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[MUSIC] Hi Dora.
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>> Hello, hi everyone, good to see you, how nice is this for us to be here in person.
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>> Welcome back to Stanford.
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>> Thank you, so glad to be here.
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>> As you can see, we're all really excited and grateful to have you here, but truly no one more than me.
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You might not remember this, but exactly two years ago, I logged into a Zoom and you were my alumni interviewer.
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>> I remember, I do remember.
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>> [CROSSTALK] For GSB admissions, I don't know what lies you put down on that paper but you've really- >> I speak the truth.
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>> [LAUGH] On multiple levels, you've really made this moment happen, so thank you.
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>> Thank you, I'm so glad to see you here and thriving.
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>> [LAUGH] So then and now, so when you interviewed me when I was entering the GSB or applying for the GSB and now, as I was preparing to interview you, I reached out to a lot of friends in the industry and I asked them, what do you know about Dora?
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because I wanted to get some insights and some intel, and the thing that kept coming back, there are three words, ambitious, incredibly brilliant, and really humble.
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And I'd love to kind of go back to the beginning because I think it seemed as though when people articulated that about you, they're speaking to the truth of your being.
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A lot of that's formed when you're young, in your childhood, in your upbringing.
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So I'd love to know, where does your ambition come from, and really what creates that humility that people are so endeared towards?
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>> Well, thank you, thank you so much for saying that.
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I have to give a lot of credit to my mom, because growing up, I was that kid, I always dreamed big, that kid that you're like, my gosh, stop, but I was always so excited, I always dreamed big.
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And my mom would say to me, Dora, I like your ambition, but don't forget to have ambition with contentment.
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And that was something that meant so much to me, and it's been my North Star right from when I was a child right up until now, and always will be.
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When I think about that, it makes me remember, no matter how high you are, be humble, and no matter how low you are, be hopeful.
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Because things are never, you're never, at least I'll say I'm never as amazing as I think I am, and I'm never as terrible as I think I am, right?
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There's all that space in between and so for me, it's been about how can I make as much impact in the world?
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My ambition is not a selfish ambition just about me, for me, it's about what it represents.
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I feel, there not a lot of black women that get to great stages like this or be in positions like that and for me, I'm trying to demystify that.
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My hope is that, black women who are coming beside me, behind me, can look into, she can do it, I can definitely do it, and that can kind of infuse them and inspire them to go and achieve great things.
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And I'd love for, we need a world where more people in positions of power reflect the population, and so I think about how I can contribute to that in a small way.
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>> Well, early in your career, you had a humbling moment, you described your career as a failed career in finance.
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And you were just telling us a story in the back about how that all kind of came to being that you've started a career in marketing.
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So I'd love for you to share that story with us now and then we'll talk a little bit more about how you transitioned since.
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>> Of course, I'll keep it real because it's the GSB, right?
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[LAUGH] So I was going through a rotational program, one of those programs where you rotate through investment banking, investment research, investment management and sales and trading.
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And I had my heart set on investment banking, because that was the thing that everyone was doing at the time.
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And I was from Nigeria, I didn't really know, I remember when I actually stumbled into, I walked into a place where there had free food, college students to pack some free food.
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And I show up in my yoga clothes, everyone is in a suit, because this is actually a recruiting event for Goldman Sachs, believe it or not.
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[LAUGH] And as I'm about to quickly leave the room, this man walks up to me and he's a partner and he's having a conversation with me.
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And he starts just asking me, he's like, well, clearly you didn't plan to be here, and I was like, not really.
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And he starts having a conversation with me.
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I tell him about what I'm doing, I'm leading a fashion show at Harvard at the time called Eleganza, the other.
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And he was like, well, you seem very entrepreneurial, very driven, this is a production with a lot of people, that's management.
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Have you thought about getting into finance, and I was like, not really.
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And he gave me his card and he was like, contact me, and I did.
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And I ended up getting an internship, that's how I fell into.
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So it wasn't so much of something I had calculated, I was just kind of following the motion.
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And as I was going through this program, this partner said to me, he said, you're good at investment banking but you're great at marketing.
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And I remember when he first said that, I was like, I don't know why I'm not quite taking this compliment as a compliment.
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And I think it's because, he was telling me, okay, this thing you're okay at but this other thing you're really great at.
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And when I took a step back and I reflected on it, I realized it was true.
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I love the data driven analytical aspect of finance, but I love storytelling, I love being creative.
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And for me marketing, I blossomed there because that allowed me to combine my passion, right, for data with my passion for telling stories and kind of bring those things together.
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So yeah, once he said that, I've been in marketing pretty much ever since.
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I doubt this man even knows who I am.
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And I think that's a reminder, when you're in a position of leadership, the impact you can have on people's lives by the things that you say or don't say, and I think about that a lot.
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>> One of the jokes that got said about millennials is that we can't keep a job for more than two years, present company included.
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And I think there's a lot of emphasis that's placed on staying power, so being able to stay with a company for decades, an entire lifetime, etc.
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One of the things that's really remarkable about your career is it seems to me that you've always known when it's time to either stay or when to leave.
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You always kind of make a transition at what appears to be the right moments.
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And so I'm curious to know kind of how do you assess opportunities as they come your way or the ones that you seek out, and what are some of the principles that guide you in that decision making?
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>> So, one of the things, I guess the largest principle that guides me is the ambition with contentment which I've talked about.
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But I also think about how I chase opportunities that create other opportunities.
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I ask myself, am I able to bloom where I'm planted or is this a time where I need to go to grow?
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And for me, if I'm still learning, and I'm still growing, then I need to stay where I'm at and I need to continue to bloom.
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But if the sunlight's gone, and I'm not learning anymore, it might be time to go to grow.
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So I try to focus on that, not so much how much money am I going to make, or is this company doing better at this point in time?
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But I try more to focus on, where can I bloom, where can I thrive, where can I contribute the most that I possibly can?
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And for me, it's all about learning, I'm a lifelong learner.
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And so I think as long as I'm learning, as long as I'm able to contribute to the best of my ability, then I'm going to stay there and I'm going to bloom.
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But when the sunlight's gone, I'm going to say goodbye, I'm going to go to grow.
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>> [LAUGH] One of the things I've really admired about you is how intentional you've been about professional development.
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I think here and just maybe in the Bay Area, more broadly, where there are a lot of startups, sometimes leadership is framed as something that happens spontaneously.
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You're walking around one day, you suddenly have a great idea.
