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.

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.

Why you should stop saying “Don’t Bring Me Problems, Bring Me Solutions”

Psychotherapist and relationship expert Esther Perel has this great framing:

"a paradox to manage, not a problem to solve.”

Many aspects of life, business, product, leadership, relationships, etc are paradoxical.

• Strategy vs execution

• Customer vs business impact

• Explore vs exploit

• Realistic vs ambitious

• Take risks vs have security

• etc…

“Do you want to win arguments or solve problems?” - Rory Sutherland

You’ve gotta love this quote from Rory Sutherland.

With so much noise in the product industry today, it couldn’t be more relevant.

You don’t need to go far to see comments like "that's not real product management", "that's not agile" or [insert practice X].

While I do believe there’s a place for inspiration and increasing our exposure to what’s possible.

It’s not going to solve any problems.

Companies that move fast make decisions fast.

What takes one company a week, they do in a day. Compound that over time, and it’s a landslide.

I heard someone once say "the level of conflict you're willing to endure will be the level of change you inflict". 

This really stuck with me over the years and I come back to this notion regularly.

Jeff Bezos once said in an interview with Forbes "Friends congratulate me after a quarterly-earnings announcement and say, 'Good job, great quarter.' And I'll say, 'Thank you, but that quarter was baked three years ago.'" As the saying goes, "It takes 10 years to be an overnight success"

The words we use matter. As the old adage goes: "'Watch your thoughts, as they become your words; watch your words, as they become your actions."

Tips and tools I’ve learned to make time for the things that matter

IBM a few years back stated that 84% of Digital Transformations fail — although there is a lot of “grey” area around what constitutes as “failure” still 84% is a staggering number! What interests me the most is why this is the case? As a fellow coach Tanner Wortham brilliantly provoked “If this agile thing is so great, then why doesn’t it always stick?”

Similar to giving feedback, receiving feedback effectively is often a place where we struggle. If you’re anything like me, receiving feedback can be uncomfortable and often emotional, even with the best intentions for personal growth it can still be hard to stay objective and keep your cool.

I would say we’re in a feedback crisis. Most people don’t give feedback, they give unsolicited advice…