Joining a Startup for the First Time? 30 Actionable Tips From Folks Who've Been There

 that working at a startup is like building a plane while flying it. But 

, adds another layer that brings the metaphor to life more vividly: “

Working at a startup is like building the jet engine while you're flying the plane. And likely there's also a fire on the plane

And while there are all sorts of success stories to serve as inspiration on the bumpy path (

especially given the slew of IPOs recently

 points out that even headline-grabbing companies faced a road full of potholes. “Nowadays, people often equate startups with bell-ringing success, but seeing so many private companies go public at such high valuations is really a new phenomenon. It’s also not the typical experience, and certainly not what you should join a startup expecting,” she says. “Even in the best of times, startups are hard. They’re designed specifically for growth — and this comes with a set of unique challenges, risks and demands that you need to be ready for. Being motivated by the mission, customer delight and driving impact — those things will keep you going. Being motivated by structure and following traditional career growth paths will not keep you in the game.”  

Quint's counsel is aimed at an important, yet often overlooked audience. Startup advice is often geared towards founders and leaders shaping new companies and functions from scratch. There's so much attention paid to the building blocks of getting a company off the ground — 

But what about the folks signing on to join those fledgling companies, buying into the founder's vision and boarding that still-in-progress plane as a crew member? There are fewer playbooks for those just getting into the game, whether they're shifting 

from a big co environment to a small startup setting

. And when advice is imparted, it tends to be on the generic side — shared over and over again in those vaguely inspirational Twitter posts (think "Don't worry about titles"). 

Here on the Review, we've shared advice on how founders can fine-tune their 

 process to set these new hires up for success. We've also previously written about the implications of joining an early-stage company — outlining hurdles such as the 

. But we've never put together a comprehensive manual for joining a startup for the very first time. 

Whether you're making the leap from big to small or just starting off in your career, it's a huge change to navigate. As startup hiring ramps up and operators consider new opportunities, we spotted a chance to return to the starting line and pay close attention to those formative months in a new startup employee’s tenure. 

To that end, we’ve spent the past few weeks reaching out to some of the sharpest startup leaders and operators we know for their take on this important question: 

What’s your favorite unexpected tip for someone who’s joining a startup for the first time? 

What we got in return was a fountain of advice that breaks the mold. What follows is an exclusive list of 30 can’t-miss frameworks and tactics that dives beyond the surface. These folks reflect on what they wish they had known in their early startup days and hail from First Round backed-startups like Labelbox, UserLeap, and Upstart as well as other top tech companies that are taking on the hard work of scaling like Plaid, Netflix, and Shopify.  Whether you’re joining a startup for the first time, or you’re struggling in the “

,” there are plenty of tips to pull from to give yourself a boost and clear the hurdles that stand in your way. 

Broken down by topic, they tackle everything step-by-step from how to approach your first 90 days and prioritizing a mile-long to-do list, to developing an owner’s mentality, and growing your career — with a particular focus on more tactical day-to-day actions you can lean on. Use the outline on the left to navigate the mega-list by each section (you’ll notice that we took the plane metaphor to new heights — apologies for all the flight-related puns coming your way.) 

We hope it provides a detailed playbook for keeping your wits about you and a clear head when you climb aboard as an early employee. Let’s dive in. 

You stuck through the interview process, did a happy dance when the offer came through and marked your calendar for your new job's start date. But for new employees used to architected onboarding processes at previous companies, 

startups may leave something to be desired

 on your Day One. Use these tips to direct your own onboarding to fill in any gaps.  

First, leave your preconceived ideas of how things ought to be at the door. “Notion’s 

 says it best: ‘You have to have a ‘mind like water,’ which is a beautiful metaphor for communicating just how valuable adaptability and agility is in a startup environment,” says 

. “If you come in with fixed ideas about what the business is, how the company should execute against its goals, and your place in all of that, you’ll waste precious time being stuck in old ways of thinking and constantly needing to play catch up — which is bad for you and the business.”

