Ailian Gan

Bending Time

My baby is twelve weeks old. Barely a semester, a season, and yet a lifetime. All my experience as a mom. His entire life and counting. In this time, how our worlds have changed.

In his earliest days, time was measured in 3 hour chunks. To feed a baby 8 times a day, we had to…

The Parable of the Chocolate Cake

It was a Friday in August, and I was in the hospital. In the same year, I had been in and out of the…

Learning about My Creative Process — 100 Days of Childhood Memories

Reflecting on the Process Behind 100 Days of Childhood Memories

100 Days of Childhood Memories — An Introduction to the Project

Career Advice for My Younger Self

Dear Younger Self,

The long arc of a career

The greatest manager I know got a promotion. And it’s a huge one. He will be entering the ranks of global management at one of the largest companies in the world. I know it’s huge not because of his reporting lines. I know it’s huge because for all his confidence and for all his…

The leadership of small decisions

When we were trekking around Antarctica, I remember one of our expedition leaders defining leadership this way:

“Leadership is making small decisions so you never have to make a big decision.”