Kiran Shahbaz

There’s no subtle anxiety from wondering if someone is lying to you—or from carrying the weight of your own little lies.

No lying creates psychologically safe environments.

Safe environments lead to productive environments.

Don’t lie.

It’s so much better.

It’s interesting to see new hires—who come from all kinds of work environments where this is not a core value—“learn” no lying and “unlearn” lying.

Once they get it, they’re all in.

- Like the time we accidentally overcharged a client $4K, realized it six months later, and proactively returned the funds—even though they hadn’t noticed.
- Like the time we were royally understaffed and missed client deadlines. Instead of excuses, we admitted fault.

We reinforce this value through daily examples. It seeps into the culture:

- Like the time we rejected a client because we weren’t aligned with their value, and we told them so (nicely, of course 😇).
- Like the time a team member openly disagreed with the founder—in public (this happens often).

The VC then asked if we reward people for telling the truth—like saying, “Thank you for telling me the truth.”

Umm…no.

You’re just expected not to lie—because that’s what being a good human and working with us entails.

No one’s asking you to share everything, but we are asking you not to mislead.

White lies might seem harmless, but they’re not.

Any kind of lying creates an undertone of anxiety and mistrust.

Not lying fosters psychological safety.

I explained that during onboarding, we tell new hires very clearly: lying is not acceptable. Ever.

We give examples of what this means:
- If you’re not feeling like coming into work, don’t lie about it. Take a mental health day (which we offer) instead of saying your cat is sick.

His response:
"Oh man, I would lie all the time and was even encouraged by the firm to lie—or at least misconstrue the truth."

He then asked how we "implement" this value.

This is a value we take very seriously, both internally and when hiring for other employers through Goodwork.

I often forget how radical this concept can seem, but my chat with the VC reminded me.

I was recently chatting with a retired VC and mentioned that one of our core company values is INTEGRITY—which, for us, means no lying.

- No lying to each other.
- No lying to clients.
- No big lies.
- No small lies.
- No white lies.
- No lying.

Full stop. Period.

I just learned that a concept central to our business is considered radical by most:

No lying. Ever.

At a 2% conversion rate, that’s another 3-6 warm leads, potentially $12-18K.

Ambitious? Yup.

Technically doable? Also yup.

Let’s go and crush March! 🚀

- Reach out to 147 leads in our inactive cold email pipeline with individual LinkedIn messages.
- Go through my LinkedIn connections and reach out to any ICPs I’m already connected with (exact number TBD).

That should give me another 300+ leads.

Can I do this??

Honestly, no idea. But I’m going to try.

The plan:

- Reach out to 53 leads in our inbound inactive list with a personalized offer based on the type of talent that makes sense for them.

- 2 calls already booked (potential $4-6K)
- 2 people who want to book calls but haven’t yet (potential $4-6K)

That gives us a total of $19-23K in potential deals.

If I assume 1/3 of these will actually close (ambitious, I know 😆), then I need to triple my warm pipeline immediately.

We have 8 days left in Q1 and we are $21K short of our quarterly goal.

Here is what our active pipeline looks like:

- $5K in verbal commitments
- $6K in very warm leads (they said they plan to move forward on the call)

She was also no pushover -- I got a couple of stern chats when I was late. 🫠

Great managers make people stay, even in hard times.

Bad managers make people leave, even when everything else is good.

Be a good manager. 😊🙏🏽

Looking back, I think my first manager was so great because she:

- Led with clarity
- Built trust within the team
- Had unshakable integrity
- Gave people ownership of their work (within reason)
- Listened and held space
- Made people feel heard, valued, and cared for

A micromanager. Uninspiring. Questionable ethics. I wasn’t even sure he wanted to be there.

I quit almost immediately.

You could tell she deeply cared about the work and the people she served.

She saw my enthusiasm and tenacity, handed me a huge budget, and told me to run with it.
The job was tough, but I was so happy to be there with her support. I thrived in that environment.

Then she left & I got a new manager.

The last job I had was on a First Nations reserve in Alberta, where I worked for three years leading community development initiatives alongside local leaders.

For the first two years, I had an incredible manager.

She was inspiring, determined, and had an unshakable sense of integrity.

People quit their managers, not their jobs.

All other non-managerial factors being equal (compensation, work hours, perks, etc.), people leave a toxic, uninspiring, disengaged manager.

Having your own money gives you the freedom to say NO and walk away.

Having your own money gives you freedom.

Hire women. Give them money. Give them choices.

We will all be better off for it. 🙏🏽

They’re now living their best lives.😇

I don’t think they could have done this without a job, without their own money, without financial independence.

Having your own money is power.

Having your own money gives you confidence.

Having your own money gives you a voice.

- Then, red flags appeared.
- They noticed. And they said, "No, thank you."
- Their families pushed back.
- They pushed back harder.
- Engagements were called off.

- Both got involved with someone.
- Their parents found out and decided marriage was the next step (this is common in Pakistan, and many marriages are arranged this way).
- The girls went along with it, because that’s what you do.

Two of our women team members in Pakistan broke off their unwanted marriages.

I won’t go into details because the stories aren’t mine to share, but here’s the overview:

Does this narrow my pool? Yup.
Is it worth it? Yup.

I want to be financially rich. But I also want to be happy rich. 😎

Find the people who are living the WHOLE life you want—and take their advice. 🙏🏽

You have a bunch of money? Awesome.
But you’re not a good person to be around? No thank you.

I seek advice from people who are where I want to be holistically—with both their bank account and character.

I’m in the startup space. I’ve encountered plenty of people making 7 to 8 figures and some making 9 to 10 figures.

Some are VERY successful in their own right, but I wouldn’t necessarily take advice from them -- especially if they’re assholes.