It’s been a while, and here’s the update. I’m John Hittler (yes, that really is my name). I co-founded @Insperis with 4 great cofounders--a private CEO community for leaders scaling real companies. After 17 years of coaching CEOs, one thing became obvious: Founders don’t need more frameworks or tips — they need a trusted room of CEO peers who get it. So together, we built that room. Rap Sheet: 9x founder/CEO (2 nice exits) • FT CEO coach since 2007 • 3x published author • former Forbes contributor Happily married, 7 kids between my wife and myself. Foodie (especially paired with wine), athlete, urban organic farmer, "Gramps" to my grandkids. If you’re scaling and want real conversations with real operators — welcome. No AI slop on my feed. CEO Scaling Hacks, politics, economics, humor, and contrarian takes. Relax, you’re in the right place.

As the CEO, are you clear where the actual challenge exists? Example: Changing your CMO or CRO, because revenue goals are not met. Actual Issue: Your product is substandard, and your customers are quitting. The role of your Senior Leadership Team is to advise you with issues that you may not want to hear. Form there, challenges are much easier to address.

CEO productivity hack: When you are asked to take a meeting--any meeting--have the person suggesting the meeting write one short paragraph on why. If they never you do it, you avoid wasted time. If they do it and you disagree, you say 'no'.

If given the choice day to day, would you engage high intelligence, or wisdom to solve your team's biggest challenges? Hint: Think on a time horizon first, to figure out how to answer.

We get by with a little help from our friends.

Ever look at the amortization chart on your 30 year mortgage? The first seven years you pay off very little principle balance. Then you notice something. The monthly principle paid really starts to increase about year 8. Same payment as you have been making. Success in your business is similar. Same amount of effort over a long period of time, and it might seem like little is happenng....until you suddenly break through. Keep the effort consistent. That wins in the long run.

With all of the talk online about "true wealth", I suggest this simple definition. True wealth is when you have what money cannot buy.

Best AI tool seen for my most effective CEO clients. Create the 6 - 10 data points you want to see first thing in the morning, to avoid having to hop online. Most lists: - Today's schedule - Scheduled appointments for the day - Promised phone or emails owed - BTC price - Opening stock indices - personal reminders (kids' soccer game, Mom's BD) It then prints (yes, off a printer) at a designated time and keeps the CEO off of their computer.

Spring is almost over. Reminder to CEOs to name the 3 cancers on your team, and like a good spring cleaning, rid your team of them. Trust me on this one. Everyone else will cheer your move to rid the small number of cancers from your organization.

For CEOs and decision makers, do you keep a decision journal for key decisions? It's any simple notebook, and when you made a decision, you simply list the decision made, the assumptions used to make it, and then you check back to see how the decision turned out. It allows you to see how often your assumptions led to a great outcome, or wheether random luck did. My most effective CEOs also are happy to list "gut feel" as the reason for the decision. This is super valuable, and most have found that those decisions lead to good outcomes more often than heavily resarched decisions.

The worst performer is often surprising. Think of your last project with your team. There are those who contribute nothing and you don't count on them. There are those who play full out. Yeah! The worst performer? The one who takes on roles and then does not complete them.

I have coached 200 CEOs in the last 17 years. Here's the most reliable metric for who performs best: A CEO's willingness to play with discomfort separates them from the pack. The job is full of uncertainty and uncomfortable situations. Great CEOs lean into that uncertainty.

CEO Productivity Hack: Does your team hold a Top ONE every single day? Does each team member hold a Top One? How about you, as the CEO? Do you hold a Top ONE? Consider the compounding effects when every member of your team works on the ONE most important thing, rather than the 12 trivial tasks. Progress come from making meaningful steps forward ever day, not massive gains twice a year.

Concerned that your career is not turning out the way you want it to? Try this simple exercise: List your habits....all of them. Place next to those habits that grow your career. Place - next to all of those habits that derail your career. Quickest way to get a real assesesment on what you are actually doing.

I hear struggling CEOs whom I coach complain about bad luck. I never allow that form of pity for too long. Not because I am mean, but because it becomes true after a while. Good luck appears when you're in motion towards your goal. Luck tends to even out over time. If you notice yourself complaining about bad luck, chances are you are not moving fast enough. Create some good luck with your forward progress.

Yup. True.

For CEOs, consider this simple assessment of team members. It's not the Team Leader's job to slow the pace so people can keep up. It's every team member's job to keep up or even accelerate the pace of progress. Every team member is clearly in one camp or the other.

CEO Pop Quiz: Reflect for 3 minutes quietly and then write down what people can count on you for. Now do this again, with the knowledge that you will share it with your spouse and your C-Suite. Does your narrative change? The language we use with ourselves holds power.

The most effective CEOs I work with make their own rules--in life and in business. Their rules are almost always better for society as a whole, but too scandalous for most to consider. An example: "Stoptional" traffic lights. When you approach a stop light, and you know the metering pattern, come to a stop, and then proceed safely. - This is for moving ahead (yes, directly through the red light). - This is for the left turn lane (which shows red, but there is no oncoming traffic) He has never been in or caused an accident by creating his own rules for driving and red lights. He has also never been stopped by a police officer. Meanwhile, he eases traffic by having one less car stack up at a red light, and he gets to his destinations faster. Make your own rules!

The more financial success you create for yourself and your family, the more people stop relating to you. Odd to experience, if you are not clear it's happening. Here are some trappings: - You're not invited to social functions you used to be. - You're the first call to sponsor most local charitable events. - You realize that you have outgrown some friends you used to hang out with. No one will send you the memo. Congratulations! You have changed lanes in life.

Truer words could not be spoken!