Grow Your Career 1% Daily - I’ll Show You How | Follow for Tips on Learning, Professional Development, and Productivity | Professor | MBA + JD

Is this the part where I talk about brand voice, distribution, and storytelling across the funnel? Or say we “help companies scale content that converts”?

𝗪𝗲 𝗱𝗼 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁.

But what we really do is write content your team doesn’t have to worry about, so you can stay focused on strategy, not sentence structure.

𝗛𝗲𝘆, 𝗜’𝗺 𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽𝗵𝗲𝗻. 👋

And my path here hasn’t exactly followed a playbook:
Banking → Law School → Teaching → L&D → Content

(Yeah… it’s been a ride.)

Today, I run a B2B content agency with my wife. We keep it lean and personal — just the two of us, plus our kids and a couple barky mini schnauzers. 

At Damn Smart Marketing, we give marketers writing they can trust and results they can stand behind.

✓ Content that sounds like you (not a template, not bland AI)
✓ Full support from idea to publication
✓ A partner who gets content
✓ Zero fluff, zero hand-holding
✓ More time to focus on what matters

In other words: you get to 🚀 while we handle the ✍️.

𝗟𝗼𝗼𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗮 𝘄𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗻𝗲𝗿? 𝗧𝘄𝗼 𝘄𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝘄𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸:

1️⃣ 𝗗𝗼𝗻𝗲-𝗳𝗼𝗿-𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘄𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗺𝘀.
Blogs, LinkedIn posts, newsletters, case studies. If it’s got words, we’ll write it. You get to run the show without sweating every sentence.

2️⃣ 𝗟𝗶𝗻𝗸𝗲𝗱𝗜𝗻 𝘀𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗳𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀.
We’ve built an AI-assisted workflow that makes posting easy, effective, and actually worth reading.

If you're curious, DM me. 

No cold, hard pitch, I promise. Just a real convo about where you’re headed and whether some damn smart content can help.

Stephen 😀

Stephen Mostrom

How my wife and I work together without losing our minds (or our marriage)...

9 years ago, Donna and I started Damn Smart Marketing.
4 years ago, we niched down to B2B content writing. 
24 months ago, I joined full-time. 

It's been a wild ride. 
Full of ups and downs. 

And, when we share our story with others, the same question comes up every time.

"How do you work with your partner 24/7 without killing each other?"

Here's our formula: 

1 - Love your differences (really!)
2 - Create a clear division of duties
3 - Remove pressure whenever possible
4 - Talk about everything
5 - Leave your ego at the door

Interested in learning more about how we make it work?

👉 https://lnkd.in/gtPzBpME

Writer for B2B Tech & Finance ✍️ | Running a content agency with my wife (and yes, still married) | Human words, AI workflows | JD & MBA

I've got one resolution for '26. 
KEEP. IT. REAL. 

Real talk
- Words I’d say out loud, not empty-calorie buzzwords
- Taking a stance, not performative "thought leadership"
- Posting for people, not the algorithm

Real content
- Heart-first drafts, not perfect-first outputs
- A voice with fingerprints, not generic AI fluff
- Photos that feel lived-in, not perfectly staged

Real-ationships
- Showing up first, not keeping score
- Chats that run long, not calendar Tetris
- Conversations with pauses, not pitches

LinkedIn.
The business world.
The internet.
Honestly, the whole globe.

It’s getting more synthetic by the second.

Time to swim against the current. 

Real only. 
No exceptions. 

You in?

LinkedIn friends: Can you help me get the word out?

I’ve got *a lot* of thoughts on writing, creativity, AI (and where to avoid it), and B2B marketing. 

(Also the last season of Stranger Things… but that’s a separate thread)

I’m looking to connect with smart folks who care about these topics and want to have no-fluff conversations around them.

If you know anyone I should meet, I’d appreciate a tag or a DM:

- Podcast hosts
- Conference organizers
- Speaking opportunities
- Or adjacent worlds I should be paying attention to

And if you just want to talk about The Upside Down or how Steve + Dustin are an elite duo, I’m here for that too!

