Editor’s Be aware: There are many enterprise leaders with eclectic resumes, however few (none?) I’ve ever encountered that match the CV of Lionel Benizri, CEO of Yood.co. Based mostly in Chicago, he’s an ordained rabbi, a biblical scribe, a mohel (who carried out the circumcision of his personal sons), an Ironman athlete and a 3x SaaS CEO with 4 ventures underneath his belt—together with one bootstrapped to a strategic merger with Deloitte. He now runs Yood.co, a late-stage accelerator that helps SaaS founders and PE-backed CEOs unlock hundreds of thousands in worthwhile development—with out elevating or hiring.
However what actually grabbed my consideration was Benizri’s different profession. As a commando within the Israeli Protection Forces and officer within the Israel Safety Company—two of probably the most daring and profitable fight models on the planet—he led greater than 120 particular operations throughout Gaza, Lebanon, the Center East and past.
Naturally, I needed to ask: How did that work form his strategy to enterprise?
Relatively than simply spout just a few anecdotes, he took the query as an project, put keyboard to digital paper, and returned just a few months later with a mini-book stuffed with takeaways gleaned by main by means of unattainable fight conditions. The result’s blunt, candid, harrowing, deeply insightful and I’m very grateful he determined to share it with us. I hope you discover it as fascinating and helpful as I did. – Dan Bigman
Lesson 1: Not each state of affairs might be anticipated. Decide what you may management.
Life is chaos, regardless of how properly you put together.
That morning, we had been in Al Bureij—Gaza’s dense central neighborhood, notorious for its underground warfare and factories of terror. A spot I had fought in years in the past. A spot that also reeked of outdated blood and unhealthy reminiscences.
Twenty-four hours earlier than, we had uncovered the biggest missile manufacturing unit in Gaza. Not simply weapons stockpiles, however industrial equipment, 3D printers, explosive compounds and long-range rocket tubes stacked like firewood. A whole terror ecosystem hidden beneath a residential zone.
The invention was historic. And harmful. Our new mission was double:
- Remove remaining threats within the surrounding neighborhood.
- Detonate the complete infrastructure we had uncovered, with out triggering unintended injury.
The terrain made this a nightmare.
In entrance of us: rows of darkish alleys lined with booby traps, snipers and hidden lookouts. Behind us: a large explosive zone now wired to detonate in sequence, being ready by considered one of our demolition groups.
We executed with precision. My crew moved ahead whereas the demolition squad stayed 250 meters behind, establishing fees. All communication was tight. No margin for error.
Then the unimaginable occurred.
A tank, assigned to guard our ahead development, noticed a possible risk rising from a home up forward. The crew double-checked—no signal of friendlies. They fired.
However that one shot handed by means of the electromagnetic discipline close to the demolition zone. It triggered a untimely detonation of the complete setup.
The blast was cataclysmic.
Six of our males died immediately. The remainder of us had been left making an attempt to establish stays, praying that possibly one or two had survived. The grief hit like a wave—however there was no time. Up entrance, we nonetheless had a mission.
Sarcastically, the identical tank fireplace that precipitated the catastrophe had concurrently protected our ahead unit and allowed us to complete the northern sweep.
Two truths held without delay:
- Tactical success.
- Irrecoverable loss.
That evening, I didn’t sleep. I sat underneath the rubble and requested myself a query I’ve confronted earlier than—not simply as a commander, however as a CEO: When every thing collapses round you—what can you continue to management?
As a result of in each conflict and enterprise, plans fail. Methods break. Folks make flawed calls even with the very best of intentions.
You received’t at all times predict the issue. However you should at all times be prepared for what occurs subsequent.
The lesson: Don’t obsess over controlling every thing. It’s a entice. As an alternative:
- Management your response rhythm.
- Management your communication circulation.
- Management the techniques that take in shock.
At Yood and beforehand CHD, this seems to be like:
- Constructing pre-committed determination cadences for moments of doubt.
- Coaching groups to flag micro-threats with out concern of overreacting.
- Creating margin—time, psychological area, dry powder—so we may transfer when others froze.
What issues most isn’t prediction. It’s readiness.
We don’t management the chaos—however we do management what meets it.
Lesson 2: Resist the strain, have religion, preserve targeted. Persistence pays off.
The Shifa operation wasn’t simply one other mission.
It was the mission the world was watching.
Worldwide journalists had been circling it for weeks. NGOs had already declared the hospital sacrosanct. However our intel was unequivocal: Beneath the floor of this humanitarian image lay Hamas infrastructure. Deep, organized, lethal.
