Frank Slootman on what most CEOs get wrong
Frank Slootman · Former Chairman & CEO, Snowflake
Frank Slootman is the only CEO in history to take three enterprise companies public: Data Domain, ServiceNow, and Snowflake. At their peak, the companies he led were worth over $200 billion combined. His playbook for building high-performance organizations, captured in his book “Amp It Up”, has become required reading for CEOs. In this conversation, Frank opens up about the fear of failure that shaped his early career, why most CEOs tolerate mediocrity for far too long, and the moment he realized Snowflake needed a different kind of leader and chose to step aside.
Frank Slootman is the only CEO to take three enterprise companies public — Data Domain, ServiceNow, and Snowflake. Author of Amp It Up, he is known for raising standards, increasing pace, and narrowing focus.
The most quotable moments from Frank Slootman
In business we can't be safe and comfortable. We just can't. So we're all out on the limb. Congratulations. That's how it is.
When there's doubt, there's no doubt. We need to get to high conviction — when there's doubt and we have mixed feelings, that's not a starting point.
99% of all people don't lean in hard enough. If you have a good company and a good product, not leaning in hard enough is a huge mistake, because this is how you create separation from your competition.
Having nobody is better than having somebody who's not the right person. People don't just watch what you do, they watch what you don't do.
Standards are the real culture. To most people a good culture is one where everybody feels good. No — the culture is there to enable the mission, and the mission is not making everybody feel good.
When you commit, providence commits as well. When your conviction is so high, the world changes with you to help you. When you hesitate, the world does nothing.
When I hire somebody, I'm not buying your experience — I can get you experience, that's not hard. I cannot get you aptitude. You bring that.