DeepSummary
In this episode, Harry Stubbings interviews Christa Quarles, CEO of Coral Corporation, about her career journey and leadership experiences. Quarles shares her entry point into the tech world, starting in investment banking and then transitioning to startups like Playdom and Walt Disney, where she learned valuable lessons in leadership and company culture. She emphasizes the importance of creating an environment where employees feel safe to be ambitious and take risks.
Quarles discusses the different breakpoints and scaling challenges companies face as they grow, and the need for decision-making processes to evolve accordingly. She highlights the key decisions that only a CEO can make, such as crafting the company's mission, building the executive team, and engaging with the board. Quarles also shares insights on talent acquisition, team building, and the challenges of leading through difficult times.
Throughout the interview, Quarles draws from her experiences at companies like OpenTable and Nextdoor, offering practical advice on topics like board management, extracting value from board members, and recognizing when an executive hire may be a stretch too far. She emphasizes the importance of self-awareness, curiosity, and bringing joy to the workplace.
Key Episodes Takeaways
- Create an environment where employees feel safe to be ambitious and take risks.
- Adapt decision-making processes as companies scale to different breakpoints.
- There are certain key decisions that only the CEO can make, such as crafting the company's mission, building the executive team, and engaging with the board.
- Self-awareness, curiosity, and bringing joy to the workplace are essential for effective leadership.
- Recognize when an executive hire may be a stretch too far and adapt accordingly.
- Be resilient and persevere through challenges, learning from failures and setbacks.
- Extracting value from board members requires understanding their limited context and prioritizing their input.
- Foster kindness, curiosity, and joy within teams and the company culture.
Top Episodes Quotes
- “And so this ability to kind of deep dive on a topic and come back up and just the breadth of awareness, context setting skillset that that takes, I also, you know, carry with me, like, just some funny things, like, in the zoom world. Like, Disney paid attention to your, like, executive hygiene.“ by Christa Quarles
- “I would hope that they are kind, curious. You know, I would say the third one is still just joyful. You know, I think life is harder when you don't bring joy to the equation. One of our sayings is joy and laughter belong here. So I think that's an important one as well.“ by Christa Quarles
- “I think the act of losing and getting back up, like, falling down and, like, just that. That simple process of, like, falling down. Like, I'm down. Oh, that hurt that I'm down. I'm gonna just. But I. But you've gotten up so many times. You just know, like, it's just part of the process.“ by Christa Quarles
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Episode Information
The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch
Harry Stebbings
7/29/21
Christa Quarles is the CEO @ Corel Corporation, building software solutions that simplify the task journey for knowledge workers. Prior to Corel, Christa spent close to 4 years as CEO @ Opendoor, driving a chapter of transformational change for the company. Before Opendoor, Christa was Chief Business Officer @ NextDoor, and finally pre-NextDoor, Christa spent 4 years at The Walt Disney Company where she led Disney Interactive to profitability as Senior Vice President, Interactive Games. If that was not enough, Christa is also on the board of Affirm and Kimberly Clark.
In Today’s Episode with Christa Quarles You Will Learn:
1.) How Christa made her way into the world of startups having spent close to 10 years in investment banking? What were the biggest takeaways from her time at Walt Disney? How did her 3 years as CEO @ Opentable impact how she approaches leadership today?
2.) Company Breakpoints: What are the different breakpoints in the scaling of companies? When did this start to happen at Opendoor? How does decision-making need to change with scale? How can leaders ensure teams feel safe to be the most ambitious they can be? In what ways can leaders create environments of safety for them to be their best selves?
3.) The Role of the CEO: What decisions can only the CEO make? How can leaders determine when a C-Suite hire is a stretch too far? How has Christa's board membership on other boards changed how she runs her board today? Given a board's limited information, how can leaders extract the most out of them?
4.) "Operating is a Full Contact Sport": When has Christa found operating and leading the hardest? When faced with hard times, how does she push through them? How does Christa advise leaders on the challenges of their own scaling process? Where do many make mistakes in their own scaling? What is a "stuck state" and why is it the worst state to be in?
5.) Team Building and Trust: How does Christa approach trust today? Does she start from a position of being fully trusting or not trusting and there to be gained? What is Christa's favourite interview question to ask? In what way does Christa believe truly special candidates represent their passions in interviews?
Item’s Mentioned In Today’s Episode with Christa Quarles
Christa’s Favourite Book: Caste, The International Bestseller