I (finally) wrote up my thoughts on "Founder Mode" and the Brian Chesky morality tale about how he turned around Airbnb company culture.
This has made it into the Silicon Valley water table; it must be dealt with. There are some good nuggets within; let's dig them out.
https://charity.wtf/2024/12/17/founder-mode-and-the-art-of-mythmaking/
This has made it into the Silicon Valley water table; it must be dealt with. There are some good nuggets within; let's dig them out.
https://charity.wtf/2024/12/17/founder-mode-and-the-art-of-mythmaking/
Comments
You captured the essence of the problem very accurately: Ego is the enemy.
Thank you 🙏🫡
I wholeheartedly agree!!!
That is why instead of hiring employees (expensive and an HR headache), I'm ordering life sized cardboard cutouts of Brian Chesky and placing them in chairs.
Here's to unicorn status 🚀🦄
I always talk about the problems of matrix management and numbers of people referring to Metcalfe's Law = which the diagram shows effectively. We are building orgs that are networks!
I wholeheartedly agree with this, and then also struggle with where that leaves junior engineers. Especially as tooling and computing advances allow so much efficiency these days. You can have millions of users with only a few experienced engineers.
However I feel like I’m noticing a trend of preferring small teams of v experienced engineers
Normally, larger companies that value stability & have built their software & culture to support junior developers’ learning get the most value from them.
My key takeaway from this industry that “number go up” doesn’t mean you actually know what you are doing from a people perspective. It seems some people succeed in spite of their behavior, not because of it.
And almost everyone said variations of, "I love tackling problems and feeling supported by a team who has my back". Even though that doesn't happen every day.
And as leaders, we should be accountable for providing that.
"be more chesky" = be more monolith
maybe with the Apple org chart from manucornet's famous cartoon with his head in the middle
https://www.arresteddevops.com/hot-takes/
"the lady, she doth protest too much"
Outcomes include:
Uneasy truce - y’all bosses think you’re lazy/bozos as not doing much
3rd wheel - 1/3 is sidelined as 1 stronger owner. PIP time.
War - dysfunction 24/7
Obscured thru duplication of work/reporting, busywork
It’s the _System_ they’re put in that’s bust.
“how high up the org chart to get to someone who can fix this”
bad news: very high & LOTS of vested interests in status quo.
So it ossifies. Most simply stop asking.
It’s probably the same bastard who keeps shitting my trousers!
I was there like … my dude, this is problem you can solve! Here’s some ideas about how you could!
Small correction: it looks like Bryan Cantrill's name is typo'd as "Cantrell"
I hope you take this with the admiration that is the under current when I say:
Charity showing us that “sometimes you gotta pop off and show [the unworthy]”
Well done!
I got excited and wrote the wrong lyric 😂
https://bsky.app/profile/arthree.bsky.social/post/3ld74ppqeic22
It's hard to effect positive culture change when you have to paint yourself as the smartest person in the room.
Also, love your username. I actually made a sticker for that....
Oh well...the people who would be most bothered by this already hate me, I'm sure 😅
I would love to hear more about how you’ve found to “do the work to be in alignment so that you don’t have to tell someone how to run their org”
It’s something Drucker talks about in The Effective Executive, but I often see tech leaders who don’t make their “why”s visible.
I'll see if I can find time to write a shorter follow up over the break. 🙏
I’m still figuring out how to coach the skill in a corporate context, or even explain the need for it.