The best LinkedIn posts from 2026

I got to train with Khabib Nurmagomedov yesterday. This was an honor of a lifetime for me. He's a great fighter & leader and a great human being.

From a grappling perspective, I don't think I've ever experienced this much top pressure in my life.

I'll post the footage of the training in a few days. And also we'll do a long podcast (and dub it in multiple languages).

In general, it was an incredible experience to train with the team and get to know many of the fighters from Dagestan. All are great people.

Insecure leaders hire followers.
Great leaders hire people 
who could replace them.

Early in my career, I thought leadership meant 
having the best ideas.

I learned the hard way:

Real leadership is creating space for people who 
challenge you, 
stretch you, 
and yes - outshine you.

That’s not a threat.
That’s your greatest asset.

When you surround yourself with sharper minds:

1. Your blind spots shrink
They see what you can’t - and say what others won’t.

2. Your decisions get better
Different angles turn decent ideas into strong ones.

3. Your growth speeds up
The right people don’t just support you.
They sharpen you.

4. Innovation accelerates
Fresh thinking breaks patterns before they harden.

5. Trust deepens
Welcoming challenge signals confidence, not weakness.

6. Your influence multiplies
Empowered people create ripples far beyond your reach.

7. You build a legacy
Leaders aren’t remembered for being the smartest -
but for making everyone around them better.

The strongest leaders don’t compete with their people.
They create the conditions for them to win.

You don’t have to stand above the room.
You just have to be brave enough
to let others rise.

Make people bigger.
Make space.
Make it safe to shine.

That’s the kind of leadership people remember.
And that’s how real leadership multiplies.

♻ Repost to remind a leader that stepping back is a power move.
➕ Follow Mike Leber for leadership that multiplies impact.

Image credit: Eric Partaker

—

📌 Grab the free "True Leader's Playbook"
21 daily habits to earn trust and lift your team:
👉 https://lnkd.in/eNy9xRUK

I've been thinking about this a lot lately.

Rejection can be terrifying.

So why, when someone frames it like this, does it suddenly not seem so scary anymore?

Here's what I've realized:

We're not scared of the rejection itself. We're scared of the uncertainty.

It's not the volume of "nos" we can't handle—it's not knowing if the next one will be the "yes".

That's why I find this so interesting.

If you KNEW you were guaranteed success after 100 rejections, you'd be hunting them down.

You'd be applying to everything, pitching everyone, practically begging people to say no because each one gets you closer.

And the funny part is that in reality, it usually takes WAY less than 100.

Most breakthroughs happen at like rejection #8 or #15. But people quit at #3 because they can't bear the uncertainty.

So here's the trick: Just pretend you know it's coming.

Treat every rejection like you're counting down to something guaranteed. Because honestly? If you keep going, you kind of are.

It's basically tricking yourself into success by removing the thing that was going to stop you anyway—the fear that it might not work.

Unpopular opinion: writing is going to be one of the most important skills of the decade. Let me explain 👇🏾

A CEO at Davos last week told me on stage that he was disappointed his son chose creative writing over computer programming.

After quite a lot of reflection, I believe his son might be making the smarter bet.

We're entering the age of deferred thinking. Everyone's outsourcing their reasoning to chatbots. The muscle that used to get exercised through struggle - the actual process of figuring something out - is slowly atrophying...

Richard Feynman, the Nobel Prize-winning physicist I wrote about in my book, had this idea that you don't truly understand something until you can explain it simply. (The person who complicates something usually understands it the least.)

His method was to take a blank piece of paper and write out an explanation as if teaching it to someone who knew nothing about the subject.

Wherever his writing became vague or convoluted, he knew that was a gap in his own understanding. Then he'd go back and fill it.

He knew something I think this generation is forgetting: writing is the most powerful thinking tool we have.

Writing is the act of organising chaos into clarity.

When you write, you're forced to confront what you actually know versus what you think you know. You discover gaps. You fill them. You sharpen vague intuitions into precise ideas.

AI gives you answers. Writing gives you deep understanding.

If the rest of the world stops writing and you continue, you'll learn faster, understand more deeply, and develop better judgement. While everyone else consumes AI-generated answers, you'll be the one generating the most important questions.

And I think the person asking better questions owns the future.

I said to my best friends this morning that something really weird has happened since AI emerged. I'm writing MORE than I ever have in my life.

I would have thought ChatGPT meant I'd never write again, but the opposite has happened.

I now see writing as a huge competitive advantage in business. To write is to think. To think is to understand. And only if you understand, can you innovate.

Maybe the most valuable skill of the next decade looks exactly like the most valuable skill of the last thousand years.

Maybe the most important skill in a world of AI is continuing to think for yourself - and therefore maybe it’s to write for yourself!

Just a thought!

⚠️ (ai was not used in the making of this content)

10 years ago today, I got the call that no one wants to get.

