Claire Hughes Johnson — Building Great Teams, Managers, and Self-Awareness | Prof G Conversations

Claire Hughes Johnson, a corporate officer and adviser at Stripe, discusses key leadership principles and the importance of self-awareness for effective management. She emphasizes the need for leaders to understand their strengths and blind spots to foster mutual awareness within teams. Claire differentiates between leadership and management, highlighting the necessity of mastering both for career advancement. She also touches on the significance of having diverse teams, not just in visible characteristics but in thought and work styles. Claire advocates for direct communication and risk-taking, sharing insights from her career journey, including her experiences at Google and Stripe.

• Emphasizes the importance of having a team with diverse work styles to enhance team performance.
• Diversity is not just about visible characteristics but includes diversity in thought and actions.

"You want a mutually beneficial team that has diversity of work styles."

• The speaker highlights that diversity in work styles can lead to a more effective and harmonious team environment.

• Leadership starts with self-awareness and understanding one's default settings, strengths, and blind spots.
• Building mutual awareness within the team is crucial for effective collaboration.
• Encourages leaders to express thoughts that seem unspeakable to move projects forward.
• Leadership and management are distinct skills; leaders should know when to apply each.

"A lot of people think, oh, now I'm leading a team, it's all about the team and the organizational structure, and I would argue, no, it's actually all about you."

• Emphasizes that leadership begins with self-awareness and knowing one's strengths and weaknesses.

"Say the thing you think you cannot say is really a lesson I've learned that you're not going to move the conversation, the project, the company forward until you're in a position where you can take some risk."

• Suggests that taking risks by voicing difficult truths is essential for progress.

"Distinguishing between leadership and management is really that I believe those are distinct skill sets."

• Clarifies the difference between leadership and management, emphasizing the need to master both.

• Advocates for a structured approach to work to enhance efficiency and velocity.
• An effective operating system allows for better goal setting and adaptability across various tasks.

"As complexity levels rise...it's easier to have a set way of thinking about how do I at a meta level structure getting work done."

• Suggests that having a structured system helps manage complexity and enhances productivity.

• Self-awareness is a critical skill, yet only 10-15% of people are truly self-aware.
• Self-awareness can be developed through feedback and self-observation.
• Lack of self-awareness often leads to frustration and misalignment in the workplace.

"I actually think a lot of people once they learn the skill of observing themselves and getting feedback can get more self-aware."

• Encourages the development of self-awareness through active self-reflection and feedback.

"Those people who have that gap are often frustrated in the workplace...they don't feel like their manager listens to them."

• Highlights the negative consequences of lacking self-awareness in a professional setting.

• Sometimes firing is necessary when an individual is not a good fit for the role.
• Good management and coaching cannot always change an individual's trajectory if they are in the wrong job.

"I've always thought that firing has been underrated...sometimes good people just aren't working out."

• Suggests that letting go of employees who are not a good fit can be beneficial for both the individual and the organization.

"Early in my management career, I had a lot of belief that really good management and coaching could change the trajectory of an individual who's in a situation that's not working."

• Reflects a change in perspective, acknowledging that sometimes letting go is the best option.

• Effective management and coaching can shift average performers towards higher performance levels.
• Systemic issues often affect the bottom 30% of performers, requiring direct conversations about alternative paths.
• Management involves setting examples and creating high-performing teams rather than micromanaging individuals.

"I really do and I think that if you think about like a normal curve right the people in the middle of that curve you can move them and ideally you're moving them up to the higher performance."

• The speaker believes in the potential of management to elevate average performers to higher performance levels, emphasizing the importance of coaching.

"I'm going to have a very direct conversation which is like I am worried this is not working out for you and we should be talking about a different path."

• Direct conversations are necessary for underperformers, suggesting alternative roles or exits when systemic issues are present.

"It's a lot more of the manager's job than people realize is it a high performing team because you're going to perform better in a high performing team."

• Managers should focus on creating high-performing teams, as team environment significantly influences individual performance.

• Management is likened to parenting, emphasizing guidance over control.
• Managers should set examples as employees learn by observing actions rather than instructions.
• Unlike parenting, managers can reassign or let go of underperformers.

"Management is a little bit like parenting in the sense that we overestimate the impact we can have as a manager."

• The speaker compares management to parenting, highlighting the limited control managers have over inherent employee traits.

"How you teach is not telling people what to do it's just like parenting your kids look at what you do not what you say and that's true of teams."

• Managers should lead by example, as employees learn more from observing managerial actions than from verbal instructions.

• Interviewing should be systematic, using a clear rubric and consistent questions to evaluate candidates.
• Curiosity and learning orientation are key traits to identify in candidates.
• References should be used strategically to assess a candidate's potential.

"I have a rubric of things I'm testing and I'm using the same test across ideal tens and 20s of candidates."

• The speaker emphasizes the importance of a structured approach to interviewing, using consistent criteria to evaluate candidates.

"I really test for curiosity and learning... the person who's oriented toward learning toward getting better is the person you want to hire."

• A candidate's willingness to learn and improve is a critical factor in hiring decisions.

"In referencing some people think references are just like well they're they're reference so they're going to say good things but you know human beings don't like to most of them don't like to lie."

• References should be used to gather honest insights about a candidate's capabilities and work ethic.

• A small percentage of employees generate the majority of organizational value.
• Overcompensating high performers while maintaining a balance with solid B-level employees is essential.
• Identifying key contributors is crucial for organizational success.

"10% of the employees added 120% of the value and your job was to make sure the other 90% didn't screw up the company too badly."

