S10-Ep31: Four Key Lessons on Trust & Safety from Amazon’s Head of Family Trust

Guest: Catherine Teitelbaum, Head of Family Trust at Amazon Your current skills can take you to surprising places. That’s the backstory for Amazon’s Head of Family Trust, Catherine Teitelbaum. It could be your story, too! Catherine started as a classroom teacher; she’s now a tech leader. And, as she tells host Maureen Metcalf, it was a natural progression…but one she never foresaw. In this episode, she shares her journey, how those skills were perfect as online companies realized they needed trust and safety programs to maintain safe spaces online for kids and families, and the lessons learned as she ascended the leadership ladder. Here's what Catherine and Maureen cover: Why authenticity might just be the most important quality any leader can have; The key lessons for trust and safety, both for online users and for your own team; and How trust is a vital bridge between company and customer, and between leader and team. Other episodes you'll enjoy: Shifting from Trusting Institutions to Trusting People with Daniele Henkel, Knight of the Order of Merit To Err Is to Innovate with Beryl Tomay, Last Mile Delivery Services lead at Amazon Digital Body Language: How to Build Trust and Connection with Erica Dhawan, author For daily wisdom from our guests, be sure to follow us on LinkedIn. We’re onTikTok, Threads, and Twitter, too!   RESOURCES:   Our host Maureen Metcalf posts a newsletter every week on LinkedIn. You can subscribe here.    Maureen’s latest book is Innovative Leadership & Followership in the Age of AI. You’ll find details about it at https://bit.ly/LeaderInAI, or check out the Kindle version at https://amzn.to/44buVz8. The audiobook version is now available at  https://amzn.to/4dTCleZ.   Her other 10 books are available on Amazon here.    Books we’re reading for fun or personal development right now include: Covert Cows and Chick-fil-A by Steve Robinson; it’s available in hardback at https://amzn.to/460LnmQ, on Kindle at https://amzn.to/3RVXhZs, and as an audiobook at https://amzn.to/3xPjBgn. The War of Art by Steven Pressfield. Paperback = https://amzn.to/3VEl7cU, Kindle = https://amzn.to/45JGm1L, and audiobook = https://amzn.to/3RPhC2y Everyday Ubuntu: Living Better Together, the African Way by Mungi Ngomane. Hardback (https://amzn.to/48Doh6j) and audiobook (https://amzn.to/48YCRF4) Nerve: Lessons on Leadership from Two Women Who Went First by Martha Piper & Indira Samarasekera. Paperback (https://amzn.to/3tOtzg4) and audiobook (https://amzn.to/41OYdT5) NOTE: As an Amazon partner, we may make a small commission from books you buy through these links.   -----------------------   OUR PODCAST TEAM:   Host & Executive Producer: Maureen Metcalf Editor & Executive Producer: Dan Mushalko Video & Graphics Editor: Devon Mushalko Ensuring Our Team Is Safe & Trustworthy: Jenna Reik Theme Music by Pavel Bekirov from Pixabay. CONNECT WITH US:  YouTube: @InnovatingLeadership  Threads: @innovativeleaders X/Twitter/Whatever New Name It Has This Week: @IL_Institute  LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/ILI-LinkedIn2  Instagram: @innovativeleader  TikTok: @innovativeleadership Website: InnovativeLeadershipInstitute.com    Loved this episode? Leave us a review and rating!  -----------------------   About Our Guest:   Catherine Teitelbaum, Head of Family Trust at Amazon, is a former educator and industry veteran with 25 years of experience in the fields of online safety, product policy, educational technology, and developing trustworthy digital products. For more than a decade, Catherine held senior positions within Yahoo!, leading the award-winning Yahooligans and Yahoo! Education products as well as global policy initiatives. Catherine was the Chief Trust & Safety Officer at ASKFm, leading the safety turnaround of the teen Q&A app, and has consulted for a variety of popular social media apps. Most recently Catherine led Trust & Safety for Twitch, Amazon’s popular live-streaming service.