“It doesn't matter what job you have — at a startup, every member of the team should develop deep empathy and understanding of the customer,” says seasoned tech exec and board member 

 for her tales from the frontlines of the startup C-Suite). “Jump on a customer call, shadow a support team member, read customer reviews and NPS feedback, or join customer interviews. 

The closer you are to your customer, the more motivated you'll be, especially when you make a difference in their life. 

That customer love also makes the messiness and ups-and-downs (and there will be plenty of messes and loads of ups-and-downs!) worthwhile.”

As you fill up your customer empathy reserves, start piecing together the bigger picture. “As consumers, we tend to focus on how the product or service impacts our lives. But as an employee, you need to understand how your company actually makes money (which is often not nearly as transparent as it would seem). 

You want to be able to say ‘We make money every time our customer Xs and it costs us money when they Y,’" 

, author and former Chief Behavioral Scientist for 

 on keeping a clear head when things go awry). 

4. Find the unsexy projects to drive impact fast.

“It's a delicate balance between showing right away that you can make a difference, and also being a sponge and soaking up as much information as possible and that you're hungry to learn from everyone. When you're juggling this tradeoff in your head, I'd err on the side of showing in the first week or two that you can make a tangible impact because startups thrive on speed,” says 

, Director of Content and Partnerships for 

“If you work with your manager on strong goals, this 

 — but startups also usually don't have a lot of structure yet. Actively seek out a few pockets where you can make an impact. Hint: it's usually found in the places of the business that are not fun or sexy. Examples could be spending some extra time to QA a feature, writing multiple versions of marketing copy to see what looks best, or creating a sensitivity analysis or quick spreadsheet model for a business decision.”

5. Align your personal values to the company mission.

To lay the groundwork for long-term success, look for where your values overlap with the company’s — you’ll need to return to those values when best-laid plans get thrown off course.  “Companies often 

 on the website and interview for folks that align to them — but those values don’t show up in any legal agreement you sign when you agree to join a startup. And yet, they are arguably more important than what’s in that legal document,” says Plaid’s McKenna Quint. “Make sure you see your personal values reflected in the values of the company. Plaid has a principle ‘embrace openness and positivity’ and that principle is a direct quote from our founder and CEO and reflects what he wants our company to look like. That really resonates with me and reflects the kind of company culture I want to build.” (To learn more about Plaid’s culture and values, 

CHART YOUR COURSE TO TACKLE THE RIGHT PROBLEMS.

No startup is without its fair share of problems to solve on the path to scale, whether it’s narrowing in on your ideal customer profile, 

, or putting out mission-critical fires. Armed with what’s likely a shoestring budget and limited resources, you’ve got to choose carefully what to tackle at any given time. 

6. Relentlessly prioritize to avoid the wrong high-quality work

“Communicate clearly and regularly, especially these two items: 1) What you understand to be the current highest priority project and focus area, and 2) What you are currently working on,” says 

. “Good communication habits linking the strategy and problems of the day to individual contributor work will make you more confident and efficient today, and pay massive dividends as your team and company scale.”

One of the biggest wastes at a startup is valuable people delivering the wrong work at high quality.

) keeps tabs in specific increments. “Focus on the goals for the next 6-12 months. Those are high-level enough to stop you from getting too worried about day-to-day turbulence, and soon enough that you don't get carried away with ‘what could be.’

 If no one can tell you the 6-12 month goals and where to find progress against them, ask relentlessly.

7. Pre-product/market fit? Focus on reducing risk.

 is still a Review audience favorite — it’s at the heart of product success (or failure). “In the early days, the story crafted about the startup is more important than tactical execution. If you join a team that doesn't have product/market fit, the question you should ask daily is: How are you helping the team find it?” says 

echoes this idea that product/market fit reigns supreme in the earliest stages of startup-building. “Align yourself with the risks of the company. If you’re an engineer but the company is not acquiring customers fast enough, spend your time in marketing. Have range, and don’t try to be too narrow in your focus in the early days. Gain knowledge in a few different areas of the business so you can reduce the overall risks of the company.”

