Ed Hankin

Problem Solver, Fun Haver, Independent Thinker

[Ed Hankin @EEHankin]

What I saw during the last time out #FlyEaglesFly #FireKevinPatullo #Fundamentals

[Emmanuel Acho @EmmanuelAcho]

Game on the line, 4th & 11, and this is what Kevin Patullo and Nick Sirianni come up with?

Sickening. #FlyEaglesFly | @speakeasytlkshw

[Ed Hankin @EEHankin]

@mitchellbyars Can confirm, the deli was there in 2000. It had a unique aroma but good cheesesteaks made with Sriracha (a revelation as a freshman native of Philadelphia).

[Barstool Colorado @CUBarstool]

🚨 BOULDER NEEDS YOUR VOTE 🚨

Best College Town Round of 32 is officially LIVE!

Play the Venmo Dash game here https://t.co/fluZ9rWMDs to earn Boulder 10 votes

⏰ Voting closes Thursday at 11:59 PM EST

presented by @Venmo

[Ed Hankin @EEHankin]

Most successful location of failed chain takes over failed location of successful chain!

[Mitchell Byars @mitchellbyars]

BREAKING: The Dark Horse will reopen in Louisville after closing its #Boulder location last month. And yes, the bathroom doors are going to the new location https://t.co/0eIxUkmO2q

[The Kobeissi Letter @KobeissiLetter]

BREAKING: President Trump says the conflict with Iran could last four weeks, per Daily Mail.

[Amy Tam @amytam01]

https://t.co/b9f99xbcMx

[The Kobeissi Letter @KobeissiLetter]

BREAKING: The US Government has officially partially shut down.

[Ed Hankin @EEHankin]

@RBPhillyTake

[Ed Hankin @EEHankin]

https://t.co/HTB8y65cz3

[Victor Williams @ThePhillyPod]

Jalen couldn’t believe what he was hearing on the last play call.

[Ed Hankin @EEHankin]

What I saw during the last time out #FlyEaglesFly #FireKevinPatullo #Fundamentals

[Emmanuel Acho @EmmanuelAcho]

Game on the line, 4th & 11, and this is what Kevin Patullo and Nick Sirianni come up with?

Sickening. #FlyEaglesFly | @speakeasytlkshw

[Ed Hankin @EEHankin]

@EliotShorrParks @grok summarize this as sassy as possible #sassyEliot

[Ed Hankin @EEHankin]

@EliotShorrParks It’s like the group project and Vic did all the work.

[Ed Hankin @EEHankin]

@EliotShorrParks C- is a sassy take.

[Ed Hankin @EEHankin]

@EmmanuelAcho @EmmanuelAcho grab the clip of the meeting of the minds during that list timeout! #FireKevinPatullo

[George from 🕹prodmgmt.world @nurijanian]

Stop doing these 'best practices' as a Product Manager:

- Backlog grooming
- Writing JIRA tickets
- Leading stand-ups
- Playing scrum master

A thread on what to do instead 🧵

[Taylor Sadusky @taylorjsadusky]

Josh Allen at his jersey retirement at Wyoming -

“It will always suck to be a CSU Ram”

Buff Fans love to hear it

[Barstool Philly @BarstoolPhilly]

Go Birds.

[Dave Kline @dklineii]

Terrible leadership advice:

"Hire great people and get out of their way."

It’s doesn’t pass the Pro Sports Test.

If this was a winning strategy, player-coaches would still be a thing. Some club would have saved millions on all those extra coaches and poured it into slightly better talent.

But teams needs to be led. Even all star alpha dog athletes like Messi and Ronaldo have a coach.

In fact, they have many.

They need to be pushed, challenged to stretch beyond what’s comfortable.

They need someone watching with a discerning eye and helping them see their blind spots.

They need someone who’ll make things go around them so they can focus on what they’re best at.

They need to be recruited into a system that uniquely leverages their strengths and coordinates the strengths of others around them into a winning competitive advantage.

So no, you can’t just “get out of their way.”

And now managers are under attack.

Especially in big tech.

But managers aren’t getting cut because they don’t play a vital role. They’re getting cut out because they forgot why their role exists.

They got distracted - many times by enforcing the misguided policies created by the same company now firing them (but that's a different post) - and they stopped doing the hard work of elevating the performance of their team.

That's the job:
Make everyone better.

They’re getting cut because they stopped leading.

The leaders I work with, I want them to stay in the way. They do it intentionally. Here's how:

1. Set (and Hold) High Standards

Great people don't want easy.
They want to be pushed toward excellence.

Your job isn't to accept their best work.
It's to show them what their best could be.

• Define what excellent looks like.
• Make it vivid. Make it specific.
• Then refuse to settle for anything less.

The best performers don't resent high standards. They're attracted to them.

2. Co-Author Crystal Clear Expectations

Vague goals lead average results.
Clear goals define the "what" and the "how":

• What does wining look like?
• What's the timeline?
• What resources do they have?
• What constraints exist?
• How can they exceed?
• What would cause them to fall short?

When you align on expectations upfront, you eliminate 75% of future conflicts.

3. Give Frequent (Helpful) Feedback

Mediocre managers withhold feedback to be nice.
The best coaches give real-time feedback:

• When you see excellence, call it out immediately
• When you see a miss, address it directly
• Proximity increases potency

Normalize feedback and you'll systemize excellence.

4. Proactively Remove Obstacles

The best way to be in the way is using your position to clear the way.

Your team shouldn't waste energy fighting bureaucracy, navigating politics, or sitting in useless meeting.

• Ask them constantly: "What's in your way?"
• Then move heaven and earth to clear the path

Your people should spend 100% of their energy on work that matters, not working around the work

5. Amplify Their Strengths With Your System

Random acts of heroics don't scale. Your job is to turn individual brilliance into repeatable systems.

• When someone solves a hard problem, capture how they did it
• When they deliver exceptional work, document the approach
• Then ensure that knowledge reaches others

This is why you can't get out of their way.

It's not micromanagement. It's leadership.
It's not controlling. It's clarifying.
It's not limiting. It's leveraging.

The managers who survive the next wave of cuts won't be the ones who "stay out of the way." They'll be the ones who made their teams undeniably better.

Helpful? Please RT and follow me @dklineii for more.

[Ed Hankin @EEHankin]

@CUBarstool Buy the Rockies?

[Ed Hankin @EEHankin]

“I took my first college snaps and all my OC gave me were these lousy bubble screens”

[Barstool Colorado @CUBarstool]

Can we stop with the screen passes pat

[Ed Hankin @EEHankin]

@PaulKragthorpe @maxpeck10 @CenturyLink Woot!