Giving Away Your Job Every Three Weeks

Giving Away Your Legos: The Path to Growth in Scaling Companies

Facebook's rapid growth from 2008-2013 created a unique environment where roles and responsibilities expanded at breakneck speed. During this period, Molly Graham experienced firsthand how successful leaders must continuously evolve their responsibilities to keep pace with company growth.

Situation

• Molly joined Facebook in 2008 when it had just 500 employees and 80 million users
• The company was experiencing hypergrowth, eventually reaching 5,500 employees and over 1 billion users during her tenure
• Traditional career progression models were insufficient for the pace of change
• Roles were constantly expanding as the company scaled exponentially

Actions

• Continuous role evolution: Molly reached a point where she was "giving away her job every three weeks"
• Deliberate self-disruption: Rather than clinging to responsibilities she had mastered, she actively passed them to others
• Constant reinvention: She described this process as "constantly rehiring myself"
• Staying ahead of growth: She recognized that to remain valuable, she needed to grow at least as fast as the company itself
• Embracing discomfort: She accepted that comfort was a signal that change was needed

Results

• Career acceleration: This approach enabled her to experience multiple career paths within one company
• Skill diversification: She developed expertise across multiple domains including HR, mobile, product, and business development
• Increased value: By continuously evolving her role, she remained relevant despite the organization's rapid scaling
• Leadership development: This pattern helped her develop the adaptability needed for future leadership roles
• Career progression: She ultimately transitioned from HR to much broader responsibilities that wouldn't have been possible with a traditional career path

Key Lessons

• Growth requires letting go: To scale personally with a rapidly growing company, you must be willing to give away responsibilities you've mastered
• Emotional challenges are normal: The discomfort of giving away "your legos" is natural but shouldn't prevent necessary transitions
• Stay ahead of the curve: You must grow at least as fast as your company to remain valuable and avoid being buried under expanding responsibilities
• Opportunity lies in change: The most valuable career growth comes from embracing new challenges rather than perfecting existing skills
• Redefine success: Success in high-growth environments isn't about mastering a static role but about continuous adaptation and evolution
• Recognize the pattern: Understanding that this cycle of mastery and delegation is normal helps manage the emotional challenges it creates

This approach represents a fundamental mindset shift from traditional career progression, where mastery of a role leads to promotion, to one where constant reinvention and delegation become the primary mechanisms for growth.

Lenny Rachitsky: At Facebook Molly gave away her role every three weeks, continually rehiring herself to match company growth.