Molly's June Tidbits

At Apple, as at Google, a boss’s ability to achieve results had a lot more to do with listening and seeking to understand than it did with telling people what to do; more to do with debating than directing; more to do with pushing people to decide than with being the decider; more to do with persuading than with giving orders; more to do with learn... See more

Some ways to build this habit:When reviewing new designs, always bring people back to “what problem are we trying to solve here?”When you get a hint that team members are misaligned (e.g. quoting data not everyone has seen, optimizing for different goals, shifting priorities), just say “We may be misaligned on this, what’s your understanding of X?”... See more

“Looking back on my career, my favorite managers allowed me to own decisions, even if they disagreed with me. They couldn't do this for every decision — some were just too expensive or difficult to reverse. But if they spotted an opportunity for me to own a decision, they let me run with it. This would often be preceded by spirited debate, where th... See more