Taylor

The Motivation Multiplier: Why Meaning Beats Money Bonuses, perks, and pressure only go so far. Here’s a framework to unlock performance through purpose—and avoid accidentally undoing your team’s motivation.

You can’t bonus your way out of disengagement.
But meaning?
That’s the piece that makes it all click.

📬 Read the full breakdown here → open.substack.com/pub/cfoframe...

✅ Connect work to impact
Let people see who they help.

🛡 Protect meaning
Even canceled projects had value. Say it out loud.

➕ Let meaning multiply
Use it to supercharge incentives—not replace them.

Carrots and sticks aren't wrong.
They're just incomplete.
Here’s a 3-part framework I use to build meaning into work (without sounding like a TED Talk):

Now flip it:
Fundraisers who spent 5 minutes with someone their work helped raised 2.7x more… for a month.
Five minutes of meaning → four weeks of performance.

Watching their work get undone—even when paid—sapped motivation.
They didn’t say it wasn’t worth it.
They just… stopped caring.
Because meaning matters more than we think.

In one study, participants were paid to build LEGO sets.
Same task, same pay.
But in one version, their finished models were immediately disassembled in front of them.

Output dropped 32%.
Earnings fell 20%.
Why?

Most leaders still rely on carrots and sticks.
But a LEGO experiment, a call center study, and Parks and Rec all point to something better.
👇 The hidden multiplier behind motivation (and how to use it):

Confident… and Completely Wrong How “Fast Thinking” and a Lack of Story Sense Undermine Great Judgment

Read the full piece here: www.cfoframeworks.com/p/confident-...
I’d love to hear your thoughts on how you ensure you’re seeing the full story before making decisions.

If a moment feels too obvious, too clean, or even too satisfying, it might be time to pause and look again. A quick check could reveal hidden details that change everything.

Scene: What are you seeing, and what might be just out of frame?

Speaker: Who’s telling the story, and what biases might they bring?

Sequence: How does this moment fit into a larger timeline—what came before, and what could follow?

I introduce a tool called Story Sense. It’s built on three simple questions—Scene, Speaker, Sequence—to help you challenge the narrative before it shapes your decision.

In my latest CFO Frameworks piece, I dig into how our confident decisions often miss the mark because we overlook the parts of the story that aren’t immediately visible.

We often respond to what’s in front of us without asking:
What’s missing?
Who’s telling this story?
Where does this moment fit in the bigger picture?

a man in a red suit and tie is saying `` i immediately regret this decision '' ALT: a man in a red suit and tie is saying `` i immediately regret this decision ''

Most bad decisions don’t come from ignoring the facts. They come from acting on a story that feels complete—when it isn’t.

Lean & Large Leveraging natural cycles to grow a business efficiently

The companies that thrive aren’t the ones chasing perfection.

They’re the ones who know when to bulk and when to cut.

🔗 Read more: open.substack.com/pub/cfoframe...

That doesn’t mean efficient growth is impossible.

But we need to stop pretending it’s a linear path of perpetual optimization.

Growth isn’t meant to be efficient all the time.

Optimize everything. Eliminate waste. And, most importantly, keep growing.

It’s all technically possible. But like McElhenney’s "perfect" transformation, it requires a level of diligence and resourcing that few can sustain long-term.

Rob McElhenney once gave the perfect guide to getting shredded.

Sounds familiar? It should. This is exactly how we talk about efficient growth in business. (🧵/🌀)

The Montoya Matrix A framework to ensure our words and actions speak the same language

I wrote about how to spot these terms before they destroy value, and what to do about them: www.cfoframeworks.com/p/the-montoy...

a man in a futuristic suit is sitting on the ground near a hole in the ground ALT: a man in a futuristic suit is sitting on the ground near a hole in the ground

The most dangerous? Black Hole Words. They appear precise enough to build plans around, yet contain hidden chasms of misunderstanding that only become visible when it's too late.

The Matrix reveals four species of business language:
• Black Hole Words (dangerous ambiguity)
• Binding Words (precise, enforced meaning)
• Buzzwords (harmless noise)
• Baseline Words (clear fundamentals)

Not all ambiguous terms are equally dangerous. Some create mere confusion, others trigger catastrophe.

Enter the Montoya Matrix: a tool for mapping business language based on:

🔷 How aligned people's definitions are
🔷How much damage confusion can cause

Even attempts at precision fail. When executives say something is "highly likely," they might mean anything from a 50% to 90% chance.

When millions hang on these assessments, that variance isn't just semantic—it's existential.

a cartoon of two spidermans standing in front of a nypd van ALT: a cartoon of two spidermans standing in front of a nypd van

To the CTO, "innovation" means investing millions in quantum computing.
To Product, it means A/B testing button colors.
To the CFO, it means finding clever ways to reduce costs.

three men are standing next to each other and one has a sword ALT: three men are standing next to each other and one has a sword

Ever been in a meeting where everyone nods at "we need more innovation" but leaves with completely different ideas?

These "black hole words" create an illusion of alignment while masking total disagreement.