Thanks in advance. 🙏

I assume every LinkedIn post will flop (yes, even after 1M+ impressions). So, I run mine through this 10-point checklist before hitting publish.👇

The result?

10k+ followers
Viral client posts
Countless connections

Here's the checklist: 

1. Did I start with the good stuff?
Weak hook, no go. I’ll tweak it 100x to get it right.

2. Does this post sound like me? (Or like AI?)
Beep boop. No thanks, I’ll stick to Stephen writing. 

3. Did I make it easy to read?
No one’s reading bland blocks of text during their coffee break.

4. Did I paint the picture?
Feelings, stakes, pain. That makes a story real. 

5. Will I remember this tomorrow?
If it’s forgettable to me, it’s forgettable to them.

6. Am I talking to one person, or broadcasting to everyone?
Generic tone = generic results. I write to one reader and one reader only.

7. Did I edit out the filler?
Adverbs, clichés, throat-clearing intros. I cut them with a chainsaw.

8. Did I anchor it in lived experience?
Real stories beat abstract advice every day (twice on Sundays).

9. What’s the one thing I want someone to remember?
If my post has 6 points, it has no point.

10. Did I enjoy writing it?
If it felt like a chore, it’ll probably read like one too.

Your go-to?

Who in their right mind adds 25 pounds to their morning walk?

Umm....

Last year, I started wearing a weighted vest. Unless it's 110° or more, most mornings you'll find me with three dogs walking a mile loop around Chandler. 

Shoulders strained. 
Core (hopefully) engaged. 
CCR probably on repeat. 

It's the funny bit about exercise...

To get stronger, you have to intentionally do hard things. Lift heavy stuff, run when nothing's chasing you, or strap extra weight to your body. 

The reward?
Growth. 

Problem is, when I look at the mental side of work, all I see are shortcuts. AI wasn't the first, but boy is it the loudest. 

"Write 100 LinkedIn posts in 30 seconds!"
"Turn one idea into a week of content!"
"Hit publish without ever breaking a sweat!"

There’s absolutely a time and place for speed, efficiency, and productivity.

But if everything gets easier…
When do we actually get stronger?

This isn't theoretical. 

Darja Djordjevic (Columbia Univ) on AI: 
“Here is a machine that is always available, endlessly enthusiastic, and seemingly competent in every domain. That creates a powerful feedback loop. You skip the discomfort of starting from scratch and get rewarded in seconds.”

Great for the short-term. 
Hazardous for the long. 

That's why I'm personally putting on weighted vests at work, too. 

Writing the first draft from scratch.
Sitting with the mess before cleaning it up.
Thinking before prompting.

Do I use AI? Of course.
But it’s the spotter, not the lifter.

Because the discomfort *is* the workout.

Maybe I'm not in my right mind. 
Maybe that's okay... as long as I'm growing. 🤷

Last year, I ghostwrote on LinkedIn for a dozen execs. 12M+ impressions, 20k+ followers. Here are 4 post types that delivered (and why): 

1. Scar stories

Easily our top-performer. 

What were the bottom-rung moments in a career (fumbles, toxic peers, etc)? And, most importantly, what did you learn from them?

One six-figure impression post from last year started with, “When I left the boardroom, I thought I was fired.” 

These posts counter the perfect upward path so often embedded in thought leadership content. 

They take courage to post. 
And that’s why they work. 

2. Non-obvious + niche trends

Market trend posts work when you’ve got a one-of-one view. 
And genuine thought leaders do. 

The key is making sure the trends don’t sound like an economics report. 

They need to cut deep for your target audience. 
Show you’re in the trenches. 

Not “5 [industry] trends,” but “5 patterns showing up across every [industry] conversation I’m in.”

3. Have you seen?

This is the small-scale side of the trends conversation. 
Commenting on news happening right now, this minute. 

