Send to Kindle One of the hardest parts of any job is working with difficult people. No matter what your assignment, if there are other people who make it hard for you to get your work done or who make you feel unhappy, unsupported, or misunderstood while you’re doing your work, it can turn going [...]
Send to Kindle This is a post I have been thinking about for a long time, but didn’t have the balls [figuratively of course] to write until now (more on why below). If you are running an engineering organization of 5 or more people, and your product is launched, you shouldn’t be writing code. Trust [...]
Send to Kindle Build your own personal advisory board In a lot of people’s minds, entrepreneurs and innovators often stand out as super-individuals; ones who had a vision and just made it happen all on their own, through sheer determination and force of spirit. It’s easy to get caught up in that mindset and [...]
Send to Kindle Happy Valentines Day! First a quick personal update, and then on to the good stuff I have been absent the last few weeks – quiet on twitter, behind on email, and missing on my blog. I am working furiously to launch an MVP of my first leadership tool (and I [...]
Send to Kindle Lots of people want to work at startups these days. And for good reason. When I left my former positions at big companies like Microsoft and Amazon, I caught the startup bug and got hooked on the challenge and opportunity they provided. But the thing that we all love about startups – [...]
Staring is Creepy – Time to Develop Networking Skills (some are obvious, but surprisingly difficult)
Send to Kindle Networking: Mastering the Art of Small Talk Do you want to know what I consider a form of torture? Walking into an event knowing I am going to spend the next few hours making polite conversation with lots of strangers, all while trying to seem like I am having a good time. [...]
Send to Kindle What are your predictions for the year? I don’t know about you, but my year is already starting out in a wild and crazy way (more news on that soon)…. I love New Year’s because it’s such a perfect opportunity to reflect on the year that has passed; I can look back [...]
Send to Kindle Becoming a Manager As I’ve said before on this blog: when I started my career, it was never my intention to become a manager. I always wanted to be a software engineer (and one day an architect or principal engineer), and I worked really hard to deepened my technical knowledge as I [...]
Send to Kindle Every year I become a better manager. As time goes I get better and better (just like a great bottle of wine). As I reflect on my growth, one of the more shocking lessons was learning to how it important it was to build relationships with my peers. In big companies, your performance [...]
Send to Kindle I am shy and introverted and the thought of going out with the intention of meeting other people, starting conversations with strangers, and making small talk is one of the activities I dread most. I can’t deal with silence (which makes me seem chatty and it is really just the fact [...]