Advisor, speaker and writer on people, tech and future of work. Co-founded Future Forum, ex-Slack, Google and many others. Dad, dog walker and slow runner. Often wrong.https://bsky.app/profile/elliottsf.comhttps://bsky.app/profile/elliottsf.com/post/3ml2dex3mls23Parents this weekend: is this "tokemaxxing" thing really, like, a thing? Me: Sadly, yes. Nice to know they read my newsletter... https://theworkforward.substack.com/p/the-tokenmaxxing-trap04 May 2026 18:45 +0000at://did:plc:tvaumm6otgnqa3sjonycg6nd/app.bsky.feed.post/3ml2dex3mls23https://bsky.app/profile/elliottsf.com/post/3ml2dchrwk22320-25% of San Franciscans are food insecure. It's ridiculous in a city with this much tech wealth rolling around. Last week, 18 Reasons, Bi-Rite, & Crankstart Foundation announced a step forward that will help: a non-profit grocery store in the Sunnydale neighborhood. https://sfstandard.com/2026/05/04/sunnydale-market-bi-rite-non-profit-grocery-store/04 May 2026 18:44 +0000at://did:plc:tvaumm6otgnqa3sjonycg6nd/app.bsky.feed.post/3ml2dchrwk223https://bsky.app/profile/elliottsf.com/post/3mizd4oena22nDear managers: the beatings will continue until morale approves. Not surprisingly, Gallup’s 2026 “State of Workplace” found that employee engagement dropped again last year: down to 20% overall. Managers took the biggest swing: down 30% over the course of the last 3 years, from 31% to 22%.08 Apr 2026 22:17 +0000at://did:plc:tvaumm6otgnqa3sjonycg6nd/app.bsky.feed.post/3mizd4oena22nhttps://bsky.app/profile/elliottsf.com/post/3mh7h5jadzc2i7 out of 7 ethicists say my wife is right and I'm wrong: Take the baggie of dog poop to a public trash can, or take it home. No putting it in the neighbor's bin, even out on the sidewalk on trash day. From the @sfstandard.com https://sfstandard.com/2026/03/15/dog-poop-trash-cans-san-francisco/16 Mar 2026 21:55 +0000at://did:plc:tvaumm6otgnqa3sjonycg6nd/app.bsky.feed.post/3mh7h5jadzc2ihttps://bsky.app/profile/elliottsf.com/post/3mg6nwq2snc2n69% of c-suite leaders are using AI less than an hour a week. 28% of them don't use it at all: zero, zilch, nada. At the same time, 50% of CEOs say they fear for their jobs if they don't make progress on leveraging AI in 2026. All hype, little lived experience.03 Mar 2026 20:59 +0000at://did:plc:tvaumm6otgnqa3sjonycg6nd/app.bsky.feed.post/3mg6nwq2snc2nhttps://bsky.app/profile/elliottsf.com/post/3mg3plein5c2nJack Dorsey is trying to move the goal posts on AI and layoffs. Block’s 40% cut in staffing is likely to inspire other leaders to follow suit, just not as extreme. Like Elon’s 80% cut at Twitter inspired 10-20% cuts and Andy Jassy’s demand for 5 days in office led to 3 day demands in most of tech.02 Mar 2026 16:50 +0000at://did:plc:tvaumm6otgnqa3sjonycg6nd/app.bsky.feed.post/3mg3plein5c2nhttps://bsky.app/profile/elliottsf.com/post/3mfcheqkphc2nBad news: US economy only grew 1.4% in Q4. Good news: Supreme Court has (finally) determined that President Trump's tariffs weren't legally imposed That's a win for consumers: the Federal Reserve found that "nearly 90 percent of the tariffs’ economic burden fell on U.S. firms and consumers.” /120 Feb 2026 15:47 +0000at://did:plc:tvaumm6otgnqa3sjonycg6nd/app.bsky.feed.post/3mfcheqkphc2nhttps://bsky.app/profile/elliottsf.com/post/3meyrz42vic2nGrappling with fear vs hope on AI's impact on jobs? Start with a dose of reality: Jacob Clemente digs into Matt Shumer's essay for the @sfstandard.com https://sfstandard.com/2026/02/14/ai-doomers-taking-over-jobs/16 Feb 2026 19:30 +0000at://did:plc:tvaumm6otgnqa3sjonycg6nd/app.bsky.feed.post/3meyrz42vic2nhttps://bsky.app/profile/elliottsf.com/post/3megtheu5ak2nBrandon Sammut at Zapier: “We’re at 97% adoption. We might be 10% of the way there” on transformation. Leaders are grappling with the messy middle of AI: usage is not results. More often than not, stress being applied from top to bottom, making change harder: https://www.charterworks.com/the-ai-challenges-hr-leaders-face-most/09 Feb 2026 16:08 +0000at://did:plc:tvaumm6otgnqa3sjonycg6nd/app.bsky.feed.post/3megtheu5ak2nhttps://bsky.app/profile/elliottsf.com/post/3me2pj4dods2vDo we need managers? Foursquare redesigned to