Employee Experience

LinkedIn has published one of the best reports I’ve read on deploying LLM applications: what worked and what didn’t. 1. Structured outputs They chose YAML over JSON as the output format because YAML uses less output tokens. Initially, only 90% of the outputs are correctly formatted YAML. They used re-prompting (asking the model to fix its YAML responses), which increased the number of API calls significantly. They then analyzed the common formatting errors, added those hints to the original prompt, and wrote an error fixing script. This reduced their errors to 0.01%. 2. Sacrificing throughput for latency Originally, they focused on TTFT (Time To First Token), but realized that TBT (Time Between Token) hurt them a lot more, especially with Chain-of-Thought queries where users don’t see the intermediate outputs. They found that TTFT and TBT inversely correlate with TPS (Tokens per Second). To achieve good TTFT and TBT, they had to sacrifice TPS. 3. Automatic evaluation is hard One core challenge of evaluation is coming up with a guideline on what a good response is. For example, for skill fit assessment, the response: “You’re not a good fit for this job” can be correct, but not helpful. Originally, evaluation was ad-hoc. Everyone could chime in. That didn’t work. They then have linguists build tooling and processes to standardize annotation, evaluating up to 500 daily conversations and these manual annotations guide their iteration. Their next goal is to get automatic evaluation, but it’s not easy. 4. Initial success with LLMs can be misleading It took them 1 month to achieve 80% of the experience they wanted, and additional 4 months to surpass 95%. The initial success made them underestimate how challenging it is to improve the product, especially dealing with hallucinations. They found it discouraging how slow it was to achieve each subsequent 1% gain. #aiengineering #llms #aiapplication

A Return To Office mandate is a funny thing. A trade-off of lower workforce productivity, morale, retention, engagement, and trust in exchange for...managers feeling more in control. It's more a sign of insecurity and incompetence than sound decision-making. The fact that 80% of executives who have pushed for RTO mandates have later regretted their decision only makes the point further, and yet every few months more leaders line up to pad this statistic. In case your leaders have forgotten, return to office mandates are associated with: 🔻 16% lower intent to stay among the highest-performing employees (Gartner) 🔻 10% less trust, psychological safety, and relationship quality between workers and their managers (Great Place to Work) 🔻 22% of employees from marginalized groups becoming more likely to search for new jobs (Greenhouse) 🔻 No significant change in financial performance while guaranteeing damage to employee satisfaction (Ding and Ma, 2024) The thing is, we KNOW how to do hybrid work well at this point. 🎯 Allow teams to decide on in-person expectations, and hold people accountable to it—high flexibility; high accountability. 🎯 Make in-person time unique and valuable, with brainstorming, events, and culture-building activities—not video calls all day in the office. 🎯 Value outcomes, not appearances, of productivity—reward those who get their work done regardless of where they do it. 🎯 Train inclusive managers, not micromanagers—build in them the skills and confidence to lead with trust rather than fear and insecurity. Leaders that fly in the face of all this data to insist that workers return to office "OR ELSE" communicate one thing: they are the kinds of leaders that place their own egos and comfort above their shareholders and employees alike. Faced with the very real test of how to design the hybrid workforce of the future, these leaders chose to throw a tantrum in their bid to return to the past, and their organizations will suffer for it. The leaders that will thrive in this time? Those that are willing to do the work. Those that are willing to listen to their workforce, skill up to meet new needs, and claim their rewards in the form of the best talent, higher productivity, and the highest level of worker loyalty and trust. Will that be you?

