Bay Area Edition: 6 Traits of Highly Effective and Intentional People
Throughout the last year, I have worked at a startup in close proximity with community managers, data engineers, data scientists, and developer advocates during my time on the Community team.
For context: I am not technical; numbers and code make my head spin, but I like to think of myself as a free-spirited, yet meticulous events manager who uses her social perception to connect people to people, and find what makes them motivated and successful in their work. I have a deep interest in examining the traits and personal experiences of people I admire and look up to; there are many that I like to consult, not only for career advice, but life advice.
It was at one strange pivotal moment that I then realized my friends didn’t all have to be millennials (haha).
These are the people who have put so many things into perspective for me, and while I am not afraid of looking stupid by asking simple questions, I’ve found that they love to share their own learnings, with patient intellect and a spark of glee if you are willing to learn and listen.
Here are the key takeaways I’ve observed from them:
1. They make an effort to get to know you and remember your name.
Dale Carnegie said, “Remember that a person’s name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language.”
There was one VP who made the initiative to meet everyone in the company; regardless of title or level, he would introduce himself to new hires — people’s faces lit up when he strolled in and they adored him, simply because he greeted each person with their name and an incredible sunny demeanor. First impressions are the deepest, and he always made sure his were excellent. Wherever he goes, I’m sure people will only speak well of him.
2. They make themselves useful and get it done. I’ve found that they’re not complainers, just smart workers with a steely resolve. I’ve seen my coworker do things outside her job description, such as coming into the office at 6 am to paint the office walls and brought her own toolbox to take 20 bike racks down. Someone new recently came onto our team and is incredibly proactive — she always asks me how she can better streamline processes, and then takes the initiative to schedule meetings to discuss her ideas with me. It is refreshing to see people jump into action, whether it’s driving a new initiative, driving the conversation to impel change, or asking how they can contribute.
3. They don’t care what you think. They are only focused on the path ahead and the foot that moves them forward. Though a simple characteristic, it’s a powerful one. I wish I lacked that function to care — I care too much. Too much of my time is spent stopping and second guessing myself, self-consciously rethinking my ideas or questioning if it’s the right way to do it, and that has somewhat stifled my creativity and movement at times.
Here’s a Chinese idiom lesson: 不怕慢就怕站 (bù pà màn , jiù pà zhàn) — Be not afraid of growing slowly, be afraid only of standing still.
Watching others go full speed with their ideas is inspiring; they happily take risks and if they hit a dead end, they just pivot and try another option. Failure is a learning lesson to them, not the end of all. They don’t allow the opinions of others stop them from making strides toward their end goal.
4. They lived/or are living irregular, abnormal lives. I like to call them out-of-the-box people; these are secretive and humble humans leading double lives. One has lived on a sailboat traveling the world and worked remotely for years with his family, one had invented the first internet enabled TV, one has been nominated for two Emmys, one bakes and designs artistic cakes, and the list goes on. They take their chances, keep themselves agile by working on creative projects, and don’t hesitate to pursue their passions outside their scope of work.
5. They are kind and genuinely care. It’s hard to check emotions at the door, but we are humans with complicated inclinations, bringing along external happenings that affect us, perhaps brought out from the past hour, day, week or so, and are dealing with much more than others know of. Taking the time to build genuine friendships with your coworkers is important; they are your people. On a particular difficult day, one of my colleagues checked in on me, left his code to listen to me babble on for an hour and consoled me with sound advice, ending what was about to be a mini-mental breakdown. I will never forget his kindness and empathy that day.
6. They share what they know and help you find opportunities to grow. My boss has been one of the major driving forces of my career, giving me the space to grow and also entrusting me with responsibilities I never thought I could take on, but with his guidance, I have stepped out of my comfort zones and grown from the experience. In parallel, I have colleagues who constantly invite me to workshops and meetup events that range from networking, personal finance, growth hacking, self-care, etc; together we better each other by providing resources and holding each other accountable when it comes to showing up and trying new experiences.
In the Bay Area, there are many remarkable people who walk amongst us and we can learn a few things from them to become more effective and intentional, not only in our work, but within our community and relationships.
Emily is a US expat currently living in Singapore to learn about the tech communities growing in Asia. She has worked 4+ years in dev relations, community management, and event marketing within the tech and travel industry. Her time at OmniSci, Google and Booking.com gave her cross-functional expertise. In her free time, she runs the volunteer community initiatives for TEDxSanFrancisco, as well as promote and blog on the importance of financial literacy and education.
