Guest: Jay Parikh, CEO of Lacework
Jay Parikh describes himself as a “stickler” for meetings that start and end on time, and holds himself to the same expectations as his workers. “It’s just really important as a leader to set the standard for how everybody else should be respected,” the Lacework CEO says. “Too often in our industry, executives think that they can show up late, hold a meeting late, and everybody will adjust.” No one will complain, he says, to the person on top of the org chart when they are 10 minutes late, but they should: “I’m like, no, I disrespected 10 minutes of your time. So I take that really seriously.”
In this episode, Jay and Joubin discuss non-traditional CEOs, surviving Facebook’s early days, disrupting yourself, Akamai co-founder Danny Lewin, cultivating culture, applying restless energy, the loneliness of leaders, brushing your teeth, the love of the game, and being approachable.
In this episode, we cover:
- The “S-curve of learning” (01:04)
- Finding new challenges (05:10)
- “Is this too big of a job?” (07:33)
- Intensity and zen (11:00)
- Jay’s first jobs (15:07)
- Akamai’s post-IPO pop and crash (16:31)
- 9/11 and Danny Lewin’s legacy (19:56)
- Facebook’s pivot to mobile (24:58)
- Managing morale when the share price drops (27:16)
- Learning from Mark Zuckerberg (30:13)
- Being on time (34:44)
- Security in the cloud (37:58)
- Leaving Facebook (40:01)
- What has surprised Jay about becoming a CEO (45:00)
- Hiring, onboarding, and unlocking people (49:34)
- Jay’s favorite interview questions (54:34)
- Refusing to compromise on greatness (01:00:44)
- Balancing work and family (01:07:02)
- Who Lacework is hiring and what “grit” means to Jay (01:09:06)
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