Confluent’s President of Field Operations Erica Schultz is all about scalable systems—and relentless calendar management.
“If I'm honest, there are moments where I'm nailing it and there are other moments where I'm like, ‘I’m not spending my time in the ways I want to spend my time,’” Erica recently told me. “I'm sure you can relate, but I try to play offense as much as I can. I often feel like I'm playing defense.”
For all the stressed-out founders, CEOs, CROs, and GTM execs out there, this unscripted conversation is for you:
Erica Schultz: “I do think in terms of a few key systems… These are things that are a constant work in progress. You're never done, but you have to spend a lot of energy getting them right. [This includes:]
Erica: “I need to make sure I have a leadership team who knows how to go off, build those systems, and help them thrive… And you need leaders who know how to lead across—like inside the organization and into other organizations to get something done… You’ve got to start with the right leaders who have the right what and then the right how. They're also building a culture as they're doing all of this. And then a lot of the other things really fall into place.”
Erica: “It’s always a balance. As you scale and the teams get bigger, you do have to get better at bringing in people from adjacent companies or industries and then training them up a little bit… Smart people who are systems thinkers and good learners—a number of them can make the transition.”
Jeff: “Are there things you look for, or is it just all performance-based? When you're running a private technology company, one of the challenges is you can't recruit the same… A lot of our private technology companies are taking a bet on somebody who doesn't have the 15-year proven track record, but they're looking for those signals that they could scale into that role.”
Erica: “It's definitely performance—that's always one ingredient. And then I'm looking for a lot of the meta stuff:
… You might be early in your career, but if you can bring structure and shape to something that's not yet codified, that's a huge skill set.”
Erica: “I think it's really important as leaders and in our companies that we think about, ‘Okay, what is our new world of work? And how are we going to keep people connected, productive, and flexible?’ For us, we are remote first and we're hybrid… We’re trying to be really intentional about what is the right cadence to get together in person. So for my leadership team, we're getting together twice a quarter for like a day or day and a half in person and trying to keep it focused on more planning, discussion, and strategy where we can actually collaborate together… Yes, everyone can be productive from home, but it's great to come in, do a team huddle, and go to lunch together. So kind of balancing the work and the fun.”
Erica: “A lot of it comes down to relentless calendar management… Wherever it is, I put it on the calendar, and it's locked in. So time to work out to keep myself sane goes on the calendar… And then you have to be a little flexible—your kids need you for something or you have to go on a trip that you didn't plan for… I take a portfolio approach: Some days and weeks are great. Some days and weeks are not. And on balance, hopefully we get it mostly right.”