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Ken Norton

Episode #169

Executive Coach for Product Leaders & Former Google Product Partner

Ken Norton Coaching / Ex-Google Ventures

🚀Career & Leadership🎯Product Strategy

📝Full Transcript

13,708 words
Ken Norton (00:00:00): Part of what I think is pretty exciting about product management is you are a leader from day one in product management. There's leadership all over the place, but that's your job. You're a leader. You don't have any formal authority, but you're a leader. You're expected to lead Lenny (00:00:22): Over his 14-year career at Google. Ken Norton led product teams at built Google Docs, Google Calendar, Google Maps, and even did a stint at Google Ventures. The products that he's helped craft are now used by over three billion people. (00:00:37): Today Ken is a full-time executive coach specializing at working with product leaders. In our conversation, we cover the creative versus reactive mindset, why the art of product management is much more important than the science of product management, how to get over imposter syndrome, the most common PM blind spots, how to find a coach and how to know if a coach is right for you, and so much more. I hope that you enjoy this episode with Ken Norton. (00:01:05): If you're setting up your analytics stack but you're not using Amplitude, what are you doing? Amplitude is the number one most popular analytics solution in the world, used by both big companies like Shopify, Instacart, and Atlassian, and also most tech startups. Amplitude has everything you need, including a powerful and fully self-service analytics product, an experimentation platform, and even an integrated customer data platform to help you understand your users like never before. (00:01:33): Give your teams self-service product data to understand your users, drive conversions, and increase engagement, growth, and revenue. Get your vanity metrics, trust your data, work smarter, and grow your business. Try Amplitude for free. Just visit amplitude.com to get started. (00:01:53): Have you heard of Lenny's Job Board? Well, if you're hiring or open to a new gig, have I got the site for you, lennysjobs.com. If you're a hiring manager, sign up and g...

💡 Key Takeaways

  • 1Product management requires leadership without authority from day one.
  • 2The transition to leadership requires upgrading your 'internal operating system' to handle increased complexity.
  • 3Reactive leadership focuses on fear and problem-solving; Creative leadership focuses on purpose and possibility.
  • 4Hiring PMs should focus on the 'intangibles' and cultural fit, not just technical frameworks.
  • 5True innovation requires a portfolio approach that balances safe bets with '10x' moonshots.
  • 6Imposter syndrome is common but can be managed by treating the inner critic as a specific 'board member' rather than the CEO.

📚Methodologies (3)

🚀 Career & Leadership

Based on research by Bob Anderson and Bill Adams, this framework distinguishes between operating from a place of fear/defense (Reactive) versus operating from passion/purpose (Creative). Growth requires 'rebooting the internal operating system' to move from seeking external validation to internal definition.

Core Principles

  • 1.Identify your Reactive Posture: Recognize if you are Complying (people-pleasing), Protecting (intellectual arrogance), or Controlling (autocratic).
  • 2.Shift the Source of Validation: Move from 'I need to be liked/right/in control' to 'I am driven by purpose and vision'.
  • 3.Upgrade Self-Complexity: Acknowledge that simple rules no longer apply; develop the emotional capacity to hold conflicting truths and navigate ambiguity.

"What got me here is not going to get me there... the internal meaning-making and self-complexity required requires a complete reboot of the internal operating system."

#reactive#creative#leadership
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🎯 Product Strategy

A strategic approach where leaders explicitly allocate resources and cultural permission to pursue high-risk, high-reward 'moonshots' (10x) alongside incremental improvements (10%). It requires accepting failure as a likely outcome for the sake of massive breakthroughs.

Core Principles

  • 1.Portfolio Allocation: Use a structure like Google's 70-20-10 (70% core, 20% adjacent, 10% moonshots) or allocate specific sprint time for exploration.
  • 2.Cultural Safety for Failure: Leaders must create an environment where failing at a bold idea is not punished, but seen as necessary R&D.
  • 3.Fractal Application: Apply this not just at the company level, but at the individual team level (e.g., one engineer exploring a crazy idea per sprint).

"If you play small ball where you're going to get a bunch of 10% improvements... you miss the massive breakthrough. Kodak invented the digital camera... but didn't create the environment for it to thrive."

#innovation#strategy#product
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🚀 Career & Leadership

Derived from Internal Family Systems (IFS), this technique involves personifying inner voices (e.g., the critic). Instead of fighting them, you acknowledge them as 'board members' but ensure your true Self remains the Chairperson/CEO.

Core Principles

  • 1.Name the Persona: Give your inner critic a silly or specific name (e.g., 'Larry Loser') to create distance (self-distancing).
  • 2.Reassign the Role: Acknowledge the critic's intent is usually protection, but respectfully ask them to 'step aside' or take a different seat on the board.
  • 3.Chairperson Control: Consciously place your authentic self in the decision-making seat, listening to inputs but making the final call.

"I'm going to put myself, the real me, the real self into the chairperson's seat. When I hear these voices... I'm going to ask Larry to step aside."

#internal#board#directors
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