Becoming more strategic, navigating difficult colleagues, founder mode, more

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Key Takeaways

Strategic Thinking: Be able to articulate a compelling “why” behind decisions and champion hard changes for long-term success.
Mindset: Approach challenges with a fun and abundant mindset to navigate difficult situations effectively.
Feedback: Give and receive feedback with care, curiosity, and directness to foster growth and alignment.
Decision-Making: Make decisions with 70% of the information and iterate based on learning.
Energy Management: Manage your energy, not just your time, to maintain productivity and positivity.
AI Tools: Leverage AI tools like Dovetail for summarizing user research and improving productivity.

Articulate the “Why”: Strategic individuals can clearly explain the reasoning behind decisions and product directions.
Champion Change: They push for difficult but necessary changes that benefit the company long-term.
Summarization: Summarizing discussions and synthesizing ideas is a key strategic skill.

Fun in Challenges: Reframe difficult situations to find opportunities for learning and fun.
Energy Over Time: Focus on managing energy levels by scheduling tasks according to personal energy peaks and troughs.
Gratitude and Humor: Use humor and gratitude to lighten tough situations and build team morale.

Receiving Feedback: Allow yourself to feel emotions, then approach feedback with curiosity and a learning mindset.
Giving Feedback: Be direct but caring, focusing on helping the other person grow.
Navigating Difficult Personalities: Understand what drives difficult individuals and align their motivations with your goals.

Be a Historian: Study past decisions to inform future ones and understand organizational baggage.
Speed Over Perfection: Make decisions with 70% of the information and iterate based on outcomes.
Reward Learning: Focus on what is learned from decisions, not just the outcomes.

Internal Transition: Move into product management from adjacent roles within the same company.
Build Credibility: Crush your current role to build trust and credibility before transitioning.
Take Initiative: Volunteer for product-related projects to gain experience.

Dovetail: Summarizes user research calls, making insights easily accessible and searchable.
Command AI: AI-powered user assistance tool for support, product, and growth teams.

“When people say they want someone strategic, they want someone who can articulate a compelling ‘why’ behind decisions.”
“Approach challenges with a mindset of fun and abundance, even in the hardest times.”
“Feedback is about caring deeply for the person and wanting them to succeed.”
“Make decisions with 70% of the information and iterate based on what you learn.”
“Summarizing discussions is a powerful way to drive clarity and appear strategic.”
“Everyone has something to teach and something to learn—embrace that in every interaction.”
“Manage your energy, not just your time, to bring your best self to work.”
“Reward the learning, not just the outcome, to foster a culture of risk-taking.”
“AI tools like Dovetail are transforming how we summarize and access user insights.”
“The mindset you bring to your work is more important than any skill or tool.”

Anneka Gupta: Chief Product Officer at Rubrik, lecturer at Stanford, and former President at LiveRamp.
Paul Graham: Co-founder of Y Combinator, known for his essays on startups and founder mode.
Nikhyl Singhal: Leader of the Skip community, mentioned for his insights on founder mode.
Rachel Wolan: Former colleague of Anneka, shared insights on feedback and decision-making.
Hema Mohan: Colleague who praised Anneka’s feedback skills.

Ben Horowitz: Author of The Hard Thing About Hard Things.
Brandon Sanderson: Fantasy and sci-fi author.
Isaac Asimov: Sci-fi author, known for the Foundation series.
Zuck (Mark Zuckerberg): CEO of Meta, mentioned for his emphasis on learning faster.

Rubrik: Anneka’s current company, where she is Chief Product Officer.
LiveRamp: Anneka’s previous company, where she spent 11 years.
Stanford University: Where Anneka lectures on product management.
Tinuiti: Company where Anneka serves on the board.
OpenAI: Mentioned in the context of the Enterprise Ready Conference.
Vanta, Checker, Dropbox, Canva: Companies with leaders featured at the Enterprise Ready Conference.
Gusto, Freshworks, HashiCorp, LaunchDarkly: Companies using Command AI.
Twitch, Miro, ClickUp, DraftKings: Companies using Eppo for A/B testing.
Facebook (Meta): Mentioned for its culture of learning and iteration.