Four great reads for 6/4/2025
Transforming work: From AI adoption to immigration loopholes & leadership that inspires.
An AI "Metamorphosis": Transforming into an AI-native company (Sarah Tavel)
What does it truly mean for a company to become AI-native beyond surface-level tool adoption? This interview with Rekki's CTO, Borislav Nikolov, reveals that a genuine transformation involves a "metamorphosis" in organizational thinking and structure. A key strategic takeaway is the shift in the CTO's role from task executioner to an internal PaaS provider, empowering all employees by giving them the right "primitives" to solve their own problems, essentially turning everyone into a developer. Another vital tactic is fostering a deep understanding of LLMs across the company, challenging the ingrained belief that only engineers can code and thereby democratizing technical capability. This profound change hinges on believing in the capacity of non-technical people to code and building the infrastructure to support them. (link)
The Tech Recruitment Ruse That Has Avoided Trump’s Crackdown on Immigration (Alec MacGillis)
What happens when policy incentives are fundamentally misaligned with stated goals? This ProPublica investigation into the PERM green card process illustrates a stark example relevant to US tech founders and product managers, revealing a system almost designed to be gamed. The requirement for companies to "search" for US workers after an H-1B employee is already integrated into the team often leads to perfunctory efforts, like obscure newspaper ads, rather than genuine recruitment, a direct consequence of rules clashing with practical incentives to retain proven talent. For founders, this highlights the challenge of navigating flawed regulatory landscapes, impacting long-term workforce planning and the ethical dimensions of talent retention. (link)
Why Bell Labs Worked (areoform)
How did Bell Labs become the crucible of 20th-century American innovation, and why can't we seem to replicate its magic today? This piece argues that the lab's success, orchestrated by leaders like Mervin Kelly, stemmed from a culture of radical freedom and patronage, not metrics-obsessed micromanagement. The core strategic principle was Kelly's belief in "managing genius by not managing it," trusting handpicked, driven individuals with resources and autonomy for years if needed. Tactically, this meant fostering an environment where researchers and makers could cross-pollinate, driven by curiosity and a desire to impress peers, not just a boss. The article posits that modern "MBA culture," with its relentless focus on narrowly defined productivity and accountability, has stifled the conditions necessary for such groundbreaking, long-term research. (link)
Leading From The Front (Stay SaaSy)
Effective leadership isn't just about being reachable when things go wrong; it's about consistently being present where the action is. This article champions "leading from the front" as crucial for gaining firsthand information, motivating teams, and catalyzing meaningful action. A key strategic understanding is that a leader's predictable presence in critical situations—be it customer calls or incident responses—unlocks higher-order motivations like professional pride and duty in their team. Tactically, this requires calendar discipline to ensure availability, developing the skills to be genuinely useful (like basic debugging or coordinating resources), and maintaining a poised, determined demeanor that instills confidence and urgency without causing panic. Crucially, it also means rigorously following through on issues to prevent recurrence. (link)