Dave Kline

Become the Leader You’d Follow | Founder @ MGMT | Coach | Advisor | Speaker | Trusted by 250K+ leaders.

Hey, I’m Dave Kline.

I teach leaders how to build All-Star teams and level up their careers.

After decades of leading in pretty intense environments, from Bridgewater Associates to Moody’s Analytics, I know what it takes to be the manager your team remembers (for the right reasons).

Why I can help you is simple:

I’ve been through it.

And to prove it, here’s my background (by the numbers) ⤵️

2: Decades leading high-impact teams in asset management (Bridgewater), consulting (PwC), & financial services (Moody’s Analytics).

4: Years as an entrepreneur. My portfolio includes Skillscouter (an online course & career site), and MGMT Accelerator (a cohort-based management training course).

14: Cohorts of early-career leaders that I’ve taught at multiple companies.

100: Managers I recruited, onboarded & mentored at Bridgewater Associates.

1,000: Performance evaluations with grace and respect for stars and terminations alike.

205,000+: My community across LinkedIn & Twitter interested in management tactics & leadership lessons

385,000,000: My team’s top revenue year at Moody’s.

Now that we’ve covered the why, here’s the how:

- The MGMT Accelerator – an intensive management training course for both new and senior leaders
- MGMT Fundamentals – a course that covers all the need-to-know management basics for rookie leaders
- The MGMT Playbook – a weekly newsletter that gives practical management insights

Through our MGMT courses, my wife Marsden and I have played the assist with over 1,100 leaders so far, who’ve now learned how to:

- Practically tackle the most common leadership challenges
- Build their Management OS’s CODE (Coach, Operate, Delegate, Engage)
- Refine their individual leadership Decision-Making System

With our 30+ years of combined experience, you won’t just get our knowledge.

You’ll get to ask us questions directly and get access to coaching that’s more tailored to your own experience.

We always say – if we could do it like a dinner party, we would.

If you’re interested in leadership advice (that doesn’t just sound nice but actually works), drop me a follow – I post daily.

And if you like what you see, our MGMT courses could be just what you need to level up.

DM me if you’re interested.

Co-Founder

We created the MGMT Accelerator to help managers rapidly develop into trusted leaders by combining the art & science of management. 

This 4-week program consistents of eight 90-minute modules where I share the tactics I learned leading high-performing teams for 25 years. During each session, we tailor those insights together to build your personalized management system together. 

You'll learn alongside ~50 peers and become part of an expert community of more than 300 alums.

60% of managers fail.

Not because they lack talent.
But because they lack a clear map.

They're promoted and handed:

• No training
• No playbook
• No clarity

Just bigger responsibilities and higher expectations.

What makes it even harder?

Each management level isn't slightly different.
It's an entirely different game.

Same title. 
New rules.

And the cost of mistakes only goes up:

Team Lead Mistakes:
• Avoiding tough conversations
• Clinging to individual contributor work
• Missing early warning signals
• Failing to establish boundaries
• Prioritizing friendship over leadership

Manager Mistakes:
• Hiring too quickly, firing too slowly
• Choosing comfort over development
• Accepting mediocre performance
• Neglecting succession planning
• Navigating politics poorly

Manager of Managers Mistakes:
• Overlooking strategic opportunities
• Creating silos instead of connections
• Choosing the wrong battles
• Drowning in tactical details
• Controlling information flow

But beneath all three levels?

Core capabilities anyone can learn:

Emotional Intelligence
• Navigate conflict effectively
• Manage up with intention
• Read the room and adjust

Quality Decisions
• Gather the right inputs
• Move with purpose
• Deliver

Clear Communication
• Right audience
• Right message
• Right timing

Strategic Thinking
• Many No's for the right Yes!
• Anticipate what's coming
• Connect the dots

Team Development
• Build bench strength
• Identify hidden potential
• Make choices to up talent density

Master these foundations.
Use them to avoid learning lessons the hard way.

What skill helped you level up?
Share below ⬇️

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If you want to get promoted this year, read this:


Most people wait for the title to start leading.
They want permission and a promotion.

The top 1% know better.
They know most companies don’t like risk.

And the best way to make your promotion low risk?

