. Regular feedback mechanisms

Annual performance reviews are spectacularly ineffective at capturing timely, actionable feedback. Leaders should instead incorporate feedback into the natural rhythm of business through weekly one-on-ones, project check-ins, and team retrospectives.

The consistency of these touchpoints matters more than their duration. Regular conversations build trust over time and give employees multiple opportunities to share insights rather than saving concerns for high-stakes annual conversations. These frequent exchanges also allow you to course-correct more nimbly as conditions change.

4. Receiving feedback well

How leaders respond to feedback sets the tone for the entire organization. The most successful executives I’ve coached follow a simple pattern when receiving input: listen openly, ask clarifying questions, avoid immediate defensiveness, commit to tangible improvements, and follow up to show that feedback leads to action.

Nothing kills feedback faster than a leader who solicits input and then does nothing with it. Each time this happens, trust erodes, and the likelihood of receiving future insights diminishes. Conversely, when employees see their input creating positive change, they become more invested in offering thoughtful perspectives.

5. Culture of continuous improvement

Forward-thinking companies embed feedback into their operational DNA through structured processes like regular retrospectives, after-action reviews, and 360-degree feedback tools. These mechanisms normalize feedback as a routine part of work rather than an exceptional event.

The best implementations focus these tools on team and process improvement rather than individual performance critiques. This subtle shift reduces defensiveness and encourages more open discussions of what’s working, what isn’t, and why. Over time, these practices help teams evolve more quickly and perform at consistently higher levels.

By prioritizing open communication and thoughtful responses to employee input, leaders set the foundation for a workplace that values growth, learning, and ongoing improvement. The resulting insights prevent costly mistakes and often reveal opportunities that would otherwise remain hidden.

Take These 5 Steps to Improve Your Strategic Thinking

I’ve seen too many leaders get stuck in day-to-day operations and lose sight of the larger picture.

When scaling my company, I learned that strategy wasn’t about having a brilliant idea but about making intelligent, well-informed decisions over time. As an Inc. 500 CEO and now as a strategic coach, I’ve seen too many leaders get stuck in day-to-day operations and lose sight of the larger picture.

The ability to think strategically and make strong decisions separates successful companies from those that stagnate. The good news? Strategic thinking is a skill that can be developed. Here’s how.

1. Zoom out before you zoom in

Many leaders dive into execution without considering the bigger picture. Before making key decisions, assess the industry trends, customer demands, and competitive shifts. A great way to do this is by using frameworks like SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats). But don’t stop there—combine multiple frameworks to get a fuller picture.

Consider using Porter’s Five Forces to analyze competitive dynamics or the PESTLE framework to evaluate external factors. I’ve found that leaders who regularly step back to assess the landscape make better choices and avoid costly missteps. One CEO I coached saved millions by spotting an emerging technology trend during a quarterly strategy review that would have made their planned expansion obsolete.

2. Ask better questions

Strong strategic thinking starts with asking the right questions. Instead of rushing to solutions, challenge assumptions. Ask, “What are we assuming?” or “What would have to be true for this to work?” The best leaders encourage debate and seek out different perspectives. Create a culture where team members feel safe challenging ideas, regardless of hierarchy.

The most valuable insights often come from front-line employees who interact with customers daily. Consider implementing regular strategy meetings where team members from different departments share perspectives and challenge conventional wisdom. Questioning the status quo opens the door to new opportunities and avoids blind spots.

3. Embrace second-order thinking

Short-term wins can create long-term setbacks. Second-order thinking—asking, “And then what?”—helps leaders anticipate future consequences. Cutting costs by reducing staff might improve short-term margins but could lower team morale and productivity later. I’ve seen companies lose key talent and market share because they failed to consider the ripple effects of their decisions.

Create decision trees to map out potential consequences and scenarios. Consider the immediate impact and how competitors, customers, and employees might react. Before making decisions, think through their long-term implications and whether they align with your bigger goals.

