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I just finished Isaacson's book on Musk. It's incredible! Every founder and CEO should read it. Here are my top four learnings: (1) Mission Above All: Musk has the fortitude to build many multi-billion dollar companies concurrently because each has a humanity-altering mission that deeply convicts him. He doesn't care about being the top rocket company; he believes humanity is doomed if we don't become multi-planetary. He doesn't care about making the best-selling car; he thinks society must transition to clean energy to survive. To him, SpaceX, Tesla, and Neuralink's missions are vital to preserving humanity. Musk won't stop until he achieves these missions. (2) Guided by First Principles: Musk challenges all generally accepted conventions with first-principles thinking. This approach allows him to create much grander visions than 99.9% of people. He questions everything. He considers all fresh ideas, no matter how ambitious and unrealistic they appear. So long as the laws of physics don't preclude an idea from becoming an actual product or process, it's game on. (3) Hardcore and Extreme Urgency: Musk sets seemingly unrealistic targets with public launches and oftentimes puts his teams through excruciating circumstances to achieve massive dreams. He catches a lot of flack for it. But show me another way to build numerous multi-billion businesses at the speed he's done it. Bill Gates ran Microsoft equally hardcore in the early days - same result. Every sports championship documentary I've ever watched is about blood, sweat, and tears. I'm convinced that if you want to go big and fast, you must be hardcore. (4) Maniacal Attention to Product Simplicity and Cost: I think this is so overlooked in software. CEOs delegate to CTOs while focusing on fundraising, GTM, and culture. Imagine CEOs obsessed over product details, simplicity, and production costs. Sure, that might drive some product managers and engineers crazy, but if managed well, we'd have much better products requiring much less marketing, sales, and support investment. If you're building a company today, a few key questions: a) How much conviction do you have in your mission? Even if you're not sending rockets to Mars, will your mission fuel your drive for the next 7-10 years? b) Are you breaking conventions or following common processes? How can you shatter the mold and push your industry forward? c) Is your culture hardcore or laid-back? Do you want to go big and win championships or be comfortable and achieve moderate success?  d) Do you really understand your industry, user, and product? What are the top five ways to simplify your product and reduce time-to-market and production costs? #founder #startups #ceo #saas

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An interesting article below, that demonstrates out how San Diego is punching above its weight.  And how Connect's strategy and execution over time, contintues to be central to that success. The article describes the current state of the market in Seattle.  (And i love Seattle.) It's a market that we tend to track with relative to venture fundings.  They used to kick our butts, we outraised them each of the last three years.  This despite the fact they have 3x as many funds there, and 9x the amount of resident capital there. (per pitchbook) Some key takeaways:  * They continue to compare themselves to SIlicon Valley. Instead, we leverage our proximity. *They whine there's not enough local investors (see note above - they have more than us). We bring over 200 VCs to SD annually! * They say founders are not connected with one another. We bring CEOs together regularly, in a variety of ways - private dinners and through our Springboard program. * They say they need to elevate their image on a national & international stage. Why we created and continue to build Five.Ten.Thirty (aka Inno Day).  * And the last paragraph - they need to concentrate on making their region a great place to live. Our mantra: "It's about Better, not Bigger." (See XEO, TL Fund). THANK YOU FOR ALL OF YOUR SUPPORT. WE ARE ON A MISSION TOGETHER!!!  (Comments, whining, suggestions on SD always welcome.) https://lnkd.in/g6Rq_f2Y

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Employee terminations: they're a topic no one wants to discuss but that every company has to navigate. Thankfully, Melanie Naranjo and wonderful Ethena advisor (& Gusto's former People Leader) Jess Yuen are tackling this tricky topic for the next Ethena webinar. Register if you want to learn more about these topics: How to pressure test whether or not termination is the right course of action Best practices for communicating termination decisions How to minimize risk and choose the best course of action when things get tricky Critical pitfalls to avoid

