Scot Chisholm & Co. 

Every week I tackle management, operations & startup topics that are helping 100,000+ people become better leaders.

Scot’s Newsletter

Highland

Highland is a “school” & community for founders. If you're a founder/CEO, we should talk!

Founder & Chief Professor

Tall Timbers Holding Co.

A family office and holding company with wholly owned businesses, private investments, and property holdings.

Managing Director & Founder

GoFundMe

After the merger of Classy and GoFundMe, I’ve taken on a strategic advisory role to the CEO & executive team, mainly focused on longer-range product strategy and M&A

Strategic Advisor, GoFundMe & Classy

Classy

Founder & Strategic Advisor (Acq. by GoFundMe, 2022)

Founder & Chairman

Classy is a SaaS giving platform that powers the fundraising of over 10,000 nonprofit organizations. Classy is a certified B-Corp, has a team of 300+ people and has raised over $5 billion for social good since 2011.

CEO & Founder

In Classy’s earliest days, we hosted large scale fundraising events with the goal of connecting millennials with local nonprofits in the San Diego area.

CEO & Founder (pre tech company)

Haskill Creek

Haskill Creek is a new type of self-care store. Imagine a healthier & more holistic version of a Walgreens or CVS. Family owned business.

Co-Founder

ALBION SC

Albion Soccer Club is one of the top youth soccer franchises in the United States with over 10,000 players and hundreds of teams across the country.

Co-Owner

Save Farmland

Save Farmland is a nonprofit organization with a mission to protect and promote small farms in Flathead Valley, Montana, and beyond.

Abundant Montana

Board Member

AERO Montana

Abundant Montana (a program of Aero), makes it easy for anyone to find and choose local food in Montana.

Advisory Board

CEO, Highland & Haskill Creek • Founder of Classy (acq. by GoFundMe) • Founder of nonprofit, Save Farmland

Multi-time founder but operator at heart. 

Industrial engineer and lean six sigma nerd by training. 

Now I write about management, operations & startup topics that are helping 200,000+ people become better leaders.

scotchisholm.com/newsletter


MY BACKGROUND ————— 

🚀 Founder of Classy, a SaaS platform for 10k+ nonprofits raising billions per year. 

🎗️Acquired by GoFundMe in ‘22 to create the largest giving platform in the world. Together we’ve raised over $30 billion for individual & nonprofit causes. 

🏔️ Founder of Highland, a private community & leadership “school” for high-potential founders. 

🏡 Co-founder of Haskill Creek, a much healthier version of a Walgreens or CVS. 

🧑🏼‍🌾 Founder of Save Farmland, a nonprofit protecting local farmland. 

⚽️ Co-owner of Albion Soccer Club, top youth soccer club in country

❤️ Board experience: Nature Conservancy, Abundant Montana, Team Rubicon, Street Soccer USA, Montana Pediatric Cancer Foundation 


👇 WAYS TO CONNECT —————

→ Podcast / speaking oppty? email: partner@scotchisholm.com

→ Join my free newsletter: https://scotchisholm.com/newsletter-linkedin-profile

→ Check out my private community for founders: www.joinhighland.com

Scot Chisholm

Sh*tty managers ruin lives. 
Great managers change them. 

I’ve managed hundreds of people over the last 20 years. 

One of my biggest takeaways is the massive difference between an average manager and a truly great one. 

But, here’s the truth:

No one starts out as a great manager (literally no one). 

And, becoming a great manager can be learned by anyone. 

Just focus on these 12 habits:

1/ Provide business context
2/ Set high standards
3/ Take full ownership
4/ Focus (then focus again)
5/ Create operating cohesion 
6/ Lead with data
7/ But be decisive 
8/ Let your team make decisions
9/ Don’t give sh*tty feedback
10/ Take feedback like an adult
11/ Listen more than you talk
12/ Always be learning

The gap in quality managers is large, but the right behaviors are simple. 

Focus on these 12 habits daily and you’ll be ahead of 99%. 

What habits resonated most?
Let me know in the comments 👇

⁂

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Operator & Investor • Founder of Classy (acq. by GoFundMe) • Building Highland, Just, Haskill Creek

12 insanely simple habits to become a high performing mana

Leadership is misunderstood.

