EMPOWERED

CHAPTER 5Leadership in Action

This book argues that the key to building strong product companies is having strong product leaders.

After all, these are the people responsible for staffing and coaching the members of the product teams, and they are responsible for the product vision, principles, and especially the product strategy, which determines the specific problems we need product teams to solve.

So, what do these strong product leaders look like? And what are they like to work for?

In INSPIRED, I profiled six product managers who were all responsible for iconic products, yet were largely unknown, and I told their stories—including the challenges they faced and how they overcame them.

In EMPOWERED, I want to do the same, but this time with product leaders. I profile here eight product leaders. Each has had an exceptional career at iconic product companies. Yet again, most of them are largely unknown.

I highlight two leaders of product management, two leaders of product design, two leaders of engineering, and two leaders of companies.

I'm not trying to provide full biographies here, but rather, I asked them each to share, in their own words, their journeys to leadership. My hope is that their words will give you a good sense of their approach to leadership, and most of all, what it is like to work with and for a strong and experienced product leader.