4. Make time for deep work

Strategic thinking requires focus, but most leaders’ calendars are packed with meetings and urgent tasks. If you don’t carve out time for deep thinking, you’ll always be reacting instead of planning. Block out a few hours each week for strategic reflection.

The best CEOs I work with treat this time as non-negotiable. They create “think weeks” like Bill Gates or monthly strategy days to disconnect from daily operations. Use this time to read industry reports, analyze competitive moves, and envision different futures for your business. Consider keeping a strategic journal to track your thoughts and patterns over time. Unplug, analyze trends, and think long-term.

5. Test, learn, and adapt

No strategy is perfect from the start. The best leaders continuously test their ideas, gather feedback, and adjust. Instead of committing all your resources upfront, run small experiments. Try a limited product launch, test a new sales approach, or pilot a new process. Set clear success metrics and timelines for these experiments.

One technology company I advised saved substantial resources by testing their new feature with a small user group first, allowing them to identify and fix critical issues before a full launch. Create feedback loops that bring in customer insights, market data, and team input. Learning from real-world data allows you to refine your strategy and stay adaptable.

The best leaders aren’t just problem-solvers; they’re opportunity-finders. They understand that strategic thinking is a muscle that needs regular exercise. Adopting these habits and creating structures supporting strategic reflection will strengthen your decision-making capabilities and build a more resilient organization.

Remember, strategy isn’t a one-time exercise—it’s an ongoing process of observation, analysis, and adaptation.

Beyond the Paycheck: 7 Powerful Ways to Incentivize Employees

People need compensation, but they have other needs, too.

As a founder, CEO, and strategy coach, I’ve worked with leadership teams across industries to optimize performance and build high-performing cultures. One of the biggest myths I see is that compensation alone drives motivation. While money is essential, it has diminishing returns—especially at the senior levels. If financial incentives are your only tool, you’ll be in an expensive and unsustainable cycle.

Great leaders take a different approach. They recognize that true motivation comes from understanding what drives their people—and then designing incentive systems that tap into those deeper motivators. The key is having conversations, understanding core values, and structuring an environment that naturally fuels engagement. Here are seven powerful ways to motivate employees beyond money.

1. Autonomy: Giving employees control over their work

People thrive when they feel ownership over their work. Engagement skyrockets when leaders provide clear goals but allow employees to decide how, when, and where to achieve them.

This could mean flexible schedules, remote work options, or control over projects. Instead of dictating every step, focus on defining the outcomes and guardrails, and then let them figure out the best approach. Employees who feel trusted to make decisions become more invested in their work and take greater accountability for results.

2. Mastery: Creating opportunities for growth

People are naturally driven to improve. Providing opportunities to learn, develop new skills, and take on challenges taps into this intrinsic motivation.

Encourage employees to lead projects, learn new tools, or take on stretch assignments that push them out of their comfort zones. This could include public speaking, leadership roles, or working on high-visibility initiatives. Employees who see a clear path to growth stay engaged and committed.

3. Mission and purpose: Connecting work to impact

People want to know that their work matters. When employees see how their contributions contribute to a bigger mission, they’re more engaged and motivated.

Leaders should regularly share success stories, customer feedback, and impact metrics that illustrate the difference their teams are making. Whether it’s helping customers, shaping an industry, or creating a social impact, showing employees how their efforts contribute to something larger than themselves fuels long-term motivation.

4. Recognition and appreciation: Valuing contributions

Napoleon famously said, “Give me enough ribbon, and I’ll conquer the world.” Recognition doesn’t need to be elaborate—it just needs to be authentic and well-timed.

Some employees appreciate public praise, while others prefer a private thank-you, a handwritten note, or a simple acknowledgment in a meeting. Make recognition specific and meaningful, tied to actual contributions. Small, consistent gestures of appreciation build trust and reinforce positive behaviors.

5. A positive work environment: Culture as a motivator

A great culture isn’t just a perk—it’s a key driver of engagement. People want to work in an environment in which they feel trusted, respected, and valued.

