ok so basically charles is a high-intensity vision-brained operator who moves at unholy speed, says exactly what he thinks, and generates ideas like a broken firehose. he's in his element building new things with people who aren't afraid to argue. he is NOT in his element when someone tries to micromanage him, bore him, or ignore him. he has real blind spots and this document is him being fr about it.
00lore you need first
- spent his 20s in san francisco and his 30s in vietnam. dude has been culturally rootless for his entire adult life. his "normal" is not your "normal" and that's not a flex it's just a fact.
- makes unhinged jokes constantly. half the time people can't tell if he's joking or not. bestie if you're confused he is almost definitely joking. he also exaggerates for dramatic effect like it's a competitive sport so don't take everything at face value fr.
- actual scatterbrain. will forget things you told him. will lose details. this is not him being disrespectful this is him having a Prudence score of literally zero (0) and a Structural thinking percentage of 3%. THREE. put it in writing. if he said he'd do something and hasn't, just remind him. he will genuinely thank you not be weird about it.
01how the brain works
he sees systems and vibes and possibilities but literally will not notice that the process is broken or that someone's feelings got hurt unless you physically point at it and go "look. right there." if you need him to care about details you gotta frame it inside a bigger question that his brain actually finds interesting.
he's a quick learner and genuinely curious but only about things he finds interesting. everything else gets the airplane mode treatment.
HE THINKS OUT LOUD — THIS IS LORE
not everything he says is a decision. he processes by yapping. he will throw out 10 ideas in a meeting and maybe 2 are serious and the other 8 are just his brain doing parkour. if you can't tell whether something is a directive or just him vibing, literally just ask:
"is that a decision or are you just yapping"
he will not be offended. he will probably laugh.
02comms style
- blunt to the point of catching strays. his Interpersonal Sensitivity is 3 out of 100. three. he genuinely does not clock when he's hurt your feelings in the moment. if he does, tell him. he'll fix it. he's not mean he's just emotionally illiterate sometimes.
- argues because he's interested. if he's pushing back on your idea it actually means he thinks it's worth engaging with. the silence is what you should worry about.
- skip the buildup pls. give him the TLDR first. he loses patience with long intros faster than a goldfish in a lecture hall.
- will accidentally main-character every meeting. Assertiveness: 93rd percentile. interrupt him. seriously. he'd rather be cut off than have everyone leave the meeting thinking "i didn't get to say anything because charles was on one."
- "strong opinions loosely held" — the loosely held part is cap (kinda). when he has no data he forms a strong opinion INSTANTLY. when given good data he will change his mind. BUT his Flexibility is 22nd percentile and his Sceptical score is 94 so like... you might have to push harder than feels reasonable. if you have receipts don't give up after one try.
- talks fast and mumbles. his mouth is running a speedrun while his brain is still loading. tell him to slow down. he won't take it personally.
channels
- genuinely does not care about the medium. slack, email, carrier pigeon, whatever. if his vibe on one channel is giving you the ick just tell him and he'll switch. communicate however YOU prefer.
- for anything that requires actual thinking he'll write. lowkey loves writing. will spend time perfecting a doc. values brevity and being clever about it.
- claims to hate meetings because they're "inefficient." then gets in one and absolutely takes over, has the time of his life, and runs 20 minutes late. some things only happen live — arguing, thinking together, pressure-testing ideas. he is aware of the contradiction and offers no apology.
03how to work with this man
- YOU bring the structure. his Prudence score is literally 0. zero. null. he will never make a process doc, a timeline, or a tracking sheet. ever. he needs someone who does this as naturally as breathing.
- bring data not vibes. "i feel like this won't work" — will not land. "here's the data showing this won't work" — will land so hard. Science score: 99. this man is an evidence simp.
- don't wait for him to check in. he won't micromanage you. partly because he trusts you, partly because he genuinely forgot you exist for a sec (see: Prudence 0).
- tell him when he's overcommitting. he will say yes to everything like it's a game. he needs someone to go "bestie you already have 5 priorities which one are we yeeting."
04giving feedback without it being a whole thing
- be direct. no sandwich method. no hints. just say it.
- he WILL have an initial reaction. Excitable score: 100. one hundred. out of one hundred. he will visibly react. this is NOT him rejecting the feedback this is just his nervous system doing its thing. give it 24 hours and he'll come back having actually processed it like a normal person.
- specifics >> generalizations. "you interrupted Sarah 4 times in that meeting" hits way harder than "you sometimes dominate discussions." give him the receipts.
- he takes criticism personally. Adjustment score: 1. literally the bottom. he knows this. your honesty is genuinely a gift even if his face doesn't look like it in the moment.
05the trust economy
green flags
- deliver what you said you'd deliver. consistently. that's literally it that's the main one.
- push back on him when he's wrong — WITH EVIDENCE. he respects this so hard.
- surface problems early. he wants the bad news on monday not a crisis on friday.
- show intellectual curiosity. he gravitates toward people who are genuinely trying to get smarter.
- spend time at a monastery.
red flags (the ick list)
- agree in the meeting then talk shit outside. this is the fastest speedrun to losing his trust.
- miss deadlines without saying anything in advance.
- prioritize politics over actually doing good work.
- be passive. if you have a concern and don't voice it that's somehow worse than the concern itself.
Sceptical: 94. once trust is broken it lives in his head rent free and rebuilding is genuinely hard. he's working on this.
06what actually motivates this man
things that do NOT motivate him
belonging to a group (Affiliation: 10), stability (Security: 11), tradition (28). team bonding events? he'd rather perish. "the way we've always done it"? actual nightmare fuel.
07when it all goes to hell
when stressed or things aren't working, this is what you get:
seven derailers above 90 is genuinely unusual. he's not listing these to be like "haha i'm so quirky" he's listing them so you can see the patterns and call them out.
if you see the cycle: big intense energy → argument → goes ghost → sudden new obsession — that's the stress pattern. the most helpful thing you can do is just calmly name it. "hey i think the pattern is happening." that's it.
08the character development arc
- listening more, yapping less
- giving recognition to others instead of just collecting it
- sitting with discomfort instead of immediately reacting (hardest boss fight)
- actually finishing the boring parts not just the exciting ones
- reading the room — asking "how is this landing" instead of assuming everyone's on the same page