Momentum processes

I help execs and founders build and keep team momentum through 1 on 1 and team coaching and workshops. I also host leadership and full company offsites and retreats.
Expertise in:
- C-suite coaching
- Management team coaching
- OKRs
- Integrating values
- Elon Musk "5 step plan"
- Feedback training
- Manager training
- The science of happiness workshop
- ACC accredited.

- Joachim Horn -CEO Sam Labs (seriesA):
"The ROI has been huge. Since June - something very special entered SAM Labs. Sam Knight started coaching our leadership team."
- Saasha OLIO COO (SeriesB), on the company retreat: 
"Honestly it was brilliant, we’ll work with Sam & Maya again, and if it sounds too good to be true - well, it’s not!"
- Tessa OLIO CEO (SeriesB): 
MASSIVE MASSIVE congrats to the organizing team for pulling off a one in a million event that will be remembered forever. Perfection from start to finish. You ROCK :)”
-Product lead at Contact (Series A): 
"Working with Sam has been absolutely brilliant... helping transform not only our leadership team, but the whole company."
- COO learnerbly Jonny Day (Series A): "Honestly has changed my life and perspective. The impact it has had on the leadership team has huge." 
- Frederick Martini (CMO Tailify-Series A): 
"Sam has had a huge impact on the founders, the leadership team, the company and my own mindset."
- Medispot(Series A)- Michael Pallett:
"Sam is a phenomenal coach. Sam has changed my life and I'm confident that he will continue to do so."
Claudia (HeadofPeople Tailify seriesA):
"Sam has had a positive impact on every single one at Tailify. Yes, all 80 of us! The feedback training and workshops have been incredible."
Segerby (co-founder Tailify) : "I cannot overstate the impact Sam has had on our organisation and leadership team."

Founder & Executive Coach

The YES YES Company Ltd

Advisor to CEO and Exec team of YesYesYes company.

Advisor and NED

Foundrs

Supporting Foundrs with running and managing Tribes

Tribes lead at foundrs

Shilling VC

Very happy to be helping the wonderful Shilling VC take the portuguese eco-system to new level and support the Shilling portfolio.

Advisor

Octopus Ventures

coaching partner

pollen8

After 5 years as CEO of Pollen8, which is a 20 person innovation consultancy and SaaS business, I joined the board of the company and left my executive position in order to focus on something I have always loved doing and loved doing as CEO, coaching leaders & teams. I spent the first part of my career at PwC as an innovation consultant and facilitator before founding Pollen8. There I helped corporate teams build and launch new ventures and we did this successfully with brands like Vodafone, PwC, GKN, Oracle, Grant-Thornton and the British Red Cross.

My passion has always been working with leaders and their teams. From C-suite execs to founders of newly started businesses, this is what give me energy. Working with my coach changed me as a leader, a manager and a person. Now I want to do same for others but I remain a Director and advisor at Pollen8 at Tom takes the company to new hights and new levels of excellence I could only dream of.

Co-founder & board member

Discover. Refine. Scale. Repeat. 
We help teams lay the foundations for intelligent innovation by embedding a framework to systematically develop profitable new ventures. Year after year. Campaign after campaign. 
Pollen8 focuses on helping large organizations set up a complete eco-system for innovation by encouraging leaders to treat their internal investments like VCs and giving employees the resources they need to act like entrepreneurs.
The pollen8 platform support this by creating an online innovation community, it challenges how we resource work in what will become an increasingly fluid labor market.

Co-Founder & CEO

South france villas

Helping as advisory and board member of the family business. Recent exit and transition.

Director and advisor

New Entrepreneurs Foundation

Fellow

PwC UK

Leading internal innovation programmes.
Helping to identify and think about the right POC's for PwC to focus on.
Introducing Lean start-up methodologies
Co-founder and project lead of PwC startup Journey;
PwC first digital product aimed at the early stage startup ecosystem. Lead and product managed the startup journey initiative working with departments across the firm to create a PwC MVP. This was one of the fastest product PwC has ever built aimed at getting feedback and creating an automated AI tool to help startups.

Digital transformation

PwC management consulting london

Worked on Innovation and customer teams in banking, local government and public education initiatives.

