Master the best of what other people have already figured out so you can use their lessons in your life to create an unstoppable advantage. Shane Parrish is an entrepreneur and sought-after speaker. His newsletter (https://fs.blog/podcast) offers timeless insights you can use to change your life. In The Knowledge Project, Shane interviews people at the top of their game. Every episode is packed with hard-earned lessons that you can use in your life. Tune in to create an unstoppable advantage. Sit down and learn from the best. Previous guests include Reid Hoffman, Esther Perel, Daniel Kahneman, Tobi Lutke, Marshall Goldsmith, Kunal Shah, Ander Huberman, David Sinclair, Ret. General Stanley McChrystal, Marc Andreessen, Patrick Collison, Robert Cialdini, Walter Isaacson, Chris Bosh, Kat Cole, Adam Grant, Angela Duckworth, Seth Godin, Matt Mullenweg, Lisa Feldman Barrett, Maria Konnikova, Bill Ackman, Annie Duke, Derek Sivers, Jim Collins, Naval Ravikant, and many others. They reveal hard-earned lessons on leadership, decision-making, hiring and firing, productivity, habits, and more. New episodes are released every second Tuesday. Learn more at https://fs.blog/podcast
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#41 Tobi Lütke: The Trust Battery
Today, I interview fellow Ottawan and the founder and CEO of Shopify, Tobi Lütke. In case you’re still new to the internet, Shopify is the largest ecommerce platform that allows people to easily set up online storefronts to sell everything from jewelry to surfing lessons.
Shopify began as a simple two man operation selling snowboards online, but it became clear rather quickly that it had the potential to grow into much more. Now Shopify employs more than 4,000 people and supports more than 600,000 businesses online. It’s a remarkable story, with a remarkable leader at the helm.
There was so much I wanted to talk to Tobi about that we hop around quite a bit. Here are a few of the topics we discuss:
- Tobi’s thoughts on how video games helped him prepare to run a company
- How selling snowboards online slowly transitioned to the creation of one of the biggest tech companies in the world
- Why Tobi intentionally headquartered Shopify outside of Silicon Valley and how that fits into his overall growth strategy
- One of the most underrated resources Tobi leans on to mine nuggets of wisdom when trying to get insight or solve a problem
- The hard and valuable lessons Tobi learned as they scaled from a 2 employee company to a 4,000 employee company
- What the “Tobi test” is, and how it helps Shopify team members become more adaptable, unified and prepared when things go haywire
- How employees use the “trust battery” and how it fosters better teamwork, communication, and productivity throughout the company
- The benefits of hiring employees in a “secondary market” as opposed to a “primary market” and how that contributes to the unique culture at Shopify
- Tobi’s decision-making process and his philosophy on making quick vs analytic decisions
- Tobi’s unusual morning routine that gets him in the right mindset to tackle the day
- His optimistic view of AI and machine learning and how they will impact the way we do things in the future
And more…
Whether you’re building a business of your own, want to create a more dynamic and unified culture at work, or just like hearing entrepreneur war stories, this episode will not disappoint.
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