The High Flyers Podcast with Vidit Agarwal
01:11:27 · Vidit Agarwal, Grace Brown
[01:11:27] S0: Yes. [01:11:28] S1: I... Well, my plan is to... What is my plan to learn that? I think by just trying to do it more... I don't think it'll ever be easy. Even the people who I think are, quote, really good at it, it's not, like, an easy thing for them. I've seen, like, Jennifer, my COO, if you meet her, like, she intimidates some men who are in their forties, and she... You she's five feet tall. Right? Because she's just so direct and clear cut, and she's not rude. She's assertive. She stands her ground. She doesn't take shit from anyone. And, you know, and I see her, like, even she doesn't have... I've seen her let go of people. I've seen her... Or heard of her giving feedback to people, and she doesn't enjoy it. So I don't think anyone ever really gets good at it or it gets easy. But I think by doing it more and more, you learn the practices and the tools that get you to do it in a way that's effective. But I don't think it'll ever be comfortable. So may...
01:12:18 · Vidit Agarwal, Grace Brown
[01:12:18] S0: I also think it's a correlation of success where the more successful you get, the more direct you can be. Not in a rude way, but in a just in a direct matter of fact way where people just take it. I've seen this in my own journey where the more and when I say success, credibility and respect. I don't mean success in terms of like money and status because there's a lot of people that are direct and no one likes them and they're billionaires. But I mean in terms of credibility and respect and that is a huge part of success in my view, I have noticed like that allows me and probably trust as well, but I think there's a level of trust there where someone's like, okay cool, that person is saying this, maybe it helps me because my people tend to have a parasocial relationship with me thanks to the podcast in some ways. So they're like, oh, he maybe didn't mean it in a bad way. But I firmly believe there's a correlation there between like certain forms of success with some form of directness. [01:13:09] S1: Mine's also come from just having less time. Like, I think with my employees, I've noticed I don't have time to think through how to soften something. I do... I I try all the time to not say things disrespectfully. And sometimes I even just say upfront, I haven't had time to think about how to say this, you know, perhaps as gently as I can, but I jet... And... But then I just tell them what I think and say. So it also comes down from not having time and just needing to be able to get the information out as quick as possible.
01:13:40 · Vidit Agarwal, Grace Brown
[01:13:40] S0: At some points, just to rank at this point because it's super interesting, some points directness... I'll give you an example. The recent guest that came on my podcast was Justin from Base Power, is a company down in Austin, Texas, and they're like reimagining the electricity grid and doing really cool And everyone says he's very direct. And then when I spoke to a lot of people around him, they said, yes, but when he says something's good, we know he means it, right? That's how he operates, where some people will just be flaky and they'll say that is great, but then he also says, I don't know. Like I spoke to a lot and of his they said he will literally, and they have raised billions of dollars, their valuation is worth billions of dollars, VC said he'll say I don't know. And that builds a lot of credibility because when he does provide answers, go, he must know what he's talking about because if he doesn't know, he will very explicitly say I don't know. Now I'm not saying that approach works with everybody, but it just reminded me of, like, your comment about some level of candor and directness sometimes can cut through. [01:14:41] S1: Yeah. No. Definitely. Definitely. So, yeah, that's the thing that I'm focusing on. At least, that's the quality that I'm focusing on for this next chapter for myself. [01:14:50] S0: Yeah. This is meant to be a rapid fire, so let's get back into rapid Is there one interview question you love asking prospective candidates in a hiring process?
01:14:50 · Vidit Agarwal, Grace Brown
[01:14:50] S0: Yeah. This is meant to be a rapid fire, so let's get back into rapid Is there one interview question you love asking prospective candidates in a hiring process? [01:15:00] S1: My favorite question... And this was even before I started Andromeda. My favorite question has been cliche. Why do you wanna join? Like, truly, why... What is their motivation for joining beyond wanting a job? Or maybe if that is the reason, then great. We know that. Like, I think... And I think that's why we have such a mission oriented team is because I really wanna understand what does this other person want to get out of being in our journey. Is it to improve their craft? Is it the mission? Is it to have a front row seat at what we're building? Like, whatever it is, I just wanna know. So, yeah, definitely understanding their motivation and why are you joining truly is my favorite question. [01:15:38] S0: Last two. One pet peeve. [01:15:43] S1: Hypocritical of me to say, but who who use too many words to describe something. Information density is really important to me. It goes back to time. It's not a disrespectful thing. There's just not a lot of time in my day to have someone tell me something that could be said shorter. And I say hypocritical of me because I know I ramble at times as well. So I don't judge people for it, but I wanna get as much of my time back as possible because I don't have enough of it, as every founder would feel.
01:15:43 · Grace Brown, Vidit Agarwal
[01:15:43] S1: Hypocritical of me to say, but who who use too many words to describe something. Information density is really important to me. It goes back to time. It's not a disrespectful thing. There's just not a lot of time in my day to have someone tell me something that could be said shorter. And I say hypocritical of me because I know I ramble at times as well. So I don't judge people for it, but I wanna get as much of my time back as possible because I don't have enough of it, as every founder would feel. [01:16:10] S0: Mhmm. And last one, I ask every guest if you could recommend a question I should ask the next guest. Of course, don't know the next guest. Anything I should include in my prep? [01:16:20] S1: Oh, the next quest... A question that you should ask your next guest. I don't know. Just what have they changed their mind on recently? What's something that they've changed their mind on? Maybe in the last twelve months. Recent is too recent, but what's something they believed in or changed their mind on in the last twelve months?
01:16:20 · Grace Brown, Vidit Agarwal
[01:16:20] S1: Oh, the next quest... A question that you should ask your next guest. I don't know. Just what have they changed their mind on recently? What's something that they've changed their mind on? Maybe in the last twelve months. Recent is too recent, but what's something they believed in or changed their mind on in the last twelve months? [01:16:35] S0: This has actually come up quite a bit. I think the last few guests said a version of this question. Really? I think it's something about tech, right? People in tech seem to have this desire to be open to different views and different opinions. So maybe it's people in tech because I find the guests that come from outside tech don't quite frame that question in that way. They're more curious about other parts. So that speaks to I think maybe the industry. But that brings us to the finish line. Grace, thank you so much for doing this. And yeah, I've just enjoyed following your journey. And I'm glad we made this happen. And like you said, there's so much ahead. This is only the start. Excited for you. [01:17:10] S1: Thanks, Vidit. I really appreciate this. This has been so much fun. [01:17:14] S0: That's a wrap. So if something in this episode sparked a thought, send it to a friend or colleague. And if you're curious, get partnering with us and the Curiosity Centre, whether it's this podcast, to our reports, events and more. And join the ranks of existing commercial partners including Google, KPMG, Vanta and others. My details are in the show notes. Until next time, I'm Vidit Agarwal, and this is the High Flyers Podcast.