Linnea

Brilliant People Podcast host. 🎙️ partner to PE/VC @acertitude. investor & CXO community builder. deeply into growth, ideas, design.

[Linnea @itsLinnea]

New episode with @DrAllisonBarber, President who transformed the Indiana Fever, navigated the Caitlin Clark draft, now launching @MarvellaSports, the first sports campus for girls.

Incredible insights on leadership, sports, culture. Almost had me in tears. Hope it moves you too.

[Linnea @itsLinnea]

This week I've been reflecting on what matters most in how we communicate and connect.

• Think for yourself. Independent thought is the foundation of progress.

• Be informed and speak with clarity. Build your views on evidence and express them clearly. Truth is defended with facts, not noise.

• Engage with respect and curiosity. Progress happens when we listen and strive to understand one another.

• Be open to being wrong. Humility is the door to growth and understanding.

• Stay rooted in equality. Every person deserves to be recognized for their abilities, judged on merit, and treated with integrity and consistency.

• Belief in agency. Freedom comes from knowing we each have the power to shape our own path and pursue our dreams.

These are the principles I hold onto. And I hope for everyone to engage in dialogue that builds, not breaks.

[Linnea @itsLinnea]

If you really listen, it’s obvious, even if you don’t share his beliefs.

Informed perspectives, expressed with clarity. Because truth is best defended with reason, not noise.

Dialogue that is peaceful and open. Because progress only happens when we hear and respect each other.

Always rooted in fairness. Because every person deserves agency and the chance to pursue their dreams.

[Linnea @itsLinnea]

"Then 9/11 happens and your focus immediately gets clarified. Everybody was rowing in the same direction and it was really powerful," says @DrAllisonBarber.

She shares what it was like to be a leader at the Pentagon that day and how crisis forged a sense of unity.

Sometimes the most profound leadership lessons emerge from the hardest moments. Crisis has a way of stripping away everything except what truly matters.

9/11. Never forget. 🙏

[Linnea @itsLinnea]

Most CXO mishires don’t happen in interviews. They happen before the search even starts.

The company never got clear on what success looks like. Everyone thought they were aligned, but they weren’t.

The discipline is simple but hard:
- Anchor on the outcome: what must change in 12-18 months?
- Force the tradeoffs: which 2 strengths matter most?
- Match to environment: stage, scale, constraints.
- Codify on one page: if you hire for everything, you miss what matters.
- Translate to behaviors: if you shadowed them, what would you *see* in 90 days?
- Pressure test alignment: where will stakeholders disagree, and can you settle it early?

That’s how you avoid wasting millions on the wrong candidate.

Clarity isn’t the only edge in executive search. But it’s the multiplier that makes everything else work.

[Linnea @itsLinnea]

170M new jobs this decade. 92M lost. Net +78M. CEOs and investors need a plan for where their talent and portfolio are exposed.

Tech and AI are remaking roles fast. Big data, AI/ML, fintech, cybersecurity: these aren’t just trends. They’re competitive advantages your org has to own.

Humans still matter. Leadership, creativity, resilience, curiosity, environmental stewardship are rising alongside technical savvy.

Upskilling is non-negotiable. The leaders and companies that act now will outpace competitors and future-proof themselves.

Future of Jobs Report: https://t.co/jIlRsOHhyJ

[Linnea @itsLinnea]

how you use the book ends of the day might shape everything in between. the first hour, the last hour, make them matter.

[Linnea @itsLinnea]

Recently interviewed Charlie Turano at Heritage Werks. They archive legacies - 100M assets for sports, brands, athletes, celebrities.

Here’s how he defines what it means to thrive in work + life.👇

• Purpose is... to honor those who came before me. And to be the best dad I can be.
• Leadership is... humility, leading by example, and giving credit to others.
• Success is... something that dies every day and shows up again the next morning for you to go get.
• Brilliant leaders are... everywhere. You just have to look for where their brilliance lives.
• I perform at my best when... I’m surrounded by people I love.

[Linnea @itsLinnea]

New episode with Peter Browning. He's a boardroom legend but honestly, maybe the most quietly inspiring human I’ve ever interviewed.

At 84, still trains 5x a week. Climbed kilimanjaro. Sea kayaked the arctic. Led an org through bankruptcy and somehow made people feel hopeful.

[Linnea @itsLinnea]

If your team's scaling and not cracking, your CEO probably figured this out.

[Linnea @itsLinnea]

People don’t quit hard.
They quit unclear.

Retention isn’t a comp problem.
It’s a clarity problem.

[Linnea @itsLinnea]

The best leaders don’t pledge loyalty to strategy.
They bring the friction it needs to stay sharp.

[Linnea @itsLinnea]

The wrong hire costs margin.
The right hire creates multiple.

[Linnea @itsLinnea]

You pressure-test the deal.
Do you pressure-test the team?

Most value gets lost after the close
because the execs can’t execute the plan.

Diligence leadership like you diligence growth.

[Linnea @itsLinnea]

Perfection or pace?

Steve Jobs didn’t ship until it was beautiful.
Elon Musk ships when it barely holds together then fixes it in flight.

One’s a sculptor.
The other’s a rocket launcher.

Both changed the game.

Sometimes “not yet” is discipline.
Other times, it’s fear in disguise.

Speed only works with judgment.
Polish only matters if it doesn’t paralyze.

You don’t have to pick one forever.
Just be pick what the moment calls for.