Welcome to this week’s free article of Level Up: Your source for career growth solutions & community by retired Amazon Vice President, Ethan Evans. If you’d like to become a paid member, see the benefits here, and feel free to use this expense template to ask your manager.
Irina Stanescu — is a former Staff Software Engineer / Engineering Manager turned Leadership Coach, Course Instructor, and Founder of The Caring Techie Newsletter. She spent the last 14 years in the industry doing hands-on software engineering for Google, Uber, and early-stage startups.
At Google, Irina's team built dynamic ad insertion in the linear and on-demand TV streams for the Google Fiber Mobile TV App. The project involved multiple orgs: Google Fiber, YouTube and DoubleClick, and Irina successfully influenced across all 3 organizations.
At Uber, Irina’s team was in charge of the entire Eater Delivery Experience in the Uber Eats Eater app, which was a place of intersection for multiple other teams and functions.
In our fireside chat, Irina and Jason Yoong (Ethan’s Operating Partner) discuss:
How to build social capital.
How to disagree with senior leaders.
How to identify the incentive structures of cross-functional teams.
Note: Live attendance was exclusive to paid newsletter members.
Takeaways
(1) It is your duty to express dissent to senior executives.
Rules to disagreements:
Do not take anything personally.
There is no time for BS (be prepared).
Keep your values, show respect, and maintain integrity.
How to be prepared:
Find the right moments to disagree:
Group meeting vs private 1:1.
Package your idea with other new ideas being considered.
Tie in with external context (e.g. new AI technology).
Ask people who know the senior executive well for insight (e.g. ideal moment and place to engage, best method to engage).
Have buy-in with the right stakeholders and allies before going to the senior executive.
Have your data and anecdotes ready.
(2) You can disagree without saying: “I disagree”
Try the following phrases:
“May I offer a different perspective?”
“If we do XYZ, then we cannot do ABC.”
“Have we considered this other point of view?”
“I have reasons to believe this won’t work, will it be okay for me to explain my reasoning?”
(3) The biggest mistake people make is trying to influence without first building credibility.
Anticipate the question: “Why should I listen to you?”
Ways to build credibility:
Build a relationship ahead and know the other person’s/team’s goals.
If you have trouble understanding why someone insists on certain things, figure out the root cause. Where is it coming from? What are their goals? Are they trying to get promoted?
Many teams fail because they never had a proper kickoff. Instead, they jump straight into “You do X, you do Y” without understanding the bigger picture, how goals are aligned, and the people involved.
Do not assume. Ask. Example prompts:
How can I support you?
Where do you see your career going?
Are you excited about your trajectory here?
Where do you see this project going?
What are your OKRs and how can I help you achieve your goals while I achieve mine?
Do NOT underestimate the influence of an internal newsletter.
You control the message and build a personal brand.
Frequent updates and insights (e.g. customer feedback) gradually build your credibility with senior executives you rarely engage with.
Add a “Credit goes to…” and “Advisors…” section when announcing a celebratory launch to spotlight stakeholders.
It doesn't matter if you're right ... if you can't get others to join you.
Whether you have formal authority or not, you need influencing skills. Unless you’re the CEO, your levels of authority are limited, making it difficult to shape decisions or keep people accountable. This can lead to missed deadlines and a sense of frustration and disempowerment. You might feel behind, stuck in your career, or worse, like you’re never taken seriously.
Join “Impact through Influence in Engineering Teams” if you want to learn the mindsets, frameworks, and tools you need to build your personal brand, build relationships, and become influential at work so that your ideas and insights are not only heard but also valued and implemented.
Software Engineers, Data Engineers, Engineering Managers, Researchers, Directors, CTOs, Product Managers, and Researchers from companies like Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Intel, and Square have taken this course and found it transformative.
How to Be a High-Value Connector & Networker — Fireside chat and Q&A with Andrew Yeung (Founder & Investor; ex-Google; ex-Meta)
Level Up newsletter paid members are invited to join this live discussion followed by audience Q&A on June 12 (Wednesday), where Andrew and Jason will discuss:
How to get your foot into the door.
How do you instantly establish rapport with anyone?
Uncommon ways to engage and keep your network updated to invite opportunities?
How Andrew balanced performing as top tier at Meta and Google with his founder path.
The biggest mistakes people make when "networking".
Andrew Yeung is a former Google and Meta product leader turned tech and hospitality entrepreneur and investor. Andrew hosts some of the most in-demand events with executives, founders, and media personalities.
Business Insider dubbed him the "Gatsby of Silicon Alley."
Thank you so much for having me! I really enjoyed our conversation.