Lockett: Stripe evaluated employees by asking if they would enthusiastically rehire them
Rachel Lockett · A guide to difficult conversations, building high-trust teams, and designing a life you love · Nov 23, 2025 · at 1:27:33
Rachel Lockett, former HR leader at Stripe and executive coach, discusses Stripe's internal talent evaluation standard.
0:00 / 0:14exact quote · 14.6s
▶ Watch the full episode on YouTube → 720p mp4 · rendered on demand · StarZero watermark
“I asked them, would you enthusiastically rehire this person for the same role? Which is the question we always asked at Stripe. And when the answer is no to that, no matter how many difficult conversations you have, this is not going to work.”
quote is from the automated transcript, cleaned for reading: filler sounds and stutters are removed, nothing is rephrased. names can be misheard (the analysis reads context, assessments check outside sources). how →
More from Rachel Lockett
Lockett: Base is the largest Ethereum Layer 2 in the world
“He's not only killing it, but he's running a community, a global community for Coinbase called Base and the Base app. It's the largest Ethereum L-II in the world, and it's a community of creators and developers, and he's having a great time.”
Lockett: Always advising teams trains them to bring leaders every problem
“Great leaders know that when you try to advise and have the answer all the time, you're not actually equipping your team to go solve the hard problems. You're training your team to come to you with all of the hard problems. And coaching is a different way. It'…”
Lockett: Leaders should advise instead of coach when they want a specific outcome
“So don't coach and make it a game. Like, you want your person on your team to guess what's in your mind. That's a, not a good time to coach. You have something you absolutely want them to do. You know the right answer. You want them to be motivated to go do it…”
Lockett: Managerial coaching should be embedded in 1:1s, not separate sessions
“Coaching In a manager or a leader context is not the same as in an executive coaching conversation. You're managing this person. You're responsible for their outcomes. You're not setting up an hour-long coaching session. You're just using coaching as an additi…”
Lockett: Internal program revealed widespread exhaustion among Stripe's top 50 tech executives
“I created a program with my team for the top 50 executives in the tech side of the house, and we looked at their engagement scores, we did coaching circles, and it was so sad to see how exhausted That group of incredibly creative and committed leaders was in t…”