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You then build a 5,000 people company, and suddenly you're in a crisis and you have to lead through that crisis.
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But you've been really, really intentional, and so I want to understand a little bit more where that intentionality comes from.
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And also through your experience in developing yourself as a leader, so coming to a place like the GSB, seeking out an executive coach, etc.
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What have you learned about yourself as a leader?
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>> So how many of you have taken Touchy Feely, or going to take it, interpersonal dynamics?
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I see some hands in the room.
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I love that class so much, it was a very painful class, but I love it very much.
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There's how you see yourself, there's how other people see you, and there's how you think other people see you.
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And sometimes there could be a discrepancy between those three things.
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And I think one of the things that I learned at Stanford in this interpersonal dynamics class was about the importance of how to bring those things together, right, and create less of a gap and a distance, right?
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because you don't want there to be that much distance.
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There's always going to be some distance, because that's just the reality of life, but how can you bridge that gap?
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And for me, I really focused and spend a lot of time thinking about the impact that I can have on others.
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And really thinking and trying to be quite intentional about how, I can't control what you do, but I can control what I do, and I can control how I react to what you do.
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And just really placing emphasis on controlling what I'm able to control is what I kind of leaned into and what I've really focused on.
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>> I'm switching gears a little bit to your career in marketing.
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The business environment right now just seems incredibly volatile, for lack of a better word, and I just think- >> That is a good word.
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>> Yeah, [LAUGH] I think the role of a marketing team, the role of a CMO has become so critical at this time.
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It feels like a really exciting time, but also a really terrifying time to be a marketer.
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But before we begin talking about that a little more, I would like to know from you, especially knowing that at different companies as a CMO means so many different types of functions, types of responsibilities.
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How would you write your own job description as it exists today?
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>> So I lead our global marketing communications and membership team, and marketing kind of comprises of every aspect of marketing, right?
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Product marketing, demand generation, creative, consumer strategy and insights, and then our communications, internal communications, external communication.
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A membership is really the organization that focuses on our subscription business, right?
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Our membership is this, how we continue to be a place that our members want to be at, show up at, and how we're engaging them at the deepest levels.
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>> So I think my job is the full spectrum of marketing, right?
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When I think about, how do I generate interest and awareness, all the way to how do I capture that interest and bring you into the fold, into the ecosystem.
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How do I nurture that, and then how do I turn you into an advocate and someone who not only sticks around, but you help bring other people in?
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So that's how I think about it.
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>> Social media has really changed what marketing looks like over the past few years.
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I think, it's created sort of this environment in which brands, especially consumer brands, are expected to be in conversation with their potential buyers.
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To always be on, to have a voice, to have a personality at times, if we think about brands, like Wendy's or some of these others that are very, very active on Twitter.
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I think as part of that, brands have become really embedded in the sociopolitical discourse that happens outside of these media channels.
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And so I'm curious about what challenges and opportunities that this expectation has created for brands and how you address that at Peloton?
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>> So I think consumers want to know who you are.
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>> That's just the world that we live in now.
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And I think it's really important as a brand that you're clear on who you are and what you stand for.
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I think that's really important.
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At the same time, if you stand for everything, you stand for nothing, right?
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And if you talk and comment about everything, your voice starts to become background noise.
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So I think it's really important that you're clear on what matters most to us and why, some of you might remember that question.
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It's a good question for a brand to ask itself, right? What's our purpose? Why do we exist?
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And then make sure that you are standing up and having a voice in those issues that are most relevant to you.
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But I like to say it to my team this way, I'm like, we want to slay in our lane, but there is a lane.
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Think about what happens if you're driving in a highway and everyone is just going, that is chaos, right?
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And I think as a brand, you can get into a lot of trouble when you forget about that, because it's like, wait, why are you talking about this?
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And it almost can be a distraction to your actual purpose and mission.
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So I always say, we want to be purpose-led not cause-led, right?
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Because when we're cause-led, then we're all over the place.
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When we're purpose-led, we're showing up for causes that are in line with why we exist, what matters most to us, right?
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And at Peloton, we're about improving people's lives through fitness.
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So whenever there are things that are in that space, we want to show up there, we want to have a voice there.
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But if it's not directly connected to that issue, it doesn't mean we're not going to take stances to help our employees and our team members and different stakeholders.
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But you might not see us necessarily being the loudest voice in the room, because I firmly believe if you're not going to take action, you shouldn't speak, I believe that. Why?
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Because you're taking space of people who are actually taking action.
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And I think it's performative, and I don't think we should do that.
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I think if you're actually going to speak about an issue, take action.
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If you don't have an action you can take, maybe you should allow [LAUGH] the people who are actually doing something about it for the attention of the spotlight to be on them.
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So that you're not taking space away and energy away from where the momentum is, and I think that's really important as a brand.
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And then the last thing I'll say on this issue, as you can see I'm very passionate about it, is that I think things like this need to be inside out. What do I mean by that?
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You have to first start, charity begins at home.
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You need to make sure that you're doing the work internally before you start talking about things externally.
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Now, you will not be perfect, no brand is perfect, because you will never get 100% of everything done internally.
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But the work must begin internally.
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If you start talking about things externally, that you're not doing anything about internally, that is actually, I think, going to backfiring on you as a brand, and it can put you in hot water and we've seen that happen.
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>> How do you balance that desire to be a kind of personality through a brand or for a brand to be personable with also the need to be able to grow your market or grow your customer base.
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So how do you balance doing so without alienating potentially new customers?
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>> I think, that's a really good question, and that's why I talk about your lane and when you're slinging it.
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I might not agree with you, but I can respect you. Do you know what I mean?
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There are people you don't always agree with, but you're like, that's a thoughtful perspective.
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I have a different point of view on this, but I respect who you are, I respect that you're authentic, I respect that you stand up for what you believe in.
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What people do not like is what they perceive as being performative or hypocritical.
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Those are the two things that I think really alienate and separate you as a brand from your consumer, when they feel like you're not being authentic.
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So you're just telling me what you think I want to hear, you're not necessarily saying what you believe in.
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Or this doesn't really align with how you normally show up.
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So I'm asking questions, question mark, question mark.
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And I think that the best thing you can do is how can you be authentic to your purpose?
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How can you be consistent about it?
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And how can you make sure that anything that you're speaking about or you're talking about, you've action to back it up and you started the work internally before you started going outside?
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>> So you joined Peloton at a really exciting time.
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The company was experiencing a lot of growth.
