Spencer Rascoff
Spencer Rascoff is an entrepreneur and company leader who co-founded Zillow, Hotwire and dot.LA, and who served as Zillow's CEO for a decade. He is currently executive chairman of dot.LA and a board member at Zillow and TripAdvisor. In fall 2019, Spencer was a Visiting Executive Professor at Harvard Business School where he co-taught the "Managing Tech Ventures" course. In 2015, Spencer co-wrote and published his first book, the New York Times' Best Seller "Zillow Talk: Rewriting the Rules of Real Estate." Spencer is the host of "Office Hours," a monthly podcast on dot.LA featuring candid conversations between prominent executives on leadership, diversity and inclusion, and startups.
What's fascinating about this week's episode of Office Hours, is we hear from a newly appointed CEO who's come into a struggling company. His goal is to turn it around — and that's never easy. But, that's exactly what Brad Stewart, CEO of Fair aims to do.
<p>
Listen to an extremely frank conversation in which Brad thoughtfully explains his step-by-step process of how he approaches problem-solving, the unique issues facing Fair and the plan he's putting into action to give the company what it needs to thrive.
</p><p><em>Want more? Subscribe to Office Hours on <a href="https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/zillow-group/office-hours-with-spencer-rascoff" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Stitcher</a>, <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/office-hours-with-spencer-rascoff/id1124608295" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Apple Podcasts</a>, <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/5mXgvbUsaOv7JJQRecBdYw" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Spotify</a>, <a href="https://www.iheart.com/podcast/263-office-hours-with-sp-28214033/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">iHeart Radio</a> or wherever you get your podcasts.</em></p>
From Your Site Articles
Related Articles Around the Web
Read more
Show less
As a CEO, your time is a vital company resource. How you spend your workday — the meetings you're in, the initiatives you weigh in on, even where you are physically — influences how decisions are made.
I've long described decision-making as the defining factor of company culture because it determines how leaders lead and how teams collaborate, and every competitive advantage (or disadvantage) stems from these two factors. This means you set the tone for your entire culture, whether you realize it or not, just by how you spend your day. No pressure.
<p>Determining how you spend your time is much easier at the start of your company because it's driven by necessity. Everyone is in the trenches and wearing multiple hats, which means in addition to being CEO, you're also part of sales, marketing, human resources and facilities. You're part of every decision, because every decision as a young company is a big one. Eventually, though, you scale enough to hire people to make those decisions. Then what do you do?</p><h3>The Biggest Mistake Leaders Make</h3><p>Here's where many leaders at high-growth companies trip up: You keep doing what you're used to doing, long past the point of necessity, not because you're a micromanager but simply because of inertia. Once you're in a routine, you tend to stay in that routine unless you have a mechanism to force a change or at least a reevaluation. And this mechanism needs to trigger frequently, not just when you expand your leadership team.</p><p>I've learned this through experience. At several points in my tenure at Zillow, particularly when we entered rapid growth as a public company, I found myself sitting in meetings that I didn't need to be in, my team deferring to me on a decision that they should be making, my calendar morphing into a hamster wheel and my inbox into a game of whack-a-mole… all eating into the time I should have been spending on the bigger picture as CEO. I needed to recalibrate.</p><h3>How to Break the Cycle</h3><p>To reclaim and refocus my time, I developed a system: Every three to six months, and even more frequently during phases of hyper growth, I forced myself to rethink how I managed my day. I would delete all recurring meetings and start from scratch -- declaring "calendar bankruptcy." I'd also declare "data bankruptcy" by removing myself from all data distribution lists and weekly reports which I'd accumulated as regular emails. I'd revisit our company priorities, determine how as CEO I should be engaging, then rebuild my calendar and inbox from there. It took time, but it was invaluable and oddly cathartic.</p><p>As a leader, recalibrating is so critical, because you outgrow certain decisions. A tangible example: Early in Zillow's time as a publicly traded company, we began hosting a ton of trade marketing events that were central to our industry engagement strategy and a sizable investment. I was actively involved in the decision-making throughout the process in the first couple of years, but once we got to a certain size I removed myself entirely from the details. I'd attend the kickoff and the "know before you go" two weeks prior, but every other decision was delegated to my capable team. </p><h3>Do It for Your Team</h3><p>Recalibrating is not just about making the best use of your time. It's also about the health of your organization. Layers of decision makers slow things down by reducing autonomy and adding approval hurdles. Fast-growing companies don't have time for this, and as CEO you can actively fight this entangling web by setting the example of delegation. Good things happen when you trust and empower your team.</p><p>The one caveat I'd add to all of this: When you delegate, you need to be prepared to accept the decisions... even when you disagree. But that's another article altogether.</p><p><br/></p><div class="rm-embed embed-media"><div class="horizontal-rule">
</div><p>
<br/>
</p><div class="rm-embed embed-media">
<iframe frameborder="0" height="825px" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" src="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScMjVP_vUMsHeMjjhbaYpmMAHXhINwbKSkR48gQl7-ceez7XA/viewform?embedded=true" width="100%">
Loading…
</iframe>
</div></div>
From Your Site Articles
- Founder Questions: When Should a Startup Hire Its First HR Person? ›
- Founder Questions: When Should I Not Raise Capital? ›
- How and When Do You Hire Your First Salesperson? - dot.LA ›
Related Articles Around the Web
Read more
Show less
I don't quite remember why I passed on investing in Jiake Liu's company, Outer. But I do know why I had him on this week's episode of "Office Hours."
<p>Liu has all sorts of qualities I admire in founders: He's dedicated, smart, experienced and he's had some high-quality "failure" that taught him big lessons about how to lead and run a business.<br/></p><p>Running businesses was something Liu started doing as a teenager, largely by solving business problems for his family. That hands on experience gave him a fundamental understanding of how to run a successful enterprise. It also fed his entrepreneurial thirst and ultimately led to his cofounding and leading Outer, an outdoor furniture and lifestyle company. </p><p>Hear some hard-earned lessons from Liu about startups, his "Shark Tank" pitch day experience and how he maintains investor relationships even if they pass on investing — like with me.</p><p><em>Want more? Subscribe to Office Hours on <a href="https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/zillow-group/office-hours-with-spencer-rascoff" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Stitcher</a>, <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/office-hours-with-spencer-rascoff/id1124608295" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Apple Podcasts</a>, <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/5mXgvbUsaOv7JJQRecBdYw" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Spotify</a>, <a href="https://www.iheart.com/podcast/263-office-hours-with-sp-28214033/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">iHeart Radio</a> or wherever you get your podcasts.</em></p><p><em><br/></em></p>
From Your Site Articles
- Your Backyard Could Be Their Showroom - dot.LA ›
- Online Furniture Retailer Outer Raises $4.3 Million - dot.LA ›
Related Articles Around the Web
Read more
Show less