Gwyneth Paltrow Is All Business : The New York Times interview.

Gwyneth Paltrow Is All Business…Interview at NY times.

What was it like growing up around show business?

I would see my mother on stage as a little girl, and she looked like a superhero. She looked like she was channeling the forces of the universe. And I just wanted to do that. So I followed in her footsteps. Acting is a very entrepreneurial career. You have to sort of connect to that level of self belief that entrepreneurs have to have. This abject, sometimes naïve, occasionally stupid amount of self belief.

How did your mom feel about you wanting to follow in her footsteps?

She always said, “Oh, please don’t be an actress.” She was pleading with me to leverage my intellectual self more than my artistic self, and I think she was just trying to protect me from a lot of rejection. It can be a heartbreaking career.

So what was it like trying to get started as an actor?

My first purview of management was on set, because — and I think other female actors would agree with me — part of your role is just to sort of maintain culture.

What do you mean?

We’re female. So we are kind of channeling the energy for the set and correcting imbalances. If there was ever any discord, especially between men, I felt it was my job to sort of balance the energy a little bit. Also, as in most industries, it’s predominantly male. Sometimes you would be the girl in a male cast, and could bring femininity and temper some of the male stuff.

Does that hold true in business as well? Is it the same at Goop?

Oh, completely. I think it’s both intentional and not intentional. The provenance of the company is such that when I went to go monetize it, the people who were drawn to it were not Silicon Valley males. So the great talent that I attracted was female.

O.K. Is there any analogy between either the producer role and the C.E.O. role?

My dad was a benevolent, tough Jewish boss. He was very loved for the most part, and he gave me a template for how one leads, consciously or unconsciously.

So what’s the balance that you try to strike as the leader of the company?

With every iteration of the company, I have to start completely at square one again.

How so?

When you’re in the family stage and your company has just nine people or whatever, it’s much different than trying to manage and maintain a culture of 250 people. I have no experience at this. It’s almost like I have to unlearn things, relearn things, start over.

What have you had to unlearn?

When a start-up starts, it’s full of feminine energy, even if it’s an all male start-up. Right? Because it’s collaborative, it’s emotional, it’s passionate, it’s instinctual. Those are all feminine qualities. And then as it scales, you have to put some rules in place. And so that’s where the masculine comes in. And you have compliance and H.R. and all these things that are putting structure to the business, which is super important. So unlearning some of the old kind of feminine ways, trying to apply the right kind of masculinity, and seeing if it’s possible to really still lead from that feminine place, is what I think about.

What is Goop all about?

We want to always be moving culture forward with what we do in the content and in the offerings and also create conversations and forums to help eliminate shame. I think a lot of women experience a lot of shame in their lives. The more we talk about things that are sometimes uncomfortable, that are sometimes unknown, it might resonate with somebody. And then we might help them shed a little bit of that feeling.

Is Goop just a brand for women?

It is right now. But I don’t want to eliminate men. And more and more, to tell you the truth, men tell me, “We really need that same kind of content, and we want the same kinds of products.”

Read more here at NY times.