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Some midweek wisdom from Y Combinator founder, Paul Graham, on why startups shouldn't stress over competitors. According to Graham, based on Y Combinator's extensive data set, few of their startups are actually killed by competitors. He compares the protection a startup has against competitors to the vastness of space, emphasising that the market is large enough for multiple players to thrive. Graham's analogy likens encountering a competitor to suddenly finding another runner in your race lane - the best course of action? “It’s sort of like if you’re running the hundred meters and suddenly a lane appears with another runner in it. What should you do? Run as fast as you can, just like you presumably were.” #Startups #Competition #Entrepreneurship #wearehiring

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🙋🏽‍♀️ 𝙄'𝙢 𝙞𝙣 𝙏𝙖𝙡𝙚𝙣𝙩. 𝙄 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙖 𝙡𝙖𝙧𝙜𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙞𝙢𝙥𝙖𝙘𝙩𝙛𝙪𝙡 𝙣𝙚𝙩𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙠. 𝘼𝙣𝙙 𝙣𝙚𝙩𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙞𝙨 𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙙. Networking as a concept still causes my introverted spirit to shrivel up just a little bit inside. Cultivation is much easier but leveraging my amazing web of folx remains 𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗱.  I contrast my job seeking experiences during two pivotal moments in my career: 🎣 𝗟𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗠𝘆 𝗙𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗽 𝗝𝗼𝗯 When I was first trying to gain an entry point into tech, I had no network (and no connections in the tech industry) and applied to nearly 100 jobs before getting the first interview that changed the trajectory of my career. 💥 𝗕𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗼 𝗩𝗖 Years later when I was again at a career inflection point and felt in my bones a need for change, I resigned myself to the application slog once again. I had a network but I didn't know how to use it and I wouldn't have even considered VC. I couldn't imagine what I had no exposure to. Jerry Nemorin, my manager & CEO at the time, planted the VC seed for me. And then he went one further and recommended me to his investor. 💥 Thank you, Jerry 🙏🏽 . 👀 𝗠𝘆 𝗖𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗿 𝗧𝗼 𝗗𝗮𝘁𝗲 A series of chances. Yes, I worked my butt off, too. Timing played a big role. I committed to my growth and left roles that were no longer aligned and pursued roles that were. But I would not be here in VC collaborating on programming for startup job seekers without that referral and that is a privilege and a gift. 𝙒𝙝𝙤 𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙆𝙣𝙤𝙬 & 𝙒𝙝𝙤 𝘼𝙙𝙫𝙤𝙘𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙨 𝙁𝙤𝙧 𝙔𝙊𝙐 𝙈𝙖𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙨 💗 Whether you are: 🤜🏽 trying to break into a new role or industry with a limited network 🤝  looking to nurture and grow your professional connections in meaningful ways 🕸 wondering how to call upon your web of connections to support you in your next career move 𝙣𝙚𝙩𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙘𝙖𝙣 𝙗𝙚 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙣𝙜𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙬𝙚 𝙘𝙖𝙣 𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙙𝙚𝙚𝙥𝙚𝙣 𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙣𝙚𝙩𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙢𝙪𝙨𝙘𝙡𝙚𝙨 💪🏽   Join me on 𝗪𝗲𝗱𝗻𝗲𝘀𝗱𝗮𝘆, 𝗠𝗮𝘆 𝟭𝟱 at Initialized Capital's 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗽 𝗧𝗮𝗹𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗦𝘂𝗺𝗺𝗶𝘁 for some tactical advice on networking and so much more. 💫 In her talk, "𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙉𝙚𝙩𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙠 𝙀𝙛𝙛𝙚𝙘𝙩: 𝙎𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙜𝙞𝙚𝙨 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙃𝙖𝙧𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙔𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝘾𝙤𝙣𝙣𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨," Eleanor Morgan, founder & ceo, of a stealth social platform for job and talent matchmaking, will share insights for how to 𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘯𝘦𝘵𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘯 𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘴𝘵.  🏋🏽‍♀️ 𝙒𝙚 𝙘𝙖𝙣 𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙪𝙥𝙡𝙞𝙛𝙩 𝙖𝙨 𝙬𝙚 𝙘𝙡𝙞𝙢𝙗 🧗🏽‍♀️ This 𝗳𝗿𝗲𝗲 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘁 is open to all SF Bay Area talent looking for their next job opportunity at an early stage startup. Sign up here 👉🏽 https://lnkd.in/g_nDPjWi Space is limited. #StartupJobs #JobSupport #StartupReadiness

