We get upset and unhappy about many things. Someone something said or did upset you. Your parents, partner, friends, or kids are asking you to do things you don't want to, or they misunderstand you. They don't act in a way that you feel is right or helpful. Your manager, colleague, or customer criticized your work, or they aren't cooperating. You didn't get the promotion or award you wanted or think you deserved. You are running low on savings and income and worried that you can't support yourself and your family. You are in physical pain or your health is declining and you have unusual body aches and insomnias. Your country or community is divided. The system seems broken, leaders seem corrupt, and people seem selfish and ignorant. So many flavors of unhappiness, incessantly knocking at your door! But all of these worries and unhappiness are rooted in these four main causes. If you conquer or make peace with those causes, you can rise above all unhap...
The most fundamental question to understand, IMO, is the existential one...What the heck is all this?! Why and how are we here? What are we supposed to do? Elon Musk is an incredibly smart guy - he has a track record of making things happen - both in the physical world (batteries, cars, rockets) and within human society (leading businesses, making money, acquiring a following). He's also a clear, first principles thinker and shares a lot about how he thinks about the world. So I think he can play a part in helping us understand life and the world*. So what is Elon's answer to the foundational question? Elon has two answers - one explicit and another implicit. Elon recalls that at the age of 11 or 12, he had an existential crisis because he didn't understand why or how we are here. He concluded that we may never know but we may be able to find out if we expand the scope and scale of civilization and consciousness , and that's what he wants to do. I like Elon's fra...
Product Strategy is one of my favorite aspects of Product Management. As a Product lead at Lyft, Quizlet and Opower, I have started and led teams on several new product areas. When starting on a new product area, one of my main priorities is to "Map out the space" and figure out our path (The other priority is to bond with the team and understand team dynamics). I aim to share the strategy with my team and execs within 3 months of starting as it informs the roadmap, helps me ramp up and demonstrate product leadership. Repeat practice and feedback have helped me become better and quicker at defining strategy. I have tried to distill my approach into these discrete steps. What is strategy? Strategy is an optimal path to achieving a goal - which can be either solving a problem or realizing an opportunity. Good strategy is usually simple and clear, ambitious but achievable, long-term and durable, leverages core strengths and mitigates risks. Good strategy also explicitly identi...