A Thinker

I'm a thinker. I like to go deep on topics and I take time to reflect on things. I write to think, but I think out loud, too. Sparring partners are important for me - sometimes I prefer to talk it out.

I like to debate and play devil's advocate to advance a discussion, but sometimes I lose focus and debate for sport, losing sight of the goal. I'm comfortable with "gray". I don't need black-and-white, and rarely see things that way.

I can operate like an “individual contributor” on hard problems, but I get the most fulfillment from working with teammates. I work hard to foster team environments.

I'm ambitious. I crave greatness and excellence, but I'm not particularly competitive. I’m motivated more by craft and mastery than competing and winning. I prefer games where everyone can win.

I get the most fulfillment from working with teammates

I have high expectations for myself and for those around me but I work very hard to be compassionate, understanding, and forgiving.

I believe in people's potential. As I've stretched myself, I've found myself more capable. I've seen the same in others.

Personality Tests Say

My Appreciation Languages are:

🍕 Pizza, too. Will travel with laptop for pizza

Self-Development

To continually grow, advance, improve in knowledge, ability, character

Authenticity

To be authentic, genuine, and real. To know who one is and to be true to one’s self

Contribution

To contribute, help, assist, or make a positive difference to others

Curiosity

To be interested and open-minded. To keep exploring and discovering

I pride myself on being a great teammate. I believe I’m just as good of a follower as I am a leader.

There are a handful of behaviors at work that I simply don’t have the patience for. They are:

How Best to Communicate With Me

Think it through in advance, if possible. It's okay if the thinking is bad. If you don’t have time to think it through, ask me to help you think it through.

If I say something that you disagree with or that pisses you off - tell me! I want to know.

I'm not "always available" but a Slack message or an email work. Assume I will not respond promptly. I'm always thinking about work, but I don't allow myself to be available to talk about it all the time.

How to Help Me

Tell me what I need to know, not what you think I want to hear. Find the holes in my arguments and ideas - I want the thing analyzed from all sides, and I can't do that without others' help. Ask me when it'll be done by - hold me accountable. Ask me to do the same for you. If we're in a meeting together, I’d love it if you’d facilitate the small talk for me - it’s not my strong suit. Sometimes I can come off as cranky, and that shows up as trying to move too fast through agenda items, less inflection in my tone, etc. I'm not upset with you unless I tell you I am. Make me laugh and I'll snap out of it.

What People Misunderstand About Me

“Ry doesn’t care about the logistical details”

I care about the details, because I crave excellence, but I’m not always good at them. I’m particularly bad at event planning.

“He’s so serious”

I can be. I also LOVE playful, absurd and dark humor. I try not to bring sarcasm to work.

“Ry doesn’t like meetings”

I love meetings, because I love collaboration. I like long ones where a group can dig into something and make real progress. I don’t like bad meetings. Also, I’m introverted, and meetings drain me. Heavy meeting weeks can leave me feeling out of gas.