Letting Go Is a Leadership Skill | Leslie Loveless (4/4)

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“If you can overthink all the bad stuff, why can't you overthink all the good stuff?”

As Slone Partners grew beyond its original five-person team, Leslie Loveless had to confront one of the hardest parts of leadership: letting go. She talks about delegation, resisting the urge to rewrite everyone else's work, and learning that a different approach can still be the right approach.

Leslie also explains how Slone protects culture by listening for what different people need. The firm's culture ambassador helps turn that feedback into action, while Leslie reflects on when leaders should solve a problem, when they should simply listen, and why some issues need time to breathe.

Looking ahead, Leslie sees growing demand across medtech, healthtech, AI, and machine learning. She discusses the limits of recruiting from the same blue-chip companies, the realities of relocation and family decisions, the tension between remote and on-site work, and the people who helped her build the firm.

Key Topics Covered:

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Find our guest, Leslie Loveless, at these links:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leslieloveless1

Slone Partners: https://slonepartners.com/

Find our host, Jon Chee, at these links:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonchee/

Learn more about Excedr:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/excedr/

Website: https://www.excedr.com

Intro & Outro Songs Created by OkKyojin 
OkKyojin: https://flow.page/kyojin

Resources & Articles:

Slone Partners: https://slonepartners.com/

Faro Health: https://farohealth.com/

NVIDIA: https://www.nvidia.com/

Purdue University: https://www.purdue.edu/

Companies, Universities, & People Mentioned:

Purdue University: https://www.purdue.edu/

Faro Health: https://farohealth.com/

00:00 Intro

01:53 The Hard Part of Growing Beyond Five People

02:43 Learning When to Speak Up

03:25 Different Ways of Doing the Work

04:09 A Type A Leader Learns to Slow Down

04:36 People Need Different Things

05:07 The Culture Ambassador Role

07:39 When Listening Beats Problem Solving

09:43 Giving Problems Time to Breathe

12:32 Slone's Next Growth Areas

12:55 Creating an Executive Team Mindset

13:58 Technology, Efficiency, and Human Intuition

17:33 The NBA Draft Mentality in AI Recruiting

19:16 Looking Beyond the Usual Biotech Markets

24:19 Remote Work, Relocation, and Role Fit

33:53 Overthinking the Good Stuff

35:38 Outro

The Biotech Startups Podcast gives you a front-row seat to the business and science of building a biotech. Hosted by Jon Chee, CEO of Excedr, the show features honest conversations with founders, execs, and investors about their work, their companies, and how they got there. From scientific breakthroughs to startup lessons, each episode explores what it really takes to grow a life science company—from pre-seed to IPO.