00:00: Introduction with Logan McClure Davda, CEO at TED
02:35: What a day in the life looks like as a CEO at TED
05:02: Leaving TED to work at the Obama Foundation
11:17: Logan’s CEO Shell Shedding moment: letting go
17:42: Logan’s advice for shell shedding moments
19:26: Closing remarks
Sarah Ellis: Hi everyone, it’s Sarah here from the Squiggly Careers podcast. This week it is the launch of our new book, Learn Like a Lobster. So we’ve got some very special podcast episodes for you. Each day you will hear me talk to a CEO about one of their shell shedding moments. Something hard that has happened, what’s helped them, and how they have found their way to growing even bigger, better and stronger, just like our new friend and role model, the lobster. And I really hope you enjoy hearing from the range of CEOs that you’ll get the opportunity to learn from this week. CEOs who run massive creative companies, who run fast growing scale ups, charities, volunteer organisations, and even our very own Helen, who’s our CEO, will also be talking about her shell shedding moments. So I hope you enjoy each of the conversations and if you’ve got any feedback or reflections, we always love to hear from you
Logan, thank you so much for joining me on the Squiggly Careers podcast. I’m really looking forward to our conversation today.
Logan McClure Davda: Sarah, it’s such a joy to be with you. Thank you for having me.
Sarah Ellis: So for our listeners or viewers who might not know, let us know, where are you a CEO? Maybe how long have you been a CEO? And give us a bit of an insight into your day. I’ve sort of stopped asking for, oh, what’s the day in the life of a CEO? Because obviously they’re always different, but maybe what was today been like or what was yesterday like? Give us a window into your world.
Logan McClure Davda: Happy to. So I am CEO of TED, the nonprofit dedicated to sharing ideas that spark curiosity, foster connection and drive meaningful change. Probably most well known for the TED Talk, but we actually are a much larger organisation than that, working on a variety of really important topics and programmes and ways of bringing people together and sharing important, credible interests, insightful, inspiring ideas with the world. I am a new CEO. I stepped into the role on October 16th of 2025. So I’m three and a half months into the role and also it feels like yesterday I stepped into it. And previously I was head of Impact at TED. I’ve spent actually the majority of my career at TED. I was, I founded the fellowship programme here, Many Moons, left and did other things and then came back in 2019 to step into the head of impact role.
What does a day in the life look like? I mean, I’m sure everyone has answered this question that every day is a little bit different and I spend a lot of my day meeting with others both internally and externally and co-creating things with my colleagues in many a Google Docs. We’re on the Google Suite. I know you guys are on the Teams suite from a podcast of yours that I listen to and it’s really a mix. I appreciate the way I get to interact with the outside world and think about big ways in which TED shows up. So that’s been a real joy to kind of think creatively about new things we can be doing with like minded entities out in the wider world. That was the highlight of my day yesterday. I had a really invigorating conversation with someone dreaming up something new and we were kind of screaming at one another over zoom, which was, which was so cup filling. And then, you know, some of my day is spent on wrestling with internal challenges and opportunities. So I’m deep because I’m new in the role. I’m deep in strategy and budget work right now. And so that’s a huge focus of mine. It’s a mix of everything.
Sarah Ellis: Let’s now dive in to these shell shedding moments. Lots of our listeners will know because we have been talking about learning like a lobster a little while now and actually this episode will come out the day after our book launches in the UK. It’s out a couple of weeks later in the US. So let’s hope like lots of listeners and viewers have actually got the book in in their hands as we talk and they will start to be learning about this idea of lobsters shell that shed their shells and that is how they keep growing and that isn’t an easy process. It’s energy zapping. The lobsters are vulnerable but they grow back these new shells and they are bigger, better, stronger because of it. And so we think everybody has shell shedding moments in their careers. Probably we have many shell shedding moments most days or most weeks. And the reason we particularly wanted to talk to CEOs is I sometimes think it’s easy to put people who are in positions with so much influence and impact on, on a pedestal and think Logan must not have shell shedding moments because she’s the CEO of TED and TED’s incredible. So I’d love to hear an example or a couple of examples of what has those shell shedding moments looked like for you?
Logan McClure Davda: The first one was I was at TED, left, worked in tech and then I went to the Obama Foundation. And as you can imagine, it was a highlight of my career to work so closely with President Obama as he built the foundation. And I was there building our kind of programmes and convenings. But so one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do is actually choosing to leave the Foundation. You know, in many ways it was a dream job. I was applying an area of expertise that I had honed. You know, I was building a fellowship programme which I had done in other spaces. I was building our kind of convening capability and it was a really important topic that we were working on. And of course I got to work really closely with the President himself.
