Before all you execution-obsessed startup folks start throwing tomatoes, let me clarify my meaning. At a company-wide level, execution is… — Before all you execution-obsessed startup folks start throwing tomatoes, let me clarify my meaning. At a company-wide level, execution is everything: strategy and goal-setting don’t mean much if your organization can’t translate them into getting things done. Anyone who’s worked in a startup knows this.

If you’re working in a rapidly growing startup, chances are high that cross-functional collaboration isn’t as smooth or seamless as it was… — If you’re working in a rapidly growing startup, chances are high that cross-functional collaboration isn’t as smooth or seamless as it was a few years back, when you were really small. There are frictions, and where these frictions have been going on for a while, you may see some silos…

Here in Southeast Asia, the vast majority of startup Founders are young and inexperienced, certainly compared to Silicon Valley. There… — Here in Southeast Asia, the vast majority of startup Founders are young and inexperienced, certainly compared to Silicon Valley. There aren’t many seasoned entrepreneurs to act as mentors…but that hasn’t stopped local Founders from building 40 unicorns in less than ten years! I’m impressed.

Imagine you’re Lex, an ambitious 31-year old software engineer with some good managerial experience. You’ve just been offered the role of… — Imagine you’re Lex, an ambitious 31-year old software engineer with some good managerial experience. You’ve just been offered the role of Head of Engineering for a hot young series A start-up, reporting directly to the CEO, Meg. Naturally, you’re super pumped: this role puts you in the senior leadership position…

Tell me if this sounds familiar. — Tell me if this sounds familiar. You join your weekly update meeting, someone throws a slide deck up on the screen, and you spend the next hour combing through spreadsheets, graphs, and charts tracking all the KPIs you need to keep an eye on. There’s a lot of information to…

For the past ten years, I have helped startups and scale-ups build high-performance organizations (HPOs). It’s more than an occupation —… — For the past ten years, I have helped startups and scale-ups build high-performance organizations (HPOs). It’s more than an occupation — it’s a preoccupation, maybe even an obsession, in part because there are still so many unanswered questions. Most experienced executives would know an HPO when they saw one, but…

Why do we have meetings? — Why do we have meetings? No, that’s not a rhetorical question. I’m not bemoaning the time wasted in pointless meetings — I’m talking about good meetings, meetings that actually need to happen. Those meetings are all about solving problems. Brainstorming, generating fresh ideas, going beyond the work individuals can do…

Imagine you’ve just been hired as the new sales director of a billion-dollar software company. It’s big and growing, but behind the flashy… — Imagine you’ve just been hired as the new sales director of a billion-dollar software company. It’s big and growing, but behind the flashy revenue numbers, the business is actually under-performing. You’re supposed to be part of the solution, so there’s considerable pressure on you to kick the sales department into…

Is your organization like a machine that needs programming? Or a community to nurture? — Is your organization like a machine that needs programming? Or a community to nurture? Every startup founder hopes to build a high-performance organization. The question is, how do you do it? Well, running an organization efficiently is a lot like programming a complex machine. You need each part of the…