Grit20 Feb 2023

#126 CRO Gem, Lesley Young: Hard Yards

Guest: Lesley Young, CRO of Gem

Lesley Young’s favorite book is “The Obstacle Is The Way,” in which Ryan Holiday argues that the process of working hard to achieve something is more important than the achievement itself. When you find yourself in a position of leadership, the Gem CRO says, “you realize there’s a lot of wisdom that you’ve gained in those experiences that you’ve had.” One of her passions is helping other people develop in the careers, which includes convincing them that “that hard yards are going to be the ones that are gonna grow them the most.”

In this episode, Lesley and Joubin discuss speaking vs. observing, meeting your heroes, the Great Depression mindset, developing people, Workplace by Facebook, the power of discontent, choosing to show up, controlling the controllable, repeatable success, being “open for business,” getting fired up, remote work, “only the paranoid survive,” and hard feedback.

In this episode, we cover:

Prepping for public presentations (00:59)
Meeting Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff and working with Snowflake CRO Chris Degnan (04:44)
Fear of everything evaporating, and becoming resourceful (09:28)
The “purpose statement” Lesley wrote for her career, and why she loves to learn (14:16)
Choosing to not be *the* leader all the time, and taking a risk on Facebook (20:35)
Her relationship with her parents and being motivated by unfinished work (25:45)
Ryan Holiday’s “The Obstacle Is The Way” and the journey to the achievement (29:32)
How to work with founders such as Box CEO Aaron Levie (35:58)
Former Segment CEO Peter Reinhardt and asking the right question (41:03)
Why Lesley joined Gem on the eve of a hiring downturn: The long-term play (47:26)
Why Gem CEO Steve Bartel is an “amazing recruiter,” and the return of in-person collaboration (52:14)
The toughest feedback Lesley has ever gotten about herself (59:42)
Why delivering tough feedback is harder than receiving it (01:03:49)

Links:

Connect with Lesley
- LinkedIn
Connect with Joubin
- Twitter
- LinkedIn
- Email: grit@kleinerperkins.com
Learn more about Kleiner Perkins
This episode was edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod.fm

Det här avsnittet är hämtat från ett öppet RSS-flöde och publiceras inte av Podme. Det kan innehålla reklam.

Avsnitt(290)

The Sales Framework Every Founder Needs | Mark Roberge

"There's 20 fires going on at every moment in the office and you have enough water to put out four."Mark Roberge shares what it takes to build and scale a company, from finding product-market fit to k...

13 Juli 1h 22min

Airwallex's Jack Zhang on Fintech, Failure, and Growth

In 2020, Airwallex lost nearly half its revenue overnight. Today it's worth $11 billion.Jack Zhang reflects on the decisions that kept the company alive, raising capital during uncertainty, and leadin...

29 Juni 1h 11min

Why 80% of the Fortune 100 Chose Qualtrics | Ryan Smith

AI may change software overnight, but company building still takes time.Ryan Smith explains why, despite the pace of AI, “the race is going to be way longer than anyone thinks.”He reflects on Qualtric...

15 Juni 1h 12min

What It Takes to Build Software for 171,000+ Restaurants | Aman Narang

Great software companies often come from understanding pain points at a very deep level.On Grit, Aman Narang shares how Toast built trust with 171,000+ restaurant operators by helping restaurants mana...

1 Juni 1h 17min

What It Takes to Build a Generational Company | Anduril’s Trae Stephens

Founder quality becomes more important as startups become easier to build.Trae Stephens, co-founder of Anduril and partner at Founders Fund, has spent years backing founders with strong conviction, in...

18 Maj 56min

How AIG Is Reinventing Insurance With AI | Peter Zaffino

What does it take to run a company where the business is risk itself?In conversation with Joubin Mirzadegan, Peter Zaffino shares what the role demands at AIG, including high stakes decisions, constan...

4 Maj 56min

From Airbnb to Linear: How Karri Saarinen Redefined Product Design

In a market that hadn’t changed in decades, Linear didn’t win by being faster. They won by being more thoughtful.Karri Saarinen helped shape design at Airbnb and Coinbase before building Linear around...

20 Apr 1h 17min

How Kevin Mandia Built the Most Trusted Name in Cybersecurity

What does security look like when attackers use AI better than you do?Armadin recently raised $200M to build for the “attacker of the future,” where attacks are autonomous and harder to contain.On the...

6 Apr 1h 2min