Consultant in digital transformation

I help execs and founders build and keep team momentum through 1-on-1 and team coaching, workshops, and leadership or full company offsites.

Expertise in:
➝ C-suite coaching
➝ Exec team coaching
➝ OKRs and goal setting
➝ Feedback training
➝ Manager training
➝ Integrating values
➝ The science of happiness workshop
➝ ACC accredited

I am an entrepreneur, exited CEO of Pollen8 (acquired by PwC), workshop facilitator, and executive and team coach. I ran Pollen8 as CEO for 5 years before selling the company to PwC. I have designed innovation programs and run workshops for the C-suite of some of the world's biggest corporations (Oracle, Vodafone, Grant Thornton, the Red Cross) and have worked with more than 100 founders and 60 management teams. I'm passionate about surfing and climate change, so we can leave this world better for future generations.

Testimonials:
•⁠  ⁠Tamara Lohan, Mr & Mrs Smith CEO:
"Sam brought absolutely what our team needed to our offsite: empathy, insight and the tools to get us all working better together. It makes such a difference being coached by someone who has been in business themselves. Highly recommended!"

• Joachim Horn, SamLabs CEO (Series A):
"The ROI has been huge. Since June - something very special entered SAM Labs. Sam Knight started coaching our leadership team."

• Saasha, OLIO COO (Series B), on the company retreat: 
"Honestly it was brilliant, we’ll work with Sam & Maya again, and if it sounds too good to be true - well, it’s not!"

• Tessa, OLIO CEO (Series B): 
MASSIVE MASSIVE congrats to the organizing team for pulling off a one in a million event that will be remembered forever. Perfection from start to finish. You ROCK :)”

• Product Lead at Contact (Series A): 
"Working with Sam has been absolutely brilliant... helping transform not only our leadership team, but the whole company."

• Jonny Day, Learnerbly COO (Series A): 
"Honestly has changed my life and perspective. The impact it has had on the leadership team has huge." 

• Frederick Martini, Tailify CMO (Series A): 
"Sam has had a huge impact on the founders, the leadership team, the company and my own mindset."

• Michael Pallett, Medispot (Series A):
"Sam is a phenomenal coach.  Sam has changed my life and I'm confident that he will continue to do so."

• Claudia, Tailify Head of People (Series A):
"Sam has had a positive impact on every single one at Tailify. Yes, all 80 of us! The feedback training and workshops have been incredible."

• Segerby, Tailify Co-founder: 
"I cannot overstate the impact Sam has had on our organisation and leadership team."

Being underestimated isn’t the insult you think it is.

It’s coming from someone’s lack of curiosity. 

Was watching Ted Lasso the other night (again). 

There’s this bit where he talks about being underestimated his whole life.

Then he sees this Walt Whitman quote:

“Be curious, not judgemental.”

And it makes sense for him.

All of the people who used to belittle him, not one of them ever asked him a single question.

They didn’t want to understand him. They just wanted to judge.

I’ve realised that’s how a lot of leaders operate too.

➡️ We think we’re assessing, when actually we’re judging.

➡️ We judge people who are ahead of us, because it’s easier than asking questions about how they got there.

➡️ We make quick calls on people’s potential, attitude, or ability, and most of the time, we’re wrong.

Curiosity is the antidote to that.

It keeps you open, it keeps you learning, and it makes you a much better person to work for.

The moment you become curious is the moment you open yourself up to more knowledge, growth, and community.

📊 Gallup found that managers account for at least 70% of the variance in team engagement.

And I’d bet curiosity is a huge part of that.

Leaders, here’s a small exercise:

➡️ Next time someone on your team annoys you, take a sec.

➡️ Before you jump to a conclusion, ask yourself: “What might I be missing here?”

➡️ Then, instead of giving feedback straight away, ask three questions that start with “what” or “how.”

It’s a quick way to turn judgement into understanding.

Let’s be honest, curiosity takes a bit more effort than judgement. 

But it pays you back in trust, respect, and better conversations.

When was the last time you caught yourself judging instead of getting curious?