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Looking forward to discussing how changing demographics and culture norms are affecting investment opportunities in longevity, health and well-being at The Care Summit today Alongside Cake Ventures' Monique Woodard, Ziegler's Dan Hermann, Oak HC/FT's Billy Deitch and JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s Jennifer Edwards, we’ll dive into the trends shaping how we are investing in the space: - Last year marked one of the most significant social and economic moments in modern times: The number of older adults—those aged 50 and over- surpassed the number of children under the age of 15 for the first time. - In 2020 the 50 plus population contributed $45 trillion to global GDP, or 34% of the total. That equates to about 3x the revenue of the world’s 100 highest- earning companies in 2020. - The U.S. population grew by 24.5 million from 2010 to 2022, and Hispanics accounted for 53% of this increase – a greater share than any other racial or ethnic group. - Women around the world and across all ages drive 64% of consumer spending

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I'm leaving Techstars. Techstars is an incredible organization. Both are true. The last decade has been an amazing immersion into the world of venture and I've been able to work with some of the smartest people on the planet. 11 years ago, I sat in front of David Cohen, one of the 4 founders of Techstars, as he talked about building the largest, most effective entrepreneurial network in the world. His vision drew me away from an incredible role at LinkedIn. In the course of the initial conversation, he laid out an emotional connection to a historically transactional experience - venture capital. He didn't have the words for it then, but later it would become the idea of #givefirst, the ethos that drives the organization and the connectivity of the founders within it. I’ve tried to live that. David recently returning, assures that concept will continue. When I signed on to join Techstars in 2014, I thought I'd stay for 3 or 4 years, a decade later I'm writing this note. What a ride it's been. And now it ends, but not before a few "thank you's": - David (David Brown and Brad Feld)...thanks for starting Techstars, you have done so much good in the world - Ari N. (and Brent Grinna)...thanks for the introduction into Techstars (which led to me getting hired). Glad we are still friends today. - Daniel Feld and Sabrina Kelly...thanks for getting me through the hiring process all those years ago - Thanks Jenny Lawton for taking a risk on me for VP of Network - Brian Daly, Dennis List, Jenny Fielding, Jenny Lawton, Eamonn Carey, Max Kelly, Jason Seats, Blake Yeager, Jens Lapinski, Natty Zola, Nicole Glaros, Jag Singh, 👋 Clement Cazalot, Aaron O'Hearn, Amos Schwartzfarb, Frank Alfano, Amy Smith, Don Loeb and so many more for being friends and colleagues - Kara Kennedy, Kristi DeLozier, Andrea Perdomo, Gregg Cochran, Paul Kaiser, Ramzy Ismail, Christina L. Christian, Courtney Gras, Sonya Hausafus, Louis Huynh, Dave Folk, Ellie Wood for working on my respective teams - Thanks to all the current MDs for your trust, friendships and connection - Thanks to everyone I worked with through the years, you have been phenomenal colleagues - Thanks to the mentors, investors, community leaders and corporate partners who made this all work - And, most importantly, thank you to the founders who fed my soul and gave me the energy to travel the planet to help more of you...you were worth every minute...its been an honor to serve you and I'd do it all again Alas, I'm moving on to something else, but that's for another post late next month. Until then, I'm taking time off to decompress before my #nextplay Now I drop the microphone and exit stage left with nothing but love for you all. (curtain closes)