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If you walked by the Presidential Center at 6 PM any given night, you could see people in their little windows doing a class. And now- >> It's great.
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>> [LAUGH] >> Thank you all for being Peloton members, it's awesome.
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>> And now things have changed at Peloton, from the industry standpoint, or from the news standpoint, is said to be struggling as a business.
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What are some of the things that you believe that you will have to get right in your role knowing that in marketing, that growth is sometimes a function of marketing?
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What do you believe you have to get right in your role for this moment to be able to continue to grow at Peloton?
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>> So I'll start with what has changed, and what is the same, right?
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because I think that's important context.
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So what has changed is the macroeconomic climate has changed. That has changed, right? There was a pandemic.
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[LAUGH] I don't know if you all remember.
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We were all stuck indoors, and now that's changed.
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We're in a different context.
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So the macroeconomic context has changed.
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What has stayed the same is that people still want to be motivated to lead a healthy, happy life.
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People still want an exercise option, an option to move their body and care for the mind that is going to inspire them, that is going to make them want to show up.
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And one of the things that I think is amazing about Peloton is that in spite of everything that it's been through, and we've been through some things.
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It's been a wild ride, y'all [LAUGH].
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But in spite of everything, our members continue to show up.
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And that is because our focus on improving the lives of our members, and our focus on our member experience continues to remain true.
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That continues to be our true north.
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That continues to be our north star.
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And I think that it's important to remember that, because I think if we take our eye off doing what's right for our members and putting them first, We can't do that.
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So I think as a business, we've gotta make sure that first and foremost, we are serving our members.
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We are making sure that we're providing them with an engaging experience that they want to show up to every day. That's job number one.
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And as a marketer, I need to make sure that my organization's doing everything that we can to support our members and put them first.
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And then I think the other thing that we're doing is we're making sure that people understand who we are and what we do, and what we offer, right?
18:09
When we first started out, Peloton, and I give all the credit to our incredible founders who found this out to be true before the whole world caught up, right, this idea of connected fitness, right?
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I can get an engaging workout from the comfort of my home.
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This wasn't really something people thought could happen, and they built this.
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They created this category, which I think is amazing.
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And now, as the world is evolving, how do we show how that continues to expand in this new macroeconomic context?
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So we have to show that yes, we were relevant in the pandemic, but we're still relevant now.
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That motivating incredible experience that we provide you hasn't gone away.
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And I think we've got the Peloton bike, we've got the Peloton but we also have the Peloton app, which has outdoor running, has a variety of exercises, so you don't have to only use it in the home.
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You can use it in the gym.
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You can use it on the go.
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And so being able to really tell that story of how Peloton is really helping to drive and help people stay fit, be motivated not only in one space, but in multiple spaces, that omnichannel experience.
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I think that's really important.
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That's something as marketers, that's job number two.
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>> So looking internally, how are you leading the team that you had, and then also thinking about the executive team as well through this critical inflection point?
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>> Leadership, I think it's so funny, because I think [LAUGH] everyone's like, leadership.
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>> [LAUGH] >> Welcome to my TED Talk.
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>> [LAUGH] >> [LAUGH] I think it's so easy to think you're a good leader when everything's going great. Do you know what I mean?
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It's like, I'm a great leader.
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Well, maybe it's just the macroeconomic context.
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I think it's harder to lead when things are tough, right?
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And I think that's really where who you are shows up, and the impact you can have on other people's lives show.
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And I think my number one thing is I'm a people first leader.
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I believe that to the core of who I am.
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I treat people how I want to be treated, and that is fundamental to me in my life, and in my work.
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And I carry that through every step of the way.
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That means when I have to make tough decisions, I make tough decisions the way I would want someone to make a tough decision with me.
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It means when I have to communicate difficult news, I communicate difficult news in a way I would want someone to communicate that to me.
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It means when I have to encourage someone to change, or try something, or do something different, I make sure that I am putting their interests first, and I'm helping them see what's in it for them.
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So I think having that, because I think when things get tough, it's easy to take your eyes off the people and focus on the problem.
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And actually, I believe that's when you need to lean into your people the most, because you can't solve the problems by yourself.
20:58
Winning is a team sport [LAUGH].
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And in order to win, it means you need all the people on the team to believe in what you're saying to rally around you, and to come together to do that.
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And so I firmly believe in putting people first, and that's something that I continue to do with my team.
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I'm really proud of this, because in my entire career since I've started managing people, I have never ever had anybody who directly reports to me and say, hey, here's my resignation notice.
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It's never happened, because I always have conversations with people.
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I always understand, hey, how are things going?
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Are you blooming where you're planted, or is this a time for you to go to grow?
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We have honest conversation.
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My team know they can rely on me.
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My team know they can be honest with me.
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And so because of that, because I put them first, guess what? They also put me first.
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They think about me, and they think about the impact.
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And not only do they put, but they put each other first.
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And so it allows us to navigate tough times I think in a much better way.
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The second thing that I think is really important is controlling what you can control.
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There is so much you cannot control, but guess what? There's so much you can.
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And how do you take the assets that you have and do something with what you've got?
22:12
I think so many times we felt well, if only this could change. You know what?
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Can't change that [LAUGH].
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But there's a lot you can change.
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So how about we do a lot with what we had?
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I'll give you an example. I'm a storyteller.
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I told you heard the beginning.
22:25
[LAUGH] One of the things that's happened to us at Peloton is we have this passionate member base.
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I see some of them in the room.
22:32
We're going to talk about your favorite instructors after this [LAUGH].
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But we have a passionate member base.
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And what that means for us is as we've gone through the different things we've gone through, our members have actually taken to social media to tell their stories.
22:44
So there was this phenomenon that was happening, which was several members going to social media and saying, hey, I was the biggest Peloton skeptic.
22:51
Here's what I actually wrote publicly on social media in 2018.
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I will never, ever use Peloton.
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This is an overpriced coat rack.
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Here's what I'm saying today.
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This thing has changed my life, y'all.
23:05
[LAUGH] This is the best investment I've ever made.
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They were publicly going to social media to say this. And guess what?
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Many times, they were tagging me.
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>> [LAUGH] >> And by the way, this was amazing therapy to read at the end of the day.
23:15
I was like, this is great.
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I'm not going to Twitter, I'm going over here. This is amazing.
23:20
And it was such a motivating experience, because I was talking with my team, I had snotty, and I was like, what if we just turned this into a campaign?
