Keynote Speech: 5th PSTD Mentoring & Leadership Summit 2026
 October 29, 2026 Let me start with something that probably would not have looked very impressive on my résumé. I was a C student in high school. I flunked my English entrance exam. And I ended up going to La Salle partly because, during a senior class sharing session, two classmates sitting in front […]
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In recent sessions of our Marketing Rescue free consulting program at Mansmith and Fielders, we have observed a recurring pattern among business owners and founders. Sales are slowing. Customer acquisition costs are rising. New product launches are underperforming. In response, management teams are working harder, spending more, and launching more initiatives. Yet revenue remains flat, margins continue to shrink, and […]
In a slowing market, most business owners and CEOs make one of two fatal mistakes: they freeze and cut costs blindly, or they frantically chase every minor revenue opportunity that pops up. Both reactions stem from the same root cause, a breakdown in strategic discipline. Navigating a soft economy requires two things that rarely sit in the same room: relentless […]
In business strategy, learning should never be a zero-sum game. Strategic insights do not carry a single flag, nor are they the exclusive domain of any single region. Over the years, Chiqui and I have had the privilege of completing over two dozen executive education courses across some of the finest business schools in the West, including MIT Sloan, Kellogg, […]
When business leaders talk about declining top-line performance, they usually point to familiar targets: high interest rates, persistent inflation, rising supply chain costs, or aggressive new competitors. They operate on the comfortable assumption that the customer remains the same, merely tightening their belt until economic conditions improve. That is a dangerous assumption. What if the drop in sales is not […]
Whenever I evaluate business models, I always stress one fundamental truth: Scale does not fix flawed underlying logic; it only accelerates capital destruction. Few market sagas illustrate this principle as vividly as the rise, collapse, and structural reinvention of China’s dockless bike-sharing boom. Years ago, while analyzing Asia’s tech unicorn boom, I watched venture capital fuel an unprecedented market-share war. […]
Why first-mover advantage is overrated, and how a modern casual dining chain can be decoded using the 6-Step Strategy Logic Chain to understand their category-dominating restaurant. When my wife Chiqui and I recently visited Shenzhen, it marked a return after four decades. Back then, Shenzhen was just beginning its transformation into an economic engine. Today, it is a bustling tech […]
When Cirque du Soleil reimagined the circus in the 1980s, they didn’t just tweak an old show, they executed a classic Blue Ocean shift. They eliminated live animals, which accounted for roughly 60% of traditional circus operating costs and carried massive transportation, housing, and veterinary burdens. They did not simply pocket those savings as passive margin; they reinvested them into […]
Standing on the grounds of Shenzhen’s Talent Park, watching low-altitude airspace in action, you quickly realize that the future of logistics is in high-frequency aerial fulfillment. It is already happening in China’s tech capital. Yet, to understand the true commercial viability behind the spectacle, one must look beyond the initial visual novelty. To unpack what was really happening beneath the […]
As families prepare to remember loved ones during All Saints’ and All Souls’ Day, conversations about death can feel especially close to home. For Riva “River” Galveztan, however, preparing for death is not simply about what happens at the end. It is also about learning to live more intentionally, and easing the burden on those we leave behind. River is […]