#287: Julie Hansen, CEO, Babbel – Don’t fear change

How Leaders Lead with David Novak

David Novak Leadership

Entrepreneurship, Business, Management

4.8 • 596 Ratings

🗓️ 16 April 2026

⏱️ 65 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Most leaders say they’re comfortable with change. But what happens when the change is so big, it threatens your entire business model? Julie Hansen is no stranger to disruption, having spent her career in online media. Now, as CEO of the language learning app Babbel, she’s facing the biggest one yet. AI is changing the way we learn languages — and raising questions about whether we’ll need to at all. But Julie doesn’t fear change. In fact, in her words, “if your business isn’t changing, it’s dying.” In this episode, she shares how to lead through uncertainty with clarity and conviction — and how to help your team see disruption as an opportunity, not a threat. You’ll also learn: How to navigate cultural differences in working styles A surprisingly simple strategy to get buy-in on an idea How to help your team get more comfortable with AI What it means to “rip the band-aid off” as a leader Take your learning further. Get proven leadership advice from these (free!) resources: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The How Leaders Lead App⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠: A vast library of 90-second leadership lessons to stay sharp on the go ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Daily Insight Emails⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠: One small (but powerful!) leadership principle to focus on each day Whichever you choose, you can be sure you’ll get the trusted leadership advice you need to advance your career, develop your team, and grow your business.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of How Leaders Lead with David Novak.
0:04.8	Today we have Julie Hanson on the show. Julie is the CEO of Babel in the U.S. and the chief
0:09.6	revenue officer for the global organization. Babel is one of the world's leading language learning
0:15.4	platforms, helping millions of people learn new languages all across the world. Before Babel, Julie also drove significant
0:22.7	change in momentum for big brands like Penguin, Golf.com, and Business Insider. And in this
0:28.6	episode, you're going to understand what really drives Julie's success. Enjoy this conversation
0:34.5	between David and Julie. And I will see you at the very end of the episode for the debrief.
0:44.8	Now, I got to ask, if I dropped you into a country tomorrow where you didn't speak the language, what would be your strategy in the first 24 hours?
0:56.2	Wow. Definitely start using Babel if we teach that language. Use a little AI translation
1:04.2	because that is pretty handy these days and do a whole lot of listening.
1:10.4	What would be the toughest country to go in and do that
1:13.2	where you actually offer the language?
1:16.1	Where we offer the language?
1:18.0	Probably like Turkey,
1:20.9	because Turkish is pretty different from any language I speak.
1:24.8	Yeah, that's where East meets West
1:26.7	and there's all kinds of different
1:28.1	languages for sure. You know, for people who may not know Babel that well, give us a snapshot.
1:35.2	What do you actually do? And who's Babel for? Yeah, we're a 19-year-old company. We teach 14 languages.
1:43.1	We are for the more serious language learner who actually wants
1:47.6	to get to a conversational stage. We're not primarily a way to spend time on your phone, but rather a way
1:56.5	to actually learn a language. But we're trying to create an experience that's also fun and enjoyable.
	...

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