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)

S6 | E2: Alex Schleifer - How design at Airbnb creates a culture of craft at scale

Dive Club 🤿

S6 | E2: Alex Schleifer - How design at Airbnb creates a culture of craft at scale