AI agents are excellent at solving isolated function-level problems but notoriously bad at maintaining system-wide consistency or handling non-standard constraints. Subject matter experts need to be aware of that.

When auditing one of the projects for a client, I took a hard look at a solution that had almost entirely been vibecoded. It did solve the problem at hand, but was plagued with many problems - starting with poor maintainability, no documentation and worst of all, its logic was so perplexingly complex and diluted that eventually my team decided to rewrite it.

Until we pulled the trigger on that, it had a long-term negative effect on the engineering team continuing that project. For several months nobody was confident about making changes that could break the product, and having it offline for an extended period of time was obviously a no-go.

We don’t live in a perfect world and there are always factors that affect optimal decision making when executing on a project - looming deadlines, lack of specific knowledge, or unplanned absences in crunch times.

That is all good and valid, but one shouldn’t sacrifice understanding the big picture of the system for quick gains in output. Even if the skills or talent aren’t there, there are still ways to supplement own effort and understanding using an AI-based approach.

Effect of lack of ownership: creation of wasteful solutions, increased effort for future improvements actually addressing the new system challenges.

The quick lever: ownership of the outcome always starts with self-awareness; to counteract it, a quick and easy way to elicit such self-reflection is to run simple prompting for adopting a “contrarian view” or a sparring partner:

1. “Pre-mortem” analysis: conduct a ‘pre-mortem’ on this design. Assume it is 6 months from now and this solution caused a critical incident in production. Describe the exact sequence of events that led to the failure and identify the root cause.

2. Feedback à la “ruthless minimalist”: act as a strict, minimalist Principal Engineer who hates adding new dependencies, critique this proposal and argue why it is over-engineered. Suggest a simpler alternative that uses only our existing stack.

Boosting own productivity at the cost of others’

Many AI tools are adept at centralizing knowledge and capable of rapidly creating documentation. Such low entry barrier for synthesizing information makes it easy to fall into a false sense of rapid productivity and value creation, especially if the end product fails to create the expected level of clarity. No clarity means time wasted by others reviewing, commenting, and following up on it.

Not so long ago, whiteboarding and the creation of “demonstrative” code changes used to be the standard for proposing changes to existing systems. Ideation, exploration and consensus building was always achieved among humans, and it will remain so.

In the meantime, productivity tools and platforms providing first-class support for distributed teams have elevated the process of asynchronously building understanding.

Knowledge organization has advanced, too — tools such as Obsidian, Notion or NotebookLM allow the ingestion of institutional knowledge in all forms: documents, audio or video recordings. It’s a no brainer use case for AI integration — by creating a specific context, one can quickly synthesize new data based on the provided artifacts.

But coming to such quick outcomes doesn’t mean that one exercises ownership, in fact it means the opposite; without refining and intentional editing of the artifact, the author risks wasting the time of fellow reviewers at the benefit of own time savings.

The feeling of the LLM “getting you” doesn’t mean that others will.

Let’s take work ticket descriptions as an example. Ticketing tools now generate first drafts for descriptions and other data necessary to make it clearly known, what the work should be about. If the author relies purely on the AI-generated text and doesn’t own the description, it causes:

• resentment of not putting enough effort into documenting what should be done;

• as a consequence, having the label of a corner-cutter;

Effect of lack of ownership: reviewers lose time and perceived “productivity gain” is a net-negative for the team.

The quick lever: the leader must react swiftly whenever this happens, and employ very basic, albeit targeted coaching. Consider the following questions (and statement):

1. Imagine you’re out sick tomorrow. Can another engineer start without a meeting? If not, what’s missing?

2. How much time did this save you? How much time will it cost reviewers to interpret?

3. Add a 5-line decision log: options considered, why we chose this, and what we’re deliberately not doing.

In the first question, the individual should realize that the “bus factor” is very real and that it exposes them as a potential blocker. The self-reflection of the second question should ideally lead to the fact that one ought to optimize for team time, not author time. The last statement is the most powerful of all, because it equips the individual with the notion that they have the agency to create recommendations for others. When the self-realizations will have successfully led to crafting a much better documentation, the individual knows how to progress from “specialist” to “expert“ mode by relieving others of the responsibility to scrutinize and quality-check their work.

Manager escalation as communication avoidance

Communication in a well performing team is like oil to an engine - one doesn’t work without the other. Team members solve problems because they understand the assignment. They understand the assignment, because they communicate.

One can’t simply defer stakeholder communication to the manager anymore. In the past, team members would come to me and signal problems that should be escalated or articulated to other team leads and would ask me to do my “manager thing” and take care of that. In a high-pace environment, it’s relied upon the leadership of the individuals to build bridges between stakeholders and influential actors on a project.

AI agents already automate large portions of manual work. The degree of automation is expected to rise - at some points models will become so advanced and have the contextual coverage of the entire knowledge base of an company.

Many engineers still cling to their technical expertise as if it were their biggest asset. But the low entry barrier to programming - now essentially anyone can become a programmer - means technical execution is becoming more accessible.

The role of the subject matter expert in the field of technology nowadays is that of an auditor of the AI agent output, adjusting the prompt to cover the intended technical solution or whether to rewrite it again.

Writing code is no longer the most valuable asset one can produce - communication, judgment, and ease of alignment are becoming more and more of a differentiator.

Effect of lack of ownership: individual misses out on increased impact & visibility across other teams / departments, diminishing own career growth.

The quick lever: turn “problem escalation” into “proposal ownership” - before asking the manager to “do their thing”, ask the team member to do the following:

1. The 3–5 sentence message they would send;

2. Articulate what is needed from the other party;

3. Two options and their recommendation.

This increases individual ownership because it has the individual realize what the situation is, instead of the manager doing that, after context-switching and trying to debug what’s going on.

Moreover, the main reason for failing escalations is that the “what” isn’t formulated well - making the ask explicit is ownership of outcomes, not activity. Ultimately having the recommendations is the biggest upgrade as it signals: I’m thinking like an operator, instead of Oh, I’m waiting for prescription. Even if the recommendation is wrong, it’s at least coachable as it builds the “ownership muscle”.

Treating the agent as an oracle

The paper Your Brain on ChatGPT: Accumulation of Cognitive Debt… describes a pattern I’ve started recognizing in engineering teams too: when the assistant does too much of the thinking, the human’s sense of ownership and engagement tends to drop quietly.

In engineering, this shows up as a dangerous bias: the AI overlord has the answer. But an agent’s “wisdom” is not universal, it’s highly contextual - as it should be.

And it serves many companies well: optimized for the org’s main domain, its tooling, its stack, its institutional knowledge, etc. That’s exactly why it can be so effective… and exactly why it can be misleading outside that context.

Subject matter experts then let rigor sink: they accept a polished proposal, skip the uncomfortable step of consulting teammates who own adjacent constraints (security, infra, data, product), and ship an answer they can’t fully defend.

Effect of lack of ownership: missed constraints show up late (when they’re expensive), and the team can’t explain or defend the decision under pressure.

The quick lever: one AI answer requires one human dissent - before proceeding, the owner must do two things:

1. Name the constraint owner they’ll ask for a 5-minute sanity check (security / data / infra / product);

2. Write 3 assumptions the AI made that could be wrong in our system;

3. Capture one dissent (a concern, alternative, or “this doesn’t apply here”) and either address it or explicitly accept the risk.

I’ve seen over and over how good leadership has accelerated my team members gain responsibility, get visibility and helped get the job done way ahead of time. Therefore it’s a leader’s duty to apply all the collective skill and will to help learn, have fun and ship value every day.

My framework is composed of the following tools:

1. Universally-understood standards for excellence

2. Clarity of expectations

3. Collaborative goal-setting

4. Relentless coaching, constructive feedback

Let’s dive into it!

Universally-understood standards for excellence

How should the team members carry themselves?

Standards of excellence mean your team knows not just what to do, but what ‘above the line’ looks like on a normal Tuesday. No team will perform at a given level unless the bar is set. When thinking about setting standards for excellence, think about an athlete focusing on core training aspects that will bring them to a medal.

My go-to combination of standards of excellence: ownership, communication, effort and impact.

But this list alone simply doesn’t cut it — concrete examples of excellent work are a must and conversely, of subpar work as well. They need to be relatable as well, otherwise the path to excellence will not be understood.

Consider the following example that I use to explain to my team how to meet the standards.

A platform engineer discovers that one of the product services is struggling to keep up with the incoming requests and is failing to pass the system health checks.

1. Ownership

   1. ✅ Above the line: discovering latency issues, ensuring all impacted individuals are informed or involved in the process.

   2. ⚠️ Below the line: raising latency issues but doing nothing above that. Assuming “everyone knows what’s happening” and stopping there.

2. Communication

   1. ✅ Above the line: directly answers “how bad is it” so that the consequences are understood.

   2. ⚠️ Below the line: provides information but no answers; teams and individuals are not aware what are the consequences.

3. Effort

   1. ✅ Above the line: system-thinking approach allowing to understand why the issue appeared.

   2. ⚠️ Below the line: focusing on the what the fix is and not the why it occurred.

4. Impact

   1. ✅ Above the line: tracks the short and long term effect of the resolution. Recommends further improvements.

   2. ⚠️ Below the line: resolves the issue, but misses out on providing a recommendation to improve the system.

Creating clarity of expectations

How do the team members know, they are on the right track?

It’s no secret that working towards unclear outcomes is a waste of time.

This means being articulate in expressing expectations — not being able to do so leads to poor performance and consequentially, poor morale.

When done right, it fosters psychological safety, since everyone is capable of self-managing themselves without getting sidetracked. Everyone in the team then has an intuition of the following collaboration aspects:

• Knowing the team goals;

• What are the operating principles;

• How to communicate efficiently;

• How much freedom there is to make errors;

• When to take time to reflect and learn.

This is very well described in the study Psychological Safety and Norm Clarity in Software Engineering Teams, the summary of the paper is that clear behavioral norms predict team performance and job satisfaction, with norm clarity being the stronger factor.

Bottom line — I reduce ambiguity to the max as a tool to boost performance and morale.

Collaborative goal-setting

Having people accomplish goals their way.

The most successful organizations take pride in bosses who allow their employees to do their job. For us, as bosses, this means reminding ourselves to step out of our directs’ way and let them find their own path to meeting the objective.

In my teams, I clearly lay out the foundation for our success by setting the larger vision. For example:

Make our service the #1 solution for prototyping across the company.

With that intention out there, I invite everyone to apply their creativity in searching the quickest and most sustainable path to meeting that objective. The culture letting others decide the route to the destination (individual goal setting) and the vessel (selection of tools for the job) is the main force multiplier for combined performance and motivation.

Not micromanaging doesn’t mean no expectations - in fact, the greatest results come when expectations are set and autonomy is guaranteed by the leader.

My secret for 10x performance: setting goals by finding opportunities for intersecting individuals interests with team goals - the greater the overlap, the better. It’s not easy to do that, and let’s face it - we’re hired to tackle company goals - but my belief is that it’s on me to have the people buy into the idea of pursuing growth based on current needs. It’s not through any kind of manipulation, but rather by spending time in a 1:1 and dissection of pros and cons of development areas, and how they best convert onto added value to the project.

Relentless coaching, constructive feedback

Grow, adjust, learn, repeat

I put coaching and feedback last in my performance framework, but it’s my favorite part. Nothing beats the satisfaction of applying coaching and feedback to an aligned goal and seeing the person grow.