At 4:45, I pick up the phone and hear, “You’re out of money.”

Many people don’t know this, but only 3 months into starting our new team in Savannah, we ran completely out of money.

At this point, Emily and I had just got married and this was not how we pictured our first year together.

I’ll never forget after the call, Emily turned to me and said “We have to sell our house” And she was right, we needed money to help fund the team and that was the only option.

So we put the house on the market, emptied out our retirement account and put the little money we had, which was $25,000, into the team to cover payroll.

We couldn’t afford much, but we found a 500sq foot apartment that was once an old garage and moved in. We got an air mattress to put on the floor and even had to sleep in our socks (Which is crazy) But the place was that disgusting.

One night I woke up to Emily screaming at me because a cockroach was crawling on my face.

It was bleak to say the least. We weren’t even eating real food as we only had $30 a week to grocery shop and Ramen and Hot Pockets could only go so far.

When it came to our new team, there was no momentum or any signs that this was going to work.  We had sold only a handful of tickets. We were getting rejected every day by potential sponsors and ticket holders.  We didn’t even have a team name yet. We were just the next team to fail.

But we believed in it.

We dreamed of a different type of fan experience with players dancing, all-inclusive food and drinks, breakdancing coaches and non-stop entertainment.
We knew if we could just convince enough people to come to our games, we could put on a show unlike anything they had ever seen before.

"Get to the first game, Get to the first show," we just kept saying over and over again.

When we finally got to Opening Night, everything changed. We played in green jerseys because we weren’t quite ripe. And the team lived up to it making six errors. And fans had to wait hours for their All-You Can Eat food.

But the Banana Baby opened the game and brought the house down, their were first bananas thrown, bananas in the pants, the Banana Nanas danced, the players delivered roses to girls, and we entertained non-stop until the final out was made.

After that night, the fans started telling everyone about our show. And the rest is history.

Looking back on that day in 2016, this was certainly our lowest point. Seeing now what our teams are setting out to do in 2026 is beyond anything we could ever imagine.

But we will never forget where we started.

For every player, staff member and every fan, who believed in us and helped make this dream come true, thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

We will continue to dream big and work to deliver the best show for you, ESPECIALLY when things get hard.

Luckily, it’s not how you start…. it’s how you finish. 🤣 💪 what’s the most random job you’ve ever had? #originstory #itbuiltcharacter

One of Simon’s most-read articles this year isn’t about visibility or recognition. It’s about what leadership looks like when no one is watching.

This timeless piece asks a simple but challenging question:
Would you still lead if no one ever knew your name?

It’s a reminder that real leadership is measured by impact, not applause.

Revisit one of the year’s most powerful reads:

Do you rely on your mood to be productive at work?

Tell me in the comments!

#rajshamani #figuringout

I overthought my first 100 posts.

Edited them to death.
Spent hours on each one.
Waited for the "perfect" moment to publish.

Most of them flopped anyway.

Then I started posting faster.

Rougher drafts.
Less editing.
Just hit publish and see what happens.

Those posts did better.

Turns out nobody cared about the stuff I was obsessing over.

They cared whether the idea landed.

Overthinking feels like effort.
But it's usually just fear.

You can't think your way to good content.
You have to publish your way there.

The feedback is in the arena, not in your drafts folder.

If you've been stuck tweaking instead of posting, stop.

I put together a free 2026 LinkedIn Growth Guide to take the guesswork out of it.

Just follow the playbook.

It's everything I learned going from 2,000 to 820,000 followers.

You'll get it when you join my weekly newsletter for 180K+ entrepreneurs.

Get it here → https://buff.ly/44xK67t

I was invited to Davos this year to speak last week and the whole thing absolutely blew my mind...

We've all heard the mysterious stories about Davos - the conspiracy theories, the speculation about what really goes on there. I almost feel bad saying this, but other than the sniper rifles you can see on the rooftops, the reality is surprisingly straightforward.

It's a snowy village in the middle of the Swiss Alps where once a year a fairly surreal concentration of CEOs, world leaders and founders descend to share their perspectives on the future, compare notes, and do a lot of networking.

The magic isn't in any secret agenda... (unless I wasn't invited to that part) It's in the fact that you can have ten conversations in a single day that would normally take you a year to arrange.

In one day I managed to do four talks on stage alongside the CTO of Meta, Chairman of OpenAI, CMO of Snapdragon and CMO of LinkedIn. I had lunch with the CEO of LinkedIn, CEO of Authentic Brands, a world leader and spoke at a dinner with 25 CMOs.

Almost every conversation centred on one thing: 🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁 ... AI

If you're hoping that the people at the top of the world's biggest companies have a clear picture of what's coming next, I have uncomfortable news.

They don't. The honest ones admit we're all staring at the same fog and "Reacting quickly to breakthroughs".

