Rich Hagberg, often referred to as “Silicon Valley’s CEO Whisperer, psychologist and co-author of Founders Keepers, has advised over 1,000 executives and founders. In this conversation, he outlines why most startup leaders fail, and what the data reveals about those who succeed. Some key insights include:

“Founders, overwhelmingly, are visionary evangelists… but they’re not particularly good at execution.” Hagberg’s research shows that unsuccessful founders often score low on execution and relationship-building. They resist structure, delay key hires, and react impulsively under stress.

“You can change your behavior to some degree, but it’s very hard to change your fundamental personality.” Hagberg encourages founders to identify three to four behaviors they can realistically improve, such as delegation, feedback seeking, and stress management.

“You need to go from being a doer to a facilitator of doing.” Scalable leadership requires building teams that complement the founder’s own gaps and letting go of tasks that dilute impact.

“Startups are almost a Darwinian survival of the fittest… the unsuccessful ones are more impulsive and reactive.” Stress and poor self-regulation directly impact team trust and decision quality. Founders who succeed tend to manage energy deliberately and maintain self-awareness.

“If we had to zero in on one thing that is the biggest differentiator, it’s adaptability. You never have permanent product-market fit.” Hagberg shares why openness to feedback and reflection is often more predictive of long-term success than IQ or charisma.

“I realized I was creating a culture that reflected my strengths and weaknesses. If I was going to make the company better, I had to grow as a leader.”

This conversation is for founders, investors, and operators who want to understand the behavioral patterns that quietly shape success or failure in startups. It delivers clear, evidence-based insights into what it takes to lead effectively as complexity scales.

Get Rich’s new book here: https://shorturl.at/YsQcl

Founders, Keepers: Why Founders Are Built to Fail, and What it Takes to Succeed

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James Kimmel, Jr., lawyer, Yale psychiatry lecturer, and author of The Science of Revenge, joins us in the Strategy Skills podcast to explore the neuroscience and behavioral dynamics of revenge. Drawing on law, psychiatry, and over two decades of research, Kimmel offers a sobering view: revenge is not a form of justice, it’s a “pleasure-seeking behavior” that operates like an addiction, fueled by unresolved pain.

He opens the conversation with a deeply personal story: as a teenager, after years of bullying, he chased down his aggressors with a loaded revolver. In a pivotal moment, he recalls, “The cost of getting the revenge I wanted was far more than I was willing to pay.” That flash of insight redirected his life and seeded a lifelong investigation into how grievance, retribution, and healing operate in the human mind.

Key insights from the discussion include:

• Revenge Mimics Addiction in the Brain
  Kimmel explains that “your brain on revenge looks like your brain on drugs.” The cycle begins when a grievance activates the brain’s pain network, followed by a surge of dopamine in the reward system. Over time, the craving for retaliation can become compulsive, forming habits akin to substance abuse.
• Grievance Retention Impairs Judgment
  Unchecked rumination can degrade executive function. “If that prefrontal cortex does not stop you,” Kimmel warns, “and you really crave it… it doesn’t matter how many laws there are.” This impaired self-control is what allows otherwise rational individuals to commit extreme acts of violence.
• Social Exclusion Can Be a Form of Revenge
  “If you’re ending a relationship not for present harm, but to punish someone for a past wrong, that’s retaliation,” he explains. Even subtle acts like ghosting or ostracism can activate the same pain circuitry in the brain as physical harm.
• Forgiveness Interrupts the Revenge Cycle
  Neuroscience shows that imagining forgiveness “shuts down the brain’s pain network, silences addiction circuits, and reactivates executive control.” Kimmel calls forgiveness a “human superpower… It doesn’t just cover up the pain like revenge does, it takes the pain away altogether.”
• Revenge Can Be Prevented, Like a Heart Attack
  Kimmel proposes a new public health framework: treat revenge attacks like cardiac events. “There are warning signs,” he says, grievance fixation, revenge fantasies, acquiring weapons, and they demand the same level of emergency attention.
• Legal Systems Often Deliver Revenge, Not Justice
  Kimmel reflects on his time as a litigator: “Lawyers get paid to sell revenge under the brand name ‘justice.’” He urges professionals to be aware of how sanctioned systems can enable and normalize compulsive retribution.

For leaders in high-stakes environments, the message is clear: understanding the mechanics of grievance and retaliation isn’t just psychological, it’s strategic. Kimmel’s work offers actionable frameworks to recognize revenge-seeking before it becomes destructive, and calls for a deeper integration of neuroscience into how we define justice, manage risk, and lead with compassion.

Get The Science of Revenge here: https://www.jameskimmeljr.com/

Here are some free gifts for you:

Overall Approach Used in Well-Managed Strategy Studies free download: www.firmsconsulting.com/OverallApproach

McKinsey & BCG winning resume free download: www.firmsconsulting.com/resumepdf

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