Show them you can do the job...
BEFORE they give it to you.

Here’s the uncomfortable truth about getting promoted:

Your company isn’t promoting potential.
Hope is not a qualification.

They’re promoting performance.
The performance they’ve already seen.

While most people focus on doing their job well,
Future leaders focus on something completely different:

JUDGMENT | Start Acting Like an Owner
• Own outcomes, not just tasks
• Make decisions as if the company’s success depends on you
• Solve problems before you’re asked

RELIABILITY | Make Your Manager’s Job Easier
• Anticipate needs before they ask
• Keep every commitment or escalate early
• Deliver work with recommendations, not just reports

LEADERSHIP | Develop People Around You
• Share knowledge freely
• Help new team members succeed faster
• Document your work so others can build on it

CREDIBILITY | Communicate with Clarity
• Write things down—documentation builds trust
• Follow up with clear next steps
• Use active listening to show you understand

PERSPECTIVE | Think Beyond Your Role
• Connect your work to bigger goals
• Offer ideas that benefit the whole team
• Ask questions about the larger business context

GROWTH | Give and Receive Feedback Well
• Give constructive input to peers
• Actively seek feedback on your own performance
• Handle criticism without getting defensive

SYSTEMS | Solve Problems at the Root
• Ask “why” until you find the real cause
• Address causes, not just symptoms
• Build solutions that prevent problems from coming back

IMPACT | Deliver Meaningful Results
• Focus on work that moves the needle
• Track and share your impact
• Make your value visible to decision-makers

AI | Stand Out with New Skills
• Learn and use AI tools to boost your productivity
• Automate routine work and teach others what you learn
• Become the go-to resource for new technology

The promotion paradox:
Companies promote based on performance, not potential.
But most people perform at their current level, not the next one.

The breakthrough insight:
Start doing the work before you get the job.
The title will follow the behavior, not the other way around.

What skill helped you get promoted recently?
Drop it in the comments if I missed one.

And before you go...

♻️ Share to help others earn their next promotion
🔖 Save this so you can check back on your progress
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Timeless Skills You must learn To Get Promoted This Year 

Most of what you do as a manager doesn’t matter.

These 5 levers will make or break you.

After 25 years of working with teams, 
The same pattern repeats:

Average managers try to do everything.
The great ones focus on what really matters.

These are the 5 factors every high-performing team gets right:

1. Clear Goal | Singular Focus
• If everything’s a priority, nothing is
• One mission everyone can recite from memory
• Make progress visible—post your key metrics publicly

2. Best People | Talent Density
• Filling seats with whoever’s available kills momentum
• Recruit constantly, raise the bar relentlessly
• Tap your top performers’ networks

3. Right Tools | Force Multipliers
• “We can’t afford good software” is an excuse
• Invest in systems that amplify talent
• Pre-approve any tool under $500/year

4. Least Friction | Ruthless Simplification
• “That’s how we’ve always done it” is a red flag
• Eliminate every unnecessary step and meeting
• Ask weekly: “What got in our way?”

5. Shortest Time | Speed as Strategy
• Waiting for perfect conditions means you’ll never act
• Run rapid experiments, learn fast
• Cut every cycle time in half—then do it again

The brutal truth:
Most teams have 3 out of 5 levers working.
Elite teams obsess over all 5, all the time.

One broken pillar pulls everyone down.

The diagnostic question:
Which lever is your bottleneck right now?

Fix that one first.
Everything else multiplies from there.

Want more practical frameworks like this?

Subscribe to the MGMT Playbook. 
My free weekly newsletter for leaders who want to level up.

https://mgmt.beehiiv.com

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The 8020 of Management

Shawn Nason

Chief Executive Officer

We envision a world in which healthcare has no barriers.
We deliver equal access to care by connecting healthcare professionals and patients in local communities.

Sometimes positivity is less noise.
Not more quotes, more quiet.

That is been true for me lately.

Boundaries create peace.

A stat I keep coming back to.
Anxiety disorders touch about 1 in 5 adults yearly.

Provocative question, what are we numbing with scrolling?

Do you need a detox from dopamine and drama?
Yes, and boredom can be healing again.

