Working with Me

A Quick-start Guide

This document has 3 goals, designed to make it easier for us to start working together:

  1. Introduce myself
  2. Provide information about where I can provide value.
  3. Provide insight that will allow you to anticipate my behavior.

WORKING WITH ME

  • The best way to work with me is to give me as much information about your goals, values, and ideas so I can use them as a puzzle piece and identify opportunities for the future.
  • I really appreciate feedback & insight from your vantage point.
  • I prefer video calls for building connection, but async chat + time to think for processing new information.

SURFACE

  • Left-handed
  • Spatial thinker
  • 5th generation engineer
  • I approach problems with first principles thinking + persistence.
  • I find proactive work deeply energizing, and reactive work equally draining.

HEADLINES

  • Long-term focused
    • Everything I engage with serves the long-term view.
    • I view all disagreements as an opportunity to build long-term trust when someone surprises you, which works in both directions. I find this positive framing is also a nicer way to live.
    • I prefer to be judged over the long term. My ideal would be that my presence is noticed by select few over time as an invisible force that creates success.
  • System-level thinking
    • My default view is to step back and see what behavior the environment incentivizes, and work to enact change at that layer.
    • I have an easier time than most moving  seamlessly between high-level & details.
    • I make decisions & judgments based on the boundaries of responsibility defined by our roles.
    • The most interesting work to me involves finding elegant solutions to multifaceted problems that sit at the intersection of people + technology.

My strongest attribute combines these, taking system-level observations with a long-term view to identify the most likely future and plan for it in advance.

OTHER

  • Growth & maneuverability are most important to me.
    • I am most comfortable when surrounded by others to learn from.
    • I strive to be replaceable, both as a demonstration that I’ve built up people & systems that are self-sustaining, and to liberate myself for the next challenge.
  • Comfortable operating in the gray.
  • People have described me as very positive, but I think a more accurate description would be that I have a pragmatic focus on opportunity.
  • I usually choose the inverse of the popular view, because there are less people looking for opportunity there. 
    • If there’s a crisis, what’s the unique opportunity this offers us to grow stronger? 
    • If we’re finding success, what threats at the horizon are being overlooked?
  • Friction is a very useful tool for catalyzing change, but very irritating when used without purpose.
  • I view simplicity as the purest declaration of mastery.
  • My favorite colleagues are those who keep work fun + lighthearted no matter how difficult the topic.
  • I work cooperatively – any other way is just a waste!