Good managers, what they do, how they think & act. A thread👇🏾 1/15
Post
Post
1/ Good managers are skilled at asking questions that give their team members a new perspective on the problem and reach the right solution on their own.
2/ Good managers listen, then listen some more, and then some more.
3/ Good managers address context first, then content They don’t just stick a new process as a band-aid over deep culture wounds & hope that the pain goes away. They know that most problems are interpersonal problems at their core. They have a knack for identifying the root cause
4/ Good managers use their eloquence, charisma, and writing skills as tools, never as weapons.
5/ Good managers know that, above all else, they are agents of their company. Their default mode is to make and facilitate company-optimal choices.
6/ Good managers know that fixing broader company culture is an important part of their role as a designated leader within the company.
7/ Good managers put their team members above their own self-interest when the two are in conflict.
8/ Good managers understand that the long game is all about people They put an individual’s mental & physical well-being above short term OKRs & results. They pay keen attention to a team member’s feelings in addition to their spoken words & can detect dissonance between the two
9/ Good managers consistently get results through their team. They have high standards for inputs, outputs, and outcomes. They aren’t satisfied with just meeting the minimum permissible bar for metrics, product quality, customer satisfaction, team collaboration, and so on.
10/ Good managers are proactive about their team members’ career growth. They don’t dread career conversations with team members, they actively invite such conversations.
11/ Good managers don’t have just one go-to management style nor do they have a notion of “THE ideal employee”. Good managers aim to create an inclusive & optimal environment for each individual, based on their specific strengths, weaknesses, preferred style of learning & working
12/ Good managers can discern good intent from bad. They have zero tolerance for self-serving behavior that sabotages the team or the company, even if it’s coming from an otherwise highly competent team member.
14/ Good managers are confident & secure in their role. They model High Agency. They have a mature attitude & avoid pettiness. They know it’s fine to express vulnerability. They say “I don’t know” when that’s true. They love learning. They exude presence.
I’ve personally gone from being a terrible manager 13 yrs ago to being just ok today. For many years in between, I actively avoided managing people because I knew I wasn’t good at it & didn’t enjoy it. That changed for me as I learned & discovered some of what you have just read.
That’s all for this thread. If you’re a manager or want to be one, I wish you all the best in your journey. And if you are an individual contributor, I hope this context can be useful for you when you’re choosing your next role & manager. ❤️
Back to the top of this thread:
Good managers, what they do, how they think & act. A thread👇🏾 1/15
Want to explore this topic further? Some references in the next few tweets👇🏾
On recommended books for aspiring and new'ish managers, along with links and a one-line summary of each book:
Book recos for new & aspiring managers, with emphasis on practical advice: The Motive What Got You Here Won't Get You There HBR’s 10 Must Reads on Managing Yourself The Charisma Myth Super Thinking HBR’s 10 Must Reads on Managing People The Practicing Stoic The Advantage More👇🏾
Example questions to ask as a product leader, when evaluating product decisions:
Questions for evaluating product feature decisions: 1⃣What is the user need? 2⃣Why is it important to solve? 3⃣What are the expected solutions? 4⃣What are the unexpected solutions? 5⃣What are the known pros/cons of each? 6⃣What do we still not know? 7⃣How do we make it known?
Focusing on asking questions, rather than on winning a debate:
Something I’ve observed over the years: Product Managers who always win real-time debates about product issues — with their quips, eloquent arguments, bulletproof analogies & metaphors — tend to build surprisingly mediocre products, with mediocre outcomes.
On using frameworks that help team members arrive at the solution by themselves:
As a leader: Sharing frameworks > Solving the problem yourself Sharing the questions you'd ask > Providing answers Sharing pros & cons as you see them > Making the choice Pick the RHS options as a last resort, not as the default. An important tip, especially for PM managers:
"Address context first, then content" The quoted tweet & video has splendid advice Especially relevant for "high performance" environments where managers fixate on content & solve the presented problems, when instead they should understand context & solve the latent root causes
For clear writing, answer these questions 1. What Am I Really Trying To Say 2. Why Should People Care 3. What Is The Most Important Point 4. What Is The Easiest Way To Understand The Most Important Point 5. How Do I Want The Reader To Feel 6. What Should The Reader Do Next
Not being swayed by another person's charisma is a decent test of wisdom. Charisma is really hard to combat. Even extremely intelligent people fall prey to it. Our individual & collective inability to combat charisma leads to all sorts of problems in business, life, society.