→ One hour a day, no scrolling
→ Replace it with music or movement
→ Show a little kindness

If you want to try this week, DM me.

Love & Gratitude, Shawn

#mentalhealth #inspiration #motivation #whatinspiresme #happiness #bestadvice
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Men do not get taught to wait.
We get taught to muscle through.

When anxiety hits, I do not negotiate with it.
I name it, and I make the next right move.

Stat: About 14.3% of U.S. men had an anxiety disorder
in the past year, this is common, not rare.

→ Say: “This is fear, not truth.”
→ Do 10 slow breaths, longer exhale
→ Tell one person: “I’m not okay today.”

Reflective question: Why does naming it help so fast?
Answer: because my brain stops treating it like danger.

What if silence is the real risk?

Save this for your next waiting day.

DM me if you want my 3-minute reset.

Love & Gratitude, Shawn

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Last week was one of the hardest weeks of my life.
And I’m still in it.

I’m walking a journey I never wanted, never asked for,
and never thought I’d have to understand.

It has taken a huge toll on me, Carla, and the kids.
Just when you think you’ve climbed one mountain,
another one shows up.

The last two days, I’ve been in NYC supporting
mental health for all.

Thank you, Kyle Matthys, and the TRIIBE team for inviting me.

And to Lauren A. Y. and Geoffrey B. Sargeant, CFP®,
thank you for showing up for me.

Friday night, I also got to spend a little time with my
brother from another mother, michael j. kainatsky.
I needed that more than I can explain.

I’m back at the airport this morning, heading to
Washington, D.C.
I’ll share more about that this week.

And today starts Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month.

Here’s the truth,
if you’re 45 or older, or you have a family history,
please get screened.

Why am I saying this so loudly?
Because early detection saves lives,
and I would never forgive myself if I stayed quiet.

If you have questions, or you’re scared,
DM me and I’ll talk it through with you.

Love & Gratitude, Shawn

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Two things can be true at the same time.

I can be deeply grateful,
and I can be completely undone.

Today, I stood with Fight Colorectal Cancer
and joined the Call on Congress.

I walked those halls with a mission,
but I also walked them with a lump in my throat.

Because this is not a talking point for me.
It’s my life.

I want to start with gratitude.

Thank you to every Senator and Representative
staff member who met with us today. And to Greg Landsman
you are the best!

Thank you for your time,
for your listening,
and for taking colorectal cancer seriously.

Thank you to your staff as well,
the people behind the scenes who carry
so much of the work and the follow-through.

And thank you to Fight Colorectal Cancer.

Thank you for organizing,
for advocating,
for telling the truth with compassion,
and for giving patients like me a voice
when we’re tired, scared, and still showing up.

I need to share something personal.

I found out 96 hours ago that I have
cancer for the third time.
We don't know all the details,
but we will fight again!

That sentence still doesn’t feel real.

But it’s real enough to change everything,
and real enough to make today feel sacred.

I didn’t come to Washington as a statistic.
I came as a person.

A dad.
A husband.
A leader.
A patient.
A fighter who is learning,
again,
what it means to be brave.

I’m asking Congress to do more,
because patients are doing everything we can.

We’re showing up to appointments.
We’re enduring treatments.
We’re navigating fear in quiet moments.
We’re trying to keep our families steady
while our bodies feel uncertain.

We need the system to meet us with the same urgency.

If you prayed for me today,
thank you.

If you didn’t,
I’m asking you to.

Prayers for strength.
Prayers for clarity.
Prayers for healing.

And if prayer isn’t your language,
I’ll take love.

Send it.
Speak it.
Share it.
Hold my family in your heart.

I’m grateful for today,
even with tears in my eyes.

Grateful for the people who walked beside me.
Grateful for the staffers who leaned in.
Grateful for the lawmakers who listened.
Grateful for the chance to turn pain into purpose.

Please keep fighting with us.

Please keep showing up.

And please keep me in your prayers,
with love,
and with gratitude.

Love & Gratitude, Shawn

#mentalhealth #inspiration #motivation #whatinspiresme #happiness #bestadvice
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Every March, the cancer community shows up for CRC Awareness.

The last three years, it meant something different for me.
Today, it feels personal in a new way.

