Blog

Conversations Every Fast-Growing Leadership Team Needs

By Peter DiGiammarino

As organizations grow, leadership conversations naturally focus on strategy, fundraising, sales, product, and operations. Those conversations are essential. Yet one conversation often receives far less attention than it deserves, even though it may have the greatest impact on the organization’s future: What do the people around me know about my leadership that I don’t? Every … Continue reading Conversations Every Fast-Growing Leadership Team Needs

If executive offsites are so valuable, why do we only have one or two a year?

By Peter DiGiammarino

Executive offsites have been part of running a business for decades because they work. Leaders wouldn’t continue investing the time, money, and energy it takes to step away from the day-to-day business if they didn’t. Organizations have become increasingly distributed, while AI has dramatically expanded what leadership teams can accomplish together between meetings. Together, those … Continue reading If executive offsites are so valuable, why do we only have one or two a year?

MtL Alumni: Strategy Offsites Start Before You Go

By Peter DiGiammarino

Great strategy discussions start before people walk into the room. As planning season approaches, remember that the best discussions never begin when leadership gathers for an offsite. They begin weeks earlier. Strong teams clarify and share their thinking before they meet. They compare perspectives, challenge assumptions, sharpen priorities, and work together toward a shared understanding of … Continue reading MtL Alumni: Strategy Offsites Start Before You Go

Your Team’s Leadership Workspace is Now Available

By Peter DiGiammarino

For years, IntelliVen has helped leaders: Get Clear. Align. Grow. Together. Effective leadership requires clear thinking, disciplined execution, and alignment across decisions and actions. With this post, we announce the availability of the IntelliVen Leadership Workspace, a collaborative environment that brings together the Manage to Lead tools with AI-guided support to help leadership teams draw … Continue reading Your Team’s Leadership Workspace is Now Available

Revenue Leads Expenses

By Peter DiGiammarino

Most leadership teams know the problem. They set an annual revenue target, build spending around it, and move forward as if the planned revenue inflow is already on its way. If revenue later develops more slowly than hoped, the organization is forced to pull back, delay hires, cut initiatives, and explain why the original plan … Continue reading Revenue Leads Expenses

Before You Build, Get Clear

By Peter DiGiammarino

Before You Build, Get Clear AI makes it easier than ever to build, prototype, and automate. It does not make it any less important to think. When the cost of building drops, the cost of building the wrong thing rises. Remember Peter Drucker’s aphorism that ends wtih “… are you doing the right thing?” That is … Continue reading Before You Build, Get Clear

Finding the CEO for What Comes Next

By Peter DiGiammarino

An IntelliVen Insight by Eric Palmer. AI is not a feature cycle. It is a reset of SaaS economics. Eric Palmer, a highly successful Senior Operating Partner with more than 30 years of experience leading private, public, private equity-owned, and venture-backed companies, recently shared what he is seeing across  software businesses. Eric uses and has … Continue reading Finding the CEO for What Comes Next

Time Horizon Discipline

By Peter DiGiammarino

Leaders often say: “We don’t have enough time.” “We’re far from our goals.” “Everything feels urgent.” Most of the time, the issue is not time. It is a mismatch between the decision and the planning horizon. Manage to Lead is built on clarity and disciplined change. Time horizon discipline is part of that clarity. Different … Continue reading Time Horizon Discipline

When Attention Is the Constraint, Focus the Work and the Reviews

By Peter DiGiammarino

Most things go wrong because leaders are spread too thin, not because the work is impossible. When the volume of initiatives outstrips reviewer capacity, important items get little or no attention. Meetings slip. Mental presence drops. The fix is to match what we take on to the attention we can invest, and to raise the … Continue reading When Attention Is the Constraint, Focus the Work and the Reviews

The Architecture of Resilience: How Early Labor Silences Fear in High-Stakes Leadership

By Peter DiGiammarino

By: Richard Block From a very early age, working was a given. It was simply what you did. In reflecting on these early experiences and contrasting them with the lives of my children and grandchildren, I see a significant divide. The loss isn’t just in the paycheck; it is in the “patterns of behavior” that … Continue reading The Architecture of Resilience: How Early Labor Silences Fear in High-Stakes Leadership

Emerging Leaders: Mastering Group Process for Success

By Peter DiGiammarino | April 5, 2024

As an emerging leader, the ability to effectively navigate group work is a critical skill. Too often, we find ourselves in situations where groups become mired in the easy tasks, neglecting the more challenging but equally important aspects of the work. In this post, we will explore key strategies to help you and your teams … Continue reading Emerging Leaders: Mastering Group Process for Success

Launching the First Cohort of the Enhanced “Manage to Lead: The Path to Breakthrough Performance” on Maven

By Peter DiGiammarino | February 3, 2024

We’re thrilled to announce that IntelliVen’s flagship course, Manage to Lead: The Path to Breakthrough Performance is about to debut on Maven with significant upgrades and enhancements. Since it was developed for American University in 2010, the 10-module MtL course has empowered hundreds of leaders and their teams to achieve breakthrough  improvements in performance and growth. … Continue reading Launching the First Cohort of the Enhanced “Manage to Lead: The Path to Breakthrough Performance” on Maven