- Major shakeup in your industry
- Big, bold stance by leadership
- Real-time data that informs decisions

In one move, you bring your readership into the fold (“have you seen?”), then lay out your angle (“here’s how I see it”). 

Timely and opinionated. 

4. I used to think X, now I think Y

Growth is interesting. 

People love to map the trajectory a leader’s taken. They want to see the nitty-gritty thoughts that shape million-dollar (billion-dollar?) leadership. 

One post that caught fire last year…
 
It broke down the people side of a data-heavy business. “I used to think the numbers mattered most, now I think it’s those small hallway conversations.”

Growth. And how it happens. 
Your readers can easily take notes. 




What do these posts have in common?

- Specific to YOU, not just anyone
- Getting real with your struggles and journey
- Putting the “thought” in thought leadership

That’s what separates the leaders people sync with…
From content that gets scrolled past and forgotten.

This might be my favorite January reading stack ever ↓

📚 How fear shaped history, politics, society, and more 
📚 One man's journey to consume the entire encyclopedia britannica
📚 The economist behind "Capital" takes on current events
📚 AI's impact on human writing (hint: it's not good)
📚 A globetrotting journey via classic works of fiction

What are you reading?
(Recommendations, please! I'm building my list for next month)

I'm tired of reading LinkedIn posts stuffed with fluff. 

Too many words. Too little payoff. A waste of everyone's time...

The result:
Writer – Annoyed that their message isn't resonating. 😡 
Reader – Annoyed that their attention isn't respected. 😤 

Who's this working for?
Answer: no one.

Time to get back to an old writing rule I swear by, "Every word not working for you... is working against you." 

Time to ditch words that add nothing. 

↓↓↓
These are the 4 worst offenders I see every single day: 

1. Buzzword Bingo
“Leverage”
“Synergy”
“Thought leadership”
“Game-changing”

2. The Warm-Up Lap
“I’ve been thinking a lot lately…”
“I wanted to share a quick thought…”
“This might resonate with some of you…”
“Just some reflections…”

3. Captain Generic
“Bet on yourself.”
“Show up.”
“Do the work.”
"Success isn't linear."

4. Say It Again, But Louder
“In other words…”
“Put simply…”
“Let me explain…”
“To clarify…”

Instead of fluff, do this...

Get to the point. 
Respect your reader. 
Mic drop and move on. 

Yeah?

Buffer crunched 2M+ data points to answer the question: How often should you post on LinkedIn to maximize reach? ↓

2-5 times per week. 

Doesn’t have to be every day. 
Doesn’t have to destroy your calendar. 

But moving from “whenever I have time” or once a month to this range yields serious results. 

+1,182 more impressions per post
0.23 percentage point lift in engagement rate

Buffer calls it “flipping a switch.”

That’s why, when we work with busy execs and founders at Damn Smart Marketing, we use a simple 3 / 30 approach: 

3 → publish three posts per week (minus holidays)
30 → one 30-minute weekly brainstorm to generate raw ideas

(Huge shoutout to Devin Reed, who runs this process to perfection. His breakdown is worth a look: https://lnkd.in/gcghEk5R)

That’s it. 

The difference between fading into the background and showing up in the feed of the people you want to reach. 

Questions?
Drop them below or DM me.

It's official: most folks DO NOT want to read AI. 

I've suspected as much. Seen loads of spiky posts about it on LinkedIn. But this is 4,484 people casting their vote, and you can see...

Only 16% keep reading, no problem. 
Whoa. 🤯 

My thoughts: 

1 - This topic is emotional quicksand. 4k+ people voting on a LinkedIn poll... that crazy, and a signal that people REALLY care. 

This isn't a shoulder shrug.  
It's a raging fire we need to pay attention to. 

2 - How do you know something was written by AI? Short answer: you don't. Instead, we're all judging in seconds. 

Is it flat, lifeless? Could anyone have written it? 
Does it have an em dash or too many rule of threes?

There's no rulebook. 
Just people making assumptions. 