It’s a feat worth the sweat and tears, according to CEO and founder of 

: “The best role in startup land is being one of the very first hires for an experienced founding team for a product you deeply believe in that is pre-product/market fit. Having a front-row seat to see how an experienced founding team zigs and zags their way to the other side is something you have to see first hand.”

8. Solve the present (not future) problems. 

A healthy dose of optimism is critical when you climb aboard a startup, but 

 has also seen it go sideways. “What I wish I'd learned earlier is to choose projects more carefully. There are often a ton of good ideas and people can be overly optimistic about what can be pulled off. Better to tighten what you say yes to and then commit to it 100%, execute well, learn from it, and move to the next thing,” he says.

 has seen many folks get bogged down in the what-ifs, rather than anchoring to what’s true right now. “You have to enjoy the problems of the moment — really tune your approach to accomplishing what needs to get done now to survive. 

It is so easy to try to do too much at once or get ahead of yourself attempting to solve future problems that you can underperform in the present

Prioritizing is critical at any startup — from the founders to the most junior folks. Shippo co-founder and CEO Laura Behrens Wu leans on this formula to get it right. “80% of work should be focused on the no-brainers and projects that will lead to immediate growth in the core segment and 20% of work on future projects and crazy ideas that could be future growth levers,” she says. “Despite all of the things going on, it's an important skill to not over-complexify things. You should be able to dumb it down to one or two things that really matter because they fuel a flywheel.”

, agrees that when it comes to startups, simplicity is almost always best. “Strip everything down to its basics (or MVP), especially for super early-stage companies. Constantly ask how you can simplify and speed up. If it will take you three weeks to roll out a new program, feature, or newsletter, how can you simplify? What's a hackier solution to test it out?” she says.  (For more on getting closer to your customers with 

Minimum Lovable Products, check out this Review fan-favorite article

What can be squeaked out as an MVP at 60%? What actually needs to be done closer to 90%? Get super comfortable with things not being perfect, while continuing to hold high standards for yourself and the team.

LEAN ON YOUR CO-PILOTS AS YOU PICK UP ALTITUDE. 

Within your small-but-mighty startup team, at some points, you’ll feel like the Blue Angels — individual jets flying in unison. Other times like you’re skydiving alone with a malfunctioning parachute. Don’t put these critical relationships with teammates on the backburner — invest in building rapport from the start.  

10. Be ready to learn and teach in equal measure. 

“Consider a startup like going back to school — you're going to be surrounded by other brilliant minds and you're all in a state of learning. Be ready and willing to learn from your colleagues, but also be ready to be the teacher to those same colleagues. Everyone in a startup brings with them their own valuable experience, and it's up to you collectively to make it a success,” says 

11. An underrated question to ask in your initial 1:1s.

“Invest heavily in establishing relationships, establishing your credibility, and learning to navigate the organization. Spend the first few weeks mostly in 1:1s asking questions, listening attentively and taking good notes,” says 

, agrees that you’ve got to carve out this time early before your to-do list grows even longer. “Grab a coffee (or a quick Zoom meeting) with as many of your colleagues on different teams as you can in the first 90 days. These interactions will go a long way in showing how much you value them, the company culture, and your success at the startup,” he says.

Ask your team members, “What’s the one thing you wish more people would ask you?"

12. Everyone shares Chief Culture Officer duties. 

Whether you join sales, marketing, engineering — each piece of the org chart weaves together to form the startup’s cultural fabric. “Not everyone that joins a startup is aware that you are not only responsible for building the business together, but you are 

 at the same time. You only want crew members who are aligned to the success of the business — no passengers allowed,” says 

13. Don't bemoan the growing pains — embrace the bigger pie. 

“Don't expect your job or company to stay the same for too long. If the company is growing then things will change — people, systems, process and even product,” says 

, VP of Partner Strategy and Operations at 

Change is hard for all of us — especially when it’s happening in rapid succession. Shippo CEO Laura Behrens Wu reminds us that growing pains are often a good thing. “When a startup grows fast your role might change and initially it may feel like it’s changing for the worse because people are getting hired above you and your scope shrinks. However, that's normal 

. Startups often start with generalists and then bring in specialists. That is a great opportunity to be learning from the best,” she says.

