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Lessons from Keith Rabois Essay 3: How to be an Effective Executive

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This week’s essay is on how to be an effective executive. This is inspired by a talk Keith gives to some of our portfolio companies’ executives. You need to think of yourself as a producer and a leader driving value, not as a manager. Calling yourself a manager implies some level of reactivity. You manage unexpected situations. You lead to ideal outcomes. You want to be active versus reactive. Driving the vehicle versus a passenger observing. You are judged as a leader by your ability to drive output. Yes, unexpected situations will come up, but that should not be your primary modus operandi. Ok so what does output mean? From Andy Grove (though unfortunate he uses “manager”): For example, as the head of product, you are primarily responsible for the pace of product releases and updates. You also have a heavy influence on the output of customer support, most of the customers that write in, do so because of a flaw in the product. Your total output as a leader is both product releases and

Lessons from Keith Rabois Essay 3: How to be an Effective Executive Lessons from Keith Rabois Essay 3: How to be an Effective Executive published February 24th, 2019 This week’s essay is on how to be an effective executive. This is inspired by a talk Keith gives to some of our portfolio companies’ executives. Summary Running yourself Lead, don’t manage: Be proactive rather than reactive. “Lead” your team as opposed to “manage” a situation. Understand your output: Your output is how much your team gets done + how much neighboring teams get done divided by how many people are on your team. Only

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