How I work.
Stumbled on this idea of writing a user guide and was immediately bought into it to make my own work style public, so people around me know me better and make our interactions more meaningful with no space for assumptions and pre-formed patterned judgements. I felt the importance of it so much more because the chemistry between people is the strangest science of all, so I also intend to use this as a documented manual as we build a team of A-players and further strengthen our operating collaboration as a team and goals as individuals. I’ll keep it simple, and share my personal stories/ instances rather just wisdom, here goes:
Care
I’ll always be kind, respect your time, return your call, reply to your email even if you’re a stranger (unless..*). I’ll do things just for you with zero expectations, be a human first and less transactional because life is unpredictable, so our conversation, the relationship is most important to me. Often times there’s a gap between what we say and how it is perceived, so I’ve adopted a combination of silence and kindness as a language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see. I learned this from a stranger (a talented ios engineer) I placed her with an Atlanta based startup, the founder disappeared after 15 days of starting the work and getting the work done. This woman cared enough to understand my plight in the situation of this sudden disappearing act.
Root-cause, start with why
Yes! I’m a huge Simon Sinek fan and always make it a point to start with why. I believe in goals, actions, results that inspire change, make a movement to happen. And yeah not just super high level but deep down even it comes to resolving bugs. My co-founder gives me full support in this, he’s just like this too! Here’s a little clip of our bug resolving chat yesterday, we both at times go nuts in figuring why this happened and then also align back soon, ok let’s ship faster and not get stuck on perfection
Ask questions don’t share opinions
I just want to get better & better & better at asking questions. Life is too short and I want to learn from what others learned to do that I have to ask the right questions to get that deep hidden insight. I’m very opinionated as well, but opinions are not facts, they are formed because of my own learnings. Often putting your opinion out there is likely to hurt a few feelings, step on a few toes, or provoke some criticism, but asking the right questions is how conversations start, communities are formed, and change happens. So be smart at asking questions, and just ask don’t overthink, what Q ;)
Intentions, the end game
I’m playing a long term game, I’ve always done that as a kid with multiple chess matches that use to last for days! lol. The daily annoyances, failures and roadblocks don’t put me down for long, I’m super gritty in getting what I want or at least always be alert in finding the right road to walk on when things don’t work out. Intentions are super important to me, on knowing what keeps you going. My co-founder once said, “You have to be willing to have a few sleepless nights for a bright future tomorrow.”
Adaptability
I adapt to change. I no more believe in everything I see, think or feel. I ask questions, read books, watch videos, and learn from others. I apply insatiable curiosity to solve problems. I often say “I don’t know”. For me, knowledge builds up, like compound interest. The good news is, you don’t have to learn or excel at everything in hours, days or even months. The focus should always be on progress. I prioritize by thinking what moves the needle. I’m still learning by doing every day. I wrote a full post on this sometime back.
Give value first, don’t just ask how can I help
I feel sometimes the absolute worst question to ask is “How Can I Help You?” Initially, I always asked people how I could help them. In my mind, it was simple. Later, I realized people misunderstand good intentions. So I admire full disclosure, hidden agendas, and saying upfront why I’m doing, what I’m doing. Keeping all that aside, I always focus on the value, things that are unsaid in a conversation and find out reasons to add value and actually help, give first and not just be on the talking side. A team’s productivity is never by accident, it is a combined commitment to excellence and focussed efforts.
Life is fragile and short, I want to make time for my passions and goals. I’m someone that believes in living life. I have lessons to learn and can use those to fuel me trying to be a better version of me and create something that will last even after me.
*I’m a positive & optimistic person, I hate negativity, so I often self-reflect on how I feel after being with someone. If I don’t feel good enough, I audit them out of my life. So you may never hear back from me.
