Archives for August 2026

The Two Pizza Rule for Faster Teams

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Why Bezos Sized Teams by Pizza

Jeff Bezos built a simple test at Amazon. If a team could not be fed by two pizzas, it was too big. 

It turns something fuzzy, the right team size, into something anyone can picture. No spreadsheet needed, just a gut check anyone can run in a meeting.

Small Teams Move, Big Teams Meet

Small teams are faster, more focused, and easier to manage. 

Add too many people to a meeting or a project, and everything slows down, the same way a cruise ship turns slower than a speedboat. With a smaller group, this is what tends to happen instead:

  • Communication stays clearer, with less lost in translation
  • Decisions happen quicker, because fewer people need to weigh in
  • Everyone stays more engaged, since no one can hide in the crowd

The Cost of Too Many Cooks

Bigger is not always stronger. Every extra person in a room adds another opinion, another schedule to coordinate, and another voice competing for airtime. 

None of that makes the outcome better. It just makes it slower to reach.

The Simplest Test You Can Run

If a team needs more than two pizzas to get through a meeting, it is probably time to split it up. 

That single rule of thumb does more to protect speed and focus than most reorganizations ever will.

Bottom Line

Grandma never ran a company, but she knew that too many hands in one pot spoil the meal. 

The two pizza rule is just her wisdom dressed up for a boardroom. 

Lessons like this one fill Grandma’s Business Secrets, so grab a copy and see which old sayings are already running your business without you noticing.

The Post-it Note That Broke the Room

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I asked every member of the COO Alliance to write down one thing they were struggling with. Just one thing. No names, no context, just the truth on a small piece of paper. 

They crumpled the notes and threw them into the center of the room, then everyone grabbed a random one and read it out loud.

“I’m going bankrupt.”
“My spouse is cheating on me.”
“I hate my weight.”
“My marriage is falling apart.” 

People were sobbing within minutes, because everyone in that room realized the same thing at once: every person carries something heavy, including the ones running the meeting.

Perks Are Table Stakes

That moment changed how I think about employee net promoter score. Most companies chase it with birthday cakes, work anniversary shoutouts, and the occasional gift card. 

That stuff is the equivalent of playing jazz in a coffee shop. Everyone does it, and nobody remembers it.

The MORE-ale Experiment

Years ago at 1-800-GOT-JUNK, we ran a contest called MORE-ale. The name was a pun, but the goal was serious. 

We wanted to know what our people were dealing with outside of work. Their fears, their debt, their kids, their marriages, their weight. 

We wanted to care about their dreams more than any other place in their life did. That idea shaped how I built culture at every company since.

Walking Each Other Home

I recently got a tattoo, a Ram Dass quote in Hindi that translates to walking each other home. 

It reminds me that the revenue, the KPIs, and the org charts we chase do not mean much on their own, they are simply how we make a living while we walk each other through life. 

That shift in perspective changes what leadership looks like day to day. 

A round of axe throwing or a free massage can lift the mood for an afternoon, but it does nothing for someone whose marriage is falling apart or who cannot make rent. 

Bottom Line

Employee net promoter score does not come from perks. It comes from knowing what your people are carrying and choosing to care anyway. 

Want to see if you or your COO have what it takes to build that kind of culture? 

Grab the free guide, 8 Traits of Top COOs. It reveals the core capabilities that separate high-performing COOs from operators who simply stay busy, so you can assess yourself, your COO, or your leadership team with real clarity.

Hiring Won’t Fix Your Scaling Problem

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Adding headcount feels like the obvious answer to almost any growth problem, and that’s exactly why it gets misused so often. Some bottlenecks genuinely need another person.

Most just need a better system, and hiring on top of a broken process only makes the mess bigger and harder to untangle later.

Ask This Before You Post The Job

The instinct to hire shows up the moment something feels overloaded, but overload isn’t the same thing as a headcount gap. A few honest questions usually reveal which one you’re actually dealing with.

