Noah Berk’s Post

You know there’s a problem. People aren’t performing the way they should. Misalignment is causing delays. Tensions are quietly building within your team. But instead of addressing it, you’ve been avoiding it. You’ve kept your distance from these people issues for so long, it feels overwhelming to even start the conversation. And now, the cracks are showing—not just in your culture, but in your operations, your efficiency, and your revenue. People issues don’t fix themselves.  They require structure, clarity, and leadership that takes action—not avoidance. When you implement the right system and strategy, you don’t just solve the immediate problems—you prevent them from coming back. We align **people, data, and systems** to tackle the root cause of issues—not just the symptoms. We create a framework that: • Rebuilds trust and communication within your team. • Ensures every person is in the right role, equipped with what they need to succeed. • Aligns your people with your processes so your organization can thrive. Because here’s the thing: at its core, this isn’t an operational issue. It’s not even a revenue issue. It’s a **people issue.** And when you solve the people problem, everything else—overhead, operational efficiency, and revenue—falls into place. You’ve avoided this long enough. It’s time to take action and lead the way forward. If you’re ready to stop spinning your wheels and start solving the real problem, let’s talk. Together, we’ll create the systems and alignment your team—and your business—needs to grow.

My observation is that businesses are inconsistent and unfocused in their decision process. The consequence is a suppression of performance and lack of accountability. I believe experimentation to be the solution. That’s because of a few key components. 1) It’s a systematic approach Collect research insights, and then run A/B tests. Extract testing insights that are re-applied to future tests. All ideas are given an equal chance and prioritization data helps pick the ideas most likely to turn out as winning experiences. 2) Ideas are democratized Everyone is invited to contribute to ideas in the backlog, but ideas are not linked to names. The CEO and intern’s ideas are all considered equally and fairly. This expands the total pool of ideas and encourages team participation. 3) Documentation Everyone operates under bias and assumptions. Experimentation invites us to put all those inputs intentionally on paper. We learn to ask questions when not sure, because then a test can be prepared in order to provide the answer. Inputs to decisions become clearer and better. Research insights, testing insights, business questions, assumptions, bias, institutional knowledge… 4) Results & Reporting It’s impossible to hide from performance. With variation-level revenue reporting, the business gets a data-driven and clear outcome out of every test. We always have clarity on the effect, and it’s impact. Every decision is either directly driving growth, or identifies underperformers and ensures they are not shipped. 5) Team dynamics The discipline naturally excites people. Other teams are drawn by the process and the excitement of watching tests create surprising outcomes. Slowly, it helps breaking down silos and fosters collaboration. Suddenly, our lead engineer is actively contributing to a test plan with specific considerations and guidance for navigating them. 6) It’s a framework to truly be customer-focused By all the data that I have seen so far, top performing programs drive meaningful growth because tests focus on customer issues. These conversion roadblocks are found through customer and market research. Roadblocks are validated through testing and often more than once. Through this process, the organization becomes better at creating quality evidence. Decisions are supported with multiple data sources, and are accurately measured. This sort of focus is transformative.

Valuable Insights from the book "Principles" by Ray Dalio 1. Embrace Radical Truth and Transparency: This principle encourages honesty and openness in all interactions, whether in personal relationships or business dealings. By embracing radical truth, individuals and organizations can foster an environment of trust and authenticity, leading to better communication and decision-making. 2. Recognize and Accept Weaknesses: Understanding one's own weaknesses and blind spots is crucial for personal and professional growth. By acknowledging areas for improvement, individuals can actively work to overcome obstacles and become more effective in their endeavors. 3. Develop Clear Principles: Having a clear set of principles provides a framework for decision-making and behavior. These principles serve as guiding lights, helping individuals navigate complex situations and make ethical choices aligned with their values. 4. Embrace Failure as a Learning Opportunity: Failure is inevitable on the path to success. Embracing failure as a learning opportunity allows individuals to extract valuable lessons from setbacks, iterate, and improve their approach. 5. Use Data-Driven Decision-Making: Making decisions based on data rather than intuition or gut feeling can lead to more informed and effective outcomes. Data-driven decision-making involves gathering and analyzing relevant information to inform choices and reduce uncertainty. 6. Foster Open-Mindedness and Constructive Disagreement: Encouraging open-mindedness and constructive disagreement within teams enables diverse perspectives to be heard and considered. This approach fosters innovation, creativity, and better decision-making by challenging assumptions and exploring alternative viewpoints. 7. Strive for Continuous Improvement and Innovation: Embracing a mindset of continuous improvement and innovation encourages individuals and organizations to constantly seek better ways of doing things. This commitment to progress fosters adaptability and resilience in the face of change. 8. Balance Short-Term and Long-Term Goals: Balancing short-term and long-term goals requires strategic thinking and prioritization. While short-term objectives are important for immediate progress, it's essential to also consider the long-term implications and sustainability of decisions. 9. Cultivate Meaningful Relationships: Building meaningful relationships based on trust, respect, and empathy is fundamental to personal and professional success. Investing time and effort into nurturing these relationships fosters collaboration, loyalty, and mutual support. 10. Maintain Humility and Open-Mindedness: No matter how successful or knowledgeable one becomes, maintaining humility and open-mindedness is essential. Recognizing that there is always more to learn and being receptive to new ideas and feedback fosters personal growth and continuous learning.

