Leadership Advice I Always Come Back To
Keith Rabois played an important role in the development of PayPal, eBay, and LinkedIn.
He gave a lecture called “How to Operate” at Stanford and there’s tons of good advice in there. Here’s a quick overview:
Two Types of Problems
- Hard, but high impact (A+)
- Straight Forward (B+)
Typically we to focus on solving B+ problems because it keeps us in our comfort zone. This causes a trickle-down effect that can stunt a company’s growth.
Peter Thiel’s solution to A+ problems at Paypal was to force each person to specialize in a domain. This made employees solve tough problems themselves instead of expecting others to do it. He wouldn’t talk about anything to them except that specific thing.
Building High Functioning Company = Building an Engine
A well designed engine is one that is idiot proof. At eBay where Rabois worked, it had an infrastructure that was so simple and easy to understand that “Martians could take over without anyone noticing.”
Clarity is paramount; complexity is the enemy.
Like an editor, a leader will need to ask questions and then refine as much as possible. An impactful product can be described in less than 50 characters so learn to simplify your product description as much as possible.
More hires ≠ more resources.
Learn how to find the diamond in the rough. Let’s put this in terms of firearms. Staff can be divided into:
- Barrel — A specialized or niched person who can understand a concept and be able to ship the product. Prioritize hiring these types of people.
- Ammunition — Everyone else; great to have but in the end, non-essential.
Look for Anomalies
At the early stages of LinkedIn, Rabois couldn’t understand why 25–30% of clicks on the homepage went to directly to a user’s own page. Then it was found it was purely based on vanity. This single statistic helped understand a product value that no one else in the company saw.
Rabois’s Two Questions for Struggling CEOs
- What are your priorities?
- Can you show me your calendar?
Many times problems occur because there’s no alignment between the two. Reflect on your priorities and learn to align it with the required action items.
TL;DR: When it comes to great leadership, the details matter. If you can nail the small stuff, the rest will take care of itself.
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