Everyday Perspectives on Leadership

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data, execute, implementation, initiatives, intentional, planning, stability, stakeholder, strategy, support, understanding

Every now and then I get perspectives of everyday life that translate well to my role in Product Management.  My three examples range from building a deck, to swimming, to taking a cruise … each with a different perspective towards leadership and product management.  Would love to hear other examples from you … in the meantime, enjoy!

Innovation: Start By Doing What Is Necessary …

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impossible, innovation

It’s been a couple of years since my post Innovation is a Funnel, Not a Pipe where I made the point not all ideas/products succeed.  But as this quote from Amos Bronson Alcott suggests, the process is a necessary one:

Our bravest and best lessons are not learned through success, but through misadventure.

Pointing Out The Obvious, But With No Clear Answers

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character, courage, derailment, ego, humility, integrity, pride, self-awareness, servant leadership, trust

 … decisions born of a failed character will have consequences that are “extraordinarily disabling.

I’ve been contemplating this post for a while now, and wasn’t sure how to best approach it until I went back and revisited several posts I had from when I read the Tim Irwin book Derailed: Five Lessons Learned from Catastrophic Failures of Leadership.

Blindspots, self-awareness, ego/pride, humility, servant leadership, integrity, courage.  These were all topics of discussion from the book with respect to the derailment of such leaders as Robert Nardelli from Home Depot, Carly Fiorina from HP, Durk Jager from P&G, Steven Heyer from Starwood, Frank Raines from Fannie Mae, Dick Fuld from Lehman Brothers.

As part of this discussion, I am going to link back to many posts and revisit these traits as a means to point out the obvious, but something for which I have no clear answers.

CEO Conversations

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customer needs, failure, leadership, positioning, risks, strategy, vision

Several years ago, I researched the roles/responsibilities of a CEO and compared them to a couple of job descriptions for Product Management (director and/or VP level). It was an interesting exercise that confirmed some things in my mind about the context of a product manager as leader.

As such, I love coming across conversations like this one from Quora/Brad Silverberg about Microsoft’s leaders over the years, including Bill Gates, Steve Balmer, and Satya Nadella.