Alex Schleifer - How design at Airbnb creates a culture of craft at scale
May 16, 2024•48 min•Ep. 52
Episode description
Alex Schleifer was the long-time Chief Design Officer at Airbnb where he grew the team from ~35 to over 600 people. So this conversation is an inside look at what makes design at Airbnb so special. We discuss:
- How to create a culture of decisiveness
- Why great design leaders are like chefs
- How to succeed in executive CRITs at Airbnb
- How designers should prepare for an AI future
- What it means to operate with a “first team” mindset
- What it takes to achieve Airbnb’s level of craft at scale
- Which elements of the Airbnb culture you can instill for your team
- a lot more
Alex’s “People vs. Algorithms” podcast
Mentioned Airbnb alumni:
- Katie Dill (Head of Design at Stripe)
- Ethan Eismann (SVP Design at Slack)
- Karri Saarinen (CEO at Linear)