Growth Insights for CEOs

When the Founder Is the Rainmaker: How to Scale Without Losing the Spark
In many founder-led businesses, the founder isn’t just the leader—they’re also the best (and often only) rainmaker. They land the big deals. They have the trusted relationships. They know the pitch inside and out because they are the pitch.
It works—until it doesn’t.
As the business grows, this model creates a bottleneck. Every new opportunity depends on one and only person. And it’s the same person every time. But there’s a downside. When that person is also responsible for running the business, mentoring the team, and shaping the vision, something eventually gives.
Recent Posts

The Untapped Powerhouse: Why CEO Social Media Presence Matters
Fri, Jun 7, 2024 — In today's digital age, consumers and potential employees are increasingly turning to social media to understand the companies they interact with. This extends beyond just a catchy company bio and curated product photos. For private CEOs, social media offers a powerful, yet often underutilized platform to build brand awareness, establish thought leadership, and connect with your target audience on a deeper level.

Infographic: 5 Social Media Insights from My Viral LinkedIn Post with Over 120,000 Views
Tue, Jan 29, 2019 — How to Create Engaging Content and Gain More Followers When Visual Capitalist republished an updated visual of Jeff Bezos’ Empire on January 11th, I posted the following on LinkedIn: The Jeff Bezos Empire in One Giant Chart (Infographic). Within 2 days, the traffic went viral- achieving over 120,000 views in less than a week. Typically, a viral LinkedIn topic is one that exceeds 100,000 views beyond the normal life cycle of a post (2 days). Viral video content has a much higher bar for the number of views in a 3- to 7-day period. As a reference point, most of my LinkedIn posts get a few hundred views and a handful of likes or comments. For a summary of the 5 social media tips, see Infographic at the end of this article.

CEOs: Ready to Enjoy Tom Brady-Style Success in the Boardroom?
Wed, Jul 5, 2017 — Employ the Secrets of the New England Patriots’ Quarterback To Create Your Own Winning Game Plan Whether or not you like the NFL’s New England Patriots, they keep winning -- and always find themselves in playoff contention. So, what’s their secret? Is it better players? Probably not. They always seem to find new or no-name players who seem to outperform on game day, to everyone’s amazement. Is it better coaching or a better playbook? Maybe, but every NFL team has similar offensive and defensive playbooks.
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Attention CEOs: What is the Real ROI on Social Media?
Wed, May 24, 2017 — Let’s travel to an alternate universe for a moment – one in which your corporate accounting is being handled by a cashier from 7-11; in which your IT is being entrusted to your neighbor’s grandfather, who once re-wired a lamp; and one in which your sales is being handled by a guy wearing a trench coat at the top of the subway steps.

LinkedIn Advertising: Does It Work?
Wed, Aug 28, 2013 — (WARNING: Marketing is Not Advertising – this post is simply on the topic of advertising – see last section below) We’ve all seen billboards on a highway that say, “Does Advertising Work? Just Did!” Are we supposed to believe that since we’ve read these words, their ads are effective? I suppose it depends on their objective. But if it’s such an effective medium, why are they using their ad space to promote…well, their ad space? Why aren’t more advertisers lined up to get their messages out along the highways?