Getting someone to download your e-book so you can cold call them is Outbound Sales, not “inbound marketing”.    Here are the 4 fundamental flaws of current GTM strategies and how to address them:   1. The MQL Lead Funnel is totally broken.   Marketing teams set out to collect a high volume of MQLs or “leads” with no accountability to downstream Sales performance. Sales wastes a majority of their time calling and emailing people that don’t want to talk to them and don’t want to buy right now. This model is totally outdated, results in poor ROI, and is an obvious cause of sales/marketing misalignment.    Solution: Stop optimizing for MQLs. Measure the success of Marketing on HIRO Pipeline (> 25% win rates), closed won revenue, sales velocity, and Marketing ROI.   2. No Demand Creation Strategy.    B2B companies are stuck running all go-to-market motions that revolve around low-intent outbound Sales. There is no demand creation strategy because of the flaws in Marketing Attribution combined with the operating models like the "Demand Waterfall" and the "Double Funnel" that optimize for MQLs / SQLs.   Everything is geared toward unsolicited outbound Sales. None of it involves educating buyers at scale to create demand so they come to you because they want to buy.    Solution: Adopt a hybrid attribution model that pairs quantitative and qualitative data to effectively measure what programs are *creating* demand to support investment & scale.   3. Suboptimal Buying Experience.    All buyers are forced through a singular “funnel” beginning at SDR Qualification that doesn’t take into account varying levels of buying intent leading to a suboptimal buying experience and lower Sales team performance.   Solution: Implement distinct buying experiences (see also: sales processes) that match the level of intent the buyer has. A qualified buyer that asks for a consultation on your website should get a dramatically different experience than someone you bribed for a meeting with a $100 gift card.   4. Not all Sales Qualified Opportunities (SQOs) are Created Equal.   Each pipeline source has very different performance profiles, but all existing GTM frameworks consolidate all SQOs into 1 “funnel” which makes it difficult to plan, forecast, drive accountability & optimize.    Solution: Adopt “Pipeline Sources” to effectively model the dynamics of the major sources of pipeline (e.g. Website High Intent, Enterprise Outbound / “ABM”, Partner, Low Intent Lead Gen, etc.). This makes it crystal clear how to plan, forecast, optimize, and drive accountability across the GTM teams.    ___   Sales & Marketing leaders know the current system is broken, but don’t have an alternative to change to. But that changes soon.   We’ll soon be publishing our GTM Operating Model that addresses all these clear flaws and gives revenue teams a better path to success. Stay tuned for more details ✌️ #gotomarket #b2b #saas #marketing

A few giveaways that an Agile™ team has lost its way: Not delivering every couple days or less and acting on the feedback they get. Not willing to change things like the Sprint plan when the situation calls for it. Focus on "commitment," "output," and "meeting deadlines" instead of outcomes. Not welcoming changes to the current work based on that feedback. Working in the same way today that they were working a few months ago is a huge red flag, as is waiting around because they're blocked. Not talking to customers frequently. Working from an inflexible backlog. Not able to decide who, what, and when they work. The list goes on 😄. Feel free to add to it!

Your Latino team members are not okay. They may not be saying much, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t carrying an emotional burden right now. To put it into perspective, 30 million Latino workers, represent about 18% of all employed Americans. Here are 10 ways you can support your Latin@ employees 1. Don’t Assume Silence Means Safety Encourage optional forums, small group listening sessions or facilitated discussions, where employees can share or simply be together without pressure to speak. Partner with trusted facilitators who are trauma-informed and culturally competent. 2. Center Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) as Leadership Partners Latinx, immigrant, and other affinity ERGs should be resourced and empowered, not just seen as extracurriculars. Invite ERG leaders into decision-making spaces and offer them additional support (budget, stipends, time) to care for their communities. 3. Normalize Flexibility Without Penalty Allow team members to work remotely, shift hours, or step back temporarily without guilt or career risk. Make sure managers are explicitly told to expect and support this, not just allow it grudgingly. 4. Provide Trauma-Informed Manager Training Give your people leaders tools to recognize signs of stress and dysregulation, and how to respond with empathy. A 30-minute training or resource guide on trauma-informed leadership can go a long way. 5. Signal Psychological Safety in Communications When sending organizational emails or giving team updates, include lines like: “We know some of you are navigating difficult realities right now. Please take what you need. Your wellbeing matters.” Simple language can shift the tone from performative to human-centered. 6. Audit Your Policies for Equity Under Stress Review attendance, productivity, and performance policies through an equity lens. Ask: Do our policies punish people for being human under pressure? Adjust where needed, especially for frontline or hourly workers. 7. Offer Community-Based Mental Health Support In addition to traditional EAPs, consider partnerships with community mental health orgs that specialize in supporting Latinx and immigrant communities. Representation matters when people are processing trauma. 8. Practice Public Allyship Don't just say "we support our employees". SHOW IT. Issue a statement, make a donation, attend a protest, lobby for humane policies, or allow civic time off. Your internal commitments should be reflected externally. 9. Protect Time for Connection Host drop-in wellness hours, journaling sessions, or even quiet rooms. Schedule “meeting-free” days. Create rituals of care that acknowledge the moment and invite restoration. 10. Show Up Yourself Vulnerability from leaders matters. You don’t have to have all the answers. But you do have to be willing to say, “I see you. I care. I’m learning how to do better.” Do the internal work and educate yourself. Need help with any of this? Let’s connect.

HR: Employees are leaving jobs. CFO: Do we have data on why they’re leaving? HR: Yes. 70% of our turnover is tied to unmet needs like growth, recognition, and flexibility. CEO: But how much does it actually cost us when they leave? HR: Each lost employee costs 1.5x their salary to replace, not to mention the productivity gap. CEO: We need to reduce spending. We can't spend on engagement programs. CFO: What’s the impact of these engagement programs on retention? HR: Programs focused on growth and recognition have reduced turnover by 25%, saving us $3M annually. CEO: Are there other benefits to meeting employee needs? HR: Absolutely. Employees who feel valued are 30% more productive and report higher satisfaction. CFO: What about profitability? CHRO: Engaged teams generate 21% higher profitability. It’s not just about keeping them. It’s about keeping them productive and motivated. CEO: So cutting back on programs that meet employee needs could cost us more? CFO: The data shows there’s a significant financial impact. HR: Meeting employee needs isn’t just an expense. It’s an investment in retention, productivity, and profit. The lesson? Employees quit when their needs go unmet, whether it’s for growth, recognition, or flexibility. Invest in your employees.

