uPstream

Why managers spiral after a mistake? In high-stakes moments (failed deploy, missed commit, tough board Q, finding out you’ve made a big mistake everyone knows about), the brain’s threat system takes over: heart rate up, cortisol up, clear thinking down. What happens? Blaming self-talk, tunnel vision, worse decisions - It’s not “weakness”, it’s biology. Org wise, teams’ recovery  can take days and even weeks, affecting commitment , pursuing and assuming high-stakes goals, and

“High chance this decision will hurt me.” No one says that out loud, but it's what we often think. This is why it’s so incredibly hard to be a courageous leader. But let's clear up a few misconceptions first: Courage ≠ Stupidity Taking unnecessary, oversized risks or rushing into irreversible decisions is just reckless. Courage ≠ Heroism There’s no valor in business. Heroes are born when clusterfucks happen. If you're a hero, you might save the day, but looking back, you’ll l

Big Picture (Macro) Flushed with free Fed money, 2021 saw a demand boom following a ‘stay-at-home’ pandemic. It was followed by a second ‘out-and-about’ demand boom as we learned we would survive the pandemic. Post a supply shock, high inflation, and an all-time high Fed-driven bloated balance sheet, 2022 introduced the resurgence of interest rates and a highly restrictive monetary policy. After roughly a decade, money has value again! Recession is highly probable. Why? every

The role of the Chief Revenue Officer emerged together with the rise of SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) companies, with the intent to build a more structured way of driving revenue and growth to the company. I was recently interviewed about the role of the CRO at Elementor . In it I some insights on how to frame this role in a company at its growth phase. You can read the interview here . Here, I'm taking a more elaborated approach, diving more into the details of the fundamenta

Marketing is on the cusp of a major shift, as technology continues to transform the way we live, work, and consume. In this article, we'll explore how technology is driving the future of marketing, and what it means for businesses and marketers. Introduction Technology shifts pave new experiences in our way of living which further entrenches the physical, psychological, social, and cultural dependencies on those technologies. With an ever-increasing amount of information be