♻️ Worth sharing if you’d rather ask questions than make assumptions.
➕ Follow Samuel Knight for grounded thoughts on leadership, people, and culture.

Samuel Knight

Exec Team Coach | High-Performing Teams | Leadership & full company Offsites | Management, OKRs & Strategic Alignment Expert | Exited Founder (Pollen8 → PwC)

Anthony Hopkins reading “I grow old… I grow old…” hits harder when you’ve actually started to.

The older I get, the more I realise that experience doesn’t free you from indecision.

It can chain you to it.

Because sometimes, the more you know, the harder it is to decide.

The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock is one of the most amazing poems I’ve read, that hits in so many ways.

For me the theme of paralysis and indecision comes up, which is such a big one for leaders.

The line “I grow old… I grow old…” carries the weight of time, the fear of doing nothing.

When we know too much, it gets harder to make decisions.

We’ve seen what happens when things go wrong, so we hesitate.

As a coach, I see this all the time in senior teams.

➡️ Brilliant people stuck in analysis, every option dissected to death.

➡️ Waiting for certainty that never comes.

It’s protection rather than incompetence, but it kills momentum.

⚠️ A 2023 study found that 72% of professionals say data overload stops them making decisions.

That’s a symptom of modern leadership.

We’re drowning in information but starving for clarity.

Here’s something I get teams to do:

➡️ Pick one decision you’ve been avoiding.

➡️ List three next steps.

➡️ Choose one.

➡️ Act on it within 48 hours.

➡️ Review what you learned, not whether it was “right.”

Leaders, indecision gets louder as we get older.

But so does your experience, intuition, and courage.

Trust that more than your fear.

What’s one decision you’ve been sitting on too long?

♻️ Repost to remind someone that action creates clarity.
🟣 Follow Samuel Knight for more grounded takes on leadership and performance.

Everybody wants the upgrade.

No one wants to pay the price.

Unfortunately, success isn’t something that comes easy.

Most of what we hear about growth are the good things, like confidence, freedom and success.

But behind all of this are the costs that come with it.

Love this post by Sahil Bloom, had to reshare. 

He calls them the costs of entry. Every meaningful change in life demands a price!

Here are 7 costs of entry you’ll pay to live the life you actually want 👇

1️⃣ Uncertainty is the cost of entry for achievement.

You can’t plan every step. Progress only happens when you walk into the unknown.

2️⃣ Imposter syndrome is the cost of entry growth.

If you never feel out of your depth, you’re probably not growing.

3️⃣ Loneliness is the cost of entry for personal transformation.

When you level up, not everyone comes with you.

4️⃣ Embarrassment is the cost of entry for progress.

You’ll always feel like you look stupid before you get good. Every expert started there.

5️⃣ Hard conversations are the cost of entry for meaningful relationships.

Avoiding them might feel easier, but honesty is the thing that creates long-lasting, trusting relationships. 

6️⃣ Criticism is the cost of entry for excellence.

If you’re doing anything worth doing, someone won’t like it. Accept that you will have critics.

7️⃣ Boredom of routine is the cost of entry for success.

You will spend a long time trying to achieve your goals, even longer if you can’t be disciplined. Your results lie in the boredom of routine.

📊 Research shows that leaders who embrace ambiguity and uncertainty are significantly more prepared for long-term success.

It’s true at every level.

The more you grow, the more discomfort you need to tolerate.

The bigger the goal, the bigger the cost of entry.

👉 Next time you feel resistance, ask:
 
“Am I willing to pay the cost of entry for the life I say I want?”

♻️ Repost to remind someone that growth always comes with a cost.
🟣 Follow Samuel Knight for grounded

The 7 costs of entry for life

How do you get the most powerful information from other people?

Two steps:

1️⃣ Use statements instead of questions.
2️⃣ Express disbelief.

Chase Hughes explains this brilliantly.

He gives this example:

You hop into an Uber and say, “I recently read that Uber drivers have the highest job satisfaction in the world.”

The driver responds and says something like, “What? Where did you see this?,” proceeding to tell you how badly they treat staff.

You follow with disbelief, “No way. There’s no way that company would treat you like that…”

Now you’ve got them talking. 