For over 21 days, 60 of our elite commandos ready for the operation. We studied each hallway, each substructure, each potential escape route. This wasn’t a mission we may afford to get flawed—morally, tactically or politically.
At 3:00 AM, we launched.
And proper from the start—issues didn’t go as anticipated.
Intel got here in: Certainly one of our process forces had been noticed. Gunfire erupted. 4 of our troopers had been hit.
Instantly, we shifted to plan B and commenced a full sweep. Room by room. Wing by wing. The place felt huge, layered, misleading.
And… we discovered little or no. Some AKs. Minor weapons. No main proof.
The media pounced. “Nothing discovered.” “One other failure.” “Overreach.”
However we stayed.
We didn’t keep out of delight or stubbornness. We stayed as a result of we knew from expertise: fact doesn’t at all times reveal itself within the first act.
Over the subsequent 4 days, we swept deeper into the compound. Into the underground ranges. Via false partitions. Behind makeshift surgical setups.
And what we discovered rewrote the complete story:
- Dozens of operational tunnels used to maneuver fighters and launch assaults.
- Underground command facilities.
- Important paperwork detailing the planning of the October seventh pogrom.
- Proof that hostages had been quickly held there.
- Lots of of hidden weapons.
We didn’t broadcast it. We documented, secured, verified. However we had confirmed the reality to ourselves. And in conflict, that’s usually what issues most.
Now step again and apply this to enterprise.
I’ve been in that seat, too—as a founder, CEO and operator.
You pour months right into a product. It launches—and the market is silent.
Or worse, critics name it irrelevant. Your buyers are spooked. Your crew doubts the technique.
Most fold. Some pivot too early. Others search for louder solutions.
However leaders? Those who make it? They maintain. They keep targeted. They evaluation the information. They double down on the suitable alerts and ignore the noise.
At CHD, after months of reorganizing a fractured gross sales org, our early outcomes post-launch had been flat. Straightforward to panic. However we trusted the plan. We dug deeper into the accounts. And in week 5—not week one—the numbers jumped. We landed the inflection level after the headlines.
This doesn’t imply blind persistence. It means disciplined, eyes-open persistence.
When the world calls your transfer a failure—are you able to keep lengthy sufficient to show in any other case?
That’s the query Shifa requested me. And the one each founder or government faces after they hit resistance.
The lesson:
- Don’t let untimely outcomes dictate your route.
- Don’t let outdoors strain override inside readability.
- Don’t confuse a gradual begin with a flawed name.
Some breakthroughs come solely after the fourth day.
Keep the course. Belief the preparation. The world might neglect the noise. However they may bear in mind the result.
Lesson 3: There’s no good or unhealthy place. There’s solely what you make of it.
We entered the seven-story constructing late within the afternoon.
The shoreline wasn’t far—we may hear waves crashing within the distance—however the temper inside was suffocating. We knew this place had served as a strategic Hamas headquarters, coordinating assaults on civilians simply weeks prior.
After securing the decrease ranges, we shortly positioned ourselves on the fifth and sixth flooring. The fifth was empty and chilly, with indicators of pressured occupation. I stayed there to assist plan our subsequent transfer.
Just a few hours later, I climbed to the sixth ground to verify on the opposite crew and attempt to get some relaxation.
What I discovered on that ground stopped me in my tracks. Graffiti on the wall: “Startup Mindset.” Previous whiteboards stuffed with diagrams. Phrases half-erased however nonetheless readable: “MVP.” “Buyer Segments.” “Pitch Deck.” “Product Iteration.”
This had as soon as been a startup incubator.
I scanned the room. Desks nonetheless there. A cracked MacBook. Publish-it notes are nonetheless caught to a glass panel. A chair knocked over.
And I may all of a sudden image them—the younger founders. Late-night debates over UI. Bottles of vitality drinks. Mock pitches to angel buyers on Zoom. A buzz of ambition.
This ground was as soon as alive with builders.
After which, one thing darker took over. The identical partitions now bore Hamas maps and orders. The area that when created instruments for all times had been changed into a base for terror and loss of life.
Identical area. Reverse objective.
That distinction hit me laborious.
That evening, I couldn’t cease serious about how bodily environments usually mirror the vitality poured into them.
It made me mirror on enterprise, too.
How usually can we blame exterior elements—places of work, nations, markets—when issues fail? However what if these environments are mirrors, not causes?
