We all do it.

We worry about the moments we lose our patience. The times we didn’t have the right words. 

The work trips when we missed the sports or extracurricular activities. The nights when we decided to work late, we missed playing one more round of Monopoly or flashlight freeze tag. 

And sure, self-awareness is important. But here’s the thing, if we only focus on our weaknesses, we miss what makes us great parents.

I recently stumbled across this tweet that hit me with all the feels about my career…

And the more I thought about it, the more I realized that it applies to parenting or anything for that matter.

Hey, maybe you’re not the best at creating fun games, but are you great at making your kids laugh?

Maybe you struggle with bedtime routines. But are you the one who makes them feel safe when they’re scared

Maybe you forget what time basketball practice is and always arrive late, but are you teaching them resilience, kindness, or curiosity in ways that truly matter?

Instead of constantly critiquing ourselves, what if we leaned into the things we naturally do well? Because those are the things our kids will remember. Not the missed moments but the ones where we showed up as the best versions of ourselves.

So yeah, I’ll probably never be the ultra-organized, always-put-together dad. But I’ll be the one who tells stories, wrestles in the living room, and reminds my kids daily that they are loved.

And that’s enough.

♥️kyle

On How I Failed My Executive Business Review (And What I Learned)

I’ve written about this topic in the past but felt it was worth pulling out of obscurity and writing about again. Because we’ve all walked out of an executive review and believed we absolutely nailed it. 

Right?

Not often?

Yeah, same.

I’ve failed multiple times and recently, actually. And here's the hard truth: Most executive business reviews (EBRs), quarterly updates, or board meetings don’t fail because of bad content or lack of preparation. They fail before they even start.

Why?

Because most people focus on the agenda instead of the goals in the room. 

The best EBRs aren’t just reports on what’s been done. They’re about building trust, proving impact, and aligning with what actually matters to the business. The reality? The skills you develop to deliver a great business review aren’t just for an exec update or board meeting… it’s how you move from Director to Chief Marketing Officer. 

And after my 100,000th review, I’m still learning. Here’s where I’m at today.

The Biggest Mistake: Confusing the Agenda for the Goal

Before any major meeting, I remind myself: THE AGENDA IS NOT THE GOAL.

Let’s do it one more time for good measure: THE AGENDA IS NOT THE GOAL.

Let’s do it a third time. While planning the presentation, do not start with the agenda as the goals of the meeting. 

The wrong approach:
Start with the agenda
Then define the goals
Then think about theme and presentation style

The right approach:
✅ Start with the goals of the meeting
✅ Shape everything else around them

When I first started at Jellyfish, I wasn’t great at this. Assuming that was enough, I’d present updates, metrics, and wins. But the room wasn’t looking for a highlight reel. They wanted alignment and proof that our work connected to business priorities.

What Makes a Great Business Review?

1. Counter assumptions & build credibility: If your audience assumes something isn’t being addressed or is mismanaged, you need to counter that with facts. Show that leadership is in control and delivering on priorities.

2. Showcase metrics, not just words: Data beats anecdotes. Avoid focusing on areas the audience doesn’t value—especially if there are gaps in delivery elsewhere. Show progress, don’t just talk about it.

3. Invite constructive feedback: EBRs shouldn’t just be one-way communication. Create a venue for stakeholders to surface concerns and realign priorities. If you’re doing all the talking, you’re missing the point.

4. Make invisible work visible: If stakeholders don’t see it, they assume it’s not happening. Prove them wrong.

5. Demonstrate say-do alignment: "We said we’d do X. We did X. Here’s the result." Set clear expectations for what will be done and when.

Red Flags from My Biggest EBR Failures

Even with the best prep, EBRs can go sideways if you’re not careful. Here are a few ways I’ve personally screwed up:

🚩 Assuming the audience sees things the way you do: They don’t. What seems obvious to you might not be to them. Spell it out.

🚩 Over-indexing on what YOU think is interesting: Just because you’re pumped about a campaign doesn’t mean your CFO cares. Stay focused on the business impact.

🚩 Not addressing the elephant in the room: If something is underperforming, own it before someone else brings it up. Control the narrative.

🚩 Getting too deep in the weeds: EBRs aren’t tactical. This isn’t the place to discuss ad creative A/B test results. Keep it high level.

🚩 Mismatched tone: Avoid premature celebration or over-explaining. Match your tone to the room.

I needed to find a way to avoid the red flags and knock the EBR out of the park. My boss, Andrew Lau, introduced me to a tactic that changed everything: Red Teaming.

How Red Teaming Made My Business Reviews Suck Less

Red teaming is basically a brutal pre-review where an internal group plays the role of the exec team, poking holes in your presentation before you ever step into the actual review.

This idea can be used for literally any major presentation from the EBR to the board meeting. 

