Leadership

So often when we talk about "nice" or "polite" cultures, we're actually describing environments where people are some combination of: 1. Conflict avoidant 2. Not supported by leaders with more formal or informal power when they attempt clear conversations, and/or 3. Lacking the skills to talk TO people about hard things, so they talk ABOUT people instead. Not one of these scenarios leads to nice or polite. They lead to back-channeling, meetings after the meetings, gossip, loss of agency, poor decision making, decline in performance, and distrust. The best investment leaders can make is in building the skills that support a clear and kind culture, and rewarding that behavior rather than punishing it. Clear and kind cultures can get uncomfortable, but that's where courage lives.

𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗺’𝘀 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗹𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗺𝗮𝘆 𝗯𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝘁𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮 𝗯𝗿𝗼𝗸𝗲𝗻 𝘀𝘆𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗺. One pattern I keep seeing in transformation work is that organizations often confuse endurance with health. A team finds a workaround, performance recovers, and leaders conclude that the system is functioning. But the workaround gradually becomes part of the operating model, which means the organization starts depending on people absorbing problems that should have been removed. That is how dysfunction becomes invisible. Strong employees compensate for weak processes, loyal managers protect outdated structures, and good results make intervention feel unnecessary. 𝗦𝘂𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗱𝗼𝗲𝘀𝗻’𝘁 𝗮𝗹𝘄𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝘆𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗺 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝘀. 𝗦𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀 𝗶𝘁 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝘃𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝘂𝗿𝘃𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗶𝘁. This is why leaders should look beyond outcomes and ask where people are quietly compensating for structural failure. The places requiring the most resilience are often the places requiring redesign. What problem has your team become too good at working around? #AIReadiness #FutureOfManagement #OrganizationalDesign #TransformationLeadership

Only 25% of wealthy families successfully preserve wealth into the second generation. Roughly 10% make it to the third generation, and just 5% sustain that wealth into the fourth. Those numbers help explain why many Family Offices are being forced to rethink their structure, priorities, and long term purpose. The traditional image of the Family Office has long been tied to scale, exclusivity, and large internal operations. Dedicated investment teams, private legal counsel, concierge services, and layered governance structures became markers of sophistication for ultra wealthy families seeking greater control over their financial lives. Now, many Family Offices are moving in a different direction. Despite continued growth in global wealth, a rising number of Family Offices are downsizing, consolidating operations, or shutting down entirely. The shift has less to do with declining wealth and more to do with rising complexity, operational costs, and changing generational priorities. Maintaining a fully staffed Family Office today requires significant expense across talent, compliance, cybersecurity, technology, and administration. For many families, especially those below the ultra large institutional level, the structure no longer delivers the efficiency it once promised. The issue is rarely investment performance alone. More often, wealth disappears because of weak governance, lack of communication, succession failures, entitlement, and growing family fragmentation over time. Generational transition is also reshaping the Family Office itself. Second and third generation family members often bring different investment philosophies, levels of involvement, and long term priorities. As families spread across multiple regions and jurisdictions, alignment becomes more difficult and governance grows more complicated. In response, many families are adopting leaner structures focused on oversight and strategy while outsourcing specialized functions to external partners. Investment management, estate planning, reporting, cybersecurity, and administrative services can now be handled externally with institutional quality support. Technology has accelerated this shift, allowing smaller teams to operate with greater efficiency and visibility than ever before. The conversation is also becoming more intentional. Many families are no longer measuring success by the size of their operation. Instead, the focus has shifted toward governance, communication, succession planning, and long term family cohesion. In many cases, a smaller and more focused Family Office structure may be better suited for preserving wealth across generations than a large internal organization weighed down by complexity. The Family Office industry is still growing globally, but the model itself is changing. The future Family Office will likely be defined less by size and more by adaptability, clarity, and strategic coordination.

