1 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:07,080 Speaker 1: Welcome to How I Work, a show about the tactics 2 00:00:07,160 --> 00:00:09,560 Speaker 1: used by leading innovators to get so much out of 3 00:00:09,600 --> 00:00:12,680 Speaker 1: their day. I'm your host, Doctor Amata Inba. I'm an 4 00:00:12,760 --> 00:00:16,759 Speaker 1: organizational psychologist, the CEO of Inventium, and I'm obsessed with 5 00:00:16,840 --> 00:00:20,680 Speaker 1: finding ways to optimize my work day. This episode is 6 00:00:20,720 --> 00:00:25,800 Speaker 1: another my Favorite Tip episode. The title's probably pretty self explanatory. 7 00:00:26,079 --> 00:00:28,760 Speaker 1: It's about my favorite tip from each of the interviews 8 00:00:28,800 --> 00:00:32,880 Speaker 1: I conduct. I use this format because I sometimes feel 9 00:00:32,920 --> 00:00:35,320 Speaker 1: myself as a podcast listener that I just want to 10 00:00:35,360 --> 00:00:38,840 Speaker 1: get in, get the most amount of value from an episode, 11 00:00:38,880 --> 00:00:41,600 Speaker 1: and then get out, So in this format, I try 12 00:00:41,640 --> 00:00:42,519 Speaker 1: to do just that. 13 00:00:43,520 --> 00:00:45,519 Speaker 2: My guest today is Tim Kendall. 14 00:00:45,880 --> 00:00:48,600 Speaker 1: Tim is the former president of Pinterest, where he led 15 00:00:48,640 --> 00:00:53,080 Speaker 1: global sales, marketing, and product development. Prior to Pinterest, Tim 16 00:00:53,200 --> 00:00:56,520 Speaker 1: was Facebook's Director of Monetization, where he led the development 17 00:00:56,520 --> 00:01:01,440 Speaker 1: of Facebook's advertising business. Now, during tim last year at Pinterest, 18 00:01:01,560 --> 00:01:05,880 Speaker 1: Tim began noticing his own bad phone habits, not to 19 00:01:05,959 --> 00:01:08,679 Speaker 1: mention the poor habits of everyone around him. So this 20 00:01:08,840 --> 00:01:12,680 Speaker 1: led Tim to now becoming the CEO of Moment, which 21 00:01:12,720 --> 00:01:14,920 Speaker 1: is a mobile app that helps you use your phone 22 00:01:14,959 --> 00:01:17,720 Speaker 1: in a healthy way, giving you back time for the 23 00:01:17,720 --> 00:01:21,480 Speaker 1: parts of life that matter most. In this exit of 24 00:01:21,520 --> 00:01:25,360 Speaker 1: my chat with Tim, it starts by me asking Tim 25 00:01:25,560 --> 00:01:29,280 Speaker 1: about a uniform that I heard he wore at Pinterest, 26 00:01:29,280 --> 00:01:32,560 Speaker 1: which consisted of a T shirt that said focus. So 27 00:01:32,680 --> 00:01:35,880 Speaker 1: over to Tim to hear about how and why he 28 00:01:36,000 --> 00:01:38,640 Speaker 1: ended up wearing a T shirt that said focus for 29 00:01:38,720 --> 00:01:40,240 Speaker 1: nearly four years. 30 00:01:41,240 --> 00:01:42,759 Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, it's it's interesting. 31 00:01:42,840 --> 00:01:47,960 Speaker 4: I don't I need to I need to probably rediscover 32 00:01:48,120 --> 00:01:49,720 Speaker 4: that that habit. 33 00:01:49,480 --> 00:01:50,440 Speaker 3: Because it did. 34 00:01:50,520 --> 00:01:53,800 Speaker 4: I did do it for almost four years, four and 35 00:01:53,840 --> 00:01:57,640 Speaker 4: a half years at pinterest. I wore the same shirt 36 00:01:58,120 --> 00:02:01,800 Speaker 4: that said not the not the literally the same shirt. 37 00:02:01,840 --> 00:02:04,720 Speaker 4: I had about twenty of them, but all of them 38 00:02:05,200 --> 00:02:07,960 Speaker 4: said focus on them, And so I wore. 39 00:02:07,760 --> 00:02:10,880 Speaker 3: It every day every day to work that shirt. 