Build with Leila Hormozi

Episode 317: My Thoughts Looking At Our Growth This Year
Date: September 18, 2025
Host: Leila Hormozi

Episode Overview

In this reflective solo episode, Leila Hormozi shares candid thoughts on the significant growth of Acquisition.com over the past year, the evolving challenges of scaling a company, and the pivotal lessons she’s learned as a leader. Speaking late at night, Leila opens up about organizational culture, the dangers of gossip, leadership responsibilities, innovation versus tradition, and the surprising power of doing less to achieve more.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Controlling the Frame as a Leader

• Timestamp: 00:02 - 03:10
• Leila begins by emphasizing the importance of “controlling the frame,” or setting the context and perspective within a team or organization.
• New hires can shift dynamics, causing emotional reactions like jealousy or insecurity among existing staff. As a leader, it's her responsibility to define and uphold the culture.
• Quote:
  "You are the leader in the situation. You have to remember that part of your job is telling people what the frame is. You determine what the frame is." (00:02)

2. Dealing with Gossip in a Growing Company

• Timestamp: 03:11 - 16:11
• As Acquisition.com surpasses 100 employees, Leila notes the emergence of gossip. She distinguishes gossip from feedback: gossip is talking negatively to someone who can't fix the problem, whereas feedback is actionable and given to someone who can help.
• Shares a personal story: In high school, retaliation through gossip only made her feel worse about herself—a lesson carried into adulthood.
• Quotes:
  "Talking about someone negatively...to somebody else who can do nothing about it. Essentially, you are criticizing another person, place, or thing to a person who has no ability to help them improve." (04:43)
  "No person is worth me feeling worse about myself no matter what they do to me." (12:39)
• Policy: Leila is clear—she swiftly eliminates gossipers from the team, believing it’s essential to root out gossip “viciously.”

3. Leadership: Teaching, Not Just Listening

• Timestamp: 16:12 - 23:02
• She explains the importance of teaching staff how to handle workplace issues properly. Many team members justify their gossip, but as a leader, it’s her job to correct the behavior, not just validate their feelings.
• Controlling the frame means not letting others’ perspectives sway foundational principles. Strong leaders coach staff, reinforce standards, and don’t let emotionally persuasive employees redefine company culture.
• Quotes:
  "The strongest leaders have the ability to constantly, no matter what, control the frame in a given situation." (18:23)
  "You're the frame maker. You're not the rainmaker, but you're the frame maker." (21:21)

4. Rethinking Rituals and Processes Post-Success

• Timestamp: 23:03 - 29:44
• After the company’s book becomes the fastest nonfiction seller and hits $100M in sales in three days, Leila questions established rituals like quarterly meetings—deciding not to hold one just because "we always have."
• Announces an adjusted, “abbreviated” quarterly and encourages others to scrutinize longstanding routines to ensure they still serve their purpose.
• Advocates for subtracting elements that are no longer necessary, instead of always adding more processes.
• Quote:
  "I would beg of you, question everything, constantly be asking yourself, does this still apply to my organization? Is this still relevant today? Do I really need to be doing this?" (27:26)

5. The Wisdom of Doing Less: Less is More

• Timestamp: 29:45 - 36:18
• Through personal reflection, Leila shares that many of her current successes came when she cared a little less, worried less, and did less—especially through recent health challenges.
• Highlights a key lesson: Focusing anxious energy on a problem rarely solves it. Often, the solution is to step back, release control, and let things resolve naturally.
• References a book insight:
  "I've never seen someone solve a problem by working on the problem," and applies it—sometimes, obsessing creates more issues.
• Quotes:
  "So much of the answers are found in less of that. Not trying as hard, not holding on as tight, not trying to control as much, trying to do something easier, not harder." (34:57)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• "Practicing done is better than perfect. Like, I like to preach…" (01:52)
• "There's nothing that I detest more. I don't want to interact with those people. I don't want them in my company." (15:13)
• "The solution is in subtraction. The difficulty is that most people are emotionally tied to something and they don't want to get rid of it." (28:19)
• "The stress and the anxiety and the overthinking creates more of a problem than it does a solution." (36:01)
• Closing gratitude and humor:
  "I hope you have a great evening, walk, dinner, workout. Maybe it's a late night like me. Late night like 8 o'clock." (36:50)

Episode Structure & Timestamps

• 00:02 – Opening, controlling the frame as a leader
• 03:11 – On growing teams, jealousy, gossip, and culture
• 04:43 – Defining gossip; personal high school anecdote
• 12:39 – Lessons from personal reflection; policy on gossip in the company
• 16:12 – Leadership: teaching vs. listening, controlling the narrative
• 18:23 – Maintaining the frame in conversations
• 21:21 – “Frame maker” concept
• 23:03 – Adapting rituals post-success, skipping quarterly meetings
• 27:26 – Encouragement to question everything, subtraction as strategy
• 29:45 – Less is more: successes from doing less, book insight
• 34:57 – The power of releasing control, stress magnifying problems
• 36:50 – Appreciations, closing thoughts for listeners

Takeaways

• As your company grows, maintaining culture requires vigilance; gossip is a “cancer” that must be cut out decisively.
• Leadership is about teaching, setting expectations, and not being swayed when core principles are at stake.
• Don’t cling to old rituals out of habit. Regularly reassess which practices serve the mission and which need to be retired.
• Sometimes doing less—especially in high-stress situations—produces better outcomes.
• Reflection and thoughtful, sometimes counterintuitive decisions are pivotal in rapid growth phases.

For listeners:
This episode offers a highly personal and practical look inside the mind of a leader navigating explosive business growth. Leila’s tangible examples and transparent confessions make her lessons relatable for founders, team leaders, and anyone aiming to build a resilient, unshakeable organization.