…was the first message I saw on screen as a result of some PHP I wrote in 1996 when I was learning PHP and MySQL from a book trying to figure out how to be a poorgrammer.
Don’t worry—this is not a tech or engineering article. It’s for leaders and managers.
The reason I said poor-grammer is because writing code was not for me. I just didn’t know until after a few years of that, I actually hired a real programmer for my web startup. Pro’s do things different and better.
Ultimately my small team of about 10 employees ended up building an e-commerce platform with several hundred monthly users.
It was hard.
Today we would call that a SaaS company but in the late 90’s early 2000’s we mostly referred to it as web design, webhosting, and recurring revenue.
We were “building websites that let you sell online”, I’d say to some owner or entrepreneur as they looked at my baby face and weird business card.
If you are familiar with Shopify or BigCommerce, what we built was like that, just before those guys. But our platform supported multi-language, SEO standards, ability to make offers and counter offers on listed price, and inbound lead generation tools. Those who know, know that was pretty special for that era of the internet.
This was before the dotcom bust.
I was 18 in 1996 when I started the company and happily exited that business in 2005.
I got my BBA in Management of Information Systems in 2002. That business taught me to be both wide and deep as a leader and individual contributor across marketing, engineering, operations, sales and product management.
It was an incredible way to learn business and get battletested.
That’s where things started.
Across the last 27 years I launched tech platforms in e-commerce, FinTech, Video Conferencing, Mobile Payments, ERP, Smart Buildings, as well as related hardware and physical goods. I also launched a newspaper, magazine, and book as well as a successful Kickstarter consumer product. And in between all that, consulted apparel, fashion and beauty products, lead or co-led three acquisitions and advised a wide range of founders and leaders including blockchain and security startups.
My Point? Experience.
Experience that is both wide and deep.
Experience that requires experimenting, learning, iterating, and doing hard things - repeatedly.
That’s years of hard problems, smart co-workers, complex systems, ambiguous intent, fuzzy vision and a million business cases, strategy decks, offsites, workshops, and roadmaps across all the growth disciplines that create value for customers and the business.
So many outreach interviews with customers and prospects, solutioning meetings with internal teams and partners and customers.
$3 Billion created in transaction volume from my fintech projects and several hundred million dollars in software/hardware/product revenue generation.
As a result, I’ve been a “make it happen” guy for a lot of people, companies, and friends.
If it was a raw talent when I started, I don’t recall because now its a system and a collection of tools, methods, and ways of thinking and doing.
I call these GSD systems, methods, combined with my philosophy on value creation.
But….
What I’m most proud of is the hundreds of people I worked with and learned from and hundreds more that I helped pour into and shape their careers or character. The kind words people have shared on LinkedIn as testimonials to my leadership or collaboration or consulting is what helps me know I’m really on track and making a difference.
The GSD mindset — Get Stuff Done — is still here. But this series goes beyond that.
This is about the journey of leadership.
The mindset. The frameworks. The empathy. The systems. The scars and wins.
It’s not just GSD anymore — it’s the whole path of becoming the kind of leader people want to follow.
So back to “beginnings are rare”.
Up until now, all my writing, energy, coaching, knowledge sharing has been taking place inside the organization I owned, consulted or helped lead.
More and more my heart is on being the mentor I never had and helping other great leaders come forward to create great companies that create value and work that matters.
All my hard-learned lessons on growth, scaling, leadership, team building, trust building, unlocking the potential for great and meaningful work, and so much more are going to be shared here.
It’s an experiment, not a beginning.
It’s an iteration, a turning of the crank, on doing what I always do (in private, in email, in one-on-ones, in conference rooms, etc) but now shaping it to fit this canvas and work here. For you.
Flywheels…
The flywheel of growth requires regular pushes against it to keep turning.
You push the flywheel by reading, experimenting, learning and launching. Same for me.
Personal growth is intentional, and daily. 24 hours available, a push here, a push there.
It’s incredible to me how many people don’t push their growth flywheel.
They scroll, they click, they double tap, they circle back, they put a pin it, they table it for later, they get screen time, but they don’t push their flywheel of growth.
I know that’s not you.
As for me…
I plan to push the growth flywheel by stretching myself to create and share, to think more clearly to improve to content I create, and to learn by you all sharing your perspectives with me.
What happens next is that I’ll keep writing and sharing the real frameworks, stories, and strategies that make up The Path of a Leader.
The purpose is so you can benefit from these lessons, frameworks, and stories to grow your career or business or team.
GSD absolutely means Get Sh*t Done, but I often call it get stuff done.
While this series began as The GSD Way, it was never just about task mastering or hustle.
It’s always been about creating value through aligned teams, clarity of purpose, and systems that scale.
GSD still means Get Stuff Done — but now it’s a piece of a broader path:
The path of a leader who creates momentum, leads with empathy, and gets the right stuff done.
At times people think I say GSD because what I really mean is work harder, grind it out. As if the answer is just keep dumping more hours and effort on what you are doing is the answer. It’s not. You have to work different.
What I learned was that we get more done when we simplify to what matters.
To me that is:
That’s how I describe myself in four words. That’s what informs GSD and what I teach my team members, mentees and clients.
The Path of a Leader is about becoming the kind of person who builds high-trust environments, activates meaningful work, and helps others do their best.
If you know someone who would benefit from this, share it now. Every day counts...
#ThePathOfALeader
#GSD
Appreciate you,
Justin
