Management & Leadership

A good change leader never thinks, “Why are these people acting so badly? They must be bad people.” A change leader thinks, “How can I set up a situation that brings out the good in these people?

The difference between Amazon, Netflix, Google, Facebook, and the legions of large but slowly dying companies is usually exactly that: product leadership.

We believe that what makes a fantastic workplace isn’t a great office or free meals and massages — although we have some nice perks. It’s the people. Imagine working alongside stunning colleagues who are great at what they do, and even better at working together. It’s why we model ourselves on a professional sports team, not a family. Families are ... See more

Leading from good to great does not mean coming up with the answers and then motivating everyone to follow your messianic vision. It means having the humility to grasp the fact that you do not yet understand enough to have the answers and then to ask the questions that will lead to the best possible insights.

Burned-out, stressed-out, and frazzled leaders foster organizations that experience high turnover, low employee engagement, steep healthcare costs, and dysfunctional teams that often work against one another. The current models of leadership require organizations to motivate their people largely with fear and extrinsic rewards. Though no one argues... See more

Going back to Thich Nhat Hanh, I believe that writing is part of every design. If you can clearly define what you’re making and articulate its value, the steps to bring it out into the world will go much faster. It’s easy to put pixels together when you’ve already made decisions. And since we work across systems and borders, there’s no better way t... See more

“I actually stay in the details,” Chesky told me. “CEOs at S&P 500, Fortune 100 companies, I think most of them aren't really in the details of their product. At some point, these companies get so big, that it's pretty typical that you get a little detached, that it's someone else's job to listen to customers. But it's not your job. And I've al... See more

Every clear directive you issue is a gift because it relievesyour staff of the stress of having to divine your goals. A cleardirective is an indication of trust: your way of saying "I havetaken the time and effort to figure out our goal. I nowacknowledge that you have the knowledge and resources to figureout the process."