🎯 The Art of Saying "No" Without Becoming the Office Villain

Featured Job Listings

🏆 Top Picks of the Week (Hand-Picked, High-Impact Roles)

Role: SVP, Technology Stability Program Lead

Company: LPL Financial
Location: Remote – USA
Leadership Team: LPL Financial Executive Leadership
Why it’s great: Take point on enterprise‑scale stability, resilience, and cyber‑risk programs for one of the country’s largest independent broker-dealers. This role is a transformation lever, navigating matrixed engineering teams and aligning cross-org initiatives. Strategic thinking, tech gravitas, and executive presence required.
Apply here: SVP Technology Stability Program Lead (R‑044109)

Recruiter Contact: Shailja Khuman

Role: SVP, IT Program Management

Company: Focus Financial Partners
Location: Hybrid – NY, Boston, St. Louis
Leadership Team: Focus Financial Partners Leadership
Why it’s great: You’ll build and own the IT PMO, guiding enterprise-wide transformation efforts in a major wealth-management rollup. Heavy hitters across cloud migrations, ERP, and digital modernization—this is a career-defining role in a $200B+ platform.
Apply here: SVP, IT Program Management

Role: Chief of Staff

Company: Cambio.ai
Location: Hybrid – NYC, SF, Toronto (Remote – USA)
Leadership Team: Cambio.ai Founders & Team
Why it’s great: This is your CEO’s right hand—driving operational excellence, GTM and product co-ordination, and high-impact strategy at a Y‑Combinator backed climate tech startup. Expect to own partner initiatives, refine internal processes, and operate at full executive scope.
Apply here: Chief of Staff – Cambio.ai

Role: Chief of Staff, CPO

Company: Datadog
Location: Remote – USA
Leadership Team: Datadog Leadership
Why it’s great: Step into a high-impact Chief of Staff role directly under the CPO at a fast-growing observability software leader. You’ll own strategic roadmap execution, cross-functional alignment, and product ops discipline in a hyper-scaled environment.
Apply here: Chief of Staff, CPO

Role: Director / Senior Director of Program Management

Company: Pioneering Medicines (Flagship Pioneering)
Location: Hybrid – Cambridge, MA
Leadership Team: Flagship Pioneering Leadership
Why it’s great: Located at the intersection of biotech innovation and project leadership, you’ll run strategic R&D programs, shape best practices and operate alongside executive leadership. Ideal for someone with technical PM chops and biotech credibility.
Apply here: Director / Senior Director, Program Management

Bots Take the Wheel

🤖 Smart Request Triage

The Problem: Every delivery pro knows the pain—stakeholders flooding you with requests via Slack, email, and random hallway conversations. Without a system, everything feels urgent and nothing gets properly evaluated.

The Solution: Automated request intake and triage using Make.com, Notion, and Slack.

Use Case 1: Slack Request Capture 

Set up a Make.com scenario that monitors a dedicated #feature-requests Slack channel. When someone posts, it automatically creates a Notion database entry with the request details, requester info, and timestamp. The bot responds with a ticket number and expected review timeline.

Use Case 2: Automated Scoring 

Configure Make.com to analyze incoming requests against predefined criteria (effort estimation keywords, business impact indicators, strategic alignment tags). Requests get auto-scored and sorted into "Quick Win," "Evaluate," or "Needs Discussion" categories in your Notion database.

Use Case 3: Stakeholder Communication Loop 

When requests are triaged, Make.com automatically sends Slack DMs to requesters with status updates. High-priority items trigger calendar invites for stakeholder discussions. Low-priority requests get added to a monthly review queue with automatic follow-ups.

This system transforms chaotic request management into a predictable, transparent process that stakeholders actually trust.

Visionary Voices 

📝 Systems Over Tools: Shishir Mehrotra’s Blueprint for Scalable Teams

Why he matters: As CEO of Grammarly and a previous co-founder of Coda, Shishir Mehrotra has redefined how teams think about documents, databases, and workflow automation. His background as a YouTube executive gives him unique insight into scaling delivery practices.

What he brings:

Systems thinking at scale: Led YouTube's product organization through explosive growth, managing complex technical and business challenges

Document-driven delivery: Pioneered approaches to using structured documents for project management and team alignment

Automation philosophy: Advocates for "docs that do things" - turning static planning into dynamic, automated workflows

Want to learn more? Check out Shishir's First Round Review article on decision-making frameworks, or listen to his appearance on the Lenny's Podcast discussing product operations and scaling teams.

✨ Weekly Recommendations

Turns out, stamina often beats smarts; a powerful reframe for anyone grinding through delivery chaos.

The New Yorker’s How Experts Became the Enemy episode hits uncomfortably close to home for anyone in leadership right now.

Modular magnetic blocks you can stack or rearrange; includes cable cord holder, pen slots & device stand. A stylish way to bring order and flexibility to your workspace.

This clip on presence, energy, and influence hits harder than you'd expect

Rob Henderson’s sharp essay on how elites play a different game than the rest of us is a must-read if you've ever wondered why the rules feel rigged

Tool: Almanac's Delivery Ops templates — SOPs that don’t suck.

In partnership with Brother USA

Print smarter, not harder.

Brother printers are the secret weapon of organized professionals everywhere. Crisp prints. Low-cost ink. No drama. They’ve even got label makers to bring order to your chaos.

🛒 Shop smart at Brother USA

Professional Development

📚 The Strategic "No" Framework

Recent data from Atlassian's 2024 State of Teams report shows that 67% of knowledge workers feel overwhelmed by competing priorities, while McKinsey research indicates that executives spend 23% of their time in meetings that could be eliminated through better prioritization.

The solution isn't working harder, it's getting strategic about what you don't do.

1. Establish Your North Star Metrics

Before you can say no effectively, you need clear criteria for yes. Define 3-5 key outcomes that drive your team's success this quarter. Every request gets evaluated against these metrics first.

2. Create a "Not Now" Parking Lot

Don't just reject requests—defer them strategically. Maintain a visible backlog of good ideas that don't fit current priorities. This shows stakeholders you're listening while protecting your roadmap.

3. Use the "Yes, If" Technique

Instead of flat rejections, offer conditional acceptance: "Yes, we can do this if you're willing to delay Project X by two weeks." This forces stakeholders to make the trade-off decision themselves.

4. Implement Request Scoring

Develop a simple scoring rubric (Impact × Effort × Strategic Alignment). Share this framework with stakeholders so they understand how decisions get made. Transparency reduces pushback.

5. Schedule Regular Priority Reviews

Hold monthly "roadmap reality checks" where stakeholders can see the full pipeline and make informed trade-off decisions. This prevents death-by-a-thousand-cuts scope creep.

6. Document Your Decisions

Keep a decision log showing what you said no to and why. This creates accountability and helps you learn from patterns over time.

7. Practice Stakeholder Aikido

Redirect energy rather than opposing it directly. "That's a great idea. Let's add it to our Q3 planning discussion," acknowledges the request while protecting current commitments.

TL;DR: Saying no isn't about being difficult—it's about being strategic. Use clear criteria, transparent processes, and collaborative decision-making to protect your team's focus while maintaining stakeholder relationships. The best delivery leaders aren't the ones who say yes to everything; they're the ones who help everyone understand what matters most.

How I can Help

Wanna chat IRL? Connect with me on LinkedIn and we can set up some time.

Free Career Guide Coming Soon!

I love feedback. If you have topics you want to see? Or thoughts or ideas on how to serve the community better, please hit reply. I read all emails.

Until next time,

The Business of Delivery

Quiet moves. Bold Careers.