How to make better decisions and build a joyful career | Ada Chen Rekhi (Notejoy, LinkedIn, SurveyMonkey)

Lenny's Podcast: Product | Growth | Career

Lenny Rachitsky

Technology, Business, Entrepreneurship

5 • 1.5K Ratings

🗓️ 16 April 2023

⏱️ 78 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Brought to you by Sprig—Product insights that drive product success.

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Ada Chen Rekhi is an executive coach and co-founder of Notejoy. She helps founders scale themselves alongside their teams. She has over a decade of experience leading teams through periods of rapid transition, from the chaos of founding early-stage startups to leadership roles in growing SurveyMonkey and LinkedIn. In today’s podcast, we discuss:

• How utilizing a “curiosity loop” can aid you in decision-making

• A values exercise that can help determine if your life choices align with your personal values

• Ada’s “explore and exploit” framework for making the most of your job opportunities

• The advantages of seeking an executive coach and useful tips on finding one

• Tips for women navigating working in Silicon Valley

• Why it’s so important to provide constructive feedback

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Find the full transcript at: https://www.lennyspodcast.com/how-to-make-better-decisions-and-build-a-joyful-career-ada-chen-rekhi-notejoy-linkedin-surveymonkey/#transcript

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Where to find Ada Chen Rekhi:

• Website: https://www.adachen.com/

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/adachen

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adachen/

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Where to find Lenny:

• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/lennysan

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/

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In this episode, we cover:

(00:00) Ada’s background

(03:17) What a curiosity loop is and when to use one

(11:39) Using curiosity loops in your personal life

(14:13) How curiosity loops are like customer advisory councils

(16:30) A values exercise

(25:30) Ada’s “explore and exploit” framework

(31:28) When it’s time to leave your job

(35:37) Logo collecting and why you should optimize for your values instead

(39:30) What triggered Ada to reevaluate her career path

(42:10) Why most people don’t actually need a coach

(44:59) When coaching is valuable

(47:20) How to find the right coach

(51:38) Advice for women in Silicon Valley

(1:00:08) Eating your vegetables—why you need to power through things you find challenging

(1:05:07) Why you should write to crystallize knowledge, rather than for likes

(1:06:54) How to successfully build a company with your spouse

(1:11:07) Lightning round

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Referenced:

• SurveyMonkey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/

• Values exercise: https://www.adachen.com/build-your-inner-scorecard-a-10-minute-exercise-for-better-decisions/

• Clay: https://www.clay.com/

• The Dip: A Little Book That Teaches You When to Quit (and When to Stick): https://www.amazon.com/Dip-Little-Book-Teaches-Stick/dp/1591841666/

• Research on the coaching industry: https://www.adachen.com/an-in-depth-guide-to-executive-coaching-everything-you-need-to-know-part-1/

• The inner scorecard: https://fs.blog/the-inner-scorecard/

• How to find a coach: https://www.adachen.com/a-practical-guide-how-to-find-an-executive-coach-part-3/

• Radical Candor: https://www.amazon.com/Radical-Candor-Revised-Kim-Scott/dp/1250258405/

• Kim Malone Scott: https://kimmalonescott.com/

• Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion: https://a.co/d/6JycbJo

• Designing Your Life: https://a.co/d/cS2IqG0

• Ted Lasso on AppleTV+: https://tv.apple.com/us/show/ted-lasso/

• Star Trek: Strange New Worlds on Paramount+: https://www.paramountplus.com/shows/star-trek-strange-new-worlds/

• Notejoy: https://notejoy.com/

• Captio: https://captio.co/

• Note to Self: https://notetoselfapp.com/

• Arc: https://arc.net/

• Make Time: How to Focus on What Matters Every Day: https://www.amazon.com/Make-Time-Focus-Matters-Every/dp/0525572422

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Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email [email protected].

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Transcript

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0:14.4	you know it's a terrible outcome to wake up one day and be sort of late career and feel trapped because you have a certain lifestyle or certain expectations of the people around you that you have to go work this job, but then you look at yourself in the mirror and you're not happy going in there.
0:17.6	I think that's a terrible trap that we should all try to avoid as we kind of navigate our career paths and find the thing that's sort of most
0:24.4	optimal for us, which is usually a mix of career success, but also meaningfulness and sort of alignment
0:31.4	in the work that we're doing with our values.
0:36.0	Welcome to Lenny's podcast where I interview world-class product leaders and growth experts to learn from their hard
0:41.1	one experience building and growing today's most successful products.
0:44.4	Today my guest is Ada Chen Reiki.
0:46.7	Aida is an executive coach and also the co-founder of a product called Notejoy.
0:50.3	In her coaching practice she focuses on helping founders scale themselves.
0:54.0	Before starting her company she was Senior Vice President of Marketing of Survey Monkey
0:58.0	before that she started a contact management startup that was acquired by LinkedIn
1:02.0	where she ended up leading LinkedIn's marketing
1:03.7	efforts for the growth team. Two fun facts about Ada. One, she started her
1:07.9	current company with her husband, which we chat about whether that's a good idea or
1:11.7	not.
1:12.5	Also, her brother is Andrew Chen of A16 Z-Fane.
1:16.4	In our conversation, Ada explains how to make better decisions
1:19.0	with a framework she calls curiosity loops.
1:21.3	We do a live exercise around my own personal values. She shares a bunch of
1:25.2	advice on how to intentionally and practically build your early career path, how to thrive as a
1:29.5	woman in Silicon Valley, when to get a coach and what you can do on your own without one, and a ton more.
1:35.4	Enjoy this episode with Ada Chen Reiki after a short word from our sponsors.
	...

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