1. Ops isn’t about red tape — it’s about service

Eliza’s ops philosophy is simple: all operations should be "in service of" the people and the business.

"Really strong operations and operational leaders are able to make the people that they serve their lives easier."

When she joined ButcherBox, her first move was to listen and learn from the ground up - not push out top-down processes. She started with her own team, tested small changes, and built trust before expanding her scope.

"You can come in and put a lot of process in that is red tape. But the point is to solve problems, not create more."

2. Stand up a BizOps team — but make them embedded

To solve for execution gaps across the org, Eliza stood up a centralized Business Operations team. But the secret to its success? They’re embedded.

Each PM is deeply embedded in a functional team (like supply chain), so they understand the nuances and don’t act like "process police."

"They work in service of. They’re grounded in the data, they know the business, and they help leaders actually solve problems."

3. Want better performance? Fix your tech stack.  

When Eliza arrived, ButcherBox had seven different HR platforms that didn’t talk to each other. One person’s entire job was copying data between them.

Her first big win: consolidating and integrating the People tech stack.

"We moved to Workday and BetterUp. Peakon (for employee voice) feeds into Workday, and BetterUp’s coaching insights do too. We finally have real-time data we can act on."

For culture, this was transformative. No more gut checks — just clear signals and smarter coaching.

4. Hybrid isn’t solved — but core days + smaller space is working

ButcherBox has ~70% of its team near Boston and ~30% remote. They don’t mandate in-office days, but they strongly recommend Tuesday-Wednesday as "core days."

That, plus downsizing to a smaller office, has made in-person time feel energetic and intentional again.

"When you're in the office, you don't want to be on Zoom calls all day alone. Core days give people a reason to show up."

They also fly people in for summits and team events, focusing more on connection than content.

5. AI is here — use it to expand capacity, not cut heads

ButcherBox has a cross-functional AI task force led by Eliza, two engineers, and a data scientist. Their goal? Help teams do more, not shrink headcount.

"I can’t promise your job is safe forever. But I can promise we’re going to learn and build together so you’re ready for whatever comes next."

They’ve already built internal AI agents: one pair generates copy and design for ads, another does data recall. It’s early, but adoption is growing.

"Some of these agents talk to each other, generate assets, and hand it to a human for review. It’s adding real capacity."

See you next week!

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