I’ve seen companies stagnate in world-class campuses. And I’ve seen international manufacturers born in tiny flats with no AC. I’ve led turnarounds in sterile cubicles and I’ve seen magic occur in crowded Zoom rooms.
The distinction isn’t the area. It’s the intention.
The lesson:
There aren’t any inherently “good” or “unhealthy” environments. There are solely the values, vitality and dedication we convey into them.
A storage might be the birthplace of Apple—or a lab for destruction. A boardroom can serve development—or greed.
As CEOs, we don’t simply occupy areas. We form what they imply. We outline whether or not a tradition builds, or corrodes.
As a result of area doesn’t outline us. We outline the area.
Lesson 4: Stability pace and decision-making. Take further time to get the complete image earlier than making a crucial determination.
Shejayia, considered one of Gaza’s most unstable neighborhoods. 5 buildings in entrance of us. Every one a possible entice. Or a hiding place.
We needed to clear all of them—however no room for errors.
I requested the crew:
- “Which of them are clear?”
- “Diagonal’s clear. The 2 proper forward? Not but.”
- “Who’s inside?”
- “35—paratroopers.”
- “Menace?”
- “Not confirmed.”
Later that afternoon, the sunshine began fading. Visibility dropped. We noticed three figures transferring within the distance. No clear markings. No apparent gear.
Then, in my earpiece: “Massive fireplace within the constructing, 12 o’clock, south aspect.”
Zeev, our lead marksman, raised his rifle. “They’re gonna fireplace. Let’s go.”
My intestine screamed no.
“Zeev, don’t shoot. Give me 20 seconds.”
That second introduced me again to 2000. My first months in Duvdevan. We misplaced three commandos in a pleasant fireplace incident. Improper name, made quick. Since then, our unit instilled a brutal self-discipline: confirm—then shoot. No exceptions.
Again to 2023. I radioed two close by models to verify their positions. Inside seconds: affirmation. These males had been IDF. Lighting buildings for tactical diversion. Fully approved.
Had we fired, we’d’ve killed our personal.
The silence that adopted was deafening. All of us stood there, respiration laborious. Alive. As a result of we waited 20 seconds.
The lesson:
In each fight and enterprise, there’s strain to behave quick. Traders need selections. Clients need updates. Your crew seems to be to you for readability.
However the very best leaders know: Pace means nothing with out precision.
Appearing shortly isn’t at all times a power. Typically, it’s a legal responsibility dressed as decisiveness.
In each firm I’ve led, I’ve seen the temptation to maneuver on partial information. To launch too quick. Rent too quick. Scale too quick.
But it surely’s these moments the place I paused—requested yet another query, ran yet another verify—that prevented catastrophe.
Twenty seconds can save 20 months of remorse.
As operators, we have to make pace a operate of readability, not panic.
Lesson 5: Take note of small indicators. They predict a storm.
Shejayia, once more.
We had been tasked with taking management of a big college complicated that had been remodeled right into a Hamas command put up. The terrain round it was brutal—uncovered intersections, tight alleys and layered sniper nests.
As we moved in, photographs rang out—loud, sharp, aimed. I ducked throughout an open road, barely making it to cowl.
Peering again, I traced the fireplace to a sliver between two home windows. We adjusted our place and cleared the construction.
The college was secured. However one thing didn’t sit proper.
I radioed: “West aspect. 11 o’clock. Potential motion. Not IDF fireplace.”
There was nothing seen. No sound. No affirmation. However my intestine whispered in any other case. That whisper—the sort you solely hear while you’ve been by means of sufficient—stayed with me.
Hours handed.
Then: “Lacking process pressure.”
These phrases are ice in your veins. A crew not responding. Not answering comms. Off the grid for too lengthy.
Forty-five minutes later, we discovered the reality: Eight of our brothers had been murdered in a coordinated triple assault. From the identical road I had flagged.
The indicators had been there. However they weren’t loud. They by no means are.
The lesson:
Massive disasters don’t at all times announce themselves. They start with whispers.
In conflict, that’s a flicker between home windows. In enterprise, it’s a teammate who disengages… a accomplice who stops replying… a undertaking that all of a sudden “slows down.”
I’ve discovered to identify these alerts within the discipline—and I’ve discovered to identify them on the workplace.
As a CEO, these whispers present up as delicate tradition shifts. Consumer relationships going chilly. Income trendlines masking churn. Key individuals going quiet in conferences.
Most leaders watch for the explosion. One of the best ones hearken to the silence earlier than it.
