Amy Hsuan, vice president of People & Strategy at Mixpanel, describes her career as a story with three distinct chapters.
She started out as an Anthropology Major at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Her choice of major stemmed from a personal interest in, and experience with, cultures around the world – but with practicality in mind, she adjusted her trajectory.
“After I graduated from UCLA with my undergrad in anthropology, I realized that it’s difficult to get hired with that degree because it doesn’t translate to a practical job,” Hsuan says. Acting on this realization, she enrolled in a master’s program at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications to study journalism.
Hsuan cites documentary films as her inspiration for studying journalism. She found early success in her endeavor, holding a role with a newspaper for about seven years. She says the timing of her career entrance was vital in developing her expertise, as she started working in the field during a time of – in her own words – “massive disruption.”
“I became a journalist at a time when online news was disrupting the fundamental business model. Within the first four years of my career as a journalist, layoffs started in the newsroom. Around 2008, I moved from the investigations team to the business desk, and I started really understanding the key macroeconomic forces,” Hsuan says.
Working in journalism during the 2008 recession led Hsuan to pursue her Master of Business Administration (MBA). More than anything else, this decision spawned a “big pivot” in her career.
Business school was a major shift away from what Hsuan was accustomed to, but she was excited by the prospect of a challenge. “I loved being a reporter, but it was time to go in a different direction,” Hsuan says.
Graduating with an MBA from the Wharton School certainly opened new paths for Hsuan’s career, but she still had a nagging feeling that her experience and knowledge were superficial compared to some of her peers.
“In order to get more foundational training, I needed to further my skill set. I decided to go into management consulting, which is an incredible training ground for assessing and tackling a variety of business problems,” Hsuan explains.
“When I joined Boston Consulting Group (BCG), “I was able to focus on innovation consulting – studying how companies learn, and trying to understand how the most cutting-edge organizations systematized innovation.” Throughout her entire time at the firm, Hsuan drew upon, and remained true to, her roots in journalism: “I love the power of telling authentic stories through data and analysis – whether quantitative or qualitative,” Hsuan says.
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What were the driving factors behind Hsuan’s decision to join Mixpanel? Putting it simply, she still enjoyed conquering company- and industry-specific challenges – but wanted to do so in partnership with a single organization over the long-term. And the strategic mindset she honed during her time at BCG made the role a great fit.
Today, much of Hsuan’s role as Vice President of People & Strategy centers around achieving unique, first-in-class cultural outcomes at Mixpanel. Speaking about the “people” side of her role – meaning her employees – Hsuan emphasizes that it is “critical to have a clear vision of the desired outcome, and what success looks like over a multi-year journey.”
The strategic side of her position is the same as her philosophy about corporate culture. She “approaches people strategy the way [she] would approach any other strategy” – embodying the popular 80/20 Rule. “Part of strategy is identifying which problems to solve, and recognizing which ones aren’t worth prioritizing. We can’t solve everything, so we follow the 80/20 principle: how do you get 80% of the result with 20% of the effort?”
“We have a very clear set of metrics that we’ve been driving against. And we plan for the long term, so no strategy battles are handled on a one-year time frame – regardless of the company’s fiscal year,” Hsuan says. “Each component of our people strategy is mapped over a three-year path, at minimum. You can’t articulate your strategy on a half-year basis – but you must have a clear idea of where you’re heading and what to expect,” Hsuan explains. “There’s a ton of pilot testing, innovation, and iteration along the way.”
This mindset has led Hsuan to think of the employee experience like “another product that [Mixpanel] is developing.” And like any successful roadmap, that product is “going to evolve as the customer’s needs change.”
Hsuan understands that “the number one thing that makes or breaks a strategy are the people who run the business.” And in today’s hyper-competitive business world, “this has led to an increased focus on workplace culture” among executives who want to set their companies apart.
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“For strategies to be successful,” Hsuan says, “it usually requires humans to change the way they look at their business, their role, and their approach. That change is what drives the ability to run in a singular direction when there’s a strategic pivot.”
Hsuan says that Mixpanel succeeds due to its proactive – rather than reactive – approach to people and market forces. Fundamental to this flexibility is incorporating culture into every strategic conversation about the future of the business.
Saving a seat at the table for CPOs and CHROs “is imperative because companies must offer their employees the chance to proactively manage and guide company changes at every level of the organization,” Hsuan says. Unfortunately, this approach goes against the standard operations of most organizations, which navigate decisions more abstractly and reactively.
Also core to the Mixpanel culture is transparency – especially meaningful to Hsuan given her journalistic roots. “I have a deeply held belief that with the right information, people have the fundamental ability to make good decisions – but they need all the information to make those decisions.” Hsuan adds, “employees need to know why changes are happening, and why the company is moving in a certain direction.”
“Being able to articulate that ‘why’ – or, the ‘case for change’ – requires a significant,” sometimes uncomfortable, “level of transparency. But transparency helps people understand where the business – and especially where leadership – is coming from,” Hsuan says.
“Ultimately, using ‘understanding’ as a primary measuring unit helps businesses, companies, and organizations innovate and succeed,” Hsuan says. That is the only way to ensure that every member of the organization is truly committed to moving forward – and implementing the on-the-ground changes necessary to do so.