As writers, marketers, and content folks...
We have to know this. Understand it. Adapt to it. 

3 - Content is about making bets. Bets that something you create will resonate and lead to a conversation, trust-building, etc. 

Idk about you...

But I don't want to bet on 16% odds. The chance folks MIGHT ignore the AI of it all and keep reading anyway... even if ChatGPT can generate 1M words in 3 seconds.

The smarter bet? 
Write for people. Write what resonates. 

And at least according to this (pretty big) poll, that isn't AI. 



Ok, enough of my ramblings...
What do you think? 

P.S. Shoutout to Mel Barfield for doing the work.

This LinkedIn post should have been a snoozefest. ↓

Instead, it's one of the best examples of writing voice I've ever seen. 


We've all seen the new furry friend angle.
Usually it's “I got a pup! 🐶” and 5 likes.

But not Lauren. 

Check it…

1 - She pulls you right into the storyworld

“middle of the workday” → busy CEO
“puppy with bad eyes” → awwww
“definitely don’t need another dog” → tension
“skin of our gahdayum teeth” → relatability
“ohmygaaaahhhh” → human emotion
“drive four hours” → commitment

And then there’s her backstory:
“lost… one year ago this week”
😭😭😭

2 - She uses (gasp) humor

Pile of laundry?
Mitch McConnell? 

I won’t explain the funny here cause that ruins it. 
But c’mon. This is standup level. 

3 - She sounds so human

Running around at 1 million miles per hour. 
Making heartfelt decisions. 
Talking pup names with her husband. 
Reflecting on the past and looking to the future. 

All in 115 words. 



I’ve never met Lauren. 
Never seen her content on LinkedIn before. 
But you can bet I smashed that “like” button fast. 

And last I checked, 1000+ others had too. 

Wow. Great writing. 
Who knew?

“Have AI write the first draft, then edit.” 

I know smart folks who write this way. It works for them. Real talk, though, it's not how I do my best writing.

Here's why: 

1 - The 1000-pound anchor. 

Once words are on the screen, they’re hard to ignore. You start reacting to what’s there instead of imagining what could be.

That usually means less human judgment. Less original thinking.

You either have to edit hard and fast and often. 
Or you quietly settle.

2 - It’s painfully predictable.

AI leans on the same phrases, rhythms, and structures. Even when you tell it to mix things up.

So I’m left with two bad options:
- Everything I write starts to sound the same
- I spend time hacking and rearranging instead of thinking

Both feel like fighting the work instead of doing it.

3 - I want my creative muscles strong.

I plan to write tomorrow. And the day after that. And the day after that.

When I'm on a client call, I want ideas flowing straight from my brain (not from a prompt I used last week). 

That only happens with reps.

Staring down the blank page like it's a roaring dragon spitting flames. And coming out the other side untouched. 

---

My process instead: 

- I write the first draft, messy and human. 
- I get feedback from trusted peers and my co-founder. 
- I use AI for grammar, polish, and the occasional word swap.

That balance works for me. 
It protects originality without sacrificing speed or quality.

Curious how others do it.

AI-written first drafts?
Or human-first?

When execs and founders ask me how to win on LinkedIn, I give the same advice every time: Hook your reader. Here are 5 hook-writing tips👇

1. Know the fundamentals

Your hook = what shows before “see more.”
You’ve got about 200 characters to earn the click.
Make it count.

2. Use specific, emotionally charged words

Generic is boring. Stats are boring. I’ve seen enough posts start with a bland sentence + stat to fill a stadium.

Don’t aim for the head. Aim for the heart.

And use the words that speak to them...

Think:
– Burnout, not low engagement
– Ghosted, not no response
– Nightmare spreadsheet, not manual process

3. Inject your POV

There’s way too much “you should” on here. Try “I did” instead.

Personal stories beat generic advice every day of the week.

Simple formula:
Do interesting things. Talk about them.

4. Signal value early

If you’re sharing 5 tips, say that up front. Please don’t make people guess what they’re getting.