Leaders should prioritize communication, team cohesion, and a sense of belonging. When employees enjoy coming to work—whether through strong relationships, a supportive atmosphere, or a fun team dynamic—they naturally perform at a higher level.

6. Collaboration and social connection: Fostering relationships

For many employees, work is as much about relationships as tasks. The ability to collaborate, share ideas, and connect with colleagues can be a significant motivator.

Leaders can create opportunities for employees to work across teams, participate in mentorship programs, or engage in social activities that strengthen relationships. A connected team works more effectively and improves retention and overall morale.

7. Transparency and open communication: Keeping employees informed

Employees don’t need to be involved in every decision but want to feel informed. Clear, honest communication about company goals, decisions, and challenges helps employees feel like valued contributors rather than just workers.

Transparency builds trust, reduces uncertainty, and makes employees feel like organizational stakeholders. When people understand what’s happening and why, they are more engaged, invested, and willing to go the extra mile.

Money is just one part of the equation. People stay engaged when they feel autonomy in their work, see opportunities to grow, understand their impact, and feel valued. Great leaders go beyond compensation to create an environment where employees feel inspired, challenged, and motivated to do their best.

Hey DOGE: Forget 5 Bullet Points—Here’s How to Actually Measure Performance

An excellent executive scorecard isn’t just a report, but an innovative way to optimize your company’s performance.

DOGE, or the Department of Government Efficiency is in the headlines this week for its latest performance management tactic: asking federal employees to email 5 bullet points on their accomplishments each week, or risk termination. According to the BBC, “employees were asked to respond [to the email] explaining their accomplishments from the past week in five bullet points – without disclosing classified information.”

As an expert in performance management, I’m here to tell you that crafting a meaningful performance strategy for employees—in particular for executives—is a bit more complicated than a weekly list of accomplishments.

One tool I like to use instead is an executive scorecard. An excellent executive scorecard isn’t just a report—it’s a tool for driving strategic execution, fostering collaboration, and enabling continuous improvement. When done well, it clarifies leadership expectations and ensures that executive efforts directly contribute to the company’s success.

I’ve worked with many leadership teams to design effective executive scorecards, and the same challenge always arises—how do you measure what matters? As a founder, CEO, and strategy coach, I’ve seen scorecards transform performance management by focusing executives on the right priorities, fostering accountability, and aligning their efforts with company goals.

Here are five steps you can take to design a winning executive scorecard:

1. Strategic alignment: connecting executive performance to organizational goals

An executive scorecard must be closely tied to the company’s overarching strategy. Without this connection, leadership efforts risk becoming siloed, misaligned, or focused on the wrong objectives. The best scorecards translate high-level corporate goals into measurable executive responsibilities that provide a clear line of sight between strategy and execution.

For example, if a company’s priority is expanding market share, an executive’s scorecard might include responsibilities such as identifying new markets, improving customer acquisition, or launching competitive pricing strategies. These specific objectives help ensure that leadership’s actions drive meaningful business outcomes. Without this alignment, executives may focus on metrics that look good on paper but fail to advance long-term goals.

2. Collaborative development: building buy-in and ownership

A scorecard is only effective if executives believe in it. The best scorecards are developed through open collaboration, ensuring that leadership has a voice in defining success metrics. When executives contribute to creating their scorecards, they take greater ownership of their performance and feel invested in achieving the outlined goals.

This process should involve discussions between executives and their superiors to refine key performance indicators and ensure they are relevant, challenging, and aligned with company and individual success. The best scorecards strike a balance—structured enough to provide clear expectations but flexible sufficient to allow for leadership autonomy. When executives participate in crafting their own scorecards, they engage more deeply in their work and embrace accountability more naturally.

3. Balanced metrics and targets: measuring what matters most

A strong executive scorecard includes a mix of quantitative and qualitative measures. Revenue, profitability, and cost control are critical, but leadership effectiveness, innovation, and team development also play essential roles in long-term success.

Leading indicators, such as pipeline growth or employee engagement scores, help predict future success, while lagging indicators, like revenue growth or market share, measure past performance. By balancing both, companies gain a clearer picture of an executive’s impact.

