Follow for posts on getting hired & hiring better | CEO @ Lander Talent | IT + ERP + Digital Transformation | People > Buzzwords

Before I helped people get hired, I helped them get famous.

I cast 250+ episodes of reality TV for:

Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, HBO Max.

Now I help overlooked tech talent get hired.
And help hiring leaders build teams they’d fight to keep.

I run a staffing firm that focuses on ERP and enterprise IT.

But my content?

It’s about giving you the playbook no one’s handed you:

✅ Job Search Strategy
↳To get hired faster, without burning out

✅ Career Frameworks
↳To find roles that fit you, not just pay you

✅ Hiring Insights
↳To build teams that scale with purpose

✅ Dad-Level Real Talk
↳ To explain ‘the cloud’ isn’t where planes live

If you’ve ever felt stuck, ghosted or burnt out,
or if you’re just ready for better…

➕ Follow for tools to make your next move your best one.
🔔 Click the bell so my toddler doesn’t get mad.

Jonathan  Whipple

Most layoff advice skips day one. 

So here's what nobody sends you: 

Day one feels like the floor dropped out.
(It's supposed to)

But this is what moves the needle:

1. Practice interviews out loud today
↳ Not in your head. Out loud. It's different (trust me).

2. Message 3 people
↳ Not to ask, to reconnect. "Thinking of you" opens more doors than "I'm looking."

3. Rewrite your resume headline
↳ Show where you're going, not just where you've been.

4. Block a recharge ritual before noon
↳ Protect your energy like it's a meeting you can't miss.

5. Track every application and follow-up
↳ The job search IS your job. Treat it like one.

The silence after a layoff is the hardest part. 
These five moves break it. 

Which one do you wish someone had told you on day one of your job search?

👇 Share in the comments.

———

♻️ Repost to send this to someone who needed it yesterday.

Follow Jonathan Whipple for recruiting insider frameworks.

Jonathan Whipple

Linkedin shows you old jobs on purpose

One URL tweak lets you fight back.

Every LinkedIn job URL has a secret timestamp.

It's called TPR.
(Time Posted Range)
It's measured in seconds.

→ r86400 = 24 hours
→ r21600 = 6 hours
→ r3600 = 1 hour

Here's how to use it:

1. Search your target role
2. Add your usual filters
3. Find 'r86400' in the URL
4. Change it to 'r3600'
5. Hit enter

Now you're seeing jobs posted minutes ago.

(Before most people even open the app)

Bonus move:
Bookmark your custom URL.
Make it the first thing you open Monday morning.

You're not gaming the system.
You're showing up earlier than everyone else.

How old was the last job you applied to?
Drop it below. 👇

———

♻️ Repost to help someone still applying to 3-week-old jobs.

Follow Jonathan Whipple for recruiting insider frameworks.

Find LinkedIn Jobs Faster by Jonathan Whipple

Salary conversations aren't just awkward. 

They are rigged. 

Companies have a budget before you walk in. 

But they'll never say it first.

Instead, they rely on 6 lines that sound polite. 

And they use them to get you to negotiate against yourself.

Here's what they really mean: 

1. What are your expectations?
↳ Name a low number so we don't have to.

2. It depends on the candidate.
↳ We'll pay as little as you'll accept.

3. We offer competitive compensation. 
↳ We use buzzwords to deflect.

4. We don't want to limit ourselves.
↳ We'd rather limit you. 

5. We'll share comp later.
↳ Give us your time before we give you a number. 

6. We're still finalizing the budget. 
↳ We're waiting for your number to set ours. 

Most candidates answer first. 
And they leave money on the table.

Smart candidates use targeted responses.

Swipe through for the exact scripts: 

When's the last time you saw a company volunteer the top of their range? 

👉 Let me know in the comments.

———

♻️ Repost to save someone from leaving money on the table.

Follow Jonathan Whipple for recruiting insider frameworks.

6 Salary Lies To Remember by Jonathan Whipple

Your resume describes your job. 

It doesn't prove you did it well. 

