Michelle

hi, it's me

[Rolling Stone @RollingStone]

#GRAMMYs ALBUM OF THE YEAR NOMINEES

» @jonbatiste ‘World Music Radio’
» @xboygeniusx ‘the record’
» @MileyCyrus ‘Endless Summer Vacation'
» Lana Del Rey ‘Did You Know…’
» @JanelleMonae ‘The Age of Pleasure’
» @oliviarodrigo ‘GUTS’
» @taylorswift13 ‘Midnights’
» @SZA ‘SOS’

🔗 https://t.co/q3aYVVJmeP

[GRAMMYS @RecordingAcad]

Congratulations 66th #GRAMMYs Album Of The Year nominees: @jonbatiste; @xboygeniusx; @mileycyrus; Lana Del Rey; @janellemonae; @oliviarodrigo; @taylorswift13; and @sza. Watch live: https://t.co/zovEzgeZPG

[Mike Beckham @mikebeckhamsm]

I'm in my 8th year as a CEO, and I've been a part of growing multiple startups from founding to 9 figures of revenue.

When asked for leadership advice from younger leaders, I always mention one principle.

To scale, you have to excel in three roles:
Player
Player/Coach
Coach

Stage 1: Player
In the earliest days of any company, the founders are doing all the work. There is no extra money to hire others. You have to be ready to grind. It is a season of late nights, shoestring budgets, many tactical to-dos, feeling overwhelmed, and constant learning.

During this stage, you build high competency in execution and develop expertise in several core business areas. You will wear a lot of different hats during this period.

For example, in the early days of Simple Modern, I led sales, Amazon advertising, purchase orders, hiring, licensing, and business development. This period is exhausting because there is so much to do, and the pressure is 100% on your shoulders. It can feel like your work is all-consuming.

To use a football analogy: You are like a running back during the "player" stage. If you aren't carrying the ball into the endzone, your team isn't winning. As the company succeeds, you begin to have the resources to hire & the inability to get everything done. You are ready to graduate to stage 2.

Stage 2: Player/Coach
You don't have the resources to hire someone for every aspect of execution in the company, but you start to fill key positions of need. These new team members you are hiring need direction and coaching.

Ironically, adding people to the company only increases your workload in the short term. There is a ramp-up period where you devote significant time to coaching these new teammates, but they have a limited ability to contribute.

As a result, you still have heavy execution and tactical obligations, but you are also responsible for coaching others. You will commonly hear people in this phase say things like, "I feel buried" or "I wish I could just get some time to think and prioritize."

This stage is dangerous for an emerging leader. The organization is growing and has relied on your ability to execute up until now. New team members can't execute at your level yet. Coaching them requires significant time, but there is so much to do.

The temptation is to not prioritize developing others and double down on your own execution. We have all heard a leader say something like, "Never mind. I'll do it myself." Resist this temptation to slide back to an exclusively "player" role. It kills your ability to scale. You must become comfortable with the reality that execution will be less effective with new team members. You have to be willing to take a step back temporarily to take ten steps forward.

In coaching, I recommend using this 5 step process:
1. I do. You watch. We talk.
2. I do. You help. We talk.
3. You do. I help. We talk.
4. You do. I watch. We talk.
5. You do. Someone else watches.

Success at the player/coach stage requires a commitment to building a team. During this phase, you are like a quarterback. You are responsible for calling plays, coaching the other players on what to do, AND throwing touchdowns.

As you develop others, you go to stage 3.

Stage 3: Coach
At this stage, the company no longer relies on your ability to execute. The teammates you have been coaching can now perform at a high level and teach these skills to new hires. Your new role is crafting strategy, recruiting, and leading the leaders.

At first, it feels incredible as tactical responsibilities come off your plate. You've been looking forward to this stage for a long time. As your calendar frees up, you discover another leadership hurdle you must overcome. You feel unproductive.

For years, success was getting stuff done. It was crossing lines off a to-do list. Now, your job is leading and developing others. It is harder to point to the tangible things you are accomplishing.

Making the transition requires you to manage the most challenging person: Yourself. You will have to work through your own insecurity. Many leaders struggle to overcome their personal issues. They revert to the player-coach stage and become micro-managers.

Transitioning from an excellent executor to an average coach is painful. No one is a great coach right off the bat. It is a skill developed through experience. If you put in the work, you can become a great coach over time.

Success during the coach stage starts with understanding the enormous leverage you now possess. By coaching and leading others well, you can accomplish 50x, 100x, or 1000x more than you could ever do alone. You can now multiply the time you invest in the company.

Now, you have created the freedom of movement to work "on" the business instead of "in" the business. You can give your team the strategic guidance, encouragement, development, and leadership they need to succeed.

[Michelle @MichelleMGolden]

@LinkedIn my LI account is restricted after an unauthorized user accessed it. Can customer support please get in touch?

