Grit

#157 CEO Udemy, Greg Brown: The Plunge

Sep 25, 2023

01:01:28

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Greg Brown, CEO of Udemy, discusses fitness routines, setting priorities, and being intentional with family. He talks about the distraction of stock price, daily to-do lists, and applying AI to customer solutions. They also explore cold plunge therapy, the journey from football quarterback to CEO, and determining when it's time for growth. The chapter concludes with hiring at Udemy and the concept of grit.

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Quick takeaways

Maintain focus, block out distractions, and execute relentlessly against objectives in order to achieve success.

Take care of your physical and mental well-being through practices like cold plunging, sauna therapy, proper diet, exercise, and sleep for optimal performance and quality of life.

Balancing personal and professional life, setting clear objectives, and continuous learning are key to becoming a successful CEO.

Deep dives

Importance of Focus and Execution

In this podcast episode, the speaker emphasizes the importance of blocking out distractions, focusing on what can be controlled, and executing relentlessly against objectives. The analogy of sports is used to highlight the need for a grit mindset, both personally and professionally. The speaker emphasizes the importance of creating, building, and scaling world-class organizations, rather than merely showcasing guests' success. The message is clear: to achieve success, one must maintain focus, block out the noise, and execute diligently.

The Importance of Focus and Execution in Sports and Business

02:19

Maintaining Balance in Work and Life

03:15

Why I Left WebEx: A Sales Leader's Perspective

01:41

Introduction

2min

Cold Plunge Therapy and Sauna Sessions

14min

From Quarterback to CEO

18min

Differentiating B2B and B2C and the distraction of valuation

8min

Determining When it's Time for Growth

14min

The Importance of Intentionality and Being Present at Home

2min

Hiring and the Concept of Grit

3min

Guest: Greg Brown, CEO of Udemy

Every night before he goes to bed, Greg Brown makes a to-do list. He has to because, as the CEO of the online learning platform Udemy, setting his priorities helps ensure that he makes the most of the scarce time on his calendar. “If I’m meeting with employees, what’s the message I want them to walk away with?” he asks. He also wants to make sure his team isn’t getting distracted by Udemy’s stock price. “Where it be sports, or life, or in business, you’ve got to be able to block out the noise,” Greg says. “Focus on what you can control and maniacally execute against those objectives.”

In this episode, Greg and Joubin discuss fitness routines, VO₂ max, multi-athletes, Webex, the dotcom bust, Gregg Coccari, streamlining, setting priorities, listening to analysts, and being intentional with family.

In this episode, we cover:

Cold plunges and healthspan (00:42)
Finding time for fitness (07:48)
Greg’s father (10:04)
From sports to business (15:55)
Two-year investments in companies (18:15)
Achievers and motivation data (22:57)
Becoming CEO of Reflektive (26:07)
Why Greg joined Udemy and what it does (28:40)
The distraction of a stock price (34:54)
Daily to-do lists (39:20)
Back to growth (41:45)
Go to market CEOs (48:25)
Coachability (50:49)
Applying AI to customer solutions (52:16)
At-home office hours (56:09)
Who Udemy is hiring and what “grit” means to Greg (58:12)

Links:

Connect with Greg
- 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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