Cameron Kinloch

I am a Board Director, former CFO & COO, and advisor to high-growth CEOs and CFOs with experience across SaaS, consumer, fintech, and global markets. Over 20+ years, I’ve led 4 exits, supported 2 IPO journeys, and partnered with founders, boards, and investors through the moments that define a company’s trajectory.

My career spans high-growth venture-backed companies, public-company transitions, and complex strategic situations. I bring experience from Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, as well as executive roles where I’ve scaled companies through hypergrowth - from tens of millions to hundreds of millions in revenue.

Examples of impact:
↳ Led Weights & Biases through a strategic exit to CoreWeave after 10x ARR growth
↳ Turned around a $200M+ P&L at Bulletproof, achieving profitability in six months
↳ Scaled Sunrun and Box through their IPO journeys, building FP&A and public-company readiness
↳ Guided multiple VC-backed companies through successful exits to private equity and strategic buyers
↳ Served as Board Director across public and private companies, including Finance, Audit, Risk, and Governance Committees

Today, my work centers on three areas:

1. Board Service
I serve on public and private boards, including EROAD (NZX/ASX) and Copper Cow Coffee, partnering with CEOs on strategy, governance, M&A, and scaling through inflection points.

2. Advising CEOs & CFOs
I help leaders navigate growth, fundraising, M&A, and strategic alternatives, with a focus on the leadership alignment required during critical transitions.

3. Finance Leadership at Inflection Points
I work with sitting CFOs and CEOs during the moments that matter most: first 100 days in role, preparing for IPO, leading M&A, scaling the finance function, and strengthening the CFO–Board partnership.

If you’re navigating a pivotal moment - or preparing your company for its next chapter - reach out at cameron.kinloch@gmail.com.

Chief Financial Officer

We are building the best in-class, enterprise grade tools for AI developers. Our vision is to be the single system of records for all things AI within an organization.

Used by teams at NVIDIA, OpenAI, Lyft, Blue River Technology, Toyota, and MILA, W&B is part of the new standard of best practices for AI.

After 15 years in the C-suite and 4 board seats, I’ve noticed the same mistakes that quietly stop talented finance leaders from becoming CFO:

1) They think like controllers, not operators.

CFOs don’t just report numbers - they shape decisions.

If you never talk about customers, product, competitive pressure, or revenue levers, you’re signaling you’re a functional expert… not an enterprise leader.

2) They build relationships up, not across.

Great CFOs aren’t just trusted by the CEO and board.

They’re trusted by GTM, Product, Ops, and People because they show up early, listen, and help solve real problems.

3) They can model a forecast but not tell the story.

The CFOs who earn board confidence connect everything in one clean thread: what’s happening, why it matters, what options exist, and the trade-offs behind each path.

Boards remember the narrative - not the spreadsheet.

4) They wait to be invited in.

Future CFOs don’t sit back. They initiate scenario plans, pressure-test strategy, and surface risks before anyone asks.

5) They stay stuck in precision mode.

Perfect accuracy slows companies down.

Standout CFOs set decision thresholds, embrace scenario ranges, and call out the unknowns so the business can move faster.

6) They solve today’s problem, not the next stage.

Boards choose the leader who can scale the company from $20M → $50M, $50M → $200M, or pre-IPO → public.

Your mindset must shift with the stage.

7) They underestimate how much the CFO role is leadership.

Most misses aren’t technical - they’re about influence.
CFOs lead rooms, drive alignment, and bring clarity in moments where ambiguity is high.

The difference between a great finance leader and a CFO isn’t technical skill.
It’s how you think, how you lead, and how you show up.

PS: I coach finance leaders on strategic storytelling, board communication, and executive presence. If you’d like to explore working together, send me a DM.

Board Director | CFO & COO | 4 Exits, 2 IPOs | Advisor to High-Growth CEOs and CFOs

Forbes called her the most powerful and influential CFO of the last decade…

But when Google hired Ruth Porat in 2015, most analysts doubted she was the right fit.

A Wall Street operator at an innovation-driven tech giant? 
Many assumed her discipline would slow Google down.

The opposite happened:

📈 Alphabet’s market value grew past $3 trillion during her tenure
🚀 The stock jumped after her early earnings calls
💡 The company consistently beat revenue and profit expectations

Here’s what she actually changed - and what today’s CFOs can learn from her:

1) Anchor decisions in data.

Porat was famous for saying, “The answer is a number.”
Data over opinions. Signal over noise. It cut through politics fast.

2) Replace passion projects with real frameworks.

She introduced structure to how Google funded big bets.
Teams had to prove why they deserved capital - not just ask for it.

3) Challenge the status quo.

She pushed back on excess, tightened spend, and reset expectations.
Not to clip innovation - but to fuel the right innovation.

4) Think in decades, not quarters.

Her support for AI and Cloud was grounded in long-term value creation.
CFOs don’t just protect the present. They underwrite the future.

5) Earn investor trust through transparency.

By separating core results from “Other Bets,” she gave investors clarity.
Clarity → confidence → multiple expansion.

Porat didn’t shrink Google. She sharpened it.

That’s the new era of finance leadership:

CFOs don’t just keep companies healthy. 

They shape strategy.
They influence product priorities. 
They build investor conviction. 
And they make the long term impossible to ignore. 💪

PS: If you’re a CFO or VP of Finance preparing for that next step, I coach leaders on the real levers of the role: strategic narrative, board communication, and enterprise leadership. 

DM me if you want to explore working together.

After 9 years as a board director, I’ve seen CFOs walk into a board meeting and lose credibility in minutes.

Not because of the numbers. But because of a weak CEO–CFO dynamic.

Boards don’t evaluate executives in isolation. 🔍

They assess how the leadership system functions.

And the CEO–CFO relationship is the core of that system.

Here’s what boards are actually watching for:

1) Shared narrative 🎯

Do the CEO and CFO tell the same story about the business?
Or does alignment start to drift once questions begin?

