What I hear when you tell me your company doesn’t do meetings
I know what you want me to hear. You want me to hear that you’re modern and amazing. You want me to hear that you respect…
If you hate rumour mills, why did you build one?
The math itself is straightforward. In any company with more than two people, there will be times when some people have information…
Is it worth your time to be excellent?
You’re not where you’re supposed to be. You’re not a failure. You’re actually doing well. You have a way you present…
Your new process is no substitute for giving a shit
To be fair, someone at IBM tried. I worked at IBM for a few years after university, and it was clear that someone meant well.…
Leadership is not about your good intentions
I don’t honestly remember which Mike it was. But early in my life as a manager I remember Mike, (or maybe Mike, or Mike,…
Unlimited vacation and other forms of guilt-based management
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before… We’re a modern company and we’re blowing everything up. We don’t care…
You won’t brilliant your way out of this
I’m gonna make this one quick, because I know you’ve got a lot going on. You’re not as smart as you think you are. Don’t…
You know your product team is failing, but do you know why?
I build teams that build products. It’s my thing that I do. Engineering, design, marketing, and product management. That’s…
How to be a better leader in four badly drawn charts
New managers are idiots, and I was no exception. I meant well. We all do. But tech isn’t great at setting examples for management,…
Some garbage I used to believe about equality
I will probably spend the rest of my life trying to be less of an ass. I think this is a fine occupation for most people. But…
What to do when it all falls apart
The hardest month in my life as a leader was in the spring of 2014. I was VP Firefox at Mozilla. I was one of the senior leaders…
Big lies, little lies, and the cheat code to a promotion
I talk with a lot of people about their careers. Maybe you’re one of them. Sometimes you work for a team that I run, but…
How fucked up is your management?
It’s taken me 15 years in this industry to figure out how to be any good at what I do. I don’t know how to write it all…