In coaching, I emphasize helping the individual find their own path to the destination; feedback acts as an aid to help them stay on that path.

Coaching and feedback also give a powerful opportunity to truly get to know the human sitting on the other side. The great thing about it is that most of it comes down to listening actively — and occasionally asking questions or sharing your perception of their behavior and the impact it has on the world around them.

Yes, it’s that simple.

But one should not fall into the trap of thinking about delegating as an isolated element, but rather as a crucial building block of a high performing team.

How does effective delegation transpire into a team performance? Consider the following relationship between delegating, ownership and performance:

Delegation → Responsibility → Trust → Accountability → Ownership → High Performance

Read on to learn how delegation leads to high performance.

Before delegation: the overwhelmed leader

When you delegate, you give someone the chance to take responsibility for an outcome. If they succeed, they earn trust.

Moreover, it allows the leader to focus on the strategically relevant tasks and use the bandwidth in areas where the direct report currently lacks the insight or expertise.

Effective delegation is a challenge for leaders on all levels, not only among inexperienced people managers. Usually, incapability to effectively delegate manifests itself by the feeling of being overwhelmed by amount of “things to do”.

It’s detrimental to leadership capabilities, as when the inability to delegate persists in time, the team members grow indifferent to new challenges and even tend to refuse to take them on.

When this happens, the team gets stuck performing at an average level - people stop growing and the team’s ability to deliver good work plateaus or gets worse.

Delegation in action: responsibilities distributed

This can quickly change by delegation: the team lead doesn’t need to be focused so much on execution as architecting the distribution of responsibilities among team members.

By resorting to delegation, a minimum level of trust has to be placed in the capability of bringing the assignment home and ensuring that the direct report has free reins on the “how” - the boss decides merely on the “what”.

Accountability emerges: one individual orchestrates the broader outcome

There are distinct differences between responsibility and accountability:

Accountability is about ensuring that a broader assignment is completed. Responsibility is about completing a task within that broader assignment.

Imagine an event manager who organizes an investor dinner - they are accountable for running the event (venue, catering, program) but the catering specialist is responsible for putting the menu together.

Key difference: accountability is about ownership of the complete outcome, while responsibility is about executing specific tasks that contribute to that outcome.

The logical conclusion is that with an increase in responsibility comes more trust, and as trust grows more confidence can be placed in the individual to deliver larger assignments.

Eventually, one person can’t handle everything alone - they need help from others. This is the key moment when responsibility turns into accountability.

As more people get together to complete the assignment, represented by that accountable individual, she is the bearer of end-to-end ownership.

The payoff: shared growth

But here’s the best part: the team leader benefits too. When you delegate work, senior leaders start to trust you more, thanks to this simple outcome:

1. You trust your team and give them work → they complete it successfully.

2. This builds more trust, so you give them bigger responsibilities.

3. As ever larger responsibility morphs into accountability → the team naturally embraces ownership.

4. With ownership your team’s influence expands.

High performing teams efficiently find ways to expand its influence and positively affect the lives of others - other partner teams, the entire division or simply achieve increasing higher satisfaction levels among their customers.

Each time you hand over responsibility, you’re planting a seed of trust. With time, those seeds grow into ownership, accountability, and eventually → high performance.

One thing that’s been lately on my mind is the beginnings of my management path… how it all started and if given the chance, what I’d want to do better from Day 1.

Needless to say—a lot 😅

“Is there a list of actions for a newly crowned leader to take for the strongest start?” is the challenge that I set out to tackle in the last few days. I believe it’s necessary to share my personal pointers on not only what I’d do differently, but more importantly what has worked out great, too!

If you, my dear reader have recently been promoted from an IC role or just joined a new company as a seasoned leader, your first few days will set the tone with the team. I’ve been there—and I’ll tell you the one thing I wish every manager knew from Day 1.

My first week as a manager? A rollercoaster.

Starting a new job as a manager can feel incredibly overwhelming! I remember my first managerial role—it was terrifying 😅

I had many questions in my mind with no clear answers:

• How should I establish the right relationship with my now former peers?

• How can I demonstrate that I'm the right person for this role?

• What should I focus on besides coding? After all, coding skills got me promoted, but now I have no idea what else being a manager involves, help!

During evenings when I would be pondering about what happened at work, I kept imagining how much efficiently and gracefully I would handle some difficult situations.

Years later, after coaching dozens of managers and leading interdisciplinary teams, I’ve learned one truth:

Every new manager should do everything in their power to start building their trust capital as soon as possible.

Why does trust matter so much?

Many new managers make two basic mistakes:

• They don't build trust with their team;

• They aren't open about their plans and decisions.

The result? A slow-motion trainwreck:

1. Difficulty leading—because you need your team to believe in and support your goals. No trust, no buy-in!

2. Decreased performance—without effective leadership, setting expectations and giving feedback becomes ineffective. As a result, a manager struggles to drive performance.

3. Limited visibility—Greater impact leads to increased organizational visibility. And don't say "This doesn't apply to me, I'm a new startup CTO with a small team"—it absolutely does! Unless your team delivers excellent work, you're less likely to positively impact your clients' lives, which inadvertently weakens your personal brand.

Unfortunately, directors (or managers of managers) rarely provide clear guidance for those first few days. The expectation is that you'll figure it out on your own.

From my observations, managers new to the job usually start their managerial career to sticking to what they know best—contributing individually. It makes sense because it’s what got them promoted in the first place. Paradoxically, it’s not setting them up for success as engineering managers!

If you stick to what got you promoted (like coding or firefighting), you’ll stay stuck as a glorified IC.

Let me tell you one thing—it's far better to start building your leadership from day one.

How to start filling your trust chest: A 3-step plan

But first—let’s get one thing clear: Trust is your leadership currency.

*Think of trust capital like a chest you carry into your new role. Every action that builds credibility—listening, being transparent, following through—drops another coin into that chest.

The more coins you collect, the more “purchasing power” you have to make changes, ask for support, and lead through challenges. No coins? No influence.*

So… how do you start filling that chest in your very first week?

1. Run insightful 1:1s

Schedule a 1:1 with all of your direct reports—get to know everyone.

During your conversation, make sure to ask the following question:

“If we made just one change to how this team works, what would make the biggest difference for you?”

Why it works:

• It shows you care.

• It gives you insights to improve the team.

• It signals you’re thinking like a manager, not an individual contributor.

I trust that you have enough empathy and curiosity to learn about others and hear their stories, though there’s one universal truth—you only have one chance to make a good first impression.

⚡️ Titan tip: phrasing the question this way stimulates creativity and helps envision positive outcomes under your leadership. While they may not say it directly, their answers reveal what they expect from you as their manager.

2. Share what you heard

Once you’ve gathered insights, synthesize them into 2–3 key themes.

Then play them back to your team and peers. This can be in a form of a or a quick sync, nothing too fancy. The important thing is to acknowledge everyone’s point of view.

Try something like:

“Here’s what I heard in my 1:1s—some things we could improve. Let me know what I missed.”

Why it matters:

• It demonstrates active listening.

• It makes your early leadership visible.

• It shows you’re building from the inside out, not dictating from above.

Once you finalize all of your 1:1s, it’s time to condense all of the precious feedback that you got into and project it to the entire company. What’s the best form of that?

3. Publish your 30-60-90 plan

Write down your goals for the next three months: how you’ll learn, build relationships, and improve the team.

Then—here’s the key—share it publicly.

Post it in Slack. Drop it in Notion. Send it via email. Let your:

• Team

• Cross-functional partners

• And even your manager’s peers

…see what you’re up to!

Such transparency allows everyone to see what you’re up to, sets expectations and shows you’re serious about leading with intent, with positive change in mind.

Leadership isn’t a solo sport

It’s not necessary to have all the answers in week 1. But you do need to show people that you’re here to lead, not just manage tasks.

Start with earning trust. If you do that, everything else becomes easier—strategy, feedback, accountability, and eventually, impact.

⚡️ Titan Challenge: Create your own 30-60-90 day plan based on my personal template (link). I've used this with one of my teams to great success. It reflects the real objectives I set!

Hey Titans,

In the first part of this two-part series, we unlocked how to spark energy and alignment in your team with a Purpose & Vision workshop.

Now, let’s fuel that momentum with something even more powerful: a strategy that brings your vision to life—and gets your team fired up to own it.

At the end of this article, you'll be able to:

✅ Make the vision achievable by creating a specific roadmap;

✅ Increase team engagement by turning abstract vision into a tangible set of actions.

Have you tried the Purpose & Vision workshop yet? What worked—and what didn’t? Share your story in the comments—I respond to every single one.

Why do I need a Strategy?

Going back to the analogy of the LEGO blocks and fire engine, a strategy is the assembly manual that, alongside the box cover image, helps us connect today’s scattered pieces with tomorrow’s finished vision.

Without a strategy, your team might have all the right components—but no clear idea how they fit together. The result? Frustration, wasted energy, and slow progress.

But when the team sees both the big picture and the instructions to get there, something powerful happens: they start building with purpose.

That sense of clarity turns into motivation—and motivation is what drives performance.

And it’s not just a gut feeling. Research shows that when people connect their present actions to future goals, motivation increases significantly. Whether in classrooms or companies, visualizing success boosts focus, engagement, and follow-through [1][2].

On a personal note, when I moved to Switzerland ten years ago, I dreamed of connecting deeply with the community. Speaking the local languages—German and Italian—was key.

I didn’t get there overnight, but I had a strategy: small actions, structured over time, guided by a clear goal. That made all the difference.

Whatever your version of that dream is—whether it’s building a high-performing team, becoming a stronger leader, or tackling a bold personal challenge—it starts with a strategy.

And that’s exactly what we’re going to build next.

How can I create a Strategy?

So how do you actually build a good strategy?

It starts with clarity—on your business, your context, and your biggest challenge. One of my favorite strategy thinkers, Richard P. Rumelt, in his book "Good Strategy, Bad Strategy" breaks it down into a simple framework I use all the time.

Let’s walk through it.

1. Diagnosis

The Diagnosis helps us identify our main problem by asking: "What's stopping us from reaching our goals?" It's like taking a snapshot of where we are now and comparing it to where we want to be, so we can spot what's standing in our way.

2. Guiding Policy

A guiding policy is a simple, clear set of rules that tell you how to solve your main challenge. It's like a roadmap that shows you which direction to take and helps you make decisions along the way.

3. Action Plan

Create a clear action plan that follows your guiding policy. Your actions should be:

• Realistic and achievable

• Focused on solving your main challenge

• Connected to each other in a logical way

• Aligned with your overall strategy

Think of it like building steps to reach your goal - each step should naturally lead to the next one and bring you closer to where you want to be.

Creating a Good Strategy: A practical example

Developing a good strategy is crucial for both emerging tech leads and overwhelmed middle managers. It helps in addressing challenges, aligning teams, and achieving goals.

Here, we'll walk through a step-by-step example of creating a strategy that can be applied in real-world scenarios.

Scenario: Enhancing Team Efficiency through OKRs

Let's consider a scenario where a tech lead wants to improve team efficiency by implementing Objectives and Key Results (OKRs).

Step 1: Diagnosis

What is the challenge?

Diagnosis: the team is struggling with meeting project deadlines due to inefficient workflow management.

Why is that?

