The Lasky Operating System
My Career Perspective
What drives me?
I'm a polymath at heart. It's why I read string theory books and applied data analytics to The Office tv show and painted Andre Derain's Charing Cross Bridge and ran a half marathon and love to garden and got a master's degree in theology. I like to think and learn in systems by connecting seemingly unconnected subjects. I once wrote about how a strong USD impacts the price of milk in The Legend of Zelda video game universe.
What am I passionate about?
I'm passionate about growth and improvement, both professionally and personally, and finding innovated yet structured ways to pursue it. Ultimately, I want to win. And winning is based on showing up every day and figuring out ways to unlevel the playing field. My passion for growth stems from my car accident.
What do I value?
I value feedback loops, radical candor, consistency, honesty, and systems thinking. I cannot stand hypocrisy in any form.
Running the marketing program
I run every marketing program using Lean Startup principles:
start with minimal viable products to test and validate assumptions
prioritize learning through experimentation over following rigid plans using the Build-Measure-Learn feedback loop
The goal of experimentation is to find our points of leverage as quickly as possible and focus our limited resources
Explore: Exploring is about testing wide to find our points of leverage in our growth model so that we can focus our limited resources and exploit.
Exploit: Once we find our points of leverage, we move into exploit mode by testing deep and narrow.
focus on validated learning, not just collecting data
These principles enable the team to prove objectively that they are learning how to grow a sustainable business by measuring the delta between an MVP’s baseline data and the iteration’s data. As a result, I often say "no" when the team requests resources. I filter every resourcing request through minimum viable product testing and validated learning BEFORE taking asking product/engineering/data/design teams to build a better version. I need to defend what Marketing is asking and why we're asking it and how it advances a core company metric or company-level OKR.
Running a marketing program starts with strategy (i.e. our theory on how we'll win) and results in strategic thinking (i.e. the ability to make specific recommendations that achieve a defined objective) and tactical planning and execution (i.e. the action steps we'll take to get us there). The strategy is rooted in how we answer these 3 questions:
Who is the target customer? (side question: how have we validated and know this is our target customer?)
What pain are we solving?
How do we solve it better than anyone else? (i.e. our positioning)
The point is not to get people to buy a thing. It's to convince them to buy an idea/feeling adjacent to that thing. The product is not the topic of conversation. The topic of conversation is about the product’s adjacent possibilities: the set of opportunities at the edge of our reach, a kind of shadow future.
People don’t want a skateboard, they want to impress their friends with that kick-flip mctwist move they've been working on.
People don’t want a mattress, they want to wake up in the morning feeling refreshed and ready to go.
People don’t want a t-shirt, they want someone they're into comment on how good that shirt looks on them.
Customers are searching for a feeling. We make a product that helps them achieve that feeling. Therefore, we need to know what ideas are relevant to our customers that trigger that dopamine hit. The problem is that we think we make the fire flower for Mario, when in actuality we sell Mario the feeling for breathing fire and torching enemies. That's marketing.
The deliverable to the company is the strategy argument that gets made on a regular basis:
the status quo (i.e. the current situation)
why the status quo is horrible
what we've learned and why it matters (our breakthrough insight)
what we're going to do resulting from our insight that's going to fix the problem and deliver massive value
step 1
step 2
step n
This all goes into a marketing roadmap (see here for the templated version). The roadmap is both a macro-view and a micro-view of the program, with built-in feedback loops that allow for learning and iterations.
Note: CMOs are often either skilled in strategy or tactical execution. A good CMO is able to oscillate between the two poles, depending on the needs of the program and/or the company. I pride myself in being able to oscillate and look at the 30,000 foot view (my time at TeePublic) and the 100 foot view (my time at TeeFury).
Building the marketing department
The marketing department's OS goal is to run a lean and iterative process that drives company growth and innovation via the work the team does every single tay.
Growth: revenue, market share, brand equity, repeat purchases
Innovation: novel solutions to persistent problems that add strategic power to the team/company
To break it down even more, the team operating cadence must fuel personal, team, department, and/or company growth but at the core we aim to: solves for the following 5 areas:
lean: turn ideas into sharp, thoughtful MVPs, measure how customers respond, validate the learnings from those experiments, and decide whether to proceed or pivot
prioritize impact for effort: do 20% of the work for 80% of the value, leaving the last 20% for a later date and prioritizing speed over efficiency
connecting actions to outcomes: consciously link actions with an outcome in order to unlock a growth mindset (without this, we cannot reap the benefits of that action)
agile strategy: focus on a small set of strategic priorities, ensure teams have clear and specific goals, and accelerate planning cycles to reallocate resources more frequently
personal growth: accelerate professional development, using the horizon and 1x1s as forcing mechanisms for career growth and professional competency
This all happens via rituals, the building blocks of operating a team. The building blocks of any good team's operating cadence is the ritual (or rituals) that reinforces these goals. If teams meet for the sake of it, those meetings need to be cut since they aren't solving for anything. Instead, teams need to operate in a way that fortifies company growth by thinking lean, prioritizing impact for effort, connecting actions to outcomes, agile strategy, or focusing on personal growth.
