Making Meta | Andrew ‘Boz’ Bosworth (CTO)

1. Leverage Leaders for Success

Actively seek help from your manager, partner, or mentor because your job is to get things done well, and they often possess the tools or influence needed to unblock you or clear your path. This prevents wasted time and frustration, as they are rooting for your success.

2. Communication is the Job

Understand that your ability to have an impact, whether in relationships, teams, or the world, is exclusively achieved through effective communication, so prioritize clear and impactful verbal and written expression.

3. Embrace Curiosity in Conflict

When faced with strong disagreement or an “internal clench,” respond with genuine curiosity by asking “fascinating, tell me more about why you think that,” to foster open-mindedness and break down communication walls.

4. Prioritize Kind Feedback

Deliver feedback with kindness, ensuring it’s productive and helpful to the recipient, rather than merely being honest in a way that causes them to feel bad or helpless.

5. Optimize for Aggressive Learning

Prioritize roles and projects that offer aggressive learning opportunities, even if it means frequently changing jobs early in your career, as this builds a diverse skill set that compounds over time and prevents boredom.

6. Strategic Project Selection

Strategically choose projects that either involve “carrying a lot of water” in overlooked but important areas, or work on the company’s most critical initiatives, as both offer high visibility and invaluable experience.

7. Proactive Progress Updates

Send concise updates (e.g., 5-10 sentences) to your manager outlining progress, current program, and any blockers, explicitly stating “no response required” if all looks good, to keep them informed and make it easy for them to help when needed.

8. Simplify Manager’s Help

When you need help from your manager, provide specific, actionable requests, such as drafting an email for them to send or framing specific yes/no questions, to make it super cheap and efficient for them to assist you.

9. Tailor Communication to Managers

Recognize that every manager has different preferences for receiving updates; proactively ask them about their preferred cadence and format for staying informed when you start working with them.

10. Extreme Ownership of Communication

When things go wrong, take extreme ownership by asking what you could have communicated differently to achieve a better outcome, rather than blaming the audience or external factors.

11. Address Fears for Engagement

When communicating about an issue, start by explicitly acknowledging and validating your audience’s fears and concerns, as they will not trust your conclusions if they believe you don’t understand the core problem.

12. Vary Communication Modalities

Employ multiple communication modalities (e.g., all-hands meetings, written posts, metaphors) to reiterate key points, as people absorb information differently and at varying rates across these formats.

13. Recognize Identity Threat

Cultivate self-awareness to recognize when you are experiencing “identity threat” (feeling a core part of your self-conception is questioned), as this is when your worst behavior is most likely to emerge.

14. Trust Your Own Conviction

Cultivate self-trust and conviction in your own point of view, believing that your intellect and experience provide intrinsic value, especially when facing external pressures or self-doubt.

15. Filter External Narratives

When facing external criticism or praise, moderate your attachment to these narratives by remembering that you possess more internal knowledge about your work or company than outside critics.

16. Critique with Discernment

Engage with all criticism by reading it carefully, looking for potential truths you might be inclined to resist, but do not accept it blindly; use it as another perspective to integrate into your informed view.

17. Explore Unexpected Passions

Don’t prematurely dismiss potential new roles or areas of work, as you might discover unexpected passions and learn a tremendous amount, even if they initially seem outside your perceived identity or expertise.

18. Managers: Refuse to Rule

As a manager, empower your team by sometimes refusing to rule on every decision, instead affirming their capability and encouraging them to figure things out themselves, fostering their growth and confidence.

19. Apply Parenting to Management

Explore modern parenting literature to gain insights into managing emotions and engaging with people, as these lessons can significantly improve your effectiveness as a manager.

20. Regret Personal Failures

Focus on learning from personal failures where you negatively impacted another person, rather than technical or product failures, as these are the ones that truly matter and offer profound lessons.

21. Hire for Superpowers

In hiring, prioritize identifying a candidate’s “superpowers” or greatest strengths, focusing on what they are exceptionally good at and how that can be leveraged, rather than solely on weaknesses.

22. Create Art for Yourself

When creating art, focus on making it for yourself and loving the process, rather than chasing broader resonance or external validation, as that shifts it from art to entertainment.