5 Leadership Lessons From HubSpot

One of our core values as a church is Leadership (training people up so they can use their gifts to serve others) and this Wednesday we are starting our 6.30 Leadership Course. Do come and join us if you can. In this post I wanted to reflect on a few leadership lessons I have learned from working at HubSpot for the last two years.

Before I do it’s worth talking about two errors that churches make when learning leadership lessons from business.

1. They dismiss business principles altogether, thinking these can’t add anything of value to the kingdom of God (because the world is dark and evil and hostile to God’s kingdom, so the argument goes). However the Bible teaches lots about ‘common grace’; that is the idea that God’s grace has been given to everyone in some measure without distinction of their relationship to God. For example, Jesus talks about our Heavenly Father causing the sun to shine on the righteous and the unrighteous (Matthew 6) or Paul talks about God providing food for people and giving joy to their hearts when speaking to the pagan crowd at Lystra (Acts 14). Additionally, as everyone is made in God’s image, we all bear god-likeness, even in our worst moments. So God, in his grace, gives gifts and wisdom to people who don’t follow Him and we should recognise that and learn from it.
2. They adopt business principles fully without filtering out what contradicts the values of the kingdom of God. We should find that there is lots of good and lots of the image of God in business, but we should also find some things that are at variance to what Jesus says. So we need discernment. To give one example, let’s talk about ‘measuring success.’  The business world will (rightly!) look to the bottom line and other similar ‘hard metrics’ to see if they’re being successful or not. However Christians should look to faithfulness and fruitfulness. Whilst finding some clear metrics to help guide whether you’re on track as a church may be helpful, how can you measure love or the transformation of one life? We need discernment and we mustn’t let the world’s standard of success become ours.

With those two caveats in place, here are five things I have learned from HubSpot. It’s all been positive and most of it comes from our two cofounders, Dharmesh Shah and Brian Halligan, both of whom I have had the pleasure of getting to know a little bit.

(1) Vision Matters

HubSpot is great at vision-casting. We’re constantly coming back to what we believe and why we’re doing what we’re doing – which is about building a great company and hitting certain finance targets, but also beyond that to changing the way people learn, engage and buy online. We want to make marketing and sales a more customer-focused discipline, that adds value rather than irritates people.

Leaders have to keep the vision central.

(2) Culture Matters

One of the reasons I joined HubSpot was for its culture. Check out my recent post which talked a lot about that. My parents recently came to visit our Dublin offices and were overwhelmed by the warmth, energy and engagement of my colleagues. When my kids and their cousins came to visit, my colleagues showed them how to use the Xbox and engaged with them. HubSpot places a huge emphasis on finding and nurturing the right people so that (a) people want to work for the company and (b) people want to do business with the company. Employees and customers matter, and that is great!

Leaders have to invest in people and culture.

(3) Organisation Matters

When I joined the company there were around 500 employees, now we’re about 1000. Growing by 500 people in two years (and having an IPO!) means you have to up the level of organisation to make the machine work, without losing the culture (point 2). Systems, software, processes and meetings need to be put in place. Whilst this often ends up with more admin than when we were a smaller company, it’s important and means everyone has what they need to do their jobs. Additionally, they have placed a big emphasis on creating another tier of management to ensure the business runs effectively, not to mention a few key senior appointments in administration and strategic positions.

Leaders have to be disciplined and bring in the right people to help them get things organised.

(4) Tough Decisions Matter

I have only been at HubSpot just over two years but I can think of three very tough decisions that the C-Suite have had to make and ultimately which our CEO has pushed through, which have all been brilliant. However, there was some controversy and it didn’t please everyone. I remember when I first joined, the CEO took over as VP of Sales for a short time and said he was going to make things ‘black and white’ to clear up some confusion that had come about. He also said that he would be making some big calls which wouldn’t please everyone, but overall it would get us back on track. He was right.

Leaders have to stand up and be counted and make tough decisions, drawing clear lines so people can follow and accepting you won’t please everyone.

(5) GSD (Get Sh*t Done) Matters

One of the moments I most remember in my interview was the when my MD said to me “Steve, we have a slogan here at HubSpot which is GSD…Get Sh*t Done…Steve, can you get sh*t done?” I can’t remember exactly how I answered (I was trying not to swear as I answered him!) but I think I persuaded him that I can get my head down, work hard and make things happen when needed. It’s simple but true. Leaders don’t faff. They work out a vision, gather a team, make some decisions and then get on with making it happen and seeing results.

Leaders have to get on with it, focus on what they’re trying to achieve and put all their resources into achieving that goal without making tonnes of excuses as to why it couldn’t/didn’t happen.

I am sure there are many more things, but these are five things that do not in any way contradict from what Jesus says and can be applied helpfully to further the kingdom of God. If you want to learn more about how God wants to raise up leaders, do come along to our 6.30 Leadership Course, starting this Wednesday (30th September), 6.30am at 28 Bachelors Walk.