"If you don't know what success is, you're going to get hurt": scaling insights from Claire Hughes Johnson and Jean-Charles Samuelian-Werve

Last week in our Paris office, we hosted a fireside chat featuring Claire Hughes Johnson , former COO of Stripe , and Jean-Charles Samuelian-Werve , co-founder and CEO of Alan , while bringing together entrepreneurs, operators, and investors from the French ecosystem.

Known for his deep interest in tech, product and management, Jean-Charles skillfully shepherded the conversation, bringing his unique insights from Alan to the fore, while Claire shared learnings from her rich career scaling fast-growing organisations. Recently published by Stripe Press, her book “Scaling People” is a treasure trove of real-world examples and actionable tools for founders and business leaders.

Echoing the ethos of the tech community's commitment to knowledge sharing, their conversation was an inspiring learning experience. Here are 5 key insights on scaling, drawn from both the discussion and the engaging Q&A session that followed:

1. Establish your operating system but adapt planning to your growth stage: Claire used the “Stadium metaphor”, a compelling analogy of 40 people walking into a stadium without game rules to emphasise the importance of having a clear vision of success: "If you don't know what success is, like how to score, what winning is, what your position on the field is, and you all show up on a field with different equipment, you're going to get hurt." Particularly during growth phases and evolving business landscapes, structured planning and clear goals are indispensable for guiding actions, maintaining order, and ensuring that each team member is aligned with the company's overarching objectives. Claire also stressed the necessity of tailoring the planning process with the company's stage of growth. She highlighted a common pitfall for young companies: the hesitation to engage in detailed planning due to the fast-paced nature of their environment. "You shouldn't make anything super heavy when you're young as a company. What you're doing is you're building the muscle of planning and tracking your plan. You are not trying to make the perfect plan. Don't let perfect be the enemy of good”. This approach is crucial, especially for startups where founders often resist long-term planning, fearing that plans might become obsolete quickly. At Stripe, Claire's solution was to create six-month plans.
2. Balance rapid scaling with cultural development: Claire addressed the critical tension between rapid scaling and the development of company culture, in particular the need to preserve the future. "Should you wait until your culture breaks? How can you anticipate what you need to do?". Claire acknowledged the complexity of this balance: while it's easy to describe the ideal scenario, implementing it in the midst of running or building a company is challenging. She advocated for building reinforcements around company culture, values, and operating principles early on. By doing so, companies can create an operating system that supports and reinforces these elements. Claire used Stripe as an example, noting the focus on rigour and attention to detail, crucial for a company handling financial transactions. This approach ensures that as the company scales quickly, its culture and values remain integral to its operating system, providing a foundation for sustainable growth and stability.
3. Navigate the crucial shift from managing to leading: Elaborating on the inherent differences yet interconnected nature of managing and leading, Claire stated, “Most of us start with either some natural management skills or some natural leadership skills. It is very rare to find someone who starts with both in their DNA”. Management typically involves logistical tasks like project management and progress tracking; in contrast, leadership is broader, encompassing guiding and influencing people, shaping visions, and making necessary, albeit sometimes uncomfortable, decisions. During scaling phases, a senior executive's responsibilities invariably extend beyond the realms of day-to-day management to embodying strategic leadership and setting a precedent for others. Reflecting on her own journey from Google to Stripe, she underscored the pivotal shift she underwent from being a manager at Google to becoming a leader at Stripe: “Stripe really pushed me into being a leader. You are the example for everyone. They are watching you”.?
4. Embrace self-aware leadership: Claire emphasised the significance of self-awareness, particularly for founders during the early stages of a company's development: "The thing you are obsessed with, your company is going to be obsessed with it”. A leader's personal values, beliefs and priorities inevitably permeate the entire organisation. Therefore, it's crucial for leaders to have a clear understanding of their values and how these might influence the company culture and direction.
5. Master repeatable excellence, especially when hiring. Claire introduced the concept of “repeatable excellence”, a crucial element to sustain business growth and maintain quality standards, irrespective of changes in personnel. She detailed the transition from custom, non-scalable processes to operational, scalable systems, underlining the significance of automation and consistency: "It means you turn something that the founder typically did well into a process and even a set of tools that do it in a more automated and repeatable way, and it becomes less important who does it.” In "Scaling People" the largest chapter is dedicated to hiring, where repeatable excellence is essential. Claire highlighted the paradox of talent management in early-stage companies: "Young companies obsess about their early talent, but oddly, they don't obsess about their hiring process when they start to scale their talent acquisition." She clarified that talent identification is more of a science than the commonly mistaken art form. Drawing from her experience of interviewing 10,000 people throughout her career, Claire advocated for a rigorous and scientific hiring approach. She warned against the common error of simply discussing a candidate's previous jobs and advised understanding the job's requirements and the capabilities needed. She recommended structuring interviews with consistent questions to facilitate comparative analysis, thus creating a database of responses that help determine what a good answer entails.

In her closing thoughts, Claire highlighted the challenges of leadership in the face of current macroeconomic uncertainty, blending long-term optimism with a lucid understanding of the present difficulties. "We have a very exciting decade ahead of us, but being a leader today, whether in nonprofits, magazines, or companies, is the hardest it has been since probably World War II." Underscoring the importance of clear and frequent communication especially during turbulent times, Claire advised leaders in the audience to remember that "Repetition doesn't spoil the prayer”