Work in Progress Meeting
during the meeting, each team member has 5 minutes to present an experiment or product initiative, zeroing in on challenges or open questions
pair the WIP meeting with a Slack channel where specs and designs are posted constantly for review
Leads Meeting
prioritizes discussion of strategic growth and organizational changes rather than more generic alignment 'sync' topics (i.e. no general updates should take place)
reinforces agile strategy across team leaders, accelerating velocity to unblock team resourcing in order to hit OKRs or department goals
Planning Cycle Meeting
allows everyone in the department to zoom out to understand the larger strategy behind their work
done on a quarterly cadence since it pulls several contributors out of execution mode to think broadly
the resulting strategic work should hold for an extended period of time so teams know what to run towards, without a moving target
Personal Growth Meeting
Horizons are the sole focus
Employee comes prepared to talk about any updates/work/progress made against the Horizon quarterly plan
Managers provide feedback on action and development and consider action item iteration
Hiring the right talent
I look for A-Players. Here is the list of A-Player characteristics, definitions, and examples. These characteristics need to be inherent in every hire, regardless of role-specific characteristics that I look for on a per-role basis.
Farmer, Not a Rockstar
Definition: You work hard and smart, so that the work has impact. No work is below you. You’re not trying to achieve goals for glory, but the joy of collaborative success with your team.
Examples: Your triage priorities based on impact/effort. You do not spend your time, or the time of others, on low-impact or low-importance initiatives.
Data Driven
Definition: You solve problems by using data or anecdotal evidence, and you do the work to collect that data if needed.
Example: When reviewing a project request, the first questions you look for are who will see it, where it will be seen, and what metrics will equate to success. You gather all the context you need to fully understand the objectives of a project before passing it on to the design team.
Passion for Learning
Definition: You learn about our business, your job, and our space every day.
Example: You read books, articles, and listen to podcasts to teach yourself about your role; you have a mentor outside the company to guide you through the ins and outs of processes.
Lean
Definition: You know perfection is the enemy of good. You do 20% of the work for 80% of the return. You create and build minimum viable products, get feedback, and iterate.
Example: You pull designers back from building beyond an MVP. You are lean with process — never over engineering or over-communicating.
Audible
Definition: You speak up when you disagree with a decision, but respect the decision of others.
Example: Directly challenges a team member or manager when in disagreement of a choice, or when there is a lack of information. Is not afraid to voice their opinion but graciously accepts feedback, incorporating it into their work.
Alongside of these A-Player characteristics, there are role-specific characteristics that I identify are vital to the role.
Coaching
I am first and foremost a coach. And I do this primarily through what I call the "Horizon." A Horizon is a professional development plan used to progress towards career goals, progress towards the next incremental step in that career journey, and to keep pace with the company, team, and role growth. A Horizon is a future snapshot of what the employee’s role and career look like in 2 years and the steps needed to achieve that future state. Horizons are how we get better and improve upon traits and performance: this is a forcing mechanism for improvement and a coaching framework I use.
Managers drive role clarity and serve as a coach and hold employees accountable
Managers ensure Horizons are relevant and targeted at improving upon traits and skills that need improvement within role clarity
Employees are the drivers of their development and ultimately own their motivations and goals
Employees own their Horizons and their development (managers do not own their employees' Horizons)
Horizon work is not isolated from an employee’s day to day job responsibilities. Rather, Horizon work spots gaps in the employee's trait matrix or role performance and uses day to day activity as an opportunity for the employee to work on a skill. For example, if the employee’s career goal is to become a CMO and one of the skill gaps in the trait matrix is "effective communication," then the Horizon work to be done is to find opportunities in the employee's existing work and schedule to practice how to communicate more effectively.
My job is to set clear expectations and give a lot of feedback about how my direct report is doing so there are no surprises. Success is coaching my direct report to become resourceful problem solvers who can meet the expectations I've set for them in their role.
Step One: Here’s Where You Stand
Here’s what it takes to succeed in this role...
Here’s what you’re doing well and the strengths that will help you succeed...
Here’s what I think is going to hold you back from succeeding/weaknesses…
Here are the consequences if you don’t change that...
I’m here to help but you’ll need to do most of the hard work (are you up for that?)
Outline 3 strengths and weaknesses
Ask what other strengths/weaknesses they think they have and write those into their Horizon
Step Two: 24 Month Postcard
What does this employee and their role look like in 2 years if they "crushed" it. Includes numbers and values. Just hitting your goals isn’t enough if you’re an asshole and don’t adhere to our values. This is key.