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And the whole team rallied, it was amazing.
23:34
It was the quickest campaign.
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Everyone was like, let us take this.
23:37
And what is the campaign?
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It's simple, it's literally the person's name, what they said, what they said previously, and what they're saying today, that's it.
23:46
That's the ad, and we put it everywhere. And it was remarkable.
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Not did it galvanize our member base, but it was inspiring for employees as well.
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It was so great for people saying you know what, there's always going to be skeptics, but there are also always going to be believers.
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And it was such a magical thing, and it meant so much to folks.
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And I think that's an example of I couldn't control what everybody was saying, but I could shine a light on something else that was being said.
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I could shine a light on what our members were saying.
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I could amplify the voices of our members.
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So I think that's an example of how you can look.
24:21
Sometimes you gotta do a little bit data mining, deep mining.
24:24
But you can look at what you have, what assets you have.
24:26
You can use that to control the situation.
24:28
And then third thing, final thing, I won't judge GSB, keep it to three things- >> [LAUGH] >> Is communication, over communicate, I over communicate.
24:37
Every week with my team, I have weekly standup with everybody in my organization. It's my sacred time.
24:43
The only time I miss it is if there's something super important, urgent that I almost, my husband does, he's sitting right here.
24:49
Even when we're on vacation I'm like, it's stand up time, y'all.
24:53
And I'm getting in there, it's really important to me that I'm connecting with my team every single week. Guess what?
24:58
During the hard weeks [LAUGH], I showed up.
25:01
And I remember people on my team said that to me.
25:04
They were like, we thought you were going to cancel?
25:07
Because we were like, well, is she going to show up today?
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Well, this going to be lit.
25:11
I'm bringing my coffee to this. What's going on? But I show up.
25:15
When it's hard, I show up.
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When it's easy, I show up.
25:17
Holidays, I still show up.
25:19
And I think it's really important, how do you show up?
25:22
Are you always showing up? Are you communicating?
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Are you sharing as much information as you can with your team?
25:28
>> While you were at Stanford, like many of us, you caught the entrepreneurial bug, and you started two companies. >> Yes.
25:35
>> [LAUGH] Did you want to speak about that?
25:39
>> Well- >> [LAUGH] >> [LAUGH] Well, you then went on to build really big global brands, Apple, GE.
25:46
You were at Carbon, now you're at Peloton.
25:49
Many of us are in the stages of deciding whether or not we want to build or join.
25:54
And I'd love to kind of know a little bit more about your experience to making that decision for yourself.
25:59
Whether you would pursue what you were building while you were at Stanford, or join another company.
26:05
>> So the way I think about it, I think about impact, right? You can have impact.
26:10
You can have small impact, and you can have really massive impact.
26:13
And I remember when I first started, when I was thinking I was going to be an entrepreneur, my husband said something to me which was very interesting.
26:21
He was like, I feel like you really enjoy the management perspective more than the founder stuff, going around fundraising. I was very nervous.
26:30
I didn't want to take money from anybody.
26:32
I just wanted us to continue to pour our money into it.
26:35
That's not really how it works.
26:36
>> [LAUGH] >> But I love the management piece.
26:41
I love the marketing of it.
26:43
And so I started to have real conversations with myself, because I think that's when at the GSB, during my class, everybody was like, what are you doing?
26:51
I'm starting my own tech startup, want to come work for me and be my co-founder?
26:55
>> [LAUGH] >> It was literally like, everyone was doing it.
26:58
So I didn't want to miss out.
27:00
I was like, I don't want to miss out.
27:01
I don't want to be the loser of my class.
27:04
Okay, I'm going to start something, Cool Whip- >> [LAUGH] >> Shopping, something.
27:08
>> [LAUGH] >> And I think the lesson I learned there is don't do what everyone else is doing. Do what's right for you.
27:16
And for me, I remember it was very actually humiliating when I first shut down all my startups [LAUGH], because I would run into people and be like, how's my startup?
27:26
Mine's still going, by the way.
27:27
I hired my third engineer.
27:28
>> [LAUGH] >> And I'd be like, I shut down my startup and I got a job.
27:34
>> [LAUGH] >> And I was so humiliated. But guess what?
27:38
I'm really happy about the path that I took, because it was the path that was right for me.
27:43
And I'm sitting here because one of my bosses and mentors, Joe DeSimone, is over there.
27:48
Hi, Joe, show Joe some love, y'all. Joe's amazing.
27:51
He's a professor here, too.
27:52
>> [APPLAUSE] >> And I got to work for amazing people like Joe.
27:57
Joe was the founder and CEO of Carbon, and he hired me as his CMO.
28:01
That was an amazing opportunity, right, to work in creating this category of 3D printing.
28:07
We have the largest use case of a 3D printed consumer product out in the wild, with these Adidas 3D printed shoes.
28:14
And it was incredible to do that.
28:16
And for me, what I've realized is, I don't yet have an idea that I'm like, if I don't do this idea, I'm willing to give everything up for this idea.
28:26
So for me, it's like, well, when I meet people like Joe, incredible people who have those ideas, I want to contribute to that.
28:33
I want to help them build that.
28:34
And I think for me, it's about how can I have the most impact?
28:39
And so far for me, it's about making the most impact by being where I need to be at any given point in time.
28:47
And for me, it's been joining these incredible companies and helping scale and grow them as a marketing leader.
28:52
So it's okay if you're not starting a company, you'll be all right.
28:57
>> On the side, you do invest in people who are starting companies.
29:02
And so from your perch now as a brand expert, I'm curious to know what signs do you look for when you're evaluating a company or a startup, and you want to declare them as having the right mix of brand, product, strategy, etc?
29:19
>> The passion of the founder.
29:20
I just told you what I didn't have, those people.
29:22
I'm like, yep, those people.
29:24
The people who I need to build this, I'm willing to give everything up to build this.
29:29
I believe in this so much, that I'm willing to put everything on the line for this, that passion, because guess what?
29:35
Your founder journey is not like this. That's not how it works.
29:38
You might start out great with that great press article that comes out, and then your consumers don't show up.
29:44
And then you get product market fit.
29:46
The unit economic model breaks down.
29:49
But then [LAUGH], you know what?
29:51
We got the unit economics to work.
29:53
All scaling is really hard and really hard.
29:55
The journey is not linear. It's like a jungle gym.
29:59
But if you have someone with passion, I think that's really important.
30:02
The second thing is, is this someone that people want to follow? Do you know what I mean?