40 00:02:10,639 --> 00:02:12,680 Speaker 4: That said focus on it for four and a half 41 00:02:12,800 --> 00:02:14,720 Speaker 4: years when I was when I was at pinterest. 42 00:02:15,200 --> 00:02:17,600 Speaker 3: And why did I do it? Well? 43 00:02:17,600 --> 00:02:21,000 Speaker 4: It did start it as a bet, as you suggested, 44 00:02:21,320 --> 00:02:24,480 Speaker 4: with a guy that I worked with named Matt Crystal, 45 00:02:24,560 --> 00:02:27,720 Speaker 4: who thought, well, let's let's let's see how long we 46 00:02:27,800 --> 00:02:29,960 Speaker 4: can We were there was a ship, there was a 47 00:02:30,040 --> 00:02:32,760 Speaker 4: theme around development. We always had these sort of themes 48 00:02:32,800 --> 00:02:35,040 Speaker 4: that we did at pinterest and we had a theme 49 00:02:35,240 --> 00:02:38,280 Speaker 4: within the company around focus, and so we started wearing 50 00:02:38,280 --> 00:02:40,280 Speaker 4: these shirts to kind of celebrate the fact that we 51 00:02:40,280 --> 00:02:45,160 Speaker 4: were in the midst of this theme. And then that 52 00:02:45,160 --> 00:02:48,720 Speaker 4: that theme ended, and Matt said, well, let's see who 53 00:02:48,720 --> 00:02:53,000 Speaker 4: can wear theirs longer, and that just kept escalating, and 54 00:02:53,040 --> 00:02:55,080 Speaker 4: then and then I got in front of the company 55 00:02:55,120 --> 00:02:57,160 Speaker 4: and said, well, I'm going to wear this until we have. 56 00:02:57,440 --> 00:02:59,120 Speaker 3: Two hundred million users. 57 00:02:59,440 --> 00:03:01,799 Speaker 4: And by the way, the time we had I think 58 00:03:01,840 --> 00:03:03,880 Speaker 4: we had ten or twenty or something, so it was 59 00:03:03,960 --> 00:03:07,440 Speaker 4: it was a ways out and I started I got 60 00:03:07,480 --> 00:03:09,399 Speaker 4: into this habit. People got so excited when I said 61 00:03:09,400 --> 00:03:11,320 Speaker 4: that I got into this bad habit of every time 62 00:03:11,360 --> 00:03:13,720 Speaker 4: I was talking to the company, I would kind of 63 00:03:13,800 --> 00:03:17,680 Speaker 4: up the ante. And so I ended up wearing that 64 00:03:17,760 --> 00:03:20,920 Speaker 4: shirt until the very until I ended up leaving Pinterest 65 00:03:21,000 --> 00:03:24,240 Speaker 4: in January. So, but but at my new company, I 66 00:03:24,240 --> 00:03:29,040 Speaker 4: haven't I'm I'm indulging in kind of wearing whatever I want, 67 00:03:29,160 --> 00:03:31,000 Speaker 4: which is kind of a kind of nice because I 68 00:03:31,080 --> 00:03:31,919 Speaker 4: didn't have that for. 69 00:03:31,880 --> 00:03:32,480 Speaker 3: A long time. 70 00:03:33,880 --> 00:03:36,080 Speaker 2: That is quite the story. 71 00:03:36,480 --> 00:03:40,680 Speaker 4: Philosophically, I think what I learned from it, and part 72 00:03:40,720 --> 00:03:42,640 Speaker 4: of the reason why I just kept it going was 73 00:03:42,720 --> 00:03:44,400 Speaker 4: I do think it was a. 74 00:03:46,040 --> 00:03:47,400 Speaker 3: I think when you when. 75 00:03:47,240 --> 00:03:51,320 Speaker 4: You are a leader at a company, and as the 76 00:03:51,360 --> 00:03:54,920 Speaker 4: company grows from tens of people to hundreds of people 77 00:03:55,000 --> 00:03:58,440 Speaker 4: and then thousands of people, what you have at your 78 00:03:58,480 --> 00:04:04,280 Speaker 4: disposal to communicate to people and illustrates symbolically kind of 79 00:04:04,320 --> 00:04:07,640 Speaker 4: where your head is. That the universe of that stuff 80 00:04:07,680 --> 00:04:10,760 Speaker 4: just shrinks and shrinks as the company grows and grows. 