focus on team performance. No more eng manager titles, strong tech leads, team coaching and systems for perf and career dev. Will it work? Will it scale? Let me know what you think. In today’s @sfstandard.com: https://sfstandard.com/2026/02/03/foursquare-scrapped-engineering-manager-titles/04 Feb 2026 20:26 +0000at://did:plc:tvaumm6otgnqa3sjonycg6nd/app.bsky.feed.post/3me2pj4dods2vhttps://bsky.app/profile/elliottsf.com/post/3mdsxahqifs2n“Speak out, [and] you are quite likely to get retaliation from the government. If you don’t, you are going to really lose trust with your customers and employees.” The cost of silence is going up. Leaders finally, tentatively, start to find their voices. https://www.charterworks.com/how-to-respond-amid-ice-raids-protests-and-violence-in-minneapolis/01 Feb 2026 18:23 +0000at://did:plc:tvaumm6otgnqa3sjonycg6nd/app.bsky.feed.post/3mdsxahqifs2nhttps://bsky.app/profile/elliottsf.com/post/3lzz5nghnr22yIn the dotcom era, the influx of banker bro types into tech was followed by the bubble bursting. B2B became "Back to Banking," B2C was "Back to Consulting" Will the modern tech bros usher in AGI and the last-ever gold rush, or will we get B2B 2.0? @sfstandard.com https://sfstandard.com/2025/09/29/tech-bro-2-0-new-silicon-valley-archetype-dominating-ai-age/?29 Sep 2025 23:21 +0000at://did:plc:tvaumm6otgnqa3sjonycg6nd/app.bsky.feed.post/3lzz5nghnr22yhttps://bsky.app/profile/elliottsf.com/post/3lzz4rjz6o22yGiving someone a meditation app to help with burnout is like treating a third-degree burn with a bandaid. What works? Learn to recognize the signs, clear priorities, and opportunities to grow -- not just taking breaks. 👉 https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/the-burnout-age-real-pain-requires-real-solutions/ Image credit @omarwhatworks.bsky.social29 Sep 2025 23:06 +0000at://did:plc:tvaumm6otgnqa3sjonycg6nd/app.bsky.feed.post/3lzz4rjz6o22yhttps://bsky.app/profile/elliottsf.com/post/3ly4mhqfv222nJust a reminder of how hard Trump had to work to mess up this economy.05 Sep 2025 21:34 +0000at://did:plc:tvaumm6otgnqa3sjonycg6nd/app.bsky.feed.post/3ly4mhqfv222nhttps://bsky.app/profile/elliottsf.com/post/3ly47fsd3mc2qIt’s not AI-driven automation that’s killing the job market, it’s tariffs and uncertainty. The big hope of Big Tech is to compound it by cranking up AI-driven losses. Otherwise, an economy propped up by AI investment collapses. We are so screwed. https://open.substack.com/pub/theworkforward/p/the-job-market-squeeze-when-uncertainty?r05 Sep 2025 17:41 +0000at://did:plc:tvaumm6otgnqa3sjonycg6nd/app.bsky.feed.post/3ly47fsd3mc2qhttps://bsky.app/profile/elliottsf.com/post/3lxx7t3q4nc2nWhy do women have a far greater preference for remote and hybrid work than men? It’s not just that they’re far more often the primary caregiver. It’s that bias and discrimination are twice as likely to happen to a woman on-site than working remotely. https://theworkforward.substack.com/p/return-to-office-return-to-bias03 Sep 2025 18:05 +0000at://did:plc:tvaumm6otgnqa3sjonycg6nd/app.bsky.feed.post/3lxx7t3q4nc2nhttps://bsky.app/profile/elliottsf.com/post/3lvbvd4vies2aStack ranking and removing the bottom XX% is back in vogue, esp in Big Tech. As a reminder, here's the org chart that resulted in at Microsoft in the 2000's: internal competition. Research on why it backfires long term, and alternative paths: https://theworkforward.substack.com/p/stop-ranking-start-lifting31 Jul 2025 19:41 +0000at://did:plc:tvaumm6otgnqa3sjonycg6nd/app.bsky.feed.post/3lvbvd4vies2ahttps://bsky.app/profile/elliottsf.com/post/3luqbg5umvk2vThe best leaders embrace being uncomfortable. They know that challenges that test us today become our biggest accomplishments tomorrow -- that's how we learn and grow. My interview with Izabella Lorenz: https://theworkforward.substack.com/p/learning-while-leading24 Jul 2025 19:29 +0000at://did:plc:tvaumm6otgnqa3sjonycg6nd/app.bsky.feed.post/3luqbg5umvk2vhttps://bsky.app/profile/elliottsf.com/post/3lu3wsofe3c2eFive major studies on AI adoption recently dropped. The findings are insightful & alarming. The employees getting the biggest productivity gains are also 2X more