2) Respectful tension

Do they challenge each other cleanly?
Or does disagreement feel defensive, corrective, or personal?

3) Decision flow

Does alignment speed decisions up?
Or does the board slow down because something feels unresolved? ⚠️

4) Signals under pressure

When the topic gets uncomfortable, do they stay aligned?
Or does the partnership fracture in real time?

The most credible CFOs I’ve worked with do one thing exceptionally well:
They resolve tension before the board meeting.

Specifically, they:

✅ Align with the CEO on a single narrative
✅ Resolve disagreements privately
✅ Clarify which decisions the board is being asked to make and why
✅ Pressure-test sensitive topics together

What boards want to see in the room is cohesion.

One direction. Clear ownership. Leadership that holds under pressure.

That’s what earns trust.

I recently sat through a board meeting where an independent director challenged a core assumption.

What the Chair did next changed the room in seconds 👇

Instead of brushing past the moment, the Chair leaned in and:

- Slowed the discussion
- Separated ideas from identity
- Asked “why” before defending positions
- Pressure-tested the assumption in real time
- Pulled quieter directors into the conversation
- Sat in the discomfort until clarity emerged
- Made it explicit that challenge ≠ lack of support

The result → a stronger decision, with full alignment behind it.

I’ve sat on boards across scaled CPG brands, public companies, and PE-backed companies.

And I’ve seen dissent mishandled when boards:

- Take pushback personally
- Default to hierarchy over logic
- Letting power dynamics decide what gets airtime
- Rush to a vote to escape tension
- Push real debate into hallway conversations
- Boards are designed for dissent.

Not as disruption.
As a governance tool.

The best boards don’t avoid tension. They use it.

They create enough psychological safety for dissent to surface, and enough rigor to turn it into better judgment.

Handled well, dissent accelerates insight.
Handled poorly, it delays the truth.

When I got promoted to my first CFO role, the #1 piece of advice I heard nonstop was:

“Be a strategic business partner to the CEO and the Board.”

No one explained what it actually meant.

After four CFO roles, here’s the simplest definition I’ve landed on...

A strategic CFO doesn’t just report results.

They actively shape:

🎯 Decisions
⚖️ Trade-offs
📈 Outcomes

Here’s what that looks like in practice 👇

1/ Strategy = owning the “so what” 🎯

Every real strategy decision is a trade-off. 

Being strategic isn’t about better slides. It’s about making those trade-offs explicit.

- What we gain
- What we give up
- What happens if we wait

At Adobe, leadership made a fundamental shift.
They stopped selling one-time software licenses and moved to subscriptions.

Finance clarified the trade-off, short-term revenue pressure, and long-term recurring growth.

✅ Strategy is helping leadership commit with eyes open.

2/ Partnership = influencing before decisions are locked ⚖️

Decisions aren’t shaped in the boardroom.
They’re shaped well before the meeting.

Real partnership happens upstream.

- Pressure-testing ideas early
- Challenging assumptions privately
- Helping the CEO see second-order effects

At Oracle, alignment didn’t start at the board table.

Safra Catz shaped major M&A and the company’s pivot to cloud well ahead of board approval.

✅ Partnership is influence before positions harden.

3/ Implementation = turning strategy into action

Great CFOs don’t just approve strategy.

They make sure it actually gets executed.

- Pulling capital from underperforming areas early
- Funding the next growth engine
- Accepting short-term discomfort to avoid long-term stagnation

At Netflix, leadership made a clear choice.

They leaned into original content and international expansion.
Spencer Neumann supported sustained investment despite rising cash burn.

✅ Implementation is forcing strategy into motion.

Being a “strategic business partner” isn’t a title upgrade.

It’s the moment finance stops describing reality and starts helping leadership decide what to do about it.

That’s when CFOs earn real influence.

Here’s the difference between a VP of Finance and someone the Board trusts as CFO:

Most finance leaders think it’s about experience. Boards know it’s about how you show up.

VP of Finance thinking 👇

- Measures success by a clean close and forecast accuracy
- Optimizes the finance function
- Brings analysis and waits for direction
- Executes the CEO’s agenda as given
- Prepares board decks and walks through the numbers
- Frames impact primarily in dollars
- Operates mostly inside the company
- Explains what went wrong after the fact

Board-trusted CFO thinking 👇

- Measures success by better decisions made earlier
- Optimizes enterprise value
- Brings a point of view and recommends a path
- Partners with the CEO to shape the agenda
- Controls the narrative and decision flow in the boardroom
- Frames trade-offs across growth, risk, and resources
- Brings an external lens: investors, markets, benchmarks, and capital conditions
- Reorients the business and clarifies what happens when something goes wrong

Becoming CFO isn’t about being better at finance.

It’s about owning how the company competes, allocates capital, and creates value.

That’s the real shift the Boards are watching for. 🎯

P.S. After 15+ years in the C-suite, 4 exits, and 2 IPOs, I now coach finance leaders on strategic storytelling, board communication, and executive leadership.

If this resonates, feel free to reach out via DM.

34% of CFOs moved into a President or CEO role in 2025.

That’s not a coincidence.

Boards aren’t “promoting finance leaders.”
They’re recognizing enterprise leaders who already operate at CEO altitude.

Here’s why the CFO role has become one of the strongest pipelines to the top seat, and the shifts that matter most 👇

1️⃣ CFOs see the whole system, not just the numbers.

Finance sits at the intersection of strategy, capital, operations, risk, and incentives.

That vantage point makes patterns visible early:

→ Growth that looks good but breaks the org
→ Cost cuts that quietly kill momentum
→ Functional wins that damage enterprise outcomes

Boards want CEOs who understand second-order effects, not siloed optimization.

✅ The shift to make

Stop framing recommendations as financial outcomes.

Start framing enterprise trade-offs, downstream impacts, and the risks the company is consciously underwriting.

2️⃣ CFOs are trained to make decisions under volatility

Finance leaders spend years making irreversible calls with incomplete data across pricing, headcount, M&A, and cash.

That builds judgment under constraint.

