Organizations
Finding an Explanation vs. Permanent Resolution of Issues
If we're not careful, we default into defensiveness when issues arise. And everyone involved will be tempted to avoid blame, and keep things simple. Don't fall for that trap.
Latest
Mid Career
Don't Let Your Soft Skills Block Your Career - Overcoming Mental Blocks
Everyone recognizes that hard skills can be a blocker for their career, and that means everyone focuses on strengthening their hard skills. Soft skills are similar. They can hold you back, and they can be improved. And I'm going to talk about how.
Career Growth
Leveraging the Three Phases of Career Growth for Outsized Rewards
Many employees tend to let their careers drift from opportunity to opportunity. That can lead to excellence, or not. Purposefully driving your career through the three phases of career growth is a way to have agency over your career.
Interviewing
Crush Your Interviews with the Power of Storytelling
For interviews, it's not what you've done, it's how you explain what you've done. It's that fundamental difference which makes storytelling a critical interview skill.
Organizations
A Few Days of OP1 — Perspectives From Middle Management
OP1 is a massive bureaucratic monstrosity, where billions of investment and over a million employees are allocated to projects across Amazon. And this is a bit of what it feels like to be buried in the organizational structure.
Early Career
22 Invaluable Life and Career Lessons
This fun article was a list of topics I wanted to write about, but didn't want to turn into entire articles on their own. And to encourage you to read, I suggest that number 19 is particularly great!
Organizations
Write That S**t Down. The Importance of Taking Notes.
In organizations, you will continually re-litigate decisions and agreements if you don't carefully document them.
Organizations
Tales of Unintended Side Effects
We act with good intentions. But those actions often lead to an equal and opposite side effect. Are you thinking about what those might be?
Mid Career
Failed and Successful Stories of Work-Life Balance
Work-life balance isn't simply giving away free food, or lots of vacation days. It's often about what skills an employee can develop and use to set boundaries.
Career Growth
A Day in the Life of a Tech Director Being Promoted to General Manager
Growing isn't as simple as learning new skills. It frequently means moving into areas of discomfort. This is a set of anecdotes from my move to GM.
Career Growth
Are You Getting the Performance Ratings You Deserve?
Our performance ratings influence our ability to get raises, promotions, and our long term career success. They're not a simple meritocracy, but are a coarse-grained way of estimating our value to our company. Here's a bit on making certain you get a rati
Managing Up
Here's a Technique to Get Your Manager to Do What You Want.
Your manager isn't lazy, but you need to get things moving! Take control over your career (and your life) by learning how to drive your manager to act.