Name: How Etsy's CEO Went From Media to Silicon Valley
Uploaded: 2020-01-03
Duration: 3 min 46 s
Description: Chad Dickerson explains his entry into tech

 Chad, when you became CEO of Etsy, it was the first time you held a CEO job. Yes. Did you feel that you had to modify your natural leadership style so that you could be an effective leader? I had to learn a lot. You can go to any bookstore and you can see dozens of books on leadership and how to be a CEO, but you don't really know what it's like until you're sitting in the chair. So I do think that I brought out different aspects of my personality in a different way. I'm very much a listener. I think, being a CEO, you have to listen. I really care about people and collaboration, so I really just, I think, amped up those skills. Going from a C-level position that's not CEO to being a CEO I think is sort of a 10x step up, so I had to really step up on that. Certainly, in an entrepreneurial company, you're always making some kind of changes. How do you know when it makes sense to do a big transformational change versus just some simple adjustments? There's never an exactly right answer, so you have to, I think, be very intuitive but also be very intuitive supported by data. Intuition without data means nothing. Everybody has their own communication technique, but have you ever used stories and storytelling to motivate and inspire your employees? Absolutely. I'm a natural storyteller. I'm a native southerner. I grew up hearing my aunts, and my grandparents, and everyone tell stories, so I tell stories. I tell stories about challenges that we've had in our time at Etsy, and how we overcame them. I tell stories about my family. And I tell stories that are really relevant to competitive situations and that sort of thing. Why does that work? I think, as human beings, we're naturally predisposed to think in narrative terms. We read the media every day. There's always a narrative running through. And so I think that people think of business as just numbers, and spreadsheets, and that sort of thing, but I think every company has a narrative, every company has a story, and I think being able to relate those stories really helps people motivate. So Etsy now is getting to a more mature level. It's been in business for 11 years. But how do you encourage your employees to still take risks, to try out new things, rather than play it safe? We have something at Etsy that we've built over the past several years that we call blameless post-mortems. So if anything goes wrong, no matter how challenging it is, no matter how big it is, we get everyone into a room, and the basic rule is we want to talk about how it happened, and not attribute blame. So I think that blameless post-mortem, while maintaining accountability, is a really, really great way to encourage risk taking. When you started your career, you started in media. Yes. And eventually, you worked your way to Yahoo-- and then, of course, here at Etsy. What's the best leadership advice that you received along the way, and why did it shape you as a leader? So the best leadership advice I ever received was from another public company CEO, and he told me to really, really focus on internal culture and communication, and also execution. But as long as you're executing, as long as your company believes in what you're doing and believes in the vision, and long as people are really communicating well, that really solves all problems. The company is going to do well, if it's executing and the culture is strong. So as I think about my life as a CEO looking forward, that's always true, whether your stock is high, your stock is low, or you're getting good press, bad press, or anything in between. 

How Etsy's CEO Went From Media to Silicon Valley

Leadership

Chad Dickerson explains his entry into tech

Chad when you became C E O of F. C. It was the first time you held a CEO job. Did you feel that you had to modify your natural leadership style so that you could be an effective leader? I had to learn a lot. You can go to any bookstore and you can see, like dozens of books on leadership and how to be a CEO. But you don't really know what it's like until you're sitting in the chair. So I do think that I brought out different aspects of my personality in a different way. I'm very much a listener. Um, I think being a CEO, you have to listen. Um, I really I really care about people and collaboration. So I really just, I think, amped up those skills going from, ah, sea level position that's not CEO to being a CEO, I think is ah, sort of a te next step up, because I had to really kind of step up on that. Certainly, in an entrepreneurial company, you're always making some kind of changes. How do you know when it makes sense to do a big transformational change versus just simple adjustments? There's never an exactly right answer. So you have to, I think be very intuitive, but also be very intuitive. Supported by data. Intuition without data means nothing. Everybody has their own communication technique. But have you ever used stories and storytelling to motivate and inspire your employees? Absolutely. I'm kind of a natural storyteller. Um, you know, I'm a native Southerner. I grew up hearing my my aunts and my grand parents and everyone tell stories. So, um, I tell stories. I tell stories about challenges that we've had in our time, it, etc. And how we overcame them. I tell stories about my family. Um, I tell stories that are really relevant to competitive situations and that sort of thing. Why does that work? I think it's human beings were naturally predisposed to think in narrative terms. I mean, we read the media every day. There's always a narrative running through. I think that, um, people think of business is just numbers and, uh, you know, spreadsheets and that sort of thing. But I think every company as a narrative, every company has a story, and I think being able to relate those stories really helps people motivated. So see now is getting to a more mature level. It's been in business for 11 years, but how do you encourage your employees to still take risks to try out new things rather than play it safe? We have something at that see that we've built over the past several years that we call blameless postmortem. So if anything goes wrong, no matter how challenging it is, no matter how big it is, we get everyone into a room, and the basic rule is we want to talk about how it happened and not attribute blame. So I think that blameless postmortem, while maintaining accountability, is a really, really great way to encourage risk taking. When you started your career, you started in media, and eventually you worked your way to Yahoo. And then, of course, here at, uh, let's see, what's the best leadership advice that you received along the way, And why did it shape you as a leader? To the best leadership advice ever received was from another public company CEO, and he told me to really, really focus on internal culture and communication and also execution. But as long as you're executing as long as your company believes in what you're doing and believes in the vision. And as long as people are really communicating well, that really solves all problems. Uh, the company is going to do well if it's executing and the culture is strong. So as I think about my my life is a CEO looking forward, that's always true, whether your stock is high or stock is low or you're getting good press, bad press or anything in between.