I worked with a VP of Product who said something that really stuck with me;

“My job isn’t to make my life easier, it’s to make my team’s life easier.”

Servant leadership in a nutshell 👏

When I reflect on my career I feel very grateful to have had some many amazing leaders and mentors over the years. Including my first job packing supermarket shelves!

Of course, it hasn’t been all rosy. I’ve had my share of bad managers and have witnessed some, honestly, terrible behaviours.

But I don’t want to fixate on the bad. Instead I want to share some of the practices I’ve picked up from the best product leaders, executives and founders. 

I hope this post is not only actionable but inspirational as well.

I don’t like using the term “empowered” because it’s ambiguous.

Empowered to do what?

• Are you empowered to expand your product internationally

• Empowered to build a whole new business within your current org?

• Build a new brand under a parent company?

Of course, empowerment doesn’t mean “do whatever you like” but therein lies the question:

What exactly are you empowered to do?

One of your primary responsibilities as a leader is to create clarity.

Clarity on:

-context, strategy, vision, goals

-roles, careers, expectations

-culture, boundaries, what’s acceptable vs not, etc…

A lot of problems I see in orgs can boil down to a lack of clarity.

An unconventional view of what it takes to be a Product Leader. Shifting to a Product Leader can often be a drastically different role. Here are 5 under represented ways that product leadership is different from being an individual contributor.