These 5 CEO decisions made Airbnb #1 in short-term rentals

These leadership takeaways are part of a new primetime series, CNBC Leaders Playbook, all new episodes Wednesdays at 10 p.m. ET/PT. Hosted by CNBC's Julia Boorstin, the series goes inside the minds of the world's top business leaders to reveal how lasting success is built.

In 2011, after guests ransacked an Airbnb host's home, the story exploded in the press and #RIPAirbnb began trending on social media.

CEO Brian Chesky admits he didn't know how to navigate the crisis — and the advice he was getting, to avoid taking responsibility for the damage, didn't feel right.

Chesky says the moment he chose to be guided by principle, not PR, was the moment he became a true leader.

His decision: issue a public apology and launch a $50,000 host guarantee to cover property damage caused by guests. (That guarantee has since grown to $3 million.)

He says that single act didn't just resolve the crisis at hand, it also solidified Airbnb's reputation, turning the company's Achilles' heel into one of its greatest strengths.

When Chesky first pitched the idea of his business — homeowners opening their homes to strangers who would sleep in their beds — many thought it would never work because handing the keys to your home to a total stranger was a terrible idea.

Chesky saw it differently.

He believed the model worked because he chose an optimistic view of human nature — believing people are basically good and could trust one another.

Some 2 billion guest stays later, Chesky's thesis holds: when given the chance, people are more likely to honor trust than break it.

From the host whose home was ransacked in 2011 to the Coronavirus pandemic that decimated 80% of Airbnb's business, Chesky credits every crisis for forcing decisive moves.

Each low point became a reset that clarified what really mattered — building trust, protecting hosts, and focusing on the core product, he says.

Trained as a designer, Chesky leads Airbnb like a creative project, not a financial machine.

He argues profits flow naturally when a product solves real problems beautifully.

For him, revenue is the result of design excellence.

That purpose-focused, design-centric mindset has helped Airbnb outperform rivals that chase short-term returns.

Chesky says that the worst advice he ever got was to "hire good people and get out of the way."

He rejects the idea that leaders should "step back" and operate at a distance.

Instead, he says staying close to details speeds up decision-making and gives teams confidence that leadership is fully behind them.

For Chesky, being in the details isn't about control — it's about helping people do better, push further and think bigger.