Clarity builds trust... fast.

5. Benefits, benefits, benefits

Assumption is a dangerous game on LinkedIn. The audience is too wide, too diverse.

So spell it out:
- Why should someone care? (benefit)
- What’s it going to help them do? (benefit)
- What’s the end result? (benefit)

If the value’s not obvious, they’ll scroll. Every time.


---
Your turn: What's your go-to tip for writing a standout hook?

Donna Mostrom calls our LLM “Cathy.”

Because we use ChatGPT.

Chatty Cathy.
Well played. 🫡

Rebecca Jenkins

Sales Director UK & I

Working with leaders to deliver revenue growth through strategy, execution and scaleable processes. I previously scaled to £55m in annual sales, I now help leaders secure and scale revenue. Author | NED

ARCHITECT YOUR REVENUE GROWTH

Secure, Scale & Sustain High Value Client Wins.

I partner with founders and CXOs to align strategy, trust, and execution into a revenue engine for sustainable multi-million-pound growth.

When growth plateaus, or sales teams struggle to win and expand strategic accounts, the issue is rarely effort. It’s usually a leadership and strategy gap:

• Weak positioning of trust
• Lack of alignment between sales, marketing, and delivery
• No scalable method to secure and expand high-value clients
• Overreliance on senior leaders in every deal

I partner with leadership teams to close those gaps with precision.

WHY TRUST & ALIGNMENT DRIVE GROWTH

Enterprise buyers don’t want another vendor. They want a partner who de-risks execution, aligns with their strategy, and delivers results they can trust.

Trust isn’t soft — it’s the multiplier that creates alignment across your commercial function and turns unpredictable deals into reliable growth.

Most companies fail to land and grow large accounts because they:
→ Sound like suppliers, not strategic partners
→ Struggle to speak the language of the C-Suite
→ Can’t align internal teams around account growth
→ Don’t measure the moments that build long-term trust

I change that by embedding trust, aligning leadership and teams, and executing your revenue architecture.

PROVEN RESULTS

• £250M in new contractual revenue secured
• 130% profitability increase for a logistics firm
• Enterprise wins with Cisco, ASDA, and The Body Shop
• 8.67x growth for a scale-up in under 12 months
• Doubled client lifetime value with aligned account growth strategies

WHO I WORK WITH

I partner with ambitious founders and CXOs ready to:
✔ Break through a revenue plateau
✔ Align leadership and teams around one growth strategy
✔ Build a revenue engine that scales without chaos
✔ Earn trusted-partner status with key clients
✔ Expand and retain high-value accounts with strategic precision

READY TO RAISE THE BAR?
Message me for a confidential conversation,
or download the 2025 CEO Revenue Architecture Briefing in my Featured section.

Founder | Director

Working with ambitious business owners and executives to transform sales and business growth.

Key Projects include:
Strategic planning, leadership 
Business growth strategy and implementation
Commercial development

 
Delivery of Sales & Key account transformation programme across various sectors to achieve key account growth, partnership status, success mindset. See testimonials below from Cisco and PLB

"The techniques, skills, and methods that I gained enabled me to deliver significant new business with a totally new project that wasn’t in the budget.” Cody – PLB Account Manager

“This programme is transformational on so many levels, I can replicate the success with all customers to create a massive sales funnel” – Nisar, Cisco

Business consulting - strategy development for Rhenus Logistics
Development of a cross-country key account management and sales strategy.

CML
Business performance consultancy - 
Sales - Winning of profitable accounts.
Customer Experience - Helping achieve silver then gold investors in customers.
Marketing - Positioning of business expertise, increasing lead generation.
Financial Performance - improved financial performance & divisional turnaround.
Leadership – leading sales, marketing team & mentoring of management team.

Asda – To You
Customer Experience Consultancy Project.	
Workshops to develop client pledges to support new market proposition. 

Latham Direct - Business Consulting project 
Development and implementation of the business and marketing strategy. Testimonial below.

