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Tag: leadership

  • Why I left being CTO of The New York Times, joined a startup, and am pledging 20% of my equity to charity

    Why I left being CTO of The New York Times, joined a startup, and am pledging 20% of my equity to charity

    As The New York Times’ chief technology officer, I had a crucial role in guiding the company’s successful transition to digital, and an opportunity to work with and learn from some of the most talented journalists and software engineers in the world. It’s undeniably one of the world’s most influential institutions doing work in the public’s interest, and has…

  • A career is like a garden (farewell memo to nytimes colleagues)

    A career is like a garden (farewell memo to nytimes colleagues)

      The following is the farewell memo I wrote to my colleagues at The New York Times. Subject: A career is like a garden Dear Colleagues, As you may know, I have accepted an offer to join a startup on June 1st, and therefore have made the difficult decision to leave The New York Times,…

  • Reflecting on the Yale CEO Summit 2014: A Confluence of Global Leadership and Local Sensitivities

    I recently attended the Yale CEO Summit, a gathering of some of the world’s most influential leaders across various sectors. The summit, held at the Waldorf Astoria in New York City on December 17 & 18, was centered around the theme: “The Global CEO and Local Sensitivities: Leading at Once as Diplomat, Patriot, Entrepreneur, Financier,…

  • Dear Makers, On Fridays My Office is Yours — An Experiment

    Dear Makers, On Fridays My Office is Yours — An Experiment

    Some senior leaders choose to work alongside their teams in cubicles, eschewing private office rooms. New York City’s former mayor Michael Bloomberg is an example. Facebook’s founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg is another. Intel’s former CEO Andy Grove is often credited for setting this example. As I’ve worked at various news media companies, I have…

  • 3 Dimensions of a Technology Team

    Organizing Software Engineering Teams to Balance Products, Partners & Professions This organizational design for a technology department aims to optimally blend the need for the technology team to be an engine of innovation, a customer-service organization and technically excellent. It views the staff, roles and responsibilities in three dimensions: products, partnerships, and professions. Organization by…

  • Mandela’s Way: Lessons on Life, Love, and Courage (Book Review)

    I find many books on leadership to be fairy tales: Inspiring to read, but misleading about leadership that is actually effective in our real world. Real leadership — leadership that is based on evidence and science, and thus statistically more likely be effective in practice as opposed to “feel good leadership” — is less commonly…

  • Posted Signs for Productive Meetings

    You can post these slides as signs in your meeting rooms and offices or include them at the start of your presentations.   You can also open the original Google Slides document to print or leave comments.

  • Suggested Template For Requesting a Meeting

    Every time someone calls a meeting, they should consider using this simple template. [ meeting-invitation-template begins ] The desired outcome of this meeting is: e.g. Come to agreement on solution for issue X e.g. Make a decision about Y. e.g. Share announcements about topic Z. e.g. Continue to grow a good working relationship with each…

  • Templates for Replying to Meeting Requests & Polite Ways to Decline Meetings

    By default, we should only attend meetings where we are active participants, not passive attendees with not much to contribute to the desired outcome of the meeting. There are some exceptions to this like training sessions, educational presentations or others where the purpose for attendees is to learn something. When I receive a meeting request, I…

  • When to have and when not to schedule meetings

    Companies should, by default, avoid scheduling meetings that start before 10am or end after 5pm. If an employee comes to the office at 8am on some days, it is often to use the two hours of the morning before meetings to catch up and/or get a head start on the day. Meetings that start before…

  • 50/25 Meeting Format

    Update (2023 September 17): I published an update to this system based on data, experience, and the advice of colleagues. If you manage a team, value your team members time and want to improve productivity at your workplace with a simple change, consider implementing the 50/25 Meeting Recommendation that some companies are embracing. Consider communicating…

  • Using Laptops or Smartphones in Meetings

    Using smartphones — or worse, laptops — during in-person meetings diminishes productivity, is disrespectful to others and decreases your brainpower. Yes, scientific evidence indicates that multitasking makes people less intelligent.1 When you are  doing something unrelated on your phone or laptop in inappropriate situations (e.g. during business meetings), you lose out because you become oblivious to the environment, people, and…