ABOUT ELAINE ZHOU

Change.org CTO Elaine Zhou joined the platform for change in 2020. Prior to Change.org, she was at Vidado as CTO, and has held leadership positions for over a decade at companies including HomeStore, PlanetOut, IAC and more. She’s been a longtime mentor at Upwardly Global. Follow her on Twitter at @softwired.

"High performance need to be in that fail safe environment so they're willing to explore and to iterate. So really help them to do that, the way that I solve the problem with them is not just that, “You are good, you're good.” Just pump them up. No, it's actually, “Let's look at a problem. I actually agree with your solution and this is why I like your solution.”

Help them to gain the confidence and give them that kind of hard opportunity to try that and you know they will build their confidence so much.”

- Elaine Zhou   

SHOW NOTES:

• Why Elaine got involved with Change.org (2:24)
• The importance of understanding the business / non-profit model for eng leaders (6:29)
• How business, technology, & financial constraints impact business decisions (9:44)
• Investing in impact with no revenue expectation (14:42)
• Strategies for creating self-sufficiency within teams & traps eng leaders fall into when leveling up their team (18:06)
• Questions to ask yourself during self assessments to determine priorities (22:05)
• What you should do as an eng leader after transitioning your team to be self-sufficient (28:10)
• Frameworks for prioritization conversations (29:14)
• The technical area Elaine is most focused on growing right now (32:23)
• Strategies for amplifying & supporting your best performers (33:58)
• Rapid fire questions (38:35)

LINKS AND RESOURCES

• The Lean Startup: How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses - Eric Reis’ book outlining his strategy for building a start-up that he developed during his time as a founder and start-up advisor.
• Measure What Matters - John Doerr’s collection of first-person accounts that demonstrate the focus, growth, and explosive growth that OKRs have spurred in many great organizations.