Dustin Maskowitz, co-founder and chairman of Asana.
Stephanie Keenan | Getty Images Entertainment | Getty Images
Meta co-founder Dustin Moskovitz has spoken openly about the pain of leadership, admitting that his 13 years as CEO was “tiring.”
One of the founders of Meta (formerly Facebook), Moskowitz co-founded the social platform in 2004 with Mark Zuckerberg, Eduardo Saverin, Chris Hughes, and Andrew McCallum.
After leaving Facebook in 2008, he owned just over 8% of the company and became a billionaire with a net worth of $12 billion, according to the latest data from Forbes. That same year, he became co-founder and CEO of the work management software platform Asana.
Moskowitz announced earlier this year that he would step down as Asana’s CEO and transition into the role of chairman while retaining ownership of 53% of the company’s outstanding shares between its Class A and Class B holdings.
The billionaire recently opened up about what it’s like to be Asana’s CEO despite being an introvert on Monday’s episode of Ben Thompson’s Stratechery podcast.
“I don’t like managing teams, and that wasn’t my intention when I started Asana,” Moskowitz said in the episode.
“I was going to be more independent or go back to head engineering or something. Then one thing led to another and I was CEO for 13 years and found it very tiring.”
He added, “I’m an introvert, and I had to look like this day in and day out. But at first I thought, ‘It’s going to get easier, the company is going to be more mature.’ Then the world just got more chaotic. With Trump and the pandemic and all the races, there was a lot less work building the company. When you’re a CEO, you have to be more responsive to problems and do things like this.”
Many famous leaders are introverts
Prominent business leaders have described themselves as introverts, from Meta’s Zuckerberg to Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates to Berkshire Hathaway chairman and CEO Warren Buffett.
Susan Cain, author of Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking, said introverts are often removed from leadership positions and thrive better in quieter, less stimulating environments.
He said introverts have hidden traits that make them better suited for leadership positions, such as being less risk-taking, creative and good at problem-solving.
Cain said introverted leaders can be “slow” and “cautious” in making decisions, which helps them avoid impulsive or reckless behavior.
They also tend to seek solitude, which Cain says is a “real catalyst for creativity.”
“This two-layered structure of how we view personality leads to a huge waste of talent, energy, and happiness,” Cain says. “We need to take more of a yin and yang approach to balancing the two styles.”
