Rule 1: Be human. A corollary: treat others as human.I feel pressure to list accomplishments written in the third person as a part of an unbelievably good story about what an incredible businessperson I am. In the past, I have written an account of continued success from youth and repeated business success, including billion-dollar exits.I think those accounts were both tedious and unbelievable because they weren't human. The human approach to storytelling is to be vulnerable, admit weakness, and yet still be proud of accomplishments. So here goes:I ran a factory in Thailand at age 24, basically starting it from scratch before leaving to get my MBA. Now the factory is large and successful. But the company that sent me there sold it (and my employment). The whole thing was really hard, and we were often scraping by with very little. When I left, the factory had grown and was able to produce reliably, but struggled with continued profitability.I was employee number 11 and Director of Operations for MedMen, which was cannabis' first unicorn. They had a $1.65 billion IPO! It was an exciting and tumultuous place to work. I think they struggled to keep a director of operations or a COO for more than 6 months after I left.I am currently the COO of Geocene, an intentionally small IoT engineering consultancy. We're being slow and careful about our growth, which is our plan. We find that we enjoy our lives more when we take the time to both speak and listen to one another. When we do that, it's easier to share goals and operate coherently.There is more, of course, and I wrote the rest of this page with a similar approach. Some people will find this kind of talk distasteful. Some people will find it interesting and appreciate the vulnerability. I want the opportunity to listen to the latter. Send me a note. I'm responsive to people that want to talk like humans.