Leadership starts with leading yourself. Leadership ultimately is about co-creating something with a group of people who want to shape the world around them in an agreed upon direction. The role of leaders in that space is about creating the space for collaboration, positively influencing and empowering the relationships in the space, and making sureContinue reading “The art of self-leadership”
Category Archives: product work
Useful leadership skills for product roles
When I took my first product role, the main thing I was interested in learning was about specific product skills. How to build a roadmap, what Scrum is, how to write user stories and requirements, what a product vision or strategy is, specific technical domain knowledge like how an API functions and how you mightContinue reading “Useful leadership skills for product roles”
What senior leaders can learn from product teams
I keep looking at these two topics – leadership and product work – as I have deep roots with both of them. When I look back into my most recent corporate role, I believe that a large part of the success of the teams I was working with, was rooted in me leading that entireContinue reading “What senior leaders can learn from product teams”
Why do you need presence to build great products?
Let’s maybe start by looking at some of the biggest mistakes you can make when trying to build great products: I could keep going with that list, and I know it well because I have made every mistake on that list at some point. Which brings me to the quality of presence, which is lackingContinue reading “Why do you need presence to build great products?”
Learning with your product team
For many years I have worked with product teams. And while there are certainly overarching skills, tools and insights for every product role to have, it is just as true that no two product teams are working in the exact same context. So thinking that you can take what works for one product team andContinue reading “Learning with your product team”
Creating a context to thrive in
When I’m watching kids play, it’s striking that they create whole worlds out of their imagination, using whatever is there to work as props and tools. And what they don’t have, they simply make up. I’ve been “served coffee” (imaginary fluid pouring out of a sand mold and into a fist), I’ve been given giftsContinue reading “Creating a context to thrive in”
Navigating life and work with joy
Wouldn’t we all want to simply have somebody giving us the recipe for a happy, successful and fulfilling life? And at work, how awesome would it be to have a handbook for how to do your job successfully while having fun? If these were not questions so many of us have on our mind, thereContinue reading “Navigating life and work with joy”
Leading Innovation – joyfully playing with and co-creating out of uncertainty
Almost every place I ever worked at would have loved to be known for being constantly innovative. And very few of them actually managed to figure out the setups, contexts, behaviors, resources and focus to execute on this. With the years of watching organizations fail to sufficiently start to build innovation into their DNA, IContinue reading “Leading Innovation – joyfully playing with and co-creating out of uncertainty”
The role of interconnectedness in product work
“What makes an excellent product manager?” was a question I was recently asked while speaking to somebody who is currently working remote in a product role. One of my favorite responses to this is how Marty Cagan describes the role of a product manager as being in charge of “discovering solutions that are valuable, usable,Continue reading “The role of interconnectedness in product work”
Inclusive Leaders 