Balancing Act: Navigating the Complex Interplay Between a Portfolio CEO and Private Equity Managing Directors

By Peter DiGiammarino | January 18, 2024

This post is based on remarks IntelliVen CEO, Peter DiGiammarino, made about what Private Equity Operations partners do for portfolio CEOs at a National Private Equity International Operating Partners Forum Panel Discussion in Sentry Center, New York City. Panel Topic A view from the portfolio company CEO on: Management autonomy and sponsor inclusion; striking the right … Continue reading Balancing Act: Navigating the Complex Interplay Between a Portfolio CEO and Private Equity Managing Directors

Scaling User Engagement: Implementing Community Strategy for Business Growth and Loyalty

By Breanna DiGiammarino | December 22, 2023

Once there are more users of your company’s product than you can keep in touch with individually on a regular basis, it is likely time to implement a community engagement strategy. The primary objective of a community strategy is to engage a high-priority subset of users in a forum that enables them to connect with … Continue reading Scaling User Engagement: Implementing Community Strategy for Business Growth and Loyalty

Dual-Track Goal Setting: Harmonizing Management Ambition with Stakeholder Assurance

By Peter DiGiammarino | December 20, 2023

The best approach to setting annual performance goals for an organization is to simultaneously pursue two paths, one for the management team and one for the board, investors, and lenders as outlined below. Stakeholder Plan: The Under-Promise-Over-Deliver Approach Target Audience: Board, Bankers, and Investors Objective: Manage downside risk while maintaining credibility. Strategy: Present conservative, achievable … Continue reading Dual-Track Goal Setting: Harmonizing Management Ambition with Stakeholder Assurance

How to Find a Job

By Peter DiGiammarino | December 2, 2023

It is a job to find a job … and most of those who are Open-to-Work do not do it well; in part because there is little time to find a new job while employed and, when unemployed, a sense of despondence, depression, or desperation may make it hard to perform at peak levels. Three … Continue reading How to Find a Job

How to Sync Your Leadership Team’s Skills with Organizational Growth

By Brent Green | November 13, 2023

If you are a CEO or a senior leader of a growing organization, you know how critical it is to have the right mix of skills, knowledge, and behaviors among your top team to drive growth and performance. How do you adapt your team’s composition and dynamics to match the needs and demands at different … Continue reading How to Sync Your Leadership Team’s Skills with Organizational Growth

Beyond the Paycheck: An Employee Guide to A Dream Job

By Briana Hilton | November 9, 2023

Employee satisfaction is influenced by factors well beyond the paycheck. Research highlights the crucial role of elements like company culture, leadership quality, opportunities to advance critical skills, and career advancement opportunities in influencing workplace contentment across various income levels. As Open Sourced Workplace notes, organizational culture, leadership behavior, skill development, and career advancement are intertwined, … Continue reading Beyond the Paycheck: An Employee Guide to A Dream Job

Six P’s to peak meeting performance.

By Peter DiGiammarino | October 27, 2023

Transform the way you participate in board sessions, executive reviews, operating meetings, design and code walkthroughs, All Hands meetings, interviews, and more! Adopt the **Six Ps** for enhanced individual and group performance. Prepare Read materials sent in advance with enough lead-time to reflect on their content. If you are the meeting owner, make it easy … Continue reading Six P’s to peak meeting performance.

Prompt Engineering: How We Put Generative AI to Work For Our Business

By Breanna DiGiammarino | October 24, 2023

Summary: In just six prompt engineering iterations we achieved real business value with generative Artificial Intelligence in that we are now able to: Significantly reduce the time required to review and assess client submissions using our WHAT-WHO-WHY rubric. Provide a comprehensive evaluation and quality suggestions for each entry. Make explicit and accessible our assessment and … Continue reading Prompt Engineering: How We Put Generative AI to Work For Our Business

Four Steps to a Smooth Transition

By Peter DiGiammarino | October 21, 2023

Below are four steps to smooth the transition out of a top role. It is critical to execute the steps in order. (See also: Transitions: Making Sense of Life’s Changes by William Bridges): Get Out Clean Most leaders are not experienced at dismissing someone, especially senior people, so your departure may be chaotic and traumatic … Continue reading Four Steps to a Smooth Transition

MtL Workshops: A Proven Way to Accelerate Your Team’s Leadership Skills, Alignment, and Growth

By Peter DiGiammarino | September 27, 2023

Are you looking for a way to help your team reach its full potential? If so, you may be interested in IntelliVen Manage to Lead (MtL) Workshops. MtL half-day Workshops help leaders develop the skills and knowledge they need to architect, build, govern, and change their organizations. MtL Workshops are based on a proven system … Continue reading MtL Workshops: A Proven Way to Accelerate Your Team’s Leadership Skills, Alignment, and Growth