Forget Failure, It’s All an Experiment – Vlada Bortnik on How Marco Polo Approaches Big Choices

Marco Polo CEO, Vlada Borthnik, almost said no to being on our podcast. It wasn’t that she wasn’t a fan of AnitaB.org or didn’t believe in its mission, it was that we’d asked her to talk about failure… and Vlada almost totally rejects the notion of “failure” on principle.

Instead, Vlada advocates for throwing away the binary lens of “success” and “failure” and instead to reframe things as experiments and their outcomes.  Because even when the outcome isn’t what you’d hoped for, you can still learn from it. And maybe that learning will set you up for a different outcome next time. Fortunately for us, Vlada came around.

In this episode, she talks to Brenda about why she feels so strongly that it’s time for us all to stop fearing failure and embrace the idea it’s all about experimentation and learning from outcomes – whether they’re good or bad. Vlada also shares how the challenges of coming to the US as a refuge when she was 11 set her up for her future as an entrepreneur, why you should worry less about communication at work being messy, and focus instead on making sure you have systems in place to clean those messes up, and how Marco Polo’s culture of constant experimentation has led to its success. Plus, Brenda’s top three takeaways from the conversion.

For more, check out Vlada…

On LinkedIn – /in/vlada/

On Facebook – /onmarcopolo

On Instagram – @marcopoloapp

And if you’re curious about Marco Polo, you can download the app for iOS or Android.

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At our heart, AnitaB.org is a connector: we connect women in tech to the organizations, opportunities, and tools they need to advance, thrive, and transform the future of technology. We convene transformative events, lead essential discussions, produce groundbreaking research and white papers, and support the tech ecosystem to shape the future for women in tech. 

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Connect with AnitaB.org

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Our guests contribute to this podcast in their personal capacity. The views expressed in this interview are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology or its employees (“AnitaB.org”). AnitaB.org is not responsible for and does not verify the accuracy of the information provided in the podcast series. The primary purpose of this podcast is to educate and inform. This podcast series does not constitute legal or other professional advice or services.

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B The Way Forward Is…

Hosted and Executive Produced by Brenda Darden Wilkerson.

Produced by Avi Glijansky

Associate Produced by Kelli Kyle

Sound design and editing by Ryan Hammond 

Mixing and mastering by Julian Kwasneski 

Additional Producing help from Faith Krogulecki

Operations Coordination for AnitaB.org by Quinton Sprull.

Creative Director for AnitaB.org is Deandra Coleman

Executive Produced by Dominique Ferrari, Stacey Book, and Avi Glijansky for Frequency Machine 

For more ways to be the way forward, visit AnitaB.org