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Exec hiring is critical and hard - even when you’re not in the middle of the pandemic! In May we announced that @CharlesMRace would be retiring in February and we quickly began looking for @okta's new president. (Spoiler: it’s @sstledger.)
Thread on how we ran the search:
Thread on how we ran the search:
Step 1: define what you need BEFORE meeting any candidates. We wanted (1) experience at the scale we'll grow to in 5 years, (2) ability building and leading killer teams, (3) background in cloud companies and (4) experience selling a platform to IT & developers.
Step 2: find the right person or firm to lead the search and make sure they can tell your story and sell your vision. We chose Scott Texeira from @EgonZehnder after aligning on overall approach and importance of references (can't overstate the value of references!!)
Step 3: articulate the opportunity. I knew it'd be hard to convince the best candidates to leave their jobs at awesome companies so I wrote a 15 page paper on my 5-yr vision for @okta, how this role would help us achieve it and how much impact they could have along the way.
Naturally this doc was sensitive and we shared it with candidates only under NDA. I’ve since shared it with our board & senior leaders. A big part of my job is outlining my vision and I do this in keynotes but hadn't in written form before. It's been useful, especially as we WFH.
Step 4: Prioritize diversity. I made it clear I wanted to interview as many women and candidates of color as possible. Our industry has a lot of work to do in building and retaining diverse teams but this is one small and important step to take when you’re hiring. Be intentional.
Step 5: Invest a lot of time with candidates. We had 4 we were serious about and I spent hours with each.
Pro tip: Use face time to sell. Spend more time selling them on the opportunity vs assessing them. References are better for that, anyway.
Pro tip: Use face time to sell. Spend more time selling them on the opportunity vs assessing them. References are better for that, anyway.
Step 6: Make a killer offer! Susan was our #1 pick and I couldn’t be more excited that she accepted. Now the real work of the transition from Charles to Susan begins. Maybe that’s a good topic for another thread! https://twitter.com/toddmckinnon/status/1309624083928154113