Analysis: current processes are manual, leading to delays and miscommunication among team members.

Step 2: Guiding Policy

What do we want to achieve?

Objective: implement a project management tool to streamline workflows and enhance collaboration.

What is the desired outcome?

Key Results:

• Successfully onboard all team members onto the new tool within 6 weeks.

• Achieve a 20% reduction in project completion time within 3 months.

• Receive positive feedback from at least 80% of team members on the new workflow by the end of the quarter.

Step 3: Coherent Action

What are the steps towards achieving the desired outcome?

Action Plan:

1. Research and choose the tool for the job: evaluate project management tools (e.g., Basecamp, Trello) based on team needs and budget.

2. Training and onboarding: schedule workshops for team members to learn the new tool.

3. Monitor progress: regularly review project timelines and team feedback to adjust the strategy as needed.

Summary of a Good Strategy

This strategy example shows three important things: it clearly identifies the problem and its cause, sets a clear future goal, and lists specific actions with measurable results.

When we create a strategy this way, it helps keep the team motivated. This motivation leads to better team engagement, which is essential for high performance.

Consider these key elements when developing your strategy:

• Focus on what matters: A good strategy picks the most important goals and makes sure everyone works together to achieve them.

• Keep it simple: Even when dealing with complex situations, a good strategy should be easy to understand and follow.

• Tackle problems head-on: A good strategy clearly identifies challenges and shows how to solve them.

• Use your advantages: It makes the most of what you're good at to overcome any difficulties you face.

Titan Challenge: Take 30 minutes this week to write down your team’s main challenge, and sketch out a draft Diagnosis–Policy–Action plan. Let me know how it goes!

Just like in my previous article, I’ve got some extras for you!

🧠 Get the free Strategy Builder Worksheet: I’ve turned today’s framework into a simple template you can use with your team right away. Reply “strategy” in the comment section and I’ll send it to you directly!

🙋‍♂️ A Free Consultation: I’m offering 5 free 30-minute “Strategy Jam” sessions to help you work through a challenge using the Diagnosis–Policy–Action framework. Hit reply or drop a comment to claim one—first come, first served.

Sources

1. Simon Pawlak, Ahmed A. Moustafa. A systematic review of the impact of future-oriented thinking on academic outcomes, (2025) (link)

2. Cécile Nurra, Daphna Oyserman. From future self to current action: An identity- based motivation perspective, (2018) (link)

Hey Titans!

Today, I want to share a powerful approach I’ve used to inspire my teams—one that has transformed how we work together and achieve great results.

And here’s the best part: at the end of this post, I’ve got a little surprise for you—something that will help you run this process with your own team! (trust me, you’ll want to stick around for it)

But why focus on inspiration?

Because motivation fades, but inspiration fuels lasting change.

So right now, you’re asking me the question…

What can I do to inspire my folks?

Have you ever played with Lego blocks?

Let me share a story instead of answering with another question.

When I was 5, I received a Lego fire brigade set. The box showcased a magnificent fire engine with brave Lego firefighters manning the water cannons as if their tiny plastic lives depended on it. Behind it stood the fire station—a pristine building where these first responders could rest, restock, and prepare for their next mission.

Looking at that box, my young mind raced with possibilities: rescuing cats from trees, battling infernos in towering buildings, and becoming a hero who would save every life through acts of courage.

But do you know when the real magic happened? Spoiler: it wasn't during assembly.

It was when I held the instruction manual next to the set picture on the box.

Two elements, side by side:

• The LEGO box with the set picture (the dream)

• The assembly manual (the plan)

In our world, these translate to:

• A Vision – the aspirational picture of what we want to achieve

• A Strategy – the step-by-step plan to get there

Inspiration doesn’t just come from a compelling vision, but from having a clear, structured path to achieving it.

The Purpose—the big, yet crucial 'why?'

The Purpose answers the ‘Why?’
The Vision answers the ‘Where are we going?’

Everything begins with a team’s purpose—the foundation that fuels performance and growth.

• Why do we do what we do?

• Who are we and what do we stand for?

Think about it—your current position reflects your identity. Whether you’re a manager who thrives on leadership or an engineer who built trust through technical excellence, your role stems from who you are.

Teams must stand for something, too.

It took me two years and reading When They Win, You Win by Russ Laraway to fully grasp this. As a leader, it’s not just about defining the purpose—it’s about helping your team recognize their identity and shared future.

The magic happens when you heighten awareness of what makes each person successful—beyond business goals, into values, creativity, and perspectives.

The Vision—'where are we going?'

Once your team has established their belief system, they need to paint a picture of the future. This happens through creating the vision—imagine everyone picking up a brush, mixing colors on their palette, and making those first strokes together.

The first strokes might be messy, but the magic is in the act of creating together.

A strong vision answers:

• What hill are we climbing?

• It’s 2028—Our CEO is holding a party in our honor. What happened that caused him to throw this extremely expensive party?

While finding this answer isn't easy, the process is truly remarkable. I find myself eager to work with new teams just to experience that magical moment again!

Active participation in creating the vision statement lets everyone shape their future. I must emphasize participation because without it, the entire exercise is meaningless. The process must be inclusive, giving every team member a voice. Why? Because everyone wants to belong and contribute to group activities. Even those of us in technical roles, who typically focus on metrics and hard data, need to feel heard and valued.

The vision statement session benefits everyone involved. As a leader, you'll discover who's most passionate about the team's direction—and who isn't. It's particularly valuable when you're new to leading a group, offering insights into emerging leaders, team sentiment, and past experiences. You'll notice who actively engages and who stays quiet, providing valuable topics for future one-on-one discussions.

As an example, I'm sharing with you some of the vision statements:

1. Lego - A global force for Learning-through-Play.

2. LinkedIn - Create economic opportunity for every member of the global workforce.

3. Zoom - The AI-first work platform for human connection.

4. IKEA - To create a better everyday life for the many people.

The Strategy—roadmap allowing to know ’how do we get there?’

Once you have the purpose and the vision of the team, the last part of getting your team fired up is the creation of the strategy.

This part you do yourself.

And it’s my favorite one, because this is where you get to shine as a leader!

The strategy connects the ‘now’ with the future. **

Think of it as a roadmap—a structured plan that makes your vision achievable.

It’s incredibly rewarding when a team realizes, “Wait, we can actually make this happen!”

Sounds simple? Well, there’s one catch—it needs to be a good strategy. And that’s where most leaders go wrong…

Wait—I just realized that I’ve been writing this post for 4 hours… writing about the strategy will at least take me 2 hours, and I need to focus on my day job 😅

I promise that I will post an article about untangling the strategy and how it should be defined—deal?

Great—for now, read on how to run the Purpose and Vision workshop!

How to facilitate the Purpose and The Vision?

If you spot a gap in team identity, propose a workshop - it's a chance to show leadership skills.

You don't need to be in management to run a Purpose and Vision workshop. As any team member, you can lead this initiative to boost inspiration, which all managers will appreciate.

Let's get to the practical details—how do you organize and facilitate such a workshop?

1. Value Ideation (15 min + 1 hr discussion)

1. 15 minute reflection—every team member takes that time to themselves and writes down their values in the notes; to stimulate the creativity, use the questions:

   1. Why do we exist?

   2. Why do we matter?

   3. What fails to happen if we don’t show to work tomorrow?

2. 1 hour discussion—everyone presents their values, explaining what they mean. The goal is to align on a shared team identity. These are example values that a 6-person team can identify:

• Priya (Senior Software Engineer):

  • Craftsmanship – Writing clean, maintainable code.

  • Curiosity – Exploring new technologies and approaches.

  • Ownership – Taking initiative to solve problems.

• Alex (Product Manager):

  • User-first Thinking – Prioritizing the user experience.

  • Clarity – Ensuring simple, structured, and transparent communication.

  • Impact over Effort – Focusing on meaningful outcomes rather than just hard work.

• James (UX Designer):

  • Empathy – Understanding users' needs deeply.

  • Iterative Mindset – Designing through continuous feedback and improvement.

  • Collaboration – Working closely with engineers and PMs to build great products.

• Marta (DevOps Engineer):

  • Reliability – Ensuring systems are stable, scalable, and resilient.

  • Automation – Reducing toil through smart automation.

  • Security – Keeping systems and data safe.

• Elena (Engineering Manager):

  • Trust & Transparency – Creating an environment where people feel safe to speak up.

  • Growth Mindset – Encouraging learning and development.

  • Accountability – Holding myself and others responsible for commitments.

• Dan (Data Scientist):

  • Evidence-based Decisions – Using data to guide strategy and execution.

  • Integrity – Being honest about results and their limitations.

  • Exploration – Experimenting with new approaches to find better solutions.

Make sure that everyone has enough time to go through their values. This part is critical as you want the entire team to converge on a similar sense of purpose. That won’t be possible unless everyone actively participates in the session and speaks their mind.

2. Vision Ideation (15 min + 1h discussion)

For this part, you’ll at least need the entire second half of the 3-hour meeting. It will follow the exact same structure as in the previous part:

1. 15 minute reflection—everyone writes down their team vision in the notes; to stimulate creativity, use the question:

   1. What hill are we climbing?

   2. It’s 2028—our CEO is holding a party in our honor. What happened that caused them to throw this extremely expensive party?

2. 1 hour for sharing visions and noting them down. This full hour is essential - even experienced team members will get deeply engaged in the discussion.

This is a rough agenda for the meeting. Schedule it when everyone is at their best—ideally at the start of the workday when minds are fresh.

For distributed teams, you can split these two sessions across different days to reduce the energy demands of a single long meeting.

Final Thoughts: The Power of Purpose & Vision

This 3-hour workshop can transform a team’s alignment, motivation, and energy. It’s a simple yet incredibly effective way to inspire your team and create a sense of shared ownership.

If you’ve made it this far, here’s what I promised you at the beginning… If you want to run this workshop, I’ve got something for you!

Get these free resources:

⚡️A Slide Deck – A ready-to-use presentation with the workshop agenda and key talking points to help you facilitate the session.

🙋‍♂️ A Free Consultation – I’ll personally help you tailor the workshop to your team and share insights on making it work in your specific environment.

Interested? Drop a comment below or reply to this post, and I’ll send you the details!

This concludes Part 1 of how to motivate through Purpose, Vision, and Strategy. In Part 2, I'll explain how to craft an effective strategy.

Stay tuned!
- Leszek, From Teams To Titans

The challenges of leading from a distance

Managing remote teams is deceptively different from managing in-person ones. At first, I assumed leadership was leadership, regardless of location. But as I transitioned from managing colocated teams to leading people across time zones, I quickly realized that what worked in an office didn’t always translate remotely.

Suddenly, casual hallway conversations were gone. Visibility into my team’s day-to-day challenges was reduced. Feedback loops were slower, trust took longer to build, and coaching became a game of patience.

But the hardest part? If I wasn’t intentional about how I spent my time, structured my communication, and built trust, things quickly spiraled out of control.

Over time, I learned that leading a distributed team requires three key disciplines:

1. Tracking your time with intention - so you don’t get overwhelmed.

2. Practicing radical transparency - because trust isn’t built passively.

3. Creating structured coaching systems - to make up for the lack of real-time interactions.

Each of these lessons helped me become a better leader—and more importantly, helped my team thrive despite the distance.