“Inclusion” without disability is still exclusion. (You don’t have to hate disabled people to be ableist) You just have to: - ignore disability in your policies & DEI strategy - treat ADA compliance as your only finish line - forget to budget for needed accommodations - hire for “culture fit” but avoid disabled talent Ableism doesn’t always sound like hate. In fact, ableism is usually just silence. Silence around underrepresentatuon Silence around reasonable accommodations Silence around stigma & bias toward disability That’s what this iceberg shows. Above the surface: good intentions. Below the surface: harmful inaction. As a person with a visible & invisible disability, I get frustrated for a few reasons but the main issue? Disability inclusion isn’t charity. There’s a clear business case for disability inclusion. Companies that lean into disability inclusion earn: 28% higher revenue 30% higher profit margins Still, 90% of companies claim to prioritize diversity but only 4% include disability in their DEI efforts. The human case is there. The business case is there. So what’s missing? Change. But what does real change look like? It’s not just a wheelchair icon or checking a box. It’s: - listening to disabled voices - auditing ableist hiring practices - measuring equity, not just optics - hiring/promoting disabled leaders - funding reasonable accommodations Ableism is the iceberg. Don’t let your culture sink with it. ♻️ Share so we can end ableism #DisabilityInclusion #EndAbleism #InclusiveLeadership #AccessibilityMatters #EquityInAction [image description: A graphic on a tan background that shows an iceberg in the middle. The title says the ableism iceberg and above the water is six statements: everyone is included, we don’t discriminate, disability imagery, ADA compliant, disability ERG, inclusion matters. Below the water it says what’s missing: no disabled bleeders, systemic in accessibility, ableist policies, ablest hiring process, invisible disability bias, neurodivergent erasure, no accommodations budget.]

12x things I would have done differently if I was transitioning now: 1 - started earlier Should have started 18 months out, but would have loved to had 2-3 years...allowing me to space things out Doesn't mean "I'm getting out & going to job fairs" for 2-3 years Means I'm getting my LinkedIn profile together, growing my network, having exploratory conversations about careers & working on education (if necessary) It took 200+ phone calls & cups of coffee to figure out what I wanted to do...it would have been MUCH less stressful spread out over a few years (instead of 10 months) 2 - take TAP as soon as possible It isn't an amazing course (unless you luck out & get one of the absolute angels that teach it + have experience) But it is designed to give you a FOUNDATION Almost like transition Cliffs Notes 3 - request a mentor from American Corporate Partners (ACP) (14 months) Gives you full year to work with them before you get out Hint: ask your mentor to introduce you to other people if things are going well 4 - work on ethics memo (12 months out) for senior leaders Visit local JAG or ethics office You'll need an ethics letter for many senior defense sector jobs, so better to know now (and maybe even start the cooling off period earlier...while still in) 5 - get free LinkedIn Premium (12 months out) Google "free LinkedIn Premium for veterans" and hit the first link 6 - conduct informational interviews (12 - 6 months out) You ideally start way earlier, but here is where you really narrow down the answer to the question: what do you want to do? I recommend at least 2x calls a week to learn more about what people do, ideally you are doing 3-5x a week 7 - Sign up for USO Transitions (12 months out) Get a USO Transition Specialist that will work with you one-on-one, and they also have some cool webinars 😎 8 - get life insurance quotes (12-6 months out) Do it BEFORE you document everything that has ever been wrong with you for your disability (or get a sleep study) VGLI is #expensive & designed to ensure everyone (even medically discharged) can get it This can save you hundreds a month (easy) 9 - get free cert from Onward to Opportunity (6 months out) Ideally you've done enough informational interviews to choose the best one for your next career (not the automatic PMP everyone says to get) O2O will give you (+ spouse) free training for 1x cert AND pay for the exam They will also give you a career workshop, coaching & help with your resume 10 - take extra TAP classes Visit your transition center & see what else they offer They hold events and have specialized training beyond the minimum required classes 11 - work on resume (4-6 months out) with mentors It doesn't make sense to write a resume until you figure out what you want to do 12 - start applying for jobs (2-3 months from day you can start) Ideally with referrals from your mentors, giving you 11x better odds of getting job) Questions? #quinnsights HireMilitary

