I really enjoy working. I’ve always felt fortunate to mostly have jobs I love. Especially leadership roles — product leadership, organisational leadership or as an academic teacher. For many years I denied that I was ever the subject of bullying in the workplace. It just never happened to me. My colleagues were always nice and very supportive. I was fortunate to work with so many feminist humans who made space for my strong opinions and empathetic yet bold leadership style. Oh how lucky I have always been.

What a load of toadstools. There have certainly been some paper cuts. Little…

Growth is the lifeblood of most organisations. Grow or die. Exponential growth is the stuff of dreams. And nightmares. Startups need it. Investors demand it. Tech employees must worship at the altar of it. But what is it that we are all so desperate to grow? Reach? Leads? App downloads? Memberships? Monthly active users? Subscriptions? Recurring subscriptions? Dollar, dollar bills?

Most growth focuses on product traction. Trying desperately to convert that hockey stick curve you promised your investors into reality. But can you really do that alone? Perhaps you can, but then you are a lone penguin without a waddle…

I detest the word “balance.” It implies a sense of serenity, control, and ubiquitous calm. A nirvana we should apparently all be striving for. If that is the benchmark, then we are all setting ourselves up for failure. I might as well start searching for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow — and then keep all the gold I find for myself.

So if not balance, then what? What should we strive for in our personal and professional lives?

1. Porpoise

I am not the founder of a successful startup. Not yet anyways. I’ve had one failed startup and another I am currently boot-strapping. The third I joined at the start of this year, is the closest one to success by any definition you can think of. But that is built by greater minds than my own.

So what is it about startups that entrepreneurs like myself find so addictive? Is it the hope of a successful IPO and then a life of early retirement? Ha. Think again.

1. The Hustle

If there is one thing I know, it’s that I’m pretty ordinary. This may sound strange coming from someone who has a Doctorate in Engineering and a fairly successful career in tech; but it’s true. And the reason I’m highlighting my qualifications is not some under-handed, thinly veiled attempt to toot my own horn and prove my credibility. It is because I know that there are millions of highly qualified, highly capable women who could be (and so many are) doing what I am doing. I am not one in a million. We are the millions in a billion. …