Yesterday’s Hero,Today’s Zero
Why past performance is no guarantee of future relevance.
The Hook
He was once the star of the show—the one everyone called when things got tough. Today, his ideas barely register. His team rolls their eyes. The company has moved on. And he hasn’t.
The Elephant
Past success is addictive. It becomes your identity. You think, “I built this brand,” or “They owe me.” But leadership isn’t a loyalty program. It’s a game of relevance.
The Insight
Why leaders lose control, and why some embrace chaos. (5 min read)
The Shift
If you’re serious about staying relevant, ask yourself:
When was the last time I learned something uncomfortable?
Who challenges my thinking in this organization?
Am I mentoring, or am I micromanaging under the guise of "sharing wisdom"?
Have I become the bottleneck I used to fight against?
Leadership has a shelf life. The best leaders know when it's time to update the playbook—or step aside.
Truth Bomb
Just because they clapped for you yesterday doesn’t mean they’re listening today.
If You’re a Leader...
Stop quoting your greatest hits. Start listening to the new sound.
Ask your team what you could do differently—then shut up and listen.
Find one thing this week that scares your comfort zone. Do it anyway.
Closer
Relevance isn’t handed out. It’s earned—again and again.
And if you’re not evolving, someone else is. Quietly. Boldly. Waiting in the wings.
Batata KPIs and Other Corporate Crimes
When measurement becomes theatre.
The Hook
It’s Q4. A proud manager presents glowing KPI results. Charts are green. Targets exceeded. Everyone claps. But nothing has changed.
The Elephant Today
Corporate life is filled with performance measures that seem impressive but are meaningless. They don’t focus on results; they focus on comfort zones. Let’s call them what they truly are: Batata KPIs—shiny, safe, and completely useless.
The Insight
KPIs were invented to drive clarity and accountability. But somewhere along the way, they became an art form of their own—a way to look productive without actually being effective.
Examples?
Customer satisfaction scores that don’t correlate with loyalty
Training hours tracked instead of learning impact
Innovation metrics” that count how many ideas are submitted, not executed
Employee engagement scores gamed by pep talks before the survey
The Shift
Want to stop the madness? Then stop measuring motion. Start measuring meaning.
Ask:
Does this KPI lead to better decisions?
Can someone game it? If yes, scrap it.
Is it telling me what I want to hear—or what I need to act on?
The goal isn’t to collect green boxes. The goal is to run a business that works.
Truth Bomb
A useless KPI with perfect data is still useless.
If You’re a Leader...
Audit your top KPIs. Circle the ones you’d stake your bonus on. Cross out the rest.
Ask your team: “Which of these are noise?”
Align KPIs with behaviors, not just outcomes. Don’t reward good numbers and bad decisions.
Closer
Measuring what matters is hard. Faking progress is easy.
Which path you take says more about your leadership than any dashboard ever will.
The Meeting That Should Have Been an Email
And other productivity sins you’re still committing.
The Hook
It starts with a calendar invite. No agenda. No context. No clear reason why you’re there. Fifty minutes later, nothing’s been decided, and your to-do list is still untouched. Welcome to modern corporate theatre.
The Elephant Today
We’ve normalized meetings as a default setting for everything—thinking, sharing, venting, updating.
But here’s the truth:
Most meetings are just disguised procrastination.
And worse—an alibi for not doing real work.
The Insight
Meetings were meant to solve problems, align teams, and make decisions.
Today, they often serve to:
Show presence (“Look, I’m involved!”)
Avoid accountability (“Let’s form a task force”)
Fill silence (“We need more visibility on this”)
Perform activity (“Let’s sync again next week”)
We’ve mistaken talking about work for actually doing it.
The Shift
It’s time to earn your people’s time again.
Ask yourself before calling a meeting:
Can this be said in an email or Whatsapp message?)
Is a decision actually required?)
Will every person in this invite contribute meaningfully?
And if you’re attending one:
Push for outcomes.
Decline if there’s no agenda.
End early if the job is done.
Truth Bomb
If you wouldn’t pay $500 of your own money to sit through the meeting, don’t schedule it.
If You’re a Leader...
Audit your recurring meetings. Be brutal.
Cancel one standing meeting this week. Replace it with a 3-line update.
Encourage “permission to decline” as part of your team culture.
Closer
Time is your team’s most valuable resource.
Wasting it isn’t just inefficient—it’s disrespectful. Lead meetings that matter. Cancel the ones that don’t.
