How to feel accountable to everyone

And how to not get mad because of all that responsibility

The girl I like asked me the other day what would I do if I learned that I had a year to live. I replied that I live each and every day like it was the last one: i.e. trying to never fall asleep if I have to apologize or atone. But there’s one thing that I would do differently, I replied, if I learned today that I sort of die in a year, I’d define as my highest priority to find Lera a co-founder she could move along with.

Also, I think I would not tell anybody but those who count on me personally for something critical and long-term. So pretty much my business and life partners. But neither my friends nor my parents would know. Maybe I’d also tell my sister since she’s clever and I’d want to double-check and share some responsibility for my decisions.

But since I don’t have any information about the day of my death, I can instead feel stressed and anxious about something else.

We’re launching a very complex product in two months and I feel accountable to our future users. Not partners, not sponsors, not even our investors (I mean, I do, but I am confident that we’ll deliver beyond their expectations) but to the mere mortals (Lera calls them “kids” in the audio, even if she’s younger than all our users) who’d trust us their professional life journey.

In the audio, we discuss various levels of accountability and what Lera and I really mean, how we look at it. It may be fun and even useful to listen to and compare how you’re feeling about accountability in your life.

This podcast, though. We don’t promote it, we do it for ourselves despite it requiring so much time and effort to make. Why?

• Why this photo from the Blackberry keynote is on the cover

• How this audio diary and this text are core pillars to us as the team