After 19 conversations with some of the sharpest operators around, I’m closing the year** with someone who rewired how I think about building process: Laura Warden.
Your job as an operator is to make things work. So you do. You patch. You duct-tape. You make something 10% better, then 15%, then 20%. Over time, you get excellent at optimising a system that (maybe) shouldn’t exist in the first place. Laura brought me back to the idea of constructing or reconstructing from first principles: “If you could build this optimally from day one, would it look like this?”
She’s operated across different scales and contexts—running recruitment and talent at Hays, managing ~500 people at Google, and now supporting dozens of companies as Head of Operations at Folklore Ventures.
We touch on her journey and:
How dyslexia shaped her superpowers
Scaling hurdles: moving too fast without process, founder span-of-control failure, and insufficient communication
Why leadership teams need to feel visible (and Google’s multi-modal comms example)
The management triangle: Empathy + Business outcomes + Clear direction
Why your job isn’t to be the hero—it’s to build an environment where heroes can emerge
Your network as an external brain (and why it needs to be small and value-driven)
Rising above the weeds: asking, “What have I missed? What’s going to derail this or make it less impactful?”
Hiring observations: companies hiring a generalist operator first, then building specialist teams around them
Laura's motto: "Sh*t happens. Accept it. Then figure out how you pick yourself, your team, and the organisation up from that.
**P.S. Catch my solo episode, "What the Year Taught Me", on December 23, before we tuck into the cauli' cheese and Christmas cheer.
Mentioned in this episode:
Teresa Lilly
Savannah Black
Dianne Ward
Nicole Hopkins
Alister Coleman
Rochelle Ritchie
Sundar Pichai
Romy Bundy
Naomi Browne
Guest ideas?
Do you have an operator on speed dial who could be perfect for the show? Please share your suggestions with me via LinkedIn.
A note from your host, Laura:
My goal for Calling Operator is to open-source stories from startup operators across various functional areas and learn how they excel at building and scaling companies. As a Chief of Staff, I often find myself in (virtual) rooms with people facing similar challenges and reinventing the wheel. I want this podcast to open a line for operators across Australia and New Zealand to learn from fellow operators. Each episode shares personal stories, the execution behind big ideas, career-defining moments, successes, failures, and lessons.
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