#leadership
22 posts
- Clarity Over Compromise: Making the Right Call on Work Models
When it comes to remote work, hybrid setups, and office mandates, most debates miss the real point. It's not about which model is _better_ in some...
- Psychological Safety and Productive Conflict: The Hidden Link Driving High-Performing Teams
Conflict Isn't the Enemy--Fear Is It's tempting to equate 'healthy teams' with harmony. No arguments, no friction, no tension--just a constant chorus...
- The Phantom Projects of Overhiring
One of the most quietly corrosive things a company can do is overhire. Not because people are malicious or lazy.
- The Confidence Cliff: Why Overcertainty Kills Good Decisions
You've probably seen this play out. Someone shares an idea--bold, certain, maybe even brilliant-sounding.
- The Dehydrated Entity: Hire Only When You're Truly Underwater
Varun Mohan's hiring philosophy: only add headcount when critical work is actively being dropped. Not deferred. Dropped.
- The Answer Is Obvious -- You Just Don't Like It
Most 'intractable' problems aren't unsolvable. They just require giving up something you're emotionally attached to.
- The Product Manager's Secret Superpower: Finding Signal in the Noise
The best product managers have a superpower that's rarely discussed: they can spot the same underlying user need manifesting in completely different...
- The Three Types of Startup Advice (And Why They're All Wrong)
The most dangerous thing about startup advice isn't that it's wrong -- it's that it's partially right. Each type comes with its own flavor of wrong.
- When the Ask Feels Awkward, It's Already Too Late
When the Ask Feels Awkward, It's Already Too Late: There's a thing someone on your team is supposed to own. But you hesitate to bring it up.
- Passive-Aggressive Managers Are Organizational Parasites
Stop making excuses for passive-aggressive managers. They are not misunderstood introverts or conflict-averse leaders. They are parasites destroying...
- Founder-Led Sales: The Art of Selling Your Vision
For startup founders, sales isn't just another function--it's the lifeblood of your business. Early on, founders are usually the lead salesperson,...
- Performance Reviews: A Guide for Modern Leaders
Annual performance reviews are a failure theater that helps no one. Here's what actually works.
- Thinking Frameworks: Tools for Better Decision Making
In the relentless push to build and scale, organizations often overlook a critical piece of infrastructure: how decisions get made.
- When the AI Starts Complimenting You Too Much: A Troubling First for ChatGPT
OpenAI recently rolled back a GPT-4 update due to sycophantic behavior. The word itself--'sycophantic'--feels like a punchline from a _Black Mirror_...
- Engineering and Product Collaboration: Breaking Down Silos
'This isn't what we asked for.' Five words that strike dread into every engineering team. Five words that signal a fundamental breakdown in the...
- Keep Your Hands Dirty: Why Executives Who Stop Doing The Work Destroy Companies
The Executive Trap I've seen it happen a dozen times: A brilliant engineer becomes CTO and suddenly decides their job is 'managing the engineering...
- Most PMs Are Too Afraid to Say No
The product management profession has a cowardice problem. Most PMs will build anything a loud customer demands rather than face an uncomfortable...
- The Security Tool Comparison Problem
Every security tool comparison site is funded by the vendors being evaluated. This creates a specific, structural problem for security teams making...
- The Perfection Paralysis: Why Moving Too Carefully Kills Startups
The most valuable code I've ever written was messy, quick, and written in response to an immediate customer need.
- The Product Manager's Guide to the Perfect Breakfast
Your company's obsession with meetings is destroying your product team's ability to think. Breakfast is the canary in the coal mine.
- Don't Build What They Ask For: The Art of Need-Finding
'If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.' This quote, often attributed to Henry Ford, encapsulates one of the most...
- If You're Serious About Building, You Need to Be in San Francisco
Remote work is great for lifestyle optimization. It's terrible for building world-changing companies. If you want to build something that matters, San...