How to thrive as an engineering leader at a Pre-IPO company
summary
Defines thriving as align values strengths growth and gives concrete tradeoffs: join the right stage company, lean into ambiguity, and turn exclusives into combinations (example: integrate UI while rebuilding data layer at LinkedIn rather than full rewrite). Cites architecture projects (LinkedIn inversion, Uber Darin) and Uber partnering with Jump/Lime instead of building scooters, and rebuilding a monolith at Included Health while investing in AI and orchestration for scale; runs ~200 engineers and sees growth from ~100M to ~2B trips as a rationale for rapid learning. Emphasizes transformational leadership and avoiding a coin-operated engineering model.
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chapters (18)
- 0:00Intro
- 0:46What is thriving
- 2:15My view of thriving
- 2:50Be at the right place for you
- 4:17Lean into the challenges
- 5:45Different sets of challenges
- 7:48A series of choices
- 11:12Do it all
- 12:36Invest in people
- 13:53Leadership styles
- 15:16Transformational leadership
- 16:30Be at the right place
- 18:47Dealing with failures
- 20:53Building leadership
- 24:07Coin operated machine
- 25:19What are your goto tactics
- 26:50How do you get motivated
- 28:59Advice for when transformational energy isnt inspiring
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