mostly researching, thinking, and writing about company culture via The Kool-Aid Factory and Founder Fodder (newsletter). Used to Stripe (Stripe Press, BizOps) and Figma (Figma for Education).
Most hacker-founders would like to spend all their time programming. You won't get to, unless you fail. Which can be transformed into: If you spend all your time programming, you will fail.
Among the senior leaders I’ve worked with, I’ve seen folks cause far more harm applying this advice too literally than by ignoring it. Leading effective and collaborative teams requires a nuanced approach to trust.
I thought my job was to be right. I thought that was how I proved my worth to the company. But that was all wrong. My job was to get things done and doing anything meaningful past a certain point requires more than one person. If you are right but nobody wants to work with you, then how valuable are you really? How much can you realistically... See more