Molly Graham is back for round two, and this one is even more powerful. Molly has spent more than 20 years helping organizations and the humans inside them navigate growth and change. She’s held leadership roles at Google, Facebook, Quip, and the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative and is the host of TED’s WorkLife podcast (which she took over from Adam Grant). She also runs Glue Club, a leadership community for senior operators, and writes a popular newsletter called Lessons.
Listen on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts
In our in-depth conversation, we discuss:
Why Molly’s famous “give away your Legos” career advice no longer holds true in an AI world
The grief, loneliness, and burnout sweeping through the tech industry right now
Why delegating to AI is fundamentally different from delegating to a human
The fear narrative around AI job displacement, and why it’s overblown
Which Legos you should never give to AI
What the best managers are doing right now
Brought to you by:
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Where to find Molly Graham
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mograham
• Substack: https://mollyg.substack.com
• Website: https://glueclub.com
Referenced:
• The high-growth handbook: Molly Graham’s frameworks for leading through chaos, change, and scale: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-high-growth-handbook-molly-graham
• Myspace: https://myspace.com
• ‘Give Away Your Legos’ and Other Commandments for Scaling Startups: https://review.firstround.com/give-away-your-legos-and-other-commandments-for-scaling-startups
• Safeway: https://www.safeway.com
• The Odyssey: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt33764258
• What happens after coding is solved? | Fiona Fung (Manager of the Claude Code and Cowork Teams): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/building-the-most-ai-pilled-engineering
• Head of Claude Code: What happens after coding is solved | Boris Cherny: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/head-of-claude-code-what-happens
• How to step confidently into the unknown with Manoush Zomorodi: https://mollyg.substack.com/p/new-worklife-episode-how-to-step
• How tech workers are feeling in 2026: a workforce splitting in two: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/how-tech-workers-are-feeling-in-2026
• “I Know It When I See It” Doesn’t Scale with Hilary Gridley: https://mollyg.substack.com/p/worklife-hilary-gridley
• Foo Camp: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foo_Camp
• Tim O’Reilly on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/timo3
• Adam Mosseri: AI is a tailwind for authenticity: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/adam-mosseri-ai-is-a-tailwind-for
• 10 growth tactics that never work | Elena Verna (Amplitude, Miro, Dropbox, SurveyMonkey): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/10-growth-tactics-that-never-work-elena-verna?utm_source=publication-search
• Waymo: https://waymo.com
• AI’s third era: the rise of persistent AI coworkers | Tara Seshan (Product Lead ChatGPT Work): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/ais-third-era-the-rise-of-persistent
• Airbnb: https://www.airbnb.com
• Booking.com: https://www.booking.com
• Brian Chesky’s secret mentor who died 9 times, started the Burning Man board, and built the world’s first midlife wisdom school | Chip Conley (founder of MEA): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/chip-conley
• Hugging Face: https://huggingface.co
• You’re closer to an AI expert than you think with Max Mullen: https://mollyg.substack.com/p/worklife-max-mullen
• OpenAI’s Head of Design: This is the best time in history to be a designer | Ian Silber: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/openais-head-of-design-this-is-the
• Grok Bot: https://x.ai/news/introducing-grok-bot
• Why Clay Has an AI Writing Policy: https://www.clay.com/blog/ai-writing-policy
• Why Netflix is betting on systems thinkers—not specialists—in the AI era | Elizabeth Stone (CPTO): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/netflix-cpto-on-ai-and-the-future
Recommended book:
• The Reverse Centaur's Guide to Life After AI: https://www.amazon.com/Reverse-Centaurs-Guide-Life-After/dp/037462156X
Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email [email protected].
Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed.
