
Episode #11
Eyes Wide Open — A Season Finale Conversation with My First Manager, Aaron Blawn
The Season 6 finale of Future of Human Experience. Eric sits down with Aaron Blawn — his first manager at Intel, 16 years ago — to reveal the framework underneath everything Eric teaches: Eyes Wide Open. Passions + Skills + Business Opportunities, with the honesty to be clear about all three. Long description For 16 years, I have been quoting one mentor. The manager who told me that every job is a tool in my toolbox. The manager who told me that the question is not my title — it's whether I can see my own passions, my own skills, and the actual opportunities in front of me with eyes wide open. The manager who, in a 1:1 a year into my first job, asked me what I actually wanted to do — and changed the trajectory of my entire career with that one question. His name is Aaron Blawn. He is the Season 6 finale of Future of Human Experience. We cover: • The framework — Eyes Wide Open (Passions + Skills + Business Opportunities) • Where Tools in the Toolbox actually came from • Aaron's management philosophy: "My customer is the person I'm working with" • The 1-to-5 review story that changed how I think about feedback • The career formula: have a plan, be flexible with it, find advocates for it • The energize/de-energize question every manager should ask • Aaron on legacy — people, family, friends • A book recommendation that became the lens for how I work • What's coming next on Future of Human Experience — and what's coming this summer This is the last new episode until August. Subscribe to the newsletter to be the first to know what's coming next. ▶ Subscribe to the newsletter: ericjrodriguez.com ▶ Arizona Forward: arizonaforward.org ▶ Aaron's book recommendations: SWITCH (Heath brothers); Dungeon Crawler Carl (Matt Dinniman)

