Frank Slootman
20 statements across 2 episodes · 6 bullish · 5 bearish · 1 people on the record · first statement Aug 8, 2023 by Frank Slootman · across every show →
On the record as a speaker too: Frank Slootman's record, appearances and statements → this page counts the times other people say the name.
Everything said about Frank Slootman, oldest first
Aug 8, 2023 negative
Applying rigid executive playbooks leads leaders astray
“You gotta be very careful that, that you don't get into a rinse and repeat mode where, you know, you just think you have a formula or an algorithm and you can just apply it over and over again. That's just really simplistic thinking. It will lead you astray be…”
Aug 8, 2023 negative
Monolithic functional structures kill momentum in large organizations
“You can create focus in, in a multi mission organization. You absolutely can. I mean, certainly Google was actually quite legendary for doing a lot of that stuff. Cause they had a lot of successful things that they did. And I think there's many other companies…”
Aug 8, 2023 positive
Evaluating candidates requires surrounding their employment history with internal backchannel references
“But the way to find out anything about people is to fully surround where that person has been, okay? And, you know, if they've been at Company A, you know, you go find out who in my company was at Company A while this person was there, and let's go, I'm gonna …”
Aug 8, 2023
Leaders must inspect front-line customer calls directly instead of reading reports
“What you don't want to do is sort of, you know, rely on information, you know, because You just get a second hand, third hand, fourth hand, and you don't know whether you're dealing with a feeble person that has no fortitude or whether you're dealing with a re…”
Aug 8, 2023
Aug 8, 2023 negative
Rushing to hit headcount targets in fast-growing startups is highly destructive
“I find that people rush, especially in fast growing companies, you know, we have hiring targets and they're just slamming bodies. And it's the worst thing ever. I'd rather hire, you know, more slowly, but better than faster.”
Aug 8, 2023 neutral
Aug 8, 2023 bullish
Aug 8, 2023 negative
Slootman dismisses focusing on executive legacy as self-absorbed
“People sometimes ask me, what's your legacy? Legacy is not a word that I use. Okay. It's not, I find that very sort of a lot of self-absorption around that stuff. Like, you know, I need to live beyond the grave. I really don't need to, and I don't want to be, …”
Aug 8, 2023
Priority counts cannot be fixed because initiative sizes vary drastically
“I don't start off saying it has to be this number or that number. I just want to see what it is because these things are not created equal. It might just be one thing because it's just so big that it's going to consume us, which is then fine. You know, sometim…”
Aug 8, 2023 positive
Performance cultures must reward top staff along a strict bell curve
“There needs to be a bell curve. We want to know who is, you know, deserving of two X, three X versus who is deserving of zero. So that we see the full spectrum, the bell curve, if you will of people that are, you know, performing, you know, incredibly well. An…”
Aug 8, 2023
Aug 8, 2023
Failing to act on obvious issues immediately damages a leader's credibility
“When you come in as a new leader, everybody's watching, not just what you're doing, what you're not doing. So if you're not moving on things that people that everybody is seeing, your leadership brand is already in question because, you know, apparently you're…”
Aug 8, 2023 positive
Aug 8, 2023 positive
Slootman operates companies through influence and merit; org charts mean nothing
“Hierarchy or charge mean nothing to us. You know, we operate through influence. If you can convince people, great. And if you can't, well, then you just can't. It doesn't matter what your title is or what organization you come from or who your boss is. So it's…”
Aug 8, 2023 positive
Dec 26, 2023 negative
Dec 26, 2023
Dec 26, 2023
Slootman: Businesses should operate like sports franchises rather than families
“I don't think a business is a family. Unfortunately, in a family, you can't fire your family, even though you sometimes want to, you have to tolerate them and deal with them. And sometimes in the most egregious way, that is just the nature of families. I mean,…”
Dec 26, 2023
Slootman: Without deliberate leadership, strong personalities will hijack company culture
“Driving culture is really important because if you don't, You know, other people will fill that void, right? And you get subcultures in a city or a division because strong personalities can do that. So unless you are filling that void, right? It will get fille…”