I spent years in TV casting before recruiting. 

Both jobs taught me the same thing: 

→ Nobody hires a description.
→ They hire a performance on paper.

The difference is Duty vs Proof.

Duty tells them what your job was.
Proof tells them how well you did it.

"Managed B2B" accounts is a duty.

"Grew revenue $1.2M to $2.1M" is proof.

One makes a hiring manager nod.
The other makes them call you.

The image shows 5 real rewrites across 5 roles. 

Save it before your next resume update. 

Which bullet on your resume is a duty disguised as an achievement?

👉 Drop it in the comments.

———

♻️ Repost to help someone turn their resume into a reason to get called.

Follow Jonathan Whipple for recruiting insider frameworks.

Your LinkedIn Skills section works against you. 

Here's how: 

Most people add every skill they can think of. 
That's exactly the problem.

Here's what a Meta recruiter confirmed:

If you list 100 skills and match 5 a recruiter searches for?

Your relevance score is 5%.

A candidate with 20 skills matching 4 of 5?

Their score is 20%. 

That second candidate ranks much higher.
Despite matching fewer skills. 

Every irrelevant skill you've added is lowering your score. 

The fix is called the Relevance Ratio Trim.
And it takes 20 minutes. 

Swipe through to learn how 👉

———

♻️ Repost to help your network stop hurting their own job search. 

Follow Jonathan Whipple for frameworks that get you hired faster.

How LinkedIn Skills Hurt Your Search by Jonathan Whipple

I got hired for a job I wasn't qualified for.

It changed my entire career.

Most hiring managers won't do this.

They want guarantees. 
Proof. Safe picks.

But the best ones see something before the numbers confirm it. 

They say: 

"I don't know if this kid is ready. But I know he's hungry."

That kind of belief does something a job offer can't:

It rewires what you think you're capable of. 

15 years later, I still lead with her voice in my head.

Not my title. Not my metrics. 
Her belief.

That's how great careers start.

One person.
One decision.
One bet.

Who took a chance on you before you had the resume to back it up?

👉 Tell me in the comments.

———

♻️ Repost to remind someone that one bet can change a career.

Follow Jonathan Whipple for more.

I've seen candidates rejected after perfect interviews.

Because of how they treated the receptionist.

Most of them prepare for the interview room:

→ Their stories
→ The eye contact
→ The company research

But the first test starts in the lobby.

After 20 years of interviewing and being interviewed, I've learned this:

Your resume shows your work. 

How you treat people who can't do anything for you shows who you are.

And companies care about that more than they admit.

Receptionists meets clients first.
Coordinators keep projects moving. 
Security guards notice every detail.

They might not be in your interview.
But they influence it.

They are quiet decision makers.
And they're watching as they:

Fix calendar mix-ups.
Offering you water.
Print your badge.

Every interaction counts.
And kindness costs exactly $0. 

———

What small moments do you pay attention to?
👇 Let me know what you've seen. 

———

♻️ Repost to remind your network before their next interview.

Follow Jonathan Whipple for more recruiting insights.

1,000 interviews.

3 people asked this. 

I've been the interviewer more times than I can count. 

And it's the same script every time. 
We hit the end, and I ask:

"Do you have any questions for me?"

Most people ask about benefits.
Remote work.
The timeline.

Three people ever asked:

"What's the hardest problem you're trying to solve right now that you haven't found the answer for?"

All three got callbacks.

Not because the question was perfect. 
Because it told me something the whole interview hadn't.

They weren't there for a job.

They were there for the problem I needed solved.

Problem solvers get hired. Period. 

What's the best question you've ever asked or been asked in an interview?

👇 Let me know below.

————

♻️ Repost to help someone turn their next interview into a callback.

Follow Jonathan Whipple for more.

We had 5-star reservations for Valentine's Day. 

But Olive Garden was even better.

Reservations months in advance.
The whole deal.

We walk in. Prix fixe menu. 
NOTHING our kid would eat. 
So we pivoted. Hard.