Each of these lessons shaped the way I lead today, and they continue to serve me as I navigate the complexities of managing teams across different locations. Here’s what I learned.

1. Track your time or it will control you

You alone are responsible for how you spend your time. At the peak of my organization’s size, I managed 20 people across multiple time zones, and my workweek followed a familiar pattern:

• 9:00 AM: Catching up on overnight messages, emails, and document updates.

• Late morning to early afternoon: One-on-ones with local team members, making the most of our shared time zone.

I was driven by ambition—determined to build a world-class team. But in the process, I ended up working 13-hour days: checking in on everyone, staying updated, coaching, and firefighting.

It didn’t take long before I started dropping the ball. Quarterly surveys confirmed what I already felt—team members noticed that I had too much on my plate and needed help.

“I can handle this,” I told myself.

But no one asked me to work this way. No one told me to burn the midnight oil and micromanage everyone’s work.

I was doing this to myself.

A few months later, I finally admitted this to my boss. I’m lucky to have a great boss who immediately said:

“You need to tell me when help is needed.”

What struck me was how hard it is to gain perspective in the moment. When you’re deep in the work, tackling the next task always seems like the priority. It’s easy to lose sight of what actually matters.

How I regained control

To break free, I tracked every task in my calendar and color-coded it:

• How much time was I spending on one-on-one coaching?

• How much time went to backlog reviews and prioritization?

• Was I still contributing individually?

This exercise transformed my approach. My schedule stopped slipping through my fingers, and I could finally see where my time was going—and, more importantly, where it should go.

2. Transparency isn’t optional—it builds trust

As an electrical engineer who transitioned into software and later management, I initially believed leadership was a natural extension of technical expertise. But I quickly learned that being a great manager requires more than technical skills—it demands self-awareness, emotional intelligence, and the ability to connect with others.

When I worked in-person with my Zurich-based team, they saw how I operated daily—approachable, open, and transparent (or so I hope!). But in a remote environment, all of that disappears. People can’t see how you interact, read your body language, or fully understand who you are beyond the screen.

When transparency became critical

Early in my time with a new team that had just been assigned to me, I noticed signs of distrust. It wasn’t explicit, but their questions revealed uncertainty:

• “Are you planning any big changes in the next weeks?”

• “What’s your management style—hands-on or hands-off?”

• “Do you have background in computer vision?”

• “How do you know that you will be able to effectively lead our team?”

One moment, however, made the situation crystal clear.

During my introductory meeting with the team, one person openly pushed back against the reorganization, questioning both my role and the company’s credibility.

Right there, I knew I had very little time to fix this.

But I didn’t know what the solution was—yet.

How I turned it around

In a moment of doubt, I reminded myself to go back to first principles: transparency builds trust.

I introduced a 30-60-90 day milestone document—a structured plan to listen, learn, and lead effectively.

This simple tool provided:

• Clarity on my intentions—no hidden agendas.

• A structured way to engage the team—so they felt heard.

• A way to show who I am—not just as a manager, but as a person.

Over time, the resistance faded. The team saw that I wasn’t there to impose changes in secrecy, but rather that I was there to build with them, not against them.

Just as office interactions make a manager an open book, transparency in a remote environment must be intentional.

3. Coaching across time zones requires structure and discipline

Managing a distributed team is like being the captain of a slow-moving ship—you set a new course, go to sleep, and wake up to see the change in direction. But unlike steering a real ship, you can’t adjust in real time. You must trust your judgment, trust your team, and wait—sometimes for hours—to see whether your coaching and decisions take hold.

This delay became especially apparent when I took over a new team. I wanted to establish myself as a coach and mentor, while also fostering a culture of open feedback. But the 9-hour time difference between Zurich and the Bay Area made traditional coaching ineffective—I couldn’t observe how people applied my feedback, nor could I give real-time course corrections.

Now, think about how most people handle coaching:

• You give feedback in a 1:1.

• Your report acts on it.

• You observe, adjust, and reinforce as needed.

In an office, this cycle happens naturally. But in a remote team, I might not see the results for 16+ hours—or even until the next 1:1 meeting a week later. I needed a way to bridge that gap.

How I built a system for effective remote coaching

1. What’s the challenge? – The direct report documents the issue they are working through.

2. What actions are they taking? – A record of steps they’ve attempted or plan to take.

3. What’s the result? – Tracking outcomes and iterating based on what worked (or didn’t).

This was a game-changer. The document provided:

• A written history of coaching progress, making it easy to see growth over time.

• Clarity on next steps, ensuring feedback didn’t get lost between meetings.

• Asynchronous visibility, so I could review and provide input even when we weren’t online at the same time.

Seeing the horizon, even even you can’t control the ship

Just as a ship takes time to change course, you can’t control how quickly someone applies coaching. But what you can do is enhance their vision of the horizon—helping them see their growth and progress over time.

To reinforce this, I also started documenting feedback—both positive and constructive—for each direct report. Over time, this created a visible timeline of their growth and the challenges they had overcome.

In the end, remote coaching isn’t about being present in every moment—it’s about providing the right structure so that your presence is still felt, even when you’re not in the room.

Remote leadership is an intentional practice

Managing remote teams isn’t about replicating office dynamics online. It requires a different mindset and skill set.

• Without tracking your time, work expands endlessly, leaving you overwhelmed.

• Without transparency, trust erodes, leaving teams uncertain and disengaged.

• Without structured coaching, growth becomes inconsistent, leaving employees without the support they need.

Remote work doesn’t naturally foster alignment, connection, or clarity. You have to build them intentionally.

In the end, I believe that the best remote leaders not only adapt to the challenges of distance, but they embrace them and use them to their advantage—by creating systems that allow people to work effectively, no matter where they are.

Over the last ten years in Switzerland, I’ve worked in international environments collaborating with Swiss, American, and global teams across various industries. While many workplaces pride themselves on being international, the underlying cultural DNA still shapes how work gets done.

Switzerland, known for precision, structure, and risk-averse decision-making, fosters a workplace where process matters as much as outcomes. In contrast, American companies, particularly in tech, thrive on speed, iteration, and rapid decision-making, embracing calculated risk as a pathway to innovation.

Having navigated both worlds, I’ve experienced firsthand how these differences play out in everything from meetings and communication styles to leadership dynamics and decision-making. While both cultures pursue excellence, their approach to getting there couldn’t be further apart.

This fictionalized story—based on real experiences—explores these contrasts through two companies:

1. 🇺🇸 HustleTech, Inc. – A Silicon Valley startup that thrives on fast iteration, bold decision-making, and a flat, feedback-driven culture.

2. 🇨🇭 Helvetic Solutions AG – A Swiss tech firm built on methodical decision-making, structured hierarchy, and meticulous execution.

Both are at the cutting edge of technological innovation, yet their paths couldn’t be more different.

Communication Culture

🇺🇸 Prioritizing Flexibility

Tyler, head of engineering wants everyone to be present before the presentation can start. At HustleTech, the workday starts at 10:00 am with a presentation on what client they should partner with. By 10:03 am, most team members are online, already exchanging weekend stories. When Jake, the last to arrive, joins the call at 10:07 am, everyone is finally ready to give status updates. This could've been a quick message from each team member on the Slack channel, but hey—collaboration!

🇨🇭 Prioritizing Punctuality

Matthias, a senior director of technology, insists on starting the presentation on time. In Swiss culture, arriving late to a meeting is a no-go. The workday at Helvetic Solutions begins at 8:00 am, and the client partnership meeting starts at 9:00 am sharp. In fact, everyone is seated in the room by 8:58, with Simone still finishing the last bites of his breakfast Gipfeli 🥐, but never missing a beat in the structured environment.

"These meetings always start punctually," says Matthias. "Let's proceed!".

And so both companies begin their Monday strategic meeting, with Tyler favoring flexbility and Matthias opting for efficiency. Both of the approaches have their merits—how will the presentation unravel?

🇺🇸 Presenting Summary First

Tyler begins his presentation with a clear summary, then gradually expands on his reasoning to support his decision.

"Prioritize one client-champion over multiple less invested ones!" declares the first slide of Tyler's presentation. This summary is delivered with resounding confidence, prominently displayed on the slide.

"This is the direction we should take over anything else," says the director leading the meeting.

"Love it!" exclaims another participant.

Afterward, Tyler explains how the high sales margins of pilot projects failed to bring the company the success he had envisioned. He presents various insights from his team showing why betting big on partnering with a single "champion" client would put them on the fast track to success—despite lack of immediate returns—rather than pursuing multiple one-off pilot projects.

🇨🇭 Presenting Reasoning First

Matthias starts with providing the wider context of where his division is at. He consistently builds clarity and provides insights, surely converging to his main proposal.

"We've analyzed all options," explains Matthias. "None of our pilot clients advanced to our premium offerings." He presents analytics for client conversion in emerging tech markets with supporting case studies. He emphasizes the importance of proving success before the upcoming financial review. With participants anticipating his conclusion, he summarizes:

"For long-term success, we need a partner that will help us break through the market and attract investors—specifically an SME that's as hungry for recognition as we are."

While HustleTech debates the decision with the summary given up front, Helvetic Solutions arrives at the same conclusion not before presenting the investigated avenues, ensuring that every piece of data supports the strategy before it’s even proposed. Different approaches, same goal—but how does the team actually get to the conclusion?

🇺🇸 Bold Statements

Tyler runs a fast-paced, interrupt-driven meeting filled with strong opinions. Everyone is encouraged to participate in a "messy" discussion, even if their arguments aren't polished.

"We should scrap half of our leads in the pipeline," says Mark, a colleague from the engineering team, "and create a shortlist of those with whom we can build tighter partnerships. It will boost our growth 10-fold in the long run." This triggers an immediate discussion. Some voice their concern:

"That's bold—how do we know it's worth the risk?" asks one meeting participant.

"We don't have enough data yet," adds another.

"Who cares? We can test this fast!" retorts Mark.

🇨🇭Fact-Based Statements

Matthias and his team ensures that every point is meticulously justified before being presented. Jumping to a conclusion without first laying out the facts is seen as reckless. He spends the first 15 minutes of his presentation methodically laying out past conversion data before gently leading his audience toward the same conclusion.

“I’m not convinced about this” postulates Reto, senior accounting manager at the meeting. He pulls up the sales to-date figures and meticulously points out that the current trajectory has the company meeting the P&L margins for the year. With Matthias listening closely, a structured and synchronized exchange of ideas takes place. Everyone makes sure to back their argument with data.

“Your point is valid” agrees Matthias. “However given our financial projections and case studies of similar companies, we can infer that deepening our partnership with a single SME is the most statistically viable growth strategy.”

Both companies engage in debating the pros and cons of the proposed path. This is a very difficult decision to make—how does each type of discussion influence the likelihood of making the right decision?

🇺🇸 Fast, Iterative, and Decisive

The debate is heated but dynamic. At HustleTech, decision-making is a sport—rapid, assertive, and high-energy. Tyler watches as Mark and others exchange counterpoints, the conversation unfolding in bursts of challenge and defense. There’s no formal process—just a fast-moving flow of persuasion, questioning, and gut-driven calls.

Finally, Tyler makes the decision:

“Alright, let’s not waste time. I’m making the call. We’re going all-in on the Client-Champion strategy. Mark, work out the contract terms. Jake, get the customer success team aligned. Let’s get going right now.”