30:07
You know that those people, like Joe, people you love, you want to work for them? You're like [INAUDIBLE].
30:11
When I'm excited, my husband is sometimes a little too.
30:14
When I'm passionate about something, I'm working for it, right? I'm in it.
30:17
And there are people who inspire you, people who motivate.
30:20
Not everyone has that gift.
30:22
I think that's really important to have as a founder.
30:24
Because not only are you the idea creator and generator, but guess what?
30:31
You're the first CMO, and you're the first head of sales.
30:33
You need to recruit and attract people to that idea.
30:37
So having that magnetism, being someone that people are willing to like, yeah, you know what?
30:41
I'm going to take a risk, and come join me on this adventure.
30:44
I think that's really important.
30:46
And then the third thing is curiosity.
30:50
When I'm looking to invest and I ask questions, and the person has an answer to everything, I'm not going to invest.
30:58
Because the reality is, there are many things we don't know, and we need to be comfortable saying, you know what?
31:03
I don't actually know that.
31:05
But I'm going to go and I'm going to learn and I'm going to get back to you about that. And guess what?
31:09
If they actually get back to me, they get extra bonus points.
31:11
>> [LAUGH] >> Because many people say that they don't follow up.
31:13
>> [LAUGH] >> But it's that curiosity, not thinking you know everything.
31:18
None of us know everything.
31:19
I feel like we live in the age of backseat drivers.
31:22
My god, I read this tweet, one tweet, and I know everything.
31:26
Backseat drivers will drive you off a cliff, believe that.
31:29
>> [LAUGH] >> Backseat drivers who drive you off a cliff.
31:33
So I think it's really important that people are curious, they're willing to ask questions, and they're willing to admit what they don't know.
31:40
And it's okay, because I think people who are humble enough to say you know what, I don't know everything, I don't know that.
31:46
Those people always are more successful than people who think they have all the answers.
31:52
>> I want to switch gears and talk about identity, because I know that racial justice and gender equity are issues that you are incredibly passionate and supportive of.
32:00
You are so interesting to me, because you had to learn what it means to be black, in America.
32:08
Many people might believe that being black or black identity is a monolith, but in Nigeria, where you were born and where you grew up, doesn't really exist as an ethnicity.
32:17
There are 500 other ethnicities, and black doesn't show up there.
32:21
In London or in the United Kingdom, where you went to school and then in the US, that's really where like this racial construct started taking shape.
32:29
I'd love for you to share with us what that journey was like for you and what were some of the lessons that you learned as your identity mutated across these borders.
32:39
>> It's so funny, because growing up in Nigeria, Yes everybody was black, but there was colorism, which I like to think of as a shade of racism.
32:50
And growing up, I wasn't light skinned, but I wasn't in Nigeria, I wasn't dark skinned, I was in the middle and my older sister is dark and almost everybody I met, we met will always say, Tara you're so light and so pretty and that and they would miss they would look at my sister and they would.
33:14
And I remember growing up just hearing that over and over again.
33:21
And Nigeria is a former colony, right and it's amazing what that does to you and what that can do to your mind.
33:28
And, I should have never told this story before.
33:31
I don't even know why I'm sharing this, maybe I'm all emotional in the GSB.
33:36
But, I remember growing up, there was a time where I was, I felt I wanted to make my skin lighter.
33:41
I went to the store and didn't have a lot of money, so I bought the worst possible cream. I put it on my skin. It was awful.
33:49
I had a complete allergic reaction.
33:51
I literally transformed my skin into, I don't know, I looked like a leopard. It was not good.
33:57
And I'm glad that actually happened, because I was like, you know what?
34:02
Better to be one color and look great, so not ever going to do that again.
34:06
And, but, I learned a painful lesson, when I was very young, but I was glad I learned that lesson.
34:14
But when I came to the US, it was interesting, because I remember someone referred to me, the dark skinned girl and I was like, who?
34:22
And it was like, you're talking about me?
34:25
I remember that was actually my very first vivid memory, where I was, wow, I'm now the one, I'm now the dark skinned person.
34:34
And then, I also just, all the experiences I had of walking through sites like Harvard Yard and, people wondering if I went to school there.
34:45
And those experiences, or people thinking I was the cleaner, or I actually had to do dorm crew, which is if you went to Harvard, you know what that is?
34:55
It's where you clean the dormitories of kids, and many times it's the underrepresented minorities, cleaning the dorms of our rich white counterparts, and that can be painful and it can be and I remember just going through these experiences and just realizing when I walk out the door, nobody cares where I am. I'm just black.
35:17
I'm a black woman in America.
35:19
What am I going to do about that?
35:21
And I remember asking myself, what am I going to do about that?
35:25
At the time, I didn't really have much. [LAUGH] I didn't.
35:28
But I thought to myself, well, how about I try to do the best with what I have?
35:33
I'm going to a great school.
35:34
How about I try to be the best leader that I can be and try to model what it's like to excel as a black woman in business.
35:42
That's what I'm interested in and that's what I've tried to do, and that's, that's my passion.
35:49
That's why I show up every day no matter how hard it is.
35:55
For many people, I'm the first black female boss that they have.
35:59
And I think about that, what do I want?
36:04
I think, well, some people are going to walk in here, and they're going to not have any assumptions.
36:08
Some people are going to walk up with some assumptions.
36:11
[LAUGH] What can I do to change that?
36:14
What can I do to impact that?
36:16
I think about that a lot.
36:17
And so for me, my journey has been about, how I can help elevate black women, how and women of color in general in the United States, and how I can use my platform to show and demystify.
36:31
And many people say, you know what?
36:32
If you're a young black girl, you know what, it darkens or you could definitely do it.
36:36
[LAUGH] I just really try to inspire people and show people, because you can't be what you can't see.
36:41
And I think it's important to see that.
36:43
It was really important for me to see Ursula Burns, first black woman, CEO of a Fortune 500 company.
36:52
That meant so much to me. I've never even met her.
36:55
I talk about her all the time.
36:56
People think we're friends.
36:57
No, I've never met her, love you.
36:59
You invite her from the top, let me know.
37:02
[LAUGH] Yeah, but you meant so much to me.
37:04
And now here we are in 2022, there's still only three, Ursula Burns, Ross Breuer, Cassandra Docket. That's it. It's 2022.
37:17
What are we going to do about that?
37:19
I ask myself that question.
