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Here's a list of old episodes in date order! There have been some great conversations so feel
free to binge them all!
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Episode 135 - Measurably Improving Managers to Help People do Great Work... and be Totally Psyched Doing It (with Russ Laraway, Author "When They Win, You Win")
Episode 135: Measurably Improving Managers to Help People do Great Work... and be Totally Psyched Doing It
Russ Laraway, Author "When They Win, You Win"
About the Episode
An interview with Russ Laraway. Russ was a Company Commander in the US Marines before entering Big Tech at Google, Twitter & Qualtrics. He also co-founded Radical Candor LLC with Kim Scott, and believes that anyone can be trained to be a good manager with the right approach. He wrote about this approach in his new book "When They Win, You Win".
We speak about a lot, including:
- Why the world needs doesn't need another person's opinion on what makes a good manager, and how he wants to move away from opinions and move to data driven, measurable results
- How the US Marines set the stage for him to be a good manager, what moving to Big Tech taught him about focusing on results, and how the military can teach Big Tech a thing or two about Commander's Intent
- Why it was important to simplify the mission to make managers better, because most people aren't getting better and some are getting worse because there's so much conflicting information out there
- Why companies are so bad at developing managers, and how his STAC (Select, Teach, Assess, Coach) approach might help get us away from the best Individual Contributor getting thrown into the pit with no support
- How everyone wants to do great work & be totally psyched whilst doing it, and why people's direct managers are ultimately the key to making that happen
- The big three of Direction, Coaching, Career, how they can help managers thrive and the importance of helping managers not just concentrating on the stuff they're best at
- Whether managers are born or bred, and whether introverts or extrovert make the best managers
And much more!
A brief interruption from my sponsor - me!
I'm terrible at asking for money but if you would like to throw any spare change at me to prevent me having to read out tiresome generic podcast ads, you can buy me a coffee. If not, I love you all anyway!
Buy "When They Win, You Win"
Check the book out wherever you get your books, or check it out on Amazon or the book website.
Check out my interview with Kim Scott
I spoke to Russ's former colleague Kim Scott last year on the podcast about her book "Just Work" - it was a fantastic conversation and you can check it out here.
Contact Russ
You can find Russ on his website or check him out on LinkedIn or Twitter
Related episodes you should like:
- Banishing Cynicism and Empowering Yourself as a Product Leader (Claire Vo, CPO @ Color & Impending TikTok Influencer)
- How to Manage Imposter Syndrome in Product Management (Phyllis Njoroge, Author "From Fraud to Freedom")
- The Importance of Making Design a Strategic Business Partner (Wolfgang Bremer, Head of Design @ Elli)
- Product Leadership is Hard - Let's Get Better At It (Ebenezer Ikonne, Author "Becoming a Leader in Product Development")
- Leading & Evolving Product Teams Through Hyperscale (Brian Shen, Product Director @ ClickUp)
- Digital Pollution & The Product Hippocratic Oath (Radhika Dutt, Author "Radical Product Thinking")
- Defeating Bias, Prejudice and Bullying in the Workplace (Kim Scott, Author "Radical Candor" & "Just Work")
- Effective Hiring for Product Managers & Building Diverse Teams (Kate Leto, Author "Hiring Product Managers")