From Startups to the C-Suite: How Harley Butler Found His North Star

This post is part of an ongoing set of conversations with leaders who Scott and Simon have mentored and collaborated with in their careers. We hope their stories can spark ideas for your own career journey.

Harley Butler CEO, Public Goods

Harley Butler built his career by leaning into big challenges. From sharpening his performance marketing chops at agencies and Flip Video, to steering growth as CMO at Shipt (before and after being acquired by Target), and then taking on the CEO seat at Hairstory and Public Goods, each move stretched him into new terrain with bigger stakes.

When 621’s Scott Kabat and Simon Fleming-Wood sat down with him, Harley surfaced the insights that have come with his journey: trust as the foundation of culture, the growth that comes from stretching into new roles, and the discipline of self-management. Let’s dive in.

Range > Role: Stretching Beyond Your Job Description

Scott and Simon met Harley when they recruited him to lead Flip Video’s performance marketing. From the start, he applied a test-and-learn mindset that shaped the company’s growth.

Scott recalls, “We hired Harley as an online marketing specialist, but when we saw his strength with modeling, he ended up owning the entire forecast process. It involved a lot of ambiguity and high-stakes bets for a seasonal business navigating the uncertainty of the 2008 financial crisis.”

It’s one of many examples of Harley leaning past the role on paper. For him, growth comes from stretching into new areas. “At Flip, everyone wore multiple hats and we had an A+ team,” he says. “If you’re not game to stretch, it’s harder to grow.”

The same stretch mindset is exactly what hiring managers value. When Adobe later brought Harley on as a Global Manager, and Scott brought Harley to run growth at Prezi, it wasn’t just for his digital chops – it was because he had shown he could adapt, take ownership, and deliver well outside a single lane.

Trust Builds Culture

Culture isn’t a slogan or a slide deck. At Flip, working with Simon and Scott, Harley saw that a winning culture comes from learning trust along the way - via clear purpose, real ownership, and persistent follow-through.

“Great talent and a clear mission matter,” he says, “but culture shows up in how people work together. You can’t fake it at an offsite, you have to live it.”

At Shipt, as Chief Marketing Officer, Harley guided the team through the high-pressure period following Target’s acquisition. He kept a level head while also making space for humor – at one point, the team sported parody stickers of his face on their laptops.

As a strategic advisor to Harley and his team at Shipt, Scott recalls: “After the Target acquisition, the pressure was intense, but Harley was the steady hand through it all, balancing clear strategic direction with much-needed levity at stressful moments. People looked up to him, trusted him – and it was gratifying to see him grow into that kind of leader.”

Finding Your North Star

When Harley made the key move from CMO to CEO, he knew he'd be stretching. To stay grounded, he focused on a clear North Star to keep him oriented through the daily noise of running a company.

But defining the North Star is only half the work. The harder part is staying true to it. Harley says that begins with self-management: knowing how to regulate stress and keep perspective. “The hardest part of leadership isn’t setting strategy, it’s managing yourself,” he says.

His approach is practical. Break the North Star into quarterly outcomes and weekly priorities. Protect the must-dos, accept that everything won’t move fast and bring stakeholders into alignment early. When things change, adjust the path, but don’t move the goalpost.

Imposter Syndrome Is a Signal You’re in the Right Place

When Harley looks back on the pivotal moments in his career – joining Flip, stepping into his first CMO role at Shipt, or even taking on his current CEO position at Public Goods – one theme comes up again and again: he never felt ready.

“There's always that imposter-syndrome feeling. The bar keeps rising and the responsibilities keep getting bigger,” he says.

For Harley, imposter syndrome wasn’t something to “fix.” Instead, he came to see it as confirmation that he was pushing himself into territory where learning had to happen.

“You’ve got to keep learning new skills,” he says. “Maybe that’s the one thing you can write on my tombstone one day: keep learning, because everything shifts pretty quickly.”

That willingness to reframe self-doubt as a growth indicator became a throughline in his career. Rather than holding him back, the feeling of being in over his head propelled him forward.

Lessons That Stick

Harley shows that real growth happens when you stretch yourself, stay anchored to your goals, and see imposter syndrome as a sign you’re on track.

At 621 Consulting, we help leaders and teams put these lessons into practice. If you’re ready to stretch what’s possible for your business, let’s talk.