Masters of Scale

1

Getting to No

When she first pitched her idea for a new kind of career development website to investors, Kathryn Minshew was turned down 148 times . . . not that she was counting.

There were literally days where I had a No over breakfast, a No over a 10:30 a.m. coffee, a No over lunch, Kathryn says. And the Nos kept coming: Disinterest at 2 p.m. Someone who left the meeting early at 4. And then I would go to drinks and feel like I was being laughed out of the room.

And when we finally raised our seed round, I went back and counted. It was both painful and gratifying at the same time looking at all those names, and thinking, I remember that no. I remember that no. I remember that no. And they sting; every one stings.

Kathryn is cofounder and CEO of The Muse, and her idea sprang as so many great entrepreneurial ideas do from her own experience. Kathryn had spent her youth dreaming of a career in international relations. Secret Agent Minshew! But after a stint with the U.S. embassy in Cyprus she realized her foreign service fantasy didn t match the reality of the work. So she took a job as a consultant with McKinsey & Company and spent three years in their New York office. When it was time to move on again with her career, she found the experience disappointing and dehumanizing.

It wasn t uncommon to type in a keyword on a job-listing site like Monster.com and get 5,724 results and they all looked functionally identical to each other. I just felt, for someone starting out in their career, that there has to be a better experience, Kathryn says.

So she started brainstorming with Alex Cavoulacos, a former colleague from McKinsey and her future cofounder. They asked themselves: What if you built a career site that put the individual at the center of that experience? And what if you allowed them to see inside offices before they applied to a company? What if you connected them with experts who could help them understand How do

Reid Hoffman with June Cohen and Deron Triff

[Hoffman] seizes on traits that might otherwise be missed . . . [and] earnestly contends that, through careful attention to leadership and culture, the propulsive drive to grow can be disentangled from the toxic behavior so often associated with explosive expansion. It feels like the triumph of hope over experience. The Wall Street Journal

Whether you re at a startup or working to drive change within a large organization, the business principles in this book will help you deploy your strategy with creativity, integrity, and realism. Satya Nadella, CEO, Microsoft Corporation

Think of this book as a mentorship in ten chapters, with stories and advice from people you might already admire, as well as people whose journeys are just starting. You'll come away with at least a couple of new mantras and a new understanding of the how and why of building your business. Franklin Leonard, founder of The Black List  
 
Reid Hoffman has a talent for getting right to the heart of a business case and turning it into an unforgettable lesson. If you re scaling a company or if you just love a well-told story this is a book to savor. Bob Iger, executive chairman, The Walt Disney Company

[Reid Hoffman] shows how any company of any stripe can bake generosity and social good into its DNA, and how making a positive contribution to the world can be the driving force that helps your company scale. Daniel Lubetzky, executive chairman and founder of KIND and New York Times bestselling author of Do the KIND Thing
 
A book to take with you into battle as you build a company or a career. It s full of enjoyable stories, but the killer feature is the sharp insights that Hoffman draws out specific, memorable, and actionable mindsets. Reed Hastings, co-founder and co-CEO, Netflix

To lead with vision and heart, start by listening and learning from others. Using stories to teach lessons, this book is full of solid