Drove to Olive Garden. 
Our son was thrilled. 
My wife was laughing. 
And honestly, it was perfect.

Careers work the same way.

You plan the perfect path. 
The 'right' company. The 'right' title.
Then life throws a prix fixe menu. 
(With zero chicken tenders)

Great careers don't avoid a pivot.
They pivot well. 

When's the last time your Plan B turned out better than your Plan A?

Drop it below. 👇

———

♻️ Repost to remind someone that pivoting isn't failing. 

Follow Jonathan Whipple for more.

Nobody reads your resume top to bottom.

They scan it for one thing: 

Proof. 

Most resumes don't have it. 

They have duties. History. Buzzwords with nothing behind them. 

That costs you: 

❌ Listing tasks isn't proof
❌ Dense text blocks are skipped
❌ Generic resumes scream low effort

The best resume isn't the prettiest one.
It's the one that answers:

"Can they do this?"

Here's the difference: 

❌ Old: 
↳ Responsible for managing X
✅ New: 
↳ Reduced X by 30% in 90 days.

❌ Old:
↳ Buzzwords without specifics
✅ New:
↳ Keywords pulled from job post

❌ Old:
↳ Education leads the page
✅ New:
↳ Impact leads. Degrees support.

Swipe through for all 6 swaps. 

Hiring managers only remember one thing from your resume. 

Make sure it's a win.

What outdated resume line do you see too often? 
👉 Let me know in the comments. 

———

♻️ Repost to save someone from sending a 2010s resume to a 2026 hiring manager.

Follow Jonathan Whipple for recruiting insider frameworks.

Old vs New Resume by Jonathan Whipple

Apps, sites, & software for startups and the big companies they strive to become.

You know the Stanford Marshmallow Test?
 
Give a kid a marshmallow. Tell them if they wait 10 minutes, they get two.
Researchers followed those kids for decades.
The ones who waited earned more, achieved more, outperformed across the board.
 
Self-control, the story goes, predicts success.
 
But what if it was possible to have too much of a good thing?
 
What if instead of a line going up and to the right, it's a curve?
At the top is a sweet spot where discipline, focus, and drive produce extraordinary results.
 
On the other side of that peak is suffering.
 
→ Depression that won't lift
→ Treatment-resistant anxiety
→ Burnout that persists beyond time off
→ Chronic pain with no clear physical cause
→ Relationships that function but never feel close
 
This other side of the curve is called Over-Control.
 
The founder pulling 80-hour weeks.
The person who never misses a deadline.
The leader whose team performs but never trusts them.
The executive who hasn't felt anything in years and calls it "focus."
 
Society rewards every step of the climb.
Praise. Promotions. "Success."
 
So it goes unrecognized for decades,
until the body starts keeping score,
or the loneliness becomes unbearable,
or the thing that defined you suddenly shifts beneath your feet.
 
That's where we come in.
 
The Wise Mind Group is a therapy and coaching practice built for high-achievers.
 
My wife Danielle is an ex-big law litigator turned licensed therapist and our Clinical Director, specializing in evidence-based approaches for this exact population:
people whose greatest strength has quietly become their greatest liability.
 
I'm not just the business guy. I'm patient zero.
25 years in tech. Five startups. 80-hour weeks.
I built a software agency, ran it for over a decade, and optimized every system in my life except the one that mattered most.
 
When I was a kid, my mom said I could have ONE birthday party.
I kept postponing it, waiting for the "right" time.
I never had one.
That's Over-Control in a sentence.
 
Now I work at the intersection of what I know and what I've lived.
 
We specialize in:
→ The mental health impact of AI and career disruption
→ Burnout and anxiety that "shouldn't" be there
→ The quiet suffering of being "the strong one"
→ Chronic pain without a clear physical cause
→ Leadership transitions and identity shifts
 
We use RO-DBT, IFS, EMDR, and Pain Reprocessing Therapy, approaches built for people who spent a lifetime building walls.
 
