Mbti
How to hire the best
Hint: Hiring the right people is too hard Yesterday I read about Naval Ravikant’s approach to hiring the right people — it has nothing to do with hiring and selecting the right people. It is about one thing — making sure you fire the wrong people fast. Two great reads — Malcolm Gladwell’s The Talent Myth and a book, The Halo Effect — made ... Read more
Why You Should Stop Consuming The News & My Media Diet (August 2019)
The internet has dramatically changed what is possible in terms of both content creation and content consumption. The near zero-marginal costs of digital creation means that there is more content created than you could ever consume in a lifetime. Mobile phones and desktop knowledge jobs enable us non-stop access to this content and many people ... Read more
RIP: Is The Performance Review Dead?
Over the past few years, many companies have eliminated or overhauled the annual performance review. These decisions have often been categorically celebrated — there is no large constituency arguing for more annual performance reviews. The research firm CEB found that “95 percent of managers are dissatisfied with the way their companies conduct performance reviews.”[1] However, ... Read more
Conquering Chronic Illness & Learning How to Live
In June 2012, I was on top of the world. I just graduated from MIT, with a masters in engineering and MBA — something I had secretly been working toward for years. I was about to embark on the most transformational period in my life — but not in the way I thought. I. Getting Sick ... Read more
So You’re Getting an MBA… Now What?
You landed great jobs out of college, you had success, you studied for the GMATs, you put tons of time into your application essays and you got through the stress of waiting to hear back from a mysterious admissions committee. One or two crazy schools said, “Sure, let’s give this guy a shot.” You were ... Read more
Beyond the Feedback Sandwich: Delivering World-Class Feedback
As much as we accept that feedback and coaching are good, most people still feel awkward when giving and receiving feedback. I was talking with fellow alumni from my grad school program and the conversation turned to performance management and feedback. These were people working at great companies. I was startled by how many questions ... Read more
Blame it on a Millennial!
Millennials are lazy, selfish, entitled, outspoken and impatient Millennials are the greatest scapegoat available to the business world right now. Have problems at work? Blame it on a millennial. Have too many people leaving your company? Blame it on millennials. Have people not listening to bosses? Blame it on a millennial Focusing on the traits ... Read more
The Future of Work: What Winning Organizations Will Look Like in 2025
I have studied organizations, people and motivation and am fascinated by the changes that have unfolded in my relatively short career. I’ll defer to Neils Bohr to qualify this entire piece: Prediction is very difficult, especially if it’s about the future — Neils Bohr Since I can’t predict the future, I promise this will contain ideas that are ... Read more
Even Michael Jordan Had a Coach
The words made me stop cold in my tracks. I always had an answer. A comeback. But this time I knew she was right: her words meant I had to take action. It was July 2014 — I was at a networking event in Boston and ended up having a conversation with someone who just ... Read more
The Career Transition Playbook
The Career Transition Playbook is a collection of exercises, lessons and personal stories I’ve collected from over 10 years of helping people make transitions in their careers and lives. I’ve always been fascinated with the impossible and am a fan of the underdogs. Whenever people told me I couldn’t do something, that made me want ... Read more