The Engineering Executive's Primer

Chapter 9. Managing Your Priorities and Energy

Back when I was managing at Uber, I latched onto a thinking tool that I drilled into the teams I worked with: reach the right outcomes by prioritizing the company first, your team second, and yourself third. This “company, team, self” framework proved to be a helpful decision-making tool, and at the time I felt it almost always led to the correct decision. It also helped me articulate why I disagreed with some of my peers’ decisions that violated this hierarchy by placing individual or team preferences over the company’s priorities.

As I’ve become a more experienced manager, I’ve stopped giving this advice. I still believe it’s conceptually good advice and I continue to see managers who fail because they are missing this perspective. However, I’ve also seen some of the best leaders that I’ve worked with burn out by following this advice too loyally. A long-term career depends equally on being impactful and staying engaged.

In this chapter, we’ll discuss:

• How I previously used the “company, team, self” framework to prioritize

• How energy management is a positive-sum process, and why that’s changed my model for prioritization

• How I’ve moved to an “eventual quid pro quo” framework

• Distinguishing between self-interested behavior and the appearance of self-interest

• Why it’s important to remain flexible, even when using the best framework

Let’s drill into the details.

“Company, Team, Self” Framework

As I mentioned, I used to rely on