The WEF estimates that it will take the U.S. another 208 years to reach gender equality. So, women and minorities may need to lean in for some time. As leaders though, we should lean out to create space so others may lean in. Read More
Villains that Rob Your Confidence
Leaders inspire people to persevere in the face of adversity and ultimately derive energy from the challenge of confronting their villains. Read More
Radical Candor, Meaningful Conversations
Radical Candor is an overlooked asset in creating high-performance teams when that candor is built upon a foundation of trust. The Harvard Business Review artcile One Out of Every Two Managers Is Terrible at Accountability starts with: “Out of all the things we expect of leaders — taking charge, setting strategy, empowering people, driving execution,… Read More
The Root Cause of a 10x Engineer
The “10x Engineer” has been discussed and whether they or are illusive unicorns – creatures of our imagination and fairy tales. Read More
New Hires
New hires present the best opportunityto put employees on their path to achieve their greatest potential. There are three very impactful people in determining the joy, success and fulfillment an employee finds in their job… Read More
Where to Begin the Journey?
When a new person joins your team, the first impression you make on them sets the foundation for the rest of your journey together. Before you impress upon them your intentions and objectives as a leader, you should first establish with yourself what you believe to be the foundation of such as relationship. See also… Read More
Talent Code Applied
Talent Code is where Daniel Coyle describes deep learning through short repetitions and feedback loops. I have applied this approach in coaching sports and in business. An interview with Tim Ferriss is included at the end of The Art of Learning – An Inner Journey to Optimal Performance by chess and Tai Chi world champion… Read More
Developing new managers
In developing talent within an organization, there are times where an individual contributor , often one that has excelled as an engineer, may be interested in becoming a manager. Read More
The Room Where it Happens
As leaders, much of the magic happens in the one-on-one conversations either in the privacy of a physical of virtual room (think Skype or Zoom) or on a walk-about as a more neutral setting and where you also benefit from the energy of being in Motion. These conversations should sometimes be as non-threatening as a… Read More
Vectors of Influence
In helping leaders manage the dynamics of teams navigating the uncertainty in the market or new approaches in the work-place, it is not uncommon for them to be confronted with team members having differences of opinion. In fact, to arrive at the best solutions, there is a lot of value in fostering discussions based on… Read More
Goldilocks and the Six Chairs
Facing a big, life decision with multiple aspects at play? There’s a Co-active coaching exercise where you divide the floor into 8 sections with tape. The idea is you think of the problem, choice or topic at being in the center and each of the sections being a different metaphor for a perspective that you… Read More
Handling Interrupts
For any team that is responsible for existing systems that are already in use while also iterating on those systems to enhance and/or improve them there is also typically the burden of interrupts from the existing system. Forward progress is best made with concentrated effort that is focused and uninterrupted. How does one balance these… Read More
Building Bridges Between Product and Engineering
This “Build a Bridge“ question is from my list of interview questions I like to ask. It works for both a Product Manager role and for an Engineering leadership role… If, as a product manager, you wanted to have engineering build a bridge, how would you convey that to engineering? If it’s an engineering manager… Read More
The Dark Side of Agile
Along with the virtues of Agile Software Development also can come some destructive downsides that can erode trust and effectiveness within your company culture. I recently attended a 3-day Scrum certification class where the founder of the particular methodology was the instructor. He insisted that managers not participate in standup meetings, planning meetings, grooming sessions,… Read More
Embrace the Challenge
Growing Roses from Concrete My first assignment as a student teacher was to work with a teacher that had a special class of students with “learning issues.” On the day I showed up, the principal informed me that the teacher had quit the previous day and asked if I’d be willing to still lead the… Read More
Lean Staffing – It’s about the People
In his insightful book The Lean Startup: How Today’s Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses, Eric Ries speaks of his startup lessons learned at IMVU and from many other companies he came to know afterwards including Intuit. In The Lean Startup and also his more recent book, The Leader’s Guide, Eric focuses… Read More
Heart Rate Meditation
There can many advantages for mind, body and soul to being able to calm oneself to be more present and aware when trying to notice opportunities previously overlooked. Much of the guidance on meditation starts with focusing on the breath. I found it to be more effective to focus on the heart in a way… Read More
Building Collaborative Groups with Broken Squares
In his book The Culture Code – The Secrets of Highly Successful Groups, Daniel Coyle refers to a competition at Stanford where business students in university squared off against kindergartners. The four-person teams had to beat the clock and build a tower using uncooked spaghetti, tape and string with a marshmallow on top. You would… Read More
Different Stokes for Different Folks
My high school history teacher Mr. Hupert always used to say “different strokes fo different folks” in explaining how under different circumstances in different times with different people, different forms of government were effective. So, too, I discovered, it is with effective software development methodologies. When I joined IMVU, we were continuously deploying to our… Read More