And you’ve got them talking in friend mode, without asking them any questions yet.

They’ll tell you everything, what they love, what’s broken, what they wish someone at HQ actually understood.

You didn’t ask a single question, you just created space for the other person to be honest.

This is the bit most people miss.

In business, we talk a lot about empathy and active listening, which is great.

But high performers go straight into it, they make statements instead of asking polite questions. 

They make people tell you a real answer instead of the ‘right answer’.

The same applies to your team. If you want to know how things are actually going, make a statement instead of asking questions.

Try saying, “Sounds like everyone’s happy with how this project’s going.”

If it’s not true, someone will jump in to correct you, and now you’ve got an honest conversation instead of a performance review.

➡️ Next time you’re in a 1:1, throw out one confident statement you’re not entirely sure about.
➡️ Then shut up.
➡️  Watch how quickly people fill the silence with the truth.

High performers use tension and honesty to push forward, instead of avoiding it.

What’s one conversation where someone surprised you by opening up more than you expected?

♻️ Share if you’d rather have honest conversations than polite ones.
➕ Follow Samuel Knight for grounded takes on leadership, people, and culture.

I’ve worked with startups for more than 10 years.

This is some of the worst advice I’ve ever heard.

So many people think they know it all when it comes to creating and building companies.

(I’ve been there also).

But the reality is that there is no rulebook or correct formula to success. 

We are all just figuring it out as we go! 

Each company works differently, and each product garners different levels of success.

I’ve coached and worked with enough people to spot the worst myths from a mile away.

So if you hear any of these, challenge them! As most aren’t as straightforward as they seem.

1. Never do business with friends.
➡️ Why it’s toxic: It assumes trust is a liability.

➡️ Do instead: Create structure, define roles, and treat friendships as professional relationships. 

2. Culture will sort itself out later
➡️ If you don’t set standards early, you will inherit a mess.

➡️ Do instead: Pick three behaviours that matter most and focus on them.

3. Raise as much as you can”
➡️ More money doesn’t always equal freedom.

➡️ Do instead: Raise for a milestone and know exactly what the money is buying you.

4. “Copy what the big players are doing”
➡️ The same advice that works for Amazon doesn’t work for a 10-person startup.

➡️ Do instead: Study the principles and adapt.

5. “Fail fast”
➡️ This will lead to half-baked ideas, wasted cash, and burnt morale.

➡️ Do instead: Learn fast. Reduce the distance between “idea” and “evidence.”

6. “You need a business plan”
➡️ Traditional business plans aren’t built for the ever-changing startup world.

➡️ Do instead: Build a living, breathing 5-step plan.

7. “You need an exit plan”
➡️ This pulls focus away from value and towards imaginary end-games.

➡️ Do instead: Build an option-rich company.

8. “Founders shouldn’t show doubt”
➡️ This makes you unpredictable and ruins psychological safety.

➡️ Do instead: Share the truth without spiralling.

9. “Chase bigger markets early”
➡️ One of the fastest ways to dilute your product, message, and focus.

➡️ Do instead: Pick a tiny, underserved corner of the market and dominate it. 

10. “Push harder, always”
➡️ This confuses output with progress, encourages frantic effort over thoughtful action, and burns out your best people first.

➡️ Do instead: Push cleaner, not harder. Cut tasks, set non-negotiable priorities, and fix bottlenecks.

Around 42% of startups fail because there’s no market need for their product.

Which means most of the "build bigger, build fast, just raise” advice is totally missing the point.

If you ignore the bad advice and stick to what is proven to work, your odds of success go up.

What’s the worst advice you’ve heard as a founder? 

♻️ Repost if you’ve ever heard one of these myths and want other founders to avoid it.
➕ Follow Samuel Knight for more no-BS founder insights.

I help startups and scaleups build and keep team momentum through 1 on 1 and team coaching and different workshops. I also host leadership and startup retreats.
Expertise in:
- C-suite coaching
- Management team coaching
- OKRs
- Integrating values
- Elon Musk "5 step plan"
- Feedback training
- Manager training
- The science of happiness workshop
- ACC accredited.

