Calling Operator with Laura Nicol Ep 57. Leading Across Different Stages & Contexts—Laura Warden
After 19 conversations with some of the sharpest operators around, I’m closing the year** with someone who rewired how I think about building process: Laura Warden.
Your job as an operator is to make things work. So you do. You patch. You duct-tape. You make something 10% better, then 15%, then 20%. Over time, you get excellent at optimising a system that (maybe) shouldn’t exist in the first place. Laura brought me back to the idea of constructing or reconstructing from first principles: “If you could build this optimally from day one, would it look like this?”
She’s operated across different scales and contexts—running recruitment and talent at Hays, managing ~500 people at Google, and now supporting dozens of companies as Head of Operations at Folklore Ventures.
We touch on her journey and:
- How dyslexia shaped her superpowers
- Scaling hurdles: moving too fast without process, founder span-of-control failure, and insufficient communication
- Why leadership teams need to feel visible (and Google’s multi-modal comms example)
- The management triangle: Empathy + Business outcomes + Clear direction
- Why your job isn’t to be the hero—it’s to build an environment where heroes can emerge
- Your network as an external brain (and why it needs to be small and value-driven)
- Rising above the weeds: asking, “What have I missed? What’s going to derail this or make it less impactful?”
- Hiring observations: companies hiring a generalist operator first, then building specialist teams around them
- Laura's motto: "Sh*t happens. Accept it. Then figure out how you pick yourself, your team, and the organisation up from that.
**P.S. Catch my solo episode, "What the Year Taught Me", on December 23, before we tuck into the cauli' cheese and Christmas cheer.
Mentioned in this episode:
- Teresa Lilly
- Savannah Black
- Dianne Ward
- Nicole Hopkins
- Alister Coleman
- Rochelle Ritchie
- Sundar Pichai
- Romy Bundy
- Naomi Browne
Guest ideas?
Do you have an operator on speed dial who could be perfect for the show? Please share your suggestions with me via LinkedIn.
A note from your host, Laura:
My goal for Calling Operator is to open-source stories from startup operators across various functional areas and learn how they excel at building and scaling companies. As a Chief of Staff, I often find myself in (virtual) rooms with people facing similar challenges and reinventing the wheel. I want this podcast to open a line for operators across Australia and New Zealand to learn from fellow operators. Each episode shares personal stories, the execution behind big ideas, career-defining moments, successes, failures, and lessons.
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