In volatile environments, boards value leaders who can decide, adapt, and course-correct without freezing.

✅ The shift to make 

Move from scenario modeling to decision ownership. 
Take a clear position, name the risk, and define what would trigger a change in direction.

3️⃣ CFOs understand incentives, power, and where execution breaks

Most strategies don’t fail because the idea was wrong.

They fail because:

→ Incentives pull leaders in opposite directions
→ Capital is allocated cleanly but deployed politically
→ Accountability diffuses once execution gets hard

Finance operates where pay, capital, and performance collide. That’s where real behavior shows up.

✅ The shift to make

Design decisions with incentives and ownership upfront.

Be explicit about who owns the outcome, who has authority, and how behavior should change when things drift.

The shift from CFO to CEO isn’t a leap.

It’s the result of operating as an executive leader long before the title changes.

P.S. After 15 years in the C-suite and serving on four boards, I now advise finance leaders on the skills that matter most: partnering with CEOs, communicating with boards, and leading at the executive level.

If you’re sharpening those muscles, feel free to reach out.

I’ve been both a CFO and a Board Director. This is where strong CFOs still lose the room.

↳ They speak finance. Boards speak trade-offs.

Here’s an example:

Early in my tenure, I told the board in a quarterly meeting: “The risk is too high.”

A director smiled and asked: “Compared to what?”

That question changed how I show up in boardrooms. 💡

Most CFOs learn to see risk in absolutes:

- Can we afford it?
- What’s the downside if it fails?
- How does this hit the plan or forecast?

Those are necessary questions, but they’re incomplete.

Boards think in portfolios.

They’re asking different things:

- What does this unlock that staying safe won’t?
- Is the upside meaningfully larger than the downside?
- Which risks are reversible, and which ones lock us in?

Here’s the bridge between CFO thinking and board thinking 👇

1) Frame risk relative to the whole business

Not “this could fail.”
But “this risk is small relative to our growth gap, capital base, or strategic exposure.”

Context changes the conversation.

2) Separate visible risk from hidden risk

What shows up in the forecast isn’t always the biggest risk.
Inaction, delay, and missed learning compound quietly.

Boards are very aware of that. ⏳

3) Pair every risk with a lever for action

If the risk starts to show up, what do you do?
Slow it down, narrow the scope, cap the spend, or stop the initiative altogether.

Boards aren’t risk-averse.

They appear risk-averse when the risk isn’t framed in context. 🧭

When CFOs learn to speak in their language, they stop sounding like the brake.
And start sounding like the guide.

I’ve watched brilliant Directors and VPs of Finance get passed over for the CFO seat because of this one mistake…

↳ You wait for the title before adopting CFO-level ownership.

Every CFO I’ve worked with started acting like one long before the title showed up.

Because those years of owning outcomes build trust with the CEO, create visibility with the board, and sharpen judgment under pressure. 🎯

All of which quietly drives the promotion.

Here’s what CFO-level ownership actually looks like:

1️⃣ You optimize for enterprise value, not just finance outcomes
You balance growth, risk, capital, and talent instead of chasing a single metric.

2️⃣ You earn trust outside finance 
🤝 You understand what motivates functional leaders, where they’re constrained, and the trade-offs they’re making.

3️⃣ You take a position 
Not just “here are the numbers,” but what you would do, why, and what it means if you’re wrong.

4️⃣ You think in second-order effects 🔍 
You explain how today’s decision shapes behavior, incentives, culture, and flexibility over the next 12 to 24 months.

5️⃣ You own outcomes when plans miss 🧩 
You frame a clear narrative on what happened, what it means, and what changes next.

6️⃣ You act as a true thought partner to the CEO 
You pressure-test strategy, surface blind spots, and share accountability for results.


The pattern is always the same:
CEOs promote the person who already thinks, decides, and owns like a CFO.

Be that person today.

I’ve served on boards across $200M CPG brands, public companies, and PE exits. And the more boardrooms I sit in, the clearer this becomes 👇

Fiduciary duty gets referenced constantly
Yet it’s misunderstood just as often.

Some directors think it means loyalty to management.
Others think it means aligning with the room.

Neither is right.

Fiduciary duty is loyalty to the process that protects the company. 🛡️

What that actually looks like in practice:

1️⃣ Asking the uncomfortable question

Not to be difficult, but to surface risk, trade-offs, and blind spots before they become expensive.

2️⃣ Testing assumptions before approving decisions

Every decision teaches the organization what to optimize for.
If short-term wins erode retention, pricing power, or trust, fiduciary duty is to call it out.

3️⃣ Anchoring decisions in long-term value

Today’s incentives shape tomorrow’s behavior.

If this quarter’s results are borrowed from future credibility, it needs to be named.

4️⃣ Holding the line between oversight and execution

Boards own decisions and consequences. Management owns the how. Blur that line, and accountability breaks.

Fiduciary duty isn’t about being agreeable.

It’s about being accountable to the work, even when it creates tension.

And accountable boards build resilient companies. 💪

1999: Joined Oracle as a Senior VP
2005: Became CFO
2014: Named Co-CEO and helped scale Oracle to a $1T company

The board didn’t promote Safra Catz for financial excellence.

They promoted her because her decisions reshaped Oracle’s business model and long-term relevance.

And that’s the gap most CFOs never close.

Here are 4 moves that earned her the top seat and what other CFOs can learn from them.

1) She was already functioning as a de facto co-CEO before the title

Safra didn’t stay inside finance. 
She took ownership of the company’s hardest decisions across M&A, operating trade-offs, leadership changes, and long-term bets.

The Co-CEO title didn’t expand her scope. It formalized it.

✅ You don’t get promoted into scope. You expand scope first and let the title catch up.

2) She turned capital allocation into the company’s growth engine

Safra reframed the CFO role from financial stewardship to enterprise design.

- Every dollar was a strategic lever
- M&A followed a thesis, not one-off deals
- Acquisitions like PeopleSoft helped Oracle skip long build cycles and reshape its platform

✅ Use capital to shape how the business grows, not just to protect performance.

