What Can I Do to Make You Stay?
The ultimate farewell gift and how you can retain connections beyond your job
👋 Hi, this is Akash with this week’s newsletter. I write about leadership and growth in software engineering. We have now crossed 3000 subscribers! It feels unreal. Thank you for your readership ❤️.
This week, I’m sharing how you can become indispensable at work by making only a few changes. Tips here will help you stand out and build long-lasting connections at work. Hope you enjoy this edition!
In this tech industry, we’re told that everyone is disposable. But when you decide to leave, you want to hear, “What can I do to make you stay?” Doesn’t that sound nice? To me, it sounds like I did something right.
When I announced that I would leave Google, I didn’t expect senior leaders to ask me to stay. Then again, when I was leaving Apple last week, the same thing happened.
I didn’t change my decision on either occasion, but felt valued. I’m connected to all of those leaders to this day. I will share a few practical tips that will help you build real connections that last beyond your job.
⭐ Main Takeaways
How to build relations that last longer than your tenure
3 ways you earn the most respect of your leaders
🎤 Announcement: Future after leaving FAANG twice!
Last week, I shared that I had left Apple. This was my second FAANG job, and I quit. Transformers started the revolution a few years ago. Agents are on the rise. But how do we trust agents to make decisions for us? To secure AI for everyone, I’ve joined another talented founder to start our own journey.
If your organization is hesitating to connect enterprise data with AI, reach out; we can certainly help.
Back to the topic, how can you separate yourself from the most?
Take it across the finish line
Skip manager: “Our director is concerned about whether we can deliver feature A on time. It was planned for delivery last quarter.”
Me: “Sorry about the delay. We have finished 90% of the work; before officially supporting it, we will perform stress testing.”
We often make the mistake of focusing too narrowly. It’s easy to lose track of all the moving pieces and leave things unfinished.
One thing we overlook is how it affects the entire organization. Have you ever delayed finishing a project for other “interesting” work? But it’s not just you who’s accountable. Your leaders are also responsible for delivering the same project to their boss.
You’d be surprised how often things are dropped on the floor at the last mile. The best way to earn your place is by delivering complete results.
If leaders don’t have to worry about delivery when you own the piece, they’ll not let you go easy.
Be dependable: When I was the TL for Chrome’s security, my manager told me, “If our director doesn’t have to get involved, that’s a success.” He meant being responsible enough with our ownership and delivering on our promises.
Stay out of the negative headlines.
Make your leader’s life easier.
Communicate timely: Unexpected things happen, so keeping everyone informed is important. People like surprises, but only the good ones. If a project is delayed, communicate that.
❌ “We couldn’t complete OKR1 due to the dependency on team X.”
✅ “Due to an unexpected dependency on team X, we might be unable to complete OKR1.”
Draw a clear finish line: We often don’t define success criteria. It leads to confusion and unrealistic expectations. During planning and sign-offs, declare success criteria and how to measure them.
❌ “Make our API server faster.”
✅ “Improve the latency of our API server by 50%.”
Form your opinions
How often have you held off your opinions before a senior leader? Be honest.
I have multiple times. As I grew and observed other respected engineers, I noticed one thing. Almost everyone was opinionated. It took me a while, but I realized we are paid for our opinions.
From which library to use to what should be the next priority for an area, engineers are paid for their intellect. (Side note: that’s why ChatGPT is not taking anyone’s job anytime soon)
Don’t be afraid to question decisions even when it’s coming from higher up. Few things to keep in mind,
Express opinions freely to unblock progress. Views that don’t provide a solution are ineffective.
❌ “Investing in X is not going to help our organization.”
✅ “Instead of focusing on X, we should focus on A because …”
Form your opinions based on ground truth.
Views are not to support a side or ego.
Be open to changing your opinion for the right rationale.
Resolve opposing opinions by listening to others.
Have others’ back
Teams and organizations are exactly like society. It works better with collaboration.
If you’re responsible for cooking food at home, would you stay hungry if you’re sick? No, your partner will accommodate.
Similarly, if a peer is having difficulty delivering, you shouldn’t use it as an excuse for missing the deadline. This also applies beyond a team’s boundary.
One of my biggest mistakes in my career was overlooking another team’s struggle. It involved deciding who’d implement a piece between our teams. Logically, it made sense for them to own, but I ignored all other factors.
Going through this experience, I learned that you get support when you’re supportive. Here are some key things to implement,
Don’t wait to build connections till you need them.
Foster a supportive environment and go above and beyond.
Treat others like you want to be treated.
Words travel faster in an organization. These behaviors are more visible than you’d think. And which leader would want to lose a person like that?
🌟 🔍 Parting Thoughts
The tech industry is relatively small. Your reputation travels with you as you move. Your connections and their endorsements make a huge difference.
I’m still in touch with my previous leaders. Some of them made starting a company possible. Leaving a job is okay; don’t leave future opportunities at the door.
Today, we explored three ways you can become indispensable at your organization. I’ve benefitted from them, and I’ve no doubt you’ll too.
To recap, practice the following,
Take it across the finish line
Be dependable
Stay out of the negative headlines.
Make your leader’s life easier.
Communicate timely
❌ “We couldn’t complete OKR1 due to the dependency on team X.”
✅ “Due to an unexpected dependency on team X, we might be unable to complete OKR1.”
Draw a clear finish line
❌ “Make our API server faster.”
✅ “Improve the latency of our API server by 50%.”
Form your opinions
Don’t hesitate
❌ “Investing in X is not going to help our organization.”
✅ “Instead of focusing on X, we should focus on A because …”
Base it on ground truth
Views are not to support a side or ego.
Be open to change
Resolve opposing opinions by listening to others.
Have others’ back
Don’t wait to build connections till you need them.
Foster a supportive environment and go above and beyond.
Treat others like you want to be treated
What is one piece of advice you’d give someone to earn the ultimate farewell gift?
Share them in the comments!
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👋 💬 Get In Touch
Want to chat? Find me on LinkedIn.
If you want me to cover a particular area of leadership, you can reach out directly to akash@chromium.org.
If you enjoyed this content, please 🔁 share it with friends and consider 🔔 subscribing if you haven’t already. Your 💙 response really motivates me to keep going.
Excellent advice, Akash!
As a former agency owner, I liked it when people figured things out on their own. We could deliver faster because I decided only on the critical questions.
I like to implement the same approach now as a full-time employee, as you said:
“If our director doesn’t have to get involved, that’s a success.” – this pretty much captures it.
Great article. The industry is indeed small :D