Alex Schleifer - How design at Airbnb creates a culture of craft at scale

Dive Club 🤿

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 Twitter and Linkedin

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)

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