37:23
>> That intersection that you described of race and gender, you spoke to a little bit and your response, is so nuanced and I think, I sit in the same place and especially in the US, it comes with so much baggage, and so what did you have to unlearn about that identity in order for you to be successful?
37:47
>> When I first started out, I don't want to talk about anything black, I don't want people to see me as the trope of the angry black woman.
37:57
>> So like I want to just be easy peasy Dara, calm, neutral, okay to be around, never gets annoyed about anything.
38:06
And I wasn't really showing up as myself, because I'm sure you've already seen I'm pretty expressive, passionate.
38:13
And so I was just like, don't say anything, don't do anything, don't be weird.
38:18
And I just was like a shadow of myself.
38:21
And I remember this incredible boss that I had and he was amazing.
38:28
And he is gay and and he's other and one day he pulled me aside and he was like we other people come, let's have a little talk.
38:36
And he said you could be yourself.
38:38
I'll let you know if you get to fun. How about that?
38:41
And that was amazing to me, right, to have someone that I knew was looking out for me and he understood what I was going through, how I was trying to navigate these spaces.
38:51
And that's why I think mentorship is so important.
38:54
And it wasn't the CEO of Goldman Sachs that was mentoring me.
38:58
I feel like a lot of times I get notes from people, hey, I would like you to be my mentor.
39:03
And sometimes I reply, and I'm like, have you asked any other black women in your organization or anybody you know that has shown an interest in you.
39:10
I think sometimes we think we need the top of the leaderboard, to be our mentor.
39:15
And sometimes you don't, that's, it's actually who cares about you the most, just that's who you should be your mentor, who believes in you, who wants to invest time in you.
39:25
And I learned so much from him, it helped me realize that I could show up more as myself.
39:32
Guess what, I also realized there's a cost to that.
39:35
When you're the person that makes the comments, wouldn't it be great if we have a diverse slate?
39:41
There's some people who are not going to like that.
39:43
It's going to upset some people.
39:45
When you make comments about, hey, can we make sure that we're promoting, because I think about recruit, retain, promote and protect.
39:55
Cause guess what, everybody says they want diversity.
39:58
When you add a diverse person to an organization, guess what happens?
40:02
If it's like a transplant, you add an organ that the body wants to reject.
40:08
It's just the truth, because it's a lot easier, it's easier when we're all the same.
40:15
It's easier when we all think the same thing.
40:17
It's harder when we have different perspectives and points of view. It takes work.
40:22
Are we willing to do the work?
40:23
We should all be willing to do the work.
40:25
And I think what I've done is, well, what I try to do every day is make sure that I'm that voice in the room, that I ask those tough questions, that I push those issues, doesn't come without a cost.
40:37
But what I've also learned is that there's a time and a place.
40:42
And as a black woman, what I've realized is many times people want to know are you really on the team? Say that again.
40:52
People want to know if you're on the team. What do I mean by that?
40:55
People want to understand, why are you making that comment?
40:58
Are you making that comment just to be disruptive, or are you making that comment because you want us to be better?
41:05
So what I try to do is make sure do everything that I can to make sure people understand I'm on the team, but I want us as a team to get better.
41:14
And that's how I try to navigate.
41:16
It's not easy, and I don't do it well all the time, but that's how I try to show up.
41:21
>> As one of the few black execs at Peloton and also in the tech industry, just more broadly, I'm certain that you get pulled into a lot of conversations, where it might not really fall within your scope as the marketer, but it's so core to your being.
41:36
I'm curious about how you manage the weight of that responsibility of being a steward on behalf of your community, whether that's black women, immigrants, etc.
41:46
And what do you believe that others allies could be doing better to help so that you don't have to shoulder so much of that?
42:01
>> Well, there's a saying, it's not my thing, but I love the thing. Pressure is a privilege.
42:09
Pressure is a privilege, I think about that.
42:11
For the hard days and during those hard days, I remember I'm here for a reason.
42:19
I literally told myself, Dora, pressure is a privilege.
42:23
And when you are in a position of privilege, what are you going to do about it?
42:28
So I say, if I think this is hard, how much harder is it for people who aren't yet where I am in my career?
42:36
So I can't be like, this is too hard.
42:38
You know what, I told myself, grow up, life's hard.
42:42
Keep pushing, because I have a daughter who's six years old, I want my daughter to be dealing with different things, right?
42:51
I don't want my daughter to be dealing with this.
42:52
I don't want my daughter to be having these same conversations.
42:56
So that means I have to be willing to do the work.
43:00
And I'm willing to do the work, and I do the work.
43:03
Doesn't mean it doesn't get tough.
43:05
That's why I think you need a support system.
43:07
I have my amazing husband who's here and my sister, and my family, and my friends.
43:12
And my mentors Rob Segal, I don't know if you're here.
43:15
Rob, yeah, I have a good Rob story.
43:17
We're going to come back to that.
43:18
I'm going to tell you that one, it's a good one.
43:20
And I have these people that support me and love me, right?
43:23
And so I have a support system.
43:25
That's really important, because you know what, it gets hard.
43:29
And some days I'm going to go home and I'm going to cry, and I'm going to be like, this is really, really hard.
43:34
And I need someone, a people to remind me of who I am and why I'm doing what I'm doing.
43:40
So I think that support system is so key.
43:43
And I think that's something that the GSB and the Stanford community really provides, right?
43:48
My very best friend in the world, I met at the GSB.
43:51
And my husband and I, we have a Zoom call with her and her husband every Sunday.
43:58
And she's my sister, my support system, we talk about everything.
44:02
So I think having a support system is so key and so important to navigating that.
44:07
And then the third thing I'll say is protect your peace.
44:10
You have to protect your peace.
44:14
I remember the very first time a press article was written about me, I was so proud.
44:19
I was so excited, I emailed it to my mom.
44:22
My mom was like, really great, Dora, you're never as great as they say you are.
44:30
>> [LAUGH] >> That sounds like a Nigerian mother.
44:31
>> I know, it sounds like a Nigeria mother, yeah, exactly.
44:34
All the emphasis, you are never as great as they say you are.
44:38
>> [LAUGH] >> That's where the humility comes from.
44:42
>> But you're also never as terrible as they say you are.
44:46
God is still doing work with you.
44:47
Literally what she said to me, verbatim.
44:50
I remember it, I think about that a lot, right?
44:52
And I think that's really important, because when you're doing the work that you're going through, you get criticized, right? Are you doing enough? Are you doing too much?
