Yatish Siddaramaiah

It was a Friday afternoon in sunny California, a friend and I were catching up over coffee at Starbucks and the conversation got real very quickly. They work on some of the most critical projects in Big Tech. The kind of work that keeps teams moving and leaders paying attention and most would like to be on. About halfway through the conversation they said "I don't think my work matters, I feel like a sandbag." They felt invisible. As a coach, my instinct was to understand the details behind...

"Scaling is not about doing more. It’s about doing less of what doesn't matter so you can do more of what does." - Reed Hastings Having scaled teams and organizations at Big Tech and advising startups looking to scale, I couldn’t agree more with this quote from Reed Hastings. In the rush to take the business from 0 to $$$M business, most leaders optimize for speed of execution. They want features out the door yesterday. But there is a hidden cost to moving fast without a strategy. I have...

"Be more strategic." The feedback everyone gets, but few understand. Most managers use it as a catch all during performance reviews. Most employees are left guessing, what does it even mean? I recall a time when I had asked my manager what does being strategic actually look like?. He said, "Watch how great leaders show up. You'll understand." I watched a leader I admired command a room not with answers, but with thoughtful questions and painting the big picture with a calm demeanor. That...