Most founders and executives I work with are uncomfortable talking about how they look. It feels shallow. Not the point. I get it. They started their companies because of a vision, not an ego. By the time they're working with an advisor, they're wrestling with real problems: who belongs in which seats, how to build accountability, how to run a leadership meeting. Thinking about personal image can feel self-indulgent by comparison.
Read MoreYou can pull data instantly, generate a strategy in seconds, and pressure-test your thinking with something that sounds confident and coherent. And still walk away with the exact conclusion you started with. Not because the tools are broken. Because they're flexible. Give ten leaders the same data and they'll reach ten different conclusions. Give them AI, and each one can explain why they're right.
Read MoreAnxiety isn't new. The volume is. More inputs. More uncertainty. More decisions. Less time between them.
You can't eliminate that. You can manage how you respond to it. Recognize something most leaders don't say out loud: If this feels harder than it used to, it probably is.
The goal isn't to remove the pressure. It's to make sure it doesn't start making decisions for you.
Read MoreMost leaders don't call themselves perfectionists. They say they're being thorough. Setting the bar high. Still working to get it right. That's not always what's happening. Perfectionism rises as uncertainty rises. When leaders feel watched, judged, or exposed, perfection becomes the shield they grab.
Read MoreWhen you waffle, you're not avoiding a choice. You're making one. You're choosing to stay stuck. You're choosing to slow your team. You're choosing to let opportunities expire. Most of the time, the facts that informed your original decision haven't changed. Only your emotions have. Make the decision or don't. Stop pretending indecision is neutral.
Research shows that when we see ourselves clearly, we’re more confident, more creative, and better decision-makers. We build stronger relationships, communicate more effectively, and lead more satisfied, higher-performing teams. Yet most leaders overestimate their self-awareness dramatically. Yet most leaders overestimate their self-awareness dramatically. In one study, 95% of people believed they were self-aware — but only 10 to 15% actually were.
Read MoreHere’s that world famous list that thousands have been awaiting. Some of our Trajectify coaches and clients put together recommendations for books that they've been reading. We encourage you to use some of your vacation time and your days away from the office to invest in growth through reading. Wherever your adventures take you, even if it's just in your backyard hammock), use this out-of-office time to learn, reflect, and challenge yourself.
Read MoreThe problem is that our comfort zones aren’t particularly conducive to making progress. They’re all about staying where you are, maintaining the status quo. Plus, they’re so cozy and comfortable that we might not even notice how tightly we’re holding to them
Read MoreWhile some people may think the word is overused, the truth is: authenticity is in. Employees want it. Customers and clients want it. I’ve been inspired by friends and clients who’ve done the vulnerable work of being authentic even in the face of fear.
Read MoreOver the past couple of months, I’ve been writing a lot about how to become a good coach to your team or for others. I’ve gotten a lot of great feedback on the effectiveness of that content. It wasn't only for marketing Trajectify that I decided to write about coaching. It was because I have benefited from so much life-altering coaching in the last two years.
Read MoreWhat coaching style do you need to use with each of your team members? Just like you probably have a coaching style you’re most comfortable with, each of them also has a style of being coached that’s most effective for them. You have to coach the people who report to you, so as a leader and a coach, you may have to get comfortable with different styles of coaching.
Read MoreBefore we can move past our fear, we have to become detectives. We have to find our fear. Identifying our limiting beliefs is one of the most effective ways to figure out where the fear lives and then flush it out.
Read MoreI’m going to share some of the ways we’ve grown in the last three years. I’ll also pull back the curtain a bit and share one of the main places I’m struggling. And there will always be struggles because every solution creates a new set of challenges.
Read MoreSome of the distractions are new. The quest for productivity isn’t. Managing your time better (and thus reaching your goals more efficiently) is about developing two things: (1) self-awareness and (2) structures to support you.
Read MoreWe typically share a summer reading list, but this year we have compiled a listening list. Many people are back traveling to and from the office, jetting off for vacations, or popping on those soundproof headphones while continuing to work from home. Our coaches have put together their top suggestions for additions to your listening queue to up your game as a business leader.