Step Three: 12 Month Postcard
What does your direct report need to do/demonstrate at the end of 12 months that would indicate they are an A-Player (use numbers and values)
Pick TWO themes for the year with sub-bullets to clarify each theme
Use A-Player characteristics and company values + strengths and weaknesses as a guide
Goal: you should be able to read this card in 12 months and know you hit the mark
Step Four: This Quarter
What needs to happen within the two themes this quarter to indicate awesome growth
Create action items: exactly what is the direct report going to accomplish/demonstrate this quarter to support the 12 month/24 month card?
Step Five: Review
Check in on the Horizon weekly and add comments on the working board
Review the Horizon myself before every 1x1 so I am tuned in to what they should be focused on
Give frequent feedback and transparency about where the employee stands (radical candor)
Have a bigger review at the end of every quarter with new quarterly goals and an honest, transparent conversation focused on if the employee is growing fast to keep pace with the company/their role
How I work with CEOs
Ultimately, I am your biggest cheerleader and your consigliere. When you win, I win. I don't play politics (I was the victim of an attempted coup) and will always be radically candid with you. I am a strategic through partner (one of the biggest compliments a former CEO gave me) and will go to bat for you every single time.
This is how I work with and communicate with CEOs and the Board. I start with the executive level mindset. As the CEO, you're
paying attention to 10,000 different things
trying to zoom into 1 thing for 15 seconds and orienting yourself around what's happening
contextualizing and digesting what's being said to you
My job is to communicate in the very simplest of ways:
I have a high level story
I have the top level metrics I think about and the reasons why I think about them
Here's where they are and why I think that's important
Not to be patronizing, but here is the distilled version of what's going on and you can navigate into different pockets where I'll be well-equipped to answer questions
If you have any questions then we can dive into the weeds
give them the very simple version and let them navigate into different pockets where I'll be well-equipped to answer questions
Example:
this is the north star measurement
this is how we're trending
we launched XYZ
we're narrowing down a couple of things that we want to test
we're seeing positive results and we're expanding that test OR
we're starting to see increased competition in certain channels and we're looking to where we can find alternative channels to correct
it's a 10 second blurb (with the backdrop of a handful of proof points if they have questions)
How I work with the executive team
When I join an executive team I am:
thoughtful about being patient
pay close attention to the dynamics in the room
after a month or so of observing I hone my communication on things I talk about (i.e. where the challenges were, introduced some thoughts around what's got our attention right now, etc.)
focused on the primary objectives that we're working towards
here was our starting point
here is where we are now
this is the end game for us
we're on track or we're not on track and here's why
the point is the interpersonal dynamics (executive level operations is entirely soft skill and it's got almost nothing to do with my capabilities as an operator within my functional area)
As I mentioned above, I often say "no" when the marketing team requests resources. I filter every resourcing request through minimum viable product testing and validated learning BEFORE taking asking product/engineering/data/design teams to build a better version. I need to defend what Marketing is asking and why we're asking it and how it advances a core company metric or company-level OKR. I work hand in hand with the product and engineering team in a feedback loop: talking to the heads of product and engineering about what I'm seeing from the marketing program via channel performance and how those insights relate to what is happening on site or in app. My goal is not to drive the product roadmap but to be a resource in brainstorming and prioritizing what the product team could work on.
How I'd run marketing if hired
Phase 1: Learning and Auditing
Learning
questions about the past (performance, root causes, history of change)
questions about the present (vision, strategy, people, process, land mines, early wins)
questions about the future (challenges, opportunities, barriers, resources, culture)
questions about assumptions, experimentation, validated learning
Auditing
channel-based (paid search/social, organic search/social, email, etc.)
customer-based (acquisition, retention, loyalty)
measurement-based (i.e. data environment, tracking tools, tech stack, etc.)
offering-based (price, promotion, packaging, creative, placement)
brand-based (target customer, positioning)
Phase 2: Strategy Alignment
Horizontal vs. Vertical
Extensive vs. Intensive
0 to 1 (doing new things)
1 to n (copying things that work)
Company goals: is it revenue growth or profitability efficiency growth?
Phase 3: Early Wins (to build on for longer-term goals)
A-Item priorities that flow naturally from core problems
Iterative process for defining A-Item priorities based on the Build-Measure-Learn framework
Matches strategy to the situation
Examples could be:
rearchitecting Google Ads
creating a betatyping feedback loop for Facebook Ads
iterating on email segmentation and triggers
testing different promotions on different customer segments
Phase 4: Building the Team
Synchronize team alignment and team restructuring
Assessment: A-Player characteristics and professional growth trajectory (individually and as a team)
Aligning goals, incentives, and measures: career conversations, Horizons, trait matrix, quarterly action plans
New team process: rituals and success metrics
Phase 5: Scale
marketing-design feedback loop
martech stack: CRM, data measurement, performance marketing
brand marketing and brand-as-product
site sandbox for UX testing
product feed
information architecture
technical and content SEO