The Operator’s Playbook: Frazer Buntin on Focus, Field-Driven Product, and Keeping Art Pure

If you lead teams in messy, growing companies, you will find refreshing, practical execution wisdom in this interview. We cover the five jobs of leadership, balancing this week vs. the next 90 days, turning field shadowing into product improvements, and keeping your compass true at work and in art.

Frazer argues great operators are “born with an operator brain,” but the muscle is honed by doing five jobs relentlessly: hire great people, set strategy, monitor behaviors, measure results, and model culture. He shows how to split attention between the here and now and a 90-day horizon, why iteration beats ideation once you’ve found a promising arc (from ~25% to ~80% maturity), and how to build a culture of risk-free candor so problems surface fast and get fixed. We also dig into his unexpected right-brain practice: making sculpture and canvas works from creek limestones—how “flow” keeps the work and the person honest.

Timestamps

00:00 – Operator DNA & the 5 jobs of leadership

03:00 – Two horizons: this week vs the next 90 days (and how to allocate time)

04:30 – KPIs, reviews, and the operating cadence

05:30 – Shadowing the field: product fixes you only see on the front line

08:00 – Building risk-free candor so problems surface fast

11:00 – “No plan survives first contact”—why conference rooms lie

13:00 – Shiny objects vs focus; iteration > ideation; the 25% → 80% arc

18:00 – ELT composition, offsites, and a living North Star

20:00 – Change your environment to think better (and schedule deep work)

24:00 – Paper before PowerPoint (story first, slides later)

27:00 – Why growth companies > big-company optimization

28:30 – Aligning clinicians and business around the patient

33:00 – Frazer’s art: limestone sculptures and stone-on-canvas

42:00 – Flow state, imposter feelings, and keeping the work honest

52:00 – The career funnel & becoming the most prepared candidate

55:00 – The three-circle target for a satisfying career

56:30 – What’s next in art; where to see his work