PinnedWhy Working at Facebook Inspired me to write Lean OutOn a Sunday afternoon in March of 2016, I hit send on an email to Sheryl Sandberg, setting in motion a series of events that ended 18 months later when I was fired from my job at Facebook. To explain, I first need to go back to the fall of…Women In Tech17 min readWomen In Tech17 min read
Sep 20Why Money is a Poor Metric for Measuring SuccessThere’s a saying, “You get what you measure,” and it means that people work toward the metrics they’re held against; what we count becomes what we do. If a company wants to keep expenses down, one way they might do this is by measuring how much each salesperson spends on…Equality4 min readEquality4 min read
Apr 5To be, or not to be, a Narcissist, that is the question.As I wrote in my last article on the topic, narcissism is a term that gets thrown around a lot; used as a catch-all to describe anyone who appears selfish, entitled, or arrogant. It’s now so overused the word seems to have lost any real meaning. …Psychology4 min readPsychology4 min read
Mar 7To Use, or Not to Use, ChatGPTA short story on creative writing In 11th grade we had to write an essay that had something to do with pilgrims arriving on the Mayflower. There was one specific instruction the teacher must have repeated FOUR THOUSAND TIMES: staple your first two drafts to the final essay or you will get an F. …ChatGPT2 min readChatGPT2 min read
Jun 13, 2022Zen and the art of BS, Adam Grant edition.In one of his most recent articles, Adam Grant sets out to teach all those annoying, preachy meditators a lesson on why they’re wrong about meditation. He begins by saying he has nothing against meditation per se, it’s the constant evangelizing that bothers him. So to get everyone to finally…Meditation3 min readMeditation3 min read
Aug 31, 2020What we Get Wrong about Management and MotivationMy post on LinkedIn (text below) generated some interest so I wanted to further explain my point about management and ambition. In #LeanOut I talk a lot about the fact I never wanted to be a manager, and how it’s often mistaken for a lack of ambition. Many people who…Management6 min readManagement6 min read
Aug 15, 2020My theory on why human consciousness developed1. Human babies are born totally helpless. They are 100% dependent on other humans to survive (compare to say, a giraffe, that can walk hours after birth and scrounge for its own food) 2. Human babies meet their survival needs by triggering emotions in others. (ie. baby’s cry makes mom…Consciousness1 min readConsciousness1 min read
Apr 17, 2020My Advice to the Graduating ClassThe following is a speech I gave to CS graduates at Pace University in 2016 When I was 21, I graduated University of Florida and packed my bags for New York City. Following an internship there the previous summer, I started working at a small marketing company — so small…Life6 min readLife6 min read
Apr 15, 2020Why Corporations Crush Creativity (hint: it’s a feature, not a bug)The last few years I spent at Google were the best of my entire career. I had moved into a new role focused on building our competitive value proposition for YouTube video ads. …Creativity4 min readCreativity4 min read
Feb 18, 2020Start With Why. Why it’s BS.There’s a lot of snake oil masquerading as thought leadership in the business world. Today’s installment of ‘Why it’s BS’ will focus on one such example — Simon Sinek’s wildly popular Ted Talk, ‘How Great Leaders Inspire Action,’ which he later turned into the book, Start with Why. …Leadership5 min readLeadership5 min read
