Aug 11, 2026 · 46 min · 12 segments
When Katy Shields joined Notion as Chief People Officer, she didn't ask her team to improve what was already there. She asked them to throw it out. Katy joined just over a year ago, when Notion was…
Katie ShieldsGuest
Joelle EmersonHost
This is Below the Surface, where we talk to leaders at category-defining companies to learn how they're reshaping their organizations
We're building Surface.ai to help companies create AI-native people teams that create the conditions of performance, productivity, and innovation at a time when so much is changing.
Before joining Notion, Katie helped scale DoorDash from a couple thousand people to nearly 20,000 through its IPO.
She joined Notion because she believed that the job wasn't just that of a Chief People Officer.
It was to lead the team, acting as customer zero, at a company with a new vision for the future of work.
I would love to start with, I've heard you talk about Notion as a living laboratory for how AI changes work.
I would love to learn more, like what does that look like and how has that vision, which I know you've had since before you started, before you took this role, how has that shaped your approach to leading the people team?
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This is Below the Surface, where we talk to leaders at category-defining companies to learn how they're reshaping their organizations
We're building Surface.ai to help companies create AI-native people teams that create the conditions of performance, productivity, and innovation at a time when so much is changing.
Before joining Notion, Katie helped scale DoorDash from a couple thousand people to nearly 20,000 through its IPO.
She joined Notion because she believed that the job wasn't just that of a Chief People Officer.
It was to lead the team, acting as customer zero, at a company with a new vision for the future of work.
I would love to start with, I've heard you talk about Notion as a living laboratory for how AI changes work.
I would love to learn more, like what does that look like and how has that vision, which I know you've had since before you started, before you took this role, how has that shaped your approach to leading the people team?
