GeekMBA360

I have four weeks of vacation days each year. I use all of my vacation days every year. But, I feel I haven’t taken any vacation for the past three years.
Okay, I might be exaggerating a little bit. But, honestly, I feel that I haven’t taken a vacation for a very long time.
The problem is [...]

[Read more →]

Have you wondered how performance reviews are conducted behind-the-scene?
When I was an individual contributor, I bought into what management told me — setting SMART goals in the beginning of the year. Work hard throughout the year. Write thorough and insightful self-reviews and peer reviews. Get 360-degree feedback from colleagues. And I’ll get a review [...]

[Read more →]

People laughs when I tell them I grew up in the hood. I guess I don’t look, sound, or act like someone who grew up in the hood.
But, I really did. For one year. Probably the most important year in my life.
It was almost twenty years ago. My family just immigrated to the United States. [...]

[Read more →]

The job market was very bad in 2003 while I was in business school. It was a few days before the end of the school year. My friend Jacob was still without an internship.
The recruiting process had been particular hard for Jacob because he came from an unconventional background and he was trying to make [...]

[Read more →]

Ninety-five percent off.
That’s the steep discount big-time CEO and entrepreneur Ken was able to get from negotiating with a large enterprise software company. I used to work for Ken’s company.
I once talked to the business development guy in the other company who negotiated with Ken. He told me Ken was so brutal in negotiation that [...]

[Read more →]