During one of my talks I was asked whether I worry that AI might kill my job as a podcaster. My answer was: I'm unromantic about how I do my job, but I'm deeply romantic about what I do - the impact, the connection, the reason it matters.

How I create might change completely - maybe I won't need to go to a studio, won't need a microphone, maybe I won't even need to record content anymore at all - but why I create won't.

I think that distinction is everything for the decade ahead. The people who will struggle most are the ones who confuse the way they do things with who they are.

When the way changes - and it will - they'll experience it as an existential threat rather than an opportunity.

The people who thrive will be the ones willing to feel like an imposter again.

Willing to be a beginner. To mess around with new technology on the weekend. To vibe code. To integrate new tools before they fully understand them.

Companies are the same. The ones that survive disruption won't be the ones with the best five-year plans... they'll be the ones with the healthiest relationship with change, failing and experimentation.

After my time in Davos, It's pretty clear to me that the future belongs to the unromantic adapters - people and companies who hold tightly to what they're trying to achieve and hold loosely to how they're currently achieving it.

When nobody knows what's coming, the only real competitive advantage is the ability to move before the path is clear, to try sh*t and take risk!

And yes, we should be in love with the impact, but we should be casual about the method 👊🏾❤️

The best leaders absorb pressure for their teams.
They’re the first to step in. 
And the last to point fingers.

Because real leadership doesn’t reveal itself in calm moments.
It shows up when pressure rises.
When something breaks.
When someone needs cover -
not criticism.

Most people think leadership is about direction.
KPIs. Targets. Decisions.

But the leaders people never forget?
They do something far more important.

They protect.

Not egos.
Not appearances.
People.

Here’s what true leaders actually do - every day 👇

1. They interrupt blame in the moment
Not later. 
Not privately.
Right there - when silence would quietly harm someone.

2. They shut down unfair criticism before it sticks
Before it spreads.
Before it becomes a label.
Before someone carries it home.

3. They take the hit publicly
“This one’s on me.”
No excuses.
No explanations.
Just ownership when it matters most.

4. They protect people who can't push back (yet)
The quieter voice.
The newer hire.
The person without status in the room.

5. They say no for their team - not just to them
Upwards. 
Sideways.
Where the pressure actually comes from.

6. They fight unrealistic deadlines behind closed doors
So their people don’t burn out
while pretending everything’s fine.

7. They stop last-minute scope creep
Not by asking the team to stretch -
but by resetting expectations upstream.

8. They defend in public - and coach in private
Safety first.
Growth follows.

That’s the part most people miss.

When teams feel safe, they don’t just comply.
They commit.
They speak up.
They give their best.

Not because they have to.
Because they want to.

♻ Repost to raise the bar for what leadership really means.
➕ Follow Mike Leber for human-centered leadership that matters.

Some Thursday inspiration.✨👊❤️ who’s with me?

choose your annoying...

I'm convinced: You'll never work for a better company than the one you build.

When you build your own business?

1. You get to play every role.
2. You build an insane amount of skills.
3. You're forced to take responsibility for all.
4. You can put your family and loved ones first.

Is it extremely difficult? Hell yes.

Will every day be sunshine and rainbows? Hell no.

In fact, it will be challenging, frustrating, difficult, and painful.

But, man, is it meaningful.

And at the end of the day, you'll have the only boss in the universe that has your best interest in mind 100% of the time.

YOU.

It feels like it's just one decision.

But, really, it's the start of a whole new life.

If you want to start building something for YOU, I put together a free 30-day system to help.

It's called The Expert OS.

One short video per day. All of my templates, sequences, pages, and AI prompts.

Everything you need to have paying customers in 30 days.

Start day 1 → https://buff.ly/1c87Alu

How do you deal with your competition?

Share your thoughts in the comments!

#rajshamani #figuringout

I stand with the people of Iran ❤️

I have a lot of Iranian friends, including my childhood best friend. Amazing people.

It's one of the great cultures and peoples in the history of the world.

Stay strong ❤️

What do you do to keep yourself from getting bored of doing the same work every day?

Tell me in the comments!

#rajshamani #figuringout

Do you think people spend more energy making excuses than they do actually doing the work?

Share your thoughts in the comments!

#rajshamani #figuringout

Confidence isn't volume.
It's knowing who you are.

Most people think confidence comes from
achievement. From titles and success.
From having it all figured out.

But real confidence is quieter than that.

It's the leader who doesn't need to dominate the room.
The person who says "I don't know" without shame.
The employee who changes direction without apology.

Confidence isn't certainty.
It's self-trust.

It's knowing your compass works,
even when the path isn't clear.

It's being good with who you are,
while still becoming.

You don't need to be impressive.
You need to be steadier.

The world mistakes noise for strength.
But the people who navigate best are
those who trust their inner compass
more than the crowd's opinion.

