René Lacerte, co-founder and former CEO of PayCycle, discusses the challenges of being a CEO and the importance of adapting to change. Topics include office environment, work-life balance, family values, empathy for small businesses, and the fulfillment of starting a business. Lacerte also reflects on personal regrets and lessons learned, while exploring the concepts of intentionality and persistence in personal growth.
Embracing mistakes is crucial for personal and professional growth.
Creating a comfortable work environment fosters productive conversations and high performance.
Daily exercise boosts energy levels and enhances leadership skills and decision-making abilities.
Deep dives
The Importance of Embracing Mistakes and Learning
The speaker emphasizes the importance of embracing mistakes and using them as opportunities to learn. They highlight how leaders should accept that life is not perfect and that everyone is bound to make mistakes. This mindset is crucial for personal and professional growth.
The Significance of Creating a Comfortable Work Environment
The speaker discusses the importance of creating a comfortable work environment. They share how they prioritize having a workspace where employees feel at ease and can have open and productive conversations. By fostering a relaxed atmosphere, leaders can encourage their team members to perform at their best.
The Impact of Daily Exercise on Leadership and Decision-Making
The speaker emphasizes the significance of daily exercise for maintaining good physical and mental health. They explain how exercise has personally helped them in terms of enhancing their leadership skills and decision-making abilities. By incorporating exercise into their daily routines, professionals can boost their energy levels and stimulate creative thinking.
The Power of Persistence and Humility
In this podcast episode, the speaker reflects on the importance of persistence and humility in both personal and professional growth. Drawing from personal experiences with his father, the speaker emphasizes how persistence, demonstrated through his father's dedication to learning the piano with only six fingers, can lead to unique and exceptional achievements. Additionally, the speaker highlights the value of humility, recognizing that success and impact should be grounded in an understanding of personal limitations and openness to learning from others. The combination of persistence and humility serves as a crucial foundation for effective leadership and personal development.
Building a Legacy through Values and Intentionality
Building upon the discussion of personal growth, the podcast delves into the importance of values and intentionality in both personal and professional contexts. The speaker emphasizes the significance of establishing foundational values that align with personal beliefs and aspirations. By articulating and living these values, individuals can create a lasting impact in their families and organizations. Furthermore, the speaker stresses the role of intentionality over a lifetime, balancing long-term visions and goals with spontaneous moments of fun and creativity. This approach fosters a sense of purpose and fulfillment while promoting personal and professional growth.
René Lacerte co-founded the online payroll firm PayCycle in 1999, and led it for six years until he was asked by the board to step down. Today, with 17 years as the CEO of Bill under his belt, he’s able to look back on that time with clearer eyes. “The title on my card is ‘CEO and Founder,’” he says. “At Paycycle, it was ‘Co-Founder and CEO.’” The order matters, because once you’ve become a founder or co-founder, you are one no matter what — and in hindsight, René believes he failed to keep up with how PayCycle was changing. “My job as a CEO, it changes every freaking day,” he says of Bill. “We’ve 10x’d in four years. My job today has far more responsibilities and requirements than it had four years ago. So how do you get ready for that?”
In this episode, René and Joubin discuss Silicon Valley OGs, the office environment, taking care of yourself, memorizing acronyms, Christmas presents, 11-finger jazz, intentionality and spontaneity, ordering your job titles, problem-solving at night, understanding insecurities, and measuring success.
In this episode, we cover:
Why René did not want a corner office (02:22)
The weight of being CEO (04:40)
Dinner with the kids (08:50)
Prioritizing, energy, and fitness (11:05)
Music and René’s parents (17:31)
His father and pride (23:13)
Empathy for small businesses (28:00)
Family values (32:46)
“Legacy, I don’t care about that” (36:15)
Stepping down from PayCycle (41:16)
Starting Bill (46:58)
Leading in hyper-growth (50:10)
The early years (53:07)
Conventional wisdom (56:08)
Who Bill is hiring and what “grit” means to René (01:01:02)