likely to quit, with 88% higher burnout rates. Even scarier? Heavy AI users say they'd rather chat with ChatGPT than their colleagues.16 Jul 2025 17:26 +0000at://did:plc:tvaumm6otgnqa3sjonycg6nd/app.bsky.feed.post/3lu3wsofe3c2ehttps://bsky.app/profile/elliottsf.com/post/3ltk6mmh3jk2pIf we invested half the energy spent debating office attendance into fixing how we spend our time, we'd have higher productivity – and lower burnout. We keep stumbling into packed calendars and ending weeks frustrated. Want to do something about it? https://theworkforward.substack.com/p/the-meeting-plague-why-your-calendar09 Jul 2025 15:58 +0000at://did:plc:tvaumm6otgnqa3sjonycg6nd/app.bsky.feed.post/3ltk6mmh3jk2phttps://bsky.app/profile/elliottsf.com/post/3ls2cwfqxz22tThe CEOs who are AI arms merchants aren't the only ones telling employees to adopt or else, but they're certainly the loudest. Thanks @emilypeck.bsky.social for talking to me about your latest: https://www.axios.com/2025/06/20/ai-ceos-workers-jassy?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter_axiosam&stream=top20 Jun 2025 15:07 +0000at://did:plc:tvaumm6otgnqa3sjonycg6nd/app.bsky.feed.post/3ls2cwfqxz22thttps://bsky.app/profile/elliottsf.com/post/3lrud6snuns2x“He thought he was the King of America… Now he’s a brilliant mistake.” Elvis Costello & the Imposters18 Jun 2025 05:56 +0000at://did:plc:tvaumm6otgnqa3sjonycg6nd/app.bsky.feed.post/3lrud6snuns2xhttps://bsky.app/profile/elliottsf.com/post/3lrr4m5ufks2fThe "tough talk" CEO is back, in part thanks to Elon emulation. It's also a recipe for lost engagement. Strong leaders build trust through reliability, not intimidation. They're demanding AND supportive, setting clear goals while coaching people through change. https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/five-leadership-lessons-for-tough-ceos/16 Jun 2025 23:20 +0000at://did:plc:tvaumm6otgnqa3sjonycg6nd/app.bsky.feed.post/3lrr4m5ufks2fhttps://bsky.app/profile/elliottsf.com/post/3lrlfulrj2k2nPoulsbo WA, pop 12k, organizers expected a few hundred and had several thousand folks show up.14 Jun 2025 16:50 +0000at://did:plc:tvaumm6otgnqa3sjonycg6nd/app.bsky.feed.post/3lrlfulrj2k2nhttps://bsky.app/profile/elliottsf.com/post/3lrfygm5cls2zThat’s one heck of a map. Over 2,000 locations. Hope you will join me out there Saturday. www.nokings.org12 Jun 2025 13:06 +0000at://did:plc:tvaumm6otgnqa3sjonycg6nd/app.bsky.feed.post/3lrfygm5cls2zhttps://bsky.app/profile/elliottsf.com/post/3lr7lvuxt2s2hI've been texting LA folks this: stay away from the Marines. This is an extremely bad and dangerous move by Trump. The Marines being sent in are infantry, not peacekeepers. They are folks who look for a fight, and win that fight. If you are in LA, have friends or family in LA, please be safe.10 Jun 2025 00:06 +0000at://did:plc:tvaumm6otgnqa3sjonycg6nd/app.bsky.feed.post/3lr7lvuxt2s2hhttps://bsky.app/profile/elliottsf.com/post/3lqxitczt6c2qEvery org I work with these days has a big "director slump", especially in tech. Overloaded, no time to put hands on craft, all the responsibility & no authority. Bosses make decisions, send the memo so you can pass it to your already burned-out team. https://theworkforward.substack.com/p/techs-leadership-crisis06 Jun 2025 18:50 +0000at://did:plc:tvaumm6otgnqa3sjonycg6nd/app.bsky.feed.post/3lqxitczt6c2qhttps://bsky.app/profile/elliottsf.com/post/3lqxe62khws2q“In the past seven weeks, at least five high-profile targeted attacks have unfolded across the U.S., including a car bombing in California and the gunning down of two Israeli Embassy aides in Washington.” That’s bad. Guess what expert is in charge of overseeing DHS domestic terrorism resources?06 Jun 2025 17:26 +0000at://did:plc:tvaumm6otgnqa3sjonycg6nd/app.bsky.feed.post/3lqxe62khws2qhttps://bsky.app/profile/elliottsf.com/post/3lqflcm7l322f“There are only so many ‘sticks’ leaders can wield before something breaks, usually in the form of disengagement, quiet quitting, or outright departures of valuable talent.” https://time.com/charter/7289256/the-return-to-office-reality-gap/30 May 2025 15:46 +0000at://did:plc:tvaumm6otgnqa3sjonycg6nd/app.bsky.feed.post/3lqflcm7l322f