Building Classy taught me that the best leaders aren't necessarily the ones with the biggest titles, or the ones who can charm a room.

Some of the best leaders in our 300+ person company were individual contributors at the very bottom of the org chart. Young managers. First-time team leads.

Over the years I started noticing what made these unlikely leaders so effective. They had traits that, quite honestly, my executives lacked at times. Including me.

Over time I boiled them down to 10 core traits that our best leaders always exhibited. It’s no surprise they rose fast within the company. Many are still there today, 15 years later.  

The very best leaders: 

• Clarify - Never assume everyone understands
• Believe - Push forward when everyone doubts
• Adapt - Evolve rapidly without ego
• Anticipate - Solve problems before they explode
• Persist - Get kicked in the teeth, get up anyway
• Empower - Create leaders, not followers
• Own - Own failures without excuses
• Hold the line - When quality dips and others compromise
• Always Learn - Learn and grow faster than the company
• Lead by Example - Live values when no one's watching

Most leaders start off strong in a few, but not all of these traits. You must intentionally develop them over time. It's a lifelong thing. 

But many executives forget this. Maybe they were great once. But they start slipping. They stop learning. They get cocky. I've seen this too many times. 

I don't care where you’re at in your career. Keep these traits in mind. And never stop developing them. 

⁂

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Top 10 traits of the very best leaders:

Every high performance culture starts with this… 

I recently asked a founder about his culture. And he started talking about free lunches and other perks. 

This is not culture. 

He was a coaching client of mine, so I nicely explained… 

Here's what real culture looks like: 
→ A shared purpose. Everyone understands and resonates with the 'Why'.

→ Excitement about the future. The vision is clear to all and it creates an almost kid-like excitement about the future.

→ Strong empathy and trust. Great orgs know if you neglect empathy, trust evaporates.

→ The correct level of accountability. People know you're building a championship team.

→ Mutual respect and encouragement. High performers have admiration for each other.

→ Hunger to learn and improve. Without being asked. That's the diet of champions.

→ Aligned financial incentives. Compensation that's aligned to the organization's top goals.

→ Career mobility. Lots of opportunity, with clear expectations around advancement.

→ Work-life balance. Clear boundaries that are enforced across the org.

→ Pride in the work. Numbers one through nine create an amazing sense of pride. You'll find yourself bragging about work to complete strangers.


When you get the culture right, people are excited to show up, employees self-manage, and retention is extremely high. 

And great business results naturally follow.

 ⁂

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10 signs of great culture.

Most people waste their leadership meetings. 

Do this instead: 

When I was building Classy I got this meeting wrong for years. We’d talk about everything BUT the important stuff. Too much time wasted on low-level “issues”. Too many tangents and distractions. Everyone left feeling:

• Confused
• Misaligned 
• Unaccountable

I talked to advisors and scoured the internet for help. But it took loads of trial and error to land on a meeting structure that actually worked. We stuck with it for nearly ten years. 

One of the major improvements was focus. Teams spend months setting goals only to let them collect dust. Your leadership meeting should be your #1 checkpoint for progress. 

Once we got “tight at the top” as a leadership team, everything started to change. More results, less talk. It became the tip of the spear of our entire operating rhythm.

To this day, I call it your most important meeting. If I only had one, it’d be the leadership meeting. 

The entire leadership team meeting structure is in the carousel. Copy it for your own company and let me know what you think. 

⁂

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How to nail your  leadership meeting every time:

This is the part of leadership no one prepares you for…

Going from IC to manager is hard.

But becoming a manager of managers is brutal. 

You’re no longer managing the work… you’re managing the people who manage the work.

Vanilla management advice no longer works. Instead, focus on these 7 things:

→ Provide clarity and context. If they don’t have context, they can’t give context. And their teams will be flying blind. Make sure your managers always know: Why are we here? Where are we going? How are we doing? Your job is to arm them with the information they need to lead.

→ Work through, not around. When someone skips your manager and comes to you with a problem, resist the urge to solve it on the spot. This robs your manager of the chance to learn and improve themselves. Listen. Ask questions. Then loop your manager in to address it. Build leverage through them, not around them.

→ Set a team rhythm. Establish a recurring cadence with your managers. Weekly or bi-weekly team meetings work best. Create a high-performance environment that focuses on progress against goals. But feels safe for the managers to help each other, unblock projects and always stay aligned.