I’ve battled colorectal cancer twice.
And this year, I’ve watched people I love die from it.

So I made a decision, I’m doing something about it.

Yesterday I landed in Washington, D.C. for Call on Congress with Fight Colorectal Cancer. Thank you Matthew DeAngelis for standing
with me last night! You know how much I needed it!

Here are a few stats you should know.

→ Colorectal cancer is the #1 cancer killer for people under 50.
→ It’s still one of the top five cancer killers in the U.S.
→ Yet it has no dedicated federal funding source.
→ About 1 in 3 adults don’t get screened at 45.

What does that mean?
It means we need legislation that matches the reality.

Last night I sat on the National Mall with a couple hundred others,
looking at the flags, reading the numbers, feeling it all at once.

Am I posting more because I’m trying to scare people?
No, I’m posting more because silence costs lives.

I’m one of them.
I’m one of the people who needs more research, more funding,
and more help to stay here.

Over the next month, you’ll see me share more about this disease.

If you’re in my SWARM, thank you.
If you’ve been meaning to get screened, please do it.

DM me if you want to talk, or if you need help finding a next step.

Love & Gratitude, Shawn

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Waiting makes the mind write stories.
Most of them are brutal.

When I am stuck in the “what if,”
I bring my body into the room.

Stat: CDC reports 12.1% of U.S. adults have regular
feelings of worry, nervousness, or anxiety.

Declarative statement: I do not have to fix this today.

→ Cold water on face for 20 seconds
→ Walk outside, no phone, 8 minutes
→ Write one line: “What is true right now?”

What if my thoughts keep looping?
Then I lower the loop, I do not chase peace.

Who benefits when men pretend?

CTA: Try one of these today, then share it with a friend.

DM me if you want a one-page “waiting protocol.”

Love & Gratitude, Shawn

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Mental health is not a side quest.
It is the infrastructure of every life.

I want to spotlight Kyle Matthys:
Kyle is building TRIIBE with a clear heartbeat,
stigma gets erased, and support is within reach.

This is what community care looks like in motion.

What if the next breakthrough in mental health
is not a new app, but a better room?

Answer: It is, and Kyle is building that room.

If you are in New York City:

Next-Gen Changemaker Summit
Saturday, Feb 28, 10:00 AM to 6:30 PM
Copacabana, 625 W 51st St, NYC

If you cannot attend, do one small thing:
follow Kyle, and share what he is building.

Here is the link to the event: https://luma.com/7zynhb71 

Love & Gratitude, Shawn

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Your focus is not broken.
Your nervous system might be overloaded.

I know that fog, I have lived it.

Rest is a strategy.

One simple stat to consider.
About 1 in 3 adults sleep less than 7 hours.

Provocative question, how did exhaustion become a badge?

Are you actually tired, not unmotivated?
Yes, and your body is telling the truth.

→ Protect your first 30 minutes
→ Take one phone-free walk

If you want my reset routine, DM me.

Love & Gratitude, Shawn

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This is my third time waiting on answers.
Cancer does not rush.

I can handle hard news.
It is the uncertainty that tries to take my breath.

NCI notes anxiety can affect cancer patients,
and distress is common during testing and results.

I keep it simple while I wait.
I protect my mind, and I stay close to my people.

→ Ask: “What do I know for sure today?”
→ Keep my calendar small, protect sleep
→ Let someone sit with me, not fix me

How do I stay steady right now?
I stay honest, and I stay connected.

What if toughness is letting love in?

If you are waiting on results, text one safe person.

DM me if you are in the waiting room season too.

Love & Gratitude, Shawn

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Money is loud.
Meaning is quieter, and harder to ignore.

I have watched both up close.

Gratitude does not erase grief.

One stat that matters for relationships.
Strong social ties are linked to longer life.

What if success costs your soul?

Do you want joy without pretending life is easy?
Yes, and gratitude can be honest, not performative.

→ Name one person you appreciate
→ Tell them today, not later
→ Ask them to pay it forward

If you are rebuilding from the inside, DM me.

Love & Gratitude, Shawn

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The Battle

Dave Kline

Shawn Nason

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taplio

The Battle

Dave Kline

Shawn Nason

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Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Dave Kline's LinkedIn Performance

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