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Ryan Vaughn

Ryan Vaughn

By Ryan Vaughn

Thinking about purpose in 2022? Try this exercise.

"What is success for you?  And how will you know when you have it?" These are among the first questions I ask founders when I work with them, and it t[...]

Ryan Vaughn

By Ryan Vaughn

Fear: The Startup Serial Killer Which Must Not Be Named

We don’t talk about fears in startups often, or well. But the unexamined and unreconciled fears of the entrepreneur (not to mention the leadership tea[...]

Ryan Vaughn

By Ryan Vaughn

The profound ROI on having fun

Entrepreneurs are artists that produce at scale. Beethoven used all twelve musical notes to compose his symphony number nine. Twelve tools, uniquely c[...]

Ryan Vaughn

By Ryan Vaughn

Why most 'culture work' actually hurts your company

And the simple way to ensure your culture eats strategy for lunch. A quick story to set the stage: About six years ago I scaled my company from 15-emp[...]

Ryan Vaughn

By Ryan Vaughn

The dark side of 'Crushing It': when looking good leads to bad results

This blog is adapted from a two-part examination of leadership, published on Second Mountain Startup.  As entrepreneurs, we’re inherently vulnerable t[...]

Ryan Vaughn

By Ryan Vaughn

For leaders, meditation is more useful than business school

Meditation makes people better leaders, and when done consistently can be more effective than any knowledge on leadership one could acquire. Hard stop[...]