On asking a manager how they rank Employee, Company, and Self:
Replying to @abhi_sivasailam
1. Ask the manager. This will force them to introspect (most people do things by default w/o being intentional). 2. You likely can trust their stated ordering, if Self isn't last. 3. If Self is last, they might still have been truthful, but better to observe behaviors to confirm.
On optimizing for people:
Replying to @shreyas
12/ Technologies change, platforms change, office signs change, centers of gravity change. The one thing that remains constant is the people. Always optimize for the people.
On good/bad intent and its power over everything else:
Intent trounces all other skills. Here's why: 𝙂𝙤𝙤𝙙 Intent × Persuasion = Influence Influence × Execution = Impact Impact × Consistency = Success 𝘽𝙖𝙙 Intent × Persuasion = Manipulation Manipulation × Execution = Collective Harm Collective Harm × Consistency = Misery
On being okay with saying in 1-on-1s that you need time to think:
Managers, try saying these 2 things more often during 1-on-1s: • “I will think some more about this & get back to you” (& then follow through) • “Let me think a bit more about this right now so I can formulate a better response” I started this ~1 yr ago & it has worked well
Let’s talk about High Agency: an attitude I’ve seen in every successful product manager & leader I’ve known. Some ppl are born/raised with High Agency. It can also be developed later in life. High agency is a prerequisite for making a profound impact in one's life & work 1/20
On what not to do as a manager — the 7 Manager Anti-Patterns:
Some managers are clearly great, some are clearly terrible. It’s quite easy to spot these extremes. But how can we spot the 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘭𝘺-𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺-𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺-𝘣𝘢𝘥 managers at our company? A thread of 7 Manager Anti-Patterns:
On picking a manager (when you can do so):
Replying to @shreyas
Pick a manager who is credible, has empathy for your job, will invest the time necessary to help you grow, and is secure so that they can be objective about your career growth and a real partner for you.
On Product Management Leadership:
The PM Leadership Job—in 1 tweet The role: Make successful products via others & build self-managing teams Key responsibilities: Strategy+Vision Product Editing Meta-Execution PM Coaching Should spike on: Empathy Listening Influence Product Sense Critical & Strategic Thinking
A mega-thread on PM Leadership:
More than 8 years after my last public talk on product management, I spoke about PM career management at Products That Count. What follows is a long tweetstorm with the key content. It isn't for the faint of heart. Are you ready?
Managers need to combat Apple Pie Positions within the company where it makes sense:
I’m starting to call these the “apple pie positions” => the personal risk of pushing back is so high that almost everyone nods “yes”, even though it is rarely the right answer for the team / company / user. Great example in the quoted Tweet. Will add more in the thread below:
Managers of product teams (engineering, design, pm, etc.) need to look for biases that lead to unsuccessful & low impact products. They need to look within themselves first, and then within their teams:
Why do smart product people & teams often build products with mediocre or no impact? A cautionary thread of biases and fallacies we encounter when building products👇🏾 1/10
How your team, org, company prioritizes certain skills & traits is vital. The priority order will get deeply embedded in the culture and will ultimately 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 your culture. So best to be very intentional about it.
First, integrity & humility. Second, clear thinking. Third, influential writing. Last, charismatic speaking. Teams that follow this priority order are a joy to work with. Teams that get this wrong tend to become dysfunctional. Same for individuals.
~Update~ Glad this thread has resonated with so many folks. An updated version of this content is now available as an article on LinkedIn, if you want to read it in one place, bookmark it, or share with colleagues & friends who don't use Twitter 🔗
On organizations and culture:
Some observations about organizations & culture, for modern leaders: 1/10
Probably the most important thing I can say about management per character of text. The ranking is really important here: Ears, and therefore Listening, comes first and foremost.
Top 3 management tools, ranked: 1. Our ears 2. Our eyes 3. Our mouth
The Incompetent Leader's playbook (relevant for sr. mgrs & execs)
First-time founders, CEOs, and even employees should understand the playbook of the Incompetent Leader (IL). The IL is savvy & charismatic, and excels at 4 things: 1) Feign competence 2) Create confusion 3) Buy time 4) Fail up The IL playbook & what to do about it 👇🏾
Wonder if you have any thoughts on how good managers also “manage up” or ensure their teams are represented, rewarded, and recognized by leadership and through the org. The list is quite good but feels like it’s missing that perspective vs. just managing the team. Thoughts?
