September 1, 2024 • 1hr 37min
Airbnb’s Vlad Loktev on embracing chaos, inquiry over advocacy, poking the bear, and “impact, impact, impact” (Partner at Index Ventures, Airbnb GM/VP Product)
Lenny's Podcast: Product | Growth | Career
Key Takeaways
- Impact above all else - Focus on driving impact aligned with company priorities and business levers
- Inquiry before advocacy - Lead with questions and curiosity rather than pushing your own agenda
- "Poke the bear" - Don't be afraid to respectfully challenge leadership with data and insights
- Let fires burn - You can't solve every problem, prioritize ruthlessly
- Embrace chaos - Some chaos and time pressure can drive creativity and innovation
- Mission over domain expertise - Hire for passion and alignment with the mission over specific skills
- Be intentional about culture - Carefully define and reinforce core values throughout the organization
- Balance work and life - Overwork leads to burnout; maintaining balance improves effectiveness
Introduction
Vlad Loktev spent 10 years at Airbnb, rising from an individual contributor PM to leading the core Airbnb marketplace business and eventually becoming GM of the entire homes business, managing over 1,000 people and reporting directly to CEO Brian Chesky. He recently left Airbnb to join Index Ventures as a partner. In this conversation with Lenny Rachitsky, Vlad shares insights on product leadership, scaling organizations, and driving impact that he gained during his time at Airbnb.
Topics Discussed
Skills and Mindsets for Success (4:28)
Vlad emphasizes that mindset is more important than specific skills for success. His key mindsets include:
- Impact above all else - Wake up every day asking "What are the highest priorities for the company?" and "How can I make a meaningful dent in those priorities?"
- Learn the drivers of the business - Understand why certain behaviors exist and how you can influence them
- Say no - Be willing to say no to things that aren't aligned with top priorities
Vlad notes: "If you find yourself in a situation where you're not working on the top priority to the company, you should probably get a different job."
Inquiry Before Advocacy (13:16)
When disagreeing or trying to influence, Vlad recommends leading with inquiry rather than advocacy:
- Start by asking questions and seeking to understand other perspectives
- Dial up curiosity and dial down pushing your own agenda initially
- Once you've listened and absorbed information, then begin advocating your position
Vlad explains: "A lot of people approach a conversation with a point of view and they begin advocating immediately...Me, I always take the opposite approach. I inquire first, I dial up inquiry. I tone down my advocacy."
"Poking the Bear" (17:54)
Vlad encourages "poking the bear" - respectfully challenging leadership when you have a strong, well-grounded perspective:
- Don't self-censor or be afraid to voice disagreement, even with senior leaders
- Back up your position with data and insights
- Frame it as sharing information to help the group make better decisions
He notes: "Don't be afraid to poke the bear. No matter how hard things get. Cause at the end of the day, like, what's the worst thing that's gonna happen?"
Psychological Tools for Leadership (22:46)
Vlad shares two psychological tools that helped him manage the challenges of leadership:
- The Serenity Prayer - "Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference."
- The "S**t Bucket" - Write down frustrations on paper, crumple them up and throw them in a "s**t bucket" as a way to let go of things you can't control
He explains these help "take a step back from the day to day and just put into context what's actually important and what is in my control today."
Building and Scaling Teams (30:08)
Key insights on building effective teams at scale:
- Look for people who "spike" on specific, crucial skills rather than trying to find well-rounded generalists
- Assemble teams with complementary spikes
- Be prepared to lose friends as the company grows - most early employees don't scale with hypergrowth
- Focus more on people and culture than org chart design - "all org charts suck"
Vlad notes: "Instead of trying to find people that are good at everything, you need to look for people who spike on specific things and then add them to a team with different spikes."
Letting Fires Burn (36:12)
A key skill for leaders in fast-growing companies is the ability to "let fires burn":
- You can't do it all - be willing to let some things go to focus on top priorities
- Align with your team on which fires you'll let burn
- Empower others to make these tradeoff decisions as well
However, Vlad cautions never to let these fires burn:
- Major project timelines slipping
- Disagreement on strategic decisions or vision
- Senior hiring processes
He emphasizes: "You gotta be okay with something's not going well so that you can dedicate most of your energy on the few things that actually matter and the things that are most important."
Embracing Chaos (47:34)
Vlad shares how Brian Chesky would sometimes intentionally introduce chaos to drive creativity and innovation:
- Imposing extremely tight deadlines (e.g. redesign in 24 hours)
- Forcing teams out of their comfort zones
- Using artificial constraints to dial up intuition and creative thinking
He notes: "The chaos forced us, with that artificial time constraint to dial up our intuition and to think a bit more creatively than maybe we would have in the past."
The Unsell Email Strategy (54:40)
When hiring, Vlad would send candidates an "unsell email" describing the worst aspects of working at Airbnb:
- Long hours including nights and weekends
- Frequent changes in direction and strategy
- Projects getting killed after weeks of work
This helped set expectations and ensure candidates were truly aligned with the fast-paced culture.
Finding Your Place in an Organization (1:02:01)
Vlad recommends thinking about your role as the intersection of two circles:
- The company's top priorities
- Your personal strengths and "spikes"
He advises: "The worst thing I think you can do is just sit in a job where you're not being impactful, you're not working on a top priority, and you're just kind of wasting your life."
The Importance of Company Culture (1:05:38)
Vlad emphasizes the critical importance of intentionally building company culture:
- Carefully define core values
- Integrate core values into every process (hiring, performance reviews, etc.)
- Make core values visually prominent throughout the office
- Provide tangible examples of how to embody core values
He notes: "Don't copy some other company's core values. Instead, just be intentional about what matters to your organization, and then make sure that those core values are freaking everywhere, part of every single process."
Airbnb's Unique Approach to Product Management (1:13:16)
Vlad shares his perspective on Airbnb's recent shift in product management approach:
- Moving from bottom-up experimentation to more top-down direction
- Rebranding PMs as "product marketing managers"
- Creating a separate program management function
He sees pros and cons to the approach, but emphasizes it's not universally applicable: "I don't think you should copy other company's ways of working...how a company operates is so unique to the founders, to the leadership team, to all the employees and the domain."
Failure Corner (1:26:41)
Vlad shares a personal story of hitting a low point in 2018:
- Feeling overworked, overwhelmed, and unhappy
- Realizing his identity was too tied to work
- Losing touch with friends, family, and hobbies
He turned things around by intentionally rebalancing his life, which paradoxically made him more effective at work: "I started spending less time on work and I became way more effective because I was just more centered as a person."
Lightning Round and Final Thoughts (1:31:32)
In a rapid-fire Q&A, Vlad shares:
- Book recommendations: Red Rising, Silo series
- Favorite TV show: Survivor
- Favorite products: Discord, Gobbler (board game)
- Life motto: "You never know" - take chances even when probability seems low
He closes with advice to not be too hard on yourself: "As long as you're waking up and you're actually pouring your heart and soul into something, you're truly giving it your all. Like, that's all you can really do."
Conclusion
Vlad Loktev's journey from individual contributor to senior leader at Airbnb offers a wealth of insights for product managers and leaders at all levels. His emphasis on driving impact, leading with inquiry, embracing controlled chaos, and intentionally building culture provides a valuable playbook for navigating the challenges of hypergrowth. While he cautions against blindly copying approaches, the principles he shares - from ruthless prioritization to maintaining work-life balance - are broadly applicable to anyone seeking to increase their effectiveness and impact in a fast-paced environment.