[Michelle @MichelleMGolden]

@marauder 🧡🧡🧡

[CALL TO ACTIVISM @CalltoActivism]

This 92-year-old, petite, well-poised and proud lady, who is fully dressed each morning by eight o’clock, with her hair fashionably coiffed and makeup perfectly applied, even though she is legally blind, moved to a nursing home yesterday. Her husband of 70 years recently passed away, making the move necessary.

After many hours of waiting patiently in the lobby of the nursing home, she smiled sweetly when told her room was ready. As she maneuvered her walker to the elevator, I provided a visual description of her tiny room, including the eyelet sheets that had been hung on her window. “I love it,” she stated with the enthusiasm of an eight-year-old having just been presented with a new puppy.

“Mrs. Jones, you haven’t seen the room …. just wait.”

“That doesn’t have anything to do with it,” she replied. “Happiness is something you decide on ahead of time. Whether I like my room or not doesn’t depend on how the furniture is arranged, it’s how I arrange my mind. I already decided to love it. It’s a decision I make every morning when I wake up. I have a choice;

I can spend the day in bed recounting the difficulty I have with the parts of my body that no longer work, or get out of bed and be thankful for the ones that do. Each day is a gift, and as long as my eyes open I’ll focus on the new day and all the happy memories I’ve stored away, just for this time in my life.”

She went on to explain, “Old age is like a bank account, you withdraw from what you’ve put in. So, my advice to you would be to deposit a lot of happiness in the bank account of memories Thank you for your part in filling my Memory bank. I am still depositing.”

And with a smile, she said: “Remember the five simple rules to be happy:

1. Free your heart from hatred.
2. Free your mind from worries.
3. Live simply.
4. Give more.
5. Expect less, & enjoy every moment.

Photograph by Karsten Thormaehlen

[Known @Knownis]

Known is so excited for the premiere of our Anthem campaign celebrating this new service as #TheOneToWatch! This has been an amazing collaboration with our incredible partners at @wbd. There are many sides to you...Max is the answer for them. #StreamOnMax

[Michelle @MichelleMGolden]

@howard @roam I spot my cousin :)

[Daniel Ek @eldsjal]

To all the people who can get work done while listening to music with lyrics…

I have one simple but important question:

How?

Teach me your ways.

[Known @Knownis]

And this just in! @digiday announced the winners of the Digiday Content Marketing Awards. Rapyd and Known's "Hack the Galaxy" campaign did it again winning Best Community Building Campaign. Congratulations to all the winners! 🏆https://t.co/evNqimHRAF

[Known @Knownis]

Challenge Accepted. ⚽️

A campaign produced by Known, in partnership with @NWSL

[Terry Stanley @TLStanleyLA]

Ad agency offshoot promises brand-inspired not brand-saturated content -- Known Originals Taps Basketball Royalty to Debut New Content Division @Knownis @McDonalds @ToysRUs @UMG_News @McDAAG @PrimeVideo @RocNation https://t.co/bidfX4oZHW via @Adweek

[Known @Knownis]

.@SesameWorkshop and Known teamed up on a media campaign to drive viewership of online video resources for refugees, displaced kids and families affected by the war in Ukraine. The campaign was nominated by @FestivalOfMedia in the Best Media Practice category.💛💙

[Michael Burgi @michaelburgi]

In today's @Digiday Media Buying Briefing, @Knownis ' chief media officer @cacy_kasha explains the advantages of working in an agency that built data science, analytics and engineering into operations from the outset. https://t.co/Tj0h3eKN4Y

[Known @Knownis]

Known Originals has announced our latest project — an epic 10-part series on the greatest music stories never told alongside @UMG with @TIMEStudiosfilm and Polygram Entertainment. https://t.co/BcEWYGp1TR

[Known @Knownis]

Our campaign with @RapydGlobal called "Hack the Galaxy" has been nominated 3x for the @Digiday Content Marketing Awards. Congrats to the teams who worked on our out-of-this-world campaign!

[Known @Knownis]

.@RapydGlobal "Hack the Galaxy" was named a finalist for @TheDrum Awards for Marketing. This campaign was the first of its kind & broke the mold for the fintech and industry marketing that typically comes to life in the form of a booth at a convention.

https://t.co/z5oGkXCrdD

[ADWEEK @Adweek]

Hardcore sports fans may be familiar with the annual event, along with its fundraising and giveback efforts, but the general public likely isn’t. That could change with a documentary series now in production and headed to Prime Video. https://t.co/yaChHXTF8y

[Known @Knownis]

.@mariolopezviva may have access to all things Hollywood on his show but he has to prove he’s Mario Lopez to get his car from the tow yard attendant. The Emmy-nominated @accesshollywood spot has fun playing with Lopez’s fame while reminding viewers that he’s the host!🎥

[Known @Knownis]

Our campaign with @NBCUniversal for @accesshollywood with @mariolopezviva is officially Emmy-nominated by the @TelevisionAcad! Congrats to all our partners & teams involved.🎥🎬