45:00
For some people, you're never doing enough, for some people, you're always doing too much, right?
45:06
And then there are people who are like, yay, thank God for those people, yay, right?
45:12
And you got to navigate all of that.
45:13
And so for me, it's about protecting my peace and making sure that I don't allow those backseat drivers to drive me off a cliff.
45:20
>> My final question for you.
45:22
So you alluded to this earlier, there's the infamous question on the GSB application, what matters to you most and why?
45:28
How did you answer this ten years ago when you were applying?
45:31
And how would you answer this now?
45:34
>> That's a really good question. I'm going to answer it.
45:37
First, I'm going to tell you my Rob Segal story because I think it's really important.
45:41
>> [LAUGH] >> He's sweating right now.
45:43
>> He's like why, why is this happening right now?
45:44
No, I think it's really important. It's really important. There's a lesson here.
45:49
Before my first CMO job, this is the big deal, my first ever C-Suite job.
45:54
I was interviewing for it.
45:56
And I was like, I need someone to talk to.
45:58
Rob, do you remember this?
46:00
And I'm like, wow, SOS, could we have a conversation?
46:04
He was on a plane flying somewhere.
46:07
He was like, what time is it?
46:08
I'm going to get on phone, I'm going to call you.
46:10
He called me, had a conversation, gave me that confidence.
46:13
I say that because it's so important to be there for each other, right?
46:17
And that was so critical for me.
46:20
At the time I had imposter syndrome, I was definitely ready for the job. But guess what?
46:23
I'd never done it before.
46:26
I like to say, there's a lot of half baked people walking around looking for fully baked people, some of those people.
46:32
There's a first time before you do, all of us have a first time.
46:34
Now I've been a CMO multiple times, but there was the first time someone was going to give me that shot, give me that opportunity.
46:41
Sue Segal, incredible woman who gave me that first shot, amazing leader.
46:46
I needed the confidence to know that I could do that.
46:50
Rob gave me that confidence. He sat with me. He listened to me. He helped me prep.
46:55
Invaluable, changed my life.
46:58
You never know when you're going to change someone else's life.
47:00
So when someone in the Stanford community reaches out to you, SOS, don't ever be too busy.
47:06
I think about that now, by the way, when people reach out to me, I remember Rob, and I remember hey, I'm not too important.
47:12
I'm not too busy to be there for my friends and be there for the people that matter to me.
47:18
Okay, now I'll answer your question. >> [LAUGH] Thank you.
47:21
>> So, what matters most to me and why?
47:24
I wrote what matters most, and Derek Moulton, thank you for accepting me to the GSB, [LAUGH] he's over here.
47:31
And I wrote, what matters most to me is my Christian faith.
47:36
And it's because it gives me the strength to live by my values, was what mattered most to me then, it is what matters to me most to me now, it is what will always matter most to me.
47:47
My values of love, of acceptance, of respect, of inclusiveness.
47:52
I talked earlier about treating people how I want to be treated, there's so much in the world we can't control.
47:59
But I think many times sometimes we forget about forgiveness.
48:03
If we forget about love, we forget about respect.
48:09
And it's always about what my way, my view, my perspective, my thought.
48:14
And for me, my faith reminds me not just to think about myself, but more importantly to think about others.
48:24
And as a leader my faith inspires me to be a servant leader.
48:30
I tell my team I want to serve you, I'm here to serve you.
48:34
And for me that's what matters most.
48:37
And at the end of the day when I talked about that protection of peace, [LAUGH] Right, we're all going to go out in the world I'm sure I sit here all this amazing people.
48:46
Maybe you'll hire me and you going to build great things and you're going to do great things.
48:53
And I think it's really important not to forget, for me it's my faith, for you be something else, right?
48:58
One of my friends is an atheist like I don't get this whole thing, I'm like that's okay.
49:02
For you, it's going to be something else.
49:04
But whatever matters most to you and why don't ever forget it, and don't lose sight of it.
49:10
>> Thank you Dora you are truly remarkable.
49:13
And I knew that when you interviewed me.
49:15
[LAUGH] We're going to turn to some audience question. >> Hi, Dora.
49:19
First of all, thank you for being here. My name is Melanie. I'm an MBA too.
49:24
I also wanted to say a big thank you to your family I actually went to life when I was 6 years old. >> My God.
49:29
[LAUGH] >> That was a really big transition for me when I was moving from London, and I used to cry a lot at the school and your mom used to make pancakes for me in the house.
49:43
[LAUGH] So thank you so much. They're all my favorite.
49:46
But my question is one about family life.
49:50
And I know that men don't often get this on this stage, but it's so important.
49:54
Yeah, it's so important for us.
49:56
As black women in the school we often talk about that there aren't enough leaders in front of us that can talk to us about our lives outside of work.
50:03
And so I wanted to talk to you about, how you balance everything but not just that how you are very intentional about, the qualities in your home, looking after your kids, raising that family in the US as an immigrant.
50:20
There's so many questions in this but it's really just about balance and family and the choices that you made.
50:27
>> I'm also interested in the answer to this question. >> [LAUGH] That's funny.
50:32
That's my husband, he likes jokes.
50:35
So, look, I'm going to keep it real, right?
50:42
There is no balance in my life, there is only harmony.
50:45
Many times, I'm on a balance sometimes. It's been a year for me.
50:50
I don't know if the year I bet it's been a year. And you know what?
50:55
Work has come first a lot of the year, and I'm so blessed that I have an incredible husband who also has a career.
51:01
So we're dual career, couple of dual career family, but it's not my job to raise the kids. It's our job.
51:09
We're thinking about that and we're looking at that.
51:12
And guess what, sometimes when things are really crazy for me, he's like, okay, I'm lead parent now. Okay?
51:17
So you're not just going to breathe in here with your 30 seconds of thoughts and breathe out and make the pancakes so I want to make the pancakes you just said pancakes. So that's in my head.
51:26
And I think that's really important that partnership.
51:29
It is so key and so important.
51:32
But the other thing too is I tried to do with my kids, I have a daughter who's six and a son who's four.
51:39
And my daughter who's six, she kind of understands things a little bit more now, as I have conversations with her, Hey, what's really important to you?
51:44
She's got a musical coming up on ME in May.
51:48
It's very important to her, it's in person.
51:53
You can join on zoom but it's in person.
51:57
As she said to me, mommy, this is in person and I want you there in person.
52:03
>> [LAUGH] >> You don't know my daughter Zoey, I say if you do you're like yes ma'am.
