Browse by topic, card, or conversation from hiring and accountability to hesitation, strategy, trust, momentum, and growth.
“Given where the company is, we don’t really have the luxury of a full hiring process.” A CEO said that to me while hiring a...
Today, myself, Ged, and our very special guest, Louis Retief, attempted to define what trust really is. Aaaaaand I’m not sure we managed it. However,...
Language is one of the most powerful tools a leader has. Not because it makes you sound polished, but because it shapes what happens next....
I keep coming back to one simple hiring question: What DON’T you want to do? It sounds simple, but in a job interview, it can...
This is a concept I first heard from Greg Crabtree, who paired it with another memorable term: “terrorists.” Unfortunately, that title didn’t play nicely with...
One of the most common leadership failures is assuming that expectations are “obvious.” People are hired into roles, assigned projects, and even evaluated on outcomes...
Why is clarity so important? Because most of us experience the very human habit of answering too quickly, only to realize we’ve missed something important....
Does your team come to you with every question? Do you feel like progress slows the moment you’re unavailable? This is usually not a people...
Do you ever feel like your day disappears into answering questions, making small decisions, and unblocking things your team should be able to handle? When...
Welcome to CardCast! Inspired by Milan Veverka’s habit of jotting insights on blank playing cards, this practice grew into a digital archive and now a podcast. Hosted by Ged and Milan, each episode takes one card as a prompt to spark conversation on leadership, communication, and the human side of growth. The idea is simple: one card, one prompt, one meaningful conversation.
I read an article the other day from a cafe owner who was six months in and still losing money. Their question was: What are we doing wrong?
I couldn't tell you from the outside, but I know that you'd better figure it out before you invest more and try to scale. Otherwise, you’ll end up losing money on every sale and hoping volume will make up for it.
This card started with a conversation with my friend Casey Jones of Essentialist CEO. People kept coming to her with what looked like a marketing problem or a customer acquisition problem, then she would discover the model itself was not working. Her advice? Prove and improve the model first.
It sounds obvious, but it’s surprisingly hard, because ideas are emotional.
When you have found a problem you care about, passion can override logic, and pulling yourself back to ask whether it stacks up takes real discipline.
Even a strong sales engine can hide the problem. I once worked with a client who was probably the best salesman I have ever met. He closed the contracts and won the customers, and it looked like growth. But too much was missing behind the model. Investor money can do the same thing. Someone giving you money is not validation of your idea.
Then there is the part nobody enjoys: a model that works can stop working. Sometimes it is a tariff, a rising cost, a new law, or a shift in what your customer's customer wants, and you might never quite learn why.
Ask the uncomfortable question while you are still winning: how could this fail, and what would need to be true for it to keep working?
The work is not finished once the model is proven. Prove it, improve it, and keep re-proving it.
Key-Card points:
Prove the model before you scale it
Customer discovery comes before the build
Loving an idea is not a good enough reason to start
Strong sales, big contracts, and investor money can hide a model that does not work
Keep re-proving the model, and set tripwires before a crisis
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CardCast is produced by Lovemore Media.
