Airbnb’s Vlad Loktev on embracing chaos, inquiry over advocacy, poking the bear, and “impact, impact, impact” (Partner at Index Ventures, Airbnb GM/VP Product)

1. Prioritize Impact Above All Else

Focus relentlessly on driving impact by aligning your work with the company’s highest priorities and understanding the core drivers of the business.

2. Daily Impact Alignment Questions

Start each day by asking what the company’s highest priorities are for the next three months and what you can do to make a meaningful impact on those priorities.

3. Learn Business Drivers Deeply

Immerse yourself in understanding why certain behaviors exist on the product you’re working on and how you can influence those behaviors to drive the most impact for the business.

4. Prioritize Inquiry Over Advocacy

Approach conversations by asking many questions first to understand different perspectives and gather information, rather than immediately advocating for your own point of view. This helps make better decisions and ensures others feel heard.

5. Lead Conversations with Curiosity

Prepare for meetings by formulating questions that come from a place of curiosity, aiming to learn more about other perspectives before presenting your own views.

6. Don’t Be Afraid to Poke the Bear

If you have a strong, well-grounded view and have done your homework, don’t self-censor or be afraid to voice disagreement with those in power, even if it’s difficult.

7. Surface Information for Group Decisions

Frame your disagreements or ‘poking the bear’ as an act of surfacing and sharing crucial information that will help the group make a better, more informed decision.

8. Embrace Questions and Negativity

When facing concerns or negativity, embrace questions and maintain an open mind, acknowledging that you might have missed something, which can be disarming and lead to better outcomes.

9. Master the Art of Saying No

Learn to say no to requests and projects that will not drive significant impact, even if it’s emotionally hard, to avoid distraction and maintain focus on high-priority work.

10. Quantify Project Impact Early

For every project, perform back-of-the-envelope math with assumptions to understand its potential impact, ensuring you focus on initiatives that can make a big dent.

11. Keep Main Thing the Main Thing

Maintain hyper-focus on your core job and responsibilities, dedicating all your energy to the most important tasks rather than getting distracted by external engagements or less impactful activities.

12. Dedicate Time to Strategic Thinking

Block off dedicated time on your calendar specifically for thinking through the core drivers of the business and identifying which ones will yield the most significant impact.

13. Learn to Let Fires Burn

Be comfortable with some things not going well and intentionally let certain ‘fires’ burn to dedicate your energy to the few things that truly matter and are most important.

14. Weekly Leadership Priority Alignment

Conduct weekly leadership meetings to align on 1-3 top priorities for that specific week and jointly agree on which less critical ‘fires’ will be allowed to burn.

15. Empower Others to Let Fires Burn

Empower your team members to identify and let certain fires burn, trusting their judgment on what can be deprioritized to focus on more impactful work.

16. Never Let Major Timelines Slip

Do not allow major project timelines, especially for huge product launches, to slip, as this sets a dangerous precedent that timelines are not important; immediately intervene to prevent this.

17. Immediately Address Strategic Disagreements

Never let disagreements on strategic decisions or core vision persist; address and resolve them immediately to prevent them from spreading and causing a loss of meaning or belief within the team.

18. Prioritize Senior Hiring Processes

Never let the hiring process for senior roles burn or be delayed, as neglecting it can set the entire team back significantly.

19. Embrace Strategic Chaos

Intentionally introduce moments of chaos or artificial constraints (e.g., extremely tight deadlines) to force creative thinking and accelerate product development leaps within an organization.

20. Think 10X, Not Incrementally

When faced with ambitious goals, focus on the creative journey of imagining what the world would need to look like for that ‘crazy goal’ to be true, pushing you to test extremes and unlock bigger ideas rather than incremental thinking.

21. Regulate Your Mind Daily

Recognize that success in hyper-growth environments often depends on daily mental regulation to avoid getting lost in projects, priorities, and dependencies, and to stay focused on what’s within your control.

22. Apply the Serenity Prayer

Use the Serenity Prayer as a daily psychological tool to gain perspective, accept what you cannot change, find courage to change what you can, and discern the difference between the two.