If this sounds familiar, you're not broken.
You might just have too much of a good thing,
and you can let go of the parts that are making you unhappy.
 
→ thewisemindgroup.com

Elijah Szasz

Your growth isn’t measured by pursuit.

It’s measured by restraint.

Early in your career,
you chase everything.

→ The title
→ The funding round
→ The recognition
→ The invite to the table

It feels like ambition.

Sometimes it is.

But often, it’s insecurity
with a productivity app.

Maturity in leadership
isn’t about what you add.

It’s about what you refuse to pursue.

You stop chasing:

1. Every opportunity
↳ If it’s for you, it won’t require desperation

2. Every room you’re not invited into
↳ Not all tables deserve your time

3. Every argument
↳ Being right is overrated

4. Every trend
↳ Relevance fades, principles compound

5. Every client
↳ Revenue without alignment is expensive

The strongest leaders I know
don’t look frantic.

They look focused.

Calm.

Selective.

They’ve learned that energy is finite.
Attention is sacred.
Time is non-renewable.

So they choose carefully
what deserves pursuit.

Refusal is a strategy.

When you stop chasing noise,
you hear your own standards again.

When you stop chasing approval,
you start leading with conviction.

When you stop chasing growth at all costs,
you build something sustainable.

You don’t need everything.

You need the right things.

Say no more often.

Protect your focus.

Let others sprint.

Build at your pace.

♻️ Repost to help your network.
🔔 Follow Elijah Szasz for actionable insights on AI, systems, and strategy.

The most overlooked skill in leadership?
 
Trusting your own signal over the noise.
 
Most high performers have a dirty secret.
They don't trust themselves.
 
They trust the consensus.
They trust frameworks.
They trust mentors.
They trust data.
 
But the moment they're alone
with a decision that has no playbook,
they freeze.
 
Not because they lack intelligence.
Because they've been trained to believe
that certainty must come from the outside.
 
Here's what nobody tells you:
 
Certainty is a feeling, not a fact.
And waiting for it is a trap.
 
The leaders I respect most
didn't have more information than you.
They had less hesitation.
 
They made the call.
They stayed in the room with discomfort.
They let the results teach them.
 
Trust isn't built by getting it right.
It's built by surviving getting it wrong,
and realizing you're still standing.
 
A year from now,
the version of you that took the shot
will have something the cautious version won't:
 
Evidence.
 
Not evidence that you were right.
Evidence that you can handle
whatever comes next.
 
That's the real unlock.
 
Stop waiting for confidence to arrive.
Make the decision that builds it.
 
♻️ Repost to help your network.
🔔 Follow Elijah Szasz for tips on staying grounded in the age of AI.

Starting something new can be terrifying. 

And I think that's the point.

Here's what I've learned about fear:

It's a terrible measure of readiness.

Most high performers misread the signal.

They feel uncertainty and conclude:
"I'm not ready."
"I don't have what it takes."
"The timing isn't right."

None of that is true.

Fear doesn't measure your capability.

It measures the distance between
what you know
and what's next.

That distance is supposed to exist.

If you could step into the next chapter
without any discomfort,
it probably wasn't much of a chapter.

The anxiety you feel at the edge
of a new decision isn't a warning.

It's a compass.

It's telling you:
"You care about this."
"This one actually matters."
"You're not just going through the motions."

Here's the reframe that changed how I operate:

Your nervous system wasn't built
to distinguish between danger
and growth.

Both feel like threat.

The job is to get better at telling them apart.

Danger says: "Turn back."

Growth says: "You've never been here before."

One of those is worth listening to.
The other is worth walking through.

The hardest system to debug
is your own perception.

Because when anxiety sits in the analyst chair,
every piece of data looks like a stop sign.

So before you let hesitation
make the decision for you:

→ Ask if this fear is protecting you
  from harm, or from newness.

→ Ask what you'd tell a friend
  who was exactly where you are.

→ Ask what you'd regret more:
  trying, or not trying.

Fear isn't the enemy of good decisions.

Mistaking it for certainty is.

