Why an Exec Asked to Be Layered While at YouTube [Video]

Getting “layered” at work — when an extra supervisor is put in the chain of command between you and your boss — is not usually taken as a good sign.

But there’s one executive who thinks it can be a positive in the right circumstances — and even went so far as to ask for to be layered himself.

Noam Lovinsky, chief product officer at Grammarly, said as much in a recent interview on Lenny Rachitsky’s Product, Growth, Career podcast. Lovinsky, who previously worked at YouTube from 2010 to 2015, described his experience at the online video platform as “atypical.”

Reporting to then-CEO Salar Kamangar, Lovinsky admitted that he “really struggled” in his first few months as head of the company’s creator team. While he learned a lot while working directly under the YouTube CEO, who he called an “incredible strategic thinker,” it wasn’t all smooth sailing.

“He was asking me questions that I felt were from a different …