It's much more exciting to have a smaller scope of a high-growth pie that keeps growing to be a bigger pie than to own the entire pie but have it stay small.

14. Pause and give thanks when the going gets tough.

Plaid’s Head of People McKenna Quint spends her days thinking about the people engine powering high-growth startups, so leave it to her to make this all sound so poetic: “Along the way, pause and appreciate your people. I can’t begin to describe the wondrous feeling of being around folks who are unrelentingly optimistic and have endless wells of energy to throw at complex problems. You know that feeling when, at the deepest part of your gut, you are smiling?” she says. “While you’re 

experiencing the ups and downs of a startup

, being around people whose vision for the world and whose values align with yours is a soulful experience. You are building an incredible community at the same time you’re building a product. Don’t get too busy that you forget to stop and relish in the relationships you’ve formed along the way.”

 shared an email he sent to his company, 

comparing the lessons he learned from becoming a pilot to working at a startup

. One particular teaching from his flight instructor still sticks with us: “

Takeoffs are optional, but landings are mandatory.

 Delaying or canceling a flight is annoying at best, and often painful, with real negative repercussions for your goals. But it’s always, without exception, better to delay a takeoff than to fail a landing.” Keep that takeaway in mind when trying to keep up with a startup’s breakneck pace. 

15. Embrace the art of slowing things down.

difference between large and small companies

. “At larger companies, one of the most difficult parts of your job is to move projects forward through a series of approvals. 

At startups, one of the most difficult parts of your job will be to help slow things down enough to ensure you're being thoughtful about projects flying out the door.

 Don't be penny-wise pound-foolish. By all means, save runway where you can — but don't pass on software that costs $100/month to instead spend the equivalent of $1000/month on inefficient processes,” he says.

Remember — you likely can’t copy/paste from a larger company’s playbook. “Don't over-engineer and don't try to mirror a process that worked for you at a later-stage company. Whether it's systems or processes, not everything you build today will scale 10x, and that's okay because you'll be continually reinventing as the company grows. Better to learn and then pivot and adjust quickly,” says 

“When there’s ambiguity, think through the issue first and sketch out a plan — even if it’s just a rough idea. Give the decision-maker an idea to respond to rather than always asking them to come up with the solution. It is both a way to learn more and challenge yourself, but also can actually help you get a response much faster from the decision-maker,” says 

Upstart’s Cindy Smith concurs: “Take it upon yourself to own solutions to problems. It’s one thing to identify issues, there will be lots of them in startups, but what the company needs are owners and people to fix them!”

suggests you look beyond your particular startup’s guardrails. “Folks that join startups need to become learning machines, taking elements from both internal and external forces to create and improve processes. We have to learn from external forces and use patterns that have worked for previous startups – and most importantly, try to keep things simple,” he says. 

As an employee at a young and small company, you’re more than a 9-5 cog maintaining structure day-to-day, you’re building the functions that this company will use throughout its life. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience, so make the most of it.

“Don't aim for perfection before getting feedback. Do your research and have a point of view, but don't feel like it has to be perfect before you start to socialize the idea and get feedback. You'll waste a lot of time in your head and potentially fall behind if you try to get something perfect before gathering input from others,” says 

) reminds us, that doesn’t mean going in whichever direction the wind blows. 

Anchor on the vision, but hold assumptions and plans more lightly than you think you should.