  • Is the work itself growing, or is it just poorly distributed across the people already here
  • Would a clearer process or a better tool solve this faster than a new hire would
  • Does this role need to exist permanently, or is it covering a short term spike
  • Who would this new person actually report to, and does that person have room to manage them well

If those answers point to a process problem, hiring just buries it under one more layer.

Complexity Grows Faster Than Headcount Does

Every new hire adds more than a salary line. They add a relationship to manage, a person to onboard, and one more voice in every decision that touches their area.

Two people doing unclear work create more confusion than one person doing the same unclear work, not less. That’s the part most growing companies miss until the org chart already feels tangled.

When Adding People Actually Works

Hiring earns its place once the role is clearly defined, tied to real demand, and set up with someone capable of managing it well. In those cases a new hire removes a genuine constraint instead of hiding one.

The difference almost always comes down to whether the company solved the underlying problem first or just added a person to absorb it.

Bottom Line

Scaling isn’t about how fast a company adds people. It’s about knowing which problems people actually solve and which ones just get bigger with more hands on them.

Fix the system first, then hire into what’s left. Read The Second in Command for a deeper look at building the structure that makes growth like this sustainable.

The 10x Question That Breaks Teams Open

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The Question I Ask Every COO

I coach a lot of COOs, and I always throw the same question at their management teams: what would you have to change if you had ten times the clients you have today, but you could not add a single new employee? 

The room usually goes quiet for a second, then the good ideas start pouring out.

Why Constraints Beat Comfort

Comfort rarely produces breakthroughs. 

When resources feel unlimited, teams default to hiring their way out of problems instead of solving them. 

Take that option off the table, and people are forced to look at what is actually broken in the system rather than papering over it with more headcount. 

Pressure makes diamonds, and it also makes better operators.

What Happens When You Remove the Escape Hatch

Once a team cannot simply throw people at a problem, they start questioning processes that have gone unquestioned for years.

  • Redundant approvals disappear
  • Reporting gets simpler
  • Tools that never got fully used finally earn their place or get cut

The constraint forces a level of honesty that comfortable growth never demands.

Turning Pressure Into a System

The goal is not to actually starve your team of resources. It is to borrow the mindset that scarcity creates and apply it on purpose. 

Run the exercise quarterly, even when hiring is not frozen, and you will keep surfacing the same kind of clarity that real necessity forces on a struggling company.

Bottom Line

Necessity is the mother of invention because it strips away every easy option except the right one. 

You do not need a crisis to think like this, you just need the discipline to ask the hard question before the crisis arrives. 

This is exactly the kind of operating discipline we build inside the COO Alliance, alongside hundreds of COOs solving the same problems in real time.

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Meetings Suck: Turning One Of The Most Loathed Elements Of Business Into One Of The Most Valuable

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We all know that meetings suck, right?

You hear it all the time. It’s the one thing that almost everyone in business can agree on.

Except it’s not actually true… 

Meetings don’t suck.

We just suck at running meetings.   

When done right, meetings not only work, they make people and companies better.

In Meetings Suck, world renowned business expert and growth guru Cameron Herold teaches you how to use focused, time effective meetings to help you and your company soar.

This book shows you immediately actionable, step-by-step systems that ensure that you and everyone in your organization improves your meetings, right away.

In the process, you’ll turn meetings that suck into meetings that work. 

In life, we always hear about people who’ve made huge decisions from their gut – without data.Today, I want you to make a decision, not only from your gut, but also from some data.  A decision that is only $12 per employee but will be priceless for your business.

Right now, your gut is telling you something is wrong with your company’s meetings.  You KNOW everyone complains about meetings.

People HATE going to them, they HATE running them, and they really have NO idea which meetings are truly necessary but they hold meetings simply because they think that is what they SHOULD do.

Even some of the smartest CEOs in the world complain about meetings – Elon Musk publicly told employees at Tesla & SpaceX to walk out of meetings if they weren’t being run properly.

I sent Elon a message saying that wasn’t going to fix anything – the key is to fix the root of the problem – NOT continue to ignore why meetings suck.

A Meeting is – Any phone call, video call or occasion where 2 or more people meet to discuss or work-through office topics.

Most employees on average spend 1-2 hours per day in meetings.

