Lenny's Podcast: Product | Growth | Career

Lessons from scaling Stripe | Claire Hughes Johnson (former COO of Stripe)

Mar 5, 2023

Claire Hughes Johnson, former COO of Stripe, shares her journey of scaling the company from startup to powerhouse. She discusses the crucial role of personal leadership and self-awareness for effective management. Claire highlights the importance of establishing clear operating principles and structured frameworks for growth. She offers tactical advice on improving internal communication and decision-making processes, emphasizing the need for a strong organizational foundation. Insights from her experiences at both Stripe and Google provide a roadmap for aspiring leaders.

01:21:17

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Episode guests

Claire Hughes Johnson

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Quick takeaways

Building self-awareness and mutual awareness is crucial for effective company building and management.

Encouraging open and honest communication within a team is essential.

Building a stable operating system is crucial for managing chaos and uncertainty.

Deep dives

Importance of Self-Awareness and Mutual Awareness

Building self-awareness and mutual awareness is crucial for effective company building and management. It is important for leaders to seek feedback, understand their motivators, strengths, and blind spots, and share this information with others. By fostering an environment of open feedback and exploration, leaders can create a stable and effective work environment.

Empower, Don't Dictate

00:37

How to be a Product Manager

02:02

How to Build a Successful Company

01:19

The Importance of Chaos in a Company

00:48

Intro

5min

Navigating Growth: Insights from Writing and Hiring

21min

Foundations of Personal Leadership

16min

Establishing Stability Through Operating Principles

5min

The Pillars of Organizational Structure

5min

Building a Strong Foundation for Startups

23min

Mastering Meetings and Effective Decision-Making

4min

Concluding Thoughts on Operations and Engagement

2min

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Claire Hughes Johnson is the former COO at Stripe, which she helped scale from a small startup to the legendary company it is today. She also spent close to 10 years at Google, where she filled several executive roles, including VP of Global Online Sales and Director of Sales and Ops for Gmail, YouTube, Google Apps, and AdWords. Claire shares invaluable insights from her upcoming book, Scaling People, on how to successfully build and scale organizations. We talk about the importance of building self-awareness, and Claire gives tons of tactical advice on how to say things that are hard to say, as well as how to improve your internal communications, and so much more.

Find the full transcript at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/lessons-from-scaling-stripe-tactics

Where to find Claire Hughes Johnson:

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/chughesjohnson

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/claire-hughes-johnson-7058/

Where to find Lenny:

• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/lennysan

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/

Referenced:

• Scaling People: Tactics for Management and Company Building: https://www.amazon.com/Scaling-People-Tactics-Management-Building/dp/1953953212

• John Collison on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnbcollison/

• Patrick Collison on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrickcollison/