If you want to learn from the best, ask to sit in on all their meetings for a week
Spotify founder Daniel Ek spent a week in Mark Zuckerberg's meetings, took notes, and copied what worked.
David Senra · Daniel Ek, Spotify | David SenraDaniel Ek, the founder of Spotify, said he had read the big founder biographies, yet building Spotify meant he was learning on the job. Ek said, "I don't know what I don't know because I've never really worked at a company."
To close one gap, he asked Mark Zuckerberg, the chief executive of Meta and a longtime friend, if he could come and learn from him. Zuckerberg agreed, and Ek spent the better part of a week with him, sitting in on his meetings day after day.
He went with a specific weakness in mind. Ek says he does well one on one, and in groups of three or four or even six, but in a group of 10 he does not command the room. Zuckerberg runs a weekly meeting with 20 to 25 people, which to Ek sounded awful, and he wanted to see how anything got done in it.
Ek also asked himself what Zuckerberg would get out of hosting him. His hope was that hearing observations from another founder, hopefully one Zuckerberg respects, may lead to insights and breakthroughs.
In the room, Ek tried to make himself useful. He took meeting notes and offered to fetch coffee. Beyond following Zuckerberg around, he sat down separately with the whole executive team for interviews, to really understand how the place worked and what surprised him about how Zuckerberg managed the company. From that week, he said he "shamelessly copied" practices that worked, especially how to make a large group meeting work.
Questions people ask
Why did Ek want to shadow Zuckerberg in particular?
Zuckerberg is a longtime friend who runs a weekly meeting of 20 to 25 people. Ek does well one on one and in small groups but not in a group of 10, and he wanted to see how Zuckerberg got anything done in that large-group format.
What did Ek actually do during that week?
He sat in on his meetings day after day, took meeting notes, and offered to fetch coffee. He also sat down separately with the whole executive team for interviews to understand how the company worked.
What did he take away from the week?
He said there were things that surprised him about how Zuckerberg managed the company, and he said he "shamelessly copied" the parts that worked for him, especially the way to run a large group meeting.