Leadership Choices

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accountability, courage, ethical, expectations, forgiveness, gratitude, humility, influence, integrity, leadership, responsibility, servant leadership, vision, wisdom

A few months ago, the President of our Business unit challenged his leadership team to define our leadership philosophy.  If we were to explain to peers or the people who worked for us what we believed or expected … what would we say?

A thought provoking question for sure.  If you have read my blog for very long, you will have noted that I believe whether intentionally chosen, or inadvertently thrust upon them, people serving the Product Management role are called to be leaders.  I have spent the better part of 20+ years as a student of both Product Management and Leadership, and through my journey the following is what I have come to believe and what those working for me should expect of me.

Focusing on the Right Things

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CEO, culture, financial, focus, leadership, operational, strategy, team, vision

We’ve all heard it said Product Management is akin to being CEO of your own product line.  In prior posts, I compared/contrasted the roles/responsibilities of a CEO and the Product Manager, and even took the bait on an article that lead with the provocative statement Product Managers, you aren’t the CEO of anything.

Regardless of where you stand with the conversation, I am a firm believer it’s not the title, or the perceived authority with the role, that defines leadership.  You are a leader when you start acting like one.  But if you do aspire to achieve a CEO role, you should know what to expect going in.

Knowing Me, Knowing You

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assessments, curious, leadership, mentor, negative habits, perspective, self-awareness

Had a wonderful lunch conversation today, and the context reminded me of an article I once read many moons ago.   And as happens sometimes, my mind would not let go of the topic.  So I decided to see if I could dig it out of the archives … lo and behold, I still had it!

The article is titled Unschooling: The Secret to Being a Great Leader and this is one I definitely recommend you dig into for yourself.  There are a couple of poignant items I took away, and they brought to mind lessons I learned from a Leadership training program I went through almost a decade ago. Allow me to share thoughts from both.

When Might it be OK to not Listen to the Customer?

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clayton christensen, disruption, enhancements, execution, innovator's dilemma, leadership, strategy, sustaining

What if, despite your best intentions with what you think you know at any given point in  time, and despite doing everything right based upon your current knowledge, you still failed?  It is highly likely you have faced this situation, or know somebody in your close circle of friends who has.  Not convinced?  How about these examples:

1. Sports context – you laid out a strategy for an upcoming game, and executed on that strategy to what appears to be near perfection … but still lost the game.
2. Driving context – you followed the speed limit and any other traffic rules … but still got in an accident.
3. Health context – you followed a healthy diet, and worked out regularly … but still got sick.

I’m sure there are others from a non-work perspective, but what happens when this scenario presents itself at work?  What happens when you capture a dominant market share because you solved a specific market problem; when you responded to customers’ needs in a timely fashion; when you proactively and re-actively reacted to competitive threats to neutralize them quickly; when you consistently delivered a positive P&L for the business year after year?   Doesn’t this type of performance describe what good Product Management leaders should be doing?  And wouldn’t these results equate to success?

The answer is not always!

People Don’t Care What You Know …

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authenticity, courage, leadership, priorities, purpose, relationships, servant leadership, transparency

Every once in a while, we are reminded people matter and relationships should be prioritized over tasks.  That we even need to be reminded of this is an unfortunate truth, but a truth nonetheless.  I received just such a reminder when I stumbled across this article/interview about Deloitte CEO Cathy Engelbert a few days ago.

And in the midst of a very busy season, it was just the rude awakening I needed. In particular, this quote captures the essence of what good leaders should be striving for …

Building a team that brings you solutions instead of challenges, listening to and collaborating with them—that ultimately prioritizes your focus on issues where you can have the most impact, not just scratch items off the to do list … to me, productivity is directly related to the personal relationships you are able to build.

True Leaders Produce More Leaders …

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character, competence, effective, impact, integrity, leadership, people, purpose, results, servant leadership

I was recently reminded of this quote, and I’ve seen variations from several well known leadership gurus … Tom Peters, Ralph Nader, John Maxwell and others … true leaders produce more leaders, not more followers.  And with a long holiday weekend recently, I had some time for introspection on the topic.

There are certainly times in our roles as Product Manager Leaders where you may question the true impact of what you are doing.  Or at least I have.  Partially with the products I’ve led and their impact … but more so from the perspective of impact with people. This is just something that isn’t easy to gauge unfortunately, and it can often leave you wondering.

Perspectives on Product Leadership

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escalation, leadership, needs-driven, priorities, strategic-driven, strategy

Excellent article from Rich Mironov titled 7 Ways to Know That You Need a Head of Product.  Over the course of my career, I’ve seen each symptom and they can certainly be painful and frustrating to work through.  But the last paragraph brings the point home!

Like other functional specialties, product management needs leaders who recognize and reward great product work; who know how to hire/mentor/grow product folks; and who build executive-level support for doing the right things. Without seasoned product leaders, each individual product manager has to go it alone.

Check out the article for yourself … but here are a few additional favorite comments:

Anticipating the Unexpected, Preparing for the Worst

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ask right questions, character, collaboration, contingency planning, courage, integrity, leadership, learn from mistakes, risk management

A couple of good quotes caught my attention this morning.  The first has to do with the recent financial meltdown that led to the global economic crisis … the second with Captain Sully’s spectacular landing of the US Airbus on the Hudson river.  Very different scenarios with very different contexts.  Yet both speaking to role of leadership when it comes to risk management.

“… You can’t control people through policies, procedures and policing.  You can only do it through a strong risk management culture and absolute integrity in all leaders.”

Leadership on Trial, A Manifesto for Leadership Development

We have to have situational awareness–we have to be able to create a mental model of our reality. We have to be good risk mangers, be mindful, we have to understand our process so we can sensitize ourselves to risk. Bad outcomes are rarely the a result of a single failure but are instead the end result of a  chain of events, and when we sensitize ourselves to risk and are able to identify it proactively we can break the chain and have a good outcome.  

PODCAST: Captain ‘Sully’ Sullenberger On How To Thrive Under Extreme Pressure

A Product Leader’s Reading List

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books, Competency, derailment, digital economy, leadership, platform, servant leadership, why

I saw a post on LinkedIn about a new Product Leadership book coming out this summer, and it also referenced an article from the Mind the Product site about six essential books to read for Product Managers.  And that got me to thinking … what books would I recommend?  Not just about Product Management, but about Leadership in general?

Many have shaped my thinking over the years, but the top 5 most recent ones that come to mind.  Enjoy.

Richard Branson on Leadership

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leadership, richard branson, success

Whether or not you like him , there is no denying Richard Branson’s success as an entrepreneur, investor, business magnate, and philanthropist.  As a leader, he is a force to be reckoned with and somebody worth paying attention to.  Today’s post is a summary of 23 tips for success extracted from two books written he has written: “Like A Virgin” and “The Virgin Way: Everything I Know About Leadership”.