In early 2013, when I joined Airbnb, part of my role was to be the elder editor. We had 30 strategic initiatives we were working on, which created a lot of distractions. Within four months, we’d pared that list down to 4, which allowed us to focus on what was most important.

Most times, you’d say this was a job well done. However, as evidenced by this video with CEO Brian Chesky and me on stage with moderator Julie Hanna, sometimes being a cautious editor means you don’t see the big wave on the horizon.