"Scaling engineering orgs without chaos with Mike Boufford"

They almost had nothing to pitch. The idea they’d been building? Falling apart mid-incubation. The clock was ticking. The pressure was real. So the team walked into a pre-pitch review and said: “This isn’t working. But here’s what we’ve learned, and where we’re going next.” High risk. Total honesty. And it changed everything. Because they were allowed to do that. To fail, rethink, and pivot with leadership still backing them. That’s what real innovation looks like inside big companies. Not perfect roadmaps. But teams with the freedom to adapt when things break. Emilie Williams, IDSA lived that story, and told it brilliantly on the latest episode of WHY DESIGN?. It’s a must-watch for anyone trying to build something new inside a system built to avoid risk. #Innovation #Leadership #DesignThinking

Large organizations and startups that operate with a "boss culture" almost always lose to markets, consumers, or stakeholders. A leadership culture is what truly matters for a business or its people to thrive. This involves asking open-ended questions. Ultimately, we need to connect personally, build meaningful connections and interactions, and communicate with heart.

Recently tuned into another Swiss Startup Association session — this time with Maren Schlieper, Head of Strategy at HudsonGoodman AG | Scaleup Coach Innosuisse | Member of the Board, Medudoc AG. What stuck with me wasn’t theory — it was the operating reality of scaling. A few prompts I’m taking back to the Django Stars team: ◆︎ Are we measuring resilience or just celebrating momentum? ◆︎ Do our big bets rest on repeatable customer behavior — or opinions? ◆︎ Can every leader explain, in one sentence, how their team moves the company forward? ◆︎ Where are we over-allocating talent and under-allocating focus? ◆︎ Which projects are alive only because of sunk cost? I pulled my takeaways into a quick video you can share with your leadership team. 👉 Watch the video for the distilled insights + an action checklist.

The 2 Hardest Roles Every Business Struggles to Fill In this episode of Acquisition Collective, host Jay Bourgana sits down with Daniel Ramsey to uncover one of the biggest challenges entrepreneurs and dealmakers face: finding the right leaders. According to Daniel, the two hardest roles in any business aren’t the CEO or CFO it’s the sales leader and the marketing leader. Why? Because true marketing leadership requires mastering brand, digital strategy, and conversion, while sales leadership demands driving performance and culture at scale. Most businesses struggle to find leaders who excel in these areas, and the wrong hire can cost growth, momentum, and even entire acquisitions. If you’re a business owner, private equity professional, or operator looking to scale effectively, this conversation delivers powerful insights into why these roles matter most and how to approach them strategically.

✈️ Would you get on a plane without knowing the destination? Then why do so many of us do that with our careers? In this #Throwback episode of #BTheWayForward, Brenda Darden Wilkerson sat down with tech leader, board director, and author Shellye Archambeau to talk about intentional leadership and owning your career journey. Shellye shares: ✅ Lessons from leading through crisis (including near insolvency) ✅ Why transparency builds trust in uncertain times ✅ How to stop waiting, and start steering your own career + more 🎧 Tune in: https://lnkd.in/eXcUmf3C #Leadership #CareerGrowth #WomenInTech

💻 Life of a Founder: Week 13 of Brand Authority Partners 💻 My days right now look like: ☕ Late nights writing strategy decks. 📞 Calls stacked back-to-back. ✍️ Drafting proposals on weekends. 😅 Sneaking in a little sleep and a lot of caffeine. Building something from scratch is exhilarating and exhausting all at once. But every time a client says, “This is exactly what we needed,” it reminds me why I leapt. 👉 Other founders—what’s been the most surprising part of your early-stage journey? #EntrepreneurLife #StartupJourney #WomenFounders #Leadership #MultifamilyMarketing

What makes a team member or a new hire truly stand out? On Tech Lead Journal #231, Greg Foster (Co-Founder & CTO of Graphite) shares this great insight. He argues that the combination of genuine excitement and humility is a rare and powerful trait that goes far beyond just surface-level enthusiasm. Listen to our full conversation for more on building high-performing teams. ⤷ Watch the full episode here: https://lnkd.in/g-EABWhy ⤷ Check out the show notes resources: https://lnkd.in/gKUSB7kz #TechLeadJournal #GregFoster #Hiring #TeamCulture #Leadership #SoftSkills

If your business depends on you to do everything, it’s not built to scale. I’ve seen too many founders hit a ceiling not because they lack vision, but because their structure can’t carry the weight of their growth. When you’re the one making every decision, solving every problem, and approving every move… You’re not scaling,  you’re stalling. What founders need instead: ✔ Aligned roles: The right people, in the right seats. ✔ Revenue-optimized org: Structure that drives growth and protects profit. ✔ Clear accountability: Decision-making spread across the team, not bottlenecked at the top. ✔ Founder freedom: Time to think, lead, and create, not just react. At the October Intensive, we’ll dig into how to make this shift in 2.5 days. If your growth feels heavier than it should, this room was built for you. 💬 DM me for the next step to get invited into this intimate group. If you could remove one recurring decision from your plate, what would it be? #innerfifth #femaleentrepreneurs #leadership

What makes M&A, partnerships, and growth actually work? It’s not strategy decks or spreadsheets. It’s trust, tough conversations, and a shared North Star. In this episode, Theresa Caragol—CEO of AchieveUnite—reveals how she’s led billion-dollar alliances and 12 acquisitions by blending hard strategy with human connection. From the science-backed PQi model to her Difficult Conversations Template, Theresa shows how to turn friction into alignment and change into growth. 💡 Her advice: listen deeply, lead with heart, and never underestimate the power of trust. Tune in to hear how she’s reshaping leadership through connection. https://lnkd.in/gHkA_5Pg

One of the costliest mistakes a startup CEO can make? Handing critical leadership roles to the wrong person too early. Skills can be taught, but misaligned values, poor judgment, or lack of grit at the top can sink a company before it even leaves the runway. Early hires shape culture, strategy, and momentum. Choose wisely—your first leadership team is your company’s compass. Soplex Technologies