Published in an N of 1·Jun 21Open Office Hours: 2021 Diversity ReportHumans are habituation machines. Once something becomes true for us, our brain starts incorporating it into our reality through selective attention and a variety of other cognitive biases, such that it is hard to remember a time when it wasn’t true. Take the internet. If you’re old enough, you might…Diversity And Inclusion9 min read
Published in Behavioral Design Hub·May 5, 2021Applied Behavioral Science: A four-part modelI believe that behavioral science, correctly applied, can change the world. But, as with any emerging discipline, there is a period of self-definition in which people fight (with varying amounts of actual animosity) about who can claim what title and where the borders of the field are. Personally, I’ve largely…Behavioral Economics9 min read
May 5, 2021How not to deal with the world and workJason Fried, the CEO of Basecamp, has been making some changes at the org and decided that they “deserve an announcement”. While worth reading in their entirety, the changes are geared around taking the challenges of leading a company and addressing them by promoting monoculture (in the veil of individualism…Basecamp10 min read
Apr 11, 2021‘Open by default’ is essential to creating inclusive workplacesRecently, I accepted a new job offer. And I was excited, as so many folks are when they find meaningful work. It felt like such a great gig: my entire reporting line would be women! It would be global in scope! It would be spreading behavioral science among Fortune 500…HR5 min read
Mar 8, 2021How not to grow from 2 to 120+ people in < 18 monthsOver the weekend, Fast’s CEO Domm Holland posted a short Twitter thread about growing from 2 to 120+ people in 18 months while maintaining “an exceptionally high talent bar” and offered some tips based on Fast’s hiring process. But as I was reading the thread, I was struck by how…Diversity6 min read
Feb 1, 2021Warm intros and double opt-ins perpetuate inequity (and what we can do about it)The tech and VC worlds, like the world at large, are facing a reckoning over their history and practice of exclusionary bias. And while bias is incredibly complex and we have a long way to go, there are plenty of systemic changes that aren’t complex at all, like changing who…Diversity6 min read
Jan 15, 2021Meaning at work, cancel culture, and the employment crisis of perfectionAlmost seven years ago, I gave a TEDx talk that would prove to be prophetic. The focus was on trying to resolve two seemingly irreconcilable facts: that many new college graduates were unemployed and yet there were abundant job openings for college graduates with no experience. My explanation was one…Psychology6 min read
Nov 30, 2020Team design, TMNT-styleTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Spice Girls. Cowboy Bebop. Epic squads make for great storytelling. But the reason they’re compelling is essentially the same: optimum distinctiveness. When we think about identity, everyone is trying to find a balance between uniqueness and belonging. Good squad-based narratives play on this by balancing a…Team Building5 min read
Oct 20, 2020What to ask a company during your interview(I’m vocal in my support of the work First Round Capital has done to help the entire entrepreneurial ecosystem and the First Round Review is a big part of that. …Interview2 min read
Published in an N of 1·Sep 24, 2020My college admissions essay: Swarthmore, ‘05(I was talking with a mentee about her sister’s admissions essay for college and she asked if I would share mine. And so I’m doing that publicly, because the world is better with transparency. For context, this was written for Swarthmore College, which I ultimately attended.) I do not know…College7 min read