“Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.”

Those lyrics from The Who kept running through my head this morning.

With my family still going through a difficult time, I’ve been spending a lot of hours in a hospital room with my mom. That has given me time to read, research, and think.

One topic I revisited was Nextdoor’s decision to establish a new engineering hub in Dallas, Texas, while continuing to lease office space at The Stack in Deep Ellum.

That led me to ask: Where is the executive leadership team generally based?

Based on publicly available information, I found:

- Nirav Tolia, CEO – Dallas, Texas

- Sarah Leary, Head of Marketing, Community & Business Operations – Boston, Massachusetts

- Craig Lisowski, President of Product – San Francisco, California

- Indrajit Ponnambalam, Chief Financial Officer – Dallas, Texas

- Sophia Contreras Schwartz, Chief Legal Officer – San Francisco, California

- Michael Kiernan, Chief Revenue Officer – Brooklyn, New York

- Tony Castellanos, EVP, People – San Francisco, California

- Kelsey Grady, EVP, Communications – San Francisco, California

- Nick Lisher, EVP, Product – Tunbridge Wells, England

- Anita Patwardhan, EVP, Product Design – San Francisco, California

These are general locations based on public information, not personal addresses.

If the objective is to hire the best executive talent, the search went as far as England.

So if Nextdoor can recruit globally for its C-Suite, why require engineering talent to be concentrated in one office?

If the goal is to attract top engineers with competitive pay, benefits, bonuses, and equity, why require Dallas when many executives they collaborate with are in San Francisco, Boston, New York, or England?

And it’s 2026.

Cloud infrastructure is managed through providers like Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure DevOps. Hardware monitoring and data center operations are largely handled by specialists and cloud providers, not executives walking the halls.

Is physical proximity improving collaboration, or just creating another layer of management?

Anonymous Blind discussions mention micromanagement, toxic culture, and even cult-like comparisons. Those are anonymous opinions, not verified facts, but they raise questions worth asking.

Throughout my career, I’ve learned that strong leaders hire talented people, coach them consistently, provide candid feedback, and trust them to do the job.

When performance falls short, you coach, mentor, and partner with HR when needed.

Micromanagement is alive and well in 2026.

Trust still scales better.

Join the discussion on NielFlamm.com/blog.

Earlier this year, after Nirav Tolia blocked me on LinkedIn, I started tracking something different.

I kept a running count of how many days had passed since Nirav Tolia and Nextdoor Communications had publicly connected with the community.

At one point in early January, Nextdoor Communications went 17 days without posting.

Later, in mid-February, Nirav Tolia went 18 days without engaging publicly.

Since then, both have become noticeably more active.

Am I claiming I’m the only reason?

No.

But after months of consistently asking questions, documenting my experience, and advocating for greater transparency, it’s difficult for me to ignore the possibility that persistent public feedback can influence the conversation.

Which brings me to today.

It has now been 14 days since I requested the Home Insurance Insights study referenced by Jacob Chavis, Senior Manager of Customer Insights at Nextdoor.

Think about how simple this could be.

Reply to the email.

Attach the study.

Or send a link.

That’s it.

Instead, the lack of a response has become a story of its own.

At this point, I’m left asking:

What is Jacob Chavis trying to prove?

I’m also not a keyboard warrior.

I’d genuinely welcome an in-person conversation or a video conference—on your platform of choice. I’d even suggest a truly independent moderator with no history, no skin in the game, and no dog in the fight (apologies to the ASPCA).

If anyone at Nextdoor is interested, here’s my scheduling link to find a mutually convenient time:

https://calendly.com/niel-flamm-1cz/a-nielflamm-com-podcast

Who knows? If we streamed it as a pay-per-view event, maybe it would rival:

• Mayweather vs. Pacquiao (2015)

• Tyson vs. Holyfield II (1997)

• The Rock vs. John Cena (2012)

Humor aside, I’d rather have an honest conversation than continue exchanging silence.

Sometimes the easiest solution is also the best one.

I Thought It Was a Tom Cruise Tribute... Then It Took a Weird Turn

One of the unexpected highlights before my screening of Supergirl (2026) wasn't the movie itself—it was one of the previews.

