🏷️ How to escape organization mediocracy!

Most teams aren’t broken — their leadership is underpowered.

In this pivotal episode, Calm Capital’s Marty Balkema and David Horne reveal what really fuels sustainable growth: stewardship, not transformation.

From owning vertical SaaS companies to rebuilding cultures from the boardroom down, Calm Capital shows us what happens when leadership gets the coaching, clarity, and support it actually needs.

🧠 Inside the episode:

• Why 91% of digital transformations fail — and how stewardship flips the equation.
• The secret sauce behind Calm Capital’s high-performing software portfolio.
• Why emotional trauma, burnout, and disengagement are the hidden cost of leadership neglect.
• How the Unicorns’ Ecosystem pairs a SW Craftsmanship Dojo for developers with a dedicated evolution track for C-levels and boards — covering governance, OKRs, coaching, and strategy design.
• Real stories: how a 130-year-old sock manufacturer saved millions by starting small and leading smarter.

🎯 This is the playbook for rewiring leadership and turning mediocracy into mastery — from founders to investors to boardroom chairs.

🔍 Ready to go deeper?

Get the open-source SW Craftsmanship Dojo and see how the Unicorns’ Ecosystem transforms products and people — together.

• 🥋 https://swcraftsmanshipdojo.com/
• 🦄 https://brix.consulting/services/unicorns-ecosystem/

We’ll run a free organizational using behavioral markers from the Unicorns’ Ecosystem — and show you where mediocracy hides (before it hits your ROI).

📩 Less than 30 seconds! Just drop your email. We’ll handle the rest.

No forms. No sales. Just insight.

👉 https://forms.gle/eD5XXDqxgxHNAJhUA

#leadership #podcast #stewardship #unicornsecosystem #softwareengineering #privateequity #organizationaldesign #OKRs #coaching

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When we say “mediocrity is a leadership choice,” we’re not just being dramatic. In this first face-off between researcher and investor, Mike challenges the venture capital mindset—and VC Oussama Glilah (@ Razor Capital) doesn’t just agree… he confirms it all.

💥 From the absence of engineering standards to the myth of plug-and-play talent, this episode dismantles the fantasy that unicorns are born from flashy ideas or frameworks.

🔧 They’re built—through behaviorally engineered environments, prompt design, and holistic-elite upskilling that replace cookie-cutter training in favor of more modern programs based on the latest neuroplasticity discoveries!

💡 Key insights you’ll hear:

• Why 99% of engineers fail to meet Tier A standards—and how to grow them in-house with the SW Craftsmanship Dojo®

• The leadership behaviors that unconsciously install mediocrity

• How BJ Fogg’s behavioral model unlocks resilience in tech orgs

• The brutal waste of $2.5T in 2024 on failed digital transformations (and how 2025 looks even worse with GenAI hype!)

• Real startup stories from frontier markets—evolving through user behavior and feedback loops

🧠 This isn’t your average “transformation talk” that pours in money and harvests disappointment.

It’s the confirmation of two decades of research behind the Unicorns’ Ecosystem:

A human-centered system where culture, leadership, and behavior are the real tech stack to build elite organizations—and the tech-savvy organizations of the future.

🔊 Ready to evolve?

Hit play—and find out why Tier A teams aren’t hired. They’re engineered.

⸻

🤿 Full deep-dive article drops Thursday → Forge of Unicorns Newsletter

🎧 Available on: Acast • Spotify • Apple • YouTube

#ForgeOfUnicorns #CraftsmanshipDojo #DigitalTransformation #VCInsights #BehavioralEngineering #LeadershipMatters #GenAIHype #UnicornBuilders

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In this mind-blowing episode, I sit down with Andy Will, founder of Willpower Venture Capital, to reveal a bold new approach: behavioral engineering as the ultimate VC advantage.

Forget spreadsheets and cookie-cutter playbooks — Andy shares how he backs founders who build elite teams, set cultural standards from day one, and scale without the chaos.

