Thiago Ghisi

#052 [SPECIAL EDITION] What I learned coaching Technical Executives A special newsletter edition in collaboration with a coaching client, Thiago Ghisi.

> "Guilt. Proving myself. Not wanting to burden others"

That led us to a deeper pattern: martyrdom. The belief that taking on more suffering somehow made him a better leader. Once we named it, he could see it everywhere, and we could work to try to change it

More: open.substack.com/pub/richardh...

Scaling to 100+ as a Director: Lessons From Growing Engineering Organizations Thiago Ghisi discusses the strategic evolution required to lead 100+ engineers without breaking the organization. He explains his "Three Levels of Impact" framework and shares practical lessons on spe...

Managing 10 engineers is a job. Leading 100+ is a completely different game.

This is the point where most engineering careers stall. 🛑

In this #InfoQ video, @thiagoghisi.com shares the playbook for evolving from "problem solver" to "org driver."

🔗 bit.ly/3ZXRLsw

#TechCareer #StaffEngineer

How to Scale Your Impact at the Staff-Plus Level This article demystifies what "Staff-Plus" expectations actually look like, drawing on real promotion and performance reviews experiences. It maps out career ladders, digs into promotion patterns and ...

1️⃣ "𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐟𝐟-𝐏𝐥𝐮𝐬" 𝐄𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 & 𝐂𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐫 𝐏𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐬

🔗 bit.ly/43DrYsi

Learn what Staff-Plus expectations look like with real-world examples and discover the concept of "Staff Projects" to drive your career.

@thiagoghisi.com

Reading, for me, isn’t about consumption.
It’s not a race. It’s not a chore.
It’s a craft. A slow, deliberate, high-yield craft.

This is Part 1 of 3: The Impossible Game of Reading.

Unread doesn’t mean wasted.
Unfinished doesn’t mean failed.
It means I’ve taken what I needed — for now.

This is why I no longer obsess over “finishing” books.
The point isn’t to get to the last page.
It’s to extract something alive from the time I spent with it.

Because not every book deserves the same depth.
Some give you what you need in a paragraph.
Others take you apart and rebuild how you think - but only if I stay under long enough.

Then, there are the snorkel reads — I float along the surface, peek at the coral, maybe chase a fish or two (looking at the index).
And a few rare ones? I bring the oxygen tank and go all the way down — line by line, breath by breath.

Some books, I just dip a finger in — just enough to check the temperature, scan a few pages, feel the vibe.
Others, I cannonball in — loud, messy, splash around, let the shock and color hit me all at once.

Slow is richer.
Slow makes it stick.
Slow pays off.

Because I’m not reading to finish.
I’m reading to absorb.
To let a book sit with me.
To let one sentence rewire my entire mental model.

I don’t speed-read. I slow-read.
I pause. I underline. I reread the same paragraph five times.
Deliberately. By design.

The slower I go, the richer it tastes.
The slower I read, the deeper the imprint.
The deeper I internalize the story - and the more clearly I can see the big picture.

I don’t read books. I read chapters.

I don’t measure my progress by how many books I’ve finished.
I measure it by how many books I’ve started.

I measure progress by:
• how many margin notes I make,
• how many new ideas I bump into,
• how many new questions it plants in my mind.

Want to build a stronger #EngineeringCulture?

✅ Lead by example
✅ Embrace "glue work"
✅ Take full ownership
✅ Be self-aware about your career path

🎧 Dive deeper on the #InfoQ #podcast with @thiagoghisi.com for more insights: bit.ly/4fJ7GCp

📄 #transcript included

#TechCareer #Leadership

@thiagoghisi.bsky.social just broke down the entire playbook for engineering leadership reorganization at @infoq.com Dev Summit Boston.

My notes on the new OpenAI ChatGPT scheduled tasks feature, including a copy of the new tool instructions from a leaked system prompt simonwillison.net/2025/Jan/15/...

My Top 24 Podcast Episodes & Interviews from my 300+ Listens in 2024 by Number of highlights & Insights density What if we spend 10x more time than average on reviewing & reflecting back? What if instead of the "usual" 1-hour project or sprint retrospective, most of us do every 2 weeks or once a month, we spend...

www.linkedin.com/pulse/my-top...

🔟 188 @bryan_johnson: Five Habits for Longer Living – The Knowledge Project -> 🕒 74 min | 💡 40 Highlights | IPM: 0.54

1️⃣1️⃣ Dr. James Hollis: How to Find Your True Purpose & Create Your Best Life – Huberman Lab -> 🕒 160 min | 💡 83 Highlights | IPM: 0.52

...rest of the list and more on the article 👇

8️⃣ Matt Klein Impact Driven Development | Matt Klein – Software Misadventures -> 🕒 79 min | 💡 43 Highlights | IPM: 0.54

9️⃣ @BrianFeroldi Public Company Due Diligence for Tech Employees | Brian Feroldi – Tech Equity and Money Talk with Christopher Nelson -> 🕒 48 min | 💡 26 Highlights | IPM: 0.54

6️⃣ Lorin Hochstein (@norootcause) – StaffEng -> 🕒 48 min | 💡 31 Highlights | IPM: 0.64

7️⃣ Christian McCarrick (@cmccarrick) Lessons Learned in 20 Years of Engineering Leadership – GoogleDevSpace -> 🕒 46 min | 💡 27 Highlights | IPM: 0.58

4️⃣ @thedankoe The Art of Focus – Official Book Summary by Dan Koe – The Koe Cast -> 🕒 49 min | 💡 36 Highlights | IPM: 0.73

5️⃣ @SamCorcos: How Writing Helped This CEO Build a $300m+ Company – How I Write -> 🕒 99 min | 💡 71 Highlights | IPM: 0.72

2️⃣ James Cowling @jamesacowling – StaffEng -> 🕒 48 min | 💡 42 Highlights | IPM: 0.87

3️⃣ @shreyas 4 Questions Shreyas Doshi Wishes He’d Asked Himself Sooner – Lenny's Podcast -> 🕒 46 min | 💡 35 Highlights | IPM: 0.77

🎧 Top 11 Podcasts with the Highest Insights Per Minute (IPM) 📊 (≥45 min):

Here’s my list of episodes ranked by IPM (Density) = Highlights ÷ Duration:

1️⃣ Rhonda Patrick, Ph.D. @foundmyfitness: Diet Essentials for Healthy Living – The Knowledge Project -> 🕒 105 min | 💡 104 Highlights | IPM: 0.99

Top 5 Categories:
(1) Engineering Management & Tech Leadership,
(2) Career & Productivity,
(3) Financial Freedom & Investing,
(4) Leadership & Organizational Strategy,
(5) Psychology & Personal Development.

I calculated ‘insights per minute’ IPM by taking total highlights and dividing by duration in minutes.

Why IPM can be more revealing? Instead of celebrating “longest episodes” or “most highlights,” I'm truly focusing on DENSITY with this!

Alright, let’s try Bluesky! My Top 24 Podcast Episodes & Interviews from My 300+ Listens in 2024 by Insights Density (IPM).

This was also the most challenging one to put together (more on the article)…

Continue 👇