Workplace Culture
25 articlesThe Power of Being Present: Why Working 24/7 Reduces Your Productivity & Innovation
As a longtime CTO and Chief Product Officer, I've seen firsthand the toll that constant work can take on individuals and teams. Many of us in the tech indu...
The Evolution of the 50/25 Meeting Format: Why Starting Late is the New On-Time
Introduction: An Updated Perspective on Time Management In a continuous quest to boost workplace effectiveness, it's useful to revisit our approaches. Ten ...
An Executive’s Daily Routine for Productivity and Balance (Summer 2023)
My friends occasionally ask how I keep a mostly even keel despite the pressures of an industry that needs to do more with less, and how I’ve managed to com...
Humor, Seriously by Jennifer Aaker and Naomi Bagdonas (Book Review)
Since I also wrote my review of Arianna Huffington's The Sleep Revolution while pulling an all-nighter, it is only appropriate that I write my review of a ...
An Example of Respectfully Declining a Meeting at Work That is Already in Your Calendar
Here is an example of how to respectfully decline a meeting to make time to work on a higher priority. We occasionally find ourselves in meetings when our ...
Why I Joined Thrive Global
Sometimes in life, we reach a new starting line where we sense that everything we have experienced and done so far has been preparing us for this next step...
How to be an effective CTO
A CTO's job combines Culture, Technology, and Operations. Each of the three is necessary; a field of knowledge, experimentation, and learning in itself; an...
Robert Larson, Core News Product Manager at Bloomberg
Robert Larson shared this recommendation for Rajiv on Apr 9, 2016 via LinkedIn: I had the pleasure of working with Rajiv at The New York Times for many yea...
Joy Goldberg, Director, Portfolio Management at The New York Times
Joy Goldberg shared this recommendation for Rajiv on October 22, 2015 via LinkedIn: Rajiv is unique. He's intensely interested in every person regardless o...
Chris Ladd, Senior Software Engineer at The New York Times
Chris Ladd shared this recommendation for Rajiv on July 22, 2015 via LinkedIn: Rajiv truly believes in the importance of people and of culture — from the f...
Dear Makers, On Fridays My Office is Yours — An Experiment
Some senior leaders choose to work alongside their teams in cubicles, eschewing private office rooms. New York City’s former mayor Michael Bloomberg is an ...
Posted Signs for Productive Meetings
You can post these slides as signs in your meeting rooms and offices or include them at the start of your presentations. You can also open the original Goo...
Templates for Replying to Meeting Requests & Polite Ways to Decline Meetings
By default, we should only attend meetings where we are active participants, not passive attendees with not much to contribute to the desired outcome of th...
When to have and when not to schedule meetings
Companies should, by default, avoid scheduling meetings that start before 10am or end after 5pm. If an employee comes to the office at 8am on some days, it...
50/25 Meeting Format
Update (2023 September 17): I published an update to this system based on data, experience, and the advice of colleagues. If you manage a team, value your ...
Using Laptops or Smartphones in Meetings
Using smartphones — or worse, laptops — during in-person meetings diminishes productivity, is disrespectful to others and decreases your brainpower. Yes, s...
Ray Dalio, Randall Munroe and I Think Alike – Culture of Courage & Candor
On the matter of bad behavior of complaining against others behind their backs, Ray Dalio, Randall Munroe and I share the same viewpoint. This article star...
Case for a Consistent, Comprehensible & Cost-Effective Vacation Policy
This article makes a case for having a vacation policy that is simple, sane and standard across the organization. Some organizations have unnecessarily com...
Productive Business Meetings
Here are some suggestions for making business meetings more productive, efficient and effective. Based on readers' feedback, I have split this article into...
Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen (Book Review)
Born to Run by Christopher McDougall is one of the most inspiring books I've read in a long time. It is a book about adventures, travels, cultures, customs...
It is all about Balance
To be effective at anything in life, balance is required Be it personal life, leadership, management, technical work: balance is essential. You need to be ...
Ars Technica Interview: IT consumerization in the enterprise
My colleague Jon Stokes who is Senior Editor and co-founder at Ars Technica interviewed me on the topic of IT consumerization, and about the shifting bound...
7 Tips for Effective Email
Some tips for making better use of email at work and in personal life Realize that busy people may skim your email instead of reading it thoroughly, especi...
Respect and the American Way
Respect must be earned and maintained not expected and demanded. Unlike in some other cultures, I believe the American way is to give respect to those and ...
An All-Nighter at Work Followed by a Terrorism Threat Scare
We had too much excitement at work pulling an all-nighter. Then when we thought we could go home and sleep, there was a terrorism threat at our building. A...