Conversation 03 · Ep. 36 · 60 min · August 22, 2026
Cherizza Lundy
Chief of staff turned team builder, co-building the SF Signal
“How do you build something that helps people become capable of more than they imagined?”
The question at the center of the conversation
Who they are
Cherizza Lundy has spent her career helping organizations through moments of pressure and change, from leading crisis response inside Google's CEO office to supporting the Stitch Fix turnaround. Now she is helping build the SF Signal, a new professional women's volleyball team, from the ground up.
Watch on Spotify →What we talk about
- 01
What a chief of staff actually does
The role behind the title, and what it means to operate next to the person making the biggest calls.
- 02
Proximity to powerful leaders
What you learn by watching decisions get made up close, in crisis and in calm.
- 03
Underperforming or held back?
How to tell when someone is falling short versus being failed by a broken system.
- 04
Culture before the organization exists
Building values, habits, and trust for a team that is still being assembled.
- 05
Making a new fan base care
The growth of women's sports, and what it takes to make people care about something entirely new.
The one idea carried out of the room
Culture is built before the organization fully exists. The question is never just who is underperforming, but whether the system around them is holding them back.
Why it belongs in the Atlas
It connects the founders atlas to the present tense: Nadella's learning culture, Conway's paths to capability, and Schultz's third place, all inside one organization being built right now.
Episodes this conversation echoes
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Keep the tape rolling.
3 conversations so far, filed by pillar and cross-linked into the Atlas.
Howard Bubb
Executive, board director, and mentor to leaders
What does leadership actually look like when the stakes are real?