3) She earned trust with the Board and CEO by owning the hardest calls

She didn’t just report to Larry Ellison. She helped shape the strategy with him.

By the time she became Co-CEO, the board had already seen her navigate hostile acquisitions, activist pressure, cost discipline, and leadership changes under real stress.

✅ Credibility compounds when you show judgment when pressure is highest.

4) She steered Oracle through its most disruptive pivot

The shift from on-prem to cloud wasn’t incremental. It was existential.

Safra balanced short-term pain with long-term survival and kept stakeholders aligned through years of uncertainty.

✅ Top leaders don’t avoid disruption. They turn it into durable growth.

Most CFOs master cost control, forecasting, and governance.
Few build the judgment to shape the company’s future.

Boards don’t promote CFOs who protect today’s P&L.

They promote CFOs who help the company survive its next reinvention.

That’s how a CFO becomes a CEO.

40% of CFO dismissals come down to one thing:
A strained relationship with the CEO or the board. ⚠️

And yet, CFOs are still expected to:

- Challenge the CEO
- Say no when momentum is high
- Deliver bad news before there’s a fix

After serving as a 3× CFO and 4x board director, here’s how the best CFOs manage this tension without becoming “the problem” 👇

1️⃣ They align strategy with finance

Boards push for ambition. CFOs protect discipline. The best CFOs bridge the gap by:

- Translating strategy into cash, margin, and capital risk
- Modeling outcomes: what hitting X costs, what it earns, and what breaks if execution slips
- Framing decisions as explicit trade-offs

2️⃣ They eliminate surprises

Trust erodes when issues show up late or without context.

- Surface problems early
- Use simple dashboards the board can read in seconds
- Explain why numbers moved and how the team is responding

3️⃣ They challenge the CEO in private, align in public

- Push hard behind closed doors
- Present a unified leadership team in the room
- Never put the board in a position to choose between the CEO and the CFO

This protects the CEO’s authority and the CFO’s credibility.

4️⃣ They design the decision framework before taking a position

Strong CFOs don’t start with “no.” They structure the conversation.

- Separate facts, risks, and recommendations
- Make opportunity cost visible
- Frame choices, not ultimatums

This shifts the CFO from blocker to decision architect.

5️⃣ They manage confidence as much as accuracy

In a miss, boards read presence before precision.

- Stay calm under pressure
- Anchor discussion on what changes next, not who was wrong
- Surface second- and third-order effects instead of re-arguing the decision

Great CFOs don’t avoid tension. They structure it so the CEO, the board, and the business can make better decisions. 🎯

P.S. I coach CFOs and VPs of Finance on strategic narrative, board communication, and enterprise leadership. 

Slots are full until mid-March. Reach out if you’d like to join the waitlist.

Most CFOs think being “board-ready” means knowing their numbers cold.

It doesn’t.

Every CFO who’s ever been hired has clean financials, a tight forecast, and answers to last quarter’s variances.

If technical competence were the bar, boards would never struggle to find leaders.

But boards don’t evaluate you the way operating teams do.

They’re not asking, “Is this person good at finance?”
They’re asking, “Can this person help us govern uncertainty?” 🎯

That’s a very different test.

Here’s what boards actually look for:

1) Alignment

If every executive tells a slightly different story, the board sees fragmentation immediately.

Reporting results isn’t the job.
Unifying the narrative is.

Strong CFOs connect strategy, risk, capital allocation, and execution into one coherent story.

2) Thought discipline

Boards look for your ability to separate signal from noise and surface the decisions that matter most.

That means you:

✅ Frame the 2–3 variables that actually move outcomes
✅ Name what’s immaterial, and why
✅ Prevent the discussion from drifting into operational weeds

3) Confidence without rigidity

When assumptions break, the board isn’t judging the miss.

They’re judging how quickly you recalibrate capital, priorities, and expectations. 🔍
“I believed X. Here’s what changed. Here’s how we adapt.”

4) Scenario thinking

Boards don’t want a single forecast.

They want confidence you’ve pressure-tested multiple futures and understand the trade-offs.

The most credible CFOs don’t say, “Here’s the plan.”
They say, “Here’s the plan if conditions hold and here’s how we’ll respond if they don’t.”


The real test is simple…

Can you clearly explain:

- What’s happening
- Why it’s happening
- What you’ll do if the world shifts tomorrow

When a CFO can do that, the board stops seeing a functional leader.
They see a business leader. 🧭

And that’s when trust deepens, influence expands, and bigger roles quietly open up.

I’ve seen seasoned ex-CEOs join boards and fail in the role within 90 days.
Here’s what they get wrong 👇

Board meetings turn into operational working sessions because they default to execution instead of judgment.

- They dig into the org.
- They second-guess execution.
- They try to “oversee” the CEO.

And this quietly erodes trust and authority. ⚠️

Boards are not there to run the company.
And directors are not there to replace management.

When directors operate instead of govern, three things tend to break:

1) The CEO loses air cover when directors step into execution.

2) The board loses altitude when time shifts from strategy, risk, and capital allocation into operational details.

3) Accountability breaks when directors do the work, because ownership of outcomes becomes unclear.

This is the shift new directors have to make. Being a good director means:

✅ Asking the questions management can’t or won’t
✅ Setting direction without prescribing execution
✅ Holding the CEO accountable without undermining them

The strongest directors I know are disciplined about where they engage.

They influence outcomes without stepping into the line.

Getting the seat is the milestone.
Learning how to stay out of the weeds is the real work. 🎯

If you’re early in your board journey...

What’s the hardest instinct you’ve had to unlearn, or expect to unlearn?

Ghostwriter & Messaging Strategist helping leaders achieve 70% opt-ins with a Microstory Journey using the 3-Minute Story Blueprint to build trust and convert hesitant prospects into eager customers.

Most businesses struggle to convert leads because they rely on forgettable downloads and meaningless discounts that fail to create an emotional connection. 

