Editor’s Note: This article was first published by Inc. here. While people all over the world scramble to cope with the impact of Covid-19, business leaders have been making tough decisions. As someone leading a startup, one thing is clear to me: Our priorities need to shift, and in ways that build resiliency among our teams … Continued
In some ways, times of uncertainty can actually bring clarity to the role of a CEO. For me, that means narrowing down my priorities to two things and two things only: Protecting our families, customer, employees, and investors Ensuring Drift is well-positioned to dominate our markets once the crisis ends There is no number 3. … Continued
Editor’s Note: This article was first published by Inc. here. Right now, my company is now entirely remote and will be so for the foreseeable future. This is not something we planned for. In fact, prior to this, we didn’t have much of a work from home culture, and in the past, I’ve publicly said that … Continued
Editor’s Note: This article was first published by Inc. here. I’ve said it before – I think that almost everything you need to know can be learned through books. Learning is the only shortcut I’ve learned in my career – and books are by far the cheapest and fastest way to level up and become … Continued
Editor’s Note: This article was first published by Inc. here. My company, Drift, is the fifth one I’ve founded. Which means I’ve dealt with success, failure, new products, new people, acquisitions, scaling and more. I’ve seen it all. And almost a year ago, I pinned the following Tweet to my feed: The hardest thing for an entrepreneur … Continued
Editor’s Note: This article was first published by Inc. here. People are busy, especially in a startup environment. Because of that, it’s easy to stick to the status quo and forget to sit down and think outside the box. But that’s not how you delight your customers and that’s not how your team gets better. So if … Continued
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: “I’ve never met a person who’s gone broke buying books before.” I love reading, because I love learning. So much so it’s baked into Drift’s leadership principles: Be a curious learning machine. Last month, I offered a list of the five business books I was excited … Continued
Editor’s Note: This article was first published by Inc. here. I was talking to someone the other day, and he asked me what I thought about the idea of “hiring for cultural fit.” The problem with hiring for cultural fit is that people tend to only hire people who look and sound like them. But the culture … Continued
Editor’s Note: This article was first published by Inc. here. My co-founder and I wanted to establish rituals in our company to help people understand why we do the things we do, and to answer questions like: “How does what I’m doing help the company?” “What are our overarching goals?” “Why do we care about this number … Continued
Editor’s Note: This article was first published in Inc. Magazine here. We now have over 300 people at my company Drift, and when you move so quickly, it’s easy to forget what got us here. What really helped us build this brand and this community. And that is this: We built the brand one person at a time. We focused on every interaction … Continued
Editor’s Note: This article was first published in Inc. Magazine here. I talk a lot about role models and mentors. And one of the things I do when looking for a role model is to look for lessons, experts and authors who have stood the test of time. I’ve found that most of what you need to learn can be found … Continued
Editor’s Note: This article was first published in Inc. Magazine here. I recently had lunch with a fellow CEO. He told me that some of his weaknesses are also things he thinks I’m especially good at. And that’s getting out there, being a public speaker, and serving as the face of my company. But in reality, this doesn’t come to me naturally. … Continued