Just as I believe everyone should have a long-term dream, I also believe everyone should have aneighteen-month plan. (I say eighteen months because two years seems too long and one , but it does not have to be any exact amount of time.) Typically, my eighteen-month plansets goals on two fronts. First and most important, I set targets for what my team can accomplish. Employees who concentrate on results and impact are the most valuable—like Lori, who wiselyfocused on solving Facebook’s recruiting problem before focusing on herself. This is not just thinkingcommunally—the expected and often smart choice for a woman—but simply good business. Second, I try to set more personal goals for learning new skills in the next eighteen months. It’soften painful, but I ask myself, “How can I improve?” If I am afraid to do something, it is usuallybecause I am not good at it or perhaps am too scared even to try. After working at Google for morethan four years, managing well over half of the company’s revenues, I was embarrassed to admit that Ihad never negotiated a business deal. Not one. So I gathered my courage and came clean to my boss,Omid Kordestani, then head of sales and business development. Omid was willing to give me a chanceto run a small deal team. In the very first deal I attempted, I almost botched the whole thing by makingan offer to our potential partner before fully understanding their business. Fortunately, my teamincluded a talented negotiator, Shailesh Rao, who stepped in to teach me the obvious: letting the otherside make the first offer is often crucial to achieving favorable terms. Everyone has room to improve. Most people have a style in the workplace that overshoots in onedirection—too aggressive or too passive, too talkative or too shy. In that first deal, I said too much.