The most consequential decisions in a career are often the ones that look irrational in the moment. A common pattern in high-growth companies is that the most impactful roles are often the least defined at the outset. The title is unclear. The scope is fluid. By traditional metrics, it can look like a step down. That is the point. Early in your career, and often well into it, people optimize for position. They evaluate title, compensation, reporting lines. They try to map a linear path forward. This is a legacy framework from a more static economy. But in periods of technological acceleration, the variables that matter shift. High-growth companies compress time and push you beyond your prior experience. They push you to develop new skills quickly and operate beyond your prior experience. One year of work can feel like five. In those conditions, the job description becomes secondary. What matters is whether you are working on important problems alongside people who raise your standard. Careers tend to follow momentum. The environments you choose shape the trajectory more than the plans you start with. The challenge is that these opportunities rarely present themselves clearly. They look incomplete. Uneven. Risky. The question is whether you can recognize directional momentum early and commit before the outcome is fully defined. #schmidtsights

I did not do an MBA. And in many ways, that became my biggest competitive advantage. Over the years, I have met many bright young managers from top institutes. Extremely sharp. Very articulate. Very confident. Sometimes a little too confident. There is a tendency to feel that once you have the degree, you know enough. Reading slows down. Curiosity slows down. Real learning slows down. Business does not work like that. It is not only about strategy decks and case studies. It is about people. Culture. Talent. Judgment. These are not subjects you can fully learn in a classroom. And the world is not static. Geopolitics is shifting. Technology is redefining industries. Consumer behaviour changes faster than any curriculum. So you have to keep learning. Continuously. I prefer dialogue over reports. I would rather debate with a thought leader than read a polished consultant presentation. Through interaction, both sides refine their thinking. A report gives you information. Conversation gives you insight. I also believe in going to the ground myself. Meeting teams two levels below. Visiting markets. Listening directly. Not to monitor, but to understand. If I had to summarise the ground level truths no classroom can teach you, they would be: 1. The moment you think you know it all, you stop growing. 2. Strategy without culture and talent will eventually fail. 3. Judgment is built through experience and interaction, not frameworks. 4. Continuous learning is non negotiable in a fast changing world. 5. Dialogue sharpens thinking far more than a static report. 6. Real insight comes from going to the ground, not sitting in a boardroom. A degree can open doors. Humility, curiosity, and the willingness to keep learning keep you relevant. #leadership #mindset #learning

Don’t confuse sharing with branding. Last week I had a long convo with a CEO that I manage. It was about how his team suggested raising his personal brand by going hard on social media. He hired a new young hip team for social and PR. Their advice was to start posting all aspects of his life to help brand him and make him more relatable. That might work for them. But when you are a CEO doing over 1 billion in business annually. Raising your profile the right way w def increase opportunity for your company, share holders and family. But if it’s done the wrong way. It can be detrimental. This is not a game! Everything you post is a message. Youre either building equity… or giving it away. Thats why even my posts are very calculated. If Im going to an important event, you might not hear about it until after. If im dealing with a personal problem, you’ll never know. Unless it’s a health matter that we can all learn from. If it involves people I love or my inner circle, it stays protected. If I share a dream or a goal, it’s because I want the right people to see it. the ones who can help build it, not break it. If something is personal to my family or friends, it will never live on social media. Before you post, ask one question: What’s the end goal? • Humor? Show range with intention. • Conflict? Show growth or resolution. • Family moments? Remember the world is watching too. Oversharing without strategy isn’t authenticity. it’s just noise. And noise has no upside. Some things are meant to be protected. Because once everything is public, everyone has an opinion. And not all of them want to see you win. Post with purpose. Remember to Brand yourself on your terms. DJ

As Duarte grew, I’d hear feedback that decisions were made too slowly, which confused me. In reality, we didn’t have a system to recognize when the team was asking for a decision. We thought they were just informing us, so decisions would languish. We weren’t ignoring them, failing to act, or even making incorrect decisions... We just didn’t realize a decision needed to be made in the first place. It dawned on the exec team that the lack of clarity during the conversation is what slows teams down. Leaders and teams can share the same language for decision-making. Much of it is about shaping recommendations that actually lead to the right type of action and making the urgency clear. Here’s the shift that changed everything… We started mapping every decision against two factors: urgency and risk. Low risk, low urgency: Decide without me. Your team runs with it. Low risk, high urgency: Inform on progress. They update you, but keep driving. High risk, low urgency: Propose for approval. They bring a recommendation, and you decide together. High risk, high urgency: Escalate immediately. You're in it together, right now. Once my team understood which quadrant a decision lived in, they knew exactly how to approach me. And I knew exactly what my role was. The framework gave us a shared language. People can’t act on ideas if they don’t understand how decisions are made. Leaders should define how recommendations move from idea to approval to action. That transparency keeps progress from stalling. Remember: One of the biggest threats to your company isn't a lack of good ideas. It's a lack of clarity. #Leadership #ExecutiveLeadership #OrganizationalCulture #DecisionMaking

