It All Comes Down to Trust: Interview with Godard Abel, CEO of G2

I recently went one on one with Godard Abel, CEO of G2.

Adam: Thanks again for taking the time to share your advice. First things first, though, I am sure readers would love to learn more about you. How did you get here? What experiences, failures, setbacks, or challenges have been most instrumental to your growth?

Godard: Adam, great to chat with you! My journey began within my entrepreneurial family, growing up discussing business and observing my grandfather's pump manufacturing startup, Abel Pumps, scale up from the ground. I carried this inspiration to Stanford and MIT, graduating amidst the dot-com boom and bust.

I got an immediate taste of entrepreneurship when the startup I joined went public. Soon after, I founded BigMachines, inspired by the manual process in my family's business, envisioning an Amazon-like future for selling big machines like the pumps my father and grandfather sold. After BigMachines' acquisition by Oracle, I applied my experiences to my next venture, SteelBrick, later acquired by Salesforce.

Through founding five SaaS companies, I've navigated multiple challenges, with each venture offering unique lessons. Particularly impactful was surviving the dot-com bubble burst with BigMachines; it taught me the value of resilience and adaptability.

Adam: In your experience, what are the key steps to growing and scaling your business? 

Godard: To scale a business, focus on riding major trends, like AI right now. Ride these waves to accelerate the inevitable, but don’t set your vision too broad. Focus on a narrow problem you uniquely care about. 

It’s also key to build repeatable sales processes. At SteelBrick, building and enabling repeatable sales processes and systems, helped us hit our plan 14/14 consecutive quarters. 

Proactively acquiring partners is another strategy to accelerate growth. In my experience, we’ve been able to acquire companies with fewer than 25 employees to accelerate growth and win together, while keeping fellow entrepreneurs in the family. This is a proactive approach that ensures you’re not leaving integration to chance, too. 

When it comes to having an effective talent strategy, nurture your in-house talent, create a culture that reflects your core values, and adapt your leadership style as your business scales. Over the years, I’ve adopted methods from others, as I like to steal from the best who have been successful. SThes have included Salesforce's V2MOM (which stands for “vision, values, methods, obstacles and measures,” and is how we conduct our planning at G2 at all levels), Conscious Leadership principles, and Netflix's Freedom & Responsibility concept.

Adam: What is your best advice on building, leading, and managing teams?

Godard: As for leading teams, it all comes down to trust. Encourage open communication, share the company's vision and principles, then give your team the autonomy to do their jobs.

It can be easy to fall into the responsibility trap – the feeling of being responsible for all the decision-making. It’s unsustainable for your well-being and your employees. From our Conscious Leadership practice, we trust employees to operate in what is called their “zones of genius.” Like most entrepreneurs, when starting a business, you have to wear many hats. I’ve been an accountant, a lawyer, a marketer, a salesperson, you name it. But as the company scales, you bring in leaders and individual contributors you trust to own those areas so you can do what you do best (and so can they!).

This concept of trust is also echoed in what we’ve adopted from Netflix, known for its culture of “Freedom and Responsibility.” To attract and retain great talent, provide your team with the vision for where you want the company to go and share the guiding principles for how you expect them to show up for each other and the business along the journey. Then let them operate with the freedom and responsibility to figure out the right ways to get there. Our V2MOM and PEAK values help us provide those clear vision and values.
Adam: What are the most important trends in technology that leaders should be aware of and understand? What should they understand about them?

Godard: Software has been booming in a multi-decade mega trend. And even despite the current economic environment and valuations being down in general, still, some public leaders have been experiencing strong revenue growth. SaaS vendors are not only growing in the U.S., but this is a global trend happening in EMEA and APAC, especially in India. Those regions are worth watching, as new companies and talent continue to emerge. 

Now, AI is booming with record funding. VCs have increased their positions in generative AI significantly. We see this in our G2 marketplace too – which features over 150,000 software products and services across 2,000+ categories. We’ve observed a notable growth in AI categories, driven by the explosion of AI products entering the fold. As generative AI becomes more accessible to non-technical users, it will continue to shake up business innovation – potentially more than any past digital technology since the advent of the PC. 
Adam: What do you believe are the defining qualities of an effective leader?