♻️ Repost to help your network.
🔔 Follow Elijah Szasz for tips on staying grounded in the age of AI.

You think your team has a performance problem.

They have a safety problem.

There's a version of leadership that looks strong
from the outside.

Tight systems.
High standards.
No excuses.

And underneath it all:

A team that's terrified to tell you the truth.

Here's what nobody tells you about scaling:

Your stress is not private.

It leaks into every meeting.
Every Slack message.
Every two-second pause before you respond.

Your team isn't reading your strategy deck.
They're reading you.

And if what they read is:
"This person cannot handle bad news,"

they will stop giving you bad news.

That's not a loyalty problem.
That's not a communication problem.

That's a signal problem.

You trained them, without knowing it,
to protect you from reality.

So the SOPs don't get followed.
The real blockers stay hidden.
And you're making decisions
on information that's been
quietly curated for your comfort.

The fix isn't another system.

It's learning to signal:
"You can bring me the hard thing.
I won't punish the messenger."

Calm is a leadership output.
Not a personality trait.

The leader who stays regulated
when everything is on fire
creates a team that runs toward problems,
not away from them.

That's how you actually scale.

Not by gripping tighter.
By making it safe to be honest.

Ask yourself:

→ When did someone last tell you
  something you didn't want to hear?

→ How did you respond?

→ What did that response teach them?

Your answers tell you everything
about the culture you've actually built.

♻️ Repost to help your network.
🔔 Follow Elijah Szasz for tips on staying grounded in the age of AI.

Experience doesn't make you a leader.
 
How you leave people feeling does.
 
I've watched high-performers with decades of experience
miss this completely.
 
Not because they lacked skill.
Because pressure exposed their defaults.
 
When stress arrives,
respect is usually the first thing to exit.
 
It even has a clinical diagnosis:
Maladaptive Overcontrol.
 
The rigidity that looks like high standards
from the outside,
but quietly signals to your team:
"Your safety is conditional here."
 
And conditional safety
is the fastest way to kill honest feedback.
 
People stop bringing the real stuff.
Silence becomes the culture.
 
The cost isn't emotional.
It's operational.
 
Here's what regulated leadership
actually looks like in practice:
 
1. You are predictable
Not in outcomes.
In demeanor.
No one should scan your mood
before deciding to speak.
 
2. You give feedback without cutting
Direct words.
Clear expectations.
No public corrections disguised as standards.
 
3. You share the spotlight
You name the work.
You name the person.
Credit isn't a resource to hoard.
 
4. You protect honest signals
If bad news gets punished,
bad news stops arriving.
By then, it's too late.
 
5. You respect shared time
Prepared. On time. Finished when you said.
Keeping people waiting
is a signal, not a schedule.
 
6. You repair quickly
No speeches.
No spin.
Just ownership.
 
7. You act the same when you need nothing
Your team is always watching for this one.
They will find the answer.
 
The biology is real:
your nervous system is contagious.
 
When you're regulated,
your team can think.
When you're dysregulated,
they're just managing you.
 
That's not leadership.
That's a tax on your organization.
 
People will forgive mistakes.
 
They rarely forgive a leader
who made them feel like a variable.
 
♻️ Repost to help your network.
🔔 Follow Elijah Szasz for tips on staying grounded in the age of AI.

The worst leaders I've worked with

had one thing in common.

They confused control with power.

They ran tight ships.
Had every metric dialed.
Never missed a deadline.

And their best people kept leaving.

Here's what took me years to learn:

Control is a grip.
Power is a lift.

The leaders who actually move markets
aren't the ones white-knuckling
every decision and outcome.

They're the ones who make people
feel safe enough to tell the truth,
free enough to take real risks,
and seen enough to stay.

Your team doesn't need a warden.
They need someone who creates
the conditions for them to be dangerous.

Not dangerous to themselves.
Dangerous to the competition.

That requires you to loosen the grip.

→ Stop hoarding information
→ Stop reacting to mistakes with heat
→ Stop confusing compliance with loyalty

The most powerful person in the room
is rarely the loudest.