This is how to build quiet confidence.
Right from where you are:

1. Stop performing competence.
Appearing like you have it together drains you.
Real confidence admits what it doesn't know yet.

2. Make one decision from your gut.
Not the safe choice or the expected one.
The one that feels true even if you can't explain why.

3. Set one boundary without apologizing.
Say 'no' clearly. Don't soften it with excuses.
Boundaries build self-respect faster than anything.

4. Own one mistake out loud.
Before someone else notices it.
Confidence isn't hiding errors.
It's claiming them.

5. Stop asking for permission you don't need.
If you're waiting for approval to start.
Act. Then adjust as you go.

6. Speak up when something feels wrong.
Not to complain, but to protect what matters.
Silence protects problems.
Your voice protects standards.

Confidence isn't built in bold leaps.
It's built in small, honest choices
that align with who you actually are.

Stop waiting to feel ready.
Start trusting the compass you already have.

What does quiet confidence look like to you?

Repost to remind someone:
confidence is quiet strength
that anyone can have.

For more insights on intentional leadership,
join me, Dr. Elizabeth Lindsey.

I bet you that many of the people who had the biggest impact on my company are names you've never heard...👇🏾

They almost never post, never go on podcasts, never want the spotlight...some of them actively avoid it.

And I've been sitting with this thought for a while now, because I think there's something we need to talk about more honestly...

Over the last decade, we've built this entire economy around personal branding.

I've pushed it. I've benefited from it enormously. I literally incentivise my team to post more, to build their audiences, to shout about our company, to put themselves out there.

I genuinely believe it can change the fortunes of a company, it can build careers and change lives - and our team posting about our work has had a huge impact.

But I think as leaders we need to make sure we don't confuse public visibility with private value...

This is a delicate dance.

We want our teams to post more, to build their profiles, to talk about their work, but we don't want to overlook those who choose not to...

I think we've started assuming that the people who talk the most about their work are the ones doing the most important work.

I noticed this when a team member of mine suggested we hire someone purely because:

"They did INCREDIBLE work at (A very well known company)".

When I asked "How do you know they did incredible work?"

The response was "I follow them on Linkedin".

😵‍💫

This doesn't track with the reality that I've experienced - a big following does not mean they had a big impact.

And when you really think about it, there's a strange logic flaw in that assumption... because time is finite.

So a prolific online presence and prolific professional output are often in tension with each other.

I guess this is the issue we all need to be aware of... in an era of personal branding... when promotion decisions come around, when credit gets handed out, when praise gets distributed - visibility often wins.

The person who posted about the project can end up getting more recognition than the person who actually delivered it.

So I wanted to say something publicly that I try to remind myself of privately:

Some of the most important people in my company will never have a platform.

And I'm trying to build a company that recognises impact AND impressions - not just impressions.

Here's the good news for all the quiet MVPs out there....

When I look back over the last 15 years, and the thousands of people I've hired, the ones who went on to do the most remarkable things with their careers were almost always the ones who were delivering the biggest impact internally, not those that were the most public.

They were the Do'ers not just the narrators.

And this is because they were collecting real skills.

And what you can actually DO - what you've built, solved, learned, shipped - stays with you forever - and over the long run, that's what the world rewards most!

Thoughts?

In 2016 while shopping in NYC I came across this art piece at a gallery in soho. I remember immediately being drawn to it... so I ordered it and had it shipped to spanx. I hung it on the wall in my office and every time someone would come in and look at it I would sort of see them flinch (🤣) and say something like "well, that's depressing!". But to me.... it wasn't depressing. It was a reminder. Any day that I was sitting at my desk, in back-to-back meetings, frustrated, stressed, making exactly 100000 decisions every hour that always somehow felt like life or death..... I would look up at that quote, and it would put everything into perspective. It was such a stark reminder not to take life (and work) so seriously. Because it's true... we're gonna die. 🤷🏼‍♀️😂 So if you needed it today... here's your reminder to laugh more, and not take yourself too seriously. ❤️💪🏻👊🏻
#entrepreneurship #perspective

Let’s be honest:

Staying in a job where you’re not valued?

It chips away at you.

You shrink.
You settle.

And over time, you start to believe that’s just how work is.

But it’s not.

You deserve more.

→ More respect
→ More recognition
→ More meaningful challenge

As Dora says, quitting isn’t failure.

It’s courage.

Don’t wait for someone to see your worth.

Go where you’re already valued.

Do you agree?

♻️ More people need to see this, share it with your network!

And follow Rob Dance for more LinkedIn content like this!

Will you be willing to sacrifice comfort for growth?

Tell me in the comments!

#rajshamani #figuringout

Do you think people glamorise the effort needed to succeed more than they should?

Tell me your thoughts in the comments!

#rajshamani #figuringout

“You should have these 10 hobbies”

Bullsh*t.

