Don’t Mess With Product Management! — Let me share a real-life story I experienced at one of my companies. After heading consumer products for a couple of years, I gradually grew concerned that my product management team was becoming overwhelmed. There were early signs of burnout in the team. Tensions rose. Some critical tasks were falling…

How To Handle Smart Sociopaths at Work As far as I can recall, there have always been at least a couple of sociopaths I had to deal with at any point in my corporate career. The most severe cases didn’t last long, but I got challenged with more subtle forms. You know, the kind of person who…

Hint: it’s all about building a brighter future. — I’ve spent quite a few planning cycles in the corporate world. More often than not, we faced the following sequence of events when it came to strategic planning: Senior executives had an idea they sought to validate. They brought in external strategic consultants who focused on packaging the concept into…

Embracing the unknown takes a special skill set. — I’m amazed at how much uncertainty we have to handle over our entire lives! The Pandemic and my entrepreneurial journey might have exacerbated the issue. Still, overall, despite all the planning and scenario-building, I’ve been wrong more than once in assessing potential outcomes. From which school I’d get in, to…

All product teams can play a role in sustainability initiatives. Here are a few examples… — We’re currently seeing a real inflection point in sustainability efforts to save our planet. If you are into creating, designing, producing, or delivering physical goods, I trust you have already engaged in healthy debates on your eco-friendly practices. As modern consumers, most of us expect companies to be environmentally friendly…

It’s all about learning and practicing leadership every day! What makes a great CEO? What does it have to do with great product managers? Countless experts keep pondering the question. A great source on the topic is Mc Kinsey’s 2019 analysis on the mindsets and practices of excellent CEOs. Essentially…

Lessons learned from twenty years at the CES Show! I used to dread January.​ It felt like that time of the year when you reset the counters and get back in the rat race—a time when you double your efforts without seeing the impact — yet.​ It was like shoveling…

Hint: It’s About Way More Than the Money! — For years, I’ve struggled to create an environment for optimal performance with my product teams. They would often wonder what their contribution to the bigger picture was. Corporate compensation and bonus plans were either not aligned with what we had to deliver or just not enough to impact behaviors. Even…

They Understand Their Context And The Rules of Engagement — Like many leaders, I’ve spent more years in established corporations than as the entrepreneur of my own venture. Yet entrepreneurial years feel like dog years! These past months spent building The Product Sherpa and advising all kinds of businesses have been the richest ever. …