Motivations

This document outlines my approach to leadership, collaborating, getting things done, and enjoying work. This document is meant to help us work well together to our mutual benefit. This document is a tool to help keep me accountable to my values.   

Disclaimer

This document applies only to me, and in no way should be considered to apply to any other manager, team, or organization.

My Role

As a Product leader, I generally oversee and work directly with Product, Design, and Research teams. My mission is to:

  • Deliver and manage products that CAPTURE CUSTOMER VALUE

  • Deliver and manage products that SURPRISE AND DELIGHT USERS

  • Iterate on reliable processes that build a scalable organization and business

  • Mentor individual contributors and managers to increase leadership capacity

  • Work to retain and attract talent over time by deeply taking care of who we have and building a team brand that other companies and employees envy

  • Set clear expectations on how to be successful as an individual and as a team

  • Align professional growth to benefit team and company performance AND individual career growth

Philosophy

Having the minimum amount of process in place to be effective is important to me, and I often spend more time trying to remove processes than add them. That said, there are core elements that define the foundation of my management style.

ONE ON ONES

My direct reports and I will have weekly 1 on 1s that take 30 minutes. These are not status updates, but an opportunity to focus more widely on professional development and well-being. We’re here to help each other and having this regular meeting ensures that we do. 1 on 1s are structured as follows:

  • 10 minutes for you

  • 10 minutes for me

  • 10 minutes for the future

FEEDBACK

There’s nothing more important to growth than honest and frequent feedback. Feedback is neither good nor bad, but it should be timely. I will give you feedback in the moment and I expect the same. If you are unsure about whether feedback will be well received, give it in private, person to person. A more crass rule of thumb is that critical feedback should be done in private while praise should be done in public.

COACHING AND DELEGATION

The best way for a team or company to grow is for every individual to grow. Everyone on the team will be working to develop skills in one area or another, including me. It’s my responsibility to help identify those growth areas that are not only beneficial to the company, but also to your own professional development.

CFO asks CEO, “What happens if we invest in developing our people and then they leave us?”

CEO: “What happens if we don’t, and they stay?”

BAM!

Values

LEADERSHIP COMES FROM EVERYWHERE

I’ve wasted a lot of time in poorly run meetings by bad managers. While I believe managers are an essential part of a scaling organization, I don’t believe they have a monopoly on leadership, and I work hard to build other constructs and opportunities in our teams for non-managers to lead.

HEAVY BIAS TOWARDS ACTION

Long meetings where we endlessly debate potential directions could lead to meaningful insights, but I believe starting is the best way to begin learning and make progress. This is not always the correct strategy. This strategy annoys those who like to debate.

EXTREME OWNERSHIP

“Leaders must own everything in their world. There is no one else to blame.” When a team takes ownership of its problems, the problems get solved.

POSITIVE INTENT

I start with an assumption of positive intent for all involved. This has worked out well for me over my career.

I SEE THINGS AS SYSTEMS

I reduce complex things into systems. I think in flowcharts. I take great joy in attempting to understand how these systems and flowcharts all fit together. When I see large or small inefficiencies in systems, I’d like to fix them with your help.

CONTINUALLY FIX SMALL THINGS

I believe in the compounding awesomeness of continually fixing small things. I believe quality assurance is everyone’s responsibility and there are bugs to be fixed everywhere… all the time.

I SERVE YOU, NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND

I’m always available to assist so please don’t hesitate to ask me for help. Let’s help each other grow as individuals and a team.