Newsletter

The people asking for time on my calendar right now are sharing a familiar pattern, so I'm bringing it here. Senior leaders — Directors, L6s, L7s, Principals — are doing all the recognisable things. Resume updated. LinkedIn refreshed. Applications going out. Coffees and catch-ups happening. And none of it is compounding. Not because the effort is wrong. Because the language you use to describe what you're good at only works inside the company you're trying to leave. About 80%

Three versions of the same conversation last week. Different people, different levels, different orgs. Same situation: performing above their current level for years. Getting the feedback that says "you're ready." And then... nothing moves. When this goes on long enough, something starts to crack inside. You start wondering if the feedback was just politeness. If maybe you're not as strong as you thought. If the problem is you. It almost never is. What I see across dozens of

Something I notice on almost every Amazonian I speak with: ​ You'll describe something genuinely impressive — and then immediately wave it off. "That's just how it works there." "Everyone does that." "It's not a big deal." ​ Except it is. And almost nobody outside Amazon can do it. Running a programme across twelve teams in four geographies with no direct authority over any of them? Most organisations can't get three people aligned without someone pulling rank. You did it acr

Something I keep coming back to with my Amazon clients: If you were at Amazon for any real length of time, chances are you're an achiever. Maybe you showed up that way. Maybe the environment trained it into you. Either way, you're wired to spot the next problem, fix it, and move on. That muscle got strong — and it served you well. It also makes transitions harder than they need to be. Because the moment you decide to leave — or the moment the decision gets made for you — that

Last week I ran a small, paid workshop where I pulled up LinkedIn profiles live and gave direct feedback. Nine senior tech professionals. Ninety minutes. Nowhere to hide. Every single one of them had a genuinely compelling story. Real experience. Strong track records. The kind of people who’ve built, launched, and led things that most companies would love to have on their team. But in almost every case, that story wasn’t on the page yet. The profiles weren’t bad. They w

Here's something nobody prepares you for when you leave Amazon: ​ You've spent years communicating to people who already know you. Your VP knows your scope. Your skip-level knows your track record. Your peers were in the room when the decision got made. You've never had to explain what you do from scratch — because your audience always had the context. ​ And then you're out. And suddenly the audience is... everyone? Hiring managers you've never met. Recruiters who've skimmed