CMO Samsara, Sarah Patterson: What You Do vs. Why It Matters
Grit28 Feb 2022

CMO Samsara, Sarah Patterson: What You Do vs. Why It Matters

Sarah Patterson, CMO of Samsara, doesn’t believe in keeping your armor up around your coworkers: “You’ve got something else on your mind, it’s going to come through,” she says. While working at Salesforce, she worked with a career coach and discovered that opening up about her personal and professional struggles brought her team closer. And that has also held true in her current role at Samsara, a fast-growing fleet management company that went public in December.


In this episode, Sarah and Joubin discuss the silver lining of the pandemic for her family’s cohesion; why catching up on work is a form of recharging; the benefits of journaling, even if it’s in an email thread; what Samsara does for a vital but un-digitized sector of the economy; the scary experience of living in the era of “smoke days”; hiring for sustainable rapid growth; Samsara’s IPO and earning the trust of the whole team; and how Sarah prepared to interview star skiier Lindsey Vonn.


In this episode, we cover:

  • Making deliberate choices about how you spend your time (06:36)
  • Accepting imperfection and being vulnerable with your colleagues (11:18)
  • The practice that goes into looking polished onstage (17:17)
  • The year Sarah left Salesforce for BranchOut, and why she went back (23:15)
  • The rapid growth of Samsara, and what it does (27:35)
  • How a mandate for truckers in North America laid the groundwork for Samsara’s business (33:39)
  • How Sarah thinks about the challenge of hiring, and why “what you do” is not the most important thing (39:32)
  • “Trial by fire” - earning the trust of workers who were at Samsara before her (42:43)
  • Is it easier to be an interviewer or an interviewee? (52:55)

Links:

Episoder(284)

CRO Thrive, Renu Gupta: Building Positive Personal and Professional Habits

CRO Thrive, Renu Gupta: Building Positive Personal and Professional Habits

Take one look at Renu Gupta’s resume and it’s immediately clear that she is a talented — and successful — sales leader. With experience at companies such as Google, Dropbox and Slack, Renu has led lar...

19 Jul 202141min

SVP Sales at Iterable, Jan Zeman: Hiring and Coaching Successful Sales Talent

SVP Sales at Iterable, Jan Zeman: Hiring and Coaching Successful Sales Talent

When Jan Zeman was hired as a sales development representative in the early 2000s, he had a unique background in management consulting and venture capital. Jan has since risen through the sales ranks,...

12 Jul 202147min

Chief Customer Officer at Xero, Rachael Powell: The Power of Positive Psychology: Creating Authentic Company Cultures

Chief Customer Officer at Xero, Rachael Powell: The Power of Positive Psychology: Creating Authentic Company Cultures

Not many people can say they’ve held leadership positions in marketing, sales, and HR during their business career. Well, maybe except for Rachael Powell, who has done all three and says it’s just her...

5 Jul 202151min

President of Sprout Social, Ryan Barretto: Establishing a Compelling Company Vision

President of Sprout Social, Ryan Barretto: Establishing a Compelling Company Vision

Ryan Barretto knows all about what it takes to successfully scale a business.After an impressive 10-year career in sales leadership roles at Salesforce, Ryan took a role as SVP of Global Sales at Spro...

28 Jun 202148min

SVP Revenue at GitHub, Erica Anderson: Combining Top-Down and Bottom-Up Sales Motions

SVP Revenue at GitHub, Erica Anderson: Combining Top-Down and Bottom-Up Sales Motions

Erica Anderson had never carried a bag before she was promoted to Vice President of Worldwide Sales at GitHub in 2019. With a successful career as a sales operations leader under her belt, Erica has s...

21 Jun 202143min

CRO DataStax, Harry Ault: The Three Steps to a Successful Tech Company Turnaround

CRO DataStax, Harry Ault: The Three Steps to a Successful Tech Company Turnaround

Growing up in a farm town in Pennsylvania with a population of just 183 people, Harry Ault had big career aspirations.After working for CitiGroup in management positions, Harry built a successful care...

14 Jun 202144min

VP Unity Technologies, Laura Palmer: Going The Extra Mile: Forging Meaningful Customer Connections

VP Unity Technologies, Laura Palmer: Going The Extra Mile: Forging Meaningful Customer Connections

Laura Palmer will never forget the first big technology sales deal she ever closed.Having only worked professionally as an inside sales rep, Laura took a leap of faith early in her business career and...

7 Jun 202145min

President and COO Golden State Warriors, Brandon Schneider: Building One of the NBA’s Most Valuable Teams

President and COO Golden State Warriors, Brandon Schneider: Building One of the NBA’s Most Valuable Teams

Throughout his over 18 years working for the Golden State Warriors, Brandon Schneider has held several positions and seen it all.From the depths of rarely making the playoffs, to the heights of making...

31 Mai 202144min

Populært innen Business og økonomi

stopp-verden
lydartikler-fra-aftenposten
dine-penger-pengeradet
e24-podden
rss-penger-polser-og-politikk
rss-borsmorgen-okonominyhetene
pengepodden-2
pengesnakk
livet-pa-veien-med-jan-erik-larssen
utbytte
morgenkaffen-med-finansavisen
liberal-halvtime
tid-er-penger-en-podcast-med-peter-warren
finansredaksjonen
stormkast-med-valebrokk-stordalen
lederpodden
rss-markedspuls-2
rss-sunn-okonomi
okonomiamatorene
rss-politisk-preik