Happy Saturday! I typically open this newsletter with a photo of a sunrise or beautiful landscape as a palette cleanser. Something to reset your brain and invite you to take a breath before engaging with a few new ideas as you move through your inbox.The featured photo on this one in particular is special to […]
Make the Decisions Your Team is Waiting On (2024 | Week 21)
Lessons from Building Homes in Haiti, Mexico, and Beyond My guest on the podcast this week was Matthew Marshall. He has dedicated the past decade of his career to building New Story, a not-for-profit dedicated to expanding access to home and land-ownership for people who deserve better, safer housing. We spoke at length about doing mission-driven work. In […]
Five powerful lessons I learned from exceptional founders this week (2024 | Week 20)
Hey Reader, Happy Saturday! I’m going to change things up this week, starting with giving a little behind-the-scenes look at how I’m approaching strategy in my business. There are three pillars to what I do in my company of one: Coaching Coaching is the key to everything. It’s what produces all of my revenue and […]
Three great reads on the age of peak creativity, luck, and hiring from Marc Andreessen (2024 | Week 19)
Happy Saturday! And welcome back to my newsletter on leading for impact. Would you do me a favor? If you’ve listened to an episode of the podcast, I’d be really grateful if you would go here and leave a rating and review. Shout out to the kind folks who have left generous reviews already, including the […]
Make Your First Hire, Embrace Ambitious Projects, and Read Like a Leader (2024 | Week 18)
Hey Reader! My wife and I made a quick trip up to Seattle to see Justin Timberlake live last night. She’s loved him since his N*Sync days and I enjoy his music, so that works out well. This week on the podcast, one of the most interesting writers of the Substack-pandemic era joined me as […]
The Eightfold Fence Strategy for Facing Hardship, Lessons from Hyper Growth, and Why You Should Work with Your Hands (2024 | Week 17)
Hey Reader! It’s a classic rainy and chilly spring weekend here in Portland and we’ve been enjoying it with pancakes, at the zoo, and with some delicious coffee and tea from our favorite local spots. I normally send this newsletter early on Saturday mornings, but I was exhausted after traveling solo with my son last […]
Emotions of the Founder Journey, Scaling Down, Friendship, and Managing Conflict Well (2024 | Week 16)
Hey Reader! Yesterday was my grandfather’s 90th birthday and we’re celebrating today, which for a variety of reasons means I’m hitting your inbox a few hours later than normal. I’m thinking about interviewing him and recording it for our family’s oral history. Hit reply with any great questions you’ve asked your elders and enjoyed hearing […]
Conscious Endings, Seeking Better Tools, and What Impactful Leaders Have in Common (2024 | Week 15)
Hey Reader! What an incredible week. All of you awesome people made it possible for the podcast to hit #15 in the business category and #130 in all of Apple Podcasts. In week one! My friend made me say out loud that I have “A top 25 business show.” I’m taking it under consideration for […]
Trust Yourself, Notice Patterns Holding You Back, and Get Unstuck… Plus an Essay from 1947 (2024 | Week 14)
Hey Reader! Gotta admit, I’m so hyped about the podcast launching that I had a hard time getting hyped about writing the regular newsletter this week. The team got the podcast mini-site up at GoodWorkShow.com. You’ll always be able to find the episodes, show notes, and links to listening platforms there. The mascot and art work […]
Culture is a Talent Multiplier (Or, How Culture Drives Performance)
Editor’s Note: This is the first essay in a series on what I learned as COO of ConvertKit as we grew from $3M to $30M ARR and 20 to 75 teammates while being bootstrapped and fully remote (before it was cool). ConvertKit is a creator economy software startup on a mission to help creators earn […]