Sam is an entrepreneur, exited -CEO of Pollen8 (acquired by PwC), workshop facilitator, and executive and team coach. He ran Pollen8 as CEO for 5 years before stepping down as CEO and joining the board and then selling the company to PwC. He’s designed innovation programs and ran workshops for the C'suite at some of the worlds biggest corporates (Oracle, Vodafone, Grant Thornton, the Red Cross...) and has now worked with over 50 founders and 25 management teams. He is also passionate about surfing and climate change so we can leave this world better for future generations.

Testimonials:
- Joachim Horn -CEO Sam Labs (seriesA):
"The ROI has been huge. Since June - something very special entered SAM Labs. Sam Knight started coaching our leadership team."
- Saasha OLIO COO (SeriesB), on the company retreat: 
"Honestly it was brilliant, we’ll work with Sam & Maya again, and if it sounds too good to be true - well, it’s not!"
- Tessa OLIO CEO (SeriesB): 
MASSIVE MASSIVE congrats to the organizing team for pulling off a one in a million event that will be remembered forever. Perfection from start to finish. You ROCK :)”
-Product lead at Contact (Series A): 
"Working with Sam has been absolutely brilliant... helping transform not only our leadership team, but the whole company."
- COO learnerbly Jonny Day (Series A): "Honestly has changed my life and perspective. The impact it has had on the leadership team has huge." 
- Frederick Martini (CMO Tailify-Series A): 
"Sam has had a huge impact on the founders, the leadership team, the company and my own mindset."
- Medispot(Series A)- Michael Pallett:
"Sam is a phenomenal coach.  Sam has changed my life and I'm confident that he will continue to do so."
Claudia (HeadofPeople Tailify seriesA):
"Sam has had a positive impact on every single one at Tailify. Yes, all 80 of us! The feedback training and workshops have been incredible."
Segerby (co-founder Tailify) : "I cannot overstate the impact Sam has had on our organisation and leadership team."
Sandra Rogowska Head of Ops Sam Labs (Series A)
“I have never worked with a team that was so open, honest, and committed to work together on solutions, and that is thanks to the work we've been doing with Sam.”

Some of the worst advice I've heard for startups

Siavash Habibi

Where does hanging out with your friends fall on your to-do list?

As a coach, dad, and business owner, I rarely find the time to hang out with friends now.

Somewhere along the way, it stopped becoming a priority.

Because I stopped viewing this connection as essential to my wellbeing and performance.

But in reality, it’s so so important, and something we all probably overlook.

We talk so much about discipline, focus, and high performance.

But never about how connection fits into this.

The time you spend chatting to your friend over the phone or on a walk isn’t time wasted.

It’s one of the main things that keeps you happy and healthy, which is essential to high performance.

Here’s why:

➡️ The Harvard Study of Adult Development, which tracked people for over 80 years, found that close relationships are what keep us happier and healthier.

➡️ Strong friendships reduce stress, boost creativity, and even increase life expectancy.

➡️ Social connection releases oxytocin and serotonin, helping you stay calm, focused, and emotionally balanced.

In leadership terms, this means:

➡️ You listen better.

➡️ You think more clearly.

➡️ You show up with more patience and empathy.

When you regularly spend time with people who make you feel seen, you build the emotional resilience that prevents burnout. 

This energy spills into how you lead.

Leaders, I challenge you to start prioritising connection a bit more this week. 

Call a friend, meet someone for a coffee or walk after work.

Because what I’ve learned over and over again is, you can’t pour from an empty cup.

Do you prioritise spending time with your friends?

♻️ Repost to remind someone that connection is a form of high performance.
🟣 Follow Samuel Knight for more grounded takes on leadership and human performance.

How to make people feel heard.

How many times have you been in a conversation with someone, and instead of listening, they’re waiting for their turn to speak?

It drives me mad.

But it’s always a reminder to look back at myself when it happens.

How can I be a better listener?

How can I learn more and be more present when someone is speaking?

The reality of life and work is that people want to be heard before they receive advice.

They want to voice their truth before you jump down their throat with suggestions of what they should do.

Here’s something I teach in leadership sessions.

