Thinking
Formative experiences
I was brought into a business that looked like an opportunity and turned out to be a lesson. Not a small one. The kind that costs you time, money, and a version of yourself you were still building. What came out of it was a set of principles I now apply to every engagement I take on — about control, about counterparty risk, about the difference between what someone says and what they actually mean. I do not regret it. I would not repeat it.
Most of what I know came from being in the room. Watching deals fall apart in real time. Watching founders make the same mistake in different industries. Watching teams underperform not because they lacked skill but because the environment made it impossible to use what they had. Pattern recognition built over time, not in a classroom.
I've built things that didn't work. That experience is more useful than most of what I've read. It taught me what scales and what doesn't, what requires your presence and what doesn't, and the specific difference between a business and a job with more risk.
What I believe
"Most sales problems are not sales problems."
They are state problems, identity problems, or structural problems. Training does not fix any of those things.
"The quality of a decision is determined before you make it."
The work you do before you commit — the questions you ask, the things you verify, the assumptions you test — is the only protection you have.
"A business that requires your constant presence is not a business."
It is a job with more risk. The question worth asking is: what is this worth in five years if I step back?
"Consistency at 80% beats brilliance at 100% that only shows up sometimes."
This is true in sales, in leadership, and in building anything that needs to scale.
"The presenting problem is rarely the real problem."
In sales teams, in founder decisions, in business relationships. The real problem is almost always upstream.
"Leverage is the only metric worth optimising for."
Not revenue. Not growth. The ratio of output to input. Everything else is downstream of that.
"Honesty is the only version of this that is worth anything."
I will tell you what I actually see, not what is easiest to hear. That is the only version of this work that produces a real result.
How I decide what to work on
I am not trying to fill a calendar. I take on a small number of engagements at any one time so I can do them properly. If I do not think I am the right person for what you are working on, I will tell you.
I will tell you what I actually see, not what is easiest to hear. If the problem is not what you think it is, I will say so. That is the only version of this that is worth anything.
The first conversation is a conversation. Not a discovery call, not a qualification form. We talk, I listen, and I tell you quickly whether I can be useful.