Godard: I believe the most effective leaders are those who lead from the front. They regularly engage with their customers and employees to continuously share their vision, receive feedback, and keep stakeholders aligned. They also invest time and resources to make things happen — from winning new customers and partners to inspiring and building amazing new products. 

Effective leaders are involved. They’re visible and present with their teams. Employees should feel like their leaders are in it with them, all working toward the same overarching goals to bring the company’s vision to life.

Adam: How can leaders and aspiring leaders take their leadership skills to the next level? 

Godard: Being an entrepreneur and a leader can be very stressful – and that stress can be overwhelming, as it had been for me at times. To elevate their leadership, leaders should embrace consciousness. Self-awareness and self-care are critical. Make sure to take time out for activities that clear your mind and energize you.

I learned to become more present and self-aware starting by being able to shift back to presence by simply breathing and being aware of my physical and psychological feelings. This has helped me not only in my work life but in my personal life too. 

Being a conscious leader starts with self-awareness and self-care. I block one hour each day for an outdoor activity that I enjoy, which clears my head of anxiety, and unleashes my energy – going for a run, bike ride, hike, or hitting the gym. I always feel energized when I return. 

One key part of the Conscious Leadership framework is a concept of being “above the line” or “below the line.” Are you in a curious and open state versus closed and focused on being right? I know there are times I will be below the line, but working to minimize those times and recognizing when I am below the line so I can shift, help me become a better leader. 

Adam: What are your three best tips applicable to entrepreneurs, executives, and civic leaders? 

Godard: My three best tips for leaders of all kinds would be: Stay conscious, nurture your talent, and lead from the front. Persistence and resilience are key, along with active listening.

Being conscious helps you be aware of your motivations, your decisions, and how they're affecting your team and your organization. Nurturing top talent means investing in your people, helping them grow, and providing them with the opportunities they need to succeed. And, when leading from the front, you’re engaging directly with your customers and employees — continuously selling and sharing your vision, aligning your team to make it a reality. 

And throughout it all, regularly engage in conversations with your team, and even your customers. Some of the best insights come from the ground floor. And, lastly, no matter the challenges you face, don't quit. Persistence and resilience are some of the most important traits for any leader.

Adam: What are your best tips on the topics of sales, marketing, and branding?

Godard: Regarding sales, marketing, and branding, my biggest piece of advice is to listen to your customers. Understanding their needs and pain points through data and conversations will not only help close deals but also inform your broader go-to-market strategy. 

It's also important to humanize your brand. Use your brand channels and executives to drive thought leadership in an authentic and personal way.  

Adam: What is the single best piece of advice you have ever received?

Godard: The single best piece of advice I've ever received came from Jim Dethmer, author of "15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership." He stated that, "At any particular time, leaders are operating from either fear or love."

It's a reminder to strive to lead from a place of love, not fear. Operating from a place of fear can lead to defensive, short-term decision-making that prioritizes survival over growth. It can cause us to retreat, to become rigid, and to see others as threats.

On the other hand, when we operate from a place of love, we're open, we're focused on growth, collaboration, and long-term success. We see others as allies, we're open to new ideas, and we're driven by a desire to serve our team and our customers to the best of our ability.


Adam Mendler is an entrepreneur, writer, speaker, educator, and nationally-recognized authority on leadership. Adam is the creator and host of the business and leadership podcast Thirty Minute Mentors, where he goes one on one with America's most successful people - Fortune 500 CEOs, founders of household name companies, Hall of Fame and Olympic gold medal-winning athletes, political and military leaders - for intimate half-hour conversations each week. A top leadership speaker, Adam draws upon his insights building and leading businesses and interviewing hundreds of America's top leaders as a top keynote speaker to businesses, universities, and non-profit organizations. Adam has written extensively on leadership and related topics, having authored over 70 articles published in major media outlets including Forbes, Inc. and HuffPost, and has conducted more than 500 one on one interviews with America’s top leaders through his collective media projects. Adam teaches graduate-level courses on leadership at UCLA and is an advisor to numerous companies and leaders. A Los Angeles native, Adam is a lifelong Angels fan and an avid backgammon player.

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