'We have won new business and developed a healthy pipeline of prospects, and significantly enhanced our brand image. I would like to say how much I value your support, skills and knowledge throughout". – M. Hughes,  M.D.

Past Veuve Clicquot Businesswoman of the Year finalist
MBA guest Lecturer | keynote speaker

When revenue slows, it’s tempting to look straight at sales.

More often, the issue sits higher up, in how leadership roles are designed, and who actually owns turning strategy into action.

One of the most thought-provoking questions I was asked in 2025 came during a working session with a CEO.

We were deep into a growth discussion, developing the strategy and what needed to change for the business to scale.

After a short break, some fresh air and strong coffee, the CEO asked:

“Are we asking too many people in the leadership team to be strategic?”

It stopped us in our tracks because it challenged something fundamental;
the infrastructure supporting revenue growth, and how strategy would turn into results.

We gave the question a thorough airing and landed on something important.

Not every leadership role needs to create strategy.
But every leader does need to translate the company strategy into clear plans with defined objectives, key results, and milestones, and then execute with pace.

When that doesn’t happen, the risks are big.

→ Ownership starts to blur
→ Priorities compete
→ Revenue slows

We redesigned leadership roles around clear outcomes, directly aligned to the company’s strategic goals.

When roles are built to deliver outcomes, not just hold responsibility, revenue growth becomes more focused, and clarity sharpens.

If growth is lower than you expected, it’s worth looking beyond sales activity.

Ask yourself:
How clearly is the strategy being interpreted?
And critically, who owns turning it into action?

It was a simple question, but it forced a hard look at how strategy becomes action.

That’s where growth is either unlocked, or quietly stalls,

Partnering with CEOs to build revenue that scales - win, expand & retain strategic accounts | Built business to £55m | Former FTSE 250 Sales Director | Author “Winning Big in Sales” | People → System = Scale

It's frustrating to have your flights cancelled, but on this occasion it revealed something I wasn’t expecting. 

Our return flight from Finland to the UK was cancelled last week, and we were taken to a different airport, Rovaniemi.
The official home of Santa Claus. 

I was surprised to see the airport full of excited children who usually visit Santa before Christmas. 

Not this time. 

They had travelled after Christmas to thank him. 

That made me think, because it was a good reminder that value doesn’t end at the moment of delivery. 

In business, we tend to design everything around winning new work. 

The pitch. 
The close. 
The handover. 

But where growth compounds, it starts before new business is secured, and continues after delivery is complete. 

Before, in how expectations are shaped and trust is built. 
After, in how value is reinforced, relationships deepen, and partnerships expand. 

That’s the difference between closing deals and moving on, or building partnerships where value and revenue compound.

When leaders only optimise for the transaction, revenue resets. 
When they design for the full lifecycle, revenue compounds. 

And that difference quietly influences whether revenue accelerates or stalls.

One line in a client meeting summed up why most revenue forecasts are unsupported assumptions.

They were reviewing the year ahead, order book vs opportunity pipeline, when the conversation drifted into “ballpark”.

Someone asked for the number.
Someone offered an estimate.

The MD cut through it:
“I don’t go on guesswork. We consolidate when we have the information."

That’s not micromanagement.
That’s revenue discipline most boards wish they had.

Here’s the rule:
If it doesn’t meet the standard of evidence, it doesn’t get to live in the forecast.

Because the forecast drives hiring, cash, capacity, and the confidence people borrow against.

False confidence is expensive.
A forecast isn’t a feeling, it’s a standard.

Where are you letting “probably” influence decisions that require “proven”?

In a client session, we talked about revenue growth. 
Forecasts, target accounts, resources. 

Then the conversation focused on a handful of clients who take up a disproportionate amount of their time. 

“We spend a lot of time keeping them happy.” 

That statement lingered, because those clients are rarely the biggest. 
They’re rarely strategic, and they’re often harder work than they’re worth. 