18. Avoid the headaches that come from "I'll fix this later." 

“Set yourself up to scale. I've fallen into the trap of hacking something together thinking, ‘If this works I'll just fix the setup later,’ and then spending months importing a CSV into a Google spreadsheet, manually reformatting it line-by-line, redownloading it as a CSV, etc. Once you know you're going to invest in something, spend a little extra time upfront to put the right tools, processes, and documentation in place. You'll save yourself a lot of headaches down the line,” says 

 are must-reads for startup managers and operators alike.)

To combat this “I’ll fix this later” mindset, 

, relies on a simple rule: “Build processes and systems for anything that you end up doing twice.”

Even if there are processes in place if you spot an opportunity to make critical tweaks, by all means, speak up. “Most policies, procedures or methods are not as fixed as you think. That process you don't like? Someone probably threw it together in 15 minutes and then moved on to the next urgent thing. If you don't like it, offer a way to improve it,” says 

“Always seek and bring data to the table. If you’re at a company that’s not data-driven, push the culture to look at data and make data-based decisions. Understand what good, better and best is based on data benchmarks for your industry, business model and company stage. Seek peers and mentors for more reference points and case studies to bring back to the CEO and leadership,” says 

And if you find there are no benchmarks to grasp a hold of, keep your head up and remember you’re not alone, says 

. “Embrace the unknown. As part of a startup, you are in the trenches with everyone else when trying to figure out what that next right step is. And the definition of ‘right’ will change over time. Priorities will change, pivots may happen, projects may be abandoned, your feature might succeed or outright fail. Learn from the mistakes, celebrate the wins and remind yourself that you're in it for the experience,” he says.

If you’re joining a startup for the first time from a background at larger companies, it can be an adjustment working so closely with the top brass within a flatter org structure, where even the most junior folks are expected to act like an owner. As imposter syndrome creeps in, keep these tips in mind.  

20. Remember to pick your head up and look cross-functionally.

“Even if you lead a particular function, it's still so important to understand what every other function is doing and how you can help. If you don't lead a function, there will be many times you feel like you do. Speak up — things can always be improved, and your team should want to hear your ideas,” says Pequity co-founder Warren Levobics. He adds an important caveat: “But be mindful of bringing up ideas at the right time. If your team is putting out an all-hands-on-deck fire, it's probably not the right time.” 

, echoes that the traditional guardrails between functions don’t exist when you climb aboard a startup. “Be comfortable with being uncomfortable. You may come across some uncharted territory and unfamiliar tasks — embrace that discomfort and see it as a learning opportunity. 

Having a ‘that's not my job’ mentality will not work.

 Be a team player and be willing to hop in on new things — again, that's where the learning happens!”

This applies even to more specialized roles, as 

learned. “My mentor shared feedback with me that I should try to look at how my work fits into the larger organization. In a role like mine, we can tend to be very detail-oriented and focus on a myopic view. It’s important to back up and learn how my work aligns with the organizational goals,” she says.

21. If you don't know who's in charge, it's you.

“Think like an owner. See the company as both a community and an asset, as your cause to fight for and your responsibility to protect — you will win the trust and respect of your colleagues. View working at a young company as an opportunity to create value across several different verticals. Be hungry to learn everything you can, and be brutally honest with yourself and your team about what skills you have, what skills you don't have, and what skills you're eager to learn,” says 

, Director of Customer Success and Community at 

similarly advises a wide scope: “Being able to both see the gap and address the gap is the hallmark sign of an early-stager.”

30 Tips for New Startup Employees

Top startup leaders and operators share their best tips for new startup employees, including hitting the ground running, how to prioritize what to work on, and growing your career. 

We asked top startup leaders what they wish they knew before joining a startup and their best tips for new startup employees. 