• The speaker observes that a minority of employees contribute disproportionately to the organization's success, necessitating strategic management.

"We tracked pretty closely who were quote unquote the 10% the drivers of the organization success."

• Tracking and identifying top performers is essential for understanding and leveraging their impact on the organization.

• Top performers often share common attributes: gender, competitive sports background, and elite educational institutions.
• These attributes, although controversial, correlate with high performance in certain contexts.
• Diversity in cognitive styles and work approaches is beneficial for team dynamics.

"Our outstanding performers were predominantly women, they had played competitive sports, and they came from elite universities."

• The speaker identifies common traits among top performers, suggesting these factors contribute to their success.

"You want a mutually beneficial team that has diversity of work styles."

• Diversity in cognitive styles and work approaches is emphasized as beneficial for creating high-performing teams.

• The best hires often come from diverse backgrounds and may initially seem different or challenging.
• A team benefits from a mix of personalities and skill sets, such as introverts and extroverts, to create balance and effectiveness.
• Hiring should focus on resilience, hard work, and internal motivation, rather than just academic prestige.
• A successful team is like a portfolio of talent, not just a collection of stars.

"The best people I ever hired on my direct team were often the people who kind of irritated me in the interview they were so different from me."

• This quote highlights the value of diversity in hiring, even if it initially seems challenging.

"A bunch of All Stars can be not a great team because the team is a portfolio of talent that needs to execute on different levels."

• Emphasizes the importance of diverse skills and roles within a team for effective execution.

• Introverts can excel in early career roles that require individual work and deep thinking.
• To advance, introverts need to push boundaries and share their thoughts with others.
• Both introverted and extroverted traits can be beneficial in different career stages and roles.

"I've always said I'm paid to be an extrovert but I'm actually an introvert and that's why I got out of the services business it was just exhausting for me."

• Reflects the challenge introverts face in roles that require constant social interaction.

"Introverts tend to be deeply thoughtful and the thing they just have to work on is share the thought with someone who's not just yourself."

• Advises introverts to communicate their insights to gain recognition and advance.

• Understanding personal strengths and preferences is crucial for career success.
• Various assessments can help identify whether one is more task-oriented or people-oriented.
• Parents can guide children by observing what energizes or drains them and what tasks they naturally gravitate towards.

"Are you more sort of task or people oriented maybe I didn't and then are you more introverted or extroverted and sort of start to get them plotting on what do you enjoy doing."

• Suggests using personality assessments and personal reflection to guide career choices.

"Helping your kids see where they are the most where they gravitate toward naturally and then how do they build some additional skills that become a job."

• Encourages guiding children to recognize their natural inclinations and build skills around them.

• DEI initiatives have become complex and sometimes lose meaning when used as labels.
• A diverse team is crucial for success, but it must be well-managed and inclusive.
• Diversity should include various experiences, including race, gender, religion, and political views.

"The words diversity Equity inclusion belonging Justice like we've got a lot of different acronyms that different companies have around this programming have become tricky because they are sort of more they've lost some meaning."

• Highlights the challenge of maintaining the true meaning of DEI initiatives.

"I believe having a diverse team is critical to success in fact and and here's the thing that needs to go with it that team needs to be run well managed and led well and that is inclusion."

• Stresses the importance of not only having a diverse team but also managing it effectively for success.

• Homogeneous teams perform well initially due to shared experiences and the "common information effect."
• Diverse teams excel with inclusive practices, leading to significantly higher performance over time.
• Inclusive management practices lead to better outcomes in critical environments like intensive care units.

"A homogeneous team...will actually immediately when formed perform faster and better because...they can finish shared experiences."

• Homogeneous teams are initially more efficient due to shared backgrounds and experiences.

"A diverse team when run with inclusive practices...can have 3 to 5x the performance."

• Diverse teams outperform homogeneous ones when inclusive practices are present, highlighting the importance of valuing differences.

"Those teams when run inclusively...have 18% fewer deaths."

• Inclusive management in high-stakes environments, such as ICUs, results in significantly better outcomes, underscoring the value of diverse perspectives.

• DEI should not focus solely on visible characteristics but include diverse backgrounds and experiences.
• Building a collective culture with shared goals is essential, rather than focusing excessively on individual differences.
• The future of DEI may evolve, but its core principles remain crucial for creating cohesive and effective teams.

"DEI has been based a lot on visible characteristics...do you think DEI should move away from visible characteristics?"

• Current DEI practices overly emphasize visible traits, suggesting a need to broaden the scope to include diverse experiences.

"Your job is actually to build a collective culture...not to rotate toward difference."

• Leaders should focus on creating a unified culture, emphasizing shared visions and goals over individual differences.

"There will be no DEI positions...and the DEI departments...will be disassembled and go away."

• The future of DEI roles is uncertain, but the underlying need for shared understanding and empathy remains vital.

• Experience in diverse environments is crucial for personal development.
• Taking risks early in one's career can lead to significant professional growth and opportunities.
• Young professionals should capitalize on their unique advantages to pursue non-traditional career paths.

"I wish I'd done a stint living abroad at some point earlier in my life."

• Exposure to diverse cultures and environments is invaluable for personal growth and broadening perspectives.

"I took a lot of risks professionally...I moved to California without a job and got a job at Google."

• Emphasizes the importance of taking calculated risks and seizing opportunities for career advancement.

"Young people have advantages they don't even realize...why wouldn't I move and try something?"

• Encourages young professionals to leverage their flexibility and lack of obligations to explore unconventional career paths.