And likely, none of those employees – front-line staff or leaders – have had any training on how to attend meetings or participate in them, LET ALONE How to RUN THEM.

Consider this…

If the Average employee spends just 1 Hour per day in meetings – that’s 1/8th of their time.

If the Average employee earns $50,000 per year.

And they’re spending 1/8th of their time in meetings, that means you’re paying $6,250 dollars per year for just ONE employee to attend meetings.

The reality is, employees spend 1/8th of their time – and 1/8th of your company’s payroll – doing something they have literally NO idea how to do.

The Reality is…

95% of employees are booking & leading meetings – and they have NEVER been trained on how to run them.

95% of employees have had NO training on how to show up and participate in the meetings they attend daily.

And 95% of employees and companies have no idea what meetings are even necessary to hold.

Meetings CAN be hugely effective – IF you know how to run them

Meetings don’t SUCK, we just SUCK at running meetings. 

Investing $15 per employee – to help ensure the $50,000 a year you spend on them is an obvious and easy choice.

This could be the most impactful $15 you’ll ever spend and will save the company’s money, time and resources instantly.

Buying a copy of Meetings Suck for 100% of your employees and having them read it this month will have a huge impact on your company’s success.

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Free PR: How To Get Chased By The Press Without Hiring A PR Firm

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Public relations has always been an essential part of doing business which is probably why you’re shelling out big money to an outside PR firm. But the truth is that you don’t need them. You already have all the necessary tools in-house to do as good a job as the so-called experts. 

Cameron Herold and Adrian Salamunovic have taught thousands of company execs how to exploit free media coverage and ditch these expensive, often ineffective outsiders. 

Cameron & Adrian have also built in-house PR teams, spent decades learning how to generate Free PR and how to leverage public relations to complement their sales and marketing strategy. 

In Free PR, you’ll learn how the media world operates while you gain invaluable insider knowledge and actionable advice on how to: 

  • Build your own in-house PR team
  • Provide effective interviews
  • Score great media coverage for free with just a few easy steps 

Landing public relations coverage for yourself and your company is a powerful tool to help elevate your personal brand. PR is easier to generate than marketing, PR is easier to leverage than marketing and PR is more cost effective than marketing. In other words, Public Relations is more critical than ever in growing your brand and your business. 

You’ve got more passion, commitment, a larger stake, and a deeper understanding of your business than any outside PR firm could ever have. So stop wasting money and take the reins yourself.  Learn the secrets to landing TONS of Free PR for your company.

What they’re saying:

“I think PR is the core for promoting any business. Public relations acquires customers! That’s what’s cool about this book.”

– Kevin O’Leary,  Shark on ABC’s Shark Tank

“The ultimate guidebook for those looking to get press, grow their brand, and get in front of the masses. Free PR is the roadmap you’ve been looking for.”

– Peter Shankman, Founder, Help a Reporter Out (HARO)

“Adrian and Cameron will show you the secrets of getting massive exposure for your business. This book is packed with actionable insights from two guys that actually know how to to do it.”

– Dan Martell,  Serial Entrepreneur & Investor (Intercom.io, Unbounce)

“I told Cameron to write the book on generating free PR. I’m excited to see that he’s finally sharing his secrets with the world. This is a must read for any entrepreneurial company and marketing team.”

– Verne Harnish, Founder of Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO) and author of Scaling Up (Rockefeller Habits 2.0)

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Vivid Vision: A Remarkable Tool For Aligning Your Business Around a Shared Vision of the Future

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Many corporations have slick, flashy mission statements that ultimately do little to motivate employees and less to impress customers, investors, and partners. 

But there is a way to share your excitement for the future of your company in a clear, compelling, and powerful way and entrepreneur and business growth expert Cameron Herold can show you how. 

Vivid Vision is a revolutionary tool that will help owners, CEOs, and senior managers create inspirational, detailed, and actionable three-year mission statements for their companies. In this easy-to-follow guide, Herold walks organization leaders through the simple steps to creating their own Vivid Vision, from brainstorming to sharing the ideas to using the document to drive progress in the years to come. 