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When we made the decision to leave the Bay Area at the end of 2019, the key enabler of our move was the the belief that Denver was on its way to becoming one of the next biggest tech ecosystems in the US. There are many data points that capture the growth, but this article brings together so many of the quantitative and qualitative reasons why I believe more strongly than ever that Denver is the next great tech hub in America. https://lnkd.in/gT5qWS-c

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I work with companies who prize their culture and invest in the leadership to support it. Today's The Wall Street Journal article on college grads highlights how a tsunami of young adults entering early adulthood feel disconnected, unmoored and unready. The implications here are massive --companies need to be equipped to deal with the realities of a mental health epidemic in our younger members of society. Managers and leaders of organizations: How we lead and manage talent has changed for good (and complaining about how younger hires appear entitled or disengaged takes us nowhere). The good news is that leaders can become skilled in working these new realities. The balance is tipping toward relational leadership skills --more of the human traits we all crave. If you're interested in becoming a skilled leader in these new domains, follow us at Mandala Institute. We're building a community of leaders and courses to deal with the new realities that confront us all at work and life. #futureofwork #culture #leadership #digitalacceleration https://lnkd.in/euYygTGK

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In last week’s radical Briefing, Jeffrey made a strong argument that we explore (and embrace) the “messy middle” in our endeavors to shape the future. His remarks hit a nerve with our community—we had lots of good conversations both on Substack and in our WhatsApp channel. Building on Jeffrey’s insight, I believe for organizations of all kinds to successfully navigate the ambiguity (and thus “messiness”) of our world, it is paramount to have clarity on their North Star. German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche once observed that “if you know the why, you can live any how.” And, of course, American author Simon Sinek, in his famous TED talk, urged leaders to “start with why.” If this sounds familiar, and you count yourself lucky to work for (or run) an organization that has done the work of creating and communicating a good mission statement, consider this wrinkle: Is your mission statement, your North Star, your why clear, concise, and memorable? Can your people recite it by heart and do they truly understand your organization’s direction? Does it work not only as an aspirational tagline but as the ultimate clarifying device it ought to be? All too often, when I look up a company’s mission statement, it reads something like this: …blah blah blah blah innovation blah blah blah culture blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah market leader blah blah blah blah blah blah honesty blah blah blah blah excellence blah blah integrity blah blah blah blah strategies blah blah blah blah… To make sure your mission statement is not just a fancy marketing slogan but truly operates as your organization’s North Star, Kevin Starr, CEO of the Mulago Foundation, created the Eight-Word-Mission-Statement: Formulate your mission statement in the form of Verb – Target – Outcome—using eight words or less. In more detail: What are you doing (verb), for whose benefit (target), to what end (outcome). It is a powerful method to clarify and create a yardstick to measure whether any activity is inside or outside your scope. Want an example? Be radical’s mission statement is “Enable leaders and learners to seize the future.” We enable by teaching tools and frameworks, focusing on leaders inside organizations, not frontline employees, to build the future, which means we don’t work on day-to-day strategy. Your Eight-Word-Mission-Statement might not be suitable for marketing materials, but it will become the guiding star for you and your team, helping you clearly understand your activities (and, equally as important, what you don’t do). It is the sentence your people can recite even at 2am if asked: What does your company (and you) do? And it provides the clarity you and your organization need to navigate the messy middle, ambiguity, and uncertainty. Lastly, you can create Eight-Word-Mission-Statements not only for the company but also for business or organizational units, teams, and even for yourself. Give it a try—and if you like, share it here. #strategy #missionstatement

