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What a Top CEO Actually Does (7 Essential Responsibilities)

Founders, Leadership

What a Top CEO Actually Does (7 Essential Responsibilities)

This article provides a roadmap for the role of CEO. It outlines 7 essential responsibilities of top CEOs, emphasizing the importance of alignment, rhythm, team & mindset.
The perfect bonus plan for any company

Founders, Leadership

The Perfect Bonus Plan for Any Company

Want highly-aligned, motivated employees? This article reveals a simple, transparent, and effective company-wide bonus plan that incentivizes individual and company performance. Learn how to calculate payouts, set goals, and foster a high-performance culture.

7 rules to crush your 1 on 1 meetings.

Leadership, Management, Ops

Crush Your 1 on 1 Meeting: A guide for both manager & individual

Tired of unproductive 1 on 1 meetings? This article provides a comprehensive guide to transforming your 1 on 1 meetings from dreaded obligations into powerful tools for boosting team performance and unlocking individual potential.

why top performers quit

Leadership, Management

7 Reasons You’re Losing Your Top Performers

Is your team losing its "A-players"? This article explores seven hidden reasons why top performers leave, from bad managers and lack of purpose to low compensation and poor work-life balance. Discover practical strategies for retaining your best employees and creating a thriving workplace.

Recent Articles

Culture, Founders | May 11, 2025

How to Create a Company Vision People Want to Follow

Most traditional vision statements fail. This article details how the best companies create a strategic vision, and introduces a tool called the Vision Ladder that you can copy for your own company.

April 5, 2025

A Proven OKR Alternative: The ‘WhyGo’ Goal Setting System

Why we created an alternative to OKRs If you’re having problems with OKRs (objectives & key results), then you’re in the right place. After using this system for years at the company I founded, Classy...

7 costly pitfalls of OKRs by Scot Chisholm

February 27, 2025

OKRs: 7 costly pitfalls (and how to fix them)

OKRs stand for Objectives & Key Results. They are a popular goal-setting framework for organizations, particularly within the startup and tech communities. OKRs were an evolution of MBOs (Management by Objectives), created by Andy Grove in the 1970s, the long-time CEO at Intel. Many decades later, OKRs were popularized again by Google, after venture capitalist John Doerr introduced them to the company.

Adam Aarons

January 17, 2025

3 powerful lessons from a world-class Chief Revenue Officer (CRO)

I recently sat down with sales legend Adam Aarons for a Highland fireside chat, and wow did he bring the heat. As the CRO who helped scale three major tech companies past $100M+, including my own company Classy, Adam shared his most valuable (and non-obvious) lessons from the trenches - from knowing when to walk away from a deal, to balancing mission with performance, to optimizing the critical CEO-CRO relationship.

How to make a financial plan for your business

Ops | January 4, 2025

How to make a financial plan for your business

Know thy financial plan, know thy business. If you can’t build a strong financial plan, it’s unlikely you’ll ever build a strong business. But given its importance, I’m always surprised how little attention it gets...

Hiten Shah Blog on Scot Chisholm's

Founders, Ops | December 14, 2024

Three Rules for Early Stage Startups with Hiten Shah

A deep dive into three powerful insights from my fireside chat with Hiten Shah, one of Silicon Valley's most underrated founders. From reframing product-market fit as a dial rather than a switch, to building formulas over funnels, to the real talk about raising capital - these are lessons every founder needs to hear right now.

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The ideal Compansation Package
How to lead like a minimalist, Scot Chisholm, Highland

November 22, 2024

How to Lead Like a Minimalist

Complexity is the enemy of success. Here's how to start leading like a minimalist and create simplicity within your company.

5 Rules to Master Delegation, Scot Chisholm, Highland

Founders, Leadership, Management | November 8, 2024

5 Rules to Master Delegation

Master the art of delegation! This article offers five rules to effectively delegate tasks, empowering your team and freeing you to focus on higher-level priorities. Discover how to choose the right projects and people, provide clear guidance, and conduct effective check-ins without micromanaging

How to scale your company in founder-mode by Scot Chisholm

Founders | October 13, 2024

What ‘Founder Mode’ Really Is

What does this transition from startup founder to scale up CEO look like? The way I describe it to Highland members is this - you need to transition from working on all the details all the time, to working on the right details at the right time. There is a massive difference here. This means spending your time on two things: guardrails and checkpoints.

5 essential rules of giving feedback the right way

Culture, Management | August 30, 2024

5 Essential Rules of Giving Feedback (The Right Way)

Good feedback should empower, not deflate. Yet most managers stumble through the feedback process. Here are 5 essential rules will transform your approach to feedback and elevate your team's performance.

Leadership team meetings

Leadership, Management | August 16, 2024

How to Run the Perfect Leadership Meeting

Tired of unproductive executive meetings? This article provides a clear framework for running efficient and effective executive meetings. It covers the ideal meeting length, frequency, and participants, and offers a detailed agenda focused on goal review and actionable outcomes.

July 12, 2024

7 Imaginary Rules Holding You Back as a Leader

Are you a leader tired of self-sabotage? This article identifies seven common misconceptions about leadership that may be holding you back. It provides practical tips for becoming a more effective leader, including prioritizing tasks, communicating clearly, and taking calculated risks

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