No need for a formal review, no deep consensus-building—the decision is made in the moment, and the team moves forward without looking back. The team disagrees and commits. But what if things go wrong? They’ll pivot. And that’s how HustleTech operates: execution first, refinement later.

🇨🇭 Deliberate, Consensus-Driven, and Risk-Averse

At Helvetic Solutions, the meeting does not end with an executive decree. The conversation continues in a structured, methodical flow, where each senior team member contributes their thoughts. Matthias, rather than asserting his own view, facilitates alignment:

“Let’s take a final round of inputs. Are there any additional concerns before we validate this decision?”

Reto, the senior accounting manager who initially questioned the revenue model, speaks first:

“I see the potential here, but I’d like to verify the financial implications before committing.”

Daniela, from operations, chimes in:

“From a resource allocation perspective, shifting to a single-client strategy will require recalibrating our delivery timelines. We need to assess the risk before finalizing.”

Rather than a heated back-and-forth, this discussion methodically progresses toward resolution, with each stakeholder offering a measured perspective.

Matthias nods, already expecting these responses.

“Understood. Let’s proceed as follows: We’ll conduct a final risk assessment with Finance and Operations. If the numbers align, we present our formal recommendation at next week’s executive committee meeting. If there are gaps, we reassess.”

A decision is not made in the room—it is structured into a process. The formal go-ahead will happen after collective validation, internal sign-offs, and a final executive endorsement.

Tyler believes that in a high-speed environment, the cost of inaction is higher than the cost of a wrong decision. On the other hand, at Helvetic Solutions, a decision is only as strong as the alignment behind it. A wrong decision is far more costly than a delayed one.

Leadership Model

🇺🇸 Frequent, Direct Feedback

Tyler's boss, Jake, is having a regular 1:1 meeting with Tyler and kicks it off with a casual chat about his weekend activities.

"Windsurfing… I haven't done that for a while!" exclaims Tyler who, as a surfer, finds this exciting. After this light-hearted exchange between surfer and windsurfer, boss and employee transition into the usual focus of their one-on-one conversations: feedback.

"Hey, your last report in the presentation wasn't as structured as usual," comments Jake.

"I know, you're right—I've been struggling with the uncertainty since we can't get the expected traction with existing clients," Tyler admits.

"How can you develop more self-awareness given the situation?" Jake asks as they continue their coaching session. Tyler views this candid feedback as a normal part of their meetings and an element of their fast-paced, feedback-driven culture.

🇨🇭Formalized, Diplomatic Feedback

Matthias' boss, Manuela provides feedback about his last series of reports during a dedicated quarterly feedback session. The meeting begins with a brief exchange of greetings, and at 13:01, like Swiss clockwork, Manuela and Matthias get straight to business.

"Your last three reports contained valuable insights, and I appreciate the direction you’re taking. To enhance their impact, refining the structure could improve clarity, making it easier for reviewers to follow the key takeaways and recommendations.” says Manuela.

“You’re right, that’s a fair point” he responds. This leaves him thinking: "She has a point, and why didn’t I think of all that sooner?"

The two companies' approaches to feedback differ drastically—HustleTech embraces immediacy while Helvetic Solutions maintains a more formal feedback culture. American employees are accustomed to frequent course corrections, whereas Swiss employees experience feedback as a structured, long-term process.

🇺🇸 Open-Door Leadership & Instant Access

At HustleTech, leadership is accessible, informal, and thrives on open discussion. Employees are encouraged to question decisions, offer new ideas, and even challenge senior leaders.

Midway through the week, Tyler posts a quick note in the company Slack channel:

“Leadership AMA tomorrow—ask me anything!”

The next day, questions come in:

1. “What’s our long-term vision for AI?”

2. “Why did we pivot away from the healthcare market?”

3. “Are we raising another funding round?”

Tyler answers every question, even the uncomfortable ones, in real time and with full transparency. At HustleTech, hierarchy is fluid, and a junior engineer can just as easily message the CEO as they can a teammate.

Even in meetings, executives are expected to be challenged:

“Tyler, I think we’re moving too fast on this. Have we really validated this market?”

“Good pushback. Let’s test it further.”

Leaders are expected to earn respect through results—not seniority alone.

🇨🇭 Leadership as Strategic Authority

At Helvetic Solutions, leadership is highly respected and operates through structured decision-making channels. Employees don’t casually drop suggestions in Slack, nor do they expect impromptu access to senior executives.

Instead of a Slack AMA, Matthias hosts a formal on-site all-hands meeting once a quarter. Questions are pre-submitted, screened, and carefully addressed to ensure alignment with the company’s messaging.

In meetings, direct challenges to leadership are rare. Instead, concerns are raised through the proper channels, often starting with a manager before escalating upward.

During a project review, Lukas, a mid-level manager, notices an issue with the proposed strategy. Instead of interrupting Matthias in the meeting, he follows the company’s structured process:

1. First, he gathers supporting data.

2. He presents his findings to his direct manager.

3. His manager escalates it to the leadership team for discussion.

Eventually, Matthias reviews the concern and responds in a later meeting, ensuring that the proposal is thoroughly analyzed before a decision is revisited.

Different Paths to the Same Goal

Despite their differences, both companies strive for excellence and innovation. Yet, their approach to getting there is fundamentally shaped by cultural expectations.

1. HustleTech moves fast, embraces direct feedback, and prioritizes execution over exhaustive planning. The cost of inaction is greater than the cost of a wrong decision.

2. Helvetic Solutions values precision, structured feedback, and consensus-driven decision-making. A wrong decision is worse than a delayed one.

Neither approach is inherently better—it all comes down to personal preference and work style.

Which work culture do you thrive in? Would you rather work in a fast-paced, high-energy environment or a structured, methodical one?

Ever wondered why the same productivity system that works brilliantly for one team completely flops for another? It’s not about the system, but rather about the people using it. No methodology succeeds without buy-in.

In this article, I’ll share how leaders can introduce productivity frameworks effectively—without undermining team dynamics or motivation.

How teams actually adopt productivity systems (Hint: not by the book)

Throughout my career, I’ve never been fully satisfied with how productivity systems were implemented.

As an individual contributor, I felt that processes were prioritized over people. As a manager, I observed that teams rarely followed the textbook implementation of these systems. Too often, choosing a productivity system came down to opinion rather than fact:

- “Look, Agile is all about keeping things flexible: short cycles, constant feedback, and adapting on the fly so we don’t waste months building the wrong thing!”

- “Nah, man, Lean is where it’s at—cut the crap, focus on what actually delivers value, and stop wasting time on pointless meetings and fluff!”

Let me be clear: I actively support teams in choosing processes that work for them, and there are many well-documented success stories of various approaches. However, I’ve learned that every team is unique. Just because a system worked elsewhere, does that mean it will work for your team?

A framework without buy-in is just bureaucracy

Adopting a new productivity system is just like adopting a new culture—everyone needs to be on board.

In my experience, no team was ever fully invested in implementing Scrum according to the official guide. Moreover, I've often observed Agile practices overshadowing open-mindedness and the discovery of better development methods. Instead, they tend to deteriorate into ego-driven ceremonies or become overly focused on following processes and tools.

After fifteen years working in industries from air logistic, through real estate analytics to augmented reality, I’ve realized one thing: success isn’t about process. Success is about people—what drives them, how they collaborate, and whether they truly believe in the system they’re asked to follow.

Why is this important? Because every team consists of individuals who think differently, use different tools, and have unique experiences. The dynamism and unpredictability of the real world shapes each person's distinct viewpoint. Leaders must recognize this when introducing any new process—after all, they're asking team members to embrace a methodology that will govern a third of their daily lives. It's akin to adopting a new belief system overnight. Success is impossible without first considering whether team members are invested in the change, believe in the system, or have been offered the chance to explore alternative frameworks.

Why do teams struggle with productivity systems?

Not identifying the desired outcome

Many teams adopt a process without clearly defining what success looks like. Is there focus on faster execution, better collaboration, or increased innovation? The right system depends on the goal.

All businesses strive for results, and high-performing teams are essential to achieving these goals. This principle should extend to defining the how of a team's daily work. Too often, I've seen processes implemented simply because they're trendy or because other companies are using them. While adopting new approaches shows leadership's commitment to industry best practices, implementation delivers little value unless the expected results are clearly defined and monitored.

I recall an experience when being the most senior engineer on a team, I wasn't entirely clear why I was introducing Scrum. Was it to get organized? To create a platform for regular deliverable inspections? I wasn't sure. It’s not difficult to envision that that attempt to adopt textbook Scrum didn’t go well.

💡Learning #1: always start by sharing the business challenge you're trying to solve. This clarity will help team members better understand both the current situation and your desired outcomes. It will greatly increase the chance for a positive change in the team system.

Overlooking the human in the team

A great system on paper can destroy motivation if it clashes with how people work best. Engineers and researchers resist top-down mandates but thrive under autonomy-driven structures.

The best managers create conditions where teams shape their own systems. Leadership is about fostering ownership, not about enforcing compliance. Establishing open communication isn't a sign of weakness—it's an opportunity to build trust, enhance everyone's problem-solving abilities, and foster a culture that welcomes diverse opinions and viewpoints. In none of the heated team debates that I’ve participated in, have I heard others say “I liked being proven wrong by the boss” yet I’ve heard the appreciation “I liked being heard by the boss”.

I once witnessed a senior executive attempt to impose cultural values on the engineering team without any prior consultation. When presented with these new values, the team unanimously resisted. No one appreciated how these expectations were communicated and the town-hall on which this was presented imploded spectacularly. This approach failed to build trust or demonstrate effective leadership. As a result, the engineering team never adopted these values and became less aligned with the executive's vision.

I’ve felt the effects of such mistake on my skin, too. As a manager, I once failed to gauge the team’s collective sentiment before introducing a change. To improve my team's goal-setting and execution capabilities, I decided to implement individual-level OKRs. This backfired tremendously because I failed to articulate why increasing team efficiency mattered. Most team members rejected the approach, and it became a failure—the change never achieved its desired outcome, and I wasted enormous energy trying to convince people to adopt an idea that never gained traction. Even today I believe implementing individual-level OKRs was the right decision, but my failure to effectively know my team doomed the initiative.

💡Learning #2: don’t make an executive decision, but make a proposal for the change subject to discussion. There is always a better way to solve a particular problem—going back to the distinct viewpoints that there are in a team, you can harness it as a force multiplier for finding ways of addressing a problem that may very well be much more efficient than your idea.

Failing to inspect for performance

A process is a hypothesis—it must be tested and adapted. Research and maintenance teams require continuous evaluation to ensure the system serves them rather than constrains them.

Introducing a change to a productivity system without planning for later inspection is a red flag. Every process change must be revisited and evaluated against underlying metrics. How else can we determine if the change has been beneficial? As mentioned earlier, adopting a new productivity system mirrors adopting a new culture—but unlike culture, it can be measured. Having concrete data points proves especially persuasive when convincing technically minded individuals in tech teams.

One of my previous bosses openly shared the metrics he used to evaluate productivity, which I found great. This gave me a clear understanding of how my work quality was reflected in the statistics. With this insight, I realized I could make his job easier by submitting smaller code changes that were easier to review. Truly a win-win situation. I could submit changes more frequently, and his other direct reports became more agile since they had smaller chunks of code to review!

