How to lead with transparency amidst adversity — Don Faul, CEO of CrossFit and former Google, Facebook & Pinterest exec
Before taking over the helm of CrossFit as its new CEO, Don Faul’s leadership experience included an 8-year stint as a U.S. Marine Corps platoon commander and executive roles at Pinterest, Meta and Google. Here, he unpacks the leadership principles that have carried him through vastly different operating environments.
Audio is streamed directly from the publisher (traffic.megaphone.fm) as published in their RSS feed. Play Podcasts does not host this file. Rights-holders can request removal through the copyright & takedown page.
Show Notes
Our guest today is Don Faul, CEO of CrossFit.
Don has a fascinating background where he’s been able to find success in environments as different as a combat zone and a corporate board room. After spending 8 years as a platoon commander in the U.S. Marine Corps, Don had stints at some of the most vaunted companies in tech, including Google, Facebook and Pinterest, the latter of which he served as the Head of Operations. It’s a really unique set of leadership experiences spanning very different cultures.
In today’s conversation, he answers some burning questions like if micromanagement is always a bad thing, how to create a long-term company vision that genuinely gets people fired up about the future, and what folks tend to get wrong in their all-hands meetings.
We also discuss what it takes to lead in this current environment, and how leadership looks different when things feel like they’re going off the rails, which plenty of startup folks are feeling right now. Don unpacks his biggest lessons on how to embrace transparency when things aren’t going well, and candidly shares his own experience of having to wind down a company.
Read the article Don penned for First Round Review: The Pivotal Stories Every Startup Leader Should be Able to Tell.
You can follow Don on Twitter @donfaul
You can email us questions directly at [email protected] or follow us on Twitter @ twitter.com/firstround and twitter.com/brettberson