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 implications for how we approach […]
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 who burned through capital for […]
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). Here’s one worth facing: that […]
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 about something rarely discussed in […]
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 plans are built on cognitive […]
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 Explosive Customer Growth by Gabriel Weinberg and Justin Mares (2015). Whether you’re scaling […]
The Survivorship Illusion: Why Copying Winners Rarely Works
You don’t see the 99 companies that failed doing what the one did right. That simple truth should reshape how every CEO and founder thinks about strategy. Yet business leaders consistently fall into the same trap: studying success stories, benchmarking against winners, and copying “best practices”—all while ignoring the invisible graveyard of companies that tried […]
The Anchoring Trap: How a Single Number Can Hijack Your Business Decisions
In 2000, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings walked into Blockbuster’s headquarters with an offer: purchase Netflix for $50 million (Randolph, 2019). Blockbuster’s leadership rejected the proposal outright. At the time, Blockbuster had 9,000 stores worldwide and nearly $6 billion in revenue, while Netflix was a small mail-order DVD service. Blockbuster was anchored to its brick-and-mortar dominance, […]
Moats That Multiply: Building Competitive Advantages That Compound
Most CEOs I meet obsess over revenue targets. Few obsess over protecting them. Here’s the truth that becomes obvious in every M&A process or investor pitch: two companies with identical revenue can command wildly different valuations. The difference? One has a moat, the other has momentum. Investors and acquirers pay premium multiples for defensible revenue—the […]
Why 10x Is Easier Than 2x: The Behavioral Science of Exponential Growth
If you’re running a company or business for any length of time, you’ve probably felt it—that invisible ceiling. You’ve expanded your product line, hired more salespeople, invested in marketing automation, and doubled down on customer success. Yet somehow, your growth curve looks less like a hockey stick and more like an EKG readout. The problem isn’t that you’re not working hard enough. The problem could be […]