💡Learning #3: What gets measured gets managed. Before introducing an organizational change:

1. Ask yourself "What is the purpose of this change?";

2. Choose one key metric to track the impact of the process change;

3. Schedule a specific date to review the results with your team.

This metric will provide concrete evidence for your team to either maintain or reverse the process change.

The manager as navigator of individualism

High-performing teams thrive not because of the process, but because of their ability to adapt, challenge, and improve it.

And that’s what great leadership is all about: not enforcing a system, but helping a team build their own.

Imagine two engineers. Both are technically excellent, but one consistently gets promoted while the other stagnates. Why? Because performance isn’t just about coding—it’s about demonstrating value, fitting company culture, and working smarter with automation. Master these three areas, and you’ll position yourself ahead of the curve.

In early 2025, many companies laid off thousands of employees amid sweeping cultural changes across the tech industry. These changes included the elimination or rebranding of diversity and inclusion programs, alongside mass layoffs justified as making companies "leaner" and "more prepared for the future." Adding fuel to the fire, prominent tech leaders have made numerous statements predicting that AI solutions will automate away mid-level software engineering roles. Make no mistake - the technological landscape is rapidly changing, fostering new workplace cultures that are replacing the status quo. This situation has led to heightened anxiety and stress. As people witness both the potential and risks of AI automation, many are questioning which career paths remain viable for their future.

Demonstrating the right performance in today’s uncertain world will greatly increase our chances of having a meaningful, fulfilling career. In this article, based on my insider perspective I’ll give you a practical guide to ensure you don’t just survive but thrive.

Create value beyond technology

Why this matters: senior leaders prioritize profitability, efficiency, and strategic impact. Being "technically great" is not enough. Creating business value will become increasingly vital for talent retention during performance reviews.

Taking action: strengthen your outcome-based approach by asking yourself these weekly questions:

1. What metric does my work influence?

2. How will my work create value for those around me?

3. Can I explain my impact in a way leadership cares about?

Based on my experience attending performance review meetings with organizational leaders, I've noticed a growing emphasis on evaluating tangible work outcomes. Employees who receive higher scores consistently show deep awareness of the business metrics they influence. More notably, there's diminishing tolerance for keeping staff who cannot demonstrate clear evidence of their productivity and output. By taking outcomes and desired outcomes of our work into consideration we strengthen the results as part of our performance equation.

When working on system performance improvements, be specific about quantifying the impact. Rather than saying "we reduced query latency," which is vague, it's more compelling to say "we improved checkout conversion by 5%." In this case, the reduced query latency directly improves the conversion rate at the final stage of the sales funnel, ultimately increasing company revenue. Also, it clearly shows thinking past the underlying technology and underlines the awareness of increasing revenue, or improving user engagement. In his blog article, “The Developing Dev” Ryan Peterman provides a great example such emphasis of technology as an enabler of business goals!

For examples of a results-oriented approach in daily work and how to demonstrate awareness of organizational goals, see the article that I wrote on the topic (link below).

Align yourself with company culture

Why this matters: cultural alignment is becoming a key retention factor. In an era of high performance demands, tech leaders aren’t just hiring skills, they’re hiring people who fit their vision of productivity and work ethic.

Taking action: regularly evaluate how well you align with company values and plan career moves before misalignment becomes problematic. Ask yourself these key questions:

1. Do I feel energized or drained when coming to work?

2. Does the company's vision truly inspire me?

3. Does the work environment fuel my motivation?

Manager feedback
Your manager should be your primary source of feedback about your alignment with company values. This feedback belongs in regular one-on-one meetings where you discuss performance, career development, and your role within the team's direction. By combining self-reflection with your manager's honest feedback, you'll gain a clear understanding of how well you fit the company's ideal of a model collaborator.

Pay attention to who gets promoted
Moreover, observe who gets promoted in your company—what behaviors do they share? When promoting someone, the company sends a clear message: "This person exemplifies our values" and "We reward this type of performance, mindset, and behavior." Use these promotions as your guide for better cultural alignment.

Speak the leadership language
Additionally, adopt the communication style of leadership. For example, if your company emphasizes product quality through automation, use phrases like "winning through automation" in your discussions. In your communications, highlight how you're leveraging automation to help your team succeed.

High performance is in demand more than ever. Mark Zuckerberg has expressed wanting more "masculine energy" at Meta, while Elon Musk demands his employees be "hardcore" and maintain a high work pace. These aren't just soundbites—they dictate hiring, promotions, and layoffs. If you're in an environment that prioritizes intense work culture, your survival depends on embracing that mindset or finding a better fit elsewhere. These tech leaders seek unwavering commitment from their workforce—a stance reflected in their hiring and firing practices. Following the Twitter acquisition in November 2022, Musk fired at least 3,700 employees who didn't align with X.com's new cultural direction. More recently, Meta laid off over 3,600 employees after Zuckerberg warned of an "intense year" ahead. These big companies aren't alone—in January and February 2025, 55 tech companies have laid off more than 13,000 employees! Organizations of all sizes now seek stronger alignment between their talent and their standards for collaboration, communication, and workplace mindset. This makes it essential for workers to thoroughly understand their company's culture, values, and collaboration standards. The stakes are high as even high performers at Meta have been let go, suggesting that strong performance alone isn't enough to ensure job security when compared to cultural alignment, which companies now appear to value at a premium.

Embrace automation and technology integration

Why this matters: AI isn’t replacing engineers, it’s making them exponentially more productive. Those who can integrate AI tools into their workflow will stand out, while those who resist risk being left behind.

Taking action: leverage automation tools to increase your output within the same amount of time.

Throughout history, technological revolutions have transformed how we work and live. The Industrial Revolution brought massive changes - from manufacturing advances to improved healthcare and education. This led to profound social shifts, including the rise of wage labor, public education, and consumer culture. Today, we're at a similar turning point with AI, which acts as a powerful force multiplier for achieving outcomes faster. The industrial revolution didn’t eliminate workers—it turned them into operators of machines that amplified their output. Today, AI does the same: it’s the modern equivalent of steam engines and assembly lines, allowing professionals to accomplish exponentially more. While this article isn’t meant to provide hands-on guidance on how to apply the tooling, I’d like to provide you some examples of how to achieve higher yield in different areas by relying on automation.

Programming

Use AI-based tools like Copilot and Vercel v0 to rapidly generate ready applications. In the well-known blog throughout the tech industry, The Pragmatic Engineer, Gergely Orosh gives a good situational overview of how AI can be used to jump-start application building bootstrap the first working version of a prototype!

Writing & editing

Ethan Mollick writes about integrating AI into his daily routines, showcasing its effectiveness in tasks ranging from text formatting to proposal writing. I recommend visiting his blog One Useful Thing.

Research, information synthesis

Executives from firms like Deloitte, EY, KPMG, McKinsey, and PwC have shared insights on effectively utilizing AI. This article tells how they employ AI tools for research, trend analysis, drafting communications, and automating tasks. For instance, Dan Priest at PwC uses AI for labor productivity research and policy writing, while Jim Rowan at Deloitte relies on AI for drafting newsletters. These leaders highlight the importance of clear, contextual prompts and view AI as a collaborative partner in enhancing productivity.

The path forward: thriving in the industry of tomorrow

The reality of today’s tech landscape is brutally clear: companies are prioritizing business impact, cultural alignment, and automation-first mindsets. As the industry evolves, so must we.

So, what’s next? How do you not only survive but thrive in this new era?

Make business impact your north star

• Stop thinking about your work in isolation—connect it to revenue, cost efficiency, and customer success.

• Every task you take on should have a measurable business outcome.

Align with your company’s culture, or find one where you belong

• The most successful employees don’t just perform well—they fit well.

• Study who gets promoted, how leaders communicate, and what behaviors are rewarded.

Master automation to multiply your output

• AI isn’t a competitor—it’s an amplifier. The professionals who integrate AI tools will outperform those who don’t.

• Whether it’s coding, writing, or research, leverage AI-powered tools to achieve more in less time.

Sources

1. The Cut. Mark Zuckerberg thinks companies need ‘masculine energy’ (link)

2. Business Insider. Elon Musk has been preaching the value of 'hardcore' work to employees for over a decade, early Tesla emails show (link)

3. The Conversation. Elon Musk’s ‘hardcore’ management style: a case study in what not to do (link)

4. The Pragmatic Engineer. How developers are actually using AI (link)

5. Blog One Useful Thing (link)

6. Business Insider. AI execs at big consulting firms share their favorite prompts and how they use the technology (link)

When I started my first job, I believed excellent work alone would earn recognition in performance reviews. During my second year, I was stunned to receive only a "meets expectations" rating—I had no system to showcase my impact, and my new manager was unaware of my contributions. This experience taught me that performance reviews aren't just about your work but how effectively you present your value. Since then, I've developed a system that has helped me and my teams earn well-deserved recognition, promotions, and raises. Here’s what you need to know.

Keep track of what you did

Most managers don’t remember every contribution—it’s your job to document them.

List your top 3 achievements first. These should clearly demonstrate your value to both your immediate manager and other calibration managers, while being concise enough to quickly convey your impact.

💡 Tip: keep a running list in a simple Google Doc, Notion page, or spreadsheet to track achievements and their impact. Haven't kept such a document? Don't worry—you can mine your weekly, monthly, and quarterly team presentations or personal documents to reconstruct your deliverables and their business context. Most organizations also use work tracking software like JIRA—simply filter by your username to find your completed epics, tickets, and tasks!

Emphasize organizational impact

Show your business impact using this formula: Problem→Actions→Outcome.

• Problem: What challenge did the business face?

• Actions: What did you do to address it?

• Outcome: What measurable results did you achieve?

During yearly reviews, organizations assess each individual's contribution to the company's success. You don't need to be a manager to show how your work affects the bottom line. Even at entry level, understanding the broader business context catches reviewers' attention—these are the people steering the company. Also, make sure to quantify outcomes wherever possible—think % growth, time saved, costs reduced, etc.

This approach demonstrates professional maturity and builds trust. When you explain the initial motivation behind your actions and their results, you show that you consistently consider the company's needs in your decision-making. Consider the following examples:

Senior Marketing Specialist

Achievement: Increased Lead Generation Through Targeted Content Strategy

Problem: Lead generation was declining, with low engagement from key target audiences on LinkedIn, Google Ads, and email marketing campaigns. Our content wasn't connecting with decision-makers in target industries, resulting in a 15% drop in conversion rates.

Actions Taken: Analyzed audience behavior and campaign data to identify content gaps. Created a targeted content strategy with SEO-optimized blog posts, LinkedIn thought leadership articles, and personalized email sequences. Partnered with the sales team to address specific customer pain points.

Outcome: Boosted website traffic by 40%, improved LinkedIn engagement by 30%, and increased qualified leads by 25% within three months, strengthening our sales pipeline.

Intermediate Project Manager

Achievement: Delivered the "Nova CRM Integration" Project Ahead of Schedule

Problem: The "Nova CRM Integration" project faced deadline risks due to scope creep, misaligned stakeholder expectations, and inefficient resource allocation—putting a key client contract at risk.

Actions Taken: Realigned project scope with stakeholders, streamlined requirements, and optimized resource planning. Implemented weekly Agile stand-ups and a Kanban board to enhance team communication and progress tracking. Maintained proactive risk management through bi-weekly stakeholder check-ins.

Outcome: Completed the project two weeks early with 15% cost savings. The successful integration led to improved client satisfaction and a $500K renewal contract.

