Tom Schmidt

Most changes start before they make sense. First it's a pull you keep noticing, then a thought you keep returning to, then a small impatience with the life that technically works, but deep down feels empty. The practical part of you wants proof before it moves, which is fair. But some changes don't begin as certainty. They begin when the old shape... See more

Happiness is a trailing indicator of impact.

Because the establishment never wanted the problem solved. They wanted the problem funded. And those are two very different things.

“ I sought good judgment mostly by collecting instances of bad judgment, then pondering ways to avoid such outcomes. ”

"One of the things that I love is focusing on the process over the prize."

• Most managers give negative feedback in private, but this optimizes for the individual at the expense of the whole system


• When you only channel criticism privately, the rest of the team has suspicions and concerns but has no idea if leadership is aware or doing anything about it


• Criticizing in public lets the whole team understand that there is an

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convince the person that their specific skill overlaps with the single biggest blocker to the company’s current success, so they are not just joining a good company but betting on themselves

Run a constant triage: what’s the most important thing I could be doing right now, what’s the highest leverage action I could possibly take, and how hard can I jump on that lever

question every requirement, delete, simplify and optimize, accelerate, automate. In that order