Dan Slagen’s Post

I used to be the least transparent exec at Zapier. Now I'm number 1 (check the scoreboard 👇) I showed up at Zapier relying on DMs, a habit formed at smaller companies. Never thought twice about it until I saw where I ranked against the rest of the exec team: dead last. I told myself it was because marketing was going through a lot: hiring, a reorg, sensitive stuff. Welp… that excuse went out the window once I watched other leaders work out in the open (even when uncomfortable) and get real value out of it. So I did what any good Zapien would do: I built a solution! I used the Zapier MCP to build a daily tracker in Claude and set one goal: reach or beat 90% public. That’s the exec record held by our CTO Bryan (uh previously held, sorry Bryan 😎) I got a… bit obsessive over that number. After 2 weeks I didn't need the tracker anymore. The habit was built. Reprogramming myself was easier than adjusting others. Redirecting people mid-DM was hard, so was making constant judgment calls on public vs. private. Eventually, unless it was truly sensitive, I defaulted to public. In May, I was second on the board with 85%. June? 96%. Finally, number 1 on the exec team. Holding the top spot won't be easy, but if I can stay above 90%, I'll be happy. I’ll admit this wasn't fun lol. It was uncomfortable, and I still catch myself reaching for the quick DM. But the payoff is awesome. When I need to connect a conversation from 3 weeks ago to something happening today, it's actually findable. The whole team gets to learn from it, not just whoever was in the thread. The execs here are getting comfortable being uncomfortable.