Jesse DeRose

My work is guided by a simple, human principle: leave it better than you found it.

I bring this mindset into organizations, partnering with leaders to transform complex operational challenges into sustainable solutions that align their people, processes, and technology. My approach integrates a decade of hands-on expertise in tech organizations across industries with the scientific rigor of a Masters in Management Science & Engineering from Stanford. My sweet spot is organizational development, leadership development, purposeful work, and play-based learning.

The outcome of our work together won’t just be a plan–it will be lasting alignment that gives your teams the clarity, capacity, and momentum they need to truly thrive. You made the right decisions to get your team here, now I can help you get where you’re going next.

This same principle drives my public work as a LeadDev speaker, podcast host, and content creator. I turn hard-won lessons into accessible resources for other practitioners and leaders because sustainable change happens when wisdom is shared, not hoarded.

The real reward is seeing those ideas take root as others gain clarity and tools to build more effective, human-centered organizations that they, in turn, can leave better than they found.

Helping others helps you. Healthy organizations learn from their mistakes, and a learning organization requires open communication, collaboration, and psychological safety.

Wisdom > intelligence. Work is greater than its product or service, and must account for human nature. It's not about being the smartest person in the room, it's about being the wisest.

It's okay to be wrong. I encourage innovation by rewarding creativity and implementation of creative ideas, and risk-taking and learning through iteration. I also encourage leaders to designate certain research and prototyping tasks as learning zones where employees have space to explore and learn from failure without fear of punishment. Knowing which tasks are in the learning zone and which aren't alleviates social pressure for employees to perform at peak ability in all work, which ultimately increases overall performance. This value also encourages leaders to actively engage every team member in decision-making, ensuring employees feel safe speaking up, and increasing product viability which increases chances of the product succeeding in the market.

Humility above all. I promote communication and collaboration by encouraging employees to approach each other with humility first, recognizing that we may not always have the same frame of reference for our work, and curiosity second, asking empathetic questions to find common ground and a path forward. My value "It's Okay to Be Wrong" also comes in handy here because psychological safety is a precondition for learning AND humility.