Following “Radical Candor,” Kim Scott is Back with Another Incredible Framework for “Just Work”

“If you write a book about feedback, you’re going to get 

For Review readers, this name likely sounds familiar — when it comes to company culture and advice for being a better manager, Scott is something of a legend. Several years ago now she 

stepped onto the First Round CEO Summit stage

 to give a talk about her signature concept of Radical Candor — and she didn't expect both the video of her keynote and the 

 It racked up millions of views and quickly shot to the top of our all-time most popular pieces list. This deceptively simple yet incredibly powerful framework is still oft-cited in leadership circles and has become shorthand for 

In 2017, she followed up the Review piece with a New York Times bestselling book, “

Radical Candor: Be a Kick-Ass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity

.” Afterward, she started a successful business, also named 

. The duo teamed up to offer coaching and interactive workshops chock-full of practical frameworks for embedding Radical Candor within all sorts of companies — from young upstarts to massive enterprises. 

It was at one such workshop that Scott got her own dose of Radical Candor. “Shortly after I had launched ‘Radical Candor’ I was giving a workshop at a tech company in S.F. The CEO was an old colleague of mine, and one of too few Black women in tech leadership. Afterward, she pulled me aside and said, ‘I really like Radical Candor and this idea of care personally, challenge directly. But I gotta tell you, Kim, it’s much harder for me to put Radical Candor into practice than it is for you, and it’s 

probably harder for you to put it into practice than it is for the men you work with

. As soon as I give someone the most compassionate and gentle criticism, I get the ‘angry Black woman’ stereotype.’” 

As Scott puts it, she had several different realizations at the same time. “The first was that I had not been the kind of colleague and the kind of upstander that I wanted to be for her because I had never noticed that burden for her. It had never occurred to me the toll that must take,” says Scott. “Second, it made me realize that not only had I been in denial about the things that were happening to her, but I was also in denial about the things that were happening to me. Denial is a hard thing for the author of Radical Candor to admit to. Third, it made me realize the number of times that I had failed as a leader and as the CEO and founder of my own companies. I had failed to create the kind of work environment that was maximally productive and also fair — 

It was a lightbulb moment — she could be on the receiving end of workplace injustice 

, a bystander to other victims, and even a leader failing to right the ship when it was thrown off course. “I never wanted to see myself as a victim, but even less did I want to see myself as a perpetrator,” says Scott. The process of grappling with these realizations sent her on a path to write her latest book, “

Before “Just Work” hit the shelves, we got a sneak peek at its contents when Scott stopped by our (virtual) roundtable for a frank discussion. She was joined by 

, which aims to help companies put the principles of the book into practice, just as Radical Candor the company did for the frameworks in the book “Radical Candor.” Bryant’s got a stacked resume of her own, holding leadership roles at Goldman Sachs, Twitter, Astra, founding her own DEI consulting firm, and serving in the United States Air Force as a Captain.

When it comes to DEI in the workplace, people often say, “This is a marathon, not a sprint.” But a marathon has a destination, then it’s over. This work is not that — this is work we need to be committed to for a lifetime. 

hot off the press, we share five lessons from its impactful pages and weave in additional insights from Scott and Bryant in our exclusive interview with the duo. While many column inches have been devoted to tackling the DEI challenges that plague every workplace, Scott’s superpower is giving us simple tactics and straightforward frameworks to put big, amorphous ideas like “inclusion” and “feedback” into practice. She also is willing to tell plenty of stories about times when she’s gotten it wrong. What follows is an essential guide that leaders and their employees need to create a more just workplace and transform careers for the better. Let’s dive in.

“One of my favorite leaders in Silicon Valley, 

, once stood up in front of his team, which was hundreds of people, and said, ‘If you are underrepresented and you’ve experienced bias or prejudice or bullying, just in the last week, I want you to raise your hand.’ It seemed like almost all the underrepresented folks in the room raised their hand,” says Scott. “Next he said, ‘If you’re not underrepresented and you’ve expressed bias or prejudice or bullying in the last week, raise your hand.’ Of course, nobody raised their hand. The issue is, 

we can’t fix problems that we refuse to notice

Despite the fact that DEI in the workplace has become an often-discussed topic, these conversations too rarely result in true impact. Why? In her long career working for companies like Google, Apple, and Dropbox, Scott says it often boils down to denial. “

No leader I’ve ever talked to has said, ‘I want to create the kind of environment where I can coerce everyone.’ I’ve also never met a single leader who says, ‘I want to 

create an organization that demands conformity

.’ We know that’s not going to create good results or produce innovation. And yet too often, that’s exactly what happens,” says Scott. There’s a reticence to examine our own roles. “How many times had I hired an entire team of all white men? More times than I’d care to admit,” she says. 

