Crossing the Chasm From Growth Operator → Growth Leader with Scott Tousley (Persefoni)

Scott is the VP of Growth at Persefoni, and his wide-ranging growth experience includes time at Reforge, HubSpot, co-hosting the Growth TL;DR podcast with Kieran Flanagan, and working on the Signals product with Brian Balfour.

In our convo, we talked at length about why growth roles tend to turn over so frequently, what makes a strong leader, and more:

• Navigating the “messy middle” between senior IC and growth leader
• How a lack of clear expectations and boundaries shortens role tenures
• Why rapid feedback cycles are important, whether you are working on a landing page, a board presentation, your comms, or your vision
• Four traits of strong leaders: simplify everything, empower everyone, learn from everywhere, and have a sense of humor

[00:18] Introducing Scott Tousley and his background

[08:50] Scott’s work at Persefoni and some of the challenges he experiences

[13:47] Why do growth leaders often have short tenures in companies?

[18:16] Learning and developing the skills that benefit a growth leader

[24:49] On feedback

[29:15] Patterns and traits of strong leaders that Scott wants to exemplify

[36:02] On work-life balance and how being a parent has affected how he prioritizes things

[40:55] On his career growth

[45:50] Connect with Scott

Links:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/scotttousley/

This episode was sponsored by Navattic and Madkudu.