Overview ​

A collection of essays and ideas around professional development and leadership.

Future of Work with AI ​

Insights on collapsing talent

There's a lot to unpack here, but the two big trends merging (plug-and-play APIs with AI Agents) will enable even easier application development. In a future landscape, more emphasis on user experience, branding, and community engagement will see smaller and tighter team integrations.

Strange Ways AI Disrupt Business

I've heard this message a few times now; the trend is to move away from 'services' to 'solutions'. For instance, the old model 'provide engagement survey services' to 'managing employee engagement' effectively outsources data insights, content creation, etc. to AI. In other words, don't bill by hour - but bill be task.

Aviv Ben-Yosef - Accelerating Developer Growth ​

Geeks Who Lead podcast is always pretty good, but I was inspired listening to Aviv's thoughts on talent development. In the end, I walked away with the idea of a flourishing environment that allows developers to grow. We should have strong expectations that talented individuals can learn 'A LOT' in a short amount of time. A command and control structure is an anti-pattern that will stifle talent development.

Lessons from David Goggins ​

I completed Never Finished and Can't Hurt Me over a few days in a spellbound frenzy. Here's my key takeaway as one of the - prosaic many 🤗:

  • Challenges versus Goals: Goals are great, aspirational ones provide a north star. But, creating a series of challenges leads to our internal greatness. As a manager, we can help our team grow by giving clearly defined challenges.

  • Learn from failures and know when to fold: I didn't realize David Goggins failed a lot, which is expected because he gave himself crazy challenges. Innovation is an arena that generates A LOT of failures. As a manager, we need to decide - what did we learn? Can we create an alternative path? If not - let's fold and move on, taking what we learn to the next challenge.

  • Heart is great, Heart + Brain is better: The evolution in his book is pretty cool to see unfold. At first, he just leverages pure willpower, then evolves into more strategic approaches with each challenge. Great managers think deeply about why and where to invest time and effort. In a way, how can we do what we do more efficiently and with purpose towards a vision to create business value?

In the end, he is challenging us to find our maximum capabilities - a message that resonates with me.

Vision ​

I feel that a manager's top responsibility is to develop a vision and evangelize.

This HBR article articulated in a compelling manner that 'making progress in meaningful work' boost motivation (aka 'a good day'). In order to have progress, we need a vision. No vision - we're just adrift, slowly getting demotivated.

Collaboration ​

IF done right, and it's magical when it's a great session, collaboration leads to better solutions in a shorter time. Yet, I still see managers treat workers like cogs in an assembly line. power of collaboration

General References ​