It opens with one of the most recognizable movie moments ever:

"I feel the need... the need for speed."

Immediately, I thought, "This is going to be an homage to Tom Cruise."

The trailer starts with clips from his career, not just the blockbusters. It goes way back.

We're talking about movies like Taps, released before Risky Business. Then there's Risky Business itself, followed by All the Right Moves. I've seen both, and it was fun watching the montage remind me just how long Tom Cruise has been entertaining audiences.

As the clips kept rolling, I figured this was simply a celebration of one of Hollywood's biggest stars.

Nope.

I was completely wrong.

After a couple of minutes of walking down memory lane, the montage suddenly pivots into about thirty seconds of footage from Tom Cruise's upcoming movie, Digger, scheduled for release in October 2026.

Talk about a plot twist.

The footage itself looked... odd.

Not bad.

Just... odd.

The kind of trailer that left me scratching my head and wondering, "What exactly did I just watch?"

Then it hit me.

Maybe that was the whole marketing strategy.

Instead of opening with an unfamiliar movie that audiences might ignore, they first remind everyone why they've spent decades watching Tom Cruise. They build excitement by revisiting the films that made him a global movie star. By the time the new footage appears, you're already invested enough to give it a chance.

If that was intentional, it's actually a pretty clever piece of marketing.

Whether Digger ends up being a hit or a miss remains to be seen, but that preview definitely got my attention—and that's exactly what a trailer is supposed to do.

If you'd like to see my full review of Supergirl along with my other movie reviews, head over to https://NielFlamm.com/videos and let me know what you think.

And Tommy... if we're really Scientology buddies in some alternate universe... thanks for the memories.

Supergirl: Worth Seeing on the Big Screen?

I had a few free hours between visiting my mom at the hospital and heading to a recovery meeting, so I did what I enjoy most—I went to the movies.

This time it was Supergirl (2026), starring Milly Alcock, Jason Momoa, and Eve Ridley. I wasn't quite sure what to expect, but I walked away pleasantly surprised.

In my latest video review, I talk about:

• Why the opening scene had me laughing.

• How this is much more than a typical superhero movie.

• The Star Wars and Suicide Squad vibes I picked up throughout the film.

• Whether it's worth seeing in theaters.

• And the answer to the all-important question: Do you need to stay after the credits?

If you're trying to decide whether to spend your hard-earned money on Supergirl, or you've already seen it and want to compare opinions, check out my full spoiler-filled review.

🎬 Watch the full review here: https://NielFlamm.com/videos/moviereviews

I'd love to hear what you thought of the movie. Join the discussion and let me know whether Supergirl soars... or crashes.

My Nextdoor Experiment: Assumptions, Bias, and a Missed AI Opportunity

As part of my ongoing Nextdoor experiment using a “verified” address that isn’t mine and an obviously fictitious name, I came across another discussion that made me stop and think.

The topic involved a woman reportedly filming a group of children in a neighborhood.

What caught my attention wasn’t necessarily the original post.

It was everything that followed.

Within the comments, neighbors quickly began making assumptions about the woman’s intentions. Incorrect information was presented as fact. Snarky remarks piled on. The conversation shifted from discussing an event to speculating about a person.

To be fair, misinformation and speculation happen on every social media platform.

But here’s the question I keep coming back to:

If unpaid neighborhood moderators are actively removing content they consider “non-neighborly,” how does a thread like this remain visible while other posts are removed?

That inconsistency suggests to me that moderation can be influenced by neighborhood context and individual judgment. Whether that’s intentional or not, the user experience becomes unpredictable.

My suggestion remains the same.

Use AI to identify conversations that are rapidly escalating into speculation, personal attacks, or unsupported claims. Then combine that with centralized human oversight to ensure moderation decisions are applied consistently across neighborhoods.

AI shouldn’t replace people.

It should help people make more consistent decisions.

If Nextdoor is serious about AI, I’d rather see investment in improving the neighborhood experience than simply talking about AI as the future.

To me, that’s a better use of capital—and a better experience for users, moderators, advertisers, and shareholders alike.

Join the discussion on NielFlamm.com.