Grit

#110 Former CRO / Advisor at Notion, Olivia Nottebohm: Grow Fast or Die Slow

Oct 31, 2022

01:06:44

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Olivia Nottebohm, former CRO and advisor at Notion, discusses immigrant assimilation, balancing accountability and empathy as a leader, growth vs. profits vs. product, collaborative creativity, what CEOs care about, community-led growth, screening for Grit, and finding focus in an engaging conversation.

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Quick takeaways

The importance of balancing accountability and empathy as a leader and respecting personal journeys of team members.

The evolution of go-to-market approaches from top-down to community-led.

Grit is not just about perseverance, but also having a passion for what one is doing and pushing oneself out of the comfort zone.

Deep dives

The Importance of Making an Impact

The speaker emphasizes that the impact we have on others is what truly matters in life. It is not about the titles or achievements, but how we make people feel and the kind of person we are.

Introduction

3min

Immigrant Experiences and Bridging Cultural Differences

7min

Education and Harvard

13min

Frequent travels, impressive resume, and potential sponsorships

2min

The Importance of Growth for Tech Companies

15min

Building Google Cloud to Compete with AWS and Azure

22min

Reflections on Career Milestones, Impact, and the Meaning of Grit

4min

As a veteran of several high-powered organizations — including McKinsey, Google, Dropbox — Notion advisor Olivia Nottebohm has learned the importance of respecting her teams’ personal journeys. She believes none of the 10 most important milestones in any person’s life will be career-related, and it’s important for leaders like her to strike a balance between accountability and empathy. “Before I need to have a tough conversation,” she says, “I try to put myself in their situation and think, ‘OK, how would I best receive something? ... [And] how is this person different from me?’”

In this episode, Olivia and Joubin discuss immigrant assimilation, the joy of learning, college vs. startups, stepping away from work, growth vs. profits vs. product, steep learning curves, working through a restructuring, collaborative creativity, what CEOs care about, community-led growth, screening for Grit, finding focus, and the only things people will remember about us when we’re gone.

In this episode, we cover:

Olivia’s parents and how she became a grammar stickler (01:00)
Small-town ice hockey and playing with the boys (03:54)
Why her parents didn’t want Olivia to go to Harvard, and what she wants for her own kids (08:49)
Choosing to go into business instead of science (15:32)
What changed for Olivia when her brother passed away unexpectedly (18:42)
“Grow Fast or Die Slow” (24:29)
Who doesn’t believe in growth in 2022? (31:37)
Leaving McKinsey after making partner (35:32)
Six years at Google and one year at Dropbox — starting right before COVID (39:34)
How Olivia got to Notion, the crowded “all-in-one” space, and its enormous addressable market (42:36)
The evolution of go-to-market strategies (49:43)
Accountability, empathy, and the biggest milestones in everyone’s life (58:36)

Links:

Connect with Olivia
- Twitter
- LinkedIn
Connect with Joubin
- Twitter
- LinkedIn
- Email: grit@kleinerperkins.com
Learn more about Kleiner Perkins
This episode was edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod.fm

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