Jiaona Zhang: evaluation

Transcript context

…If you think back to WeWork, what was your favorite memory and what was your hardest, least happy memory if anything comes to mind? I think this idea dream really big. I think everyone who had joined WeWork, they were like, "We could do a lot here." The idea of really the physical space infusing technology. I just feel like the people at WeWork were dreamers in the best possible way. So that definitely... I feel like for every company that I've been at, it's really about, you join... I personally joined for the product, but I stayed for the people you joined because you're like, "I want to work on this mission. This product is really motivating." And then you really stay for the people. And the people at We WeWork were really great. So that was definitely my favorite memory. I think the hardest memory was, this gets a little bit personal, but I was actually in my first trimester when we were going through all of these layoffs and I basically was faced with a choice. It was like, "Hey, do I stay at WeWork? I would be guaranteed maternity leave." I was going to be moved onto this other team that was definitely going to stay. "Do I do that or do I actually..." And I think there just a last piece of... The thing I was wrestling with is I hired a lot of these people and I felt really responsible for the fact that I convinced them to come to this company that now was going through a lot of change. And I specifically remember someone when I hired them, we had a long conversation about their visa and in my head I was like, "I just don't feel right. Again, laying someone off. That's only going to have so many days to be able to go find their new role." And so the hardest moment, I actually remember this very vividly, "Am I going to take this new role or am I going to put myself on a layoff list essentially and give the role to someone else on the team?" When I really think about it, yes, I was pregnant, but I would have more time and more freedom to go find my next thing versus someone who I brought to the company who was on a visa. That to me just really stood out and goes back to this concept around leadership is so much about empathy and people as much as it's about understanding your market, your customers, and the strategy of your product. Damn. What convinced you eventually to take off and try something different?…

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