They're the one who made everyone else
feel safe enough to speak.

Calm is contagious.
So is fear.
You get to choose which one you spread.

P.S. Who was the leader that made you
feel powerful, not small?

♻️ Repost to help your network.
🔔 Follow Elijah Szasz for tips on staying grounded in the age of AI.

You don't lose people overnight.
 
You lose them slowly.
 
It starts when effort goes unnoticed.
 
When consistency is expected,
but appreciation is optional.
 
Most leaders focus on replacement math.
 
Hiring speed.
Salary bands.
Ramp time.
 
That's the obvious cost.
 
The real cost shows up earlier.
 
→ When trust erodes quietly
→ When motivation turns into compliance
→ When commitment becomes transactional
→ When people stop bringing their best
 
Once loyalty breaks, everything gets expensive.
 
Time.
Energy.
Focus.
Reputation.
 
Perks don't prevent this.
 
Neither do slogans.
 
What actually works:
 
→ Treating people with baseline respect
↳ Not as a reward, but as a standard
 
→ Paying attention before performance dips
↳ Disengagement is loud if you're listening
 
→ Valuing contribution while it's happening
↳ Not only during exit interviews
 
→ Creating stability people don't want to escape
↳ Safety fuels performance
 
→ Remembering that consistency is earned
↳ Not assumed
 
Most departures aren't caused by better offers.
 
They're caused by accumulated disregard.
 
If you want people to stay,
make staying feel sensible.
 
♻️ Repost to help your network.
🔔 Follow Elijah Szasz for tips on staying grounded in the age of AI.

The busiest person on your team shouldn't be you. 

That's not leadership. That's a trap.

That line should make leaders uncomfortable.
Because it exposes a quiet truth.

If progress depends on your presence,
you didn’t build capability.
You built dependency.

Most bottlenecks don’t look like problems.
They look like dedication.

→ Always available
→ Always fixing
→ Always stepping in


It feels responsible.
It feels supportive.
It feels like leadership.

Until you step away.
And things stall.

That’s the signal.

Not of commitment,
but of control.

Managing keeps things moving today.
Leading ensures they move tomorrow.

When everything routes through you:
↳ Decisions slow
↳ Confidence erodes
↳ Initiative fades
↳ Growth caps out

The issue isn’t effort.
It’s architecture.

Leadership is a system,
not a performance.

Three reframes that unlock real leadership:

1. Design for absence
↳ If you vanished for a week, what breaks?

2. Transfer judgment, not tasks
↳ Ownership beats instructions every time

3. Measure outcomes, not activity
↳ Motion hides fragility, results reveal it

If your team can’t move without you,
they’re not empowered.
They’re waiting.

Strong leaders don’t disappear.
They become unnecessary.

That’s not neglect.
That’s success.

Look at your week.
What still needs you there to work?
That’s your next leadership problem to solve.

♻️ Repost to help your network.
🔔 Follow Elijah Szasz for tips on staying grounded in the age of AI.

AI is about to break organic content distribution.

And most people don’t see the window yet.

Everyone’s arguing about AI writing posts.

That’s not the shift.

The shift is distribution.

For years, organic growth was simple:
→ Write good content  
→ Stay consistent  
→ Learn the platform  
→ Hope the algorithm cooperates  

Now we’re entering a different phase.

AI can:

→ Analyze what formats are spiking in real time  
→ Generate variations fast enough to test daily  
→ Personalize outbound at scale  
→ Repurpose one idea into 20 native formats  
→ Identify overlooked audience pockets  

That creates arbitrage.

Not forever.

For a window.

Here’s how this usually plays out:

1. Early adopters exploit distribution gaps  
2. Platforms tighten the rails  
3. Loopholes close  
4. New surface area opens  

It’s cat and mouse.

But the cycles are accelerating.

The real opportunity?

Not replacing your voice.

Building systems around it.

→ AI as research analyst  
→ AI as distribution engine  
→ AI as testing machine  
→ You as strategist  

The creators who win won’t be the loudest.

