Jason P. Yoong

Co-Founder & COO of Level Up | former Amazon, VP at Dentsu, Startup ($8M seed) | Advisory Board Member

[Jason P. Yoong @JasonYoong]

Early in my career, I used my OOO message to stand out to senior executives, here are the 3 things I included (it works):

[Jason P. Yoong @JasonYoong]

>> This reminded me of one of the best parenting phrases I learned from my wife.

When our 4 year old is hesitant or frustrated with something.

She simply tells her:

"You can do hard things".

Sometimes the frustration or hesitant continues.

But, sometimes we see a lightbulb go off.

Our kid goes for it.

And the times when she accomplishes her goal, we visibly see her pride.

The downstream impact is she continuously builds up to harder things.

We want our daughter to be bold and fearless.

Being comfortable chasing after hard things is a key trait.

And I've learned that even the simplest phrase (the how) can help build it.

[Jason P. Yoong @JasonYoong]

Lisa Su (CEO of AMD) shared the advice her mentor told her that she never forgot:

"Run toward the hardest problems.

At the time, I'm not sure I really knew what that meant.

But I now realized.

This was the best advice I've ever received.

Hard problems really teach you what you are capable of."

[Jason P. Yoong @JasonYoong]

Upgraded my networking question bank Google Doc into an interactive site thanks to Codex (very fun to build with). Useful for:

1/ Backpocket of sharper questions

2/ Hosting events

3/ Brainstorming

4/ Attending networking events

The purpose is to be a discussion tool for sharper professional conversations and relationship-building.

You can sort by career focused questions or casual ice breakers.

And I included additional thoughtful question prompts from Shaan Puri, Alisa Cohn, Tim Ferriss, and Arthur Aron.

It's free.

https://t.co/Nk0FyzdurT

[Jason P. Yoong @JasonYoong]

My mentor once told me "When interviewing, the strongest mental shift you can make is to view yourself as their consultant, not a candidate." Why it works:

1/ Demonstrates your strategic future-forward thinking and POV.

2/ Focuses the conversation on outcomes (offense) instead of proving yourself (defense).

3/ Proves how your experience applies to their business.

4/ Exudes more natural confidence in yourself and you organically use "We" language more (e.g. "When we solve for X...") which helps the interviewer visualize yourself as part of their team.

5/ Helps you ask sharper questions to better understand their business challenges (which leads to more relevant discussion and signals your expertise).

Next time you (or someone you know) has an interview, use this mental framing.

[Jason P. Yoong @JasonYoong]

One luxury people don’t talk about much: Not waking up to an alarm clock.

[Jason P. Yoong @JasonYoong]

Classic innovators dilemma.

Where the incumbent tries to protect its existing business (golden goose) while building a new one (and with it, adopt a new learning curve).

AI is the biggest existential threat to many incumbents now, so it's fascinating to see which bold leaders are taking the innovators dilemma head on (kudos to them).

[Jason P. Yoong @JasonYoong]

In 1997, students at the Harvard Business School told Jeff Bezos that Amazon was unlikely to survive and one even said "You really need to sell to Barnes & Noble and get out now."

Jeff replied:

"You may be right...But I think you might be underestimating the degree to which established brick-and-mortar businesses, or any large organization, will find it hard to be nimble and focus attention on a brand-new channel."

[Jason P. Yoong @JasonYoong]

Coincidentally, I recently spoke with a trustee of a top university and a chairperson of a big philanthropic institution — we all agreed that the above EQ skills are critical in the coming age of AI.

[Jason P. Yoong @JasonYoong]

"Executive Presence" is not a performance you switch on for C-suite meetings. It's a state of mind you build and project everyday, including your weekly Tuesday standups.

[Jason P. Yoong @JasonYoong]

Our friend and world renowned EQ expert, Rich Hua, wrote an in-depth guest article on how to develop these skills.

I highly recommend reading and taking immediate action: https://t.co/7FMSmu7y0z

[Jason P. Yoong @JasonYoong]

3/ Amazon's Bias for Action Leadership Principle has influenced many companies, and the lesson for majority of decisions (two-way doors) is to act, learn, and adjust.

"Speed matters in business. Many decisions and actions are reversible and do not need extensive study. We value calculated risk taking."

This is also how judgement forms.

[Jason P. Yoong @JasonYoong]

Tony Xu (CEO & Co-Founder of DoorDash) explains the final round interview with him and what he specifically looked for:

"Well, this could be a really long or a really short interview.

I'm going to give you 20 minutes and you can ask me any question that you want.

But after the 20 minutes expires, I'm going to give you $20 that you can use to go and acquire 100 customers for us.

And you have 8 hours to do so.

But here's also a plane ticket.

I know you travelled far for this interview, in case you want to quit the interview now and just move on and find somewhere else to work.

And that's the interview because that's the action part.

So much of what we were trying to test for early on is someone who's going to do something.

To go and collect information, as opposed to someone who's going to collect data, scrape information from some internet protocol, and then do some magical analysis on it, then ship code.

Ok.

But, what if none of that information existed?

You have to go and do things in order to actually collect information."

[Jason P. Yoong @JasonYoong]

2/ High agency beats perfect analysis.

When faced with ambiguity, most people ask: "What should I do?"

High agency people ask: "What can I do right now?"

Then they move.

[Jason P. Yoong @JasonYoong]

And do not be afraid to make the scary pivot if it creates faster learning and better long-term growth.

Even if it costs you comp, title, or comfort in the short term.

[Jason P. Yoong @JasonYoong]

3 career truths ambitious operators often learn the hard way:

1/ Not every moment requires disagreement.

Strong POVs matter. But as critical is knowing when to push, when to let it go, and when to escalate. Not everything is worth spending your social capital on.

[Jason P. Yoong @JasonYoong]

3/ Adaptability beats static expertise.

Domain expertise is valuable. But industries, tools, and business models change too fast to stay comfortable for long. Your durable skill is the ability to learn, adapt, and rebuild your edge. Do not get stuck being “the domain expert” just because it feels good in the moment.

[Jason P. Yoong @JasonYoong]

EQ turns valuable actions into valuable interactions.

As you gain more experience, you realize the age old saying is true:

"People will forget what you did, but they will not forget how you made them feel."

[Jason P. Yoong @JasonYoong]

Many mid-senior careers don't plateau because of hard skills, they stall because of EQ gaps (soft skills).

At early levels, being smart and executing well will carry you.

At higher levels, your work increasingly depends on trust, influence, communication, judgement (particularly under pressure), and how people feel working with (and for) you.

[Jason P. Yoong @JasonYoong]

4/ Practice deliberately (run mock meetings and presentations).

Get people (and AI) to ask you unrehearsed tough questions so you can practice self-awareness, emotional regulation, and empathy under pressure.