👋 Hey, it’s Wes. Welcome to my bi-weekly newsletter on managing up, executive communication, and standing out as a high performer. For more, check out my intensive course on Executive Communication & Influence for Senior ICs and Managers.
⛑️ If you’re looking for 1:1 coaching, I typically work with director-level and above at companies like Amazon, Meta, DoorDash, Amplitude, etc. Learn more about my coaching approach.
Read time: 3 minutes
First, a few announcements:
1. As part of my yearly tradition, I’ll be taking a 4-week break from my newsletter for the holidays.
As usual, I’ll be taking the holidays to spend time with family, reflect on what I want to do more/less of, and set my intentions for the new year. I hope you have a wonderful holiday, and I’ll be back in your inbox on Wednesday, January 21, 2026.
2. Announcing: New March 2026 course cohort
I’ve opened a new cohort for March 2026. The course dates are Thursday, March 19 and Friday, March 20.
This year, I ran six cohorts and I’m humbled that every cohort has sold out. Over 1,700 operators have taken the course with a 4.6/5 star rating from 500+ student reviews.
Students and alumni are from companies like Uber, Amazon, Grammarly, Netflix, Workday, Meta, Google, Pinterest, Sephora, Twilio, Roblox, Shopify, Airbnb, Vimeo, Waymo, Figma, Unilever, HelloFresh, Cisco, Buffer, Peloton, 1Password, OpenTable, Microsoft, Lyft, Autodesk, Credit Karma, Stitch Fix, DailyPay, Lockheed Martin, Klaviyo, Hubspot, U.S. Bank, Novo Nordisk, Walmart, Plaid, Intercom, Coinbase, Coda, SoundCloud, Instacart, Samsung, Salesforce, Apple, Spotify, Anthropic, GitHub, Zillow, PayPal, Atlassian, Square, Stripe, etc.
If you’ve been wanting to invest in yourself and level up your executive communication, I hope you’ll join us. See the course details.
Here are my most popular posts from 2025. I’ve divided these posts into four categories. Feel free to start with the ones that jump out at you.
Happy binge-reading!
✨ Become a sharper operator
Why high performers make assertions: The difference between insights, suggestions, and assertions - An insight is just a starting point. The rare, courageous thing to do is to develop an assertion, i.e. a hypothesis and point of view that answers “so what?”
Stop apologizing for reasonable business decisions - Why saying sorry might unintentionally shift the power dynamics.
No, I don’t want to hop on a call - I do not want to hop on a call because you are too lazy to write a cogent message.
✨ Communicate more clearly and concisely
Take 3 minutes to delete these words and improve your writing forever - Before you hit “send,” delete these words from your writing. Your message will be stronger for it.
Use “but” strategically - “But” is a negating word. Here’s how to use this intentionally, so you sound direct and positive.
To sound more sincere, do this - If you aren’t careful, you may come across as less sincere because your writing doesn’t translate your intent.
✨ Improve how you manage up
Stop trying to change your manager - Because you don’t have the leverage to turn your manager into a different person. Here’s what to do instead.
Everything takes longer than you think - The problem isn’t that you’re not working fast enough. It’s that your expectations were never realistic to begin with.
What you give airtime to will expand - Successful operators intentionally direct their recipients’ attention. Focus less on what you can’t do, and more on what you can do.
✨ Become a better manager and leader
How to delegate while maintaining high standards - This is for managers who want to delegate AND maintain a high bar for quality of work. Here are tactics I learned over time that made delegating easier.
7 Phrases I use to make giving feedback easier for myself - Here are practical phrases I use when sharing feedback because it allows me to speak freely.
Which of these are you most excited to read? Hit reply because I’d love to hear from you.
Thanks for being here, as always. Happy holidays, and I’ll see you in 2026.
Wes
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✨ Course: Improve your ability to sell your ideas, manage up, gain buy-in, and increase your impact in a 2-day workshop. Over 1,700 tech operators have taken this course, and every cohort so far has sold out. → Save your spot
Thanks for sharing!
Hi @Wes Kao,
Your referral award downloads do not work.
Can you check the links please : )