Prospects don't just need information, they need to feel valued, to trust you, and to experience genuine engagement. 

That's why I created the concept of the Microstory Journey, a 5-day emotional experience that uses the 3-Minute Story Blueprint to touch hearts, build authentic connections, and establish unshakable trust, turning hesitant prospects into eager customers ready to take action.

AWAI Verified Copywriter
Case Studies Certification
Sales Enablement Certification

WRITING SERVICES I PROVIDE:

📨 5-Day Education Email Courses
💲 Ghostwriting on Social Media Platforms
📰  Newsletters
🌐   Web Content
✍️   Blog Posting
📧   Email Marketing
🛒   Sales Pages
📱   Facebook/Google Ads 

WHOM I WORK WITH: I help executives, CEOs, founders, & coaches.

3 Simple Steps to Powerful Messaging
1. Define your goals and messaging. 
2. Develop a customized storytelling strategy. 
3. Execute and refine messaging for maximum impact.

HERE'S WHAT TO DO NEXT:
Email me at mike@mikehays.net OR
Book a call with me at https://calendly.com/ask-mikehays

Mike Hays

Stop Saying 'Should.' 

It's Killing Your Progress.

"I should prospect more." 
"I should post on LinkedIn." 
"I should work out."

Yet nothing changes. The list grows longer while your results stay flat.

Here's what actually happens when you 
replace "should" with different language:

Scenario 1: Your prospecting goal.

↳Old language:
"I should reach out to five prospects today."
Then guilt when you don't. Repeat tomorrow.

↳New language:
"I'm reaching out to five prospects today."
Or admit: "I'm choosing not to prioritize this right now."

↳Result: You either act or you own the choice. No guilt loop.

Scenario 2: Your content creation.

↳Old language:
"I should post three times this week."
Followed by excuses about time, perfectionism, fear.

↳New language:
"I must post three times this week to build my authority."
Or: 
"I'm not ready to commit to this yet."

↳Result: Clarity replaces confusion. Action replaces avoidance.

Scenario 3: Your personal commitments.

↳Old language:
"I should work out tomorrow morning."
Then snooze the alarm. Feel terrible. Repeat.

↳New language:
"I will work out tomorrow at 6 AM."
Or: "I'm prioritizing sleep over exercise right now."

↳Result: You honor your decision either way.

"Should" is the language of obligation without commitment.

It keeps you stuck in a cycle of intention without execution.

When you eliminate "should" from your vocabulary, 
you force yourself to either commit or let go.

Follow Mike Hays for more communication insights.

Mike  Hays

Messaging Strategist & Ghostwriter for Leaders - I help you turn short stories into trust, influence, and premium clients with my Microstory Journey using the 3-Minute Story Blueprint.

You know exactly what you need to do.
But you're still not doing it.

Here's why:

Your brain isn't lazy.
It's just running a calculation you don't see.

Every decision comes down to emotional math:
↳ Pain of taking action vs. pain of staying stuck
↳ Whichever feels heavier wins

I used to think I lacked discipline.

Turns out, I'd just linked massive pain to starting:
- Anxiety about failing publicly
- Worry about wasting time
- Fear of looking stupid

Meanwhile, staying stuck felt... safe.

Uncomfortable, sure. But familiar.

The shift happened when I realized:
Inaction has a cost too.

It's just quieter.
More gradual.
Easier to ignore.

So I started asking myself:

"What's the real pain I'm avoiding here?"

Usually, it wasn't the work itself.

It was the vulnerability. The visibility.

The possibility of being wrong.

Once I named it, the math changed.

Taking action became less scary than staying invisible.

Here's what I realized:
You're not avoiding action because you're broken.

You're avoiding it because right now, it feels riskier than standing still.

What pain have you been avoiding by not taking action?

Follow Mike Hays  for insights on doing the work that matters

How To Get Complainers to Stop Complaining
Without Losing Your Mind.

You enabled the complaining the moment you 
started validating every grievance.

And now you're stuck in an endless loop of 
negativity instead of progress.

But here's what most people miss - 
stopping complainers isn't about dismissing their concerns.

It's about redirecting their energy strategically.

Here's what's really happening:
↳ Your empathy becomes their permission to continue
↳ Chronic complainers seek attention, not solutions
↳ They control the conversation through negativity

Here's how to break the pattern:

1. Acknowledge Once, Then Pivot

↳ Validate briefly, then shift to action
↳ Don't get trapped in the complaint cycle
↳ "I understand. What's one thing you can control here?"

2. Ask Solution-Focused Questions

↳ "What would make this situation better?"
↳ Move them from problem to possibility
↳ Force their brain to think differently

3. Set Boundaries Early

↳ Be clear about your role
↳ People respect confident limits
↳ Define what conversations you'll engage in

4. Model the Energy You Want

↳ Stay solution-oriented in your responses
↳ Your tone sets the standard
↳ Don't match their negativity

What Most People Are Overlooking:
Everyone can listen.
Everyone can sympathize.
But only leaders can transform complainers into problem-solvers.

Quick Question:

When was the last time you got stuck in someone's complaint spiral?

How did you handle it?

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They make it look so effortless.

That's what people say when they see polished work.

But here's what they don't see the invisible architecture behind it.

I used to think making work look easy meant hiding the effort.

The late nights.
The revisions.
The moments of doubt.

But the more I refined my process, the more one truth became obvious:

Work doesn't look easy because you hide the struggle.

It looks easy because you've done the hard work 
so many times that it becomes second nature.

And there are only two approaches to this:

The exhausting way
→ Reinventing the wheel every time
→ Burning out to meet deadlines
→ Starting from scratch repeatedly
→ No systems or frameworks
→ Relying purely on inspiration



The strategic way
→ Learning from past projects
→ Refining with each iteration
→ Making complexity invisible
→ Building repeatable processes
→ Creating templates and frameworks

One drains your energy.
The other multiplies your impact.

The best professionals aren't naturally gifted
they're systematically prepared.

They know that mastery isn't about working harder.

