People leaders aren’t the CEO of culture, they’re product managers — Credit Karma’s Colleen McCreary

Today’s episode is with Colleen McCreary, the Chief People Officer at Credit Karma. 

With more than 20 years of experience in HR, operations, recruiting and M&A, Colleen has headed up the people function at companies such as Vevo, The Climate Corporation, and Zynga. She’s also seen the early-stages and scaled through multiple IPOs and acquisitions, which means she has a great perspective on the people problems founders tend to run into as their businesses grow.

We kick this conversation off with Colleen’s explanation of why she designs for the 80% and focuses on clarity, context, and consistency when building people organizations and crafting culture. She walks us through some really tactical examples of that work, including how her team approaches compensation at Credit Karma and the reason they do promotions quarterly.

Colleen also shares why she views the Chief People Officer not as the CEO of culture, but rather the product manager of the systems and tools that run the company. She gives a detailed look at how she approaches many of those systems, from how rewards and recognition were incredibly different at Zynga and Credit Karma, to why career growth isn’t just about a promotion. Colleen also shares her take on whether we should double down on strengths or focus on correcting weaknesses when it comes to performance.

Given her experience as a 4X Chief People Officer, today’s episode is a must-listen for first-time founders and early people leaders looking for a roadmap as their startups scale.

You can follow Colleen on Twitter at @Chiefpplofficer, and you can email us questions directly at review@firstround.com or follow us on Twitter @firstround and @brettberson.