INSIGHTS & IDEAS
Growth Insights
Strategy, psychology, and the thinking behind revenue that actually grows.
Why Boards Choose Short-Term Revenue Over LTV—and What CEOs Can Do About It
It is late February 2026. You made it through the January board meeting. The deck looked great, the pipeline chart pointed up and to the right, and someone—probably more than one someone—said some version of: “We just need to hit Q1. We can reinvest in the long game later.” Later
The Peak-End Rule in Customer Experience: Designing Moments That Drive Referrals
Your customer satisfaction scores look solid. Your Net Promoter Score is respectable. Yet your referral engine sputters along at half the rate you need. Sound familiar? Here’s what most leadership teams miss: customers don’t remember experiences the way accountants measure them—by averaging everything. They remember like humans, which means your
The Hidden Tax of Broken Stages: How Vague Pipeline Definitions Quietly Kill B2B Growth
As we kick off 2026, CEOs, Marketing and Sales leaders across B2B companies of all sizes are finalizing growth plans, setting aggressive pipeline targets, and aligning their go-to-market strategies. Yet one of the most consequential drivers of profitable scale rarely makes it into board presentations: how marketing and sales stages
Do You Want Fries With That? Revisiting the Half-Life of Cross-Sell
If you’ve read my earlier post on The Half-Life of Cross-Sell, you know the uncomfortable truth: your window to sell more to an existing customer decays rapidly—often in days, not weeks. But here’s what I didn’t fully explore: the psychology behind why that window closes so fast, and more importantly,
From Fixed to Flourishing: How Leaders Build Teams That Embrace Growth
As we kick off 2026, I’ve been thinking about an uncomfortable truth: the biggest limitation on most teams isn’t talent, resources, or market conditions—it’s the invisible beliefs team members hold about their own potential. After spending three decades building and leading teams across multiple industries, I’ve watched countless smart leaders
What Rock, Paper, Scissors Can Teach Us About Marketing
As we settle into 2026, I’ve been thinking about an unlikely source of marketing wisdom: the game of Rock, Paper, Scissors. Recent neuroscience research reveals that this simple game, which we’ve all played as children and adults, is actually a microcosm of human decision-making under competition—and the insights have direct
The Sunk Cost Trap: When Loyalty to a Bad Bet Drains Your Future Growth
You’ve invested eighteen months and $2 million into a product that was supposed to revolutionize your category. Customer pilots came back lukewarm. Your team keeps finding reasons why next quarter will be different. But pulling the plug means admitting those 18 months were wasted—and nobody wants to be the executive
The Halo Effect: Why Your Best Hire Might Be Your Worst Decision
January’s here, which makes this the perfect time to address one of the most expensive biases in business. The fresh start effect—a behavioral science principle showing that temporal landmarks like New Year’s Day boost our motivation to change—gives us that extra push to tackle hard truths (Dai et al., 2014).
The Hidden Variable in Your Business Strategy: Why Mental Health Matters More Than Your Next Quarter
A Holiday Message for the Leaders Who Keep Going As I post this on December 23rd, many of you are still working—checking emails between family gatherings, reviewing Q4 numbers, planning 2026 strategy. That relentless commitment got you here. But particularly this time of year, I need to talk to you
Why Your Q1 Growth Targets Are Probably Fantasy: The Planning Fallacy and What CEOs Can Do About It
December planning sessions are in full swing, and leadership teams across companies of all sizes are setting aggressive targets for the new year. Throughout my career, I have consistently seen savvy executives projecting 40% revenue growth, record-time product launches, and flawless execution. Here is the uncomfortable truth: most of these
The Confirmation Bias Boardroom: When Data Becomes an Echo Chamber
In the high-stakes realm of executive decision-making, even the savviest CEOs and founders can fall prey to subtle cognitive traps. One of the most insidious is confirmation bias—the tendency to favor information that reinforces our existing beliefs while disregarding contradictory evidence. This bias isn’t a sign of poor intellect; it’s
Traction Is Not an Accident: The Science of Predictable Growth
Most founders think they have a product problem. In truth, they have a traction problem. You can build something extraordinary, pour your heart and capital into it, and still fail—because you never figured out how to acquire customers predictably. That’s the hard truth behind Traction: How Any Startup Can Achieve
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