If you want to build trust in your team, try this the next time someone comes to you with tension or feedback:

1️⃣ Prepare yourself
Before you speak, expect you’ll be triggered.
Then remind yourself: “If I let these emotions take over, they’ll give me bad advice.”

2️⃣ Listen with full presence
Put your phone down and make eye contact.
Don’t plan your response. Just listen to understand.

3️⃣ Reflect back what you heard
Say, “I think I heard you say…”. Then check: “Is that right?”
When they finally say “yes”, you’ve made them feel seen.

4️⃣ Name what’s underneath
Go one layer deeper and reflect the emotion behind them.
Try: “It sounds like you’re feeling frustrated, maybe even a bit hurt?”

This is leadership in action: making people feel heard.

When people feel heard, they stop defending and start working together.

It creates psychological safety and a sense of togetherness.

How do you make people feel heard in your team?

♻️ Repost to remind someone that listening is a performance skill.
🟣 Follow Samuel Knight for more grounded takes on leadership and human performance.

Your team's communication is broken

Forget OKRs vs NCTs vs ROCKS vs MBOs

The real test is whether your team knows what success looks like! 

All of these can kind of work, but the magic is in the execution and discipline! 

High-performance = alignment.

On your team, everyone should know exactly what they’re aiming for, what success looks like, and who owns what.

That’s what this cheat sheet is about: the non-negotiables behind every goal that drives performance.

➡️ Clarity. 

➡️ Measurability. 

➡️ Ownership. 

➡️ Alignment. 

➡️ Cadence.

When goals start becoming vague, it’s usually when performance dips.

People start getting pulled in different directions, momentum begins to fade, and priorities are lost. 

It’s rarely a motivation problem and usually a clarity one.

📊 Studies show that teams with clear, specific goals are 42% more likely to achieve them.

So if you want to run a high-performing team, start by stripping away the bullsh*t.

Forget frameworks and acronyms for a minute.

Ask the basics:

➝ Is this goal clear?

➝ Is it measurable?

➝ Does it ladder up to strategy?

➝ Who owns it?

➝ How often are we reviewing progress?

Leaders:

➡️ Pull up your team’s top 3 goals.

➡️ Ask your team what “success” means for each one.

➡️ If you don’t get the same answer, the goal isn’t ready.

Use this cheat sheet to tighten it up. Make it specific, owned, and outcome-driven.

Your team doesn’t need millions of goals. 

It needs fewer, better ones. 

Ones that your team actually understands.

♻️ Repost to help more teams raise their game.
➕ Follow Samuel Knight for more cheat sheets on high-performance.

Are you focused or just busy?

How much did you actually get done yesterday, versus the hours you spent on your computer?

In this modern era, we all spend so much time looking at our screens.

But the output very rarely matches up to our screen time.

And we often confuse busyness for productivity.

This mismatch often leads us to burn ourselves out even more, as it feels like we never stop working but can’t seem to get anything done.

Here’s a simple checklist I use when I feel pulled in a hundred directions 👇

☐ Review your top three priorities and delete one.

☐ Spend 15 minutes thinking, not doing. 

☐ Look at what you’re doing and ask yourself, “am I being, or just busy?”

☐ Give one piece of honest feedback to your team, and maybe to yourself.

☐ Write down one thing you’ll communicate better tomorrow.

☐ End the day by clarifying tomorrow.

A Harvard Business School training study found that employees who spent 15 minutes reflecting each day scored about 23% higher than those who didn’t.

The power of reflection is massive. 

It helps us stay aligned, clear, and focused on our goals.

What’s one decision you could simplify before the week ends? 

♻️ Repost to remind leaders that clarity creates progress.
🟣 Follow Samuel Knight for more grounded takes on leadership and human performance.

The 10-minute clarity checklist

Most founders I meet start off working 14-hour days.

I did this for the first few years at Pollen8.

You pour everything into the company, try to squeeze in a few hours with your family, then crash into bed, running on fumes.

The obvious cost is burnout.

The sneaky one:

➡️ Your creativity flatlines.

When your brain never switches off, it can’t think big or spot new ideas.

Every founder needs headspace to imagine the future of their business.

But how do you get that when you’re glued to your laptop all day?

