Top 25 Business Books That Helped Shape the Way I Think

A shelf-tested list split between the real-deal memoirs and the timeless business bibles. Over the last 20+ years, I’ve read a mountain of business books — some great, many forgettable. These 25 or so have stuck with me. They taught me how to lead, how to market a product, how to obsess over your customer, […]
The Slide Deck That Got Me Hired (After 20 Cold Emails and One Rejected Stock Pick)

Let me just start with the ending: I got the job. 2009. At The Motley Fool. The company that I was quite literally obsessed with. At 25 years old, it felt like the only place I was meant to work. I had an offer in-hand from The World Bank—something that once felt prestigious—but I knew […]
The Art of Creating a “Family Fun Day”

We started doing something called Family Fun Day a couple years ago—mostly because our kids gave us blank stares when I approached it as the new “Family Board Meeting.” Yes, the name is dumb and cheesy, but to be fair, our kids were like 4 and 6 and we wanted these days to feel exciting […]
Creatine for Ballers: What Actually Works (and What Doesn’t)

If you’ve been mouth-taping before bed, grounding in your backyard like a boss, and listening to enough Huberman to start quoting magnesium dosages by heart—then yeah, creatine is probably already on your radar. It’s officially left the weight room and entered the wellness stack. These days, founders are dry-scooping it between Zoom calls, stacking it […]
Red Carpet Marketing: Why Your Pre‑Qualified Prospects Deserve a Lil’ VIP Treatment

Growth rarely comes from blasting the same message to everyone. As Brian Balfour (ex-HubSpot, Reforge) put it, “audiences expand from niche to niche”—and your tactics need to evolve with them. Last year, I stumbled across an old internal slide from my Motley Fool days. Circled in red, bold text, was a beautiful little data gem: […]
Digital Dementia: Why Many CEOs and Founders are Burnt the F*CK Out

A few months ago, I stepped down from my full-time role as CEO. It had started maybe 6-8 months earlier, and I couldn’t quite put my finger on why I was feeling so incredibly burnt out… but I knew something had to change. Looking back, I know my burnout stemmed – at least in part […]
5 Levels of Communication & Leadership

As a CEO, there were more than a few times where I felt outrageously overwhelmed by the sheer number of requests hitting me every day — from members, partners, and especially employees. But honestly, a lot of it was my fault. I had never clearly taught my (very young) team how I expected them to […]
You Will Fail. So Hire People Who’ll Build the Net.

A few months ago I sat down with Bart Houlihan—co-founder of B Lab and former president of AND1—during a live interview at a Hampton team retreat in Philly. Bart had told a story or two that were founder folklore by now, but hearing him tell them live—with no pretense or notes—just hit differently. “We should’ve […]
The Operators Guide to Leadership: Chapter 3

Pressure Doesn’t Change You. It Reveals You. Anyone can act positive, uplifting, encouraging, when things are going well. When revenue’s climbing and customers are flowing in, everyone’s high-fiving. Even the grumps can manage a smile. And honestly, if someone’s still a pain in the ass when the sun is shining? Get the eff out! But […]
The World Is Breaking Apart (According to Ray Dalio)

Ray Dalio’s writing can feel like drinking from a firehose of history, finance, and geopolitics. His tweets, stories, website, books – they feel.. arcane. Academic. Exhausting . So I thought it might be helpful to articulate – in plain freaking English – what exactly he’s saying, and give concrete, easy-to-understand examples. Below is a breakdown of the latest. What […]