→ Create additional checkpoints. Checkpoints ensure your managers stay on top of things. Your early warning system. 1x1s for coaching and calibration. Quarterly reviews for deep dives. Occasional skip-levels to stay connected. But don’t overdo your 1 on 1s. Great managers shouldn’t need tons of special attention.

→ Don’t do their job for them. When your manager is struggling, it’s tempting to pick up their slack. Don’t. They need to own the outcome fully. You can coach them, help connect the dots, resource things. But don’t do the work for them. They’ll never develop into a strong manager this way.

→ Create P2P accountability. Peer-to-peer accountability is stronger than top-down. Great managers don’t want to let their peers down. Review each other’s goals. Share progress openly. Set standards together. Your team helps you keep the bar up for everyone.

→ Avoid over trusting. It’s tempting to say: “They’re experienced, they’ll figure it out.” This is blind faith. When a manager is sending off smoke signals through any of the prior steps. Missing goal after goal. Showing up weak at checkpoints. With no correction on the horizon. It’s time to take action. Don’t trust forever. The buck still stops with you.

⁂ 

Putting it all together... 

How to manage managers: 

• Provide context
• Work through manager
• Set team rhythm
• Create checkpoints 
• Don't' do their job
• Create p2p accountability 
• Avoid over-trusting

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How to manage managers (even as a newbie)

Most people think goals fail because the team screwed up. 

They’re wrong. 

99% of goals fail because of poor leadership.

It doesn’t matter what framework you use…

→ OKRs
→ Rocks
→ SMART

If you’re sloppy with your approach, the company won’t hit its goals. 

That’s on you. 

I learned this the hard way, running a company with hundreds of people. 

Now I see it working with nearly 100 CEOs across all industries. 

Here are 7 non-negotiable rules that will make your goal-setting 10x better…

(regardless of your framework) 

⁂

Rule 1 –  
Focus (then focus again):

• Maximum three goals, period
• Goals aren't task lists
• Everything priority = nothing priority

Rule 2 – 
Always be measurable: 

• Three metrics maximum per goal
• Measure outcomes, not tasks
• "$1M ARR" beats "update deck"

Rule 3 – 
Challenging but realistic: 

• Impossible goals kill momentum
• Stretch without delusion
• No sandbagging, mutual accountability

Rule 4 – 
Never forget the ‘why’: 

• No context leaves team guessing
• Each goal deserves a 'why'
• 1-3 sentence rationale

Rule 5 – 
Track consistently:

• Break annual into monthly
• Weekly red/yellow/green updates
• Never leave dashboards stale

Rule 6 – 
Create accountability:

• Use leadership meeting
• Address every yellow or red
• 20% status, 80% solving

Rule 7 – 
Align incentives:

• Pay goals to comp
• Ignore the OKR purists
• Bonus plan is perfect for this

Does this resonate? 
What rules would you add?
Let me know in the comments 👇

 ⁂

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How to actually achieve your company goals in 2026

If there's one thing you do on Linkedin today... 

I'd be forever grateful if you'd consider applying, or sharing this role with someone you really respect. 

Christopher Himes & I started dreaming up this company about a year ago.  Now the dream has turned to reality. 

With a fresh round, a tiny team of insane talent, and a massive opportunity in front of us... 

We. are. ready. to. go!

Who wants to join us? 

p.s. We're not listing this company as "stealth" because that's dumb. But you'll learn way more about the market, opportunity and product when you apply. Trust me its badass. 

🔥

MOVE Estrella Galicia Digital

MOVE is the Global Digital Business & Venturing business unit of Estrella Galicia. We seek out and build ventures that accelerate the development of Estrella Galicia through Open Innovation and New Digital Businesses; This means (1) building new digital businesses from scratch and scaling them up or (2) investing in attractive Startups that can accelerate the future of the enterprise. One of our key projects is www.bigcrafters.com the marketplace for artisans that will be decentralised into the community.

As a General Manager, I am responsible for:

.- Setting the vision and strategy for the Business Unit, maintaining a deep knowledge of Digital Business Models, Digital Innovations, and Tech disruptions. 