A three-tier target system—red, green, and super green—adds another layer of effectiveness. This approach sets a baseline expectation, an optimal goal, and an outstanding stretch target. Executives should aim for green, while super green is an aspirational benchmark. A system like this helps drive motivation without setting unrealistic expectations. The key is ensuring that every chosen metric directly contributes to the organization’s success.

4. Dynamic review and adaptation: ensuring ongoing relevance

Business conditions change, and executive scorecards must evolve accordingly. A scorecard that remains static for too long loses its value, which is why it’s essential to review and update it quarterly. Regular adjustments ensure that metrics reflect shifts in business priorities, market conditions, and strategic direction.

For instance, if a company’s competitive landscape shifts mid-year, leadership objectives may need to pivot from market expansion to customer retention. Without a structured review process, executives may continue working toward outdated targets, wasting time and resources. Scorecards should be integrated into strategic planning meetings, providing a framework for adjusting goals while focusing on execution.

5. Continuous feedback and integration: driving performance improvement

A scorecard shouldn’t be a static document pulled out once a quarter for review. The most effective organizations use them as active performance management tools. Regular one-on-one meetings between executives and superiors allow ongoing discussions about performance, progress, and adjustments.

These meetings create immediate feedback and coaching opportunities, allowing executives to course-correct before minor issues become significant problems. Additionally, scorecards help inform leadership development and succession planning. They identify strengths and areas for improvement, ensuring that executives receive the proper support to grow in their roles.

When used effectively, executive scorecards also play a critical role in hiring. Organizations establish clear success metrics from day one by integrating scorecard expectations into new executive onboarding. This transparency helps new leaders acclimate quickly and align their efforts with company objectives.

At their core, executive scorecards are not just performance-tracking tools but strategic enablers. A well-crafted scorecard provides clarity, alignment, and accountability, ensuring that leadership efforts drive meaningful business impact. The best companies don’t use scorecards as rigid evaluation mechanisms but as evolving tools that help leadership teams excel, adapt, and continuously improve.

8 Factors That Drive the Valuation of a Midmarket Business

Planning to exit your business? Focus on these key areas to maximize its value.

As a business coach with decades of experience helping CEOs grow, scale, and exit their businesses, I’ve seen firsthand the factors contributing to higher valuations. Whether you’re looking for a strategic buyer or aiming for a private equity sale, it’s critical for midmarket companies to understand valuation drivers and how to enhance them.

Here’s how to increase the value of your business and strategically position it for a successful exit.

1. Differentiated market position

A clear and compelling market position is one of the most effective ways to boost valuation. Buyers seek businesses that stand out in their industry through innovative products, niche expertise, or superior customer experience. A differentiated position signals scalability and growth potential, which are key when you’re looking to increase the value of your business.

2. Strong leadership team

Investors will pay a premium for businesses with a solid leadership team. A business that doesn’t rely on the founder but has strong, independent leadership is more likely to increase its valuation. Buyers want to see that the company can thrive without the current owner, so a robust leadership team is essential to maximize valuation.

3. Deep talent bench

Beyond the leadership, buyers look for a deep talent pool capable of driving future growth. A well-rounded team of skilled employees is crucial for sustaining performance post-acquisition. This stability across functions will increase the valuation of a company, making it more attractive to potential buyers.

4. Documented processes

Clear and well-documented processes are an often-overlooked factor that can increase company valuation. Standard operating procedures ensure operational consistency and make it easier for new owners to step in without causing disruptions. Documented workflows demonstrate scalability and reduce risks, both of which are key to boosting valuation during a sale.

5. Diversified client base

Client concentration is a red flag for buyers. A diversified client base, where no single client represents a significant portion of revenue, helps mitigate risk and increase the value of your business. By broadening your customer portfolio, especially across industries and geographies, you can increase valuation by reducing the risk of losing a major client.