It's about working smarter until the complex becomes simple.

They've failed enough times to know what works.
They've refined their approach until it flows.

Not to show off.

But to deliver consistent excellence without the chaos.

Making work look easy isn't about pretending it's effortless.

It's about doing the behind-the-scenes work so well that others only see the result.

When you build the right systems, excellence becomes your baseline.

What's one process you've refined that now feels effortless?

Follow Mike Hays for more insights on strategic communication.

"Quick question" is never actually quick.

Feel That Stomach Drop?

I used to think it was just me.
Then, one day, I realized something:

"Those two words trigger an instant physical reaction."

I wondered why my stomach tightened every time I heard it.

It's always said like it's small. Casual. Friendly.
But the second you hear it, your body knows better.

Because "quick question" doesn't mean a question.

It made perfect sense to me.

It means a conversation.
With follow-ups. And feelings.

It's the verbal equivalent of: "We need to talk."

That pause you feel in your soul? You're not imagining it.

Here's what I learned about "quick question":
- Your stomach knows before your brain does
- Recognition beats explanation every time
- The tone is casual, the stakes are not
- It always leads somewhere bigger
- It's never one question

So here's my takeaway for anyone who's felt that tightness:

You're not overthinking it.
You're reading the room correctly.

Comment: "I've heard this one," and I'll share
the follow-up script that names what happens next.

Follow Mike Hays for more communication insights.

What's Controlling Your Life Right Now?
It's Not What You Think.

(And it's definitely not your circumstances)

Most people believe their life is shaped by what happens to them.
But here's the truth I've learned:

↳ Your decisions create your reality, not your conditions.

There are three decisions driving everything in your life right now:

1. What You Choose to Focus On

↳ Your focus determines your experience
↳ Not what's happening around you
↳ But where you direct your attention

2. Your Emotional State

↳ Your emotions shape your actions
↳ Your state creates your outcomes
↳ You can change how you feel in any moment

3. Your Blueprint

↳ The standards you've set for yourself
↳ What you believe you deserve
↳ These are your expectations

Here's What Most People Miss:

↳ They wait for conditions to improve
↳ They blame circumstances for their results
↳ They give their power away to external factors

The Real Shift Happens When:

↳ You rewrite your blueprint
↳ You realize you control your focus
↳ You take ownership of your emotional state

Your life doesn't transform when you get the promotion, 
find the relationship, or hit the income goal.

It transforms the moment you decide differently.

When you stop waiting for permission from your 
circumstances and start making different 
decisions, everything changes.

So here's my question for you:

Which of these three decisions do you need 
to take back control of today?

Follow Mike Hays  for more insights on intentional living

Fear Will Move You Forward 

But It Will Never Set You Free.

I've been thinking about what really drives most of us.

Here's what I've noticed:
Fear is the default setting.

Fear of failing. Fear of being judged. Fear of not measuring up.
It's exhausting, and it keeps you stuck in reaction mode.

Here's what I've learned:
• Both create movement, but only one creates freedom
• Fear pushes you away from what you don't want
• Vision pulls you toward what you do want
• Vision gives you energy; fear drains it

The shift happens when you stop running from 
something and start moving toward something.

When I switched from "I can't mess this up" to 
"I'm building something meaningful." 
Everything changed.

The work felt different. The decisions became clearer.

The pressure turned into possibility.

Fear will always be there, that's normal.
But it doesn't have to be in the driver's seat.

So ask yourself

What would you create if fear weren't calling the shots?

What vision would pull you forward if you let it?

Drop a comment or send me a DM
 I'd love to hear what drives you.

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Ever replay one harsh comment all day?

I do.

Someone once told me my work "lacked depth."
Not in a meeting. Not with context.
Just a quick message, then silence.

I couldn't shake it.

I replayed it during lunch.
During my next call.
Even while brushing my teeth that night.

The comment wasn't even detailed.
But my brain filled in the gaps with worst-case scenarios.

Here's what I learned:

Our minds magnify criticism.
→ One negative comment outweighs ten compliments
→ We loop it, dissect it, personalize it
→ It becomes louder than reality

But here's the shift:

That comment forced me to ask better questions.
Not "Am I good enough?"
But "What specifically can I improve?"

I reached out. Got clarity. Made changes.
The work got stronger.

Harsh comments sting because they touch something real.
The goal isn't to ignore them.
It's to separate the noise from the signal, fast.

Because replaying it won't help.
But responding to it will.

What's one comment that pushed you to level up?

🔔 Follow Mike Hays for more leadership strategies

You're watching the wrong thing during presentations.

The Signal That Tells You 10× More

That's what I realized after years of watching presentations.

But here's what most presenters miss:

The slides don't tell you if your message is landing.

The faces do.

People think I'm weird for watching faces instead of slides.

I used to obsess over perfecting every bullet point.
Tweaking fonts.
Rehearsing transitions.
Making sure the data looked flawless.

But the more presentations I attended, the clearer one truth became:

Your audience's reaction matters more than your content.

And there are only two ways to present:

The oblivious way
→ Never checking for understanding
→ Finishing on schedule regardless
→ Reading bullet points verbatim
→ Ignoring confused expressions
→ Staring at your own slides

The adaptive way
→ Reading the room constantly
→ Noticing when energy drops
→ Responding to nonverbal feedback
→ Pausing when faces show confusion
→ Adjusting pace based on engagement

One delivers information.
The other creates connection.

The best presenters aren't just speakers, they're observers.

They know a furrowed brow means "slow down."
They see glazed eyes and shift tactics immediately.

Not because they're mind readers.

But because they prioritize resonance over rehearsal.

Watching faces isn't weird.

It's the difference between presenting at people and communicating with them.

Your slides support your message, but faces reveal if it's working.

What do you pay attention to during presentations?

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Marketing isn't about volume.

It's about clarity.

We often assume more content equals more attention.
But in real business, especially when competing for seconds
positioning shows up in much quieter ways.

I started paying attention to the brands that 
consistently cut through the noise.

