An email from me two weeks in a row, new year NEW ME! Let’s see how long I can keep this streak going, viva la 2024 resolutions! Re: this piece, I started it back in November when the OpenAI dramedy was fresh, but the end of the year is a black hole, so here it is late but hopefully still relevant. Note, this is not a resounding endorsement for all things OpenAI or Sam Altman himself, but rather a reflection on how leaders set the course in times of crisis with a focus on him. I really believe we can learn a lot from what happened so <drumroll> let’s talk about it!
-Nickey
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I’m sure you’d like to be a better leader this year. Show up with more integrity. Set a moving vision that motivates your teams to action. And you know, more casually, be the reason a plot to overthrow your company falls over. Hehe.
Late last year, I’m sure you all followed along like me, to the OpenAI CEO successful and then unsuccessful ouster. It made Twitter fun again (and maybe Twitter DAU grow again?).
I spent that weekend poring over hot takes and speculating in a group chat like the rest of you. One thing prolific during this time, were takes on what happened and why it happened.
One take I didn’t see much of though, regrettably, was a breakdown of what Sam had been doing right. True, lots of love for him poured in from the most obscure corners of the internet, but the reasons why were pretty vague. “He made time for me!” “He’s a great friend!” “He has integrity!”
The most remarkable part of this entire situation to me was not the inexperienced board, the surprised Satya, or the Succession parallels, but rather the fact that in a time of crisis, the team stepped up to advocate to bring the CEO back. If 99% of the company didn’t say they were going to walk, would he have been reinstated? I truly think not!
Probing deeper, what did that leadership team, or Sam specifically, do to make 99% of a group of people walk away from a rocketship, at a pivotal moment (that included a looming tender offer) to potentially go to Microsoft. While everything that surfaced about him during that weekend wasn’t all butterflies and rainbows, he was clearly doing something right.
I’ve worked in several organizations now where employees truly worship their leaders and several organizations that were the opposite, where people would happily throw leaders under a bus. What sets them apart?
It’s almost always how leaders show up day in and day out, in good times and in times of crisis too. I call this principled leadership. It typically means leaders are operating from a set of their own principles and I unpack some of Sam’s (suspected) principles below. What this style of leadership does in an organization is create psychological safety which builds trust. This makes people committed to their work and loyal to the company. Many organizations lack this, but it’s clear this leadership style was present inside OpenAI.
A counter-example at The Wing
In 2020 I worked for a company called The Wing that was trying to build a community for women. They had physical spaces (think WeWork but for women) and a burgeoning community. They were also in a moment of crisis. TL;DR: said crisis was handled poorly by senior leaders who already had low trust and respect inside of the organization for not properly managing past crises and this compounded with the microcosm that was 2020. It prompted the exact opposite behavior from its employees than what happened at OpenAI. The employees walked out and added more weight to an already in-motion domino effect that made it impossible to restabilize. The business never recovered.
What happened to cause low trust and low respect? A lot actually, but in my opinion a lack of principled leadership was the tipping point.
So, what can we learn from Sam?
So how can you instill trust and drive loyalty as a leader? You show up in a principle-driven way that inspires and motivates your employees. Here are some of the things I’d bet Sam Altman is doing right based on how his crisis played out.
Integrity
If this list of principles is the house, integrity is the foundation. How you show up and lead during times of crisis, your foundational integrity as a leader, has an incredible impact all the people involved.
Approachability/low-ego
In his interview with Time when he won CEO of the year, Sam centers the team before he talks about himself.
“Altman insists that the experience ultimately made the company stronger—and proved that OpenAI’s success is a team effort.” -Time
I love when leaders reflect praise and admiration back on their teams and he does this time and time again. A theme I noticed on Twitter was how often people mentioned that he made time for them when he didn’t have to. Approachability matters!
Every OpenAI employee has an open invitation to contact Altman directly via Slack, and he'll often hop on a Google Hangouts call within minutes, one person said, adding that a "crazy" number of people have his personal number. - Business Insider
Empathy
He displayed deep empathy for his board that had just voted to out him. He spoke about them with kindness and his communications lacked any negative tone or resentment. Was he trying to empathize with what they were going through?
Vision and inspiration
Watch any OpenAI demo day and it’s clear he has a plan for where OpenAI is headed and has personally helped craft the narrative. This is important because it helps the team see the forest for the trees and garner buy-in which people need to be motivated.
Empowerment and meritocracy
Finally taking ideas and feedback from all levels of an organization is a good way to empower people to do their best work. Innovation and bottoms-up ideas are celebrated culturally at OpenAI. Build a meritocracy and people will share their best ideas and ship their best work.
But why does this matter?
During The Great Resignation when everyone was quitting their jobs and there was a Boomer cohort on LinkedIn screaming: WHY ARE THEY LEAVING? GEN Z DOESN’T WANNA WORK. Well guess what, Gen Z (which will constitute 27% of the workforce by 2025 and grow steadily from there) expects more from their leaders. They’re not going to work for leaders that aren’t doing the work to earn their respect. I am so stoked about this because I think it’s going to push forward an entire new class of leaders that are much more conscious about their leadership style.
So what did you learn about leadership from the OpenAI situation? What principles do the leaders you enjoy working for embody?