.- Building, leading, and motivating high-performance teams. It means managing dysfunction, friction, and strong personalities. 

.- Developing high-quality business strategies and plans ensuring their alignment with short-term and long-term objectives of the corporation. 

.- Overseeing all operations and business activities to ensure they produce the desired results and are consistent with the overall strategy and mission.

.- Building trust relations with key partners in the market and stakeholders (Venture Capital, Innovation Leaders, Digital Gurus, Digital Business Owners, Tech companies, and Web3 Ecosystem).

.- Analyzing problematic situations and occurrences and providing solutions to ensure company durability and growth; ensuring the company's financials and the survival of the team beyond failure. 

.- Holding non-executive positions within the portfolio companies, in order to provide advisory to the CEOs of the ventures.

Straight reporting to the President of the corporation and as part of the board, my responsibilities also include (1) shaping the new leaders of the future, (2) building principles and values that strengthen the company, and (3) cultivating the knowledge to bring long-term exponential growth.

General Manager MOVE Estrella Galicia Digital

TheHop Web3 Ventures 

We help entrepreneurs to accelerate their business and transform the industry through Web2 & Web3 technology. Start-up global hub.

Board Of Directors

The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE)

International Professor.

Topics:

Digital Transformation
Leadership Skills for the Digital Era
Digital Economy.

Professor

IE Executive Education

Expertise:
.- New Digital Ecosystems
.- Video Marketing and Video Influencing
.- Customer analysis and Segmentation Fundamentals.
.- Relationship Marketing Optimization.
.- Acquisition & Qualification of New Customers
.- Customer Journey

Topics:
.- How Personality affects the online behaviour.
.- Digital Marketing
.- Customer Centric
.- Customer Journey
.- Analysis of Consumer Behaviour
.- The 8 segments to overcome the online consumers

Locations: London / Barcelona / Madrid

Digital Strategy & Marketing Professor

Hijos de Rivera

Straight reporting to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), I am directly in charge of making the company embrace and manage the current digital disruption. My role is underpinned by three areas: (1) customer strategy & intelligence, (2) information and technology systems, and (3) digital.

As part of the board, my responsibilities also include (1) shaping the new leaders of the future, (2) building principles and values that strengthen the org, and (3) working on new eBusiness models that will bring exponential growth into the industry.

Estrella Galicia has been selected the best beer in the market in 2017. It has become one of the most important beer in the premium sector and a key player in the beverage industry after six years of double digit growth. The company also owns other premium brands such as Cabreiroa, as well as, being the main distributor of brands such as Moët Chandon. Estrella de Galicia is an international company with operation in Spain, Brazil, UK, US, South of Europe and Asia.

At Estrella de Galicia (Hijos de Rivera), we want to work with the best tech-digital partners in order to continue developing a better service for our customers.  With this goal in mind, we hold  "Vendor Days" twice a year. These events enable companies to present their best solutions, focussing on our company's needs, while allowing us to give the attention deserved.

Let´s be part of our history

Chief Digital Officer

Amazon UK

From Jul 2016 Head of Amazon Marketing Services South of Europe:

As Head of Amazon Marketing Services for South of Europe, I am responsible for achieving growth and efficiency goals across the portfolio of Amazon Marketing Services for South of Europe working directly and indirectly with managed teams to ensure goals are met while retaining overall P&L accountability.

My responsibilities are to provide direct leadership to my team through developing a robust set of next-level leaders, assigning clear goals and assisting the team in crafting their plans as well as coaching and mentoring the team to be effective leaders and managers. I keep the team focused on initiatives that material impact and ensure execution to plan.

As the leader, I raise innovation in the team, apart to the evolving e-commerce landscape, and to challenge boundaries continuously. I represent the Amazon Marketing Services in South Europe at the necessary senior leadership forums (Spain, Italy, France & International scene), as well as build bridges with Amazon stakeholder groups across the world to improve the effectiveness and productivity of the team. This is a highly visible role with the opportunity to deliver significant impact for one of the most respected e-commerce brands in the world.

Aug 2014 to Jun 2016, Senior Marketing Manager UK

As part of the Marketing team, I am responsible for communicating Amazon’s powerful propositions to customers across online and above-the-line channels. I am directly in charge of the most visited page on Amazon.co.uk. Directly in charge of the biggest events ever in Amazon UK: Black Friday, Prime Day, Boxing Day Deals Week, Cyber Monday. Leading the biggest day of sales in the history of Amazon.

