Key Takeaways
- Adam Mosseri is the CEO of Instagram, an app with three billion users.
- In a recent interview, Mosseri revealed that he looks for three traits in new hires, regardless of discipline.
- Mosseri likened an openness to AI to the beginning days of learning a new language.
AI is disrupting the workforce, but at Instagram, the traits that matter in new hires withstand the test of time.
Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri said on a recent episode of Lenny’s Podcast that he looks for three core traits in new hires. No matter what their function in the company, he searches for workers who are quick learners, gritty and self-aware.
“If you are those three things, if you’ve got fire in your belly, you learn quickly, and you’re self-aware, you can kind of get good at anything eventually,” Mosseri said. “But if any of those things are missing, there’s usually an issue.”
Self-awareness is especially important because it means “you can actually take feedback,” he said. That matters considering Instagram’s broad user base: The app boasts three billion users.
It’s also vital considering tech is likely to change dramatically over the next decade, according to Mosseri. He emphasized the importance of adaptability in workers who are set to thrive in an AI-driven world.
“I think two things that I’m continuing to encourage myself to do are to stay curious and to put yourself out there,” he said. “I just think you’ve got to try things.”
Mosseri likened an openness to AI to learning a new language.
“Are you willing to sound like an idiot?” he said. “Are you willing just to say it and be corrected and not be offended and then just get better and better? You just have to put yourself out there. And with all of these new tools and models and technologies, I think you just have to be willing to try stuff.”
Another CEO has his own list of three qualities
Scale AI’s interim CEO, Jason Droege, said in an October episode of Lenny’s Podcast that he interviews workers across disciplines.
“Whenever I would hire people, I was trying to compose almost like an organism of strengths and then minimize the conflicts,” he said.
He can’t be an expert in every field, so he pins down what he is looking for to three things: curious problem-solving, humble collaboration and good leadership skills.
“If you just do those three things, I think you have a pretty high chance of success at least in an organization,” he said. “The world’s changing, right? So you do need people that are adaptable. So all the experience is not necessarily one-to-one relevant.”
However, Droege said that experience matters for some roles at the expert level.
“For certain roles, you absolutely need the right experience in this current market,” he said. “You see this with researchers, because the market’s moving so fast, you don’t have time to train up some people.”
Anton Osika, CEO of vibe coding startup Lovable, told Business Insider last year that he cares more about how quickly someone learns and adapts rather than where they are professionally.
“If a conversation feels alive, if I walk away having learned something new, that’s a strong sign they’ll thrive in the team and push our ways of working forward,” Osika said.
Key Takeaways
- Adam Mosseri is the CEO of Instagram, an app with three billion users.
- In a recent interview, Mosseri revealed that he looks for three traits in new hires, regardless of discipline.
- Mosseri likened an openness to AI to the beginning days of learning a new language.
AI is disrupting the workforce, but at Instagram, the traits that matter in new hires withstand the test of time.
Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri said on a recent episode of Lenny’s Podcast that he looks for three core traits in new hires. No matter what their function in the company, he searches for workers who are quick learners, gritty and self-aware.
“If you are those three things, if you’ve got fire in your belly, you learn quickly, and you’re self-aware, you can kind of get good at anything eventually,” Mosseri said. “But if any of those things are missing, there’s usually an issue.”