💡 Tip: Review your weekly, monthly, and quarterly presentations or documents to recall your team's deliverables and understand the broader business context of your contributions.

Differentiate your achievements

The key to an effective achievements list is showing how your work differentiates you from your peers. Help the reviewer understand exactly what made your contributions stand out. Was it delivering higher quality work, or perhaps creating an exceptional customer experience? Focus on specific aspects that distinguish you from your colleagues. For example, if your team's goal was to reduce operational costs, highlight the innovative approaches you took to improve efficiency in ways that set you apart.

Principal Full Stack Engineer

Achievement: Cloud Migration Cuts Operational Costs

Problem: Our SaaS platform ran on outdated on-premises infrastructure with poor scalability and high maintenance costs. Monthly infrastructure spending exceeded our budget by 20%.

Actions Taken: After analyzing various cloud solutions, I led the migration to AWS using serverless architecture with AWS Lambda, DynamoDB, and S3. I designed a phased migration strategy, refactored microservices for serverless compatibility, and implemented auto-scaling with cost monitoring tools through AWS Cost Explorer.

Outcome: The migration reduced infrastructure costs by 40% annually. The new system improved reliability, cut deployment times by 30%, and enabled scalable growth without added overhead.

Rather than focusing on quick fixes, this engineer implemented a strategic long-term solution. The migration eliminated on-premises infrastructure that had required two engineers to maintain. These engineers were then reassigned to a revenue-generating project elsewhere in the company. Additionally, this innovative approach leveraged cloud infrastructure to enhance the platform's overall reliability and stability.

Unsubstantiated success = no success

Be prepared to enter the review process with a rock-solid foundation of evidence and documentation to support your work output:

1. Save emails, presentations, reports, and project artifacts that showcase your impact and contributions throughout the year.

2. Include specific metrics and data: Use concrete numbers, percentages, and measurable outcomes to demonstrate your success (e.g., cost savings, efficiency gains, customer satisfaction scores).

3. Build a portfolio: Organize your work samples, project deliverables, and achievements in an easily presentable format for review discussions.

4. Document process improvements: Maintain records of enhanced workflows, procedures, or systems, complete with before-and-after comparisons.

5. Track timeline adherence: Preserve project schedules and milestones that demonstrate your ability to deliver on time or ahead of schedule.

💡 Tip: compile all documents, slides, screenshots, and reports in a dedicated Google Drive (or whatever document database that’s used at your company) that's visible to the entire organization. This ensures unobstructed access to evidence during reviews. Follow your company's preferred method for sharing documents and make sure the data is easily accessible—after all, evidence has no value if it can't be seen.

360° feedback is everything

When an organization promotes someone, they're essentially saying, "be more like this person." Companies prioritize promoting top performers who are also excellent collaborators. They closely evaluate your communication style, pro-activeness, and ability to work well with others. I've seen firsthand how calibration sessions can remove candidates from promotion consideration simply because their collaboration skills didn't match the high standards set by their peers.

Collaborate with your manager to identify the most relevant people to provide your 360° feedback. Make sure to highlight specific projects you've worked on to receive detailed, meaningful feedback. If you've worked with multiple stakeholders throughout the year, ask your boss to reach out to them for feedback on your behalf. Your boss should send out a somewhat similar message:

Dear [stakeholder name],

I hope this message finds you well. As part of our talent cycle process, I’m gathering 360° feedback for [your name].

Since your team collaborated with [your name] on [project name], I’d greatly appreciate it if you could share your observations on his/her performance—specifically regarding collaboration, impact on the project, and any areas where he/she excelled or could grow.

Thank you in advance for your time and support.

Turning preparation into performance

Mastering your yearly performance review isn’t just about listing achievements, but about telling a compelling story of your impact, growth, and potential. By proactively tracking your accomplishments, framing them within the broader business context, and substantiating them with evidence, you position yourself as a high-performing professional who not only delivers results but also drives meaningful change.

Your performance review is a chance to take control of your career trajectory. With the right preparation, you can turn it into an opportunity for growth, recognition, and advancement. Start today: Open a doc, list your top three achievements, and craft your Problem → Actions → Outcome stories. Your future self will thank you.

For DeepSeek, these constraints—combined with urgency and ambition—catapulted the company into the AI stratosphere, putting it in direct competition with giants like OpenAI and Anthropic. The USA imposed restrictions on China's access to advanced semiconductors, particularly GPUs used to train AI models. In response to the October 2023 sanctions, Nvidia developed the H800 specifically for the Chinese market. The situation worsened a year later when additional US semiconductor restrictions effectively banned the export of even these downgraded graphics cards to China. These measures placed Chinese startups at a significant disadvantage compared to their American counterparts, who faced only financial constraints in accessing cutting-edge GPUs. As a result, DeepSeek's researchers and engineers had to work with a limited fleet of graphics cards, forcing them to develop ingenious and unconventional approaches to achieve their goals.

This analysis shows how their unconventional approach to sourcing talent, assignments centered on staff strengths, and strategic foresight set DeepSeek up for unprecedented success in the AI domain.

No experience—no problem

DeepSeek's hiring strategy is based on two simple rules: a hard "no" to anyone with more than 8 years of experience, and for applicants with 5-8 years of experience, they must demonstrate truly elite performance during interviews. Real innovation comes not from preconceived notions of problem-solving, but from pure interest and curiosity in understanding the true nature of assignments.

DeepSeek's R&D thrives on university graduates and early-career professionals. Notably, many individuals behind the breakthrough model R1 came from fields like physics and mathematics rather than computer science. The company has turned the traditional talent-finding approach—based on seniority and industry experience—upside down, favoring individuals unburdened by repetitive corporate work. As Liang Wenfeng, CEO and founder of the company, puts it: "What we need are people who are extremely passionate about technology, not people who are used to finding answers based on experience."

While many companies recognize that junior hires often think more creatively, DeepSeek elevated this concept into a core principle—making it the foundation of their innovative culture.

Flat, goal-centered structure

The employees behind the world's hottest LLM have the confidence to maximize their impact, supported by peers who recognize each other's strengths. Assignment structures are tailored around everyone's specialized skills. Rather than having teams with assigned managers, they organize around specific goals or problems to solve. In these groups, individuals can push boundaries while applying their unique strengths. Goal groups have no fixed headcount—instead, they are staffed with individuals who can make the biggest impact on the problem at hand.

This approach differs from the traditional model where managers dictate roadmaps and maintain exclusive oversight of team activities. It aligns with the 'betting' concept in the ShapeUp methodology—teams commit to specific outcomes within defined time periods and scope. The decentralized structure encourages proactive communication, particularly when solutions aren't immediately apparent. Through team transparency, DeepSeek creates an environment where teams learn from and support each other when facing obstacles.

Pulling on the rope together

Every individual, regardless of their background or experience level, possesses the innate capacity to generate groundbreaking ideas that can revolutionize the company's approach to problem-solving. Moreover, the company maintains a deliberately flat organizational structure where all employees share the title "Member of the Technical Staff" - there are no hierarchical distinctions, senior titles, or experience-based levels assigned to any team member.

Is DeepSeek building the future tech workplace?

The company’s culture isn’t just an experiment in efficiency—it’s a masterclass in organizational function. By rejecting conventional wisdom on talent, structure, and leadership, the company has demonstrated that radical approaches can lead to groundbreaking results.

If DeepSeek continues to succeed, its “hierarchy-free, constraint-driven, interdisciplinary-first” model could inspire the next wave of AI startups to prioritize ingenuity over brute force. However, whether this model can scale beyond a single breakthrough remains the biggest open question.

Will DeepSeek’s radical structure redefine AI workplaces, or is it a product of unique constraints that won’t last? Time will tell—but for now, it stands as one of the boldest organizational experiments in the AI industry.

Sources

1. The Guardian. Who is behind DeepSeek and how did it achieve its AI Sputnik moment? (2025) (link)

2. 36Kr. DeepSeek's employment philosophy: top students, young people, no rat races (2025) (link)

3. Weixin AI Blog. DeepSeek’s talent perspective: no KPIs, flat hierarchy, no rat races (2025) (link)

Stepping into a management role is exciting and offers a brand new path for making an impact across your company. Like in every discipline, the beginnings are not easy and it’s not always clear how one should navigate surfacing challenges.

Let me share my recollection of my early days as an engineering manager—how I experienced this shift in reality and the major challenges I faced. For each challenge, I'll highlight key leadership aspects that every boss should keep in mind, whether they're just starting their managerial journey or are seasoned leaders.

Trust: The Foundation of Leadership

Trust - assured reliance on the character, ability, strength, or truth of someone or something. [1]

Fostering trust among your team members, stakeholders will be fundamental in creating your success as a leader. Trust is necessary to build the right communication and collaboration culture. An effective leader must acknowledge that and give the right amount attention to learning each individual’s perspective on preferred ways of contributing, their view on team dynamics and their career aspirations.

In his influential book The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, Patrick Lencioni identifies trust as the cornerstone of team cohesion. By building trust, teams can minimize interpersonal conflict and create a supportive, collaborative work environment that drives success.

Building trust has not only helped lead an innovative and productive team but has given me an opportunity to connect with people on a more personal level, providing a perspective on their personalities, experiences and opinions. They allowed me to form an understanding about a person’s motivations and preferences, strengthening the relationship between introducing a team change and observing a positive response.

Avoid Micromanagement

Micromanagement — the direct management of a project, etc. to an excessive degree, with too much attention to detail and insufficient delegation. [2]

When I first became a manager, I stuck to what I knew best: programming. I believed that by personally maintaining high-quality code, I could ensure success. But this approach came at a cost—I was stifling my team’s growth. Team members were hesitant to take initiative and our strategic priorities suffered. Overcommitting to individual contributions was leaving consequences to the well-being of the team:

1. Slower discovery of team members’ individual strengths and motivations;

2. Negligence of product vision and blunted strategic awareness;

3. Demoralization that I’m “in their kitchen”.

Through feedback I was made aware of that I’m not managing—but rather micromanaging, one of the all-time dreaded qualities of a boss.

Let’s not be afraid to use this word where applicable—exercising excessive control over product changes will take away growth opportunities for the team individuals. Research by Deci and Ryan (2000) [3] on self-determination theory highlights that such control undermines intrinsic motivation by limiting autonomy, a critical driver of creativity and engagement. Instead of fostering innovation, micromanagement discourages initiative and reduces overall well-being within the team.

To grow as a leader, I had to shift my mindset. I slowly started encouraging my team to experiment and solve problems their own way. This not only empowered them but also accelerated their learning and boosted morale. By releasing my grips on the “hows” of product contributions, I have witnessed a speed up the learning process of the group and it has paid significant dividends.

Embrace Continuous Learning

Continuous learning is not just about picking up new skills—it’s about constantly evaluating and refining how you lead. Early in my management journey, I struggled to delegate effectively. Journaling became my go-to tool for self-reflection. By reviewing my decisions and communication style daily, I identified habits that were holding me back. For example, I noticed that I avoided delegating certain tasks out of fear they wouldn’t be done ‘my way,’ which was slowing team progress.

To efficiently learn the essentials on the job, self-reflecting and open-mindedness are must-have qualities. New managers face a steep learning curve. The 2015 Gallup report State of the American Manager [4] reveals that most companies, including those in tech, promote individuals based on technical expertise or tenure rather than formal training in management. This leaves many new leaders unprepared for the nuanced challenges of the role.

