At Meta we celebrate one’s Metaversary – the day you joined Meta. On my 1st Faceversary I posted the 10 things I learned during my first year at Facebook. For my 2nd Faceversary I posted about the 10 things I unlearned. On my 3rd year I posted about the 3 things that defined my 3rd year. On MV4 I posted about 4 things that I took away from year 4. On MV5 I posted 5 tips for success from 5 years in Meta.

For MV6, which I celebrated yesterday, I decided to share 6 traits which I believe contribute to my success as a leader, not just in Meta but definitely in my personal journey here. And while the title says “leadership”, I believe that these traits are critical for everyone, not just those of us working in “tech”:

1. Resiliency – From talking to a a lot of colleagues who have all been around for a while, with a long career in tech and an impressive journey at Meta, I realized that the term “resiliency” comes up again and again. Resiliency is the ability to withstand, or even better – to recover quickly from obstacles, difficulties, changes. Tech is a fast-paced environment – products come and go, technologies too. Most of today’s promising ideas will quickly become irrelevant. People change too – your colleagues, your managers, re-orgs. There are always reasons, good reasons, to stop, give up, move on, break. Robert Jordan wrote: “The oak fought the wind and was broken, the willow bent when it must and survived.”. The ability to bend, to proactively let the wind pass, is a valuable asset for any journey, but critical for leaders on a long one.
2. Simplicity – a few months ago I learned about Bounded Rationality, the idea that when making decisions, people have limited capacity to understand the problem, limited cognitive capability and limited time to take a decision. Decision makers are therefore forced to come up with “satisfactory solutions” based on what they are able to come up with under these limitations, not necessarily the best solutions. Therefore if you want to improve decision making, or comprehension of a problem, a strategy, a product – it is your responsibility to work with those limitations – simplify the problem, limit the cognitive capacity and the time it will require others to grasp what you are suggesting. It is not always easy, it may require a lot more work to be concise and simple, it may even not be feasible for all decisions, but having “bounded rationality” in mind will help you get better results when asking others to align or take a decision.
3. Doing the right thing – “All of us knows, not what is expedient, not what is going to make us popular, not what the policy is, or the company policy – but in truth each of us knows what is the right thing to do. And that’s how I am guided.” – Maya Angelou. As I already explained, trends come and go, and so are people and ideas. It’s not easy to navigate your way in life, and in your professional career, without a clear compass. Throughout my journey I found that doing the right thing never fails me. While it may not always lead me to immediate success, or popularity, it always feels good. And that feeling is what keeps me motivated and driven. It is also the easiest route to explain and populate. Doing the right thing in what you’re working on, in the decisions you’re taking, in your prioritization, in the way you conduct yourself with people. That’s how I am trying to be guided, and I never regret that.
4. Recharge – a few months ago I took a 6 weeks (!) break we call “Recharge”. Meta allows employees to take such a break after 5 years. The motivation is clear – time off is important. Significant time off, to clear the mind and charge your batteries, is critical. I spent some of the time in Japan with my family. I spent the rest at home, with the kids, with friends, and with myself. Taking that time off work to decompress, spending more time with my loved ones, pursuing hobbies, traveling – plays an important part in my well-being, and that well-being in turn helps me stay at my best at work. This is a flywheel that is easy to skip, to deprioritize, but one that I truly believe is essential for one’s long term success.
5. Great partners – They say that life is not meant to be lived alone. This is also true for work. Having partners that complement you, give you feedback, pick you up when you need some help, run alongside you when the going gets tough. Yes, there are successful soloists, but I always find it less rewarding, not just less fun, to run at it alone. Throughout my career I was was blessed with some great partners (you know who you are…), and I have had the privilege of working alongside amazing partners here at Meta. A good opportunity to thank all of them, but especially my current partners for being there for me every day.
6. Founder mode – a few weeks ago Paul Graham caused quite a sensation when he introduced “Founder Mode”. I may not agree wholeheartedly with what Graham (or Brian Chesky, who inspired him) describe, but I definitely am more of a “founder” than a “manager”.  Managers are often expected to leave the details – and the execution – to others. Founders get more involved in the details. That doesn’t mean micromanaging, which I personally hate. On a recent podcast Chesky said:  “There’s a difference between micromanagement—which is telling people exactly what to do, and being in the details. If you don’t know the details, how do you know people are doing a good job?”. One thing that I personally love to do is to take personal ownership of some projects. When you see Mark Zuckerberg do that, you realize it isn’t something that junior managers do, but a trait of successful leaders. Understanding what’s happening in your team / group / org, what’s moving in and if it’s moving in the right direction, is critical. It gives you the confidence to not just take decisions, but also say the hard things, or taking the less popular route. I heard founders refer to it as a “spidey sense”, and it only comes from being on the ground with the troops, not in some isolated ivy tower staring at some slides.

6 years is a(nother) great milestone. More than ever, in these turbulent times, I feel privileged to be working in a great workplace that keeps challenging me, allows me to grow and also rewards me for my success, and most of all to be working along the best people who support me in my journey. This includes not my colleagues and team members. 

Here’s to another successful year at Meta, and hopefully a better new Jewish year for all of us!