81 00:04:11,000 --> 00:04:14,960 Speaker 4: And so I think that with your outfit, you can 82 00:04:15,400 --> 00:04:18,120 Speaker 4: you can use that as a way to symbolically communicate 83 00:04:18,120 --> 00:04:20,479 Speaker 4: to people. And I remember when I was it was 84 00:04:20,480 --> 00:04:24,120 Speaker 4: at Facebook one year, it was a seminal year. It 85 00:04:24,160 --> 00:04:27,400 Speaker 4: was two thousand and nine. Mark Zuckerberg showed up to 86 00:04:27,440 --> 00:04:32,719 Speaker 4: work January fourth or fifth, and he was wearing a tie, 87 00:04:32,880 --> 00:04:35,080 Speaker 4: and as you can imagine, for Mark Zuckerberg, that's a 88 00:04:35,240 --> 00:04:37,840 Speaker 4: that's a that stands out. And he said, I'm wearing 89 00:04:37,880 --> 00:04:39,400 Speaker 4: this every day for the rest of the year because 90 00:04:39,400 --> 00:04:40,599 Speaker 4: this is a serious year. 91 00:04:41,000 --> 00:04:42,359 Speaker 3: And that made a big impression on me. 92 00:04:42,400 --> 00:04:44,880 Speaker 4: And all he was doing really was wearing a tie 93 00:04:44,920 --> 00:04:48,080 Speaker 4: every day. But I think the impact and the and 94 00:04:48,160 --> 00:04:51,359 Speaker 4: the symbolism of that to the folks who were working 95 00:04:51,440 --> 00:04:53,599 Speaker 4: with him and for him, and so I think. 96 00:04:54,080 --> 00:04:54,880 Speaker 3: You know, my own small way. 97 00:04:54,880 --> 00:04:56,360 Speaker 4: I was trying to do something similar with that with 98 00:04:56,400 --> 00:04:56,880 Speaker 4: that shirt. 99 00:04:58,120 --> 00:05:00,719 Speaker 1: And what impact do you think that the message of 100 00:05:00,760 --> 00:05:03,520 Speaker 1: focus had, Like did you get a lot of people 101 00:05:03,760 --> 00:05:07,080 Speaker 1: commenting like, what do you mean by focus? How can 102 00:05:07,120 --> 00:05:08,120 Speaker 1: I get better at focus? 103 00:05:08,160 --> 00:05:08,200 Speaker 3: Like? 104 00:05:08,200 --> 00:05:10,440 Speaker 2: What sort of reactions did that get from people? 105 00:05:11,480 --> 00:05:15,000 Speaker 3: Well, you bring up a good point. I mean we 106 00:05:15,000 --> 00:05:17,280 Speaker 3: were pretty clear. I was. I tried to be. 107 00:05:17,240 --> 00:05:21,400 Speaker 4: Pretty clear when I told people that I was a 108 00:05:21,560 --> 00:05:23,640 Speaker 4: wearing it and by I kept wearing it. That The 109 00:05:23,760 --> 00:05:29,799 Speaker 4: point was that I wanted everyone to remember that most people, 110 00:05:30,120 --> 00:05:33,680 Speaker 4: and god, I'm guilty of this myself, delude themselves into 111 00:05:33,720 --> 00:05:35,120 Speaker 4: thinking that they're focused. 112 00:05:35,720 --> 00:05:35,960 Speaker 3: You know. 113 00:05:36,000 --> 00:05:39,480 Speaker 4: They tell themselves, well, there were a list of twenty 114 00:05:39,520 --> 00:05:41,800 Speaker 4: things that I could do, twenty projects that I could do. 115 00:05:41,880 --> 00:05:44,719 Speaker 4: They cut half of them and they say, God, good 116 00:05:44,720 --> 00:05:48,400 Speaker 4: for me, I'm so focused. And what I wanted to 117 00:05:48,440 --> 00:05:52,320 Speaker 4: convey with a shirt was actually that real focused was 118 00:05:53,000 --> 00:05:56,479 Speaker 4: taking those twenty things and only doing one that was 119 00:05:56,560 --> 00:06:00,320 Speaker 4: real focus. And that was something that you know, I'd 120 00:06:00,400 --> 00:06:03,800 Speaker 4: heard lots of leaders, you know, who'd built really amazing 121 00:06:03,880 --> 00:06:07,640 Speaker 4: things for the world talk about Johnny I've has talked 122 00:06:07,640 --> 00:06:12,240 Speaker 4: about this, the famous designer at Apple that you know, 123 00:06:12,400 --> 00:06:18,280 Speaker 4: focus is having three things that you are just in 124 00:06:18,800 --> 00:06:21,599 Speaker 4: every part of your body, feel like you have to 125 00:06:21,680 --> 00:06:23,960 Speaker 4: do and only picking one. 126 00:06:25,200 --> 00:06:27,839 Speaker 3: And people, you know, I think, come up. 127 00:06:27,680 --> 00:06:31,360 Speaker 4: With sacrificial projects that they don't even care about and 128 00:06:31,400 --> 00:06:33,640 Speaker 4: they and they tell themselves, oh, I'm focused. 