hiring, meetings, etc

Burnout is the ultimate agency-killer. This is so true that I’ve learned to identify a reduction in agency as one of the first signs of burnout, one that shows up even before I consciously realize what’s happening.

As a rule, in a corporate environment, never signal that you buy the dream or that you crave an audience, as each of these can be provided at little to no cost for the employer and for little or no lasting benefit to you. Instead, signal that you crave the two things of real, lasting value a quality employer can offer: a learning environment and,... See more

To signal a desire for learning, do cool things that require you to learn and do more than the job requires. Employers are, in general, sort of like archeologists: They study artifacts to understand the people who made them. So make artifacts that demonstrate you like to learn things.

I sometimes visualize meeting one person as the equivalent of meeting the Ocean’s 11 crew together at once, wrapped up in one human envelope—we each have distinct parts, and we tell a story to ourselves and the world that they are a coherent whole, but depending on the context different parts step forward into the light on the stage.

I also try to stick to the default assumption that “everyone is an A player at something.” It’s a more effective and more dynamic way to approach an interview—a live, fascinating puzzle to discover what the elephant and the rider do well—rather than going in with the purpose of determining whether someone is an A player in a binary, Manichean way.... See more

I try to conduct references with an eye to quirky forms of excellence.

You should find the candidate confusing at times. If you first see their dysfunction, you should know you have yet to find their genius, and vice versa.