Lisa Gersh of Goop: Treat Meetings Like Improv Sessions

By ADAM BRYANT

This interview with Lisa Gersh, chief executive of Goop, a wellness company, was conducted and condensed by Adam Bryant.

Q. Tell me about your early years.

A. I grew up in the Bronx, and my parents both worked. My mom had the greatest impact on me, in terms of always telling me that I could do whatever I wanted to do. You need your parents to tell you that because sometimes when you’re just hanging around in seventh grade, it doesn’t quite feel that way.

We grew up pretty poor. My parents both lost their jobs when I was 11, and I understood at a very early age that I was going to have to make things happen for myself. I realized that babysitting for a dollar an hour was never going to get me anywhere, so I read an ad in the newspaper for umpires for girls’ softball. They didn’t have an age requirement. So I went to five classes, and I got my degree in umpiring girls’ softball. These girls were older than I was, and I made $5 a game.

I was a pretty entrepreneurial kid. I always had a job in high school. I got a job at the Foodtown grocery store, and because it was unionized, I got time and a half on holidays and double time on Sundays. The work could be really boring, so I figured out how to make it more challenging. I memorized all the prices in the store. I was the human scanner. It almost became like a circus show. People would come in my lane just to watch me do it.

And when I was a waitress, I never wrote down anyone’s order. It would really annoy customers because they were sure I would get it wrong, but I never did, even when there were 12 people. To this day, when I go out to dinner, I absolutely know what every single person has ordered. And when the waiter walks over and can’t remember who ordered what, it drives me crazy. Why can’t you remember? You wrote it down.

When you think about your leadership style today, do you see your parents’ influence?

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