Honesty, transparency, and communication - We're human. Mistakes happen. Just chat with me and we can figure it out. Follow through - Do what you say you're going to do. I put a lot of faith in people's ability to be self aware and if you say you can/will do something, I won't micromanage and I'll expect you to see it through. Need help along the way? Communicate. Mistakes 👌🏾 Surprises? 👎🏾 Open-mindedness - You never know what someone is going through or makes them who they are today until you seek to understand them without judgement. Curiosity - I was born a founder. Entrepreneurs are learners, fact-finders, always looking to challenge their own thinking. If there's something I don't know, I'll take the time to learn it because I want to grow. The place between ambiguity and possibility lights my 🔥. Work/Life integration - My work is not my life. I've made that mistake before and never again. I put in boundaries to make sure of that. That doesn't mean I'm not one of the most productive people you've ever met. I'm an efficient operator 😉.

I believe it's important to be able to hold space for others. I've learned how to effectively do that in order to improve my relationships and garner trust with others. (Go therapy! 🥳) Communication of ideas through writing and in person. Storytelling and creating a vision that people can understand is critical. I'm driven by my passions. If I'm taking my time and exerting effort, it's because there's strong desire. I love solving problems. Nothing's better than making the unclear, crystal clear. So satisfying 🤗. Curiosity off the charts. I identify my weaknesses and seek out to ways to become better. I'm not afraid to be the "dumb one" in the room, so I can soak up the knowledge of those around me. I'm unflappable. Dude, I've been in war doing intelligence for the Army, I've started a company. Nothing I see or experience is going to knock me off my game.

With honesty, transparency, and communication being the top value I listed, this is an opportunity of vulnerability for me to share what I struggle with. I'm well aware of these, so I take no offense if you point them out to me if you see me display them. I'm here to grow. I move at founder speed 🏎️. Great if we're building from scratch, not great when in the corporate construct. If you mention something that I'm into at 3pm during a meeting, it's likely I stayed up until midnight coming up with 3 solutions that I'm excited to tell you about the next day. Whoops 😬 I'm really bad at corporate games. Corporate games include: Feigning interest in something I think is a bad idea. Not my jam. I'm more likely to push back and ask a whole lot of "why"s. Doing things for the sake of visibility. I crush my job because I do, not to gain recognition. Candidly, this is really something I should work on because whether I like it or not, if you are good at broadcasting how great you are, it gets you more promotions and opportunities. Just does 🤷🏾‍♂️. He said, she said. I don't care who said. Can we work please? The only drama I like is on Bravo 📺. Now, does the above 👆🏾 mean I can't shut up and take directions? Of course I can, I was in the Army 🫡. But, if you want that person you're only getting about 60% of my superpowers… I can write, but do I like it? No. Not at all. I struggle with confidence sometimes. I may second or third guess my own ideas. I tend to be a couple minutes late to meetings. I get locked in on something, enter 'the zone' and become blind to time. It's ok to be like, 'hey, you joining soon?'

I am a visual learner. If you can show me, I'll get it much quicker than if you tell me 😅. I may come on strong if I'm passionate about something, but that doesn't mean I'm not open to hearing the other side. I talk instead of text. Business translation? I'd rather hop on a zoom with you for 5 minutes than go back and forth on slack for 20 minutes.

You can be direct. Definitely let me know if something rubs you the wrong way. It's safe to say it was unintentional, so let's address it instead of harbor feelings and build resentment. I want to learn from what it is you're trying to convey to me, so if I ask questions, I'm not meaning to seem defensive, I'm trying to understand so I can internalize the feedback accurately. If you can give me specific examples when providing feedback, that helps me connect the dots better as to the point you're making. Give me feedback "in person"/zoom, not in a message. Tone and body language are important factors in understanding the feedback you have for me. I get anxious, I overthink. I don't want to see a slack message or email and have to infer from there.

I love to collaborate! It helps if you do the following 👇🏾 Clarity Is your request clear? Do I know what your expectations are for an outcome? Did you provide me a timeline? Involvement Are you passing this task to me? Are we teaming up on this task? How are we splitting responsibilities? Communication Do you require updates on my progress? Do you have a preference for communication?