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Verified guest

Wes Kao

Wes co-created the AltMBA program with Seth Godin. She co-founded a company called Maven.

2 episodes · 2 sourced appearances

Appearances and evidence

Short attributed excerpts only. Timestamps are approximate.

Frameworks in these episodes

Episode-linked context, not an unsupported claim of authorship.

Communication3 steps

Answer the Question Behind the Question

When caught without a number, answer the adjacent question and surface the real concern.

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Leadership5 steps

CEDAF Delegation Framework

A five-part checklist for delegating without lowering your standards — to humans or AI.

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Influence5 steps

Eyes Light Up

Track the moments faces change, then cut everything that doesn't produce them.

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Leadership3 steps

Manage Up by Sharing Your Point of View

Bring your manager a recommendation to react to, not an open question to solve.

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Leadership5 steps

Managing Up by Calibrated Context

Proactively give your boss exactly enough context to weigh in — scaled to reversibility.

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Communication3 steps

MOO — Most Obvious Objection

Spend two minutes pre-empting the objection you'll obviously get, and stop feeling blindsided.

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Communication5 steps

Recommendation-First Writing

Lead with the call, label the context, and never hide a point of view inside a neutral-looking pros-and-cons list.

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Influence4 steps

Sales Then Logistics

Sell the why before you explain the how, or your ask gets crickets.

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Productivity5 steps

Saying No by Trading Off

Never say no. Say yes, name what it displaces, and hand the prioritisation back.

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Communication3 steps

Signposting

Use structural cue-words to guide the reader through your writing without heavy formatting.

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Influence4 steps

Speak Accurately (Avoid the Single-Minded Martyr)

Match your stated confidence to your actual evidence — neither overreach nor over-hedge.

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Communication3 steps

Start Right Before You Get Eaten by the Bear

Open your story one beat before the juicy part — everything earlier is backstory scope creep.

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Leadership3 steps

Strategy Not Self-Expression

Feedback's goal is behavior change, so cut everything that doesn't serve it — usually 90%.

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Communication3 steps

The Content Hierarchy of BS

Rank formats by how much they let you get away with — then hold yourself to the top of the pyramid.

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Communication4 steps

The State Change Method

Punctuate every monologue with something that shakes the audience awake, every 3-5 minutes.

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Communication5 steps

The Super Specific How

Cut the what and the why; spend your word count on the how nobody else will teach.

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Self-Mastery3 steps

The Swipe File

Capture examples of communication that work — the act of collecting trains your eye.

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