Shishir Mehrotra is the co-founder and CEO of Coda, and formerly head of product and engineering at YouTube. In this episode, he shares his insights on growth strategy, how he evaluates talent, a peek at his upcoming book The Rituals of Great Teams, why reference checks are the most important step in the interview process, and so much more. Join us.—Find the full transcript here: https://www.lennyspodcast.com/the-rituals-of-great-teams-shishir-mehrotra-coda-youtube-microsoft/#transcript—Where to find Shishir Mehrotra:• Twitter: https://twitter.com/shishirmehrotra• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shishirmehrotra/—Where to find Lenny:• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com• Twitter: https://twitter.com/lennysan• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/—Thank you to our wonderful sponsors for making this episode possible:• Coda: http://coda.io/lenny• Flatfile: https://www.flatfile.com/lenny• Eppo: https://www.geteppo.com/— Referenced:• The Rituals of Great Teams Braintrust: https://coda.io/@shishir/join-the-rituals-of-great-teams-braintrust• Bing Gordon: https://www.kleinerperkins.com/people/bing-gordon/• Switch by Chip Heath and Dan Heath: https://www.amazon.com/Switch-Change-Things-When-Hard/dp/0385528752• PSHE diagram: https://coda.io/@shishir/pshe• Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud: https://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Comics-Invisible-Scott-McCloud/dp/1627652736• Only Murders in the Building: https://www.hulu.com/series/only-murders-in-the-building-ef31c7e1-cd0f-4e07-848d-1cbfedb50ddf• WandaVision: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WandaVision• Fidji Simo: https://twitter.com/fidjissimo• Daniel Ek: https://twitter.com/eldsjal/• Reid Hoffman: https://twitter.com/reidhoffman?• Mamoon Hamid: https://twitter.com/mamoonha• Quentin Clark: https://twitter.com/quentinclark• Sarah Guo: https://twitter.com/saranormous—In this episode, we cover:[4:13] Shishir’s background at Google and current role at Coda[7:53] How Shishir got on the board of Spotify[8:58] Black loops and blue loops and how Coda uses this internal diagram [9:52] The black loop is how a product is naturally shared[12:15] The blue loop is the emotional loop on why products are shared[14:55] Why you should think in loops instead of funnels[18:20] Mining for your business’s loops by looking at what you tell job candidates[24:37] Shishir’s upcoming book The Rituals of Great Teams [26:30] The 3 golden rituals of teams[27:10] Coda’s golden ritual: Dory and Pulse[31:29] Shishir’s most impactful rituals: Arianna Huffington’s reset, Gusto’s incredible hiring call, and Coinbase’s Rapids[40:38] How you find your own team’s rituals[42:50] How to change things when change is hard[45:01] Airbnb’s unique rituals[46:45] A backstory on YouTube, and valuing consistency over comprehensiveness[53:00] Eigenquestions: What they are, how to use them, and examples[59:05] One of Shishir’s favorite retired interview questions [1:03:11] How to evaluate talent, a story about YouTube, and breaking down PSHE[1:15:20] How to approach reference checks and what questions to ask[1:24:33] Favorite books[1:25:50] Favorite TV shows and movies[1:26:50] Favorite interview questions[1:28:44] Who in the industry Shishir respects as a thought leader[1:30:10] His go-to karaoke song[1:30:40] Where you can find Shishir— Production and marketing: https://penname.co/ Get full access to Lenny's Newsletter at www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe

In today’s episode, we’re trying something different!   Usually, y’all know I have one guest and I ask them a whole bunch of questions.    BUT today, I have THREE guests. And I asked each of them to give me the advice they wish they could tell their 20-year-old self.   In today’s episode, you’ll hear from:   - Bing Gordon: Former chief creative officer of the video game company Electronic Arts  - Paul Orfalea: Founder of Kinkos… which sold for over $2.6 BILLION dollars!! - And Bob Metcalfe: Who invented the ethernet cable… which was the original internet.   ALL of these guys have two things in common: They’re AT LEAST 70-years-old and they’re all multi-millionaires… or billionaires!   Who better to get advice from in your 20s!? If you’ve ever wanted to learn about what 70 year-olds would tell their 20-year-old selves, you’ll love this episode.   In this conversation, you’ll enjoy 3 BIG things: - What Bing Gordon DIDN’T do in his 20s that would have made his life a whole lot easier - The advice Paul Orfalea’s mom gave him when HE was in his 20s - And the ONE skill Bob Metcalfe wishes he learned sooner… that you can learn NOW.   Enjoy those 3 things… plus a bunch more ear nuggets along the way.   If today’s episode inspires you to start your own business but you don’t know where to start — join my Monthly1K course!! I just reopened it and you can join it now for just $10 bucks. Yep, it’s not a subscription. You just buy it once and I walk you step by step through how to create a one thousand dollar per month business. Head over to OkDork.com/Monthly1K to sign up. And check out TidyCal, our scheduling tool. New Mutual Availability beta feature out now! ✉️ Signup for my weekly newsletter (I reply to emails): https://okdork.com/email-newsletter/  

Bing Gordon was the co-founder and Chief Creative Officer of Electronic Arts, the popular video game company.    In his twenties, Bing did a lot of interesting things. He wrote poetries in college, tried acting for a year, and even did commercial fishing. Then he worked at EA for over 26 years and contributed to the marketing and design of many best-selling games such as The Sims and John Madden Football. Today, he is an investor, company advisor, and just full of wisdom. https://okdork.com/podcast/249 Get the BEST daily deals on software at: https://appsumo.com/noah