Five minutes of push-ups or jumping around your living room can completely flip your mood. That post-workout buzz doesn't care if you spent an hour at the gym or just did a quick burst of movement.

And writing? I can't tell you how many times I've been stuck on a project, quickly jotted down some thoughts while waiting for coffee, and suddenly there's the breakthrough I needed. One clear paragraph can light up the path for my whole piece.

It's about what I do with those few minutes to really dial it in when I’m stuck. Five minutes of actually showing up beats an hour of half-paying attention while scrolling through my phone.

Just give it five good minutes and see what happens.

Three key habits, as eloquently written in a recent HBR article, to build accountability with empathy:

Think ahead. Visualize potential roadblocks before assigning work and discuss them openly with your team. Clear communication upfront means higher chances of success.

Own your commitments. Want trust? Follow through consistently. When leaders meet deadlines and deliver on promises, it sets the tone. Your team will mirror your reliability.

Focus on solutions, not blame. When things go wrong, make it about learning. Get everyone involved in problem-solving. This creates psychological safety and helps teams grow through challenges.

High standards and empathy aren't mutually exclusive. Build both.

Daily Prioritization: I start each morning by identifying at least one high-impact activity that will move my strategic goals forward, business and personal. I focus on that first.

Problem Reframing: Instead of viewing limited budgets as constraints, I like to treat them as catalysts for innovation.

Continuous Adaptation: I dedicate at least two hours each week to learning new technologies and methodologies. I also journal, meditate, and use therapy to reflect on my personal life.

Assemble Resources: Ensure I have the physical, mental, and relational resources I need to do my best work.

After years of working with brands and leading companies, I've observed a shift in looking beyond channel-specific metrics to truly understanding marketing's impact on enterprise value.

Enterprise Marketing Return (EMR) represents this evolution - measuring not just media efficiency, but the outcomes that truly matter: profitable revenue, customer file health, and brand equity. It's a comprehensive approach to media buying, planning, and measurement that combines marketing and finance.

It's not surprising to see companies that approach marketing and measurement in this way typically see both better efficiency and healthier revenue and customer growth.

This tension reminds me of something fundamental about leadership: trust is built in moments of transparency and consistency.

Moving forward isn't about choosing between innovation and trust. It's about being present with both – implementing robust data protection, maintaining transparency, and staying committed to ethical AI development. Like any meaningful relationship, it requires consistent effort and clear communication. The companies that succeed will be those that balance AI's benefits with consumer confidence.

I think it’s important to lead by example. I always try to show up, and I tell everyone I’ve ever mentored or managed to do your best to show up.

But I’m not perfect.

Usually when I fail to show up for selfish reasons, it hurts me. But more importantly, it hurts the people around me.

Show up to a meeting you didn’t want to go to, or to a mentee 1:1 you thought you were too busy for. If you can, show up. You never know how much it means to the other person/people.

Amazon “pulls” andon cords if there’s an anecdote from a customer who had an issue. We review, find out if there’s a defect, and then fix it.

As I build out my company and work with more companies who are using AI, I think about how valuable this process is.

The past is gone, and we don’t know the future.

I of course didn’t think of this. I read from Thich Nhat Hanh, Jon Kabat-Zinn, Sharon Salzberg, and Jack Kornfield, among others.

I spent this Labor Day weekend with my parents, sisters, brother-in-law, and nephews. I made a decision that my only purpose was to be there, in the moment, for my family.

We had an amazing weekend.

It reminded me of how I approach managing and leadership. Be there. Listen. Take in context. Be present.

When we hang up, we make sure to tell each other "I love you."

My mom and I don't agree on certain things, but we agree on more than we disagree.

My parents are still around, and I feel so grateful for that.

I use the word "love" liberally because I don't think people are either loved or have heard it enough in their lives.

I'll tell my clients "I love your work" or "I love what you're doing" or "I love how you're thinking about things."

Tell people you love them and you love their work. Odds are they'll appreciate it.

Merete Wedell-Wedellsborg, in a Harvard Business Review article published last month, wrote about three characteristics of “genius teams”.

The best teams I either led or were a part of at Amazon shared these attributes:

1. Complementary Capabilities: Each team member brings outstanding skills that complement others, including analytical capacity, expertise, tenacity, and communication prowess.

2. Ambitious Goals: The team aspires to tackle grand challenges.

3. Generative Tension: The team’s interactions are characterized by benevolent friction, conflict, and impatience.

Imperfection and tension are essential to breakthrough achievements. But at the same time, stay grounded and ethical, even in the face of success and recognition.

This attitude has inspired numerous quotes. One of the most well-known is often attributed to Mahatma Gandhi: “Be the change you wish to see in the world.”

This idea of personal action leading to broader change reminds me of my childhood. I remember when I was little, I would see my dad pick up a piece of trash on the sidewalk, hold it, find the nearest trashcan, and then throw it away.

I always thought that was gross and weird.

Kindness is an innate quality with my dad, but picking up trash certainly isn’t. He thought about it. He was purposeful, and that little action spread ripples.

