JZ has built product teams at Airbnb, Webflow, Dropbox (and now Laurel), and in this episode she shares her honest leadership playbook and lessons learned. JZ covers why conviction is really about speed to signal, how to move fast without creating chaos, and why great leaders should share uncertainty instead of performing conviction. JZ also shares hot takes about 1:1 meetings, asking for help, and scrapping work that isn’t going in the right direction. This conversation between JZ and Annie Riley is packed with practical frameworks for managers and startup operators who want to move faster and build teams that thrive in ambiguity.

TimeStamps:

00:00 — Meet JZ

03:03 — The “fast-moving river” analogy

05:38 — Getting people to jump in

07:22 — Hiring for curiosity and urgency

10:11 — What “speed to signal” means

12:43 — Building through fast feedback

16:16 — The 3 leadership traps

20:41 — Operating at 120%

23:54 — Sharing unfinished work early

27:14 — Open sourcing strategy and workflows

31:34 — Knowing when to stop

34:16 — Graduating out of one-on-ones

36:23 — Asking for help effectively

40:23 — Trust, communication, and speed

43:41 — Ownership, introspection, and time

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