In January every year, people get this urge to change their lives completely.

Start working out, try a new sport, get into a side hustle, so on.

Which is absolutely fair.
Humans see the new year as a new beginning.

But one thing that I see is people forcing themselves to have hobbies.

“I need something apart from work.”
“I can’t just sit at home.”
“I need something interesting to talk about.”

If you genuinely like doing something, that’s a hobby.
If it helps you reset, even better.

But if you are doing it just because “everyone should have a hobby”, that’s just you trying to fit in.

It’s okay if work is your thing right now.
It’s okay if your weekends are for rest.
It’s okay if you only like one thing.

Filling every hour just to feel “productive” doesn’t make life better.
It just makes you more tired.

Try new stuff, yes.
But don’t pressure yourself into hobbies just to look more acceptable.

#rajshamani #figuringout

Jeder meiner Mitarbeiter fliegt auf Langstrecken Business-Class.

Denn Dienstreisen sind kein Kurzurlaub. Im Gegenteil, sie können anstrengend sein - vor allem interkontinental.

Und was wäre die Alternative?

Ein Mitarbeiter sitzt stundenlang eingequetscht im Flugzeug, kann sich nicht bewegen und kaum schlafen.

Dann kommt er an: übermüdet, mit Jetlag, körperlich wie mental einfach platt. Und trotzdem soll er am besten sofort arbeiten und Leistung bringen. Realistisch ist das nicht.

In Wahrheit ist man nach zwei, drei Tagen vielleicht halbwegs leistungsfähig. Dann geht es zurück, wieder eingequetscht und kommt dann wieder erschöpft an. Und auch zu Hause dauert es, bis man voll da ist.

Unterm Strich verliert man dadurch mehr produktive Tage, als die Dienstreise überhaupt gedauert hat.

Das ist weder effizient noch verantwortungsvoll.

Wir erwarten von unseren Mitarbeitern Höchstleistung, Verantwortung, kluge Entscheidungen und vollen Einsatz. Dann müssen wir ihnen auch die Rahmenbedingungen geben, um genau das leisten zu können. Alles andere wäre ein Widerspruch.

Und ja, Wertschätzung kostet Geld. Business-Class ist teurer als Economy.

Aber nur so kommen Menschen an, können am nächsten Morgen präsent sein und Leistung bringen. Genau dafür reisen sie ja.

Und fehlende Wertschätzung ist am Ende deutlich teurer: schlechtere Ergebnisse, ineffiziente Reisen, sinkende Motivation und höhere Fluktuation.
 
Wer also bei seinen Mitarbeitern spart, spart an der falschen Stelle. In sie zu investieren, rechnet sich - immer. 
 
Was meint ihr: Können Chefs Höchstleistung von ihren Mitarbeitern erwarten, wenn sie an den Voraussetzungen sparen?

#dienstreise #mitarbeiter #wertschätzung

Do you think that people choose comfort above everything else?

Share your thoughts in the comments!

#rajshamani #figuringout

What do you think prevents people with great potential from pursuing their dreams?

Tell me in the comments!

#rajshamani #figuringout

Do you feel people crave external validation more than internal satisfaction?

Tell me your thoughts in the comments!

#rajshamani #figuringout

Look, I get it. There's always bigger fish to fry.

But don't delay your LinkedIn, please...

This is year 17 for me in the online business world. Just on LinkedIn, I've trained 57,000+ people, whether in workshops, keynotes or 1-1.

So believe me when I tell you:

Most people use LinkedIn only when they "need" LinkedIn. To find a new job. They fish here for a few weeks. Apply apply apply... Until they "need" it again.

It's a cycle with no end.

These waters aren't made for a quick dip.
They're for those willing to go on a journey.
And the ship most definitely has NOT sailed.

There's still time to start (and enjoy) your journey.

Are you onboard? 😊

Monday Motivation, over. (Repost for others ♻️)

- Coach J ❤️

P.S. I did not eat this alone. (before you ask)

Tailwind is facing HUGE financial problems.

The CSS library is more successful than ever => More downloads per month than ever before.
But the company behind it struggling and had to lay off 75% of its employees yesterday.

According to Adam Wathan, its founder, revenue reportedly down ~80%, website traffic down ~40%.

And that website traffic is the problem: Tailwind made money by selling Tailwind Plus & Catalyst to website visitors.

Now with AI assistants knowing all about Tailwind and generating code without the developer ever visiting the docs, that revenue source is disappearing.
Hence that business model of “give docs for free → convert on premium components” is eroding fast.

And, of course, this isn’t just a Tailwind story - it affects anyone who publishes high-quality free content or open-source tools. AI benefits from that ecosystem, but doesn’t necessarily sustain it.

If we want tools like Tailwind to survive, they need new business models - or support through their current ones.
I really hope they figure it out. Tailwind is an awesome library that changed the way a lot of us build UIs.

