How to build a high-performing team

 

Teams do not become high-performing by accident.
They become high-performing when leaders install the right operating system.

🎯 Start with Why so people know the purpose, not just the task
🧠 Use 70-20-10 to grow capability through real work, coaching, and focused training
🤝 Build trust through authenticity, logic, and empathy
🌊 Lead through forming, storming, norming, and performing instead of reacting to normal friction
🪟 Use the Johari lens to reduce blind spots and strengthen feedback
⚡ Review people by energy and impact so you protect top talent and act early on drift
🧭 Apply RAPID so everyone knows who recommends, agrees, performs, inputs, and decides

Clarity creates speed.
Trust creates consistency.
Ownership creates results.

Source: Sir Richard Harpin

https://tinyurl.com/y6r7vt95

10 AI skills you should know in 2026

 

AI isn’t replacing you.
But the people who master these 10 skills absolutely will.

If you learn these AI skills now, you’ll stay employable, valuable, and ahead of 95% of the workforce by 2026.

AI is evolving faster than any skill market in history.
The people who win in 2026 won’t be those who learn “prompting”…
but those who learn the full stack of AI skills, from agents to automation to multimodal systems.

This framework lays out the 10 most important AI skills you must master to stay relevant, future-proof your career, and unlock new earning potential.

1. Prompt Engineering (Still Foundational)
Craft prompts that get structured, reliable, and repeatable AI outputs.

2. AI Agents
Build systems that think, decide, and execute tasks without human intervention.

3. Workflow Automation
Automate end-to-end tasks, processes, and operations using Make, Zapier, n8n, and AI workflows.

4. Agentic AI
Create AI that adapts, self-corrects, and performs complex reasoning for business operations.

5. Multimodal AI
Use AI that handles text, images, audio, video, and code to produce richer results.

6. Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG)
Connect AI to real company data so it answers with accuracy, not hallucinations.

7. GEO / AEO (Generative Engine Optimization)
Optimize content so AI-generated platforms surface your brand better than search engines.

8. AI Tool Stacking
Combine multiple AI tools to create powerful, always-on workflows.

9. AI Content Systems
Build automated systems that generate, repurpose, and scale content 24/7.

10. LLM Management & AI Ops
Monitor, improve, and operationalize AI models for reliability and cost efficiency.

The winners of 2026 won’t be the ones who learn “AI”…
but the ones who learn how to use AI as a system.

Master these 10 skills, and you’ll future-proof your income, impact, and career.

Credit to Sumit Gupta. Follow him for more.

https://tinyurl.com/mfzz85jf

40 reasons you should build a start-up in 2026

I'm 35 and I've been building businesses for 15+ years.

Hands down, 2026 is the best time ever to build a start-up.

I say that with confidence.

The market conditions for startups are perfect right now.

I've put together 40 reasons why this is true in the carousel for you below.
The advancement of technology is utterly crazy.

Claude Code lets one person build what used to require a 5-person dev team, and cloud infrastructure makes building cheap.

But that's only one element of it.

Buyers want what startups offer.

They want flexibility and real solutions to actual problems.
They want partners who move fast and care about outcomes.
And from a hiring perspective, employees are attracted to startup culture.

Because the best talent are sick of legacy companies and no progression.

I've built and sold businesses in multiple cycles.

The combination of technology, market demand, talent availability, and capital conditions has never aligned like this.

- When I built Verb Brands, I bootstrapped for 10 years before exiting.
- When I built Lottie, we scaled to 100+ people and got to a 9-figure valuation.
- When I built Searchable, we went from idea to beta customers in 100 DAYS.

Each cycle got faster because the conditions improved.

2026 is the best environment I've seen for starting a business.
If you've been waiting for the right time, this is it.

The opportunity is here, the timing is now, and the window is wide open (for now).

What's one prediction you have for building businesses in 2026?
Let me know in the comments.

If prediction #1 comes true, and I believe it will,
Your business needs to be visible in AI search.

That's why we built Searchable.

It optimises your content everywhere your customers might be.
Not just Google, but ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Claude as well.

Click here to start your 14-day free trial:
https://lnkd.in/epgXyFmi

https://tinyurl.com/32asxbj2