September 14, 2022

Molly Graham: Just Make Friends

29 minutes

Molly Graham is a technology executive, advisor, and board member whose resume includes helping both Google and Facebook navigate periods of intense scaling, serving as COO of Lambda School, leading operations at the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, and more. Molly credits relationships for opening doors and catapulting her career forward. Her story is packed with lessons on the outsized power of being a friend, how curiosity can forge meaningful relationships quickly, and how to build and make use of a personal council of advisors.

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“You just never know who someone is, who they're gonna become, how they can be useful to your life and how you can be useful to theirs. My version of networking is figure out who someone is, whether you connect with them and then figure out ways to help them. And there will be a moment when they can help you.” - Molly Graham

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Episode Timestamps:

*(02:30) - Molly’s early experiences of building relationships at Facebook

*(04:55) - How Steven Sinofsky set up a meaningful relationship for Molly

*(06:36) - Reasons why life is a barter economy

*(08:20) - Good networking is about good listening

*(11:46) - The importance of being useful: Molly’s time with Quip & the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative

*(15:58) - The opportunity of taking risks

*(21:37) - Having a council to help with significant decisions

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Sponsor:

Who Got Me Here is brought to you by Connect The Dots, mapping professional relationships so you can find the strongest connections to the people and companies you want to reach. Visit ctd.ai to learn more.

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