Your 30s are when competence becomes a cage. I keep having the same conversation with my friends... 👇🏾

"I'm bored out of my mind," they say. "But I can't quit. I have a reputation. I've spent 10 years getting good at this. What am I supposed to do, throw it all away to be a beginner again?"

They are stuck. Too qualified to start over, too bored to stay put.

This is what I call "The Competence Cage".

You spend your twenties climbing a ladder - hard work, long hours, ambition.

But you wake up someday and realise that the view hasn't changed in a while.

You earn decent money. People respect your opinion. But you're bored and... "something is missing".

Starting over means throwing away the identity you've spent 10 years building. It means giving up the salary, the status, the hard-won credibility, and the intoxicating feeling of being the person in the room who knows the answer!

Going from expert to beginner is scary...so you stay put. You choose the certain misery of the known over the uncertainty of searching for something else.

This is one of those moments in life where there are ONLY imperfect options, and standing around waiting for a perfect one to come along will cost you something even more expensive: time.

The advice I've found myself giving friends...

🧮 The Sunk Cost Fallacy

You are worried about wasting the previous 10 years, but you should be worried about wasting the next 40. There are few greater risks to our future, than being unwilling to let go of the past.

🚪 The Reversible Door

Jeff Bezos categorises decisions into two types. Type 1 decisions are irreversible one-way doors. Type 2 decisions are two-way doors - reversible.

Changing your career is almost always Type 2. If you leave your job to try something new and it fails, your skills do not evaporate. Your former employer would likely hire you back in a heartbeat.

Therefore, the risk is not making the wrong move. The risk is wasting years procrastinating at the threshold of a door you can easily walk back through.

🏁 The View from the Finish Line

When you're 80, you probably won't remember the SAFE and the SAME. You will likely speak only of the moments where your heart beat fastest. The times you were nervous, the adventures you had, the wisdom of trying, failing learning and figuring it out.

I do clay pottery wheels with my family and in-laws often, and I think we all treat our careers like clay on a pottery wheel; At the start, we experiment freely - squashing it, reshaping it, starting again.

But the closer it gets to looking like something, the more cautious we become.

We stop experimenting. We only make tiny adjustments to the sculpture.

We're terrified to touch it in case we ruin our hard work...

Sculptures are admired for being finished. Lives are admired for being lived.

You have to be willing to kill the person you've worked so hard to become, to give the person you could become a chance to breathe.

Have you had to reinvent yourself?

You can't control much in life,
but these 22 things you always can:

1. Your Attitude
Opt for a positive outlook.
 
2. Your Integrity
Stick to your values, even when it's hard.
 
3. Your Courage
Face your fears and grow.
 
4. Your Kindness
A small act can change someone's day.
 
5. Your Influence
Be the leader you'd follow.
 
6. Your Actions
Make decisions you'll be proud of later.
 
7. Your Boundaries
Say no when you need to.
 
8. Your Effort
Push through when it gets tough.

9. Your Circle
Surround yourself with supportive people.
 
10. Your Self-Belief
Believe you can, and you will.
 
11. Your Excuses
Kill them before they kill your dreams.
 
12. Your Goals
Set them high, but achievable.
 
13. Your Focus
Choose where you direct your attention.
 
14. Your Limits
Break them, then set new ones.
 
15. Your Time
Prioritize what matters most to you.
 
16. Your Words
Speak positively to yourself and others.
 
17. Your Self-Care
Make time for yourself every day.
 
18. Your Silence
Speak up, even when it's unpopular.
 
19. Your Inner Critic
Put it in its place.
 
20. Your Mindset
Shift from fixed to growth thinking.
 
21. Your Purpose
Align your actions with your mission.
 
22. Your Gratitude
Count your blessings, no matter how small.

Your power starts and ends with you 💪.

Master these... and your world transforms.

You're not a passenger in life.
You're the driver.

P.S. Which of the 22 is most important to you?
Any I missed that you'd add?

♻️ If this resonates with you, repost for others too.
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Do you think doing too many things kills focus?

Tell me your thoughts in the comments!

#rajshamani #figuringout

Most people don’t realise…


Life doesn’t always reward you instantly.
It rewards you eventually.


And that gap between “eventually” and “now” is where most people lose themselves.


They start rushing.
They start comparing.
They start questioning God, questioning timing, questioning their worth.
They start moving like the dice has already stopped rolling - when it hasn’t.


But here’s the truth:


Sometimes the dice is rolling for years.
Not because you’re unlucky.
But because you’re being shaped for what you asked for.


You said you wanted more.
More influence.
More peace.
More wealth.
More impact.


And those things don’t arrive in small packaging.


So life stretches you.
Tests your character.
Checks your ego.
Puts you in rooms where you feel behind.
Makes you watch other people win first.


