When leaders stop yelling and start talking
Looking past the headlines this week.
Hey there,
This week, I found myself in conversations I didn’t expect to have so soon. These weren’t sales calls, but internal discussions. I realized that a part of the business I’ve been quietly building now needs real leadership.
Last week, I shared that our RPO work is growing. Now, it’s grown enough that I’m looking for a Head of RPO to help lead and expand it. This feels both exciting and steady. RPO is the service I care about most because it focuses on systems instead of transactions. We work directly with teams for a flat monthly fee, doing the work together. There’s less noise and more action.
If you’re interested in applying or know someone who might be, please use this link to submit your application.
Moments like these change how I read the news. When you’re building something real, you stop reacting to every headline and start focusing on what truly shifts incentives, timelines, or behavior.
Let’s get into it.
🌐 News Shortlist
1. Trump and Petro moved from public feuding to cooperation, and that’s normal
Recap: President Donald Trump and Colombian President Gustavo Petro met this week after months of public clashes on social media and through official statements. The meeting focused on migration, drug trafficking, regional security, and Venezuela. Both sides described the conversation as constructive and signaled a willingness to coordinate more closely in the short term.
Recently, the two leaders exchanged insults in public, on Twitter, Truth Social, and through official channels. But when they met face to face, they got along well. This is common in international politics. Leaders often act tough for their own countries, then have practical talks when their interests match.
Any results from this meeting are positive, but likely short-term. Petro’s term is almost over, and Colombia will choose a new president soon. Any deals or changes in tone should be seen with that in mind. This is not a lasting shift, just a response to current needs.
What is stable is the underlying relationship. The vast majority of Colombians prefer strong ties with the United States. The countries have deep economic, cultural, and people-to-people connections that outlast any individual president. Those fundamentals matter more than public sparring between leaders.
Advice:
If you do business in Colombia or hire people there, don’t let political drama worry you. Short-term teamwork is useful, but long-term choices should rely on the strong ties between the countries, not the news. The U.S.-Colombia relationship is bigger and more stable than any one government.
2. The new H-1B rule benefits large companies more than startups
Recap: The U.S. government has changed the H-1B visa lottery to give preference to higher-paying jobs. Now, people applying for higher-paid roles are more likely to be chosen, while those in lower-paid roles have less chance. The official reason is to support “high-skilled” immigration, but in practice, this helps bigger companies with set pay scales.
This change is not about restricting immigration, but about shifting who benefits. The system now favors employers who can offer higher pay and handle more risk, which usually means large companies instead of startups.
For startups, relying on the H-1B was already risky. This new rule makes that risk even clearer. If your hiring plan depends on a lottery that now favors those who pay the most, it is not a solid foundation.
This fits a larger trend. Immigration options are getting less flexible, more costly, and more focused on big companies. While it is still possible to find talent, companies now need to reconsider their hiring strategies instead of relying on the U.S. visa system.
Advice:
If you run a startup or a growing company, avoid tying key roles to H-1B results. Create hiring plans that do not depend on lotteries, delays, or changing policies. This often means building remote teams, hiring internationally, or designing roles so your business is not at the mercy of immigration rules.
3. Dating apps are losing trust, and that’s a business problem
Recap: Match Group says Tinder is still losing active users, and Hinge’s growth is slowing down. Meanwhile, a viral Hinge “experiment” showed a man making a fake female profile that got over 1,000 likes in just one day. This sparked new debate about how dating apps share attention and value, making users even more frustrated and raising fresh questions about long-term engagement and retention.
Some might see this as just online drama, but it shows a deeper problem. Dating apps only succeed when users feel their effort is rewarded fairly. If many users feel ignored or manipulated, trust fades—even if the numbers still look good.
The real issue is incentives. Companies like Match Group focus on engagement, subscriptions, and keeping people on the app. Over time, this often means most of the attention and success goes to just a few users. That might help in the short run, but it eventually causes many others to leave instead of becoming loyal customers.
This pattern isn’t just in dating apps—it happens on other consumer platforms too. When products move away from what users expect, growth slows down and even employees start to question things. It’s not only about losing users. It’s about people losing faith in what the product is supposed to do.
Advice:
If you’re building a product, pay attention to where users are getting frustrated—not just where the money is coming from. If people start calling your product demoralizing instead of helpful, the issue isn’t just marketing or features. It’s about alignment. Fix it early, or you’ll lose users later.
That’s it for this week.
Most weeks don’t come with clean conclusions. They just add a little more context to the decisions you’re already making. This one felt like that.
If you’re hiring, building teams, or managing products, the work might look straightforward on paper but is tough in real life. Focus on what really impacts your daily work. Be clear about tradeoffs, and try not to get distracted by things that aren’t urgent.
If you or someone you know is interested in the Head of RPO role, please let me know.
Until next time,
Joseph Burns
CEO & Founder, Lupa