Brian Chesky’s new playbook

**Brian Chesky** (0:00)
I think way too many founders apologize for how they want to run the company. They find some midpoint between how they want to run a company and how the people they lead want to run the company. That's a good way to make everyone miserable.
Because what everyone really wants is clarity. What everyone really wants is to be able to row in the same direction really quickly. And so I basically got involved in every single detail. And I basically told leaders that leaders are in the details. And there's this negative term called micromanagement. I think there's a difference between micromanage it, which is like telling people exactly what to do and being in the details.
Being the details is what every responsible company's board does to the CEO. It doesn't mean the board is telling them what to do, but if you don't know the details, how do you know people are doing a good job? People think that great leaders job is to like hire people and just empower them to do a good job. Well, how do you know they're doing a good job if you're not in the details? And so I made sure I was in the details and we really drove the product.

**Lenny Rachitsky** (1:00)
Today, my guest is Brian Chesky. Brian is the CEO and co-founder of Airbnb, which he started in his apartment with his co-founders, Joe and Nate, and has turned into an $80 billion global business with travelers and homes in 220 countries. I was very lucky to get to work with Brian for many years. And my sense is if you ask people who they consider the most inspiring tech or business leaders today, Brian would be right near the top of that list. In our conversation, Brian shares an in-depth explanation of what's happening with product management at Airbnb, which caused quite a stir in the product world when he talked about this previously. We also get deep into Brian's new approach of how he runs Airbnb, including shifting away from traditional growth channels like paid growth and instead betting that if they just build the best possible product and tell people about it, growth will happen. Also how the product team now operates, including having just one single roadmap across the entire company and Brian staying very close to every design and every feature. We also get a bit into his personal life, including how he finds balance and avoids burnout, how he continues to learn himself so that he can stay ahead of the business and its growth. This is a very special episode for me and I'm thrilled to bring you Brian Chesky after a short word from our sponsors.
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