They’ll be the most systematic.

Organic isn’t dying.

It’s becoming a systems game.

♻️ Repost to help your network.
🔔 Follow Elijah Szasz for actionable insights on AI, systems, and strategy.

The harsh truth about growth:
 
It’s painful, but staying stuck hurts more.
 
Staying stuck feels safer,
but it comes at a hidden cost:
 
→ It drains your energy.
→ It steals your potential.
→ It keeps you locked in a cycle of regret.
 
Here’s a framework to escape:
 
Acknowledge the pain
↳ Growth hurts, but it’s temporary
 
Choose a small step
↳ Don’t tackle the mountain; focus on the first hill.
 
Reframe the challenge
↳ Every difficult moment is proof that you’re evolving.
 
Lean into it.
Every step forward compounds.
The discomfort of growth is worth the reward.
 
P.S. Next time fear of change holds you back, ask yourself this:
“Which pain am I choosing, growth or regret?”
 
♻️ Repost this to help someone in your network who might need to hear this.
🔔 Follow Elijah Szasz for the human side of high performance and the AI conversation.

Most leaders I know are chasing wealth.

While quietly ignoring the only 3 assets that matter.

You can stack wins for decades.
Grow revenue.
Build teams.
Expand influence.

And still feel like something’s missing.

Because real wealth was never about the scoreboard.

It’s about three things most people treat as optional.

1. Your health.

→ Do you wake up with energy?
→ Do you protect your sleep like it’s sacred?
→ Can you train your body without breaking it?

If your business is thriving
but your body is deteriorating,

You’re not rich.
You’re renting success.

2. Your peace.

→ Can you sit in silence without anxiety?
→ Do you trust your own judgment?
→ Can you detach from outcomes?

If your mind never turns off,
the money won’t make it quieter.

Peace isn’t soft.
It’s a competitive advantage.

3. Your people.

→ Do you have relationships without performance?
→ Can you be honest without losing status?
→ Do your closest friends make you better?

Influence is public.
Wealth is private.

A small circle of solid humans
beats a large audience of spectators.

Here’s the reframe most leaders resist:

If your health is intact,
your mind is steady,
and your circle is strong,

You are already ahead.

Everything else is a bonus.

The smartest operators I know
don’t optimize for more.

They defend these three at all costs.

Because once they’re gone,
no amount of success can buy them back.

♻️ Repost to help your network.
🔔 Follow Elijah Szasz for actionable insights on AI, systems, and strategy.

The most dangerous lie high-achievers tell themselves:

"I need to be more disciplined."

When what we actually need is to be more honest.
High performers do this constantly:
They set the goal. 
They build the plan. 
They white-knuckle their way through execution.

And when it doesn't stick?
They assume the problem is willpower.

But I've noticed something different after watching so many people 
(including myself) try to change:
The issue isn't lack of control.
It's too much of the wrong kind.

We grip harder on strategies that aren't working. 
We force ourselves into identities that don't fit. 
We reject feedback from our own lives because it threatens the story we're protecting.

Here's the shift:
Don't compress what you want to fit who you've been.
Expand who you're becoming to claim what you want.

That expansion requires something most of us avoid:
Loosening your grip on being "right" about who you are.

Getting curious about why your current approach keeps failing.
Being radically honest about the gap between your stated goals and your actual behavior.

The people who transform?
They don't muscle through resistance.
They get interested in it.

They ask: "What if the obstacle isn't my lack of discipline...
but my refusal to question the approach itself?"

Your past shaped you. 
But staying overly loyal to it will limit you.
The identity that got you here won't be the identity that gets you there.
And that's not failure.
it's growth.

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Your inner circle is your competitive advantage.

Guard it like your most important asset.

Most people treat their network
like a numbers game.

More connections, more reach, more noise.

But the people closest to you
are shaping your ceiling every single day.

The curious ones keep you sharp.

The driven ones raise the bar.

The grateful ones keep you grounded.

