Brian Frank, Former LinkedIn VP, Advises Tech Professionals on Leadership and the Art of Getting Promoted
Tags: Startup, Leadership, Business, Career Advice, LinkedIn

Brian Frank, Former LinkedIn VP, Advises Tech Professionals on Leadership and the Art of Getting Promoted Crossminds.ai Follow Mar 31, 2019 · 6 min read

Brian Frank, former Vice President of Global Sales Operations at LinkedIn, shared his personal experience and leadership lessons with Robin.ly.

Brian Frank @ Robin.ly Interview

Brian has 20+ years of experience in the business sector, helping numerous companies grow to significant lengths. He is most well-known for his achievement of helping LinkedIn grow from $75 million to over $3.5 billion in the space of ten years. Brian is initially trained as a lawyer, but when he noticed the exciting opportunities happening in Silicon Valley he shifted his career towards them.

Brian Frank & Robin.ly host Wenli

Early days in the tech world

Brian began working as an environmental lawyer, but it didn’t take long before he recognized the vast opportunities available in the tech world.

Brian was one of the first attorneys working at Ariba, an well-known software and information technology services company during the “.com bubble”; he stayed there for ten years, eventually expanding into sales.

“I wish I’d had that experience to know what it’s like to be a salesperson. And I had the opportunity to go start up a little sales organization inside of Ariba, called Contract Management Solutions, and I did so. I took that first job, I left my CFO job and became a salesperson.”

By following his interest in sales, Brian found himself at LinkedIn. One aspect that these two companies have in common is the fact that when Brian started working with them, they were both startups. This was an important factor as startups handle themselves differently from larger-scale businesses.

“I love startups and entrepreneurship. …I took small teams and launched new businesses. … And at LinkedIn, I actually launched our sales solutions business, which today is a multi-million dollar business selling a tool called Sales Navigator. So I love the startup feel. And I do a lot of advising to startups that are out there, and help them grow things. And I love the entrepreneurial spirit that basically comes through.”

Brian Frank @ Robin.ly interview

LinkedIn saved Brian’s career

Brian’s transition from law to sales did not come easy. If it wasn’t for his use of LinkedIn he may not have been able to successfully expand his horizons.

“I started making cold calls every day. And it was horrible. People would hang up the phone on me, they were very rude. And I did it for several months. I was about to quit, because it just seemed like the wrong thing. That’s when I rediscovered LinkedIn, once I started realizing that it was also great for sales. It was an amazing lead database for salespeople. So I started sending out a hundred of connection requests a day to anyone with ‘Lawyer’ in their title.”

Doing this allowed him to network in a much smarter and more efficient way, even though it caused him to get his account temporarily suspended. This occurred before he was hired to work at LinkedIn several years later. The fact that he managed to use the platform to propel his career was enough proof for him to that the company had the potential for huge growth.

LinkedIn changed his life

Brian’s 10-year work relationship with LinkedIn gave him the tools to grow as an individual, forever changing his life.

“Well actually working at LinkedIn for 10 years was incredibly transformative to me personally and professionally. As a sales person and a leader and executive, I grew, and I really learned a new set of skills as well as how to interact with people in a better way.”

One of the biggest lessons he learned is that business and sales is not all about winning. There is no necessity to always be right. Of course, this is deeply dissimilar to how the legal world works, where winning is the end-goal of most altercations. However, leadership requires more than a winning spirit.

“So when you’re a lawyer, you get paid to win, and you get paid to fight. No one wants to hire a lawyer who’s gentle and kindly collaborative. And some of that coming from law ended up probably rubbing off into business. As a leader, and just as someone who operates people… I never realized that I was being stubborn. I never realized that I wasn’t listening to others. And I had this in my mindset that once I had made up my mind about what the right answer was, it had to be right. That was one of the biggest failings I had.”

Lessons in leadership

Leading a team, regardless of its size, is a complex and often meticulous task. Brian, who considers himself to be a compassionate leader, provided his three essential elements to any successful leadership.

“Your job as a leader is to help others and to sort of put the effort into basically, doing the things that make their job better”.

“Leaders need to find a way to tap into their true self, and be able to find this connection with others that inspire them. And whether it’s the mission of the company, or whether it’s the operating values and culture that you have as a professional, finding that inspiration is key.”

“And then the last piece that’s critical to leadership is communication. So being able to say the right thing in the right way at the right time to the right audience, is the most important thing. If there was one word of advice I would give to you, it’ll be: Focus on great communication.”

These three principles are what Brian focuses on when he engages in his leadership roles.

How to propel a career

One of Brian’s most asked questions regards how one should go about getting a promotion and climbing up the careers ladder. For this, he offered several tips, however, his last piece of advice on the matter is perhaps most interesting.

“…The last one requires you to be strategic… my definition [of strategic] is making high quality, prioritized business decisions. That’s basically where you’re making a call which is going to have a high impact as well as a high probability of success, right? Because if I have a big dream, but it can never be achieved, that’s not strategic. If I want to achieve something very low, but it doesn’t matter, that’s not strategic. Strategic is where I can actually pull it off and it matters.”

Brian Frank @ Robin.ly Interview: Three steps to become a leader at work

Brian Frank’s leadership experience in the tech world is vast and unparalleled. Working with companies such as Ariba, BlueJeans Network, and of course LinkedIn means that he has a unique insight and perspective when it comes to success, management, and entrepreneurship. The fact that he has worked in both the sales industry as well as the legal sector additionally gives him a significant viewpoint unlike many others.

Visit Robin.ly to watch the full interview with Brian Frank and more inspiring talks from renowned tech leaders and entrepreneurs.