From managing people to managing AI: The leadership skills everyone needs now | Julie Zhuo (Facebook VP, Sundial CEO, The Making of a Manager author)

Julie Zhuo is the former VP and Head of Design at Facebook (now Meta), author of the bestselling book The Making of a Manager, and co-founder of Sundial, an AI-powered data analysis company. Also, my first-ever podcast guest over 3 years ago!In our conversation, we discuss:1. The three core manager skills that translate directly to managing AI agents2. How her team uses AI to learn new skills 10x faster3. The “diagnose with data, treat with design” framework for balancing gut and data4. Why hypergrowth AI companies have terrible data infrastructure (and why it doesn’t matter)5. How to give feedback that actually lands—including Julie’s exact script for difficult conversations6. What Julie’s teaching her kids about an AI future (hint: it’s not coding or STEM)—Brought to you by:Mercury — The art of simplified financesDX — The developer intelligence platform designed by leading researchersPostHog—How developers build successful products—Transcript: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/from-managing-people-to-managing-ai-julie-zhuo—My biggest takeaways (for paid newsletter subscribers): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/i/172723725/my-biggest-takeaways-from-this-conversation—Where to find Julie Zhuo:• X: https://x.com/joulee• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/julie-zhuo/• Website: https://www.juliezhuo.com/• Newsletter: https://lg.substack.com/• Sundial: https://sundial.so/—Where to find Lenny:• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com• X: https://twitter.com/lennysan• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/—In this episode, we cover:(00:00) Welcome back, Julie!(05:18) The success of The Making of a Manager(08:41) Why AI will make everyone a manager(11:38) The future of management roles(14:00) Empowering teams with AI(21:30) Specific roles being accelerated by AI(26:53) Data analysis in AI companies(32:02) The role of data in design(37:21) The evolving role of managers in the AI era(40:22) Embracing change and uncertainty(42:14) Timeless lessons for m