Embracing chaos, inquiry over advocacy, poking the bear, and “impact, impact, impact” | Vlad Loktev

Lenny's Podcast episode, sponsored by Eppo, Pendo and Vanta, in which Lenny Rachitsky talks with Vlad Loktev, his former manager at Airbnb who rose from IC PM to GM of the core homes business reporting to Brian Chesky and is now a partner at Index Ventures, about the mindsets behind his career. Loktev's first discipline is inquiry over advocacy: most people enter a conversation pushing a position, while he asks a ton of questions first because there is always something he does not know. From Chesky he learned to embrace chaos - when things are too calm, create chaos to force creative leaps - and to poke the bear rather than fear it. His answer on what drove his success is one word repeated: impact, impact, impact. He also shares tactics for scaling a fast-growing org and his inside view of Airbnb's move away from traditional product management. PARTIAL COVERAGE: this summary highlights the mindsets; the org-scaling tactics are not covered. These are Loktev's own views and experiences, not independently verified.