Why Guild CEO Bijal Shah is inspired by Taylor Swift to be a better leader

After Guild’s founding CEO suffered a stroke at the age of just 34, Bijal Shah was tapped to take the helm. Shah shares the story behind the emotional leadership change, and how she wrestled with the immense responsibility of shepherding a company out of crisis. Guild is an education platform used by organizations like Walmart, Target, and Taco Bell to upskill or reskill employees for the future. Shah also discusses how Taylor Swift inspires her leadership, and why Guild recently partnered with Team USA ahead of the Paris Olympics. 



This is an abridged transcript of an interview from Rapid Response , hosted by the former editor-in-chief of Fast Company Bob Safian. From the team behind the Masters of Scale podcast, Rapid Response features candid conversations with today’s top business leaders navigating real-time challenges. Subscribe to Rapid Response wherever you get your podcasts to ensure you never miss an episode.







A health crisis at the top of Guild



Guild was started by your predecessor, Rachel Romer—a super dynamic, energetic, young founder. I don’t think anyone, you included, expected anyone other than Rachel to be running Guild anytime soon. So can you take us back to last summer and explain what happened?



I was out on parental leave. I had just had a newborn baby, managing what I would describe as postpartum symptoms after having a pretty tough delivery. And at about seven o’clock in the morning, I got a phone call from Rachel’s dad, explaining that Rachel had had a stroke. I’m not sure exactly what time she had had the stroke, but she was found on her patio in the morning by her aunt, who happened to be walking by. And it’s a miracle that she found her, and she found her in time and knew exactly what to do and exactly what was happening. I called the Board of Directors and the executive team, and then the following Monday, I stepped back into the business.



And so you go into this interim role, you’re still not quite recovered from your own medical issues. What are you grappling with?



I am reckoning with my own postpartum. I have a new baby. I’m struggling with breastfeeding. I remember turning to my husband and being like, “I don’t know how I’m going to do this.” And my husband, Amit, was like, “you’re going to put one foot in front of the other and you’re just going to get through every single day.” I showed up on Monday, the executive team asked what I needed and said they have my back. 



Was there a point where you went to visit Rachel?



I did not communicate with her for over a month. And I had asked a few times to see her. But she really was focused on her recovery. The first time I did get to see her, I went to her hospital room. I remember being super nervous and not knowing what to expect. As soon as I walked in the door, I remember her saying to me, “hey, boss beetch, are you bossin?” And it was incredible. I wasn’t sure what to expect. And it just kind of removed my anxiety.   









Adjusting to the CEO role



So you were interim CEO for about six months. And then this spring, you were confirmed as CEO. Were there things about being CEO that were different than you expected? 



Yeah, I think there are things that were surprising. So one, the job at the top is truly lonely. And I think when you’re on the executive team, if something’s not going well or you’re upset about something, there’s someone to talk with and be like, “ugh, I’m annoyed at X or Y or Z.” When you’re at the top, the decisions truly do rest on my shoulders. And I hadn’t experienced that type of burden before. There’s a weight and a gravity to it that I think you can’t fully appreciate until you do the job. 



I never imagined that this would be the role that I would play inside of Guild. If you had asked me, “do I want to be CEO of this business one day?,” my answer would have been, “I don’t know.” If you had asked me that question 15 years ago, by the way, I would have said, “yes, I want to be CEO.” And then something along the way changed. I’m like, “I’m good behind the scenes.” So I think that there was still some hesitation just because it’s a new role and there’s a lot of people that you’re either going to make proud or let down in some way. And there’s a lot of really hard decisions to make as you continue to grow a high-growth business. It’s really messy. 



You have had to make some hard business calls amid all of this. Recently, you announced that you were laying off a quarter of the workforce. Did you know that if you take this official CEO role, that one of the first things you’d have to do is a big round of layoffs? 



I did know that when I took the opportunity. It is the hardest thing I’ve had to do in my career and something that I knew was going to have to come with the territory and the job. And also made it something where I couldn’t take the job lightly.



Guild plans to reskill for the AI era



Guild has made some investments in AI. How much is that part of the growth opportunity? Or is that just an experiment for you at this point?



It’s very much a part of our growth. We help our employer partners as well as employees understand how the future of work is going to change for their specific roles as AI continues to get adopted in the workforce, and which everyday tasks they should expect to get augmented or automated. And if those things get augmented and automated, then where should they be spending their time? And how do we make sure they get skilled for the role? And so we are using it to provide better insights to both the employee and the employer on exactly what they need to do next.



I feel like the conversations that business leaders have around reskilling does not always connect to the effort and resources that are put toward it. 



We’ve been pretty lucky, in that we have employer partners who really do view this as a business imperative in order to have the workforce of the future and in order to make sure that they have people that they need in very critical roles. 



I also think that they are seeing in the broader labor market that going out and finding that talent; there is talent in the market, but finding the talent that has that specific skill set to bring inside their organization is actually quite challenging to find. And so their desire very much is to find people inside their own organization, who they can skill. And so I do think at least for us, we are working with those employers who are leading on the solution that’s most important for them to drive their business strategies. 



Finding inspiration from Taylor Swift and Team USA



I heard that you’re a big Taylor Swift fan. Are there things about Taylor’s business success that appeals to you and how she’s pulled it off?



I think that she knows how to create, write, and produce a hook that stays in your head for a very long time. And as someone who grew up in the world of product, the stickiness aspects of what she creates is genius. And she is one of the savviest business women I have ever heard of, based on what I know about how she runs her operations, how she treats her team, how she enables her business and continuing to grow that business. She’s an icon from a business perspective. 



You recently added the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic committee as partners, offering Team USA athletes access to Guild. 



I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about athletic careers and second acts for those who go and devote so much of their time to their sport and what happens after they complete their sport. I recently learned that the average tenure for a football player in the NFL is fewer than two years. That’s not very long as a pro athlete playing in a sport that you’ve dedicated your whole life to. 



And so I do think it’s really important for athletes in particular to invest in educating themselves equally as in investing in their athletic careers. Being a skilling and career mobility provider for Team USA is about: how do we support athletes on their second act? 



Lessons from a difficult year 



Thinking back to last summer, it’s a reminder that anything can happen. And I’m curious how that may have changed the way you approach the world, the workplace, and the future? 



Yeah, I think it’s been a good reminder for me to continue to live each day with the values that are important to me. That I prioritize and spend time on things that are meaningful in this world. And that I take care of my health and my well-being and do the best that I can to play offense on that, knowing that life will throw curve balls and that I can’t predict exactly what’s going to happen and when it’s going to happen. And I think having the right support system around you and the right mindset at the end of the day is really important.