You know something is wrong. You're working harder than you ever have. And the needle is barely moving. Here are the seven principles behind every major business turnaround of the last thirty years, and the one question each one asks of you.

A few years ago, I stepped into a role with a clear mandate, relocated my family, and accepted the challenge with confidence. After years of frustration, I was the one being replaced. This is what I learned from that, and what I built because of it.

You're walking into the building on your first day. The name on the outside — attached to every product, every invoice, every customer relationship — belongs to someone else. A founder. A family. A legacy that predates you by decades.

And they chose you.

Whether you're the next generation of a family business or an outsider brought in because the family recognized something they couldn't provide from the inside anymore; the moment you walk through that door, you become the custodian of something that matters deeply to people who were here long before you arrived.

You didn't just take a job. You took on a legacy.

And somewhere in that building, the elephant is already waiting.

I pulled off the highway in rural Quebec to take a mandatory company call. What I heard changed everything; and shaped how I think about brand, culture, and leadership to this day. New article up.

"Stay in your lane" sounds like focus. Sometimes it's just control wearing a polo shirt.

The latest Leadership In Focus blog breaks down how rigid lane management quietly becomes the bottleneck — and what to watch for before your silos start eating each other.

New post is live.

Poppi didn’t win because they “did marketing better.”
They won because they built a brand that knew exactly who it was, and let that truth drive every decision.

This isn’t a soda story.
It’s a leadership and culture case study on what happens when alignment creates speed.

The $9B Owl That Outsmarted Corporate Culture 🦉

Most companies chase users. Duolingo built believers.
Behind the memes and guilt-trip notifications lies a masterclass in BrandTruth Alignment™, where leadership, culture, and brand all tell the same story.

Read this week’s edition of Leadership In Focus: “The $9B Language Empire That Guilt-Tripped Its Way Into Our Hearts.”

The reverse gear of brand adoption? It’s called the Brand Rejection Model.
5 steps where trust erodes, loyalty fades, and customers walk away.
The good news? Each step is a chance to course-correct before it’s too late.

👉 Read the breakdown + fixes here

Most Fortune 500s still can’t figure this out.
MrBeast has built an empire—content, chocolate, burgers, philanthropy—without breaking the thing that makes it work: alignment.

When brand, culture, and leadership point in the same direction, growth isn’t just possible—it’s inevitable.

Water that murders your thirst.
A brand built like a metal band.
And a $1.4B valuation later...

Liquid Death is more than clever packaging.
It’s a masterclass in what happens when leadership, culture, and brand all say the same thing.

This week, we break it down:
💀 How to build culture without corporate sludge
🎯 Why testing your idea before you build it matters
🧠 What BrandTruth alignment really looks like in the wild

When tension rises, teams turn on each other.

But what if you turned all that energy toward the real issue instead?

This week, Curtis shares a powerful reframe that turns conflict into collaboration.

💥 Less “me vs. you.”
⚒ More “us vs. the problem.”