Just freaking horrible.. "Secret Service agents tailed Comey’s car from North Carolina to Virginia.....The agents who were following Comey even lost him briefly. He had turned off the highway to visit the gravesite of his son who died in 1995." nl.nytimes.com/f/newsletter...

Trump Demanded Details of Agents’ Interview of Comey, New Filing Says

The request suggests the intense personal involvement of President Trump in investigating one of his longtime critics, the former F.B.I. director James B. Comey.

nl.nytimes.com

76% of Fed workers say the Trump admin's return to office demands made them less productive. “I work in what is essentially a supply closet with three other colleagues, making it extremely challenging to take calls” "We’re able to do less of our jobs." federalnewsnetwork.com/workforce/20...

After returning to the office, federal employees report low productivity, morale | Federal News Network

In a Federal News Network online survey, over three-quarters of respondents said they are less productive now than they were prior to returning to the office.

federalnewsnetwork.com

What day is it? Borrowed, and I don’t remember from whom, but yet again appropriate.

Parents this weekend: is this "tokemaxxing" thing really, like, a thing? Me: Sadly, yes. Nice to know they read my newsletter... theworkforward.substack.com/p/the-tokenm...

The tokenmaxxing trap

Why mandating AI usage backfires, and who profits when you do it anyway.

theworkforward.substack.com

20-25% 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. sfstandard.com/2026/05/04/s...

Bi-Rite is bringing its first non-profit grocery store to the Sunnydale neighborhood

Do not expect subsized Saba jam or Fishwife sardines. In 2027, Bi-Rite, 18 Reasons, and the Crankstart Foundation are teaming up on a non-profit grocery in Sunnydale where day-to-day food will sell at...

sfstandard.com

Dear 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%.

7 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 sfstandard.com/2026/03/15/d...

Can you put dog poop bags in other people’s trash cans? An ethical investigation

In a city overrun with dogs and light on public trash cans, this is the question dividing our community.

sfstandard.com

69% 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.

Jack 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.

Bad 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.” /1

Grappling 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 sfstandard.com/2026/02/14/a...

A tech CEO says AI is about to do to everyone what it is doing to coders. Is he right?

Matt Shumer’s viral essay comparing AI to the early days of Covid has more than 80 million views. The concern is understandable. The timeline is another story.

sfstandard.com

Brandon 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: www.charterworks.com/the-ai-chall...

The AI challenges HR leaders face most

High AI adoption doesn't mean transformation. Here's what HR leaders say is holding their companies back.

charterworks.com

Do 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: sfstandard.com/2026/02/03/f...

How Foursquare scrapped engineering manager titles

The company eliminated nearly all manager roles in engineering and the results have been dramatic.

sfstandard.com

“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. www.charterworks.com/how-to-respo...

How to respond amid ICE raids, protests, and violence in Minneapolis

Strategies for deciding on public statements, supporting workers, and preparing managers

charterworks.com

In 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 sfstandard.com/2025/09/29/t...?

Tech Bro 2.0: The new Silicon Valley archetype dominating the AI age

He’s not what he used to be. He’s jacked, cracked, and thinks he might save America.

sfstandard.com

Giving 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. 👉 sloanreview.mit.edu/article/the-... Image credit @omarwhatworks.bsky.social

Just a reminder of how hard Trump had to work to mess up this economy.

It’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. open.substack.com/pub/theworkf...

The Job Market Squeeze: When Uncertainty Meets AI

Why the employment downturn has more to do with anxiety than technology

open.substack.com

Why 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. theworkforward.substack.com/p/return-to-...

Return to Office, Return to Bias

Why the gender gap in return to office isn't just about caregiving

theworkforward.substack.com

Stack 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: theworkforward.substack.com/p/stop-ranki...

The 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: theworkforward.substack.com/p/learning-w...

Learning While Leading

How Zoom's Izabella Lorenz Transformed Workplace Strategy Through Customer-Centric Design

theworkforward.substack.com

Five 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.

If 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? theworkforward.substack.com/p/the-meetin...

The Meeting Plague: Why Your Calendar Is Killing Productivity

Help us research what's working (and what isn't) by sharing your experience in our 5-minute survey

theworkforward.substack.com

The 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: www.axios.com/2025/06/20/a...

Why CEOs are using AI to scare workers

CEOs warn the new technology could make many workers obsolete, while urging them to start using it right away.

axios.com

“He thought he was the King of America… Now he’s a brilliant mistake.” Elvis Costello & the Imposters

The "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. sloanreview.mit.edu/article/five...

Five Leadership Lessons for ‘Tough’ CEOs | Brian Elliott and Sophie Wade

A tough-leader persona isn’t effective for achieving long-term business results. That demands human-centered leadership.

sloanreview.mit.edu

The Senate Majority leader is lying

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · last yr.

FOX: The Committee for a Responsible Budget came out today and said it will add $15 trillion to the debt THUNE: This will reduce the deficit, not increase it

Poulsbo WA, pop 12k, organizers expected a few hundred and had several thousand folks show up.

That’s one heck of a map. Over 2,000 locations. Hope you will join me out there Saturday. www.nokings.org

I'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.