The real ones tell you what you need to hear,
not what you want to hear.

The ones still growing
are proof that growth never stops.

That's the tribe worth protecting.

Not the loudest people in the room.
Not the ones with the most followers.
Not the ones who only show up
when things are going well.

Here's the law:

You will become the average
of the five people you protect most.

Choose deliberately.
Audit often.
Prune without guilt.

Your business can survive a bad quarter.

It can't survive the wrong people
in your inner circle.

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Screens are rooms now.

And most founders are ignoring that.

In-person will always matter.

But attention is the real currency.

A screen holds attention.

A podcast.
An Instagram feed.
A blog post.
A YouTube clip.

If someone is spending 10 minutes with you,
that’s a room.

The difference?

You can’t clone yourself for conferences.

But you can replicate yourself on camera.

That’s leverage.

Look at any high-output founder.

They don’t just “post content.”
They build distribution machines.

→ Production
↳ Cameras, editors, studios

→ Distribution
↳ Multi-platform clipping
↳ Team-run accounts
↳ Paid amplification

→ Repetition
↳ You see them everywhere
↳ Because it’s intentional

And here’s the part most people ignore:

Scale costs money.

Serious production isn’t free.
Distribution isn’t free.
Consistency at volume isn’t free.

You can talk in a room for 50 people.

Or invest in systems
that put you in 50,000 feeds.

AI makes this even more interesting.

Because now:

→ Scripts can be drafted faster
→ Clips can be generated automatically
→ Personas can extend your voice
→ Workflows can publish while you sleep

The Renaissance of in-person is coming.

But the founders who win
will understand both rooms.

The physical one.
And the digital one.

Build rapport.

Then build systems.

One scales.
One compounds.

Use both.

I had a great time recording this week's "AI at Work" with Kevin Williams. Listen to the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Link is in the first comment. 

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You don’t need a perfect plan.  

You need a first move.

Progress isn’t built  
in polished moments.

It’s built in messy starts.

Most people delay action  
because they want certainty.

They want the full roadmap.  
The flawless strategy.  
The guarantee it will work.

That’s not leadership.

That’s fear disguised as preparation.

Every meaningful thing I’ve built  
started incomplete.

→ The first version was rough.  
→ The first conversation was awkward.  
→ The first hire was uncertain.  

But action clarified what thinking never could.

Here’s the shift:

1. Clarity follows motion.  
You don’t think your way into confidence.  
You act your way into it.

2. Imperfect reps create real capability.  
You can’t optimize what doesn’t exist.  
Ship first. Refine second.

3. Waiting feels safe.  
But it quietly erodes momentum.  
Small steps compound. Hesitation does too.

Perfection is a moving target.

Progress is a decision.

The first draft.  
The first pitch.  
The first uncomfortable ask.

That’s where momentum lives.

You don’t need everything figured out.

You need enough courage  
to begin.

What’s one step you could take today  
without having it all solved?

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Ever feel like everyone else has it all figured out?
 
Spoiler alert: Nobody really does.
 
Each one of us
 
→ navigate struggles
→ endure suffering
→ keep growing
 
But here’s the thing:
 
Growth doesn’t require perfection.
It only requires showing up.
 
Especially when things feel messy.
 
The next time you catch yourself
comparing your journey to someone else’s,
ask yourself:
 
"Would I be willing to trade my entire life for theirs?"
 
→ Your failures
→ Your triumphs
→ Your great loves
→ Your great losses
 
If you can't answer with an unequivocal "yes"
(and who can honestly agree to this??)
then why compare one piece of it?
 
Your story isn't over until it's over.
 
✅ What’s one small action I can take today to move forward?
✅ What’s one habit I can build to create momentum?
 
Progress doesn’t come from waiting for the perfect moment.
It comes from doing the best you can, right now.
There's nothing to "figure out."
Just a life of growth to live.
 
P.S. We're all in this together. Literally. Enjoy the ride.
 
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The Battle

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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);}Jonathan Whipple's LinkedIn Performance

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