They absorb attention. 
They pull teams off course. 
They quietly shape how the business behaves. 

What rarely gets said out loud is this....
When you tolerate clients who will never become partners, you cap your ability to grow the ones who could. 

It’s about taking an honest look at where energy is focused and at what cost to the business. 

Some relationships will never move beyond transactional. 
No matter how much effort you put in, or how well you deliver.

Keeping them feels safe. 
Yet letting them go feels risky. 

But the real cost shows up elsewhere, in leadership time, in team morale, and in the opportunities with greater potential that don’t get the care they deserve. 

The businesses that scale most effectively don’t just win new work. 
They decide, deliberately, who they are building the future with. 
And they design growth around those relationships. 

That decision alone often changes the growth trajectory more than any new sales initiative.

Most revenue problems don’t start in sales.

They start much earlier in how leadership decisions are made, owned, and translated into action.

When strategy is clear but execution is slow, the issue is rarely effort.
 
It’s usually one of three things:
• Ownership is unclear
• Roles are designed around responsibility, not outcomes
• Decisions rely on assumption instead of accountability

Sales teams feel the symptoms.
Revenue reflects the cost.

The root cause sits higher up, in leadership design and operating system.

When leaders are clear on who owns what, how decisions move, and how value is created across the lifecycle, revenue behaves differently.

It compounds.

When this clarity is missing, revenue has to be re-won again and again.

That’s not a sales problem.
This is about how leadership roles and decisions are designed

Over time, certain patterns become hard to ignore.
One of the most common shows up when leaders talk about revenue growth and in the same breath talk about time.

“Business has taken me wildly off track.”

I heard it again last week.
The CRO had come through difficult QBRs.
A key team member was off long-term sick.
The operation was still absorbing the strain of a successful promotion.

This wasn’t about the wrong strategy.
The system slipped when pressure hit.

Growth depended on leadership attention, rather than a system that continues to perform when focus is pulled elsewhere.

I’ve seen the same pattern in large organisations too.

A senior leader steps away, parental leave, illness, transition, and suddenly deals are questioned, priorities reshuffled, accounts re-qualified.

The opportunities didn’t change.
The system stalled.

So if revenue growth feels inconsistent, the question is:
Does your revenue engine run without you, or only when you’re available?

"There’s no growth potential in this account".
That was the challenge I heard.

A senior account executive in a cohort I’m working with, told me it would be impossible to scale one of their strategic clients.

So instead of debating opinions, we went somewhere most account plans never go.

To the Chairman’s Statement.

We read it carefully.
Yes, it acknowledged a tough year.
Pressure on margins, tough competition, course corrections.
But more importantly, it revealed intent.

Clear signals about:
 • Where the business was refocusing
 • Which markets mattered most
 • How they intended to regain momentum

This is how we apply my V.I.T.A.L. framework.
Not through surface-level “account insights,”
but through interpreted insight:

 • The client’s strategic intentions
 • Competitive pressures shaping their sector 
 • The end-user shifts driving future demand
•  Competitor insights 
 
In 30 years of working with MDs and CEOs, I’ve only met one who genuinely had no intention to grow their business.

Unless a CEO has explicitly put a stop on expansion,
there is almost always opportunity inside a key account.

When teams say, “There’s no growth here,”
what they usually mean is:
They're looking at last year’s performance, not next year’s ambition.

That’s why accounts stagnate.
And that’s where progressive teams start asking better questions, and finding opportunity others miss.

If you want to uncover where growth is hiding inside your key accounts, the Transform Client Accounts Diagnostic shows you exactly where to look.

(Find link to it in comments)

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The Battle

Stephen Mostrom

Rebecca Jenkins

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Performance ScoreStephen Mostrom's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreRebecca Jenkins's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

taplio

The Battle

Stephen Mostrom

Rebecca Jenkins

Followers

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);}Stephen Mostrom's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreRebecca Jenkins's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance ScoreStephen Mostrom's LinkedIn Performance