In my journey as leader and builder, one of the most valuable insights I’ve encountered is the incredible power of being a “sponge”—absorbing wisdom, experiences, and yes, even feedback. Adam Grant, in his book Hidden Potential, beautifully describes this concept through the metaphor of a sea sponge. A sponge actively draws water in, filters out … Read more
Many leaders fall into the trap of hedging—pursuing multiple, parallel efforts to mitigate risk—believing it to be a strategic safeguard. On the surface, dividing resources across different initiatives may seem like a prudent way to increase the odds of success. However, history and experience show that this approach often signals a lack of technical expertise … Read more
In many organizations, leadership is evaluated primarily by a person’s ability to influence, rally people around a shared vision, and drive successful execution of goals. While these metrics are undoubtedly important, they often overshadow a crucial element of true leadership: the ability to acknowledge mistakes. Great leadership is not just about delivering results—it’s also about … Read more
Change is an interesting phenomenon: most people say they want it, but few are willing to follow through when it truly arrives. If you ask any established organization—particularly one that has been in the market for a long time and accumulated significant technical and cultural debt—they’ll often express enthusiasm for making changes, especially when disruption … Read more
Since 2020, I’ve been setting personal yearly goals and following Meta ruthless performance cycle (PSC) approach—basically, I rate myself on how I’m doing against those goals each quarter. I’ve found that having clear goals and regular check-ins really helps me stay focused and grow personally. 2024 Goals 2025 Goals I’m excited to see how these … Read more
In the last fifteen years, I have conducted thousands of interviews for a variety of positions and seniority levels. For a while, I was following the conventional approach of using scripted questions that tapped into candidates’ ‘soft skills,’ such as ‘Can you talk about a time when there was a disagreement with another team?’ While … Read more
In large initiatives, there are many contributors, and each one is critical to the project’s success. However, project leads often overlook the importance of discussing roles and responsibilities. This conversation, though sometimes challenging, is essential for setting the right expectations for everyone and for creating a transparent and agile environment. First, decision-making is crucial in … Read more
One of the common misconceptions among many senior leaders in large companies is that technology can be built or challenges can be solved faster if we add more engineering resources. This might be true for very mature products that need incremental changes, but when it comes to innovation, building from the ground up, or finding … Read more
LinkedIn AI today is highly risk-averse, and part of my commitment is to create a culture that encourage teams to understand how to undertake and get inspired to take on more risky initiatives. Nearly all AI team projects and initiatives at the moment are short-term focused with a very high likelihood of success. Over the … Read more
We often argue about different options (or solutions) and try to pick the best option among the ones on the table. Sometimes you are one of the parties making the argument, and sometimes you are the one who ultimately needs to pick the suitable options—in either case, discussing options and which one to choose is … Read more