Not to punish you.
But to teach you what winning actually costs.


Because real success isn’t just getting what you want.


It’s becoming the type of person
who can hold it
without destroying themselves.


And while the dice is still rolling…


You clap for others.
You show love.
You stay generous.
You stay humble.
You keep your heart clean.


Because bitterness delays blessings.


A jealous spirit can’t carry abundance.
A resentful mindset can’t sustain wealth.
And a small heart can’t run a big life.


So if you’re in the waiting season, don’t panic.

I'm increasingly convinced that there are 5 things in an epic life:

1. Help people: This is the core driver of everything.
2. Make money: This is easy if you do #1 effectively.
3. Stay healthy: No. 1 and 2 don't matter without it.
4. Love your family: Everything is better with love.
5. Travel: Puts your life into perspective.

I'm telling you this, and I mean it seriously:

Everything is downstream of helping people.

So, if you're sitting around feeling stuck about what to do next, or where your life is going, or the next step to take?

Go help someone.

That's how all winners get started.

And if you don't know how to impact people, I'll show you.

I just launched a free 30-day course that takes you from "I know something" to "I'm solving people's problems with this."

It's called The Expert OS.

All my templates, systems, pages, emails, prompts, etc...all in one place so you can start a business that helps people.

Kick off day 1 here: https://buff.ly/1c87Alu

What is one small habit that has helped you improve?

Tell me in the comments!

#rajshamani #figuringout

Do you think people are afraid of failure because they lack self-confidence?

Share your thoughts in the comments!

#rajshamani #figuringout

Do you think you might be addicted to your phone?

Tell me in the comments!

#rajshamani #figuringout

Sup Nerds,

I’ve been avoiding you guys. Not actually, I’ve just been busy. Anywho, I wanted to share some updates on WTF I’ve been doing over the last 5 months.

First of all, as of several months ago, Bravado is no more.

There’s a lot of reasons for this. We built a massive community. We built a cool product. But at the end of the day when you build a social network you need to sell ads or sell data. We didn’t want to do either one because it was the antithesis of why we built it in the first place.

TLDR: We figured out our business model of AI and recruiting too late and ran out of capital. 

Since then though, I’ve been working on a completely new way to disappoint all of you. No, it’s not a tech company, and it certainly won’t have anything to do with AI. It’s a CPG brand.

I have a cofounder. I’ve incorporated. And I have a bank account. I'm not revealing the product yet. Not revealing the name. But here's what I will be doing: building in public with all of you.

You only get a few chances to throw big haymakers in life. This will be mine. I’m bootstrapping it myself. I will own the decisions and I will own the failures. 
I believe the best products aren't created in a vacuum. They're built with real feedback from real people who will actually use them.

So buckle up, losers. CorpDaddy is going back into founder-mode. And don’t worry, the content isn’t going anywhere.

If you need a new 2026 mantra.... this is it! Here’s to making this the year you go for it. The year you leave fear behind..... the fear of failing. Of embarrassing yourself. Of wasting your time. Today is the day. You have what it takes, you know enough, you are enough, trust, let go, face the fear, develop the courage, be bold, make the decision and simply do it. Start a new hobby, end a toxic relationship, start a new one, sign up for something you would “never do” just for the story, start a business. Intention, Visualize, Action, BOOM. 💥 Life is NOT a dress rehearsal. If not now... then when?

My mum told me that if I dropped out of university to start a business she wouldn't talk to me again... she wasn't joking.

We didn't speak properly for 2 years until this business stuff started working out.

I've never held a grudge about this because back then I knew she was standing in my way BECAUSE she loved me.

She'd struggled in business after we moved here from Africa, so she was scared I would struggle like she did.

The truth for all of us (especially for 1st generation immigrant families):

The people who love you the most will often give you some of the worst life advice.

Not because they don't care. Because they care too much.

They'll optimise for your comfort, not for your growth.

So you have to ask people who've been where you're going, not people who are where you're from.

And ultimately it's your life, you have to face the consequences, so it has to be your decision.

You want to show up as an "expert" on LinkedIn?

But you never show your "human" side?

You're missing out.

A LOT of what I do on LinkedIn is cracking burger jokes in the comments, having fun with other CEOs, business owners, founders, millionaires..

And guess the first thing we do when we finally meet in person? Or when we get on a call?

We get burgers together! Or we continue joking!

At the end of the day, we're all humans.

Humans who love to laugh.
Humans longing for connection.
Humans who are tired of work 24/7.

Please...

Enough talk about synergies, circling back, and low-hanging fruit (whatever the hegg that means).

And more focus on GENUINE human connections.

This is what builds your brand...

AND your business! 😊

(both are important)

Now, bon appétit!

P.S. Photo is from Cyprus. ❤️ This year, I'm already planning trips to the UK, India, Malta, Singapore, Australia, Slovakia, USA... Burgers, anyone?