6. Proven strategic planning system

A history of successful strategic planning shows potential buyers that your business is built on more than just luck. Consistently hitting growth targets and effectively managing market shifts will help increase company valuation. A proven strategic planning system reassures buyers that the business has the foresight and discipline to succeed in the future, which significantly helps maximize valuation.

7. Consistent track record

Buyers are willing to pay more for businesses with a strong financial track record. Boost valuation by demonstrating consistent revenue growth, profitability, and healthy cash flow. Clean financials and a history of meeting or exceeding targets help solidify trust with buyers and provide evidence that your business can continue to thrive, ultimately increasing its value at the negotiating table.

8. Strong governance and controls

Implementing strong governance practices and financial controls is essential to increase valuation. Buyers want to know that the business operates transparently, minimizes risk, and complies with all legal and regulatory requirements. Demonstrating strong internal controls signals that the business is well-managed, further enhancing company valuation.

By focusing on these key factors, you can increase the valuation of your company and attract higher offers from potential buyers. Whether you’re looking to boost valuation before an exit or preparing for future growth, these areas should be at the top of your agenda. Remember, the earlier you start improving these aspects, the more you can maximize valuation when it’s time to sell.

8 Key Metrics for Growth-Minded CEOs to Track

Track these eight essential metrics to scale your business and ensure sustainable growth.

As a business coach and five-time Inc. 500/5000 CEO, I’ve worked with growth-focused leaders across various industries. My role is to guide them in measuring what matters most, ensuring every decision is data-driven and contributes to long-term success.

One of the keys to growth is measuring what matters. Metrics aren’t just numbers—they’re narratives that reveal the health, direction, and potential of your business. Here are eight metrics every CEO should consider to track growth and drive success.

1. Time to value (TTV)

This metric measures the average time it takes for a new customer to experience the core value of your product or service. A shorter TTV often leads to higher customer satisfaction and retention rates. To improve it, businesses can streamline onboarding, provide quick-start guides, or offer concierge services. For example, a software-as-a-service company might revamp its interface to help customers achieve their first milestone quickly.

2. Customer health index (CHI)

CHI is a composite score that evaluates customer engagement through metrics like feature adoption, support ticket volume, and usage frequency. It’s a critical tool for predicting churn and identifying customers ready for upgrades. Proactive customer support and tools like health dashboards can help identify and address issues early. One tech firm I worked with reduced churn by 25 percent by measuring and acting quickly on signs of disengagement.

3. Onboarding success rate

This metric tracks the percentage of customers who reach key milestones during onboarding. It’s a clear indicator of whether your processes are setting customers up for early success. Businesses can identify drop-off points and adjust accordingly. For instance, if users abandon the setup process, in-app nudges or live chat assistance can help. Effective onboarding often turns first-time users into loyal customers.

4. Customer referral rate

Referrals signal trust and a strong product-market fit. A high referral rate also lowers acquisition costs while expanding your customer base organically. Many companies use referral incentives, but small touches can also make a difference. For example, one e-commerce brand I worked with doubled its referral rate simply by including handwritten thank-you notes in their packages.

5. Cross-sell or upsell efficiency

This metric measures how effectively you expand within your existing customer base by offering complementary products or premium tiers. Analyzing purchase patterns and tailoring offers to customer needs are key. For instance, Amazon excels at this by suggesting “frequently bought together” items. Personalization and logical suggestions can drive significant incremental revenue.

6. Team velocity index

This metric tracks how quickly teams move from idea to execution, an essential measure of agility in competitive markets. Streamlining approval processes and investing in collaboration tools can improve team velocity. One media client of mine reduced project cycle times by 30 percent by streamlining decision-making and simplifying workflows.

7. Pricing elasticity impact

Pricing changes can have profound effects on customer retention and lifetime value, beyond short-term conversion rates. By testing different pricing strategies, businesses can determine what resonates most with their audience. A subscription-based company, for example, can test bundle offers to find the right balance between maximizing revenue and maintaining retention.

