I build systems that scale and think about what makes us more effective.
Most work sucks because we make it complicated. But it doesn't have to be. Small teams can beat giants. Simple solutions often work better. And when you actually care about what you're building, everything gets easier.
Right now, smart people everywhere are doing dumb work. Data scientists spending 80% of their time cleaning spreadsheets. Salespeople updating CRM fields instead of talking to customers. Engineers writing status reports instead of code. We've accepted this as normal, but it doesn't have to be.
When companies automate the boring stuff, something interesting happens. People don't become redundant—they become strategic. The same humans, doing work that actually uses their brains. Higher job satisfaction, better output, more impact. The technology exists to make this happen everywhere.
I caught myself mid-conversation with a client the other day realizing the point I was making wasn't even mine. I'd read it in some strategy piece, absorbed it, and repeated it like I'd come up with it. When your entire job is original thinking applied to hard problems, that should concern you.
I used to think life was about doing something big. And in a way, I still do. The urge to build something that leaves a mark hasn't gone away. But I had a picture in my head of what success looked like, and it was always on a big stage, with a sea of faces watching. I made choices based on how they would look to that audience, on what would earn the loudest applause.
Life can be pretty uncertain. It's easy to feel stuck or to worry about what's coming next. We often second-guess our choices, wondering if we are on the right path. In these moments of doubt, it’s helpful to hold on to a simple but powerful idea: move forward as if everything is going to work out, because it probably will.