13 mistakes that will hurt your career, And how to fix them fast: 1. Blind Loyalty ↳Staying in a job because it's easy or you're loyal, even if they might not be loyal in return ↳Fix: Regularly assess whether your company values you and your role challenges you; if not, explore other options 2. Self-Doubt ↳Imposter syndrome can keep you from opportunities you're qualified for ↳Fix: Keep a success journal, challenge self-doubt with evidence, and remember that growth requires learning 3. Invisible Effort ↳Working hard isn't enough - you need visibility and strategic relationships too ↳Fix: Speak up in meetings, document and update your manager on accomplishments, and build relationships 4. Outdated Skills ↳If you stop learning, you become less valuable in the job market over time ↳Fix: Take online courses, earn certifications, and follow industry trends to stay competitive 5. No Network ↳Career growth often depends as much or more on who you know than what you know ↳Fix: Set a goal to reach out to two new contacts per month and reconnect with former colleagues 6. Avoiding Feedback ↳Feedback can be scary, but without it, you won't know what's holding you back ↳Fix: Schedule regular check-ins with your manager and ask, "What's one thing I could improve?" 7. No Negotiation ↳If you never negotiate, you're leaving money, promotions, or opportunities on the table ↳Fix: Practice negotiation conversations, and learn to ask for what you want in a professional way 8. Risk Avoidance ↳Growth comes from challenges - staying safe can limit your potential ↳Fix: Take on stretch projects and volunteer for cross-function work with new people 9. Burned Bridges ↳How you leave a company matters - future opportunities can depend on your reputation ↳Fix: Maintain professionalism in all exits, no matter the circumstances, and apologize when necessary 10. Weak Branding ↳Your reputation online and offline shapes how people perceive your expertise ↳Fix: Build your personal brand, posting insights here on LinkedIn and contributing to industry discussions 11. Health Sacrifice ↳Burnout and poor health will set you back more than taking care of yourself ↳Fix: Prioritize sleep, exercise, and stress management, and remember that rest makes you MORE productive not less 12. Lack of Goals ↳Without direction, you risk wasting years in roles that don't serve you ↳Fix: Define short-term and long-term goals, then reverse-engineer a plan to achieve them 13. No Backup ↳Leaving on impulse can leave you financially and professionally vulnerable ↳Fix: Before quitting, secure another job, ensure financial stability, or have a well-thought-out strategy There will be enough obstacles in your way throughout your career - You should never be one of them. Use this sheet to avoid undermining yourself, And to thrive professionally. Any mistakes you'd add? --- ♻️ Repost to help others avoid these. And follow me George Stern for more content like this. 

After deploying over 200+ AI POCs across my entire career and across a variety of industries, I learned a hard way truth! The biggest threat to AI success has nothing to do with technology — and everything to do with the people. Years ago, we built the perfect AI system. Cutting-edge models (for that time). Impeccable accuracy. Seamless deployment. And then… only 7% of the anticipated user base used it. It sat there — untouched — while the business teams quietly returned to their old, familiar excel and “phone a friend” processes. The system worked. But the people didn’t trust it, didn’t understand it, and didn’t see how it fit into their day-to-day reality. This is how so many organizations get stuck in “Perpetual POC Purgatory” (copyright 2025 Sol Rashidi) — where brilliant proofs of concept never make it into real, scalable use. The Real Lesson: Scale Comes from Adoption, Not Pushing a model into Production After overseeing hundreds of AI initiatives, I developed the 3E Framework — a practical approach to break out of POC purgatory and build AI solutions that people actually use. This framework is copyrighted: © 2025 Sol Rashidi. All rights reserved. 𝟭. 𝗘𝗻𝗴𝗮𝗴𝗲: Don't just announce AI—make stakeholders co-creators from day one. When marketing, operations, and finance help select use cases and metrics, they become invested gardeners rather than skeptical observers. 𝟮. 𝗘𝗱𝘂𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗲: Theory creates anxiety; hands-on experience builds confidence. This isn't about extensive technical training—it's about demystifying AI through guided exposure over months, not days. When done right, deployment day brings curiosity instead of resistance. 𝟯. 𝗘𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗱: The most successful implementations feel like natural extensions of how people already work. For example, integrate that new AI customer segmentation tool directly into the exact dashboards your teams already use daily. Scaling isn't about more sophisticated algorithms—it's about human adoption at every level. Think of AI systems like exotic trees in your organizational garden—you can select perfect specimens and use cutting-edge cultivation techniques, but if your local gardeners don't know how to nurture them, those trees will never flourish. The next time you face resistance to AI scaling, remember: technical hurdles are often the easiest to overcome. The real transformation happens when you nurture the human ecosystem around your AI. That is how you scale AI across the workforce.