I'm joining LinkedIn!

I am extremely excited to share that I have decided to join LinkedIn: in fact, this is my second week!?

I am compelled by the vision and mission, the values, the people and the flexibility.?

First, let’s talk about the vision and mission. We are in a moment of unprecedented change in the labor market: the “Great Reshuffle .” More than ever, people are rethinking not only how they work but why they work. Workers and job-seekers now realize they have much stronger bargaining power. One year ago, only 1 in 67 paid jobs in the US offered remote work. At the start of 2022, this number was 1 in 6, and there is reason to believe that this trend will continue after COVID regulations are fully lifted and employees are able to return to the office.?

In these times of change, the vision and mission of LinkedIn are particularly inspiring to me: to create economic opportunity for every member of the global workforce, and to do so by connecting the world’s professionals to make them more productive and successful.

Second, the values . Over the past five months I have spent many hours talking to a diverse group of people at LinkedIn, and it’s been unambiguously clear to me that LinkedIn puts members — the people they serve — first.? LinkedIn also embraces equity in how they build products: they strive to serve everybody and to provide equal access to economic opportunity.

Third, the people. I have been impressed by the passion, brilliance, and humility of the many people I can now call colleagues. At LinkedIn, my manager, Ya Xu is one of the most unique leaders I have met. We spent many hours in long discussions prior to my joining. Ya radiates clarity and decisiveness, and is extremely empathetic and transparent. In a field where there are simply too few female senior executives (I have never had a female manager before), I am incredibly excited to report to such a strong leader in Ya, and to learn from her.

Finally, LinkedIn is leading with trust and flexibility . They do not mandate minimum requirements for time spent in the office, and they have a discretionary time off policy. Simply put, at LinkedIn we trust each other. At a time when my wife has gone back to studying full-time, this year I must balance work with supporting the family and household. LinkedIn has given me the flexibility I need to meet my individual needs, and I am extremely thankful and excited for this next chapter.

So what will my role be? I am honored and humbled to join as LinkedIn’s first Technical Fellow, focused on AI — the technology, but equally importantly the responsible use of AI and the understanding of how it impacts people and society. I will work across the company to help apply LinkedIn’s state-of-the-art AI to serve our mission and vision. I will also help the company’s existing efforts in responsible AI, and reinforce our relationships with external experts, organizations and academia. I am also extremely excited to join the community of Microsoft Technical Fellows. As a throwback, 15 years ago I joined Microsoft Research in Cambridge, UK and I now feel that I am rejoining the broad Microsoft family.