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“I think the psychology of the head often becomes the psychology of the organization,” says Brian Chesky, reflecting on his year when his company Airbnb was thrown into a mess by pandemics around the world.
There was no panic, said the chief executives and founders of the accommodation booking platform, though the reservation went down more than 70 percent and thousands of hosts protested when they were forced to make refunds. Others questioned whether the travel industry would ever recover.
“The trick is to be optimistic,” he says, with the reassurance of someone who knows everything well. “Optimism needs to be rooted in events that can be presented to people as a case, to tell them, ‘I’m optimistic, where we’re going and how we’re going to get here.'”
Chesky, 39, is one of the most striking cases of a person studying to work in corporate history. In a Silicon Valley culture that sees something as a celebration of quick failures, perhaps even a minimum qualification, Chesky is the first session for technology, start-ups, to run any type of business. – has been successful. Airbnb’s initial public offering, before the end of last year, was valued at $ 88 billion by the company at the end of its first day of trading.
It seems that these events originated in Chesky, living in the air, as the first trade price was introduced on the day Airbnb was launched on the stock exchange. Astonished, he could only answer when he heard the news, which was mostly nonsense.
“It took me about 10 or 15 seconds to complete a sentence,” he recalls. “I was amazed at what happened. Banks don’t tell you [the stock is] go double. At the time, it was like my hard drive crashed. “
He continues: “Remember, eight months ago there was some news asking: ‘Will Airbnb exist?’ And I guess those eight months … it fell in 15 seconds. “
The lessons for 2020 were serious and quick. In May, the company he laid off 25% of the workforce, to tighten the areas of the business that were no longer considered the “core” of the pandemic belt tightening and were therefore consumable. Chesky canceled almost all of the ads, saving approximately $ 800 million and assumed $ 2 billion in emergency funding. In this time of great upheaval, it was important to keep talking, Chesky says.
“In a crisis, you have to communicate four times,” he says. “The quarterly committees were held every Sunday. Monthly hands-on meetings were held weekly. I answered five questions in the answers to the questions, I started answering 10 ”.
When the company decided it needed to make layoffs, most of the 1,900 layoffs were added to a talent directory so companies could search the database for their skills and locations so they could pick up employees leaving potential employers. And while you’re at it criticized On how to prioritize layoffs, Chesky received praise statement to employees, immediately reporting on the loss of jobs and then explaining how the decision to cut certain areas was made. There was no typical corporate rotation that could be accompanied by such statements.
“My opinion is that even if something is not common, it’s better than thinking that people are doing bullfighting,” he says. “I don’t think they’re as cold as most CEOs find them. I think there are people in the Human Resources and Legal areas who surround all the boundaries of people, to the point where sometimes people aren’t.”
Over the summer, most observers were optimistic that Airbnb would see it safely for at least a year, but there was no doubt about an IPO. Then there was an unexpected rise in Airbnb’s business. While global tourism mostly didn’t exist, blocked citizens went to the platform to find rural getaways, realizing that working from home didn’t necessarily have to be done in your own home.
Documents submitted by the company later revealed that Airbnb’s revenue was recovering by September, with bookings falling by about 20 per cent compared to the Covid-19 hit in the first few days compared to a drop of more than 70 per cent. Suddenly, far from back-to-back, Airbnb showed signs of being stronger than ever, with tremendous hope for investors: the company could dominate leisure travel, business travel and means of work and play, along with family. atoia. Airbnb’s share price was 19% higher than the price it closed last week in its first day trading.
In 2021 different challenges arose. If last year travelers spent on trying to return to Airbnb rentals, the effort was initially dominated by the exclusion of certain people.
Three questions to Brian Chesky
Who is your leadership hero?
What comes to mind would be Walt Disney. He was an artist and creative person and eventually ran a business, and there aren’t many. I also like Charles and Ray Eames. They were two of the best industrial designers of the century. I really like leaders with a creative spirit.
If you weren’t CEO, what would you be?
Probably what I was before – I was a designer. I’m really interested in design as a way to solve problems. One of the problems I see is loneliness. Airbnb has achieved its solution mode, [but] I think there are other ways to fix loneliness. I like to design different types of communities, to design different ways for people to connect and get to know each other.
What was the first leadership lesson you learned?
The first time I thought about leadership was the first time I hired someone. I had never hired anyone in my life. The moment I became a leader was the moment I became a model, and I never thought about it. I thought, “Oh, god, people are going to imitate what I do.” The way I lead them, the model I throw away, the way I treat them will be the way I treat the next 100 people. The example you set, and what you suffer at the beginning, is embedded in the culture.
Continuing January 6 incidents On Capitol Hill in Washington, it was found that several Airbnb hosts inadvertently put a roof over the heads of the people involved. Just two weeks later, as preparations were underway for Joe Biden to become president, Airbnb suspended all subway reservations in the U.S. capital. Unsure of Chesky’s ability to distance himself from the extremes of the home, he decided that the right course of action was to take no one.
Hoping to avoid the need for blanket measures in the future, one of Chesky’s priorities this year is to build a team that will be responsible for frequently scraping parts of the internet from members of popular hate groups, following the tabs of those who can book accommodation. platform, and activity blocking.
“We can’t stop everything,” Chesky admits. “But we’ve set up a team of user knowledge operations, with cybersecurity experts, law enforcement experts, and we’re investing quite a bit of money.” He adds, “We’re not Big Brother like we’re exploding everyone’s personal lives.”
The FBI and international equivalents determine the hate group. Still, the effort puts Airbnb in jeopardy in the debate it has so far avoided. Technology platforms are accused of opposing right-wing approaches or the so-called “culture of abandonment”.
“It’s very hard to get that in your face and not anticipate it,” he says. “There has been a calculation in technology and the American corporation. The account is based on diversity, it is based on corporate responsibility, we all thought we were a platform. Yes, we are platforms, but platforms also have limits and they have a responsibility. “
Maintaining these responsibilities can be a sign of revenue. For the holidays of July 4 this year, for example, only guests with positive reviews will be accepted to make a reservation.
“I tell shareholders, and I think it resonates a lot, it’s best for shareholders that society wants your company to exist,” Chesky says.
Like all businesses, Airbnb is considering what it will mean for the U.S. opening to conduct its business, which is now housed in San Francisco offices, a space designed specifically by Chesky and his team.
Today, this design-driven thinking applies to when and how Airbnb employees need to return to work. In fact, if they should return to work because the company’s overwhelming valuation is justified, at least in part, by the promise to re-imagine the economy and office focused on remote work.
“Flexibility benefits Airbnb,” says Chesky. “It would be great to walk around talking and people living anywhere.
“On the other hand, you know, one of the best ideas I had on Airbnb was just making shit, talking. And we didn’t try to come up with an idea – something happened spontaneously in the conversation. “
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