Are you starting a new job and wondering what made you stand out from all the other equally great candidates? I had a coaching call earlier in the week with a person who is joining a global tech company as Head of Engineering for one of the businesses. We talked about things to learn and questions to ask. We went deep into the specifics of the company, products, customers, metrics, team, etc.
One question that often doesn’t get asked – why me? I’ll phrase this below.
Continue reading “Why Me?”“We have decided as a company that we are not going to send emails introducing new people”, my manager said to me.
It was my first day on the job in dot-com era Silicon Valley. I had just moved from St. Louis, MO to the Bay Area. Here I was, day 1 at the startup, employee number 103. In two months, the company would be down to 19 employees, but that’s a story for another day.
Continue reading “Product Leader’s Journey: Onboarding – Carpe Diem, Seize the Day!”
Lately, I am seeing posts on LinkedIn discussing whether the product manager (PM) is really the “CEO of the Product”. The posts aim to “debunk the ‘PM as CEO of the Product’ myth” as they put it. The typical arguments given are:
This article [Want to Kill Your Economy? Have MBA Programs Churn out Takers Not Makers] by Rana Foroohar based on her book “Makers & Takers: The Rise of Finance and Fall of American Business” talks about the state of business education in the US. For my friends in India, I am curious to know if you think this applies to the state of Indian business education as well. The main points in the article:
Continue reading “Why Has Business Education Failed Business”
This weekend Institute of Product Leadership inaugurated the newest cohort (3rd with CMR University and 5th overall) of our Executive MBA in Product Leadership program that is offered in collaboration with universities. CMR University is one of the host universities for the program. The inauguration ceremony was chaired by Honorable Vice Chancellor of CMR University, Dr. Joshi, with Dr. Mohan Das, Director of Ministry of Human Resources Development, Government of India, as the invited chief guest. Below is the text of my short speech. I shared the vision of the Institute, as part of which, I addressed the question of what makes Bengaluru the Silicon Valley of India. Continue reading “What Makes Bengaluru the Silicon Valley of India?”
I came across this question on Quora and it got me thinking.
It’s useful to understand what distinguishes the top 1% from the top 10% in any field. The top 10% in any field are likely some of the top notch performers in that field. The margin of difference is very small. Yet there must be that extra special “it” factor that separates the top 1% from the rest, that gives the top 1% a well-earned exalted status. That is why we speak of Michael Jordan, Roger Federer, Serena Williams and such people in a different breath from their peers in the game.
What is the special “it” factor?
Continue reading “What Distinguishes the Top 1% Product Managers from the Top 10%?”
On Product Leadership 