↳ They simply knew exactly why they mattered.
↳ They weren't everywhere.
↳ They weren't louder.

And once you notice it, you can't unsee it.

Most entrepreneurs skip the critical step:
Defining what makes them irreplaceable.

They plunge into content, ads, and campaigns
but struggle to explain their unique value in a single sentence.

The assumptions?

↳ "Our product speaks for itself."
↳ "We'll figure it out as we grow."
↳ "People will understand what makes us special."

But without clarity, your message gets lost
and your budget gets burned.

Three truths about positioning in the attention economy:

1. If you can't explain your edge clearly, 
don't expect your audience to figure it out.

2. You're not competing for market share.
You're competing for milliseconds of attention.

3. Vague positioning doesn't win that battle.

Here's what sets standout brands apart:

↳ They lead with relevance.
↳ They craft messaging that cuts through noise.
↳ They anchor every campaign in a crystal-clear answer to: 
"Why should I care?"

Compare that to those stuck in generic slogans, 
feature lists, and "we're better" claims.

One approach resonates.
The other fades.

Before your next campaign, pause and ask:

What makes us the only choice for the right people?

Can you explain your unique value in 10 words or less?

Follow Mike Hays Mike Hays for more messaging insights.

How Saying Less Helped Me Hear More.

I've been guilty of this for years.

Nodding along while mentally rehearsing my response.

In meetings, I'd:
➤ Plan my counterpoint
➤ Wait for the pause
➤ Polish my story

I wasn't listening.
I was loading.

Then I realized something:

The people I trusted most never did this.
They asked follow-up questions I didn't expect.

So I changed my approach.

Instead of preparing what to say next, I started tracking:

• Where their energy shifted
• What they didn't say directly
• What they emphasized twice
• Questions that would go deeper

That's when conversations became different.

Because real listening isn't about silence.
It's about curiosity.

Stop rehearsing your brilliance.
Start discovering theirs.

The best responses come from what you actually heard, 
not what you planned to say.

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51,500 AI layoffs hit Dow, UPS, Amazon, Pinterest.

There’s one skill AI still can’t replace.

 Because the market isn’t hinting anymore, it’s shouting:

Dow: ~4,500 jobs cut (about 13% of the company). 
UPS: up to 30,000 roles on the chopping block. 
Amazon: about 16,000 corporate jobs eliminated. 
Pinterest: about 15% of staff cut as restructuring accelerates. 

This isn’t random. It’s directional.

And the question nobody wants to say out loud 
is the one that hits at 2am:

“If my job is a set of tasks… am I at risk?”

Then the dividing line becomes obvious:

The one skill AI can’t replace is the ability to 
communicate in a way that changes behavior.

Not “being articulate.”
But creating clarity, trust, and alignment,
especially when stakes are high.

 AI replaces output.
 It doesn’t replace leadership.

And communication is what leadership looks like in plain clothes.

If you want to be future-proof, stop asking, 
“What tool should I learn next?”

Start asking, “Can I move people with clarity, empathy, and precision?”

What’s your plan to sharpen that this month?

Follow Mike Hays for more communication skills training.

Messaging Strategist & Ghostwriter for Leaders - I help you create instant credibility that gets replies, calls, and conversions with my Microstory Journey using the 3-Minute Story Blueprint.

Introducing the Fishbowl Practice

The First Method That Neutralizes Criticism Anxiety

(The drill that builds emotional armor)

I help smart people stop talking like robots.
But here's what nobody tells you:

↳ The fear of criticism keeps you sterile.

My Fishbowl Practice changes that:

1. Write Your Worst Nightmares Down

↳ Every harsh comment you fear
↳ Every cruel judgment possible
↳ Drop them in a fishbowl

2. Pull One Daily

↳ Record your response on camera
↳ Just you and the discomfort
↳ No script, no safety net

3. Watch Your Transformation

↳ Week one: You'll stumble
↳ Week two: You'll find your voice
↳ Week three: You'll own your message

4. Build Resilience Through Repetition

↳ Criticism loses its power
↳ Your authentic voice emerges
↳ Confidence replaces performance anxiety

5. Turn It Into Content

↳ Your growth becomes your story
↳ Your vulnerability becomes your authority
↳ Your responses become YouTube Shorts

The Real Win:
When you can handle the fishbowl, real comments feel easy.

I'm starting this series next week.
Each episode: one comment, one raw response, zero editing.

Quick question:

What's the harshest comment you're afraid to receive?

⤵️ Drop it below
Follow Mike Hays for authentic communication strategies

"I wasn't ready for that."

We say it all the time.

But what does it really mean?

Most people think it's about surprise.
About being caught off guard.

But I've learned something different after years of working with leaders and founders.

"I wasn't ready for that" actually means three things:

↳ First: I didn't prepare mentally.
We knew it could happen, but we didn't visualize it. We didn't rehearse our response.

↳ Second: I underestimated the emotional weight.
Logic told us one thing. Reality hit differently. The gap between knowing and feeling is massive.

↳ Third: I didn't build the support system.
We tried to go it alone. No mentors. No peers who'd been there. No framework to lean on when it mattered.

Here's what I've noticed:

The leaders who say "I wasn't ready" the least aren't the ones who predict everything.

They're the ones who prepare differently.

They don't just plan for outcomes.
They prepare their mindset.
They build their network before they need it.
They create frameworks that work under pressure.

Being ready isn't about knowing what's coming.

It's about building the capacity to handle what you can't predict.

The next time you catch yourself saying "I wasn't ready for that," ask a better question:



🔔 Follow Mike Hays for more strategies on leadership and growth

Have You Ever Won the Argument

But Lost Every Relationship in the Process?

Being right doesn't matter if nobody wants to work with you afterward.

Yet most of us prioritize correctness over connection every single time.

Here's what I've learned about the cost of being technically right:

Scenario 1:

You catch an error in someone's presentation.

↳Old approach:
Point it out immediately in front of everyone.
Make sure they know you spotted it first.

