Lessons from Sarah Friar, CFO OpenAI

Sarah Friar is a respected leader in the tech industry known for her roles at OpenAI, Nextdoor, and Square.

On Leadership and Management

On the essence of leadership: "To make everyone else be their best self, to do the best work of their lives: that's what I view my job as." [1]
On her leadership mantra: "So, if you ask me what is my leadership mantra, it is people first. Because I fundamentally believe that if you get the right people and you really let them fly...then the A team with the B idea will always beat the B team with the A idea." [2]
On fostering ownership: "In companies, you don't want just the product team thinking about the product; the finance team thinking about finance... You want everyone all the time feeling like they're an owner, and they can have a point of view on any part of the company." [2]
On approachability: "I want you to see me as a human... when people see you as very accessible, they will come and tell you their best ideas. And I totally believe that great ideas come from everywhere." [2]
On building trust: "Trust is built on open and honest communication." [3]
On the importance of numbers in leadership: "Numbers are critical in leadership. Friar says she's never met a number she didn't like. People in general still aren't good enough with numbers. 'For example, if we have 10 new neighbors on our platform, is that good? Bad? Numbers without context are dangerous.'" [4]
On hiring philosophy: "Your hiring philosophies will evolve as your company grows. The people are the thing that will add the most value to the company over time." [4]
On hiring for mission: "Hire for Mission Alignment, Not Just Skills. In one of her interviews, Friar mentioned that the best team members are those who align deeply with Nextdoor's mission." [3]
On effective meetings: Friar utilizes a "Three Ps" document for one-on-one meetings, covering people, performance, and product to ensure meetings are efficient and impactful. [4]
On leading through tough times: "From the outside it might look like Square was straight up and into the right. Square was like Swiss cheese. There was always something that was falling apart, not working... you needed people that could get through the really tough times, that were those leaders who always found positivity and led people not just with their heads, but with their hearts." [5]

On Community

On the power of community: "It also taught me that community doesn't just happen to you, it happens because of you." [5]
On the impact of local connections: "Knowing six neighbors is all you need to prevent social isolation. It's good for your health." [6]
On building platforms for good: "I think what is really special about Nextdoor is that you really see how much people want to help each other in the bigger picture." [4]
On the purpose of Nextdoor: "to cultivate a kinder world where everyone has a neighborhood to rely on." [7]
On a "we" society: "Everyone has a role to play. We should be a very “we” society, not an “I” society." [1]

On Career and Personal Growth

On taking career risks: "People who don't take risks work for people who do." (This quote is widely attributed to her).
On embracing zig-zags in your career: "I guess the arc is take risks. You think that you have to keep doing these things to build expertise, and that somehow if you zag, it's going to be all these risks you're going to take. It's so it's all in your head like absolutely all in your head." [8]
On passion and expertise: "Don't get caught up in the money that coincides with high expertise and leaves you with low passion. Remember that the place where high passion and expertise meet is your zone." [4]
On having the confidence to move on: "I kept staying; I don't know if my life would have been different, but I wish I had the confidence to jump sooner." [4]
On the Japanese concept of Ikigai: She uses this framework—what you love, what the world needs, what you're good at, and what you can get paid for—to guide her career decisions. [1][8]
On taking breaks: "It's okay to jump off the treadmill sometimes... It's okay to pull back to rest, recover and then lean back in again. Your career will be long." [4]
On continuous learning: She advocates for learning both inside and outside the classroom and values the diverse learning experiences from working in both large and small companies. [5][9]
On networking: "Always be keeping your network warm, nurtured, and loved. Ask for advice, ask for help." [6]
On mentorship: "Have at least three mentors you trust at every point in your career. One at your current job, one from a prior work environment, and one close, personal mentor." [4]
A quote to live by: "Walk on air despite your better judgment." - A quote from her favorite Irish poet, Seamus Heaney, that she embraces. [2]

On Company Culture and Values

On creating a positive work culture: It starts with what is important to you and is built one person at a time. [2][8]
On speaking up: "You also want people to feel that they can speak up no matter what there's going to be no consequence." [8]
On building resilience: Resilience requires diverse perspectives, scenario-planning, and considering unforeseen consequences. [10]
On the importance of authenticity: "The courage that it takes to stand up for what you believe in, even when it's against the grain, is hard, but when you do it, you tend to attract really like-minded people who tend to have that grit to come with you because they're really inspired by your authenticity." [5]
On focus and discipline: "Focus and discipline are particularly important in a business like Nextdoor, where you could probably do anything because most things have a local spin to them." [7]

On Finance and Business Strategy

On the role of a finance team: "Our job is not to count the beans. we are here to drive insights that ultimately shape the future of this company maybe even this whole. industry." [11]
On going public: "An IPO is not a destination — it's a marker on a journey... going public is just the beginning of another very interesting part of your journey." [12]
On market fluctuations: "In the short run, the market's a popularity machine. In the long run, it's a weighing machine." [5]
On balancing profitability and impact: Friar's approach avoids a "hyper-focus on revenue alone" and instead balances it with positive community impact. [3]

On Technology and Innovation

On the potential of AI: "I am not PhD level in biology, physics, math, coding, and so on. So, it might already have surpassed Sarah.” Not might. It has for sure." [13]
On AI's transformative power: She views AI as a platform shift akin to the advent of cloud computing. [14]
On deploying AI: "I don't think there is a CEO, a business leader in the world that doesn't right now know that they need to deploy AI into their business and not feel like they're behind." [13]
On the future of AI agents: "The agentic software engineer will not just augment current software engineers in the workforce. It can literally build an app for you — and not only build it, but also do its own quality assurance, bug testing, and documentation." [15]
On AI and innovation: "Professors and academics are finding that models are coming out with novel things in their field." [15]

On Women in Tech and Empowerment

On the challenges for women: "There's still a lot of inherent implicit bias in the system... Female founders secured only 2% of venture capital in the United States in 2021." [7]
On advice for female entrepreneurs: "Know your numbers... You have to be able to stand in front of an investor and explain how your business works and how it's going to work in the future." [16]
On being a role model: "We can't be what we can't see." [16]
On overcoming the need for perfection: "My advice to others who find themselves stuck on the perfection track is to start with small steps. Go have a walk in the park in the middle of the day." [6]
On being set free from a rigid path: After being passed over for a promotion, her husband told her, "They set you free," which she says led her to a different and more fulfilling life path. [6]

Other Notable Learnings

On having a purpose: "With my life, I want to work on things that can have a societal impact and not just be in business for cold, hard dollars." [7]
On staying curious: "Stay curious--that is such a beautiful thing in life." [1]
On the compounding effect of passion and intellect: "When you can put passion and your intellect together... it's so sustaining. Even when you're exhausted... you can somehow bounce out of bed the next day and go straight back after it." [17]
On balancing priorities: She advocates for ruthless prioritization, especially between work and family, to ensure important personal moments are not missed. [16]
On social media's impact: "What I don't like about technology is how much it is driving social isolation, loneliness and polarisation." [16]

Learn more:

Lessons from Sarah Friar, CFO OpenAI

On Leadership and Management

On Community

On Career and Personal Growth

On Company Culture and Values

On Finance and Business Strategy

On Technology and Innovation

On Women in Tech and Empowerment

Other Notable Learnings

Written by Antoine Buteau

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