The problem is not a lack of good intentions. The problem is that we often don’t want to notice the problem because it’s not clear to us what we are supposed to do to fix it. Once we clarify what our role and responsibility are, fixing the problem becomes more straightforward.

All of us want the kind of work environment where we can do the best work of our lives, and yet something gets in the way. 

Here’s how Scott further explains these roles and responsibilities in “Just Work,” which we’ve summarized below.

In any instance of injustice you encounter at work, you will play at least one of four different roles: person harmed, upstander, person who caused harm, or leader. Each of these roles has its own responsibilities. As you consider these roles, recognize that they are not fixed identities. Instead, they are temporary parts you play. You may at different moments play all the roles. And sometimes, confusingly, you may even find yourself in two or more roles at once

•Person harmed — choose your response:

 If you’re on the receiving end of workplace injustice, your responsibility is first and foremost to yourself. This means remembering that you get to choose your response, even when your choices are hard or limited. Recognizing those choices, evaluating their costs and benefits, and choosing one of them can help to restore your sense of agency. 

: The word “observer” suggests passivity. If you witness injustice and want to help fight it, you need to be an upstander who proactively finds a way to support people harmed, not a passive bystander who simply watches harm being done, perhaps feeling bad about it but not doing anything about it.

•Person who caused harm — listen and address: 

It doesn’t feel good when someone tells you you’ve harmed them, particularly when that wasn’t your intention. But as with critical feedback of any kind, consider it a gift. Feedback can help you learn to be more considerate, avoid harming other people, and (at minimum) correct your behavior before it escalates and causes greater harm and/or gets you into serious trouble. Listen to what you’re being told and address it.

Creating a just working environment is about eliminating bad behavior and reinforcing collaborative, respectful behavior. That means teaching people not to allow bias to cloud judgment, not to allow people to impose their prejudices on others; it means creating consequences for bullying and preventing discrimination, harassment, and physical violations from occurring on your team. Workplace injustice is not inevitable. 

For more on tackling bias, prejudice and bullying in the workplace, watch Scott and Bryant’s talk here and read on for more of our takeaways.

LESSON #2: WE NEED A FRAMEWORK TO GO DEEPER THAN UNCONSCIOUS BIAS. 

Unconscious bias has become a buzzword — almost certain to come up in any surface-level discussion about DEI in the workplace — and plenty of well-meaning companies rolled out training. But Scott and Bryant have seen far too many companies consider unconscious bias training the finish line, 

“Bias awareness training can be helpful in rooting out unconscious bias when it’s done well by people who understand the issues deeply. But in practice, it often feels like a sort of ‘check the box, cover your a**, protect the company from legal liability, but don’t actually try to address the underlying problem’ exercise,” says Scott. 

Simply requiring everyone to go to unconscious bias training, even a great one, won’t be enough. No training can possibly change deeply ingrained patterns of thought. Disrupting the bias is key.

Scott believes we’re also missing out on critical conversations by slapping everything with the “bias” label, rather than face some harsh truths. 

Discrimination in the workplace can stem from bias that creeps up, but it can also be prejudice, or even escalate to bullying

. “This was my aha moment when I was reading the book, and what made me really excited to join Kim to build this company. Far too often we try to lump all three of these together as if they’re the same, but they’re really not,” says Just Work co-founder and CEO Trier Bryant. 

