Stories
I’ve got plenty of stories to share - from redesigning Apple’s approach to coaching to reimagining the way managers learn at Airbnb. Here are a few of my favorites.
Growing leaders
to grow Airbnb
When I first joined Airbnb, it had 1500 employees and was projected to double its workforce within the year. It had a designer CEO, a mission of belonging, and a hyper-growth business that was quickly outpacing the company. It also needed better managers.
We evaluated the company’s greatest strengths and challenges and started prototyping solutions that would make them, and the performance culture at Airbnb, stronger. Rather than treat diversity and inclusion as an aside, we integrated belonging as a red thread - so that every leadership principle we covered was reflective of the mission that inspired employees to join in the first place.
Our pilot manager program achieved a net promoter score of 96. Deloitte featured it in a white paper as a blueprint for best-practice. And it became a backbone for manager- and leadership development as Airbnb scaled from 1500 to over 6500 employees.
Prefer listening?
This interview gives a sense for how I thought about some of my work at Airbnb — from designing for learning in the face of complexity to creating a culture of performance and belonging.
Elevating learning
at Lucasfilm
Lucasfilm’s artists were some of the most talented in the world — but they didn’t always get to hear directly from many of the directors they served. In response, I created the Lucasfilm Speaker Series: an interview format designed to help our employees learn first-hand from some of the greatest creatives in the industry.
Through the series, I interviewed and hosted some of the biggest names in entertainment: Martin Scorsese, Quentin Tarantino, Viola Davis, Will Farrell, James Cameron, Christopher Nolan, Aaron Sorkin, Lee Daniels, Octavia Spencer, Ben Affleck, Tony Bennett, Rian Johnson, Ang Lee, and countless others. Beyond learning, I aimed to create a lasting impression — to show up not just as a service provider, but a collaborative partner.
The result? Work became a destination. Our employees’ awareness and engagement grew, so much they started calling the Series their favorite thing about Lucasfilm. Industrial Light + Magic and Skywalker Sound created connections with new clients, who began to see us in a new light.
Redefining coaching
— the Apple way
Apple, like many organizations, was leveraging coaches to support its executives. But there was an opportunity to elevate the practice. To make it more strategic. To better align it with Apple’s culture and ways of working. To make sure leaders could depend on it to deliver transformative results.
Our small team got to work - researching the needs and experiences of Apple’s leaders, coaches, and business partners - and ultimately crafted a design that accounted for a global, centralized practice - closely aligned to the needs of the business, and the teachings of Apple University.
The result was a small, elite bench of coaches who had proven their value; a clear set of criteria for turning to coaching as an intervention; a system for onboarding coaches more effectively to Apple’s unique culture of leadership; and ultimately more rewarding and transformative experience for leaders who engaged the practice as sponsors or clients.