Julie Zhuo: Secret Sauce to Success-Teams, Culture and the Future of Management
Mick Unplugged
Realm
4.8 • 3K Ratings
🗓️ 8 September 2025
⏱️ 36 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Julie Zhuo is the former VP of Product Design at Facebook, where she rose from intern to executive as the company scaled into a global powerhouse. Renowned for her human-centered approach to leadership, Julie is the co-founder of Sundial, a startup that leverages data and AI to help companies make better decisions. She’s also the bestselling author of "The Making of a Manager," an essential guide for new managers navigating the changing landscape of leadership. Julie is passionate about building thoughtful cultures, empowering people, and tackling big, meaningful problems with teams she loves.
Takeaways:
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Managers (and Leaders) Aren’t Born, They’re Made: Julie stresses that effective management is a skill that can be learned and developed—what matters most is a desire for growth, self-awareness, and the willingness to focus on team outcomes rather than just individual output.
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The Power of Culture and Removing Toxins: Julie highlights the importance of a healthy team culture and the danger of tolerating toxic behaviors—even from high performers—because doing so stifles the potential of the whole group.
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AI Is Redefining Leadership: As AI and automation increasingly handle outputs, the value of managers will be in guiding teams through change, reinforcing core human values, and focusing on outcomes that matter most.
Sound Bites:
“The most important thing is to put people first, because nobody can do anything amazing on their own.”
“Feedback is a gift—being direct, open, and supportive is what drives growth in a team.”
“The one thing you should never tolerate on your team is the asshole; their presence will always limit your culture and your people.”
Connect & Discover Julie:
Website: https://www.juliezhuo.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joulee/?hl=en
X: https://x.com/joulee?lang=en
Substack: https://substack.com/@joulee?utm_source=global-search
Book: The Making of a Manager: What to Do When Everyone Looks at You
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | You ever wondered what was the secret sauce that turned Facebook into a billion dollar empire? |
| 0:06.3 | Well, we're going to talk about that in today's episode. |
| 0:08.9 | We're talking to Julie Zhu, who went from intern to VP of product and design at Facebook. |
| 0:14.5 | We're going to talk about the culture that was established at Facebook. |
| 0:18.3 | We're going to go through the one trait that you should not tolerate on your team, |
| 0:22.7 | but we guarantee you're probably tolerating it right now. |
| 0:26.1 | We're also going to talk about how AI is affecting leadership. |
| 0:29.6 | And if you're a new manager or a company that is promoting new managers, |
| 0:33.8 | we're going to talk about how you can win the first 90 days. |
| 0:37.0 | Because if you don't win the first 90, I promise you're not going to make it. |
| 0:40.7 | Buckle up. Here's Julie Zoo. |
| 0:42.6 | Ms. Julie, how are you doing today, dear? |
| 0:45.1 | I'm doing great. Thank you for having me. |
| 0:47.6 | Thank you for being here. Thank you for being here. You know, I was selling you offline. |
| 0:52.8 | This book is so timely. I've shared it with |
| 0:55.7 | family and friends. It's something I connect with because, you know, I'm writing a book as well. |
| 1:00.1 | I just wrote a book. And leadership and management is something that is changing dramatically, |
| 1:07.2 | just like our society has changed. Right. And so we can't lead and manage the same way |
| 1:12.5 | that leadership and management was done even 10 years ago because the expectations have changed, |
| 1:17.3 | people have changed. So I applaud you for the book. Thank you. It was a joy to write, |
| 1:24.7 | mostly for the fact that I was sure that if I spent time thinking about all these |
| 1:29.3 | principles, I would hopefully become a better manager, and that's always been my goal. I love |
... |
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