Having said that, there’s no step-by-step guide for navigating everyday managerial situations. To learn effectively on the job, self-reflection and open-mindedness are essential. Here are a few ways to prioritize learning:

1. Seek mentorship from a trusted colleague or someone in your professional network.

2. Journal regularly to reflect on your decisions, challenges, and interactions.

3. Proactively ask for feedback from your team and peers.

4. Explore coaching or therapy to better understand yourself and your leadership style.

These are just starting points, but each person’s learning journey is unique. So, let me leave you with a question to reflect on: “Under what conditions do I learn best?”

"Austria," he replied with an audible accent when asked about his origins.

By then, I had already lived in the States for a year, which allowed me to learn English quickly and communicate freely with other kids at school and in the neighborhood. But Mario, as a newcomer, struggled with English.

"I really, really wish I could ask him what he did today. How do I talk with him?"—I kept asking myself. I yearned to make a deeper connection with him. Unfortunately, a few months later, he moved with his family to another area, and our paths never crossed again. That experience has lingered in my mind over the years, shaping my approach to listening and understanding others.

Since then, beyond Polish as my native language, I've learned English, German, and Italian. I'd like to share how being open to learning these languages has shaped my approach to communication in professional settings.

Natural flow of native language communication

Native language communication enables effortless expression, clearer understanding, and stronger cultural connections

When speaking your native language, you experience an effortless freedom to find the right words instantly—it flows naturally. During my first two jobs where the teams were 100% Polish, I noticed how we all benefited from using our native language: ideas and their expression came easily, and our cultural understanding made even casual conversations more meaningful. This extended to giving feedback which, while inherently challenging, had fewer pitfalls since we had complete command over the clarity and impact of our chosen words. It's the most efficient and natural way to communicate thoughts and intentions, creating strong bonds through shared cultural understanding.

Embracing the language challenge

Immersion in a new language builds grit and a resilient mindset

At my first job in Switzerland, in my closest group of peers I was the only one who didn’t have a native command of German. You could get into the debate that Swiss German and High German are two different languages - which is an important realization - however at my first team everyone spoke German fluently and English at least in a communicative way.

I will always remember the day when one of the directors started his statement with calling my name:

• “Leszek” - said with a cheerful tone - “From today we’re speaking only German”.

That was a bit of a shocker because I never fully completed any formal education in German. A mild flight-or-fight reaction kicked in.

‘Flight’ was not something that I was going to choose.

I decided to immerse myself in the language, through exposure to situations where unknown words and language constructs were regularly existent. I made sure to communicate with as many people in German as possible to strengthen my bond with the language and to pave the way for quicker progress. I frequently asked peers for feedback - I even asked them to correct me when I make a mistake!

From the current perspective it was a privilege to work with them and hear these words from my former manager. To me it was a manifestation of intention to help me develop, an invitation into a speaker group and surely a workplace challenge that I would eventually overcome. Pushing through the language barrier every day, navigating my way through new words, the discomfort of talking in broken German are the things that I will never forget. Yes, there were low points in that as well - the misunderstandings and the feeling of hopelessness when I struggled finding the word that could express my intentions. Also, feeling silly after having said something silly would be almost a part of the daily routine.

Learning a new language while adapting to a new environment taught me that staying outside your comfort zone for a prolonged time develops grit and a more resilient mindset. This experience fundamentally changed how I approach difficulties—I began to see problems as challenges that I would ultimately overcome. It also reminded me that formal training isn't necessary to become fluent in a new skill or discipline.

Building trust through language persistence

Language commitment builds trust with those around you

At my next job, we were primarily a group of German speakers from Switzerland, Germany, and Austria. On my first day, I knew I needed to gain ground in several areas to win the trust and respect of the group: I had never written production code in Python, which was the team's primary programming language. Additionally, I had never worked in an environment with such diverse German accents and dialects.

As humans, we have the innate drive to seek approval within our peers and be recognized as one of the individuals that fits in the group. This is particularly important at the workplace where we spend roughly 1/3 of our lives. Even more so when joining a new group, the motivation to ‘prove yourself’ and to fit in is even more evident. Showing the right attitude and behavior at the beginning are vital - listening and being open to learn will win you trust of your peers.

Building a communicative bridge with the humans around you is evaluated way before you put your hands to the keyboard and hack away at your first implementation task.

One experience that particularly sticks in my mind is when I was trying to grasp one of my first requirements. I was struggling with understanding some of the words, attributed to the my colleague’s accent that was brought on due to life-long practice of the mother-tongue dialect. That wording would eventually be key to carry out the task:

- “Ok, let’s switch to English!”

The feeling of safely and surely expressing myself was appealing and I felt like giving in. At the same time, I knew that falling back on what I already know won’t end up in progress.

- “What if we tried again? Could you repeat what you just said but slower?”

We tried again, and this time - successfully. To say that this wasn’t the only situation where I needed to press “rewind” and play it back at 0.5 the speed would be an understatement. There were plenty more moments where I thought to myself “What are you doing? Why not just stick to English? Does this really make sense?”.

As I would realize now, it was one of ways to build trust with the team.

It does take courage to immerse yourself in a linguistically diverse environment and start being productive in it - regardless the language. It’s a fantastic tool to build relationships with people around you. Moreover, the right language is a foundational piece of one’s professionalism, on top of which the knowledge of tools and technologies builds.

Paving the way for inclusion through open-minded communication

Inclusion and transparency are key pillars of a leader.

The German language, which was previously dominant in our company, gradually transitioned to English as our company expanded and welcomed more non-German speaking employees from various nationalities.

As more people from different countries joined our company, English became our main language. This change wasn't just about speaking English - it made us think differently about how we communicate. We had to be more careful about the words we chose because people from different backgrounds might understand them differently. For example, if you say "apple," some people might think of a red apple, while others might picture a green one.

I remember one meeting that showed how important word choice can be. Two team members were discussing a new feature, and they had different views about how important it was.

- “But you want to implement it because it will simplify our current workflow, right?”
- “No, I don’t want to implement it. I need to implement it!”

In this exchange the slight nuance between the wording of ‘want’ and ‘need’ was a reflection of how the persuader sought it as an opportunity to push our product further, whereas the persuaded didn’t necessarily agree that it would end up contributing to its bottom line.

But more importantly, our collective desire to understand each other entirely expanded the awareness of how we want to be treated as individuals, too. We were prompted to be more thoughtful and empathetic in our messaging. With time we were successful in adopting following behaviors:

1. Using "we" instead of "I" to foster collaboration;

2. Discussing asynchronously on Slack and maintaining it as a knowledge base;

3. Embracing equity—recognizing that everyone brings unique value to the team.

Our entire group grew in leadership enormously during this transition and both the “core” founding team members as well as the newcomers benefited greatly from this linguistic, cultural transition. It instilled in me the belief that the qualities that we displayed: inclusion and transparency were the key factors in holding each other to the highest standard and help all of us turn into leaders.

As you finish reading this, I’d like to leave you with the final thought:

“How has embracing language challenges or cultural differences shaped your personal or professional growth?”

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Coaching is one of the main tools that a leader can use to bring the best out of their team members - help them feel valued in the work environment, solve a particular business problem, and most importantly - discover their superpowers. As I found out, there are situations in which coaching can be efficiently applied outside of the context of daily work as well. In this recollection, I’d like to describe one of my first “a-ha” coaching moments. Thanks to active listening and asking open-ended questions, I felt joy of helping my friend explore his problem and identify the suitable solution - all of this outside of the professional environment. It was truly an eye-opening experience that showed how positively friendships can be influenced by asking questions.

In this brief recount, I focus on the following effects of coaching:

1. Asking initial questions and applying clarifying questions to find out the true issue at hand;

2. Focusing on the issue and trying to understand the current situation with the intention of exploring options to choose.

On one beautiful evening I’m having the pleasure of seeing one of my long-time friends. I would describe him as a positive and an even-keeled individual. A devoted family man. Having a successful career where he leads a group of highly committed specialists. I’ve already known him during university times and one of his traits that I admire is his by-the-book, methodical way to learn new things and adopt new mindsets, almost as if he had a manual for that. Foremost, he almost always (sorry man!) finds time to go for a drink when I’m around 😏

We met at a bustling pub, the evening just beginning. I’m sitting opposite to both of my (friends). When faced with the usual question about how things are going for me, I begin my lamentation about how hard it is to get good quality sleep.

It’s exactly this topic that sheds some light on my friend’s issue, one - as I would later find out - thought that I’d never expect to hear.

- I haven’t gotten a good night’s sleep for the last year-and-a-half…

The coaching cogwheels in my brain start slowly engaging.

- How’s that possible? - I ask.
- Well, I’m stressed about paying a debt back to my brother. In fact, I would’ve been less stressed, had I been obliged to pay it back to a bank or some other institution. Apart from the obvious goal that he’d like to reach - getting quality sleep - I continued to build my understanding of the situation further.
- So your brother is reminding you about it or what?
- No. I’m on track with repaying him and he’s absolutely chill about it.

Having met his family before, I’d always known them to be exceptional people. At this point I’m on the edge of my seat. I want to find out more.

- What else could be putting weight on your shoulders then?
- Oh man, I don’t know. It’s just the thought of my wife and kids, and not letting them down in any way.

- Have you perhaps wondered if there are other things causing you so much worry?
- We’re all good with each other… if anything, it’s our parents who have been acting a bit weird, for as long as I remember.

That’s my cue!

- A bit weird? - I asked.
- They keep asking “How are things between you and your brother? Are they all good?”. They keep second-guessing that we’ve made this agreement between us and just won’t stop asking about it. “Are you sure this thing won’t cause both of you to have a bad relationship?
- Well, I think you have your work cut out for you.

There was a brief moment of silence, both of us witnessing a moment of illumination, with my buddy coming to a realization that there’s a more deeply rooted cause than what he thought before. I was rewarded with a brief moment of satisfaction by having found the right questions and not being content with the first answer that he gave.

I used the GROW method (Goal, Reality, Options, Way forward) to guide our conversation: first understanding his goal—getting better sleep—then exploring the reality of his situation and potential options for moving forward.

A seasoned coach would immediately point out to me that I missed out on a couple of things:

1. Exploring the possible options to take;

2. Discussing the way forward.

After realizing that I haven’t touched both of the points above, I followed up with him some time after.

- “Being presented with the right questions and having the opportunity to form a fully thought-through answer - doesn’t happen very frequently nowadays” was his main takeaway. “It’s something that I’m trying to master as well. I think it could be especially useful in negotiations and one-on-one discussions with my team” he continued.
- “Did our last chat help you find the right approach?”
- “I have to double down on paying that off - it’s the best way of getting out of this situation” - he replied with confidence. “I cherish that we had this discussion. I think I’m more aware of the problem and how I need to solve it”.

Reflecting on this experience, I see the impact that coaching can bring to our personal lives, not just in professional settings. We often forget that the skills we develop in one area of our lives can be transformative in others. This conversation was not just about solving a problem but about deepening a friendship and understanding the value of taking a coaching approach beyond the work environment.

As you finish reading this, I’d like to leave you with the final thought:

How do the skills that you daily rely on can be adapted to enrich your personal relationships and broaden your approach to the challenges outside of work?