In the age of AI, everyone has access to the same raw materials. Code is becoming a commodity. Software moats are evaporating. So, what’s left? I recently sat down with Dave Hersh (@djhersh), the founding CEO of @JiveSoftware and former venture partner at Andreessen Horowitz (@a16z), to discuss the "last frontier" of business: Human Intimacy. Dave has spent his career decoding why some companies flourish while others get "stuck." He has distilled these lessons into two essential books that every modern leader should have on their shelf: 📚 REIGNITION: Dave’s first book is the definitive guide to the "stuck" startup. It explores why only 10% of companies succeed and dives deep into the psychological patterns (the "Founder's Shadow") that lead to premature scaling and organizational rot. 📚 THE EROS ADVANTAGE: His upcoming work (and the core of our conversation) looks toward the future. It argues that in a world of rampant sameness, "aliveness" and deep relational connection are the only ways to build a generational company that is truly uncopyable. 3 game-changing takeaways from our conversation: 1️⃣ If your advantage is purely technical, you’re on a treadmill. The only thing AI can’t copy-paste is the depth of your relationships. In 2026, the companies that win will be those that become "black belts" in human connection. 2️⃣ Most founders run on "ego fuel", a finite, dirty energy source driven by the need to prove worth. Dave introduces the Eros Advantage: leading from a place of "aliveness" and calling. It’s the difference between burning coal and using a fusion reactor. 3️⃣ Product-Market Fit is just the baseline. To build a world people never want to leave, you have to achieve Emotional Market Fit. You must serve as the bridge between who your customer is today and the person they are desperate to become. Dave also pulls back the curtain on the "Inner Board Meeting," a psychological framework to help leaders manage the internal voices (the Warrior, the Child, the Hero) that often sabotage the biggest business decisions. 🎧 Listen to the full episode here: relayto.com/explore/s-02-ep-…

Most innovation teams focus on the product. Features. Technology. Performance. But what if the real driver of adoption is something else entirely: how the experience changes the user’s perception of themselves? In the latest episode of Experience-focused Leaders, I sat down with Ravi Sawhney, founder & CEO of @rks and creator of the Psychoesthetics™ methodology. Ravi has spent more than five decades helping global brands design products people don’t just use… but connect with. His work spans companies like Lego, Intel, and Samsung. He helped drive a $10B increase in enterprise value through the redesign of Life Technologies’ DNA sequencing platform. The core idea behind his work is simple but powerful. “It’s not how you feel about a design or an experience, it’s how it makes you feel about yourself.” That insight reframes how we think about innovation. People adopt products because the experience helps them feel more capable, more confident, more accomplished. Ravi’s team maps this dynamic using two variables: self-actualization and interactivity. Every product or service falls somewhere on that spectrum and understanding that positioning can help predict success. In our conversation, we explore: • Why many innovations fail due to misalignment with the people who decide adoption • How great products create a “call to adventure” that draws users in • Why emotional signals like empowerment or fear of failure shape decisions more than we admit • How human insight combined with AI can help teams forecast where experiences need to go next • Why the goal of design should be simple: help people feel like a hero in their own story 🎧 Listen to the latest episode of Experience-focused Leaders: relayto.com/explore/s-02-ep-…

Most leaders are trained to focus on strategy, execution, and results. But what if one of the biggest levers of performance sits under the surface? In the latest episode of Experience-focused Leaders, I sat down with Scott Britton (@britton) , entrepreneur, former co-founder of Troops (acquired by @salesforce), and author of Conscious Accomplishment. We talked about a topic most business conversations skip: consciousness and leadership. It may sound abstract. The business impact is anything but. One idea from Scott that stuck with me: “You can be killing it by the standards of the external world but still have your life run by automatic patterns you don’t even know exist.” As leaders, many of our reactions are automatic. A tense meeting. A missed target. A difficult employee conversation. We think we’re choosing how to respond. Often… we’re not. Scott describes consciousness like a database of past experiences. Over time, we build “if this happens → respond like this” programs that run in the background. Those programs quietly shape how we lead teams, make decisions, and handle pressure. The good news: awareness changes the equation. As Scott put it: “What you actually want is to feel a certain way—joy, vitality, trust, presence. That’s an inside job.” Ironically, leaders who invest in that inner layer often become better at navigating the external world. Clearer thinking, calmer decisions, stronger relationships. In this conversation we cover: • Why high achievers often tie self-worth to productivity • How automatic reactions shape leadership behavior • Why personal growth is non-linear (even for experienced founders) • How awareness strengthens decision-making and resilience For founders, executives, and operators under constant pressure, this is a different kind of leadership conversation — and an important one. 🎧 Listen to the episode with Scott Britton on Experience-focused Leaders: relayto.com/explore/s-02-ep-… And I’m curious: Have you noticed automatic patterns showing up in your leadership?

What happens when the world’s leading authority on pricing says: “Value = Price.” In our latest episode of Experience-focused Leaders, I had the privilege of sitting down with @HermannSimon, founder of @simonkucher, the firm that shaped modern pricing strategy, and the thinker behind the concept of Hidden Champions. He has advised global market leaders for 50 years. He has written 40 books. He’s the only German in the Thinkers50 Hall of Fame. But what struck me most was how practical and urgent his advice is for today’s leaders. Here are a few takeaways every CEO, CMO, founder, and product leader should reflect on: 1️⃣ Price is not a number. It’s a signal of value. If customers don’t pay, they don’t believe. Many AI companies today struggle not because the tech isn’t good but because perceived value isn’t high enough. 2️⃣ More data ≠ more value. “We have more data now. But data as such has no value.” Only when you translate data into real understanding and action does it drive growth. 3️⃣ Innovation fails when complexity wins. His advice to startups: Align your offering with the customer’s ability to handle complexity. A “technical super-product” that overwhelms buyers will struggle, no matter how brilliant it is. 4️⃣ AI in B2B is necessary but not magical. “B2B is so complex that we need AI to interpret it.” Yet AI must improve quality and efficiency, not just create noise. 5️⃣ His two recommendations for leaders: Stay Deep. Speed Up. Depth without speed loses momentum. Speed without depth loses meaning. We must stay deep, but we must be faster. If you care about pricing power, innovation, AI monetization, and building enduring companies, this conversation will challenge your thinking. Listen to the full episode of Experience-focused Leaders with Hermann Simon: relayto.com/blog/s-02-ep-26-…