IndiGo (InterGlobe Aviation Ltd) CRISIS WASN’T IN THE SKIES. IT WAS IN THE LEADERSHIP CABIN. Three things stood out. One: Employees were left alone to face furious customers. No leader should ever let that happen. If you don’t stand by your people in a storm, don’t expect them to stand by your customers in the sun. Customer experience collapses the moment employees feel abandoned. Two: In any crisis, honesty is the only strategy that works. This time, the communication wasn’t transparent. When leaders hide the full picture, years of goodwill can disappear overnight. A crisis can earn trust, but only if you tell the truth. Three: The belief that “we are too big to be ignored” has ended more companies than competition ever has. Customers always have a choice. And if they don’t, they will create one. We shouldn’t watch the Indigo crisis like spectators. This is a reminder for every leader to build their own crisis blueprint. Because crises will come, when they do, your response becomes your reputation. There is more to business than profits. There are people, trust, and how you show up when it matters most.

This may be an unpopular opinion but.... the most important characteristics I look for in a leader are vulnerability, empathy, and intuition. Everything else is secondary. Why? ➡️ Hire a leader with empathy because if they can create a culture where your employees are not terrified to fail or make a mistake, that will allow them to be more innovative. At Spanx we had 'oops' meetings where we would go around and talk about a mistake we made that week. Employees (and leadership!) had to stand up and share their biggest screw-ups. It made it to where the fear of embarrassment didn't kill performance. ➡️ Hire a leader who's vulnerable and doesn't feel the need to put on a facade to be taken seriously. When I started Spanx, instead of talking at my customer, I wanted to talk to them. I made myself vulnerable, and I tried to apply that same logic to working with my employees. Vulnerability helps you connect with everyone. Your customers, your employees, even your critics! ➡️ Hire a leader who's in touch with their intuition. Do they know how to listen to their gut? Do they know when to throw out the data and the 'expert opinions'? The Spanx team and I did this in 2019 when picking the famous leather legging as our hero product of the year.... we had no proof that it would create a cult-following but we had a gut feeling and we trusted it. What are your top 3 things you look for in a leader? ⬇️

You're the bottleneck in your own business. Yesterday someone asked me how I stopped being everywhere at once in my company. Hard truth. Gently said— You're not irreplaceable. You just haven't taught anyone to replace you. Here's how to "Buy back your time". (hat tip to Dan Martell) Step 1: Time Audit Track every task for a week. Not what you think you do. What you actually do. That Instagram scroll? Write it down. That "quick" email that took 47 minutes? Document it. That client revision you should've delegated? Note it. Step 2: Create Your Escape Plan (SOPs) Record yourself doing the task. Loom. iPhone. Whatever. Just hit record and narrate your thinking. "I'm choosing this font because..." "I always check this metric first because..." "When clients say X, I respond with Y because..." Your brain on video. Your process in pixels. As Dan says, Camcorder yourself. Step 3: The Three-Phase Handoff Phase 1: "Watch me" They observe. Take notes. Ask questions. You're still doing. They're learning. Phase 2: "Let's do it together" They drive. You navigate. Supervised practice with immediate feedback. Phase 3: "You've got this" They own it. Random quality checks. Only escalate when stuck. This isn't delegation. This is how you clone yourself. The result? They get agency. You get freedom. The business gets systems. Most founders think they're protecting quality by doing everything themselves. You're not. You're protecting your ego. Your business shouldn't need you to function. It should need you to grow. Big difference. What task are you doing this week that someone else should be doing next month? Name it. Own it. Then delegate it. Small Business Builders #smallbusinessmentor #businessgrowth #delegation #buybackyourtime