Before your life can change, your mindset has to.
5 mindset shifts to help you become your best self:

1/ Why is this happening to me? → What is this teaching me?

Blame keeps you stuck; curiosity moves you forward.
Being a student and keen to learn is the only thing that will ensure your success.

2/ I'm behind → I'm on my own timeline

You're not running a race. You're on your path.

Some walk. Some run.

3/ I'm not ready → I'm ready enough to start

Clarity comes through action, not waiting.
Get out of your head and act! That's how you'll find your answers.

4/ I failed → I found what doesn't work

Failure isn't final - it's data.
It's redirection.

With every failure reflected upon and the corrective action, you get closer to success.

5/ I'm overwhelmed → I'll just take the next step

You don't need to solve everything at once.
Listen to your body and take the smallest step possible.
And again. And again.

Before you know it, you've reached the peak.

Quote credit: unknown

Do you think multitasking kills focus?

Share your thoughts in the comments!

#rajshamani #figuringout

Back in the day when I was starting they swore that being nice was a weakness …

A lot of people actually tried to talk me out of turning employees into family .. they said, "Gary, you're too nice. It's not gonna work out."

But I never believed them, not for one second .. no matter how much money they had or how much I believed in them.

And more importantly, I was willing to leave unbelievable amounts of money on the table to feel good about my day-to-day, my life, and who I was.

My friends .. kindness is ROI positive .. you can build an empire and be an unbelievable business person without compromising kindness.

Pls share this with one person who needs it today!

Happy 2026! Will this be the year we finally achieve AGI? I’d like to propose a new version of the Turing Test, which I’ll call the Turing-AGI Test, to see if we’ve achieved this. I’ll explain in a moment why having a new test is important.

The public thinks achieving AGI means computers will be as intelligent as people and be able to do most or all knowledge work. I’d like to propose a new test. The test subject — either a computer or a skilled professional human — is given access to a computer that has internet access and software such as a web browser and Zoom. The judge will design a multi-day experience for the test subject, mediated through the computer, to carry out work tasks. For example, an experience might consist of a period of training (say, as a call center operator), followed by being asked to carry out the task (taking calls), with ongoing feedback. This mirrors what a remote worker with a fully working computer (but no webcam) might be expected to do.

A computer passes the Turing-AGI Test if it can carry out the work task as well as a skilled human.

Most members of the public likely believe a real AGI system will pass this test. Surely, if computers are as intelligent as humans, they should be able to perform work tasks as well as a human one might hire. Thus, the Turing-AGI Test aligns with the popular notion of what AGI  means.

Here’s why we need a new test: “AGI” has turned into a term of hype rather than a term with a precise meaning. A reasonable definition of AGI is AI that can do any intellectual task that a human can. When businesses hype up that they might achieve AGI within a few quarters, they usually try to justify these statements by setting a much lower bar. This mismatch in definitions is harmful because it makes people think AI is becoming more powerful than it actually is. I’m seeing this mislead everyone from high-school students (who avoid certain fields of study because they think it’s pointless with AGI’s imminent arrival) to CEOs (who are deciding what projects to invest in, sometimes assuming AI will be more capable in 1-2 years than any likely reality).

The original Turing Test, which required a computer to fool a human judge, via text chat, into being unable to distinguish it from a human, has been insufficient to indicate human-level intelligence. The Loebner Prize competition actually ran the Turing Test and found that being able to simulate human typing errors — perhaps even more than actually demonstrating intelligence — was needed to fool judges. A main goal of AI development today is to build systems that can do economically useful work, not fool judges. Thus a modified test that measures ability to do work would be more useful than a test that measures the ability to fool humans.

[Truncated for length. Full text: https://lnkd.in/gSn2KB3R ]

New course: Document AI: From OCR to Agentic Doc Extraction, built with LandingAI, where I'm executive chairman, and taught by David Park and Andrea Kropp.

Much of the world's data is locked in PDFs, JPEGs, and other documents. This short course shows you how to build agentic workflows that process documents accurately: breaking them into parts, examining each piece carefully, and extracting information through multiple iterations.

Traditional Optical Character Recognition (OCR) captures text but loses context from table headers, chart captions, or reading order of columns. After exploring OCR's limitations, you’ll use LandingAI's Agentic Document Extraction (ADE) framework to process documents. ADE treats pages as visually -- as images -- to parse information and extract fields.

Skills you'll gain:
- Build agents to convert unstructured files into structured Markdown/HTML and JSON
- Use ADE to parse complex data like forms, handwriting, or equations
- Map extracted information to named fields using a specified schema, with bounding boxes for grounding and validation
- Deploy RAG applications with event-driven document processing

Come learn about the best tools for processing documents like financial invoices, medical records, or academic papers intelligently:
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