🔥 Inside the episode:

• Why 0.9% of tech talent is all that matters — and how to find it

• How to detect and detox toxic cultures before they sink your startup

• The dark truth behind failed transformations (spoiler: it’s not the tech)

• Why most VCs are just “chasing tails” — and how to engineer success instead

🎯 Whether you’re a founder, investor, or tech exec trying to scale, this episode is a wake-up call.

🔗 Want to engineer your next unicorn? Dive deeper at Forge of Unicorns 🦄

📢 Follow the podcast + drop a 5⭐ if this one hit home.

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📰 Deep Dive post: HERE

🎥 Youtube version: HERE

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🏷️ #ForgeOfUnicorns #AndyWill #BehavioralEngineering #VC #PE #Engineering #Culture #Startup #Investing #DigitalEvolution #Unicorn #Blueprint #Talents

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🚀 The Quantum Shift Has Officially Begun… 🚀

This week on Forge of Unicorns, we sit down with Matthew Cimaglia, Tech Innovator | Multi-Time Founder | Managing Partner at Quantum Coast Capital, leading the charge in quantum technology investments.

With NVIDIA’s jaw-dropping Quantum Day announcement, the race just got real. Matthew unpacks:

✅ Why Quantum is the next AI moment — but way bigger

✅ How coding for Quantum today avoids tomorrow’s tech debt nightmare

✅ Why the security apocalypse is closer than you think — and crappy software is doomed

💣 “We either invest billions in Quantum today… or spend trillions in defense later.” 💣

👉 If your organization is still struggling with GenAI, buckle up — Quantum is already knocking. This is your last chance to fix your software engineering posture before the next disruption wipes you out.

🎯 Join the open-source Software Craftsmanship Dojo® — the ONLY proven way to upskill, bulletproof your tech stack, and evolve your org before it’s too late.

👉 Contact us ✉️ to get it started!

🎧 Listen now — before the quantum wave hits. Tomorrow’s trillion-dollar companies? They’re already coding for it.

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📰 Deep Dive post: HERE

🎥 Youtube version: HERE

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🏷️ #NvidiaQuantum #Nvidia #Quantum #QuantumComputing #TechRevolution #AIFuture #AI #PE #VC #DigitalEvolution #SoftwareCraftsmanship #Unicorns

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💡 Most companies waste millions on digital transformation—and fail. What if, instead, you could engineer IT into a high-value asset that fuels exponential growth?

93% of digital transformations fail. Companies throw money at new tech, yet only 7% see real results. Why? Because transformation isn’t just about software—it’s about leadership, execution, and strategy.

🎙️ In this episode of The Forge of Unicorns, Michele Brissoni sits down with Sam Palazzolo, Managing Director at Tip of the Spear Ventures, an elite business strategist who has helped companies scale from $10 million to $1 billion and beyond. With over 1,000 organizations in his portfolio, including global giants like Toyota and GM, Sam reveals why IT isn’t a cost—it’s your company’s greatest untapped goldmine.

🔥 What You’ll Discover:

✅ Why digital transformations fail—and the exact strategies that make the other 7% succeed.

✅ How to turn IT from a budget drain into a profit center—and scale without chaos.

✅ The leadership playbook behind billion-dollar companies—and why execution beats innovation.

✅ Why blindly adopting Agile, DevOps, or Scaled Agile is a recipe for failure.

✅ The key to breaking free from mediocracy and building high-performance teams.

🚀 The Big Takeaway?

At The Forge of Unicorns, we break down how to engineer high-performance companies. Sam Palazzolo proves that IT isn’t just infrastructure—it’s the hidden force that can drive massive business success.

💬 Curious how this applies to your portfolio?

✅ Grab your FREE organizational assessment—just mention the podcast: https://brix.consulting/contact/

📥 Bonus: Explore the full article breakdown and research on LinkedIn here 👉

🎧 Listen now—and discover how to make IT your secret weapon.

