leadership
37 articlesYour AI Is a Thinking Partner. You're Using It as a Search Engine.
Most leaders ask AI for answers. The ones gaining a real edge ask it to think with them. Here's the five-mode framework that makes that partnership work.
Fred Mann
Frederick G. Mann hired me when I was a college kid in 1995 and changed the trajectory of my life. He passed away on February 13, 2026.
The hidden lesson of Richard Socher's career: AI makes engineering discipline more valuable, not less
Richard Socher built the research that powers today's AI coding assistants and then described exactly how organizations should use them. His 'managers of AI' fr
From Tool to Team: Managing AI as Distributed Engineering
When you're running multiple AI sessions in parallel, you're not using a tool anymore — you're managing a team. The skills that matter shift accordingly.
Synthesis Project Management
A lightweight project management system for human-AI collaboration. Designed for context preservation across conversation sessions and context compaction events
What is Synthesis Engineering?
Synthesis engineering is a professional discipline for human-AI collaboration on complex work. Not just better prompting — a systematic approach with princ...
Building ownwords: A Synthesis Coding Case Study
What separates synthesis coding from vibe coding isn''t the tools — it''s the decisions. This technical case study walks through the architectural choices,...
The Synthesis Engineering Framework: How Organizations Build Production Software with AI
From individual practice to organizational capability: a systematic approach to human-AI collaboration in professional software development This blog post ...
What Open Source Taught Me About Building Innovation
Open source is the most reliable engine of compounding innovation in software. The four properties that separate compounding projects from inert ones, and what
Just the Good Stuff: No-BS Secrets to Success (No Matter What Life Throws at You)” by Jim VandeHei (Book Review)
A critical review of Jim VandeHei's leadership book through the lens of evidence-based management, comparing it to Jeffrey Pfeffer's standards.
Beyond Outcomes: Why Great Leaders Prioritize Inputs
Great leaders prioritize inputs over outcomes: how Bhagavad Gita wisdom, Stoic philosophy, and case studies from Pixar and Patagonia support input-focused leade
Every Year, Restart in Your Current Job
The practice of approaching your current role as if you were just hired: listening tours, relationship building, fresh eyes on old problems.
A Conversation with Daniel Kahneman
What I learned from an hours-long conversation with Daniel Kahneman about the human brain, intuition, emotional intelligence, chess, and artificial intelligence
The Poetic Power Play: A Lesson from Indian Poetry and Professor Jeff Pfeffer
Lessons on power dynamics from Dinkar's Hindi poetry and Stanford Professor Jeff Pfeffer's work: why virtues like forgiveness require strength to be respected.
Power, for All by Julie Battilana and Tiziana Casciaro (Book Review)
A review of Power, for All by Battilana and Casciaro, exploring ethical power dynamics, democratized leadership, and how power can create positive-sum outcomes.
Take Back Your Power by Deb Liu (Book Review)
A review of Take Back Your Power by Deb Liu, offering evidence-based leadership strategies for women and underrepresented groups in the workplace.
A CEO's Guide to Working with CTOs and CPOs
What non-technical CEOs should expect from their technology and product leaders, how to evaluate them, and what they need from you to succeed.
The Room Where the Story Was Told
A leadership fable about what happens when a capable executive assumes results speak for themselves, and discovers that someone else has been narrating his orga
The World Economic Forum Seven Years Later
Seven years after being inducted as a Young Global Leader, the letter I would have benefited from in 2014: how to engage with the WEF community, what the sessio
Be Curious, Not Judgmental
Why replacing premature judgment with curiosity is one of the most underrated leadership practices, drawing on a Stanford talk by Jeffrey Pfeffer.
Choosing the Right Boss
A leadership fable about how the relationship with your direct manager determines your career more than the company, the title, or the compensation.
From Operating Executive to Advisor: What I Learned at McKinsey
What working as a Senior Advisor at McKinsey & Company in the pandemic year taught me about influence without authority, the craft of an engagement, and the mus
The Fable of the Illusory Truth
A leadership fable about how repeated narratives become accepted truths in organizations, and how one leader fought back with data, discipline, and a better sto
The Leadership Fairy Tale Problem: Why Most Leadership Advice Will Sabotage Your Career
A review of Stanford professor Jeffrey Pfeffer's Leadership BS, examining five systemic flaws in mainstream leadership advice and why evidence-based approaches
A Technologist at Summer Davos: Notes From the WEF Annual Meeting of the New Champions
Notes from the World Economic Forum's Annual Meeting of the New Champions in Tianjin, the YGL community, and what a CTO actually gets out of a gathering like th
Mandela’s Way: Lessons on Life, Love, and Courage (Book Review)
Review of Mandela's Way by Richard Stengel, a journalist's account of real-world leadership lessons from Nelson Mandela grounded in evidence, not fairy tales.
Leadership Requires Loyalty, Kindness, and Ethics
Leadership requires three non-negotiable qualities: loyalty, kindness, and ethics. Without all three, a position of power does not make you a leader.
Sometimes a Battle Picks You
Every leadership book says 'pick your battles wisely.' But sometimes you don't get to choose. Sometimes a situation demands you stand up, ready or not.
The Art of the Dual Report: Serving Business and Editorial
Why the senior technology leader at a serious newspaper reports to both the CIO and the Executive Editor, what that structure makes possible, and why translatio
A Players Hire A Players
A players hire A players. B players hire C players. C players hire randomly. Each step reveals something different about insecurity, judgment, and organizationa
A Book That Changed How I Think About Meetings
Patrick Lencioni's Death by Meeting and the principle that has shaped my calendar discipline ever since: a meeting must solve a problem, make a decision, or sha
Schedule Time to Think Every Day
Scheduling dedicated thinking time every workday, separate from meetings and email, is the most important and most neglected habit a leader can develop.
Rethinking the American Jury System
A proposal for professional jurors, the pushback I got from friends, and what I am still trying to work out.
On Being Named to the NAA "20 Under 40" List
Reflections on being named to the Newspaper Association of America's '20 Under 40' list, the team behind the work, and what newspaper-industry technology leader
Eight Years at Knight Ridder: Building the Digital Newsroom
Reflections on nearly eight years at Knight Ridder, from solving publishing problems at 20 to VP Engineering leading Cofax development for 31 newspapers.
Winning the Team Knight Ridder Excellence Award for Cofax
The Cofax team won the Knight Ridder Excellence Award for Technology Innovation, recognizing the system serving 20 newspapers.
Moving to San Jose and Becoming a VP at 26
Reflections on moving from Philadelphia to San Jose to become VP of Engineering at Knight Ridder Digital at age 26.