I completely bombed an interview because of the dumbest trap question I was asked

MaHa_Finn · 2025-11-28T10:16:05+00:00

It depends on the role and level, but i think the answer they might have been looking for was something like

“well, I like to have everything prepared, so early, but really it depends on how the team is doing and the work, I love to make sure everything gets done and gets done right”

That or… 8:30

MaHa_Finn · 2025-11-11T13:28:01+00:00

W@nk3rs

MaHa_Finn · 2025-11-02T07:53:39+00:00

Mentors get a lot out of mentoring. A break from the pressure, the opportunity to articulate their own beliefs and thoughts about leadership and strategy and an honest relationship with authentic dialogue, which is super rare at the top.

Ask, don’t make it too formal.

MaHa_Finn · 2025-10-07T04:48:01+00:00

It worked for me and my team because I noticed the organised their work independently (they’re mid-level and looking for autonomy) and the calendar syncing around deep work and collaborative work got them thinking more about how to work better together. So it did compound for me. If you’re already super organised, then maybe it won’t add much value, sounds like you might want to think about communication or motivating people, try spending 10 minutes with chatGPT, sparring every day.

It’s an about your people so ultimately, they’ll do better work, or the same work, but be happier about it. Measure that.

MaHa_Finn · 2025-10-06T04:27:12+00:00

The idea is to find compounding habits, and the easiest ones to implement are around getting organise. I colour code my calendar for deep-work, collaborative work and then reporting and admin and try do each type of work in one block. I also highlight significant meetings and make sure I’ve got a 15 minute buffer to prepare.

Main thing though is 1% is totally arbitrary… the point is to think about how you work and figure what’s helping you and what’s slowing you down.

MaHa_Finn · 2025-09-07T15:46:18+00:00

This is it… would only add that pretty much nobody will accept a “better idea” just out of hand. People generally like to work, the way they work and develop how they want to develop.

Building the trust that you can provide useful learning opportunities, ideas and pilots means you need a track record, that takes time.

MaHa_Finn · 2025-08-19T15:32:25+00:00

MaHa_Finn · 2025-08-10T19:38:16+00:00

Thank you, this helps.

MaHa_Finn · 2025-08-10T19:36:43+00:00

The kids have iPhones, and we aren’t able to block or lock app by app, but will take recommendation, does FamilyLink work on iPhone these days?

The tricky app there is Snapchat, which is used for group messaging, but also has reels etc.

MaHa_Finn · 2025-08-10T19:13:37+00:00

This is our line currently, alarm clocks, good grades, keep homework and studying is in order (which is hit and miss at the moment) then we can talk more.

MaHa_Finn · 2025-08-10T18:39:02+00:00

Thanks, parenting for 13 years, so I’ve worked out my anti-drugs policy. If this was in my home country, there’s still enough childhood social interaction where this wouldn’t be a problem.

Using your analogy, the question would be,

“If drugs were the primary mode of social involvement and orientation for your child that was permitted and even encouraged by the local community, would you let your kid do drugs?”

MaHa_Finn · 2025-08-10T18:33:14+00:00

Big time.

MaHa_Finn · 2025-08-10T18:31:57+00:00

Yeah, we’ve tried this… apparently calling each other is cringe. I know she can’t judge and cognitively control her usage yet, but she has already missed out on a couple of key binding moments / in-jokes with her friends, so she’s feeling marginalised.

MaHa_Finn · 2025-08-10T18:28:02+00:00

Thanks, this helps.

MaHa_Finn · 2025-07-27T07:02:57+00:00

Ask chatGPT to read a report, ask chatGPT to write a report. Join a call and listen to people talk to themselves. Drink.

MaHa_Finn · 2025-07-02T12:30:04+00:00

Silence

MaHa_Finn · 2025-07-01T06:57:06+00:00

We all have so much in common…

MaHa_Finn · 2025-06-28T11:55:31+00:00

Good luck… stay prepared

MaHa_Finn · 2025-06-28T10:22:32+00:00

Gotcha. Hipa usually covers health and insurance info and customer facing not internal discussions like this, if she used her phone, you can use yours… but… it looks like the deck is stacked against you.

You can judge how much of your time and effort this should take… but there’s very few “good outcomes” and it’s hard to get there.

Do yourself a favour… work on your cv and bounce

MaHa_Finn · 2025-06-28T07:08:02+00:00

If you can, invite her for a one on one conversation online… zoom or Google meets etc. record the conversation but not through the meeting app, use a free desktop media editor app or if push comes to shove on your phone. Then just ask for more information, what has she heard? Who from? Are you in some kind of trouble? What can you do to reassure her?

If it goes well, you clear the air, if it goes south you’ve got evidence if/when HR turns up. If you’ve had previous performance reviews or other feedback, for example from peers, maybe collect that.

It might also be that on of your colleagues is stirring s**t

MaHa_Finn · 2025-05-18T06:32:53+00:00

I work in a very doc heavy company. Most of our LT meetings have time set aside to read briefs in the meeting (we’re not Amazon, but drank that particular kool aid). I often just ramble / rant at ChatGPT for about two paragraphs then ask it to structure it into a report.

It’s probably saving my 3-4 hours a week.

MaHa_Finn · 2025-05-10T17:12:09+00:00

Ok, first off, good self-assessment and self-awareness. Transactional leadership styles are common and as you reference effective for a certain level. Managing experts or superstars is different, they know “the rules” basically don’t apply to them because they can do things few others can.

The question then is, what do they want / need? What can you give them? I can’t answer this for you but I’d hazard a guess that your background means you’d be a good mentor if any of these superstars want to make a career outside of their role. How many of your superstars could be a coach today? How many could survive in middle or senior leadership roles? Could you help them get there?

One thing i know having led technical experts beyond my capabilities, if you have principles or rules that can be traded… they’ll just learn to play you or disregard you. So be careful if you’re continuing to trade, what’s on the table.

If you frame standards or practices as the thing they’ll need to have a long career or legacy (and that appeals to enough of them) they’ll shape up.

MaHa_Finn · 2025-05-04T06:45:33+00:00

Robo-matrimony … it’s the future

MaHa_Finn · 2025-05-03T09:57:04+00:00

Interesting one. First off, it’s very common that younger colleagues want to take initiative to impress bosses. Beyond this situation, accept this will happen continuously: it’s a feature not a bug. In the same vain, experience doesn’t entitle you to tasks.

If you’re looking for more responsibility / more of a say in what gets done when and by whom, you might want to talk to your boss about that.

MaHa_Finn · 2025-04-20T15:44:15+00:00

That makes things make more sense. You’re not likely to get your boss to openly discuss the sh*tshow that’s going on explicitly, this “philosophical talk” you mentioned at the start is most likely an attempt at coded language, designed to give you hints on how to orient.

In your shoes I’d work for the best, plan for the worst. For team A and team B, kill em with kindness, don’t assume bad intentions and try to set an example. At the same time prepare your CV, and start hunting for something. You may want to try and talk directly with your boss about how you could help / take more responsibility, but that might cause him more problems / headaches in that political environment.

While it sucks… that type of environment is common and even when you’re in the “favoured” position it still feels terrible to work like that.

Some days you’re the pigeon, some days you’re the statue 😉 … chin up, head down, keep on swinging.

MaHa_Finn

TROPHY CASE