↳New approach:
Pause. Consider the setting.
Pull them aside later with a quiet heads-up.

↳Result: They fix the error and remember your respect.

Scenario 2: A team member suggests a flawed strategy.

↳Old approach:
Shut it down with data and logic.
Prove why it won't work, point by point.

↳New approach:
Ask questions that guide them to see the gaps themselves.
Let discovery replace demolition.

↳Result: They learn. They don't resent you for it.

Scenario 3: Someone challenges your expertise publicly.

↳Old approach:
Defend your credentials with force.
Make them feel small for questioning you.

↳New approach:
Acknowledge their perspective.
Share your reasoning without needing to dominate.

↳Result: The room sees your confidence and their dignity intact.

Being right with the wrong tone doesn't build influence.

It builds walls.

When you choose connection over correction, people actually hear you.

So here's what I'm asking myself now:
What's more valuable, winning the point or keeping the relationship?

Follow Mike Hays for more communication insights.

I used to think "watch me fail first" was about humility.
But it's actually about permission.

Most people wait for proof before they start.
➤ They need someone else to go first.
➤ They need validation.
➤ They need certainty.

I realized something different:

"Watch me fail first" means I'm willing to be the example.

Not because I want to fail.
Because I'm willing to learn in public.

Here's what that actually looks like:

• Testing ideas before they're perfect
• Sharing lessons while I'm still learning
• Making mistakes visible so others can skip them
• Building credibility through transparency, not perfection

The leaders I respect most aren't the ones who never stumble.

They're the ones who stumble forward and document the path.

Because when you say "watch me fail first," you're really saying:
"I'll take the risk so you don't have to guess."

That's not humility.
That's leadership.

Stop waiting for permission to be imperfect.
Start creating the path others are afraid to walk.

Your willingness to go first is your competitive advantage.

Follow Mike Hays for more leadership advice.

I blamed my audience for three years.
(they weren't the problem)

The silent killer in every conversation:

Clarity isn't what you say, it's what they understand.

My Wake-Up Call:

→ Perfect presentations
→ Detailed explanations
→ Logical frameworks
→ Zero conversions

I kept thinking:
"Why don't they get it?"

The Real Issue:
↳ I prioritized being right over being clear
↳ I explained features, not transformations
↳ I spoke my language, not theirs

Then I shifted everything:

New Approach:
↳ Watch their faces, not my slides
↳ Test every message with real people
↳ Ask "what did you hear?" not "did you understand?"

The Results:
↳ Clients repeating my message back perfectly
↳ Referrals using my exact words
↳ 3x higher engagement rates

The Truth:
If they didn't get it, your message failed - not them.

Quick Question:

When was the last time you tested your message before blaming your audience?

Struggling to capture attention in conversations?

Start with vulnerability.

I used to think I needed perfect stories to connect with people.
Then, one day, I realized something:

My mistakes were more interesting than my wins.

I wondered why some conversations felt flat while 
others sparked instant connection.

The difference wasn't polish or perfection,
it was honest, human moments that people could relate to.

It made perfect sense to me.

So, I started opening conversations differently.

Weeks went by.
And engagement transformed with every vulnerable opener.

Networking events? Deeper connections.
Client calls? Trust built faster than ever.

And because I led with authenticity,

I stopped trying to impress everyone
and started building real relationships that mattered.

Here's what I learned about conversation starters:
- "I regret this…" invites empathy immediately
- "Don't do what I did" positions you as a guide
- "This is embarrassing" breaks down walls instantly
- Vulnerability creates permission for others to open up
- People remember how you made them feel, not how perfect you sounded

So here's my takeaway for leaders and communicators:

Lead with your humanity
or keep having forgettable surface-level conversations.

Comment: "I lead with vulnerability," and I'll share my conversation framework for building instant trust.

The Smallest Edit That Changed Everything

I almost didn't make the change.

For months, I'd been sending cold outreach messages to potential clients.
Same template, same structure, same disappointing results.

Then I changed one sentence.
Just one.

Instead of opening with "I help executives craft their messaging"...
I wrote: "I noticed your recent post about struggling to stand out."

That's it.
Seven words became twelve.

The response rate jumped from 8% to 34%.

Same offer.
Same credentials.
Same me.

But here's what actually shifted:

I stopped talking about myself first.
I started with them.

It forced me to do the work before I hit send:
→ Understand their actual challenge
→ Show I was paying attention
→ Read their content

The tiny change wasn't really about the words.
It was about respect.

It proved I valued their time enough to be specific.
That I saw them as a person, not a prospect.

Now I apply this everywhere:
In emails, in stories, in every message I craft for clients.

Because people don't ignore relevance.
They ignore generic.

What's one small change you've been avoiding
that might actually transform your results?

Sometimes the difference between invisible and influential
is just twelve words.

Follow Mike Hays for more communication tips.

I shot 39 videos to get ONE right.

Was it worth it? Here's what I discovered.

Most creators say, "just hit record and post."
But after my marathon reshoot session, I learned:

↳ Perfectionism vs. progress is real.
Here's what I found on both sides:

The Pros:

Clarity improved dramatically
↳ By video 20, I knew exactly what to say
↳ Each take refined my message
↳ Confidence grew with repetition

Delivery became natural
↳ Eye contact felt genuine
↳ No more reading scripts robotically
↳ Energy levels peaked at the right moments

The Cons:

Time investment was massive
↳ Editing through 39 takes? No way, didn't do it!
↳ 3 hours for one 60-second video
↳ Diminishing returns after take 25

Overthinking killed spontaneity
↳ Started sounding too rehearsed
↳ Lost the raw, authentic moments
↳ Perfectionism became procrastination

The Key Insight:
↳ Beyond that? You're polishing, not improving.
↳ There's a sweet spot around 5-7 takes.
↳ Done beats perfect every single time.

My new rule:

Three takes maximum, then ship it.

What's your video recording process? One take or multiple?

Drop your number below
🔔 Follow Mike Hays for more content creation insights

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