588: Tara Viswanathan (CEO Of Rupa) - Handling Rejection, Creating Magical Moments, Leadership Hiring 'Must-Haves,' Learnings From Lululemon, and Keys To a Great Off-Site Retreat

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• Rejection is a learned skill. Tara has gone through rejection therapy. Go out and ask for something crazy big. Get comfortable with being rejected. Hearing the word no. Go big.
• Confidence is about keeping promises to yourself. Create evidence for yourself.
• Create magical moments for the people you’re leading. Show them how much you care for them. The small touches are a big deal. The magic is in the small details.
• How to have fun at your company: Fun (and culture) cannot be outsourced. You cannot delegate “culture carriers." You (the leader) are the ultimate culture carrier. It has to come from you.
• "Ask for money, get advice. Ask for advice, get money."
• "If it's too easy, you get soft."
• It's important to set high expectations for the people you're leading. "The boss I respected the most was a hard ass and very demanding."
• The difference between nice and kind:
  • Nice = Soft, easy.
  • Kind = Set high expectations. Hold you accountable to them. You're better long-term being kind.
• Tara's "must-haves" when hiring a leader:
  • Raw intelligence - How quickly can you learn? Must be a clear and critical thinker.
  • Fantastic communicator
  • Intensity, drive, hunger
  • Sense of humor - Need to be able to laugh and have fun.
• Values:
  • Business owner
  • Kid at heart
  • Design thinking - Craft for the end-user
  • Peak performance
  • Be human
• Keys to a great off-site retreat
  • Craft for the people
  • High energy
  • Sense of connection - get to know each other
  • Peak performance workbook - set goals
  • Small touches - personalized gifts for the team (like picture frames with personalized pictures in them)
  • Create magical moments to connect
  • Focus on the arrival - make it special
  • Eliminate loneliness - Assigned seats, name tags, conversation prompts (especially helps introverts)
• Tara worked at LuluLemon while in grad school at Stanford. It was a useful learning experience for her. She worked for a world-class manager.
• What Tara learned from her parents:
  • Leadership is about modeling the right behaviors.
• Advice - "If you want to be extraordinary, you can't fit in."
• "Give way more than everybody else."
• "Follow great people and be around greatness."
• Tara created a 50-slide PowerPoint while going for a role as a part-time content writer. Going above and beyond for that leader left an impression and that woman who Tara impressed remains a mentor, investor, and friend to this day more than a decade later. You never know what will happen if you consistently over-deliver for people.