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Delivering Value: Lead like the top 1% in growth, marketing, & productAuthor: Andrew Capland
This show helps you uncover the leadership skills and inner game that separate the top 1% from everyone else - and make the leap from high-performing IC to true leader. Unlike other shows that focus on tactics or playbooks, we explore the human side of growth. In every episode, a growth, marketing, or product leader shares the real stories behind their toughest moments - missed goals, hard feedback, identity shifts - and how they grew through them. Hosted by Andrew Capland, Growth Leadership Coach and former Head of Growth at Wistia and Postscript. Language: en-us Genres: Business, Careers, Marketing Contact email: Get it Feed URL: Get it iTunes ID: Get it Trailer: |
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Former Reforge VP Gets His Worst Review Ever — Here's What Changed (Dan Wolchonok)
Episode 94
Tuesday, 17 February, 2026
If you're focused on scaling your team and driving more revenue in 2026:Hire Overseas, helping growth and marketing teams find and hire exceptional overseas talent: https://hireoverseas.com/value-- High performers don’t get stuck because they lack talent. They get stuck because the habits that made them successful as individual contributors quietly stop working once they’re leading others. In this episode of Growing Forward, I sit down with Dan Wolchonok, founder of Work Coach, to unpack what happens when a strong operator runs into the “player-coach” trap. Dan reflects on a painful 360 review from his time at Reforge that forced him to confront how jumping in to do the work himself was unintentionally holding his team back.We talk through a defining moment in Dan’s journey: presenting a company-wide growth model to the executive team after weeks of preparation, only to be met with silence. No questions. No debate. Just a hollow reaction that left him gutted. Dan shares what that experience taught him about leadership at higher levels, including the importance of bringing a clear point of view, strong next steps, and enough conviction to spark real discussion and action.Dan also walks us through how he responded to tough feedback without spiraling, using executive coaching, systems, and intentional changes to rebuild trust and momentum. We explore why remote work and flatter orgs make career guidance harder to access, and how Work Coach was born from the desire to give people a reliable sounding board as they navigate growth, feedback, and leadership transitions.In this conversation, you’ll learn:How the “best doer” instincts can create a manager death spiral, and how to break it Why a presentation can flop even if the work is strong, and how to lead with a clear take + next stepsHow to respond to brutal feedback with maturity, momentum, and “next play” energyThings to listen for:(00:00) Intro(02:20) Dan’s early building roots in tech(05:12) The messy side of success(07:04) Thank you to our sponsor, Hire Overseas(08:45) Why talking about failure matters(09:57) What setbacks can reveal(10:45) Trying to scale with the company(15:15) Pitching a growth model to execs(17:46) When the feedback hits hard(23:11) Resetting after a missed swing(25:12) Turning feedback into momentum(26:28) Shifting from doer to leader(27:19) Reading painful 360 feedback aloud(40:14) Why Dan built Work CoachResources:Connect with Dan:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielwolchonok/ X: https://x.com/danwolch Learn more about Work Coach: https://work.coach/Connect with Andrew:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewcapland/ Substack: https://media.deliveringvalue.coHire Andrew as your coach: https://deliveringvalue.co/coachingJoin Growth OS: https://deliveringvalue.co/growth-operating-system
