I went to the dentist this morning, for my semi-annual cleaning. The only interesting parts of the visit were their COVID questions and the piped-in music. They asked me about my vaccine and disease status 4 times: when I made the appointment; when I confirmed it by email; confirmation the day before by phone; and […]
When Do You Choose to Embrace the Past, Present, or Future? Read More »
I spoke with a writer the other day. He said mean things about himself—that he was a bad writer. (Not true.) That he didn’t make time to write. (True.) That no one would want to read his articles. (Definitely not true.) Sometimes, we give ourselves too much leeway for our mistakes—we are too kind to
When Are You Kind to Yourself and When Are You Not? Read More »
The recent news about Simone Biles and Naomi Osaka made me sad—for them personally, for their potential accomplishments, and for us as a society. How much pressure do they feel, that they needed to stop competing at the highest level of their sports? When I feel extraordinary pressure, I rely on my support systems. It
Who’s Got Your Back? Pressure and Resilience Read More »
I have limited expertise. (I have many opinions, but I have limited expertise.) That means I need to decide when to trust someone else’s expertise. My decisions depend on many criteria, including the domain—and the personal cost to me. I have substantial expertise in product development, so I check the context, look for options, and
Whose Experience and Expertise Do You Trust and When? Read More »
A funny thing happened these past couple of weeks. Instead of short messages in my LinkedIn messaging, I’m receiving messages that look like newsletters. Not too long, but not short messages. I’m so shy and retiring (!), I asked one of these people directly. “Are you using LinkedIn to send newsletters?” Yes, he was. I
How Can You Create Better Interactions? Read More »
Back when I was a software developer, I excelled at certain mistakes. I could write an infinite loop faster than anyone. Then there was the off-by-one mistake for arrays or tables. I repeated certain mistakes too often. Until I started an engineering notebook. Once I started to learn about my mistakes, I stopped those mistakes. I
Mistake vs. Success: When Do You Learn from Each? Read More »
I spoke with a treasured colleague, Alex, a couple of weeks ago. He told me he was so busy he couldn’t “find” the time to write. I asked about his family and the house. No, everyone’s okay. Cooking, cleaning, kids—all good. He’s not working out any more than usual. I then asked this question: “How
Do You Offer Your Attention to People Who Deserve It? Read More »
Naomi Osaka withdrew from the French Open this week. Why? Because she would have to meet with the media right after her play. This is a big deal. She’s one of the top tennis players in the world. I suspect that she’s a big draw for the television rights. Naomi asked for what she wanted.
When and How Do You Ask for What You Want? Read More »
I read Daniel Steinberg’s newsletter about Small Big Thinking. He wrote about small things that appear big. And big things that appear small. In my experience, those small big things tend to be irritants. For instance, I have a pair of perfectly good sneakers that don’t stay tied. There’s something wrong with the shoelaces. I
What Do You Forget to Notice? Read More »
A colleague worries that his team wants to change too much about how they work, all at once. He said, “They have 47 ideas that they want to use, to change how they work.” I said, “47 seems like a lot.” He nodded. “I suspect there are 46 too many for now.” After we both
Do You Need to Focus or Harness Your Energy? Read More »