Customer analysis, Deal Strategy, Prime Day, Black Friday and Boxing Day Event Management. As a cross-functional role, I define plans of email marketing, social media marketing, affiliates, SEO, SEM, Display Advertisements, and direct traffic.

Head of Amazon Marketing Services South of Europe.

Vodafone

I am directly in charge of managing the life-cycle of 1.8 millions customers.  My team and I analyze the behavior of Vodafone customers and develop killing value propositions that clearly develop the ARPU of our current client base. In addition, by the understanding of client needs, we have improved the retention plan with new activities that maximizes the value perception of Vodafone proposal. 

Some of my current challenges:

Strategic Customer Segmentation
Client Analysis
Customer Centric Strategy
Life-cycle customer Management.

Senior Marketing Manager

Burger King Corporation Europe, Middle East ans Africa

New product Opportunity Strategy
Segment Strategy
Market test
Promotional Tracking & Post Analysis
Promotional Shelf

Marketing Manager Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA)

Daemon Quest by Deloitte

Specialties: .- Customer orientation strategies 
.- Sales force effectiveness 
.- Segmented customer plans
.- Customer segmentation
.- Customer & sales alarms
.- Targeting
.- Acquisition and lead generation 
.- Geomarketing and territory alignment 
.- Customer metrics
.- Loyalty clubs 
.- Sales force sizing 
.- Qualitative surveys & focus group
.- Cross selling & up selling strategies
.- Channel strategy
.- Strategic positioning
.- Churn & retention plans 
.- Expansion plans
Projects: Pepsi, Hertz, CB Richard Ellis, Ford, Bosch, Siemens, Liberty Mutual, Vodafone,Telefonica

International Project Manager

One to One Marketing
Marketing Strategy 
Customer Strategy

Senior Consultant

¡HOLA!

Market Research
Martet Analysis
B2B marketing plans

Marketing & Business Research

9-figure Digital Businesses Maker based on technology (Web2, Web3, AI, and noCode) | General Manager MOVE Estrella Galicia Digital & exAmazon

PhD Cum Laude in Digital Economy. Honored​ to have led the day with the most international sales in Amazon history and reached #1 Amazon LinkedIn Profile in the UK in 2016 and early 2017. Investor & Advisor of Web2 & Web3 Companies (Ufounders, Talent Class, Enzo Ventures, Bipgo, Football ClubX).

Recognized as one of the Top 15 unofficial LinkedIn influencers in 2018, selected Top 50 Worldwide Human Behaviour Experts to follow in 2017 & Most Talented Spanish Marketer 2015, International Best Seller Author 2021.

I have helped to drive the growth of many organizations over multiple international marketplaces; including Amazon, Burger King, Pepsi, Hertz, CB Richard Ellis, Ford, Bosch, Siemens, Liberty, Vodafone, Telefonica, and currently Estrella Galicia. 
 
After 15+ years in business growth, I have gained extensive international experience in EMEA (UK, Germany, Spain, France & Italy), and LATAM (Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador & Mexico). 

Being a professor at The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and IE Business School provides an amazing forum to challenge the current digital panorama. Author of three books: (1) Think Video: Smart Video Marketing & Video Influencing, (2) The new digital consumer: Noriso Cube, and (3) Smash It. How to Dominate The Digital Era and Make Your Business Grow Like Hell! (Amazon International Best Seller 2021)

I have published multiple papers that stretch the current way marketers understand their customers including How Personality Affects Customer Behavior, The 8 segments to overcome the online consumer, and Marketing with Personality.

I founded (a) the #1 Neuromarketing group for Spanish countries, (b) New Video Congress, and (c) The Vloggers Awards. I am also co-founder of the NGO 24 Friends: Education for Kenya. I am an honored member of the Royal European Academy of Doctors

Marketing media has covered my groundbreaking studies: Forbes, Harvard Business Review, Reuters.

Professional Speaker: 
I speak at marketing, corporate, and networking events about (1) digital transformation, (2) Digital Growth, (3) Emotion behind the click, (4) Leadership & Motivation, (5) Virtual Economy.

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