The Bellamy Letter

Real-world leadership insights for tech industry managers navigating new teams, big transitions, and higher expectations.

How to get out of the weeds and do the work you were actually hired to do. You just started leading a new team and right now you're so busy you can't even sit down and have dinner with your family. You're pinned down all day. Any real work you need to get done starts at the end of the day when th...

Jun 17, 2026

You Inherited an Underperforming Team. Now What?

Here's Exactly What I'd Do in the First 2 Weeks It's day one. New company. New team. You just got your new badge. You connect briefly with your new boss and they tell you, "Hey, just so you know, this team has been struggling. They're not meeting objectives. We'll talk more about it later." Gre...

Jun 10, 2026

You Can’t Lead A Person Who Doesn’t Trust You

How I build and maintain trust with every person on the team. How can you lead a person who doesn't trust you? You can't, right? To be able to lead someone, to be able to influence them, you have to build a relationship with that person, and they have to trust you. The better the relationship...

Jun 07, 2026 leadership ownership culture team management

Don’t Blow It In Your First Meeting!

What they feel in that room matters more than what you say. You’re walking into your very first meeting with your new team. You want to make a great impression. That makes sense. But often managers walk into that meeting focused on the wrong thing. They’re focused on proving themselves. They wan...

Jun 07, 2026

“Hustle Culture” Is Not The Problem

There’s a critical element missing in how we work today. Can you feel it? People at work seem more stressed out than ever. So many of the tech industry managers that I talk to tell me they believe they're on a path to burnout. What they're doing right now feels unsustainable. All over social ...

Jun 07, 2026

My Exact Playbook When Inheriting A New Team

How I establish trust, deliver results, and retain top performers. You just inherited a new team. What happens next will have a massive impact on the trajectory of your career. If you nail this transition, you're highly likely to get more responsibility in the future. Fail here and you could ...

Jun 07, 2026

Should You Quit Management?

Why the Doubt Hits After a Promotion (It’s Missing Structure) I know some of you reading this right now are questioning whether you should stay in management. You were crushing it as an individual contributor. You’re thinking maybe you should go back to an IC role. Maybe you've been leading a t...

Jun 06, 2026

Your Team Is Not Getting Smarter

The 5-Minute Debrief That Teaches Them On The Job Ever wish you had a do-over at work? Like the customer QBR that went OK, but there were a couple of key moments that you know you and your team would handle differently if you had the chance to do it over again. What you do immediately after an ...

Jun 06, 2026

How to Give Feedback Without Conflict

The 30-Second Habit That Works You just inherited a new team. Now, your new boss tells you they need to share some feedback with you. How are you feeling? What's your immediate reaction? Worried? Stressed? Defensive? You might be scratching your head trying to figure out where you went wrong,...

Jun 06, 2026

Your Team is Working Hard But Not Delivering

Build a shared vision of what success looks like. If you've just inherited a new team, one of the first things you must do is to create a shared vision of success with the team. You need to get the whole team rowing in the same direction. You may already be feeling the effects of not having thi...

Jun 06, 2026

Your Team Isn’t Unmotivated. They’re Unclear.

The solution is in your hands. A manager said something to me recently that stuck. “It feels like I’m the only one thinking.” Every decision came to them. Every next step. It felt like literally nothing would get done without them telling someone to do it. The team was capable. Smart people. St...

Jun 06, 2026

New Team. New Boss. The #1 Success Factor.

5 Questions to Align With Your Boss Imagine this. You’re in your first 90 days managing a new team. You’re sitting in a one-on-one with your boss, walking them through an update you feel great about. You and your team have been working hard. You’ve been putting in long hours. You’ve made what fee...

Jun 06, 2026

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