How to lead when you have zero context

Starting a new role is exciting, until the panic sets in:

I’m supposed to lead this thing... but I don’t even know what’s going on.

Here’s how I’m approaching leadership with zero context as I start my new role at Zapier — and how you can too. I just got back from a 2-week vacation (and, prior to that, 2 weeks of onboarding) so this is my first “real” week working. I want to share with you what I’m doing to make this a success.

1. Treat your questions like assets, not liabilities.
   You get one chance to not know something. Use it. I’m keeping a “dumb questions” list and asking everything—why this team exists, how this process works, what acronyms mean. These are the things no one explains once you’ve been here too long.
   
   (Protip: If two people give you different answers, write both down. That’s where the interesting tension is.)

2. Get obsessed with observation.
   Your first few weeks are all signal, no action. I’m watching how people talk to each other. What’s celebrated. What’s avoided. Who gets looped in (and who doesn’t). Culture is what happens between the lines.

3. Focus on relationships > output.
   It’s tempting to jump into execution to “prove yourself.” But trust is the real currency.
   
   I’m meeting as many people as possible—not just my direct team—and asking what’s working, what’s confusing, and what they wish someone would finally fix. I’m asking who I should be meeting with and figuring out who I’m seeing most frequently in meetings to where it could be beneficial to build a relationship with them.

4. Use “I’m new” as a forcing function for clarity.
   If I don’t understand something, odds are someone else doesn’t either. I’m using my onboarding to tighten up documentation, simplify workflows, and gut-check assumptions others forgot to question.

5. Build your own map.
   Don’t expect a clean org chart or perfect documentation. I’m drawing my own map of people, priorities, power structures, and product gaps, so I can lead from context, not chaos. Zapier’s a lot bigger than my previous working environment, and it’s easy to get lost in the org chart. Creating my own with purpose allows me to draw lines for relationships and purpose, not reporting lines.