Top 10 Learnings from World-Class Leaders

Over the last 20+ years in tech, I've had the pleasure of speaking with world-class leaders, innovators, and entrepreneurs about their paths to scaling businesses and inspiring teams.

Below are 10 leadership lessons I’ve learned from them.

1. Enjoy the journey

No one's career path is a straight line or even a ladder. It's more like a jungle gym. 

There will be twists and turns, unexpected losses and wins, and lots of fun along the way.

Success lies in how you handle hard moments and embrace change.

2. Execution will make or break you

Belief and inspiration will take you far, but you can't win without execution. 

Make sure you're executing thoughtfully with speed. Fail early and often. Then iterate and keep executing. This is how you will get to the finish line.

3. Opinions are inside, facts are outside

Obsessing over users is not about sharing your point of view on what they want, but getting THEIR point of view on what they want. 

What your customers say represent the facts. Everything else is just an opinion.

4. Have hard conversations

It's easy to avoid the hard stuff – but when you do, your team and customers suffer. So, get comfortable with being uncomfortable. 

Having hard conversations will help you make better decisions, solve problems, understand others and yourself.

5. What you don’t know helps you grow

You will never know everything. In fact, you'll feel less knowledgeable each year you grow. 

Use this as a compelling force to learn – and never stop learning. This is the beauty of leadership.

6. Patience vs impatience

Every leader has to balance patience and impatience. This is hard, but critical.

Be impatient about urgent and important things – like building great products.

Be patient about the future. Changing minds and moving markets takes time.

7. Leading is personal

You have to know yourself before you can lead others.  

What are your strengths and weaknesses? Your core values? What do you believe in deeply?

Answer these questions and bring them everywhere. Being yourself gives others permission to do the same.

8. Hire people who are better than you

This is one of the hardest things you will ever do. It requires humility and trust.

Great people will only come to work with you if you can provide them value. Make them successful and they will make the company successful.

9. DEI&B starts with personal accountability

To build an inclusive and equitable workplace, you have to drive behavioral change – NOT just check a box. 

It starts with you asking yourself every day: How did I show up? Did I listen actively? Can I identify any biases at play?

10. Innovation happens everywhere 

People think innovation just happens with products. Wrong. Innovation happens in execution, how you partner with customers, practically everything. 

How can you get started ? Take things that work well and improve on them in unexpected ways.

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If you enjoyed this thread, you'll love the Inspired Execution podcast. We interview phenomenal leaders, who share their journeys to success, obstacles and learnings along the way, and the advice they’d tell their younger selves. Season 5 is in production now, so stay tuned for new episodes this summer.