I think a lot about how I can create a bigger impact on the world, and often it feels insurmountable. But what I’ve found, over time, is all it takes is thinking about doing the next right thing, even, and maybe especially, if it doesn’t feel natural.

I’m a huge basketball fan, so I follow the WNBA and NBA players closely. I can’t stop watching Steph Curry’s highlights from the Olympics, his interviews after, and some of his past ones.

When asked how he knew shots would go in, he responded with “Trust the work.”

Trust. The. Work.

People see the crazy shots: the 100+ three pointers made in a row, five full court shots made in a row, and what might have been the greatest heat check of all time in the last two minutes of the Gold Medal game of the Paris 2024 Olympics.

But what we’re not able to see is how his dad taught him to start shooting close shots in the paint to build his confidence as a young kid and then slowly work his way back.

What we saw a few days ago was the culmination of years of intense work, consistency, and focus. Regardless of what you think about the sport or sports in general, it’s hard not to be inspired by that.

Four years ago, Chloe faced a career-threatening injury that left her uncertain if she'd ever compete again. She fought her way back, and last week, she was on the podium with a Bronze medal around her neck.

She poured her heart into physical therapy, maintaining a belief that she could overcome.

"There were a lot of tears on that first day at the Olympics," she said. "I wasn't sure if I'd even make it there."

She set her sights on the highest stage. And won.

Chloe's bronze medal isn't just a symbol of her individual triumph; it’s an example of how to persevere in the face of crisis.

"Returning to work after childbirth is one of the most challenging transitions for postpartum mothers. This period involves physical recovery, psychological adjustment, and navigating work amid new family demands. Here’s how to meaningfully support postpartum mothers as a manager.

Help them navigate HR policies. The rulebook can be daunting and confusing. Be an ally by helping new mothers identify which policies are relevant to the reentry process and encourage them to advocate for their needs.

Create space and time for motherhood. Allow for flexible working hours, provide quality lactation spaces and structured breaks for pumping, and enforce work-life boundaries.

Validate their identity as a worker. Signal that you value their professional contributions by celebrating their return, assigning them developmental tasks, and expressing confidence in their skills and capabilities. 

Validate their identity as a mother. Show interest in their baby, check on their well-being, and share your own parenting experience if you have it.

Critically, treat each postpartum parent as the expert on their own needs, and empower them to be transparent and honest about the challenges they’re facing. Also recognize that postpartum allyship is not just for birthing mothers but all parents reentering the workplace after welcoming a child into their families."

Support mothers. Support women. Support parents.

You have to give away support to keep it. If you're not helping others along the way, that lack of support will eventually come back to you.

Recognizing that you're not the smartest person in the room makes you smart.

Building on the above, I've been contemplating a paradox of self-deception. As I venture out on my own, I've realized that if we’re to publish, teach, invent, imagine, or promote, we need the confidence to believe that we have something to offer. That we are, in some way, right.

But the enterprise of rational thought is based on theories, tests, and improvements. We can never be certain, all we have is the best available explanation.

So, the hard work lies in speaking up while remaining open—even eager—to change your mind based on new data, as one without the other is worthless.

This is advice I give to myself more frequently than I’d like to admit. Ego is a powerful thing.

I think there are people who are just naturally wired to think about others first. Unfortunately, I need to work at it. But I put in the work.

Like basic economics, the incentives are there; the work pays off. It creates new relationships and strengthens existing ones. It leads to different opportunities. It expands my perspective and opens up how I see the world. 

Most importantly, thinking about others first is just the kinder thing to do.

Working at Amazon and finding success there was fulfilling. But was that all that defined me? If you'd talked to me during certain periods of my life, you might have thought so. My conversations revolved around work, my pride stemmed from my title, and my self-worth fluctuated with my professional achievements.

But I've come to realize that my worth extends far beyond my job. I'm the friend who's there when someone reaches out in need. I'm the son who makes time for regular dates with my dad and lunches with my mom. I try to give away what has been so freely given to me.

Paradoxically, as I've focused on nurturing these aspects of my life, I've become a better employee, manager, and leader. My broader perspective and richer personal life have enhanced my professional performance. But it’s still difficult for me at times to keep perspective.

I can still take pride in my past accomplishments at Amazon and be excited about future professional goals. But now I understand that these are just parts of who I am, not my entire identity. It took me longer than I'd like to admit to realize this, but embracing a multifaceted identity has led to a more balanced, fulfilling life.

Jeff Bezos wrote this in his 2016 letter to shareholders, which was probably my favorite one over the course of the 11 years I worked there. I would pretty much drop everything to read them when they came out. 

So what is Day 1? There’s no perfect definition, but it’s about always having a beginner’s mind. It’s about believing no job is beneath you. It’s about long-term thinking and high-velocity decision making. It’s about not resting on your laurels, avoiding bureaucracy, and accepting failure. It’s about staying obsessively close to your customers. It’s about taking risks. It’s about constant innovation.

I just love this way of thinking.

I’d like to think I wasn’t a Kool-Aid drinker, but I mean I totally was. I loved my decade+ at Amazon. The culture (for the most part), the leadership principles, and the insights I gathered from some of the smartest people on the planet are things that will be with me for the rest of my life. And I’m so grateful for that.