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CEO ZoomInfo, Henry Schuck: This Job Is Not Supposed to Be Fun
Grit
English - April 18, 2022 07:30 - 1 hour - 151 MBEntrepreneurship Business Careers grit go to market gtm angela duckworth startup operators marketing sales ceo cro Homepage Download Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed
Every year, ZoomInfo CEO Henry Schuck writes a memo to his executive team, which is made to look like a letter to the board of directors. Even though he founded DiscoverOrg — the company that bought and became ZoomInfo in 2019 — Henry pretends in the memo to be a new CEO who has just been hired to clean up the old guy’s mess. The reason, he explains, is simple: It gets everyone focused on the problems that have to be fixed.
In this episode, Henry and Joubin discuss the difference between wearing a hoodie and a suit; the nuances of Henry’s background that aren’t obvious from LinkedIn; how he has encouraged his employees and shown them (and their families) his appreciation; The CEO’s biggest fear: “Is this it?”; injecting tension in an organization; the gap between monetary and professional validation; ZoomInfo’s COVID IPO; and why the work of a founder-CEO is not supposed to be fun.
In this episode, we cover:
Being emotionally vulnerable as a leader, and the limits of Henry’s openness (02:46)
What his single immigrant mother taught him about hard work (08:54)
The competitor to which Henry tried to sell DiscoverOrg — before beating and buying them instead (16:10)
The relief of taking ZoomInfo public after years of making promises to employees (19:42)
Getting passed over by venture capitalists, and why Henry sold half of the business to a private equity firm (27:40)
Learning how to work with a board of directors, and Henry’s overwhelming desire to not lose (32:11)
The “existential threat” to the business that gave Henry a panic attack (41:27)
Going public during the darkest days of COVID (48:34)
Why Henry writes a memo to his executive team every year, pretending to be a new CEO (55:29)
Being happy, present, and maintaining discipline between work and personal life (58:31)
Links:
Connect with Henry
Email: [email protected]
Connect with Joubin
Twitter
LinkedIn
Email: [email protected]