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New Episode: Let's take a look into the nuts and bolts of VC and what it takes to be an effective manager... I chat with Marlon C. Nichols (Managing General Partner, MaC Venture Capital), a Kauffman Fellows BoD member, and one of the Pitchbook's "25 VCs to Watch". (link below) We discuss topics such as: - Marlon's journey from early operator in enterprise software to VC founder - Venture capital as a path to diversity and strategic engagement - Mac Ventures investment thesis and strategies - Advice for new GPs - Strategies for First-Time fund managers targeting LPs - Strategies for startups targeting successful exits - Evaluating seed stage investments - Venture capital’s shift to sustainable investment strategies - The impact of AI on business Apple Podcasts: https://lnkd.in/g-JVnxFQ Spotify: https://lnkd.in/gWeqVkqX

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Kudos to Zuck for taking aim at VP titles, the proliferation of which is inversely correlated to how lean a company is and how fast it can move. Hope more CEOs follow in his footsteps. It’s also an appropriate time to reshare my old article on Titles. It’s a call to arms to be very thoughtful and intentional about Director / VP titles and avoid them for as long as possible. https://lnkd.in/g4zQkEr

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Today marks a groundbreaking moment for BLCK VC and our fellow collaborators—Diversity VC, All Raise, 2Gether-International, SomosVC, StartOut, and VetsinTech—as we proudly announce the launch of the Diversity Data Alliance. This important alliance underscores our unwavering commitment to nurturing a venture capital and entrepreneurial ecosystem abundant in equity and inclusiveness. By standardizing and linking our data, we empower ourselves with the essential tools to track deeper trends that have, until now, eluded us to identify and fill funding gaps for historically excluded investors, founders, and operators. We can’t change what we do not measure, and now with the Diversity Data Alliance, we're now equipped to do both. Join us in this mission. Learn more and get involved: https://lnkd.in/eEZKdrac #DiversityDataAlliance #BLCKVC #VentureCapital #MeasureToChange

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tldr - I'm joining Neta as a board member to help Danielle and Alon in their mission to unlock billions of dollars sitting in DAFs (Donor-Advised Funds) to be invested in early stage impact startups. If you have a DAF and interested in using it for impact investments, get in touch! - - - - - There is so much money in the world. In theory, we should have enough money to back all crazy-good early-stage impact companies in the world. In practice, ask any impact founder how easy it is to fundraise for their company and you will hear that they often feel that having a positive impact makes it harder for them to fundraise. 𝗧𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘀𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝘀 𝘀𝗶𝗹𝗹𝘆, 𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁? 𝗦𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱𝐧'𝐭 𝘄𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗶𝘇𝗲 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗻 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗺𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗼𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿 𝗯𝗼𝘁𝗵 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗳𝗶𝘁 𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗽𝘂𝗿𝗽𝗼𝘀𝗲? On the flip side, talk to investors who want to back more impact ventures, and you will hear that it's hard for them too: there are not enough benchmarks to assess risks and upside for impact investments, they don't know people who work in these spaces (unlike when they invest in a startup in a traditional space), and often, everything about the deal looks... different: the founders, the market, the customers. 𝗦𝗼 𝘄𝗲 𝗲𝗻𝗱 𝘂𝗽 𝗹𝗶𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝗻 𝗮 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗼𝗻𝗹𝘆 𝗮 𝗳𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝗳 𝗵𝗶𝗴𝗵-𝗿𝗶𝘀𝗸, 𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗹𝘆-𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗴𝗼𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗰𝘁 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗽𝘀. 𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗱𝘂𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝗮𝗱 𝗯𝗲𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗶𝗼𝗿 𝗼𝗳 𝗶𝗻𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘀 - 𝗶𝘁'𝘀 𝗮 𝘀𝘆𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗺𝗶𝗰 𝗶𝘀𝘀𝘂𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘀 (𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗰𝗲𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗱) 𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘀𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗹𝘆 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗮𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗵𝘂𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗶𝘁𝘆'𝘀 𝗯𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗳𝗶𝘁𝘀. DAFs represent a tremendous, underutilized pool of assets that can start changing this. Money sitting in DAFs, waiting to be donated, can fuel high-risk impact innovation that is not "ready" for the private sector and help close the capital gap for early-stage impact companies. The problem? Most DAF holders don't know that they can use their DAF money for early-stage impact investment, they don't know how to do it, and frankly - today it's not so simple. That's all about to change with Neta, an organization I had the pleasure of seeing come into this world, and now I can't be more energized to join its board of directors. There are no one I know better suited to tackle this challenge like Danielle Capalino and Alon L. and I cant wait to see them making make "GrantVestment™ the norm. Grateful to Bill Aulet and for the successful accidental Shidduch. One of many things that the amazing Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship community has brought to my life.