129 00:06:33,680 --> 00:06:38,359 Speaker 3: I crossed that one off the list. But it's hard, god. 130 00:06:38,520 --> 00:06:40,760 Speaker 4: And so it was. It was to remind other people 131 00:06:40,800 --> 00:06:44,039 Speaker 4: of that ideas they as they conceived of and built 132 00:06:44,080 --> 00:06:47,359 Speaker 4: things at pinterest. And and it was for myself because 133 00:06:47,360 --> 00:06:48,880 Speaker 4: I don't think. 134 00:06:48,920 --> 00:06:51,560 Speaker 3: I battle this a lot. You know. 135 00:06:51,720 --> 00:06:53,520 Speaker 4: It's you know, it's not like you wear a shirt 136 00:06:53,560 --> 00:06:55,800 Speaker 4: for four years and you all of a sudden are 137 00:06:56,080 --> 00:06:56,960 Speaker 4: a focused person. 138 00:06:57,640 --> 00:06:58,880 Speaker 3: It's a daily struggle for me. 139 00:06:59,720 --> 00:07:01,440 Speaker 2: Hi there me again. 140 00:07:02,200 --> 00:07:05,320 Speaker 1: What I love most about this is the leaders that 141 00:07:05,400 --> 00:07:07,720 Speaker 1: I've worked with are often at a loss to how 142 00:07:07,760 --> 00:07:10,520 Speaker 1: to make their messages stand out through the clutter that 143 00:07:10,720 --> 00:07:16,880 Speaker 1: is the average corporate comms environment. People employees are bombarded 144 00:07:16,920 --> 00:07:20,840 Speaker 1: with messages via email, internet, kinschen notice boards and so on, 145 00:07:20,920 --> 00:07:24,360 Speaker 1: like every single day. So I love the idea of 146 00:07:24,440 --> 00:07:27,960 Speaker 1: using what you wear as a communication vehicle. It's certainly 147 00:07:27,960 --> 00:07:30,760 Speaker 1: something that I've thought about myself. And after this interview, 148 00:07:30,800 --> 00:07:32,880 Speaker 1: I even got a couple of T shirts created that 149 00:07:32,960 --> 00:07:36,160 Speaker 1: say focus as I was very inspired by my chat 150 00:07:36,160 --> 00:07:38,920 Speaker 1: with Tim, So for you, you know, maybe think about 151 00:07:38,960 --> 00:07:41,720 Speaker 1: the key messages that you're trying to communicate, whether that 152 00:07:41,800 --> 00:07:45,600 Speaker 1: be to customers, fellow staff, or you know, maybe someone else, 153 00:07:45,960 --> 00:07:48,080 Speaker 1: and think about how you could use what you wear 154 00:07:48,480 --> 00:07:49,920 Speaker 1: to help your message cut through. 155 00:07:50,960 --> 00:07:53,040 Speaker 2: So that is it for today's show. 156 00:07:53,600 --> 00:07:56,160 Speaker 1: If you like this excerpt, you might want to listen 157 00:07:56,160 --> 00:07:58,320 Speaker 1: to my full chat with Tim, which I linked to 158 00:07:58,560 --> 00:08:02,040 Speaker 1: in the show notes. And if you're enjoying how I work, 159 00:08:02,440 --> 00:08:05,640 Speaker 1: why not leave a review wherever you listen to your podcasts. 160 00:08:05,840 --> 00:08:09,680 Speaker 1: Every single review I read and they just bring a 161 00:08:09,760 --> 00:08:11,880 Speaker 1: huge smile to my face, So thank you in advance. 162 00:08:11,960 --> 00:08:16,120 Speaker 1: If you're planning on doing that, you are totally awesome. 163 00:08:16,360 --> 00:08:18,960 Speaker 2: So that is it for today and I'll see you 164 00:08:19,280 --> 00:08:19,880 Speaker 2: next time.