⛔ 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐖𝐢𝐧-𝐋𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐀𝐩𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐚𝐜𝐡: 𝐀 𝐋𝐨𝐧𝐠-𝐓𝐞𝐫𝐦 𝐌𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 ⛔ In today's interconnected world, adopting a win-lose approach with customers—whether internal (employees) or external (clients)—is not just short-sighted; it's detrimental in the long run. Why❓ 🔸 𝑻𝒓𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝑬𝒓𝒐𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏: When one party consistently benefits at the expense of another, trust diminishes. This can lead to disengaged employees and dissatisfied customers. 🔸 𝑹𝒆𝒑𝒖𝒕𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝑫𝒂𝒎𝒂𝒈𝒆: Word spreads quickly. A negative experience can tarnish your brand and impact future business opportunities. 🔸 𝑴𝒊𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝑶𝒑𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒖𝒏𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒆𝒔: Collaboration sparks innovation. A win-win mindset opens doors to creative solutions and stronger relationships. 🔸 𝑬𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒐𝒚𝒆𝒆 𝑴𝒐𝒓𝒂𝒍𝒆: Internal competition often leads to resentment and low morale. In contrast, a collaborative environment inspires employees and boosts their productivity. 𝐒𝐨, 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐨𝐧𝐠-𝐓𝐞𝐫𝐦 𝐂𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐚 𝐖𝐢𝐧-𝐋𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐀𝐩𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐛𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐬 𝐢𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠-𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐦 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬. Examples: 🔹 𝑰𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒏𝒂𝒍 𝑬𝒙𝒂𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒆: 𝑳𝒐𝒘 𝑷𝒂𝒚 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝑬𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒐𝒚𝒆𝒆𝒔 When companies prioritize profits over fair compensation, they may see short-term savings. However, this often results in high turnover rates, decreased morale, and a lack of loyalty. Employees who feel undervalued are less likely to go the extra mile, leading to reduced productivity and innovation. 🔹 𝑬𝒙𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒏𝒂𝒍 𝑬𝒙𝒂𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒆: 𝑶𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒈𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑪𝒖𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒓𝒔 Focusing solely on maximizing profits through inflated pricing may yield immediate financial gains, but it can damage customer trust and satisfaction. Customers who feel exploited are likely to seek alternatives, resulting in lost business and a damaged reputation. ✅ In both cases, initial wins can swiftly turn into losses. A win-win approach—where both employees and customers feel valued—will foster loyalty, enhance collaboration, and ultimately drive sustainable success. Business Is Not Only Business! #3 #Business_Daily

In the business world, the gaslighting effect can manifest in various ways, often employed by organizations or individuals to manipulate employees, customers, or even competitors. Here's how it might occur: Manipulation of Facts: Businesses might manipulate or distort facts and information to shape perceptions in their favor. This could involve misrepresenting data, exaggerating achievements, or downplaying failures to create a false narrative that benefits the company's image or agenda. Blame-Shifting and Scapegoating: When something goes wrong within the organization, management might engage in blame-shifting, deflecting responsibility onto lower-level employees or external factors. By making others feel guilty or responsible for problems they didn't cause, management can avoid accountability and maintain control. Invalidation of Employee Concerns: In toxic work environments, employees may raise legitimate concerns about issues such as harassment, discrimination, or unethical behavior. However, management might dismiss or invalidate these concerns, gaslighting employees into believing that their experiences are not valid or important. This can perpetuate a culture of fear and silence, allowing misconduct to continue unchecked. Creating Confusion and Doubt: Businesses might employ tactics to create confusion and sow doubt among competitors or customers. This could involve spreading misinformation, launching smear campaigns, or engaging in deceptive practices to undermine trust in competitors or alternative products/services. Exploiting Power Dynamics: In hierarchical organizations, those in positions of power may use their authority to gaslight subordinates or colleagues. This could involve manipulating performance evaluations, withholding opportunities for advancement, or using intimidation tactics to silence dissenting voices. Gaslighting Customers: Some businesses may gaslight their customers by employing deceptive marketing tactics, making false promises, or denying responsibility for product/service failures. This can leave customers feeling confused, frustrated, and distrustful of the company's brand. Recognizing and addressing gaslighting behavior in the business world is crucial for maintaining ethical standards, promoting a healthy work culture, and fostering trust in customers and stakeholders. Encouraging transparency, accountability, and open communication can help mitigate the harmful effects of gaslighting in business environments.

