Laura WP

  • Home

  • About Me

  • Contact

  • More

    Use tab to navigate through the menu items.
    • All Posts
    • Equity
    • Management
    • Philanthropy
    • Strategy
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Tech
    • Culture
    Search
    Laura WP
    • Jul 29, 2019
    • 8 min

    Why Silicon Valley Needs More Social Entrepreneurs

    This is the script for a public lecture I gave at the American University of Rome in Rome, Italy on October 4, 2018. Since I ad-libbed a...
    Laura WP
    • Jul 29, 2019
    • 7 min

    No One Talks about Severance and That's Because the Process Sucks

    If you’re a people manager, eventually you’ll have to fire someone One of the things I had to do as an executive at multiple companies is...
    Laura WP
    • Jul 29, 2019
    • 4 min

    How I got Burned in My Last Strategic Planning Process (And What You Can Do to Avoid It)

    In late 2015, Code2040 had been around for 3.5 years. We were doing well with a ton of momentum, early successes, and, after some tight...
    How Nerd Girls' Weekend Changed My Life
    Laura WP
    • Jul 29, 2019
    • 5 min

    How Nerd Girls' Weekend Changed My Life

    About a year and a half ago, in the fall of 2017, I met up with a group of nine women from my Stanford business school class for the...
    Laura WP
    • Sep 25, 2018
    • 3 min

    How to Respond to “That Guy” Who Wants Quality over Diversity

    I was on a conference call the other day and we were discussing a talent selection process. At one point the topic of diversity came up....
    Laura WP
    • Sep 12, 2018
    • 2 min

    How It Feels to Find Your Successor

    Recently I was asked to “share a personal or professional experience mentoring someone you are particularly proud of and why” and this is...
    How to Know When It's Time to Go
    Laura WP
    • Sep 4, 2018
    • 9 min

    How to Know When It's Time to Go

    Sometime in fall 2017 I made the decision that is was time for Code2040, the successful social enterprise I’d co-founded and run since...
    Hey Foundations: Stop Asking Me and My Peers to Consult for Free
    Laura WP
    • Aug 27, 2018
    • 2 min

    Hey Foundations: Stop Asking Me and My Peers to Consult for Free

    A few weeks ago I got an email: I hope you don’t mind me connecting you with <PERSON>, who is now working for <CONSULTING FIRM>...
    Two Things to Consider When Creating Culture from Scratch
    Laura WP
    • Aug 22, 2018
    • 4 min

    Two Things to Consider When Creating Culture from Scratch

    Yesterday I was a guest at Lightspeed Ventures. They asked me to come hold office hours for the startups in their summer fellowship...
    Laura WP
    • Aug 12, 2018
    • 1 min

    Raising the Floor: Sharing What Works... from the Obama White House

    One of my major projects at the Obama White House was to work with then US Chief Technology Officer Megan Smith to compile a resource for...
    How I Hire: Searching for Mission-Driven Hustlers
    Laura WP
    • Aug 12, 2018
    • 3 min

    How I Hire: Searching for Mission-Driven Hustlers

    This post was originally part of a How I Hire series on LinkedIn and published at linkedin.com/in/laurawp on September 24, 2013. I run a...
    My Early Days in Tech
    Laura WP
    • Aug 12, 2018
    • 3 min

    My Early Days in Tech

    A version of this post originally appeared as part of Acer's #MakeYourMark campaign on my Influencer Channel at linkedin.com/in/laurawp...
    Answering This One Question Can Tell You Whether You Should Join a Startup
    Laura WP
    • Aug 12, 2018
    • 2 min

    Answering This One Question Can Tell You Whether You Should Join a Startup

    This post originally appeared on my Influencer Channel at linkedin.com/in/laurawp on April 26, 2018. Yesterday I spoke on a career panel...
    Laura WP
    • Aug 12, 2018
    • 4 min

    We Don't Need a Black Zuck: Moving Beyond Unicorns In Tech Entrepreneurship

    This post was originally published at medium.com/@laurawp on August 8, 2017 as part of The Case Foundation's #FacesofFounders campaign....
    Laura WP
    • Aug 12, 2018
    • 3 min

    Lonely? Get Used to It.

    This post was originally published at medium.com/@laurawp on July 17, 2016. The other day, I was flying back to San Francisco from a week...
    Laura WP
    • Aug 11, 2018
    • 3 min

    On Strangers Asking Me: What Are You?

    This post was originally published on medium.com/@laurawp on March 4, 2016. On the last day of Black History Month, my husband gave me a...
    Laura WP
    • Aug 11, 2018
    • 4 min

    Dear Jeff Bezos: Please Don't Think Short Term

    This post originally appeared on medium.com/@laurawp on June 15, 2017. Earlier today, Amazon founder and chief executive Jeff Bezos...
    Laura WP
    • Aug 11, 2018
    • 3 min

    What You’re Really Saying When You Talk About Lowering the Bar in Hiring

    This post was originally published on at medium.com/@laurawp on February 10, 2016 and is reproduced here with light edits. I give a lot...

    contact me

    Name *

    Email *

    Subject *

    Message *

    Success! Message received.

    • Twitter
    • LinkedIn
    • White Instagram Icon

    © 2021 by Laura Weidman Powers