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📰 Deep Dive post: HERE

🎥 Youtube version: HERE

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🏷️  #VentureCapital #DigitalEvolution #ITLeadership #InvestmentStrategy #TheForgeOfUnicorns

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🎙️ Episode 50: The Unicorns’ Ecosystem—Flipping the Script on IT Investments 🚀

📰 Original blog post: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/ep-50-975-investments-doomed-heres-how-top-flipping-brissoni-np79f/

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💰 97.5% of IT investments NEVER reach unicorn status.

📉 Even those that do, 80% see their valuations crash—nearly 30% fall below the $1B mark.

🤯 Yet, most investors still rely on gut instinct instead of engineering high-performance companies from day one.

🚨 Why do so many IT investments fail? More importantly—how do we fix it?

In Episode 50 of The Forge of Unicorns, we pull back the curtain on the first-of-its-kind research that 50+ top PE/VC firms have now integrated into their investment strategies. We’ll reveal:

🔥 Why digital transformation is a gamble—and why most investors are betting on the wrong horse.

💡 The Unicorns’ Ecosystem: A data-driven, behaviorally engineered system that rewires IT organizations for success.

🎙️ Investor Reactions: The moment PE/VC firms saw the data—and why their responses were mind-blowing.

🛠️ The SW Craftsmanship Dojo®: The open-source weapon we gifted to investors to turn mediocre teams into elite software engineers.

🎧 And here’s the best part—this episode kicks off a groundbreaking mini-series!

For the first time ever, we’re bringing in some of the top investors behind today’s most dominant tech companies to contrast our research with their experience in IT investments. What worked, what failed, and why they’re integrating our NED-backed governance and hands-on Dojo system into their portfolios.

The future of IT investment isn’t a bet—it’s an engineered outcome.

🔎 STOP TRANSFORMING, START EVOLVING. 🚀

🎙 Listen now!

#PrivateEquity #VentureCapital #ITInvestments #DigitalTransformation #BehavioralEngineering #AI #OKRs #PEVC #UnicornsEcosystem

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🎙️ Episode 49 - The Open-Source Playbook Investors Are Using to Engineer Unicorns 🚀

📰 Original Blog post: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/ep-49-want-engineer-unicorns-open-source-playbook-already-brissoni-8gpuf/

🛑 52% of Fortune 500 Companies Have Vanished Since 2000—Have We Really Learned Why They Failed?

👉 Some investors have—and they’re quietly engineering unicorns while others keep making the same mistakes.

In this episode of The Forge of Unicorns, we unveil the ultimate open-source playbook for Private Equity (PE) and Venture Capital (VC) investors looking to transform IT from a cost sink into a billion-dollar asset.

Most IT investments fail because they chase tools and frameworks instead of engineering excellence. But smart investors are flipping the script—leveraging 14 years of research and insights from 50+ top PE/VC leaders to turn tech assets into high-performance growth machines.

🎧 In This Episode, You’ll Learn:

✅ The 6 dysfunctions silently killing IT investments—and why most firms ignore them.

✅ How top investors are leveraging this open-source research to engineer high-valuation unicorns.

✅ The hidden socio-technical markers that separate future market leaders from failures.

💡 Here’s the kicker:

The companies that thrive understand and measure IT and socio-technical excellence—those that don’t, vanish. This isn’t just another framework. It’s a battle-tested strategy backed by investors who build unicorns.

🔥 Don’t just listen—take action!

📩 Subscribe to The Forge of Unicorns Newsletter for exclusive insights on high-performance IT investments and organizations.

🔁 Like, share, and spread the word—let’s build the future, together!

🔗 Listen now & join the movement!

#PrivateEquity #VentureCapital #UnicornInvestments #BehavioralEngineering #DigitalExcellence #ForgeOfUnicorns #Podcast #ITInvestments #TechGrowth

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📰 Original blog post with all the bibliography: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/ep48-fake-productivity-deadly-illusion-ai-generated-brissoni-rlp8c/

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AI-generated code is flooding development workflows faster than ever—but are we really moving forward, or are we just accelerating into chaos?