➡️ You need to get bored.

Our brains are built for creativity, but we overload them with noise. 

Slack pings, meetings, messages, notifications all give you tiny hits of adrenaline that feel productive but actually keep your brain on constant alert.

No wonder there’s no room left for ideas.

Strip that away, and boredom creeps in. 

It feels strange at first, but if you stay with it, your brain relaxes. 

Then the good stuff starts, like focus, calm, creativity.

Try it:

● No phone during meals

● 30 minutes offline every day

● A full weekend unplugged once a month

These are just small steps to take, but they can help you have a big reset.

It’s about maintaining your mind and keeping it alive in a world that tries to robotise it.

If you want to lead well, protect your stillness, it’s where your best ideas hide.

What’s one small way you could build boredom back into your week?

♻️ Repost to remind someone to take a break
➕ Follow Samuel Knight more grounded leadership ideas

Leaders don’t have the privilege of avoiding conversations.

Delivering tough decisions is part of the job.

The real test is how you do it.

Research shows that poor delivery of bad news can erode trust long-term and hurt future performance. 

And avoiding those conversations just makes it 10 times worse.

I’ve had to have a lot of difficult conversations. All leaders have. 

It’s inevitable when you lead.

Whether you’re letting someone go, cutting a project, or giving difficult feedback, these are the moments that test you as a leader.

What matters most isn’t what you say, but where and how you say it.

You don’t get to outsource the human part of it.

These tips from Mikel Arteta really hits the nail on the head here.

➡️ Choose the environment carefully.
Are you sitting behind a desk across from them? Or side by side? Does the space feel like a safe zone or a “conversation with the boss”?

➡️ Show you care.
Even when you’re delivering bad news, they should feel your belief in them. You’re not tearing them down, you’re being honest about a decision that needs to be made.

➡️ Be transparent.
People can handle hard truths. What they can’t handle is feeling blindsided.

Leaders who communicate with honesty and heart build long-term respect.

Your team feels it when they trust and respect you, and it shows in their performance.

Some days you might not have the energy to deliver news, or would rather put it off.

But you don’t have this privilege as a leader. You need to be honest and respect your team, always.

Recognise that the conversation is part of the strategy, and your decision is real.

You should look them in the eyes the next day and ask for their help if needed. 

Because respect actually builds in those tough conversations, despite what you may feel.

How do you approach tough conversations with your team?

♻️ Repost to remind someone that leadership is in the delivery.
🟣 Follow Samuel Knight for more grounded takes on leadership and human performance.

Video credit: Akhil Vyas

You don’t need 40 dashboards.

You don’t need to measure every click, comment, or conversation.

You only need the signals that show whether your company is actually getting healthier.

A lot of leaders don’t realise how important it is to be specific about setting and tracking their goals.

📊 Companies that set and track their goals are 2x more likely to hit them.

📊 And companies that focus on performance management systems tied to people and organisational health are 4.2 times more likely to outperform their peers.

Cut out the extra spreadsheets and start using the right metrics, reviewed often.

I put together this cheat sheet to make this a bit easier.

It covers the only four metrics that actually matter:
● Customer acquisition
● Customer retention
● Financial health
 ● Team health.

Pick up to five metrics in each and build your daily dashboard around them.

Keep it simple, visible and honest. 

The goal is straightforward:
➡️ Stop reacting to what’s already happened.
➡️ Start steering based on what’s coming.

A quick exercise I use with teams:

Choose one metric from each of the four areas.

➡️ Look at the last 30 days.

➡️ Write down what the trend is telling you.

➡️ Then, agree on one action per metric that’s small, specific and executable.

That’s how you build a company that matures, instead of just lurching from crisis to crisis.

What’s one metric you’d move to the top of your dashboard right now?

♻️ Repost if more leaders need this clarity
➕ Follow Samuel Knight for grounded thoughts on building teams, momentum and sustainable growth

Never overvalue your own thoughts.

If you live a healthy life, you should have 3 billion seconds.

That’s a lot of seconds to learn new things and change your mind, which you should do.

Humble yourself daily with new ideas that challenge everything you know.