So after about a year and a half, it felt like it was my time to leave. And it was a combination of things that were contributing to that, one of which was the energy of the Foundation needed to be focused on building the Presidential Centre in Chicago. But I really felt like I was leaving the work half finished and I was in the middle of selecting the second class of fellows and then kind of my sense of duty to the fellows themselves who are just these badass human beings out in the world. And I wanted to catapult them further in their careers, you know, grow the impact they were having. My commitment to the team working on this stuff. And then of course my internal monologue that by leaving, only having been there for a year and a half, I was failing and what would the outside world think of that? All of that was really like loud in my head as I was wrestling with the decision. And I think ultimately it was my wonderful husband Justin who said to me, Logan, the only person or the person, I don’t remember how he said it. He will have said it more eloquently than I will say to you, but something along the lines of, you are always going to be the person who’s looking out most for your career and your wellbeing. And if this feels like you think it might be right, then it probably is and it’s worth taking that risk, even if you have concerns about why you shouldn’t be taking that leap. And so I eventually did it and I did it my way. I gave them six months lead time so I could really feel like I was closing out the things that I wanted to close out. And truthfully, I think most of us do stay in jobs too long because it’s really hard to leave especially high performers and Type A personalities and all. I know you talk about that stuff a lot on the podcast and as I was reflecting on it, it feels like it’s a mix of ego and empathy, kind of that make you stay too. And it’s not in service of the organisation you’re at to stay too long, let alone yourself. And so figuring out how to shed that ego and empathy to make the right decision in that moment for myself, but for others, that was a huge learning for me that I, you know, I think I still wrestle with shedding those in certain moments, but feel very rewarded by that decision that I made. Knowing that it ultimately was right, that gives me more kind of confidence to make decisions like in the future.
Sarah Ellis: I do wonder whether, just listening to you there, I think when you’re having those big moments, because it’s a big decision to make and you can probably justify it either way, you could come up with the pros and cons and you could get to A or you could get to B, but it sounded like probably what you needed in that moment. I do wonder whether we always need perspective from somebody outside of our situation. The other reflection you had there, which actually I think is, it’s a sort of smaller, nuanced insight that I don’t think I’ve heard as often. So I just wanted to, to pause on that was you said something like, and I still think I’m, I’m shedding parts of that shell. And I think that’s quite reassuring for people to hear that. I guess sometimes when you imagine this, because we’re talking about lobsters, they shed their shell and you’re like, oh, that’s done. Because then, you know, they kind of grow. I mean, to be fair, they eat them so they, they literally do disappear because they’ve got calcium. So it helps them to grow their new shells. But I think that’s where maybe, you know, sometimes we don’t take the parallels with the lobster too far because actually I think for us it is, it’s not a sort of one and done process. And how about in your, in your role now as a kind of CEO, I’m really interested to hear about maybe something that’s just felt either like it’s been surprisingly hard or just, just felt tough for you it’s perhaps felt like you’ve had to, you know, we’ve had to do a bit of unlearning and relearning. I often think with shell shedding – there must be a bit for you of letting go of that kind of old job, your old roles and responsibilities and kind of going, I now need to figure out, what does it mean now that I’m the CEO. It’s not the same. It kind of can’t be the same. But that must also feel quite hard at times.
Logan McClure Davda: I was talking about this before we started the recording, but your podcast on spaciousness, not to plug another of your podcasts, had me thinking about this a lot, because the difference between spaciousness and doing, I think, was some of the dichotomy that you were talking about, Sarah. And in many ways, obviously I was leading a big team and work previously, but I’m really confident and excel in the doing. And in many ways I can’t personally be doing as much doing in the CEO. And so thinking about how to support, trust others and invest in kind of fertile ground for us to do the best work going forward has been part of that shift, I think, and a continuous shift. I mean, it’s not. I haven’t shifted, I think always be on that journey shifting. I was also thinking about kind of like, what are some small examples of shell shedding moments that I’ve experienced in the past couple of weeks and months. And one comes to mind, I was preparing to share, I mentioned we’re doing kind of some strategy work and some budget work as we think about kind of stepping into this next chapter with me as CEO and Sal Khan as our vision steward. The two of us are kind of leading us into this next phase of TED. And I’ve been working with our leadership team, thinking about what is the kind of strategy that is going to best position us to have the greatest impact that we should and could have in the wider world. And the team has kind of come together in a beautiful way to do great work on that. And there was a question of – I was asking myself of kind of when to bring the board into that process. As I was in my internal monologue, as I was reflecting on when is the right time to bring them in, I realised that I had been delaying almost bringing them in. And I didn’t know why at first, right? I was kind of thinking like, “what is that? Why am I delaying this?” And I really kind of dug deep. And at first I thought it was like, oh, it’s not ready, it’s not ready, it needs to be further along and then I’ll share it. But as I reflected and dug deeper to the kind of root cause of that feeling inside me that was causing me to delay it was that I was worried they were going to disagree. Right. Or they were going to think the work was, was wrong or different. And as soon as I came to that conclusion it was like, oh, well, I need to. If that’s the case, if that’s going to be their reaction, if that’s the worst, I need to get that input now so that we can move forward. And so I don’t know how maybe to summarise the shell shedding moment other than to say the kind of really getting to that root cause of what’s causing the challenge or behaviour is so important in my work. And I have found that I work with an incredible coach who is helpful because I’m a verbal learner in many ways. That’s not a phrase. And so I talk things out and it’s almost just the act of reflecting on it in conversation with, with my coach that I was like, oh wait, I need to just do this right away and that will enable me to us to move forward.
