What is the root cause of a 10x engineer? Are “10x Engineers” mythical creatures that exist only in our imagination or are they real? Read More
10x Engineer Root Cause
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
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
Radical Candor
Radical Candor is an overlooked asset in creating high-performance teams when that candor is built upon a foundation of trust. I’ve discovered that evoking transformation can often require radical candor. However, when properly applied, the transformation can resemble a metamorphosis. Read More
Lean Out / Lean in
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
Confidence Villains
Leaders inspire people to persevere in the face of adversity and ultimately derive energy from the challenge of confronting their villains. 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. Read More
Vectors of Influence
Vectors of Influence come from all sides in a changing world and tension easily arises that hinder effective Human Transformation. Read More
Different Stokes for Different Folks
Different Stokes for Different Folks – which version of Agile to apply based on team, project and situation. Read More
Lean Staffing – It’s about the People
At IMVU, we focused on hiring and developing engineers that loved challenges and loved to iterate and move fast. This included an interview process where each question was set up to get harder and harder. This was done until we had pushed beyond the candidates comfort zone. Read More
Start with Trust
Start with trust to set the foundations of a relationships when a new person joins your team. The first impression you make on them sets the foundation for the rest of your journey together. 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. Read More
Embrace the Challenge
After riding the dot com wave as VP, Engineering for the fastest growing software company on NASDAQ, I decided to embrace the challenge to give back by getting my teaching credentials at San Jose State. I walked by this statue commemorating Tommie Smith and John Carlos’ brave protest at the 1968 Olympics on my way… Read More
Orange Observations
I devised this Orange Observations exercise in my efforts to inspire my students to be observant. Read More
Acknowledgement
Telling someone that they are amazing, naturally creative, resourceful and whole with unbounded potential is NOT an acknowledgement. Read More
Building Collaborative Groups with Broken Squares
Broken Squares, Blokus, etc – Games to teach collaboration Read More
Role Models
Inspiration, curiosity and drive for someone with a growth mindset can be sparked or fed by role models. Here are just a few of the many role models that inspired me If we consider the possibility that the potential lies within each of us to be a Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, Malala… Read More
Teach Someone to Teach
Give someone a fish, and you feed them for a day. Teach someone to fish, and you feed them for as long as fish are at their fishing spot. Teach someone to learn, and they may discover that they can themselves … – find other fishing spots – – learn to hunt – – build… Read More
Level 5 Leading
I like to framing styles of leadership as I see them in the fish story. I’m adding a level 5 here that is not as easy to grasp as the others: Level 3 and above leadership empowers, inspires, grows and scales teams and organizations. Level 1 and 2 leadership often leads to under-utilize or diminish… Read More