Read MoreWhen you’re going it alone as a founder, you might be missing some critical personal elements of running a business. And the absence of those supports can lead to loneliness.
Read MoreIf you’ve achieved an ounce of success in your life, there’s a good chance you’ve experienced imposter syndrome. It’s that uncomfortable feeling that you’re not as smart or talented or skilled as others believe you to be. At any moment, you’ll be exposed as a fraud.
Read MoreTrajectify's new Business Coordinator shares the ups and downs of a six-month job search after the pandemic left her industry in decline.
Read MoreHere’s the truth: Our plans for 2020 got blown up. Everyone’s plans. We didn’t plan for our lives or our businesses or our cultures to get this disrupted. Back in the spring, we got scrappy. We came together. We figured out new ways to do things. Back in the spring, we thought we were trying to weather something that would be a few months long. Now, we’re tired. So, what’s the antidote?
Read MoreBeing part of building a seventh company taught me many things. It taught me that tech entrepreneurs can’t do everything — more than that, I learned that honesty about how your skills and expertise line up with what you’re trying to build is much more important than a passion for what you’re selling.
Read MoreStartups and Small Businesses sometimes find themselves at the edge of a chasm. With success in developing and growing their business, a stage is reached where they find that the "next step" is a big one! Trajectify partners with the entrepreneur to build momentum and trajectory to be able to cross the chasm.
We offer private and group (Mastermind) coaching and hold frequent events and seminars.
Trajectify is founded my Mike Krupit, veteran of eight startups. Mike has helped dozens of companies grow and mentored and advised hundreds more.
I don't think every CEO needs to become a LinkedIn personality. The question is simpler. Who needs to know you exist? Where are they? And what would help them understand how you think before they ever sit across from you? That answer will change as the company grows, as your buyers change, as platforms come and go. You adjust. That I don’t think you can do anymore is decide visibility isn’t part of your job at all. Your personal brand is important to your company’s brand.
Most founders and executives I work with are uncomfortable talking about how they look. It feels shallow. Not the point. I get it. They started their companies because of a vision, not an ego. By the time they're working with an advisor, they're wrestling with real problems: who belongs in which seats, how to build accountability, how to run a leadership meeting. Thinking about personal image can feel self-indulgent by comparison.
Founders tend to think about a major transition as a singular event. You prepare, announce, close, and now you're a different company. In my experience, the company starts changing well before any of that happens. I've been through this several times now, and the details were different every time. The weirdness was pretty consistent.
Sometimes exploration is worth it. Sometimes you just spent a week of the team’s attention answering a question the founder could have tested in an afternoon. That is the part I think leaders underestimate. Ideas do not only cost money. They cost time, focus, and brainpower long before anyone approves a budget. The question I’d want answered is: how much of the organization does this idea deserve yet?
Ask a room of leaders why they set goals and most will say accountability. That answer creates the problem. Goals exist for alignment. The company needs to reach a number, so this group does this, that group does that, and together the math works. Everyone is pointed in the same direction. Focus comes second. A good goal tells you what to say no to.
The instinct to build a team that moved in the same direction, at the same pace, with the same set of perspectives is limiting. Consistency is created at the expense of range. The goal isn't alignment of strengths. It's coverage. The most dangerous teams I've seen weren't the ones with conflict. hey were the ones with none. Where every conversation ends in agreement. Where nothing gets surfaced. Where the people who see things differently may have learned to stop saying so.
The same restlessness that makes it hard to stay on plan is what made them start the company in the first place. The wandering mind, the refusal to be satisfied with what already exists, the ability to see something before it exists: that's not a disorder. That's the source.
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I’ve been facilitating CEO peer groups for fifteen years. The biggest factor in whether someone gets value from a group is vulnerability. Not performative vulnerability. The kind that costs you something to say out loud, the thing you'd rather not say because it makes you look uncertain, stuck, bored, scared, or wrong. The people who get the most from these groups aren't necessarily the ones with the biggest problems. They're the ones willing to let the room see the problem clearly enough to help.