Brian Chesky

I think the distinction is I remember one time an executive on my team said, is this your decision or is this my decision? And I remember saying, it should never be either. And that's founder mode. It should never be either. It's never your decision. It's never my decision. We're in it together. If you're co-founders, whose decision is it? It's your decision together.

I think the distinction is I remember one time an executive on my team said, is this your decision or is this my decision? And I remember saying, it should never be either. And that's founder mode. It should never be either. It's never your decision. It's never my decision. We're in it together. If you're co-founders, whose decision is it? It's your decision together.

It's the same thing hierarchically with the org chart. So that's really what it means. It means great leadership is presence, not absence. It's in the details. And what a lot of founders do is they let go of the product. And they abdicate responsibility. And they, you know, the CEO of the company should set, like Frank Slootman wrote a book called Amp It Up.

It's the same thing hierarchically with the org chart. So that's really what it means. It means great leadership is presence, not absence. It's in the details. And what a lot of founders do is they let go of the product. And they abdicate responsibility. And they, you know, the CEO of the company should set, like Frank Slootman wrote a book called Amp It Up.

It's the same thing hierarchically with the org chart. So that's really what it means. It means great leadership is presence, not absence. It's in the details. And what a lot of founders do is they let go of the product. And they abdicate responsibility. And they, you know, the CEO of the company should set, like Frank Slootman wrote a book called Amp It Up.

He basically said to turn a company around, the CEO just needs to set the pace of the company. You set the vision. But more important than the vision, I think you set the pace. You set the standards. And that's what founder mode is really about. And by the way, you don't need to be a founder to do that. You can apply founder mode to government.

He basically said to turn a company around, the CEO just needs to set the pace of the company. You set the vision. But more important than the vision, I think you set the pace. You set the standards. And that's what founder mode is really about. And by the way, you don't need to be a founder to do that. You can apply founder mode to government.

He basically said to turn a company around, the CEO just needs to set the pace of the company. You set the vision. But more important than the vision, I think you set the pace. You set the standards. And that's what founder mode is really about. And by the way, you don't need to be a founder to do that. You can apply founder mode to government.

You can apply founder mode to a nonprofit, to a volunteer organization, to being a sports coach. It just means leadership is presence in the details. And it's not about being so-called autocratic because you're not telling the experts what to do, but you know what they're doing and you're working through and you're challenging them. And you should do this because let's say you have 10 experts.

You can apply founder mode to a nonprofit, to a volunteer organization, to being a sports coach. It just means leadership is presence in the details. And it's not about being so-called autocratic because you're not telling the experts what to do, but you know what they're doing and you're working through and you're challenging them. And you should do this because let's say you have 10 experts.

You can apply founder mode to a nonprofit, to a volunteer organization, to being a sports coach. It just means leadership is presence in the details. And it's not about being so-called autocratic because you're not telling the experts what to do, but you know what they're doing and you're working through and you're challenging them. And you should do this because let's say you have 10 experts.

They might disagree. Finance says this is the best outcome. That may conflict with legal, which might conflict with product marketing, which represents the customer, which might conflict with engineering, which is the schedule. So you have to weigh all these tradeoffs. That's why you have to be in the details.

They might disagree. Finance says this is the best outcome. That may conflict with legal, which might conflict with product marketing, which represents the customer, which might conflict with engineering, which is the schedule. So you have to weigh all these tradeoffs. That's why you have to be in the details.

They might disagree. Finance says this is the best outcome. That may conflict with legal, which might conflict with product marketing, which represents the customer, which might conflict with engineering, which is the schedule. So you have to weigh all these tradeoffs. That's why you have to be in the details.

So that's a little bit of a – maybe one other thing before we wrap up is – Oh, we're far from wrapping up. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. One tidbit I'd like to say about hiring, just a thought. One of the most important things I do is I have an executive team. You could think of them as like C-level or SVPs. There's about like seven of them.

So that's a little bit of a – maybe one other thing before we wrap up is – Oh, we're far from wrapping up. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. One tidbit I'd like to say about hiring, just a thought. One of the most important things I do is I have an executive team. You could think of them as like C-level or SVPs. There's about like seven of them.

So that's a little bit of a – maybe one other thing before we wrap up is – Oh, we're far from wrapping up. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. One tidbit I'd like to say about hiring, just a thought. One of the most important things I do is I have an executive team. You could think of them as like C-level or SVPs. There's about like seven of them.

And then I have probably the next level are VPs, and there's maybe like 30 of them or 40 of them. I don't really know how many there are. Something I do that's different than almost every other CEO in the Valley, but I think Jensen Huang basically does this, Steve Jobs did this, Walt Disney did this, and Elon Musk did this, is I treat all the VPs as direct reports.

And then I have probably the next level are VPs, and there's maybe like 30 of them or 40 of them. I don't really know how many there are. Something I do that's different than almost every other CEO in the Valley, but I think Jensen Huang basically does this, Steve Jobs did this, Walt Disney did this, and Elon Musk did this, is I treat all the VPs as direct reports.

And then I have probably the next level are VPs, and there's maybe like 30 of them or 40 of them. I don't really know how many there are. Something I do that's different than almost every other CEO in the Valley, but I think Jensen Huang basically does this, Steve Jobs did this, Walt Disney did this, and Elon Musk did this, is I treat all the VPs as direct reports.