23. Use a ‘Shit Bucket’ for Letting Go

Create a ‘shit bucket’ (physical or mental) to symbolically discard frustrations, unresolved issues, or things you need to let go of, preventing you from dwelling on them and freeing up mental space.

24. Don’t Be Afraid to Ask for Help

Recognize that you cannot achieve success alone; actively ask for help from experts and colleagues, especially when reinventing yourself or facing new challenges in a rapidly changing role.

25. Ask for the Impossible

Don’t hesitate to ask for seemingly impossible things, as you might be surprised by the willingness of experts to help or the unexpected outcomes.

26. Hire for Complementary ‘Spikes’

When building teams, focus on hiring individuals who ‘spike’ on specific, crucial skills rather than trying to find people good at everything, then assemble a team with diverse, complementary spikes.

27. Use an ‘Anti-Sell’ in Hiring

In the hiring process, use an ‘anti-sell’ approach by transparently sharing the most challenging aspects or ‘worst day’ scenarios of the job to set realistic expectations and attract candidates who are truly aligned with the work environment.

28. Prioritize Mission Over Skills in Hiring

When hiring, prioritize a candidate’s deep resonance with the company’s mission over specific domain expertise or existing skills, as mission-driven individuals can acquire necessary skills and persevere through challenges.

29. Prepare to Lose Friends in Hypergrowth

Understand that in hyper-growth companies, it’s rare for most early employees to scale with the company, so be prepared for the emotional challenge of losing deep relationships as roles and needs evolve.

30. Don’t Over-Optimize Org Charts

Recognize that all organizational structures have inherent problems; instead of over-focusing on reorganizing, concentrate on the people, culture, and processes that enable effective collaboration within the chosen structure.

31. Prioritize People/Culture Over Org Design

After selecting an organizational structure, dedicate more energy to fostering a strong culture and ensuring people work effectively together, rather than constantly tweaking the org design.

32. Be Intentional About Building Culture

Dedicate as much intentional energy to building culture and defining core values as you do to product development and hiring, as a strong culture creates a positive and memorable work environment.

33. Integrate Core Values Everywhere

Ensure core values are prominent and integrated into every aspect of the company, including hiring processes (e.g., core value interviewers), performance reviews, and promotions, making them tangible and consistently reinforced.

34. Don’t Copy Other Companies’ Operating Models

Avoid directly copying another company’s operating model, as how a company works is unique to its founders, leadership, employees, domain, and specific moment in time.

35. Explicitly Define Operating Model

Explicitly define and clearly communicate your company’s chosen operating model to every employee, ensuring everyone has clarity on how to do their job and drive impact.

36. Focus Leadership Involvement on Your Spikes

As a leader, identify your unique ‘spikes’ or areas where you have an edge and can make the best decisions, then immerse yourself in those specific decisions, delegating others.

37. Separate Project from Product Management

Consider separating the project management aspects from the product management role, creating a dedicated program management function to handle timelines and coordination, allowing PMs to focus more on product experience and strategy.

38. Over-Communicate as a Leader

As a leader, over-communicate your priorities, decisions, and context to the broader organization, as this helps people find meaning in their work and make better decisions themselves.

39. Explain Decision Rationale

After making a decision, invest a little extra time and energy to explain the rationale behind it to everyone, providing context that helps them learn and make better future decisions.

40. Prioritize Personal Balance for Effectiveness

If feeling overworked and unhappy, intentionally spend less time on work and lean into personal life, hobbies, and relationships, as being a more balanced human being can paradoxically lead to greater effectiveness and impact at work.

41. Practice Self-Compassion for Well-being

Don’t be too hard on yourself; cut yourself some slack and practice self-compassion, recognizing that as long as you’re genuinely pouring your heart and soul into your work, you’re doing all you can.

42. Align Work with Personal Impact

Avoid staying in a job where you are not impactful or working on top priorities; instead, seek roles where your unique ‘spikes’ can make a significant dent in the hardest, most important challenges.