Every month when I sit down to write The Learngility Leader, I’m trying to do one thing: help leaders building start-ups to scale see a little more of the business around them.

Whether you’re a founder, CTO, CMO or HR leader, you already know your function. I want to help you connect that expertise to the wider business you’re trying to scale.

That feels even more important now. AI is changing the work itself: who does it, how it gets done and what capabilities businesses need. Decisions about technology, people, structure and strategy are becoming harder to separate. The better we see those connections, the better the decisions we make.

And as I celebrate JooBee’s Newsletter turning 3 this month, it feels like the perfect theme because seeing the wider business has always been part of Learngility’s DNA.

Coming from a Talent background, Lu was used to solving problems through a People lens. Take underperformance. A leader comes to you because someone isn’t performing, and it’s easy to stay within the People toolbox: more development, a PIP or eventually an exit.

Lu now zooms out first.

Since STEP UP Bootcamp, she uses the 6 Foundations to look beyond the presenting People problem and diagnose what’s happening across the wider organisation. Someone underperforming might have a capability gap. But it could also be unclear strategy, the wrong structure, a broken process or poor data.

And often, the trail leads further back: Are we clear on what the business needs to achieve and the work that actually needs to get done?

Lu is learning not to simply solve the problem that lands on her desk, but to work out whether it’s the right problem to solve in the first place.

That’s how she’s stepping up to become more strategic: seeing more of the business, making better choices about where to intervene and focusing her time and the business’s resources where they’ll make the biggest impact.

CONNECT WITH LUANA →

To celebrate JooBee’s Newsletter’s 3rd birthday, local readers hosted breakfast celebrations across 11 cities — from Kuala Lumpur, Paris, Berlin, Lagos and Dubai to Toronto, Houston, Mexico City, Santiago, Lima and London.

For three years, I’ve been writing alone in my flat about the messy reality of building an organisation as a start-up scales. The newsletter started because I wanted to help leaders look beyond their own function and better understand the business they’re helping to build.

This month, those ideas travelled a little further. Readers met, swapped perspectives, and some even started WhatsApp groups to stay connected. 🥹

Thank you to everyone who hosted, joined or continues to read every month! 💛

The more of the business you understand, the more confidently you can operate as a strategic leader and influence what the business.

The STEP UP MBA builds the commercial understanding to see that bigger picture. The STEP UP Bootcamp helps you turn that perspective into action — diagnosing the right problems, prioritising where to intervene and influencing what happens next.

As part of my newsletter birthday celebration🎂, both are 30% off until 9 October — just use the code BIRTHDAY2026.

A few messages from Learngility leaders this month that made me smile, laugh and feel very proud.