Work With Me

What is it like to work with me?

Welcome to my “Work with Me” document. My name is Kay Kozaronek, and I am a self-taught generalist dedicated to ensuring the safe development of Artificial General Intelligence (AGI). My diverse background spans machine learning research engineering, management consulting, and non-profit startup experience, allowing me to thrive at the intersection of these fields. Known for my clear communication, I excel in environments that value honest, frequent feedback.

Outside of work, I am an aspiring triathlete, musician, reader, and humorist. The purpose of this document is to give potential co-founders and other close professional contacts a sense of who I am, what I am good at, my shortcomings, and how I like to work.

My Values

s Knowing what you and the people around you value is crucial. It can make you a better person, coworker, friend, family member, or spouse. After conducting an exercise on my values, I arrived at my top values:

Top 10 Values

1. Independence: I cherish autonomy and the freedom to make my own decisions. Financial freedom, in particular, empowers me to decide what I want to do, where I want to be, and who I want to spend my time with.
2. Excellence: Striving for excellence drives me to perform at my best and achieve high standards in everything I do.
3. Growth: Continuous personal and professional growth is essential to me. I seek opportunities to learn and develop.
4. Ambition: My ambition fuels my drive to achieve my goals and make a significant impact.
5. Fun: Enjoying life and having fun are important aspects of my well-being. I believe that work and life should both be enjoyable.
6. Curiosity: My curiosity pushes me to explore new ideas and experiences. I love learning and discovering new things.
7. Risk-Taking: I am not afraid to take calculated risks to achieve my goals and explore new opportunities.
8. Education: Valuing education means I prioritize learning and knowledge acquisition in my life.
9. Order: Maintaining order helps me stay organized and focused, leading to better quality and productivity.
10. Responsibility: Taking responsibility for my actions and commitments is a fundamental principle I live by.

These values guide my decisions and actions, helping me stay true to myself and my goals. They also shape how I interact with others, ensuring that my relationships are meaningful and aligned with my principles.

Personality Test Insights

Understanding my personality helps me navigate both personal and professional relationships effectively. Here, I present the results of two personality tests taken in 2018 and 2023, highlighting the similarities and differences over the years.

2023 Results: The Orchestrator

In 2023, my personality was most aligned with “The Orchestrator” archetype. Orchestrators excel at bringing people together, organizing around them, and mobilizing resources to achieve and exceed expectations. They are planful, precise, engaging, and people-oriented. Key attributes include:

• Organizing People and Resources: Skilled in connecting people and understanding their unique strengths.
• Ambitious Goal Setting: Setting high standards and systematically planning to achieve them.
• Efficiency and Reliability: Preferring efficient and reliable solutions to solve problems.
• Leadership: Leading by holding others accountable and pushing through to ensure plans are executed.

Growth Areas: - Learning to be less perfectionistic when circumstances require flexibility. - Engaging productively with those who have unstructured thinking styles.

Additionally, I possess attributes of a Strategist and a Shaper, which include generating effective strategies, being driven, and adaptable.

2018 Results: Inspiring Helper (Accommodating)

In 2018, my personality was described as an “Inspiring Helper (Accommodating).” Key attributes included:

• Friendly and Sociable: Enjoying social interactions and being a good team player.
• Self-Confidence: Displaying confidence and positivity in various situations.
• Compassionate and Sensitive: Being understanding and warm-hearted towards others.
• Harmony-Oriented: Striving to ensure harmony and equity in interactions.

Possible Weaknesses: - Difficulty with routine tasks and detailed procedures. - Tendency to mask true feelings to avoid unpleasantness. - Taking criticism personally and struggling to say “no” when relationships are threatened.

Key Differences and Similarities

Similarities: - People-Oriented: Both profiles highlight my strong focus on relationships and my ability to connect with others. - Leadership: Both emphasize my leadership capabilities, though the 2023 profile adds a strategic and systematic planning component. - Compassion and Sensitivity: Both highlight my sensitivity to others’ needs and my empathetic nature.