Stay open to learning something new every day! 

There are so many new perspectives out there. 

Such amazing advice from Neil deGrasse Tyson.

As a founder or leaders, you hear a lot of “be confident,” “own your vision,” “stand firm.” 

And yes, you must. 

But there’s also a flip side: the moment your beliefs are hard set, you stop growing. 

You stop discovering and stop leading.

Neil deGrasse Tyson gives the awesome idea of reading old books to challenge your assumptions.

Look how confident people are in their opinions at that moment, and how much they didn’t know yet.

Try this this week:

1. Block out 30 minutes labelled “challenge my assumptions.”

2. In that time: pick one belief you hold (e.g., “We cant up our prices,” “dont have time for video content,” We are stuck because of… ”).

3. Ask: What if the opposite is true? What would that change look like in our team/process/product?*

4. Try something in the ‘opposite’ column and see what changes!

Challenging assumptions is THE ultimate leadership growth hack. Stay humble and keep testing and learning

What one belief will you challenge this week, and what action will you take to test the opposite?

♻️ Repost to remind leaders that curiosity is as strategic as cash-flow.
➕ Follow Samuel Knight for more grounded leadership wisdom, from someone who is also still figuring it out.

This Monday’s poem is a lesson for all leaders.

Failure doesn’t have to be a finish line.

More often, it’s the doorway into whatever comes next.

This line stuck with me:

“I stand at the mouth of my second coming…
Too blind to see the horizon in front of me.”

That’s the bit we all forget.

When something ends, we rush to call it failure instead of recognising that it might be the start of another version of us, or our team, or our work.

Success is never simple or straightforward.

We tell ourselves it’s just:

Set a goal → Achieve it.

But anyone who’s actually built anything knows the real sequence is more like:

Set a goal → Doubt → Start → Fail → Practice → Feel lost → Get it → Struggle → Achieve → Keep going.

And this is where so many people give up.

They prepare for the parts that seem obvious, and just accept failure for what it is.

Instead of viewing it as a new beginning, or a second coming, so many of us beat ourselves up when something doesn’t work out.

Here’s a quick exercise I use with teams:

Draw three columns:

1. What ended

2. What’s starting

3. What’s messy right now

Fill it in and don’t overthink it. 

Spot the thread between the ending and the starts? Amazing right?

Now pick one next step for column three, and figure it out.

Success is far from a straight line.

Most of it feels like losing the plot, until all of a sudden it doesn’t.

(And then it does again!)

♻️ Repost if someone you know needs this today
➕ Follow Samuel Knight for grounded thinking on teams, culture and the actual work between the wins

Are you actually brave?

Or do the opinions of others hold you back?

Brené Brown’s 4 steps to courage are something I always come back to, with myself and the teams I work with.

Only 28% of employees feel their opinions matter at work.

That means 72% feel silent, sidelined or ignored.

If your team don’t feel safe to speak, they won’t. 

And if they won’t speak, your team can’t grow.

A lot of it comes down to courage.

When you show up with courage, which is honest, human and imperfect, your team follows.

They speak up more, they take ownership, and they try things that matter.

Brené Brown has taught me so much about courage and vulnerability as a leader.

Four of the main steps that I carry with me and pass on to my clients:

1️⃣ Rumble with vulnerability.
Stop dodging the uncomfortable conversations. Ask the hard question first. Your team takes cues from what you’re willing to face.

2️⃣ Live into your values.
If you say something matters, but you don’t act on it when pressure hits, people notice. Integrity is a behaviour.

3️⃣ BRAVING trust.
You build trust in the everyday moments, like keeping your word, owning your mistakes, respecting boundaries. Not big speeches, just consistency.

4️⃣ Learn to rise.
Falling is inevitable. What people remember is how you get back up. How you talk about failure. Whether you blame or learn. Your recovery sets the tone for theirs.

Courage is a practice that sets the tone for the rest of your team.

The more you practice it, the better the example you set.

👉 Which of these four steps is your growth edge right now, and what’s the one action you’ll take this week to lead with more courage?

♻️ Repost if you’re ready to build a braver team
➕ Follow Samuel Knight for grounded leadership ideas

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