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💯 If your team is drowning in support tickets and customer "rough edges" you should probably sit back and evaluate if you have a viable product. At the very least, you should evaluate if your product team is correctly focused on the needs of your customers when this pattern emerges. "Jessica pointed out that if our solution was to hire someone to deal with customer issues, then next week when we grew more we’d have to hire another person, then another, and so on. Her point was that the real solution isn’t solving tickets, it’s listening to customers and building a better product so customers never need to write in the first place." "In a sense, every customer support ticket is a privilege – someone took time out of their day to write about how to improve your product. But it’s also a failure – you could’ve saved them that time by making the product better and more intuitive in the first place. You can’t out-hire a bad product, or compensate for poor taste with a big support team." Customer feedback is a gift. Don't squander it or pawn the problem off on a man-power to solve it. A pile-up here is *always* a sign that your product direction needs improvement.

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Should we prioritize people, or tech innovation in our large-scale development projects? The strategy's slowly shifting to people. And that’s exactly how California Forever CEO Jan Sramek wins over skeptics like Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway. Not bad. “There’s a lot of baggage that tech has created in building new cities that, unfortunately, we are at the receiving end of”, explains Sramek. So smart cities and tech libertarian network states aren't the focus here. Quite the contrary. He calls the project (in this context) “really, really boring.” The focus: ∙ More housing ∙ Walkable cities ∙ Affordable by design* ∙ Improving the country for residents *(housing prices to start at $400k) I recently covered California Forever, dubbing it a future ‘Tech Utopia’ given its massive Silicon Valley backing. So it’s exciting to see Sramek's positioning and skillful handling of the grilling. Is the era of the smart city over due to its 'baggage'? Time will tell. More on California Forever and other visionaries designing new cities from scratch here: https://lnkd.in/e9-i386q Full interview: https://lnkd.in/eMnT8QhU #futureofcities #urbandevelopment

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In the following HBR post, articulates four roles of a Chief of Staff: 1. Integrator: connecting work streams that would otherwise remain siloed 2. Communicator: linking the leadership team and the broader organization 3. Honest Broker and Truth Teller: when the leader needs a wide-ranging view without turf considerations 4. Confidant:  without an organizational agenda Personally, as a process person, the first two come naturally however it's the last two (I have found) that identify the top tier Chief of Staff. The role truly is about making the leader more effective and ensuring there are no gaps to fill. https://lnkd.in/g6M9jhAV

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If you are looking for ways to support women in leadership, ask more promotion questions. One way to help yourself is to figure out how to respond to prevention questions with a promotion answer. Shout out to Kathryn O'Day for sharing this powerful research in Harvard Business Review! 😁 👏 🔥 Examples: Promotion question: How do you plan to acquire customers? Prevention question: How are you going to keep customers from churning? "According to the psychological theory of regulatory focus, investors adopted what’s called a promotion orientation when quizzing male entrepreneurs, which means they focused on hopes, achievements, advancement, and ideals. Conversely, when questioning female entrepreneurs they embraced a prevention orientation, which is concerned with safety, responsibility, security, and vigilance. We found that 67% of the questions posed to male entrepreneurs were promotion-oriented, while 66% of those posed to female entrepreneurs were prevention-oriented." https://lnkd.in/euw3w633

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