Personal Math Wrapped: The advice you valued most

Looking back on 52 posts, here are the insights you valued most this year.

👋 Hi, it’s Greg and Taylor. Welcome to our newsletter on everything you wish your CEO told you about how to get ahead.

We’re data nerds, so we love the data we get from publishing a newsletter – especially about what’s resonating with you. So this week, we’re sharing our top 10 posts of 2024 based on subscriber growth, open rates, and post views, and what they tell us about the advice that resonated most.

– Greg

#1: The best way to stand out is to bring a point of view

Four of our top 10 posts shared how to stand out in a competitive job market (aka find interesting work at a company with real growth prospects). Whether you’re submitting a resume, interviewing, or starting a new job, it’s all about being more engaged and assertive.

Over the last year, the quality of outreach we’ve personally received from people looking for a job has improved. We get more value-based outreach now (“I read this and thought you’d be interested” or “here’s what you got wrong in the podcast you were just on”) that we realize later is from people who want to work with us. It might seem counterintuitive or risky, but being opinionated and proactive early on as a candidate or new employee stands out.

Top Posts

• Want a job interview? Being qualified isn't enough

• How to avoid joining a doomed startup

• What to ask when interviewing with an executive

• Onboard in 30 days, contribute in 72 hours

#2: Executives want employees with superpowers

Four of our top 10 posts decoded the superpowers we see in the people we love to work with. These include traits like working “high-low,” getting to V1 fast, and napkin math. These posts seemed to resonate because they explain unspoken or hard-to-define skills that execs often describe as “strategic thinking” or “intellectual horsepower.” These skills can be broken down, articulated, and taught – and define the people that often get the best projects or roles.

This list of superpowers is constantly evolving – and defining them helps us hire better and coach our team/others. So in 2025, I’m sure we’ll write about a few new superpowers that are needed to work alongside AI.

Top Posts

• The #1 skill every executive should have

• Napkin Math – get good at it to get ahead

• Why I want more high-output generalists on my team

• The two things I do to get to V1 fast

#3: AI as thought partner

We wrote only a few posts about AI this year, and they were polarizing – two were in our top 10 and two were in our bottom 10. 2024 was the year of convincing knowledge workers that AI can augment high-stakes decision-making. The two posts that resonated explained how to use AI this way and unpacked why we need so much convincing – an intangible feeling that AI feels like cheating and diminishes our personal value.

But in 2025, if you still need to be convinced, you’ll be at a disadvantage. Next year’s leaders will fully accept AI as their thought partner to increase the quality of their output and decisions. 

Top Posts

• AI as Thought Partner

• The hidden reasons you're not using AI everyday

Our advice

We use this newsletter to share what we’re learning with others, but also to clarify our thinking for ourselves. Here’s what’s on our mind as we head into 2025:

• The 5 new personal AI superpowers – the skills that will define the people who get the most value from AI; we want to hire for these superpowers and coach others on them

• How to balance operational rigor with strategic/creative ambition

• Focus and intention – we’re spread thin at Section, so when do we lock in on something, and what signals tell us when and where to do so? 

• How to handle maternity leave – since Taylor will be out this spring!

We’d love to hear from you – any learnings you have on what we shared, or anything else that resonated with you this year. Leave us a comment. And thanks for being a subscriber!

Happy holidays,

Greg and Taylor