Sarah Ellis: Yeah, it’s interesting, isn’t it? I think a lot of shell shedding moments is often about letting go of something and if you can figure out, well, what is it that I’m holding on to, then it often becomes easier to figure out, well, what would it take to let go of it?
Logan McClure Davda: Yes, I love that.
Sarah Ellis: And I think for all of us that’s different. And you know, for some people listening, they’ll go, it will be something to do with like perfectionism. For some of people it’ll be because they just care, but to the extent where they’re going, yeah, but if I care so much, I can’t let go of it. Like I do that sometimes. Like, I found one of my sort of big changes from working for big companies to working for myself is I cared before. I always thought I really cared before, but you really care when it’s your own company. And so sometimes I just really, I really struggle to just let it go. And that wasn’t a sort of almost a characteristic that I’d seen in myself until I was in a new context. And I think that’s also interesting with like the transition you’ve made into your role is, I think, you know, the environment we’re in, the role that we’re doing. Shell shedding can look and feel different. And one of the things I always think is really helpful for people to think about is shell shedding moments are inevitable. It doesn’t matter what stage of your career you’re at, what role you’re in, what industry you work in. Everyone’s going to have these shell shedding moments in their Squiggly Career and you usually can’t anticipate exactly when they will happen or what they will be because often, you know, often they’re out of our control. They often do kind of just come our way. But I do think perhaps you can build some habits or take some actions that then help you. I sometimes think of it as like your resilience reserves. So when the shell shedding moment happens, you’re like, okay, but I have, I’ve sort of been investing in myself to this point and it’s not going to make it completely easy, but it might make it more. It might make it easier, it might make it easier to cope with. What are some of the things that you do like as a CEO to sort of look after your energy, your resilience, your wellbeing? Because I sense from listening to you you’ve thought about that and you sort of take that seriously.
Logan McClure Davda: There’s so many ways to answer it. One I think is the people you surround yourself with. Whether you call them, you know, some people call it their personal board of directors, some people call it their team. I’ve always called it my team. The people cheering me on in life. And I feel so grateful. I, I’ve been thinking a lot about kind of like how I lucked out to have such an incredible group of humans around me and then, you know, I am also such a believer in coaching. I have worked with different coaches in my life and each one of them has transformed significantly impacted my trajectory in large and small ways. And I’m so grateful to each of them for kind of helping me navigate.
Sarah Ellis: Yeah, it’s very really interesting. I think one of the watch outs that I often talk to people about in their careers is people are so good at building the relationships that they need for their day jobs, but not so good at building the relationships they need for their development. And they, they kind of deep that gets deprioritised because everyone’s committed and they’re working hard and you know, everyone’s in demanding jobs. And then I’ll sort of, I will often ask people as part of a workshop or a programme, you know, do you feel like you’ve got the right people around you, like you said your team or however you want to describe it. And I’ll get people doing a bit of an exercise or a gap analysis being like, okay, so if you’ve got someone who does this, someone who challenges you, someone who takes a coaching approach, ask us good questions, is a really, you know, an insightful listener. And often that’s where people will then say to me, oh, I realise maybe I’ve got my friends or my family, but actually almost beyond that, I sort of haven’t really invested in, in myself. And so just like listening to you, one of the things that I think you can do, everyone could do right now, ready for any shell shedding moment that might come your way is like, start investing, getting the right people around you. And the last question we’re asking all of our CEOs is what’s one piece of advice you would give to our listeners if they are in a shell shedding moment right now? What would you want to leave people with?
Logan McClure Davda: For me personally, I often hold the shell shedding moment to myself. You know, yes, I have an incredible community around me and I don’t always remember and I might be sharing it with them, but I may not be sharing it with the person I’m most afraid to share the shell shedding moment with, if that makes sense. And I have found that one of the unlocks to move through it is to name the moment and the challenge to the person that I’m most afraid to name it to, so that I don’t feel like I’m carrying it alone. And that, in some context, is your boss to say, “I’m worried, not hitting this target or finishing this thing in time” or what have you, or it’s to your peer because you’re worried about letting them down or just someone in your personal life for, for another reason. But name it and share it.
Sarah Ellis: Yeah, I think that’s the genius in that advice. Like say it to the person you’re scared to say it to because that’s what will stop. That’s what start will start to kind of build that new shell that will really help you. Logan, thank you so much. I do appreciate, as a CEO who is sort of still really, in that first three months, you have so much to do and taking the time to share your words of wisdom, your insights, your ideas with our listeners. I’m really grateful. I know people have really enjoyed listening and watching, so thank you so much.
Logan McClure Davda: Oh, Sarah, it’s a pleasure. Thanks, Sarah.