My first couple of red teams? Rough. I walked away feeling like I bombed before even getting to the real thing. But it taught me how to anticipate the toughest questions and build a review that wasn’t just informative but bulletproof.

If you’re leading a business review (or any major presentation), here’s how to structure it for success:

The Ultimate Business Review Template

Download the template 

1. Agenda Overview: Set expectations upfront so there are no surprises. Cover:

• What We Do and How We Do It

• What’s Working

• What’s Not Working

• Key Updates on Major Initiatives

• Roadmap & Team Updates

2. What We Do & How We Do It: Explain how your function contributes to the company’s goals. Example for marketing:

• Brand – Building awareness and thought leadership (measured via direct traffic, share of voice, ICP education).

• Inbound & Allbound – Generating pipeline (tracked via account engagement and ROI).

• Community & Advocacy – Driving customer advocacy (measured via case studies and referrals).

• Product Marketing – Supporting launches, enablement, competitive analysis, and positioning (measured via win rates and conversion rates).

3. Marketing Scorecard (or Your Function’s Metrics): Your metrics should tell a clear story:

• Leading Indicators: Web traffic, engaged accounts, content downloads, etc.

• Pipeline & Revenue Impact: Stage-by-stage pipeline performance, influenced pipeline, and revenue attribution.

• Use year-over-year comparisons to highlight trends.

4. What’s Working: Back it up with data. Examples:

• +25% demo requests from ICP accounts.

• Brand awareness up 15% YoY.

• Pipeline influenced: $XXM (up X% QoQ).

5. What’s Not Working: Be transparent. What’s underperforming? Why? How are you fixing it?

• Example: “Organic search traffic is down 12%. We’re testing adjustments to content strategy and seeing early positive signs.”

6. Deep Dive: A Key Initiative: Pick one major initiative and go deep. Whether it’s a product launch, campaign, or strategic pivot, use this as a chance to show progress and collaboration across teams.

7. Appendix (For the Data Nerds in the Room): 

• Marketing Themes & Roadmap (or equivalent for your function)

• Team Updates

• Any supporting insights not covered in the core deck

Final Thought: Reviews Are a Tool, Not Just a Deck

An EBR isn’t a status update… it’s a tool to align, build trust, and prove impact.

If you walk into your next review thinking, “I just need to get through this presentation,” you’ve already lost.

If you walk in thinking, “This is an opportunity to build credibility and drive alignment,” you’re already ahead.

And if you want my business review template, just click here and make a copy.

TL;DR:

1. Start with the goal, not the agenda.

2. Data > anecdotes.

3. Own the tough questions before they’re asked.

4. Make your invisible work visible.

5. Use EBRs as a leadership training ground.

Now, go forth and conquer, and run an EBR that doesn’t suck. 

On Measuring Brand. Should You? Maybe?

But wait—shouldn’t you measure your marketing activity? Shouldn’t you measure brand?

😅

I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about this because, deep down, I’m a brand marketer. Always have been.

Freshman year of college: Read Emotional Branding by Marc Gobe.
Junior/Senior year: Fell in love with messaging and advertising.
Taught myself Photoshop and Illustrator before I even graduated.
First job? Graphic designer. Then, I started an agency.

I love storytelling. I love the art of it.

Then, through ExactTarget, I stumbled into an incredible brand and learned about brand value from Scott Dorsey and Tim Kopp. I was pushed to measure thought leadership with pipeline by Jeffrey K. Rohrs.

Somewhere between 2014 and 2021, I shifted into revenue marketing—like a lot of my peers. It gave me a seat at the table and let me build BDR, inbound, field marketing, and revenue marketing teams.

That’s when I built the 80/20 budgeting rule to explain brand spend in a way that didn’t scare off CFOs:

• 80% of marketing spend should be directly tied to revenue.

• 20% should be saved for experimentation and brand.

If you can generate enough pipeline to hit quota attainment with 70-80% of the budget, you earn the right to play with the rest.

You don’t have to measure brand. Just fulfill your revenue obligations first.

That’s fine. But not great. And measuring brand is tricky as hell.

The Problem with Measuring Everything

If you start every creative discussion with an ROI debate, you kill creativity before it even has a chance to breathe. And that’s evil.

Put a bunch of marketers in a room and tell them they need to hit 2,000 MQLs, MQAs, or Opportunities? You’ll get a thoroughly optimized landing page. Boring.

When measurement is the primary goal, we optimize for the easiest, most trackable things… rather than the things that actually make an impact.

So, What’s the Answer?

I’ve been working on a brand score—a way to validate creative work without killing creativity. Because that 30% of the budget matters to your CFO. And it should matter to you, too.

Some of you might scoff. “Oh, brand scores are so 2012, Kyle. What the hell? Haven’t you heard of ChatHPT’s new Operational Agent Wizard, which measures sentiment across the entire globe?”

Sure. But I’d rather build something that actually makes an impact—not just something that looks good on a dashboard.