Lead Upwards. Sarah E. Brown
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At various companies I'd worked for, many of the executives' calendars were fully booked in meetings so often I wondered how they got any work done. What were they doing during these blocks? Beyond their busyness, I wondered what that translated to in terms of what their jobs required on a day‐to‐day, weekly, or quarterly basis.
Now that I'm an executive, I understand that the bulk of work done by an executives team is challenging to grasp as an individual contributor or even mid‐level manager. While there's been a movement to increase transparency across the startup ecosystem and more companies openly share their operating principles and salaries to their employees and even to the public, much of the inner workings of a startup leadership team are hard to see if you're not a part of it. This chapter covers what a startup executive role involves behind the scenes, including insights from executives on what their work‐life entails on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis.
“The more senior you are, you execute less, and you have to be efficient with your time and need to empower your team to achieve your goals,” says marketing executive Rachel Beisel. “You're in a lot of meetings because you're often the facilitator between departments and between employees in those departments.”
The reason that executives spend so much time in meetings is that decision‐making is their most important responsibility. While startup leaders will always execute to some degree at earlier‐stage companies (including the founders and CEO), their ability to strategize and decide is why they exist at the company.
“As a founder, I have decision fatigue,” said AQUAOSO CEO and co‐founder Chris Peacock. “I expect my executives to constantly make good decisions in their areas, even in the absence of all of the data.”
Executives are charged with managing managers, meaning their direct reports generally have their own reports. This “skip level” hierarchy requires executives to empower their reports to make good decisions and own their areas.
The level of hands‐on work you do as an executive will vary based on your startup's stage and maturity. Early on in a startup, you'll be spending more time on execution, doing things like shipping a new landing page, or editing copy, or creating financial models. These deliverables are a big part of how your success is measured early on. But as your company grows, you'll need to delegate and manage other people who can do those things while you manage their productivity.
WHAT DOES A STARTUP EXECUTIVE REALLY DO?
Each week, executives spend the bulk of their time communicating with each other and their teams to align the strategy and programs with business goals. They collaborate across departments, incorporating new data to adjust the course as needed. Many startup executives who come from working at larger companies struggle with the balance of execution and strategy. You have to “zoom in and out” as executive coach and former Microsoft North America CFO John Rex calls it, and do execution as well as strategic work.
In addition to the general management of others and their team, a startup executive owns a department or “function” and its goals. A department is usually a team of teams and the overall strategy, vision, and goals that this person sets for their department must roll up to the overall business goals, which are translated to their team's sub‐goals.
A STARTUP EXECUTIVE'S SCHEDULE: A WEEK IN THE LIFE, AT A GLANCE
A sample startup executive schedule:
DailyChecking dashboards to view metrics and results measured against quarterly and/or yearly goals.Providing feedback to campaigns or other work products of teams within your team, usually at key milestones—early to verify direction (e.g., this product roadmap change aligns to our strategy for the business/team) and “buy‐off” at final stages of delivery (yes, this press release has my seal of approval for publication, and my job is on the line if we screw it up).Cross‐functional meetings with other executives or departments.Reading up on the latest news in your market or industry vertical.CEO syncs and department team meetings.Checking in on project management updates from your team on Slack, Asana, or another communication tool.
Weekly1:1 with your direct reports; ensuring your reports and *their* reports are succeeding, and the team is tracking to Objectives and Key Results (OKR); troubleshooting any issues; and tracking their career goals.Weekly updates cross‐functionally to other teams and your CEO.Measuring progress against OKRs.Feedback and/or sign off on key projects in your department.
Monthly1:1s with your direct reports; ensuring your reports and *their* reports are succeeding, and the team is tracking to OKRs; troubleshooting any issues.All‐hands presentations to the entire company and/or business unit.Board updates.Updates to your CEO and/or cross‐functional stakeholders.
QuarterlyReporting on a Quarterly Business Review (QBR) and/or Objectives and Key Results (OKRs).Evaluating strategic decisions weighing performance and/or new data.Board updates—deck, pre‐read materials, and/or live presentation in a board meeting.Setting OKRs for the next quarter or half.
AnnuallyAnnual reviews and retrospectives, including reporting wins, failures, and what you've learned to your CEO, fellow executives, and the board.Annual planning, forecasting, headcount, and budgets.Financial models and planning—tracking CAC and LTV.Supporting fundraising efforts.Performance reviews for your teams and yourself (sometimes semi‐annually).
Your daily, monthly, quarterly, and annual activities depend on the maturity of your department and company. Smaller startups may forgo annual planning and instead rely on quarterly planning cycles. You and your CEO may meet three times per week vs. once, so take the above with a grain of salt. Note: for more detail on running effective 1:1s with your CEO, team, and board, see the chapter on building relationships.
OTHER DIFFERENCES BETWEEN NON‐EXECUTIVE AND EXECUTIVE ROLES
Accountability at the Highest Business Levels
Startup executives are accountable for delivering business results to company shareholders, including your co‐founders, fellow executives, the board and investors (your founders' bosses), and other employees. As an executive, you have the most ownership (including, likely, equity) and accountability of anyone on your team. Unlike individual contributors or mid‐level management, startup executives must build business strategies and execute them. Pavilion leader Jennifer Rice refers to the concept of building business opinions (vs. being an order taker) as “having a theory of business.”
As a marketing executive I am expected to form and communicate data‐driven opinions on how to generate demand within target accounts to increase my startup's market share and grow revenue. My CEO and cross‐functional peers can help and my team will provide input, but, ultimately, I own and put my name on a plan. I need others to believe in the plan, but first I have to believe in it and champion it. When it succeeds or fails, I am the one who's responsible. No one will hand these plans to us to go execute as startup leaders as they did when we were mid‐level managers (although great ideas can and do come from anyone on the team). It's on us to strategize and enable our teams to deliver results.
OWNING THE “WHY” OF THE WORK
As business leader Peter Drucker would say, there is a difference between doing the right work and work done right. Your job is to make sure that the programs, tactics, and tools your team uses roll up to the overall business goals of your organization. Own the “why” of the work—not just “should I run this PR campaign?” but “should we run *any* PR campaigns, and is that the best investment of our limited budget, and why?” This is how executives need to think. You'll constantly be making tradeoffs.
How will your department's strategy and tactics lead to the business achieving goals? What have you learned in previous quarters or even recent weeks and days that informs the work you're doing? These