In this episode of The Forge of Unicorns, Michele Brissoni unpacks the hard-hitting data behind two years of GenAI-assisted coding and exposes the hidden costs that investors, engineering leaders, and dev teams can’t afford to ignore:

🚨 39.9% drop in refactored code—AI is prioritizing speed over quality.

🚨 17.1% YoY increase in code duplication—leading to brittle, unmaintainable systems.

🚨 77% of devs disengaged, 38% burned out—AI-driven outages are fueling post-production stress cycles.

🔍 The reality?

AI isn’t a software engineer—it’s a pattern replicator trained on an industry with more failures than successes.

And with only 23% accuracy compared to a real modern engineer, GenAI is nowhere near replacing human expertise.

🤔 So, what’s the way forward?

The KBI Framework + SW Craftsmanship Dojo® injects the socio-technical excellence needed to:

✅ Use AI as a cognitive amplifier, not a blind coding machine.

✅ Reduce burnout by balancing automation with human mastery.

✅ Ensure software is built with modern engineering principles, not just “produced” by AI.

💡 Join us as we break down how to harness AI for real productivity—without falling for the illusion.

🎧 Listen now and future-proof your engineering strategy!

#AI #SoftwareEngineering #TechDebt #GenAI #DevEx #TDD #FakeProductivity #ModernSoftwareEngineering

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🎙️💣 Lost Millions in IT? Here’s the 300% Stock Surge Playbook Auditors Loved 😍 🎙️

📰 Original article - HERE.

Hey digital warriors! ⚔️

In this episode of The Forge of Unicorns, we dive deep into an incredible IT turnaround story—from hemorrhaging millions to a 300% stock surge, all thanks to behavioral engineering, OKRs, and rock-solid IT governance. 💥

What’s inside this episode?

✅ How a crumbling IT organization transformed into a high-performing powerhouse.

✅ The secret sauce: behaviorally engineered OKRs driving both strategic and tactical execution.

✅ The auditor-approved governance overhaul that had PwC calling it “one of the best-executed transformations we’ve ever assessed.” 🏛️

✅ The ultimate business impact—from massive cost reductions to skyrocketing investor confidence.

✅ How embedding socio-technical mastery directly into governance reduced time-to-market and accelerated innovation.

💡 Real numbers. Real transformation. And a playbook that shows IT can be a profit center, not just a cost sink.

🔥 Tune in now to hear how this company survived the chaos, redefined its governance, and skyrocketed its stock—all while others crashed and burned.

🎧 Press play and get inspired to transform your IT from a liability into your company’s greatest asset!

#DigitalTransformation #ITGovernance #OKR #BehavioralEngineering #SoftwareCraftsmanship #ForgeOfUnicorns #TechLeadership #PwC

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🎙️ EP46 - Scaling Excellence: The OKR Lessons from a Bold CIO 🎙️

📰 Orignal Blog Post: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/ep46-scaling-excellence-okr-lessons-from-bold-cio-michele-brissoni-cbhef/?trackingId=870B2EfrQOWfg2mHtoihuw%3D%3D

Are your OKRs driving true excellence, or are they just glorified KPIs enforcing compliance?

In this episode, we break down a real-world transformation where a bold CIO turned OKRs into a north star for technical mastery—scaling an IT organization from near-collapse to a model of software craftsmanship.

🚀 What’s inside this episode?

✅ How Strategic OKRs redefine engineering standards and reshape company culture

✅ Why Tactical OKRs connect technical excellence to customer satisfaction and market success

✅ How this transformation led to 300% growth, higher engagement, and an auditor-approved governance model

✅ The AI disruption that’s wiping out traditional Agile and IT organizations—are you prepared?

📢 If your OKRs aren’t pushing your teams to evolve, they’re setting you up to fail.

Tune in now to discover how the Unicorns’ Ecosystem leverages OKRs and Dojos to fuel long-term digital excellence.

🎧 Listen now!

#OKRs #ScalingExcellence #AIRevolution #SoftwareCraftsmanship #TechLeadership #DigitalEvolution 🚀

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