52:09
I'm going to show up there in person.
52:11
But she has that ability.
52:14
She knows I've created that space where she can express herself.
52:17
And she can tell me what she needs, so I know what's really important.
52:20
So guess what there's something really important happening on my job and I'm like, I'm going to be in person, at my daughter's school that day, that is not, there is nothing.
52:29
That is going to keep me away from being there.
52:31
Now am I at every, she has gymnastics, am I at every single gym? No, I'm not. I'm not going to lie.
52:38
I'm not going to sit up here and tell you that because it's not true.
52:40
I'm not at all her little, I'm not at everything.
52:43
But the things that matter to her, I'm there. And I show up for that.
52:46
So for me, it's about I kind of think with objectives and key results.
52:50
So I have my objectives and my goals.
52:52
The things that are important to me and I do that another one with my husband, every year we try to go to a marriage retreat.
52:59
We try to do it every year.
53:02
No matter how challenging it is, we make space for that. It's an objective. It's important.
53:07
We sit there, think about our vision. What are we going to do.
53:10
We plan we're intentional.
53:13
That works for us doesn't work for everybody.
53:14
Not everybody needs this.
53:15
Some of my friends are like why? Not necessarily.
53:18
We love it, works for us, right? Do what works for you.
53:21
But it works for us that intentionality and so for me, it's about creating those space, being stubborn about the things that matter most to my family and making sure that I prioritize that.
53:30
The other things there's no balance, like I said [LAUGH] There's harmony. >> One more? >> Hi.
53:39
Thank you for being here.
53:41
You're really captivating.
53:42
So it's been awesome to hear you speak.
53:44
I'm different from the family life going back to organizations.
53:47
I think one of the things that my prior organizations struggle with, especially during the pandemic is unexperienced athletics as well.
53:54
As how much leniency and understanding do you give to your employees, in hard times and whether that be in their personal lives or at work and you seem like you're exceptional at managing teams.
54:05
How do you balance being an understanding leader with hardline expectations on work, showing up like you've said.
54:11
And expectations that your team display grit and determination that are concomitant with being in an ambitious workplace environment.
54:20
>> So answer that question with this story.
54:24
Every one is going through a journey, even if you don't know it and you don't know what that journey is.
54:33
And for me, having constant communication and being open with my team and keeping it real.
54:39
I really tried to keep it raw, don't do it well, perfectly 100% of the time, but I always tried to show up as my authentic self, and I always try to keep it real.
54:48
And what that means is I ask questions, and the people that work for me that are closest to me know, they can tell me exactly what's going on.
54:58
So I was talking to someone who worked for me at a job and the person told me, hey, the person had a very big job.
55:10
And they were like, this job right now, for what I'm going on in my personal life, this is a lot and I don't know if it makes sense for me to keep doing this.
55:21
We had that open and honest conversation, right?
55:26
And that helped me understand wow this is a lot.
55:31
How can I support this person?
55:33
And so I started to think about how I could support and make sure that they have the team around them to support them and I'm able to support them but ultimately, the person decided, I'm not sure that this type of job makes sense for me anymore.
55:52
And I remember when he called me to tell me, I was very nervous and I would like talk him out of it, I didn't. I asked him why.
56:03
And when he explained to me, he said.
56:06
When I first took this job, I worked till 10PM that day, and I haven't stopped and it's been several years.
56:16
I have young children and family that live abroad, but I just I need something different.
56:21
It made sense to me, right?
56:23
And so I asked him, well, what do you want to do?
56:25
And he said, I ultimately want to leave.
56:27
And I was like, how soon?
56:28
And we talked about it and we worked out a plan, a beautiful plan that worked well for me, for him, for the organization, for the company.
56:35
And I think this comes back to being people first, right?
56:38
Ultimately, I'm like, what is in the company's best interest is a lack of disruption.
56:43
Right, that is ultimate for a leader this big, that is ultimately what is best for the company.
56:48
But it's also what's best for him.
56:51
So, how can we work together on a transition plan that is going to make sense?
56:55
I think often what happens is, and by the way, I'm guilty of this.
57:00
I think we're all guilty of it in some ways.
57:02
We don't always put ourselves in other people's shoes.
57:05
So, we want to do the most expedient thing, not always the right thing.
57:09
And I think that's where as leaders you can make a bit of a difference.
57:12
Is when you ask yourself, actually, if I was in this person's shoes, what would I want someone to do?
57:18
How would I want someone to treat me? And then do that. >> Thank you, Clara.
57:25
I don't know, we'd like to close view from the top with a lightning round of questions. >> Wow.
57:31
>> So, I have a few for you.
57:33
Is it better to be an RJ Miller scholar or friend of RJ Miller? >> Friend of RJ Miller. See you in Vegas.
57:42
>> [LAUGH] [APPLAUSE] >> What was the last song you sang out loud? I know you love singing.
57:51
>> I got a feeling tonight's going to be a good time.
57:55
It's always a good day to have a good day.
58:02
>> Tunchi or Cody Rigsby.
58:04
>> Both, trick question, both.
58:07
I love all our guests equally.
58:09
>> Ahem, and then my last question, what are you most hopeful for?
58:15
>> I am most hopeful for the future of the world.
58:19
It's inspiring to me when I hear my six year old or even my four year old.
58:23
The other day we're having dinner and we asked, we're trying to teach our children how to have conversations.
58:29
So, we have these little cards and we ask everybody a question.
58:31
And it's like, if you have to give a speech, what would it be about?
58:35
My four year old said, it would be about painting the Earth.
58:41
>> I know very interesting, right? Tell me more.
58:43
>> And I asked him, later that day I talked to him about it, and he was like.
58:47
because I really care about the Earth.
58:49
And I really care about the environment.
58:51
And it's just a simple example into the next generation.
58:55
They care so much about so many important things.
58:58
Like I said, when I was when I was four it was Cheetos or whatever snack they had in Nigeria.
59:02
I don't even think they had Cheetos because I don't know what it was.
59:05
But, it's this generation cares so much so deeply about equality, about justice, about the environment, right?
59:12
About things that really matter, and I'm hopeful about that. Because you know what?
59:17
When people care about something, they take action and they do something about it.
59:21
And that means that the world is going to continue to become a better place.
59:26
And that leaves me hopeful and inspired.
59:29
>> Clara, that was excellent, thank you.
59:31
>> Thank you, thank you all so much. >> [APPLAUSE] [MUSIC]