post

B2B product management

Artificial Intelligence (AI) & Machine Learning (ML)

Building Product Teams

Business Strategy

Data Driven Product Management

Digital Transformation

Diversity and Inclusion

Minimum Viable Product

OKRs

Prioritisation

Product Design

Product Research

Product Development Process

Product Ethics

Product Discovery

Product Leadership

Product Management Career

Product Strategy

Stakeholder Management

🌎 <a href="https://www.mindtheproduct.com/world-product-day/" style="color:#FFFFFF;text-decoration:underline;">Happy World Product Day!</a> Be sure to celebrate product, yourself, and your peers today! 🎉

Successful product management in companies where it’s least understood

Measuring critical user journeys – Javier Andrés Bargas-Avila (UX Director, Google)

A new way to look at applied experiments

Product survey findings: Only 15% of users are embracing AI features 

Building high-performing product teams: The PDLC approach

Footer About

Footer Contribute

Footer Get Involved

Footer Links

Mind the Product

Guest Post

Overcoming the 20% feature usage challenge

Product Management

Three product leaders to learn from at #mtpcon inside Pendomonium

Andres is a freelance writer and digital marketer with a background in engineering and a keen interest in the latest technology advancements. He currently helps tech companies and startups tell their stories by turning their complex ideas into easy to understand material. You can reach out to him on LinkedIn

Andres Phillips

<p>In this ProductTank London talk, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/saenea" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Aeneas McDonnell</a>, Director of Product at <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Times and Sunday Times</a> shares with us some guidelines on how we as product people can be leaders without having clear authority. His key points include:</p>
<ul>
<li>Anyone can be a leader</li>
<li>Positioning to lead</li>
<li>Skills</li>
<li>Leading through levels</li>
</ul>
<p>Watch the video to see Aeneas’s talk in full. Or read on for an overview of his key points.</p>
<h2>Anyone can be a Leader</h2>
<p>In this world, it’s indicated that you generally need to be in a position of authority in order to lead. However, Aeneas argues that anyone can be a leader. Leadership, he says, is a choice you make rather than a place where you sit. You simply need to give people a reason to believe in your vision and the work you are doing. Also, despite people in positions of authority being the ones that lead, authority doesn’t always lead to good outcomes. Product people can often find themselves in situations where there is chaos. To lead from such positions, it requires putting structures in place to be able to influence.</p>
<h2>Positioning to Lead</h2>
<p>Aeneas describes himself as a reluctant leader. Many persons in a team may find themselves in this exact situation. Instead of being driven to lead, he is instead driven to make sure that good decisions are being made. When positioning to lead, you need to have an intuition about the context of the problem you are trying to solve and be able to adapt.</p>
<h2>Skills</h2>
<p>Leadership is an art rather than a science, but you still need skills to be able to lead properly. Aeneas recommends focusing on the problem rather than the solution. Understand the problem in its entirety and then work on finding the best solution rather than trying too many solutions too quickly. Leaders need to have a perspective of the different members of their team and also be aware of different parts of the organization.</p>
<h2>Leading Through Levels</h2>
<p>Product people need to be aware of their circles of influence and their stakeholders so that they can lead across the organization. The key takeaways from this talk are that influence and not authority is the key to success as a leader. You need to find the right people to help you as a product person and you need to embrace the journey.</p>
<div class="g g-21"><div class="g-single a-170"><a class="gofollow" data-track="MTcwLDIxLDEsNjA=" href="https://www.pendo.io/pendomonium/"><img decoding="async" src="https://www.mindtheproduct.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/MTP-Footer_ad.png" /></a></div></div>

core/freeform

A year with ChatGPT and product innovation: Navigating the AI landscape

Mastering perspective – zoom in, zoom out as a product leader by Navya Rehani Gupta

Modern-day leadership by Janice Fraser

Master the art of leading through influence by Shyvee Shi

Is your innovation project on track? by Tendayi Viki

Finding your frosting as a product leader by Jeff Birkeland

Learnings from London: The secret sauce to hiring great product people by Kate Leto

Leadership Without Authority By Aeneas McDonnell

Andres Phillips