Prepare your self to catch the primary sign—not the ultimate blast.
Lesson 6: Give attention to the 20 % that delivers 80 % of the impression
Lebanon, November 2024.
We had been deep inside Ayta ash Shab—territory I had first entered within the Second Lebanon Conflict practically 20 years earlier.
However this time, it was completely different.
This time, there was readability.
Our mission wasn’t to overcome.
It was to dismantle:
- 80 % of Hezbollah’s missile-launching capabilities.
- 80 % of its elite Redwan commando unit.
- 80 % of its underground army ecosystem.
Not one hundred pc. Not symbolic targets. Not “whereas we’re at it” expansions. Simply 80 %—the crucial core.
Over three phases—covert cyber-op, structural demolition and a extremely surgical floor incursion—we achieved precisely that.
The precision was unprecedented. The price was bearable. The result: decisive. After which… the whisper got here.
“We’re already right here. Why not end the job?”
Extra voices joined in. Commanders. Analysts. Even civilians.
In any case, the enemy nonetheless had outposts deeper within the north. Some drones. Scattered bunkers.
We may go additional.
We may go all the best way.
And for a second, I felt the pull.
However I knew the place that path led. I noticed it in 2006.
That yr, I used to be a part of the identical theater—pushed too far, too quick, with no clear endgame. The outcome? A drawn-out marketing campaign. Months misplaced. Morale shattered. Lives altered endlessly—for marginal positive aspects.
This time, we didn’t make that mistake.
We held the road. We stopped at 20 %.
As a result of it gave us 80 % of the outcome—with out the six extra months of conflict it will have price to chase the remainder.
That call, to not push additional, was the toughest one we made. And likewise the wisest.
The 20 % Rule in Enterprise: A Determination That Modified All the pieces
Summer time 2018. CHD Professional.
I had simply taken the reins of an organization that had been flatlining for 3 years. It had seven merchandise on the desk. 5 business pitches. Three overlapping groups. Everybody was working laborious—however nothing was transferring.
I sat down with the senior management crew and laid out one laborious fact:
“Eight-two % of our income comes from two merchandise. The remaining? Noise.”
So we killed them.
5 total choices. Gone. Some had been on the roadmap for years. Some had vocal defenders.
One had the private stamp of the founder. However we knew: The trail to scale wasn’t by means of extra. It was by means of focus.
In three months, the impression was unmistakable:
- Gross sales groups onboarded quicker.
- Shoppers understood our worth immediately.
- Our model lastly stood for one thing clear.
Two years later, that call led to a profitable exit at $44M.
The Temptation to Overreach— and the Self-discipline to Resist
As a CEO, I’ve felt it dozens of occasions.
You simply closed a giant deal, and somebody says: “Why don’t we do this different vertical too?” You’ve lastly stabilized your burn, and your CMO needs to “take a look at a brand new model identification.” Your product crew suggests launching three roadmap options in Q3 “as a result of we’re already midway there.”
It’s at all times seductive. You’re already transferring. You’ve obtained momentum. And the additional 20 % feels… doable.
However what nobody tells you is that this further 20 % usually prices 5 occasions extra—in vitality, readability and organizational fatigue.
After we restructured CHD, I didn’t simply say no to 5 product traces. I needed to say no time and again—to the identical concepts coming again with new names, new decks and new champions.
The most important problem of the 80/20 mindset isn’t evaluation.
It’s management.
It’s having the spine to keep targeted when your total org needs to float.
And it’s the identical on the battlefield. In Ayta a-Shab, the toughest half wasn’t neutralizing the enemy—it was leaving once we may have gone additional.
When everybody round you is saying “Let’s end it,” it takes unusual power to say: “No. We’ve finished what issues. We cease right here.”
That type of determination doesn’t make headlines. It doesn’t look heroic. However it preserves your capability to win the subsequent conflict.
If You’re a CEO At this time—Begin Right here
Right here’s what I’d invite you to do.
Don’t search for extra.
Search for much less that issues extra.
- Take a look at your calendar. What’s the assembly you retain attending that not strikes the needle?
- Take a look at your product roadmap. What are you continue to constructing as a result of it’s already 60 % finished—however shouldn’t exist in any respect?
- Take a look at your org chart. Who’s good—however misaligned with the 20 % that truly scales the corporate?
Minimize with precision. Say no when it’s best to say sure. And practice your individuals to not do extra—however to select higher.
As a result of on the finish of the day, what’s going to outline your management is just not how a lot you touched…
…however how deeply you moved the levers that matter most.
