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How We Secretly Lose Control of Our Startups
Should Kids Follow in Our Founder Footsteps?
The Evolution of Entry Level Workers
Assume Everyone Will Leave in Year One
Stop Listening to Investors
Was Mortgaging My Life Worth it?
What's My Startup Worth in an Acquisition?
When Our Ambition is Our Enemy
Are Startups in a "Silent Recession"?
The 5 Types of Startup Funding
What Is Startup Funding?
Do Founders Deserve Their Profit?
Michelle Glauser on Diversity and Inclusion
The Utter STUPIDITY of "Risking it All"
Committees Are Where Progress Goes to Die
More Money (Really Means) More Problems
Why Most Founders Don't Get Rich
Investors will be Obsolete
Why is a Founder so Hard to Replace?
We Can't Grow by Saying "No"
Do People Really Want Me to Succeed?
Is the Problem the Player or the Coach?
Will Investors Bail Me Out?
The Value of Actually Getting Paid
Why do Founders Suck at Asking for Help?
Wait a Minute before Giving Away Equity
You Only Think You Work Hard
SMALL is the New Big — Embracing Efficiency in the Age of AI
The 9 Best Growth Agencies for Startups
This is BOOTSTRAPPED — 3 Strategies to Build Your Startup Without Funding
Never Share Your Net Worth
A Steady Hand in the Middle of the Storm
Risk it All vs Steady Paycheck
How About a Startup that Just Makes Money?
How to Recruit a Rockstar Advisor
Why Having Zero Experience is a Huge Asset
My Competitor Got Funded — Am I Screwed?
The Hidden Treasure of Failed Startups
If It Makes Money, It Makes Sense
Why do VCs Keep Giving Failed Founders Money?
$10K Per Month isn't Just Revenue — It's Life Support
The Ridiculous Spectrum of Investor Feedback
Startup CEOs Aren't Really CEOs
Series A, B, C, D, and E Funding: How It Works
Best Pitch Decks Ever: The Most Successful Fundraising Pitches You Need to Know
When to Raise Funds
Why Aren't Investors Responding to Me?
Should I Regret Not Raising Capital?
Unemployment Cases — Why I LOOOOOVE To Win Them So Much.
How Much to Pay Yourself
Heat-Seeking Missile: WePay’s Journey to Product-Market Fit — Interview with Rich Aberman, Co-Founder of Wepay
The R&D technique for startups: Rip off & Duplicate
Why Some Startups Win.
Chapter #1: First Steps To Validate Your Business Idea
Product Users, Not Ideas, Will Determine Your Startup’s Fate
Drop Your Free Tier
Your Advisors Are Probably Wrong
Growth Isn't Always Good
How to Shut Down Gracefully
How Does My Startup Get Acquired?
Can Entrepreneurship Be Taught?
How to Pick the Wrong Co-Founder
Staying Small While Going Big
Investors are NOT on Our Side of the Table
Who am I Really Competing Against?
Why Can't Founders Replace Themselves?
Actually, We Have Plenty of Time
Quitting vs Letting Go
How Startups Actually Get Bought
What if I'm Building the Wrong Product?
Are Founders Driven by Fear or Greed?
Why I'm Either Working or Feeling Guilty
Startup Financial Assumptions
Why Every Kid Should be a Startup Founder
We Only Have to be Right Once
If a Startup Sinks, Founders Go Down With it
Founder Success: We Need a Strict Definition of Personal Success
Is Quiet Quitting a Problem at Startup Companies?
Founder Exits are Hard Work and Good Fortune, Not "Good Luck"
Finalizing Startup Projections
All Founders are Beloved In Good Times
Our Startup Culture of Entitlement
The Bullshit Case for Raising Capital
How do We Manage Our Founder Flaws?
What If my plan for retirement is "never retire"?
Startup Failure is just One Chapter in Founder Life
6 Similarities between Startup Founders and Pro Athletes
All Founders Make Bad Decisions — and That's OK
Startup Board Negotiations: How do I tell the board I need a new deal?
Founder Sacrifice — At What Point Have I Gone Too Far?
Youth Entrepreneurship: Can Middle Schoolers be Founders?
Living the Founder Legend Isn't so Fun
Why Do VC Funded Startups Love "Fake Growth?"
How Should I Share My Wealth with Family?
How Many Deaths Can a Startup Survive?
This is Probably Your Last Success
Why Do We Still Have Full-Time Employees?
The Case Against Full Transparency
Should I Feel Guilty for Failing?
Always Take Money off the Table

5 Positive Leadership Retreat Affirmations

Carmen Sample

5 Positive Leadership Retreat Affirmations

A few months ago I announced that we were going to go to Breckenridge together for a leadership retreat. We were going to sleep in bunk beds and get cozy and REALLY COMFORTABLE with each other. Thirty managers together for 3 days in a Villa in the mountains…. I wasn’t sure what to expect.

Here is what I learned:

1. Everyone came.

This pleasantly surprised me, actually. In a team of 30 managers — EVERY SINGLE PERSON showed up. They drove in the snow up the mountain, they took time away from their newborn children, their families, and their other responsibilities.

The fact that everyone “showed up” is I think the most important part and says the most about our team engagement. I love this part the most.

Leadership Retreat Team Photo

2. Everyone came to “play”.

Figuratively and Literally. We definitely “played”. Everyone showed up to the events and the meetings and came to be a part of the experience. If showing up is 80% of life, then “playing” once you get there is the other 20%.

3. Seeing people in their pajamas makes you like them more.

It’s true — it brings a “humanistic” quality to them. Any built-up resentment you may have felt from a poorly worded email the week before kind of melts away when you have to say “Good Morning” in a robe with your hair in a messy bun.

Leadership Retreat Team Photo

4. You learn the details about each other.

That person doesn’t like to stay up late. That person drinks coffee. That person likes yoga. That person drinks wine (we all do). That person doesn’t like the snow. That person really likes rap music. That person has a weird thing for “perms”….he he he. That person plays guitar. That person wakes up in the middle of the night and plays a Ukulele.

They are the details of our relationships which make us stronger. There is more to a person than their 8–5 self — it is important we are all reminded of that.

Leadership Retreat Team Photo

5. We care about each other.

We worry when someone on the team is upset. We stress if someone seems disengaged during a meeting. We ask about each other’s sick children or marital woes. We think about our dynamics and where we are weak and how to make it better.These are the people we spend the majority of our lives with day in and day out.

Over time, our work lives and personal lives start to blend and our relationships become more integrated. It helps us all bring our “whole self” to work and our quality improves because of it.

Leadership Retreat Team Photo

I think the most important part of our retreat wasn’t the “action plan” items we developed to improve our company and our teams (we didn’t ONLY drink wine!).

The most important part was remembering that we care about each other, that we like each other, and that we are all in this together.

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