Beyond money and titles, what really drives people to do their best work? Understanding intrinsic motivation changes how you lead, manage, and collaborate.
People
Paolo G.
Notes on Leadership, Systems, and Life.
Hi, I’m Paolo. I spend my life wearing different hats. I lead teams, I serve in the Navy, I parent three kids, I sail and hike and create and learn. This site is where all those threads meet.
This is my notebook in public. I write about leadership, systems, and insights, and about the everyday practice of building and solving problems.
People
Humans are strange. The way we love, fight, cooperate, and invent rarely makes sense. That's interesting. We tell stories to explain the unknown, we break rules just as quickly as we make them. Those contradictions teach us as much about others as they do about ourselves.
Products
Products are puzzles. We try to make them simple, but they have rules, trade-offs, and a hundred unseen choices. We think we just build things, but we’re really shaping systems that guide how people act and think. Those hidden layers show how what we create also shapes who we are.
Perspectives
Perspectives are the lenses we choose. The same story can look right or wrong, fair or unjust, depending on where it is viewed from. Context shifts meaning, and holding more than one view at once is often the closest thing to clarity.
Latest Thoughts
View all posts →This is a slightly edited version of the message I shared with my organization on my last day at Amazon. I hope you find something useful in it.
I’ve been thinking about whether to write this or not for a day or two. I don’t think it’s relevant to this blog, and it’s kind of personal. But here goes. When I was 21, I moved back from Berlin to my hometown. Let’s just say it was a complicated time.