There’s a clear throughline between “Just Work” and Scott’s previous work with Radical Candor, which gave us a vocabulary to discuss the spectrum of feedback with terms like Obnoxious Aggression and Ruinous Empathy. “‘Just Work’ became a tool to name my different experiences. More importantly, it outlined actionable tactics on what I could do as an individual and a leader,” says Bryant. “

. So step one is how do you name these workplace injustices and the root causes so we can identify the solutions?”

Returning to the pages of “Just Work,” here’s how Scott further sketches out the root causes of workplace injustice.

 Bias, often called unconscious bias, comes from the part of our mind that jumps to conclusions, usually without our even being aware of it. These conclusions and assumptions aren’t always wrong, but they often are, especially when they reflect stereotypes. We do not have to be the helpless victims of our brains. We can learn to slow down and question our biases.

Unfortunately, when we stop to think, we don’t always come up with the best answer, either. Sometimes we rationalize our biases and they harden into prejudices. In other words, we justify our biases rather than challenging their flawed assumptions and stereotypes.

 The intentional, repeated use of in-group status or power to harm or humiliate others. Sometimes bullying comes with prejudice, but often it’s a more instinctive behavior. There may be no thought or ideology at all behind it. It can be a plan or just an animal instinct to dominate, to coerce.

LESSON #3: HOLD UP A MIRROR TO BIAS WITH “I” STATEMENTS AND BIAS INTERRUPTERS. 

Building more diverse and inclusive teams is (rightfully) top of mind for plenty of companies — particularly in tech. But 

hiring a bunch of talented folks from other backgrounds

 is just the first step. “As you start having more diverse teams, your proximity to working with people that have different identities and different intersections than you is going to increase the amount of bias that can creep up in those situations,” says Bryant. 

Tips for individuals: The “I” statement.

To confront bias in the moment (we’ll get into other types of workplace injustice later on), “Just Work” recommends leaning on “I” statements for productive conversations. Here’s why, via an excerpt from the book: 

If it's bias you’re confronting, whether you are the person harmed or the upstander, your goal is to invite the person in to understand your perspective. Easier said than done. Quick rule of thumb: even if you don’t know what to say, start with the word “I.” Starting with the word “I” invites the person to consider things from your point of view — why what they said or did seemed biased to you.

The easiest “I” statement is the simple factual correction. An “I” statement can also let a colleague know you have been harmed without being antagonistic or judgmental. For example, “I don’t think you meant to imply what I heard; I’d like to tell you how it sounded to me...” An “I” statement can be clear about the harm done while also inviting your colleague to perceive things the way you do or to realize that an incorrect assumption was made.

Below are more examples of the sorts of “I” statements you can use when confronting common experiences of bias. Note that these are not meant to be used verbatim, like scripts. They will be more effective if delivered in language that seems like it’s you talking, not me.

You, a woman, are negotiating a deal with Wilson, and you have brought along your summer intern, Jack, to take notes. But Wilson directs his comments to Jack.

You’re assuming Jack is the boss because he has a dick. Typical.

Wilson, I am the person you are negotiating with. This is Jack, my summer intern.

You get asked to take the notes in every meeting.

 Because I’m a woman, you assholes always ask me to take notes.

I can’t contribute substantively to the conversation if I always have to take notes. Can someone else take notes this week?

Ignoring one person’s idea, then celebrating the exact same idea from a different person moments later. 

Every time you offer a recommendation you get ignored, but when a man says the same thing five minutes later, it’s a “great idea.”

Why are you hailing him as a genius when he is simply repeating what I just said two minutes ago?

Yes, I STILL think that’s a great idea. (N.B.: You don’t have to do this for yourself; you can ask upstanders on your team to notice when an underrepresented person makes a key point but someone from the majority later repeats it and gets credit for it; ask the upstanders not only to notice but to chime in and say, “Great idea, it sounds a lot like what X said a few minutes ago.”)

Conflating people of the same race or gender when they are the minority in a group. 

You are one of two people of your ethnicity and/or gender on your team of thirty people. Multiple people keep confusing the two of you.

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