By focusing on mapping out how you see your company looking and feeling in every category of business, without getting bogged down by data and numbers or how it will happen, Vivid Vision creates a holistic road map to success that will get all of your teammates passionate about the big picture. 

Your company is your dream, one that you want to share with your staff, clients, and stakeholders. Vivid Vision is the tool you need to make that dream a reality.

miracle-morning

The Miracle Morning for
Entrepreneurs: Elevate Your SELF to
Elevate Your BUSINESS

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READY FOR EXPLOSIVE GROWTH AS AN ENTREPRENEUR AND ACCELERATED SUCCESS IN THE REST OF YOUR LIFE?

A step-by-step guide to enjoying the roller-coaster ride of growth — while getting the most out of life as an entrepreneur. A growth-focused approach: The book is divided into three sections, which cover planning for fast growth, building a company for fast growth, and leading for fast growth. Each topic the author covers — from creating a vision for the company’s future to learning how to generate free PR for a developing company — is squarely focused on the end goal: doubling the size of the entrepreneur’s company in three years or less. A down-to-earth action plan: Herold’s experienced-based advice never gets bogged down in generalities or theory. Instead, he offers a wealth of practical tips, including: How to design meetings for maximum efficiency; How to hire top-quality talent; How to grow in particularly tough markets; How to put together a board of advisors — even for a smaller company; How even the busy entrepreneur can achieve a work/life balance.

READY FOR EXPLOSIVE GROWTH AS AN ENTREPRENEUR AND ACCELERATED SUCCESS IN THE REST OF YOUR LIFE?

Hal Elrod’sThe Miracle Morning has helped redefine the mornings and the lives of millions of readers since 2012. Since then, careers have been launched, goals have been met, and dreams have been realized, all through the power of the Miracle Morning’s six Life S.A.V.E.R.S.

THESE SIX DAILY PRACTICES WILL FUEL YOUR EFFORTS TO CREATE AND SUSTAIN POSITIVE CHANGE IN YOUR LIFE.

Now The Miracle Morning for Entrepreneurs brings you these principles in a whole new light—alongside the Entrepreneurial Elevation Principles and the Entrepreneur’s Elevation Skills. These are essential skills that you need to create a successful business and personal life. Cameron Herold— Bestselling Author and a widely-respected expert on entrepreneurial mindset—brings his wisdom and insight to you using Hal Elrod’s powerful Miracle Morning framework.

DEVELOP A VISION FOR YOUR BUSINESS, AND BECOME THE INFLUENTIAL AND INSPIRING LEADER YOU WERE ALWAYS MEANT TO BE.

The principles and skills you’ll find in this book will help you to channel your passion and achieve balance in a remarkable new way. – Learn why mornings matter more than you think – Learn how to master your own self-leadership and accelerate your personal development – Learn how to manage your energy—physical, mental, and emotional – Learn how to implement Hal Elrod’s invaluable Life S.A.V.E.R.S. in your daily routine – And much more… You’re already an entrepreneur. Now discover how to take your success to the next level by first taking yourself to the next level. The Miracle Morning for Entrepreneurs is your roadmap to masterfully building an empire with a powerful vision, utilizing your areas of personal genius, with the right team at your side.

Start giving your business and your life the very best opportunities for success, right now.

double-double

Double Double: How To Double Your Revenue And Profit In 3 Years Or Less​

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A step-by-step guide to enjoying the roller-coaster ride of growth — while getting the most out of life as an entrepreneur. A growth-focused approach: The book is divided into three sections, which cover planning for fast growth, building a company for fast growth, and leading for fast growth. Each topic the author covers — from creating a vision for the company’s future to learning how to generate free PR for a developing company — is squarely focused on the end goal: doubling the size of the entrepreneur’s company in three years or less. A down-to-earth action plan: Herold’s experienced-based advice never gets bogged down in generalities or theory. Instead, he offers a wealth of practical tips, including: How to design meetings for maximum efficiency; How to hire top-quality talent; How to grow in particularly tough markets; How to put together a board of advisors — even for a smaller company; How even the busy entrepreneur can achieve a work/life balance.