What do you do to make your impact felt in a team of 700 people you’re leading? Can it even be done? Is there a way for you to get to know every member of the team and for them to get to know you? In what ways do you ensure that your principles are followed when making decisions? That seems like a lot, doesn’t it?
We’re joined by one who’s done it successfully. Ashley Hansen Grech, a mother of three, is the Chief Operating of Recharge, a company that empowers merchants through recurring commerce. She spent her first 12 years climbing the ranks at JPMorgan before joining Square (now Block) and becoming the Global Head of Sales for four-and-a-half years.
In this episode, she discusses how she manages teamwork, tasks, and decisions when there are several people involved. She describes how she makes her impact felt in a team of 700+, and how she succeeds at it.
What you’ll learn:
- How to scale yourself
- The value of frontline managers
- Why it is important to prioritize shared values and principles over job skills when hiring
Highlights
(03:25) Google’s Project Starline and what it means for collaboration
(08:30) Ashley’s career story and what she would do differently
(16:21) The value of frontline managers
(19:36) How to coach frontline managers and set them up for success
(23:02) How to scale yourself
(24:05) Understanding principled decision-making and how to make it work
(27:38) How to make yourself known in a large company and keep accountable
(34:50) Ashley’s take on recruiting more women leaders
(35:00) Why “leadership traits” is a myth
(36:10) Why you should hire based more on personality and values, not simply jobs to be done
(40:22) Ashley’s summary of career learnings
Quotes
Sometimes it’s good to reassess because the things you thought were that important are not.
I knew that the key to the sales team and the revenue team scaling successes was support managers.
…lead with principles. Have a very clear set of outcomes that you are making the decisions by. That way, other people can use those same principles to make the decision too.
…leadership is not just about execution. Although that is super important, but it’s also about the quality of your thought.
…challenging times, whether it’s a financial crisis or difficult business problems to solve, or a failure, those are the greatest teachers.
We don’t learn when things are good.
The GTM Podcast
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