Throughout my career, I’ve often heard things like, “We’re too small to worry about efficiency, processes, planning, or optimizing performance right now. We need to focus on acquiring customers.” But when is the right time for a company to focus on these things? In my view, businesses should care about data accuracy, well-structured processes, and optimization from day one. It might seem counterintuitive to some founders, but it’s essential. Of course, in the early stages, acquiring customers and achieving product-market fit is the top priority. However, without accurate data, well-tuned processes, and a focus on efficiency, you’ll likely face more challenges in reaching those goals. 🔶 Without a CRM, how will you properly store and manage customer information? 🔶 Without well-defined lead generation and sales processes, how will you gather the data needed to make informed decisions? 🔶 And without consistently analyzing your performance, how will you improve and scale? 𝑪𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂 𝒄𝒖𝒍𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒗𝒂𝒍𝒖𝒆𝒔 𝒆𝒇𝒇𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒚, 𝒅𝒂𝒕𝒂, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒖𝒄𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒕 𝒊𝒔𝒏’𝒕 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒂 𝒈𝒐𝒐𝒅 𝒑𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒆—𝒊𝒕’𝒔 𝒂 𝒏𝒆𝒄𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒕𝒚. Thinking you’ll “fix it later” can be costly and risky. Unraveling years of disorganized data and chaotic processes will require huge investments, and the consequences can be severe. What’s your take on this? When should a business start focusing on data, processes, and performance?

Think small inefficiencies in your business operations don't matter much? Think again! From decreased productivity to hidden costs, overlooking these details can be costly. Don't let small problems become big headaches. Check out our latest blog post on ignoring small inefficiencies. https://lnkd.in/gNEZEg7R #Efficiency #ExecutionStrategy #GrowthOptimization

Control kills creativity. Several years ago, I took on the leadership of a global project to productise our consulting offer and drive better pricing and contracting. It was a great opportunity: a meaty project to make a significant impact on a global scale. I was stoked. On paper, it looked great. We could standardise our solutions, scale, and drive greater efficiency and profitability from the work we were delivering. Better solutions for our customers. Even greater value for our business. But through the process of standardisation, we had to make compromises. Local market innovation and creativity were being diluted to arrive at a 'global fit' approach. Was this about creating better solutions for our customers? Or about creating cookie-cutter solutions that we could deliver more efficiently? I felt this was wrong. Utter BS. But the business wanted to press ahead with it. One of the main failures in how most organisations seek to grow and expand is to centralise, tighten controls, and micro-manage. Don't do it. Efficiency over innovation. Give space to allow for local market freedom and creativity. Don't kill the creativity in your business with unnecessary controls.

Trust is the cornerstone of cohesive, high-performing teams. But how do you build it in fractured groups? Every successful team operates on trust. Without it, even the best strategies and tools will fail. So, what can you do with your teams to build trust and create unity? 1. 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗺𝗼𝘁𝗲 𝗢𝗽𝗲𝗻 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 • Share information openly. • Voice concerns without fear. • Provide and accept honest feedback. Trust fosters transparency. 2. 𝗘𝗻𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗥𝗶𝘀𝗸-𝗧𝗮𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗜𝗻𝗻𝗼𝘃𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 • Welcome the proposal of new ideas. • Take calculated risks. • Learn from failures without blame. Trust creates a safe space. 3. 𝗙𝗮𝗰𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗳𝗹𝗶𝗰𝘁 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝗼𝗹𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 • Engage in respectful disagreements. • Address conflicts directly and proactively. • Avoid gossip and unproductive behaviours. Trust enables healthy debate. 4. 𝗘𝗻𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗖𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗮𝗯𝗼𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗧𝗲𝗮𝗺𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 • Create reliance on each other. • Share responsibilities. • Align towards a common goal. Trust builds interdependence. 5. 𝗕𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝗧𝗲𝗮𝗺 𝗖𝗼𝗵𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗶𝘁𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 • Create a sense of belonging. • Increase commitment to the team. • Provide support systems for your colleagues. Trust strengthens bonds. 6. 𝗜𝗺𝗽𝗿𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝗗𝗲𝗰𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻-𝗠𝗮𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 • Allow the sharing of different viewpoints. • Allow the challenging of assumptions. • Make better-informed decisions. Trust encourages diverse perspectives. 7. 𝗜𝗻𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗲 𝗔𝗰𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 • Find accountability partners. • Develop accountability measures. • Evaluate constructively. Trust ensures follow-through. 8. 𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝗶𝘀𝗲 𝗙𝗼𝗿 𝗘𝗳𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝘆 • Pull back on micromanagement. • Focus on high-value work. • Utilise task prioritisation. Trust boosts output. It drives your team's success and ensures your business thrives. The ultimate performance enhancer. How do you build trust in your teams? P.S. Image Credit - @ linesbyloes

Trust is the enabler of global business — without it, most market transactions would be impossible. It is also a hallmark of high-performing organizations. Employees in high-trust companies are more productive, are more satisfied with their jobs, put in greater discretionary effort, are less likely to search for new jobs, and even are healthier than those working in low-trust companies. Businesses that build trust among their customers are rewarded with greater loyalty and higher sales. And negotiators who build trust with each other are more likely to find value-creating deals. Despite the primacy of trust in commerce, its neurobiological underpinnings were not well understood until recently. Over the past 20 years, research has revealed why we trust strangers, which leadership behaviors lead to the breakdown of trust, and how insights from neuroscience can help colleagues build trust with each other — and help boost a company’s bottom line.