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by Robin Sharma
Ordinary People, Extraordinary Products
'Empowered' by Marty Cagan with Chris Jones is a guide to creating successful product teams. It provides insights on how to build a culture of trust, autonomy, and collaboration, and how to establish effective product management practices.
Strong product leaders must first take center stage before their team members can follow suit.
So there’s no better place to start than with leadership.
The root of great product leadership is a robust coaching mindset. Without it, you can’t authentically inspire your product teams to create and deliver successful products. But being a mentor offering words of wisdom isn’t enough. You also need to be a real coach who isn’t scared to roll up your sleeves to boost your teams’ ultimate potential.
What do Apple, Amazon, Google, and Netflix have in common? One name: Bill Campbell. The late legendary coach mentored the founders of these companies and many other tech leaders in Silicon Valley. He asserted that great leaders can recognize the greatness in others and are only as good as their ability to coach.
So how can you sharpen your coaching mindset to that then translates into great products?
First, use one-on-one meetings with all team members to focus on outcomes instead of delegating tasks. Leverage this space to cultivate a purpose-driven work ethic within your team. Noticed a lack of product innovation lately? Chat with your managers, designers, or engineers in their regular one-on-ones; ask them about what keeps them inspired in their roles despite hard times. Another way to think of it is that to deliver great products, you need missionaries, not mercenaries.
Your coaching efforts won’t matter if you can’t maintain trust. Avoid all temptations to micromanage. Strengthen trust by praising publicly and criticizing privately. At the same time, don’t hesitate to correct your teams’ mistakes right as they happen; it shows that you know what you’re doing as a credible leader.
If you can’t lead your product teams with confidence, be humble enough to outsource this responsibility to another experienced leader while upskilling yourself in this area.
Now that you know what it takes to be a great leader, it’s time to assemble great product teams. Head on to the next section to learn the 411 on a good staffing strategy.
Empowered (2020) is a written master class that guides ordinary people to create extraordinary products. Discover how to create profitable products that consumers love!
Empowered (2021) is an insightful book that explores how to build and lead empowered product teams in today's fast-paced tech industry. Here's why you should add this book to your reading list:
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Try Blinkist to get the key ideas from 7,500+ bestselling nonfiction titles and podcasts. Listen or read in just 15 minutes.
Start your free trialBlink 3 of 8 - The 5 AM Club
by Robin Sharma
What is the main message of Empowered?
Empowered teaches us how to build and deliver successful products by creating empowered product teams.
How long does it take to read Empowered?
Reading time for Empowered varies. The Blinkist summary can be read in just 15 minutes.
Is Empowered a good book? Is it worth reading?
Empowered is worth reading as it provides valuable insights and practical guidance for building successful products.
Who is the author of Empowered?
The authors of Empowered are Marty Cagan and Chris Jones.