Today’s episode is with Alex Buder Shapiro, the Chief People Officer at Flatiron Health, a company that focuses on accelerating cancer research and improving patient care. Alex first joined Flatiron back in 2016, after an 8-year stint on Google’s People Operations team. Before her promotion to Flatiron’s executive team this past March, Alex previously ran the HR business partner and employee relations team as the startup rapidly scaled. We kicked things off by talking about resolving conflict at work. Alex talks us through the patterns she’s seen across her career and her advice for troubleshooting, including why she loves borrowing techniques from the world of couples therapy. We also touch on the challenge of getting employees to stick around long-term at startups. From hiring your own boss to navigating tough career conversations, Alex shares helpful tips, as well as more about her own journey rising through the ranks from IC to exec at Flatiron. Her experiences mean that she’s also seen the growing pains that come with scaling first hand — things like the challenge of “selling” your new role with an elevator pitch when you first join, or the danger of locking into people processes and frameworks too early. This episode explores so many different facets of what it means to be both a people leader and a long-tenured employee at a fast-growing startup, meaning there are plenty of lessons for managers and leaders in any function. You can email us questions directly at [email protected] or follow us on Twitter @firstround and @brettberson.

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