The Superpowers of My Friends & Peers

Look, there’s a LOT in my brain but there’s a HELLUVA lot more in the brains of people around me. 

Case(s) in point: I’ve gathered 10 recent posts from Speakers at next week’s B2SMBI Leaders’ Forum in Sonoma and I present the links here.

Get your beverage of choice and take a tour through the minds of some extraordinarily smart, seasoned, articulate, thoughtful and binge-worthy contributors to the collective IQ/EQ.

Sangram Vajre

Subscribe to Sangram’s Monday morning posts. He is sooo real world in the problems he provokes us with, like this latest: “I Love Your Product But We’re Not Renewing.”

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/sangramvajre_i-love-your-product-but-were-not-renewing-activity-7326236978885136385-FsNr?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAACQMUgBvhZmzI9SgdJDSFu-wBmWn-SZtGM

Ivan Ostojic

Few of us can even imagine building massive tech business from a war zone, but the story of Infobip - the story that Ivan and compatriots lived - goes to the heart of human endeavor and reminds us how lucky we are.

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/ivan-ostojic_onecommunicationplatform-billionsofconversations-activity-7323344559273357314-Q4i7?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAACQMUgBvhZmzI9SgdJDSFu-wBmWn-SZtGM 

⚡ Roland Ligtenberg

If you haven’t heard of Housecall Pro then you are clearly not in or near “the trades.” But you can get a pretty good idea of what independent contractors and home service professionals are all about if you listen to Roland as he channels his Customers - literally. Study his Playbook, and see if you can’t sneak into their upcoming Summit, linked here.

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/rolandal_join-us-for-housecall-pro-spring-summit-2025-activity-7324173010553200650-pbIR?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAACQMUgBvhZmzI9SgdJDSFu-wBmWn-SZtGM 

Carissa Reiniger

If you describe someone as a “Force of Nature” you should measure against Carissa. Jesus Lord, this woman outworks, outhustles, outthinks and outdoes everyone. And in describing her company’s 20th Anniversary, you get a great look inside the head and heart of a Hall of Fame B2SMB Leader of Silver Lining.

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/carissareiniger_april-25-was-silver-linings-20-year-anniversary-activity-7325292842669531136-s8Ta?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAACQMUgBvhZmzI9SgdJDSFu-wBmWn-SZtGM

Kushagra Shrivastava

No one is a more considered Builder than Kush. His SMB platforms for Yahoo and Verizon Business were elegant in their simplicity. He is now one of the very best experts to follow when it comes to the application of AI in Small Business products, and his connections to the rapidly growing community of AI developers is showcased here. https://www.linkedin.com/posts/kushagrashrivastava_experts-have-declared-that-ai-is-becoming-activity-7318097097600167936-cPu6?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAACQMUgBvhZmzI9SgdJDSFu-wBmWn-SZtGM 

Brian Bar

He’s a hometown hero here in Chicago as the guy who built the first-generation sales org of Groupon . The field sales org. The man on the street sales FORCE. If you dig thinking and doing sales, follow Brian, and you’ll get little bits of side-bar Leadership wisdom like this.

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/brianbar_i-recently-had-coffee-with-my-friend-sarah-activity-7307430171525971968-hS_J?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAACQMUgBvhZmzI9SgdJDSFu-wBmWn-SZtGM 

Rich DeGuzman

If Carissa had a rival for unrivalled “Force of Nature,” it would be Rich. He doesn’t just light up a room, he engulfs it. In a recent podcast, he said something that hit me hard: “I have an ATM Theory of Leadership - we're constantly giving to our leaders and our teams without watching what we've withdrawn. That math doesn't work long-term!” Check out the whole interview.

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/richdeguzman_leadership-management-activity-7300195120291713025-RsfZ?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAACQMUgBvhZmzI9SgdJDSFu-wBmWn-SZtGM 

Amir Blich

No bullshit, Amir is “no bullshit.”  Wonderful example from this recent post: “Everyone’s talking about Agentic AI but are we all just talking the talk? How many of us are actually walking the walk?” I've been on the receiving end of Amir's no-nonsense, be real, wake up calls. We all need Wise Men who pop our proverbial balloons! Check out this post for a sampler.

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/amirblich_vcita-smb-sme-activity-7307796597793284096-uRYu?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAACQMUgBvhZmzI9SgdJDSFu-wBmWn-SZtGM

Melinda Emerson, MBA

The Small Biz Lady. Like Amir, Melinda calls it like she sees it in NO uncertain terms. With over 3Mil SMB followers, she fosters confidence with fearless truths about entrepreneurship, and she produces a TON of consistently high quality - and street smart - content. Check out her weekly Buzz newsletter. In Sonoma, she'll reprise her Playbook on "How to Work with Influencers." Ask her for the deck.

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/smallbizlady-buzz-issue-260-melinda-emerson-mba-cseqe/?trackingId=%2FT1iPOVWQqrL%2BlFtQC%2FFSA%3D%3D 

Krishna Gandikota

New to the job, new to my circle, new to many of you - Krishna was recently named Leader of Salesforce's Agentforce Customer Engineering - SMB. Nothing like having the weight of your $38Bil company’s future on your shoulders. My clue that he’ll be successful? This post is but one example. And the reference to his Dad melts my heart. https://www.linkedin.com/posts/agandikota_designing-and-building-ai-products-and-services-activity-7260670776045903872-E4er?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAACQMUgBvhZmzI9SgdJDSFu-wBmWn-SZtGM 

Let the above serve as our News of the Week. 

AND SUBSCRIBE!

We’re in recovery next Friday from what is sure to be an amazing couple of days with these folks and more in Sonoma.

Bonus Observation of the Week:

When AI Can't Read the Room

I’m all for persistence, but AI-automated follow-up is a horrible listener, especially when nothing is said. As so many have sorta figured out, just because AI allows you to send out 850 follow-up "please talk to me" e-mails - all to the same person - all within a single week! - doesn’t mean you should send out 850 follow-up "please talk to me" e-mails - all to the same person - all within a single week! Like many of you - maybe even most of you - I am the target of many, many consultants on LinkedIn who are claiming everything from a 100x increase in my site traffic to countless new followers. I am sick of it. It’s a waste of my time - time that AI does not nor never will give back to me. For crying out loud, f-ing stop it!