Differences: - 2018: More focused on being accommodating and ensuring harmony, with a possible weakness in dealing with routine and detailed tasks. - 2023: More emphasis on being organized, ambitious, and systematic, with a strong focus on efficient problem-solving and high standards.

This evolution shows a shift from a more reactive, harmony-focused approach to a proactive, structured, and leadership-oriented style. These changes reflect my growth in professional settings, where systematic planning and high standards have become more pronounced.

Placeholder for anecdotes illustrating how these personality traits have manifested in real-life situations.

Work Style and Preferences

Preferred Work Environment

I thrive in environments where I can observe others working and interacting. This inspiration from others’ productivity helps me overcome procrastination and fuels a positive feedback loop that enhances my concentration and confidence. While I work remotely, I find coworking spaces most effective as they provide the social environment I need without necessarily involving direct collaboration. I enjoy in-person interactions and seek to create strong bonds with team members, recognizing the value of face-to-face connections.

I appreciate both structured and unstructured environments, depending on the context. I prefer imposing structure on myself, maintaining a fully planned calendar, and being the master of my hours. However, I find unstructured environments challenging when they demand skills I am still developing. My growth and learning-driven nature propels me to close these skill gaps actively.

Work Habits

My day starts at 6:00 AM with a structured morning routine: - Light morning stretches (10 min) - Coffee (5 min) - Body scan + gratitude meditation (10 min) - Reading (40-60 min) - Mini-essay writing (20-60 min) - Planning three key tasks for the day (5 min) - Sports (run, swim, or cycle) (60 min) - Arriving at the coworking space (15 min)

I begin my workday at 9:00 AM with a daily standup call and avoid using my phone until after my writing session. To prioritize tasks, I use custom made “Kay’s Operating System” on Notion, tracking weekly, monthly, and quarterly goals, relationships, and daily tasks through a Kanban board. I favor one-week sprints with Monday planning and Friday retrospective meetings, and I strictly cap my workday at 6:00 PM, followed by a brief “end of workday”reflection.

Collaboration and Teamwork

I often take on leadership and initiating roles within teams, organizing efforts around a shared cause. To handle conflicts, I employ the “disagree but commit” strategy, which helps in making progress despite disagreements. I am interested in developing a “pre-outcome bets” approach to improve conflict resolution by predicting outcomes before decisions are made.

Communication Style

I prefer daily face-to-face communication via short calls, complemented by asynchronous communication through Slack. My communication style is direct, informed by my German background, but I strive to use the nonviolent communication framework (NVC) for feedback and challenging situations. I meticulously prepare for important conversations, ensuring they are solution-oriented with actionable steps. I value conversations with clear agendas, which I prepare when hosting meetings for efficiency.

Motivation and Productivity

Uninterrupted deep work time is crucial for my productivity. I thrive on intrinsic motivation, working best when I have no external expectations and am driven by personal goals. Financial security and freedom are important to me, and I aim to build a financial cushion following the FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) philosophy. I rely on colleagues and friends to stay motivated during long projects, with bi-weekly coaching sessions and daily standups as key motivators. Recently, I have experimented with “building in public” for additional motivation.

Flexibility and Adaptability

I prefer focusing on one task at a time and completing it promptly. While I handle multiple projects simultaneously, I avoid multitasking as it hampers productivity. I actively combat the urge to multitask to ensure I remain effective and avoid the negative experiences associated with it.

Building and Maintaining Relationships

Networking and relationship building are vital, though I sometimes neglect them when diving into technical projects. To counter this, I use a customer relationship management system (CRM) and a friend relationship management system (FRM). I interact with around 40 people weekly, with roughly 30% of those interactions being long or otherwise meaningful. Regular meetings with key individuals in my life, on weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly cadences, are critical for maintaining these relationships.

Balancing Work and Personal Life

I maintain a sharp cutoff for work at 6:00 PM to ensure I have energy for personal activities, which helps me start the next day refreshed and productive. My morning routine includes time for myself and my partner, and I spend evenings with friends, my partner, or alone to stay sane and functional. Stress management strategies include talking to a coach, taking regular breaks, engaging in sports, eating healthily, and organizing fun events for friends.