Lesson 7: Pores and skin within the sport, or no sport in any respect.
Shifa Hospital. Gaza. November 2023.
This wasn’t a routine operation. This was probably the most politically uncovered, morally delicate and strategically complicated raid of the conflict.
Above floor: a functioning hospital.
Beneath: a fortress—Hamas tunnels, command facilities, blood traces from hostages, weapons. The world was watching.
We cut up into three teams:
- A command put up just a few hundred meters again—comparatively protected.
- A tactical assist crew—able to extract and help.
- After which us: the entry unit. The primary to make contact. The primary to get hit.
Amongst us was O.O. Quiet. Unassuming. He had already saved 80 lives through the October seventh bloodbath, holding off a terror squad alone at a cultural middle with an almost empty journal. And now, he was again—with us—once more strolling towards the fireplace.
No complaints. No hesitation. He merely confirmed up.
O.O. doesn’t write studies. He writes legacy—in silence. That’s what actual pores and skin within the sport seems to be like. And the distinction was putting.
Some had been drawing maps from the protection of laptops. Some stood shut—however by no means stepped in. And some—only a few—walked by means of the door, realizing they may not stroll out.
That’s the road.
Between intention and execution.
Between phrases and wounds.
Between having pores and skin within the sport—or simply watching from the sideline.
After I Realized “Consolation” Was the Actual Enemy
In 2019, I moved to the U.S. to scale CHD Professional. The corporate had plateaued for years. I had simply over two years to show it round.
What I discovered was chaos: eight product traces, a gross sales crew unfold skinny, no clear north star. So I lower deep. We stored solely two product traces. One focus. One mission.
The board resisted. However I had pores and skin within the sport—so I stood my floor.
We went from $2.8M to $7.1M ARR.
From $51K to over $300K in ARR per worker.
And in January 2022, we exited efficiently to a number one PE fund.
Then got here my actual take a look at.
2023: No Wage. No Security Web. No Backup Plan.
In April 2023, I walked away from a safe place that paid over half one million {dollars} per yr. I had 5 children. My youngest had simply been born. Chicago life is just not low cost. Most of my mates thought I used to be out of my thoughts.
However I had one thing stronger than warning: conviction.
I based Yood—a late-stage accelerator for SaaS corporations.
No retainers. No self-importance metrics. No excuses.
Just one KPI: we receives a commission if—and provided that—ARR per worker will increase.
No outcomes? No paycheck.
I bear in mind gazing my very own monetary dashboard that first month.
No wage. No cushion. No Plan B.
Simply perception—and duty.
That’s what main from the entrance seems to be like. And I wouldn’t commerce it for any consolation package deal on earth.
When There’s No Price for Failure, There’s No Urgency to Succeed
Years earlier than, I had joined Deloitte and was main a strategic transformation for OCP, the biggest phosphate producer on the planet.
They paid us round $5,000 per guide per day. And we gave them org charts. Strategic frameworks. KPI rollouts.
The issue?
If our concepts failed—nothing occurred.
We nonetheless obtained paid. On daily basis. Each hour. Each deck.
One night in Morocco, I stood throughout from the positioning director. He was on the sting of burnout—his future depending on our suggestions.
I noticed it in his eyes: “You’re risking my repute—however not yours.”
That evening, one thing shifted.
I understood, lastly, why “consulting” can generally really feel like theater. PowerPoint is reasonable. Pores and skin is dear.
And Typically, Pores and skin Isn’t a Metaphor.
In the event you ask me what pores and skin within the sport really means, I received’t discuss startups or salaries.
I’ll discuss brit mila—the circumcisions of my sons.
Not as soon as. Not twice. However each time, I used to be the one holding the blade. The one drawing the blood.
As a result of I imagine that management begins within the dwelling. And when it’s your youngster—your legacy—you don’t outsource duty. You step in.
After I take into consideration dedication, I don’t consider speeches. I consider a trembling hand. And the sound of silence after the blessing.
That’s what I carry with me—into conflict, into enterprise, into life.
Last Thought:
Management isn’t about managing outcomes.
It’s about proudly owning penalties.
So take a look at your org right this moment.
Take a look at your companions. Take a look at your hires. Take a look at your self.
- Who solely exhibits up when it’s secure?
- Who will get paid it doesn’t matter what?
- Who’s keen to bleed when the mission will get laborious?
As a result of on the finish of the day—
No pores and skin. No scale. No story.
