The value of beginner’s mind in UX research I don’t know anything about the customers I study. At least, that’s what I tell myself. Sometimes even after years of researching the same group: I don’t know anything about them. What if I told you our entire lives we’ve done ourselves…

Management Philosophy for the Age of Integration™ The average day of a middle manager in Corporate America: 8–9am — Write status update emails 9–10am — 1:1’s to provide status updates 10–10:30am —Fifteen person meeting to “find alignment” 10:30–11:30am — Answer unending list of demands from email & Slack 11:30 —…

What to know about the positive stress movement I remember my exact breaking point It was the slow tease of a single raindrop directly on my forehead. Eight miles of hiking, lugging fifty pounds in the pouring Pacific Northwest rain, and we had finally arrived at our campsite. …

Exposing my fragility saved me from breaking Speed. Efficiency. Multi-tasking. A race against the clock. These are the concepts that defined my early life, always feeling one step behind the continually ticking second hand. …

Doing nothing might just be the most productive thing you can do. — My parents gave me a nickname when I was young: mini-Martha, named after my Type A, efficiency-obsessed aunt. We shared common habits like filling our schedules with activities for self-improvement, and wanting vacations to be planned down to the minute. Why then would I center my career around the idea…

If you want a better world, then work for it. I’m a philosopher by nature, and by practice. In college I enthusiastically showed up to each class ready to debate the metaphysical reality of nature or our moral obligation to each other in a society. I always gravitated to the…

Four lessons on the science of compassion and self-mastery — Four years ago when I moved to an unfamiliar city, not knowing anyone, I faced the usual hardships of relocation. What I didn’t consider was the benefits of being, initially, anonymous. Suddenly I had the ability to completely reset how I present and relate to the world. …

After two years, I didn’t feel empowered. I felt like a victim. I’ll premise this feel-good piece by saying I learned a lot after two years… but decidedly not enough. One year back on the wagon and I was slipping into old habits. It was from that place of déjà…