8. Innovation contribution ratio

This metric calculates the percentage of revenue or user engagement driven by new products or features launched in the past twelve months. It’s a vital measure of how innovation fuels growth and keeps your business ahead of the competition. Companies like Apple thrive by consistently delivering impactful innovations. Regularly reviewing performance metrics tied to recent launches can ensure alignment with broader goals.

By focusing on these key metrics, growth-minded CEOs can chart a clear path forward. Metrics provide a window into what’s working, what’s not, and where to focus next. Let these insights drive your decisions and fuel your success.

Why Most $1 Million Founders Never Reach $10 Million

Scaling a business requires a new mindset. Here’s what’s holding you back.

As a business coach who has worked with numerous founders and CEOs, I’ve seen firsthand the challenges that come with scaling a business. Many founders can get their companies to $1 million in revenue, but very few successfully push through to $10 million.

The reason? They often rely on the same strategies that got them to $1 million without realizing that what worked in the early days can hold them back in the next growth phase. Here are five common mistakes founders make that keep them from scaling to $10 million—and how to overcome them.

1. They won’t stop selling.

One of the most significant barriers to scaling is the founder’s inability to step back from the sales process. Early on, the founder is often the best salesperson, intimately familiar with the product and passionate about its value. However, this approach needs to scale. To move from $1 million to $10 million, founders must shift from being the primary salesperson to building a scalable, repeatable sales system.

This means hiring a sales team, developing a robust sales process, and investing in tools that allow the team to operate efficiently. A well-designed sales system can generate revenue predictably and consistently, enabling the business to grow beyond the founder’s capacity.

2. They want to be the smartest person in the room.

Founders who want to scale their businesses need to hire people who are smarter and more experienced than they are in key areas. Unfortunately, many founders surround themselves with “yes” people—team members who are more concerned with pleasing the founder than challenging them or bringing new ideas to the table.

To reach $10 million, founders must build a leadership team of seasoned executives who can drive the company forward. This requires letting go of the need to be the smartest person in the room and embracing the collective intelligence of a robust and diverse team.

3. They are too internally focused.

Another common mistake is spending too much time tweaking internal operations and systems instead of focusing on the external market. While efficient operations are crucial, they won’t drive growth independently. Founders need to get out of the office, engage with customers, understand competitors, and build strategic relationships to propel the business forward.

By shifting focus from internal processes to external opportunities, companies can unlock new markets, forge valuable partnerships, and tap into additional revenue streams that are crucial for scaling. This strategic pivot enables businesses to explore untapped potential and innovate, thereby driving growth and enhancing competitiveness in the market.

4. They micromanage people.

Founders often micromanage their teams, focusing on tasks and processes rather than outcomes. While this hands-on approach might work in the early stages, it becomes a bottleneck as the company grows. To scale effectively, founders need to develop leaders within the organization who can set goals, create strategies, and execute them without constant oversight.

By empowering team members to make their own decisions and take full ownership of their projects, founders can significantly free up their own schedules. This approach not only lightens the leadership’s workload but also cultivates a culture of accountability and innovation within the organization.

Such empowerment leads to a more engaged and motivated team, as individuals feel valued and trusted to drive results. This strategy not only accelerates growth but also encourages a proactive and creative work environment where everyone feels responsible for the company’s success.

5. They don’t leverage external resources.

Finally, many founders fall into the trap of thinking they must do everything themselves. This “I can do it better” mindset limits their ability to scale. Successful founders understand the value of leveraging external resources, such as investors, advisors, consultants, and coaches. These resources can provide the capital, expertise, and strategic guidance needed to scale more quickly and profitably.

By strategically leveraging external resources, founders can effectively avoid common pitfalls that many growth companies face. This approach enables them to make more informed decisions backed by expertise and insights that they may not have internally. Consequently, this strategic advantage can significantly accelerate their growth trajectory, allowing them to achieve their business objectives more quickly and efficiently.

Scaling a business from $1 million to $10 million requires more than just hard work—it demands a fundamental shift in mindset and strategy. By stepping back from sales, hiring top talent, focusing on the market, building leaders, and leveraging external resources, founders can break through the barriers that prevent them from reaching the next level of growth.