Archive - The Hard Parts of Growth

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Activating peers and advisors instead of getting stuck on "finding a mentor"

For most of my career, I desperately wanted a mentor. Especially as a woman in tech, I repeatedly heard that mentors would help me unlock all the…

Nov 16 •

October 2023

My manager owns context, I own the recommendation

When I walked into one of my first leadership reviews, I felt ready. I had gathered all the information and I was prepared to explain it all to my…

Oct 5 •

September 2023

Finding my voice using a "series of dials"

Several years ago, a thorny topic came up at work, and we had a sequence of difficult meetings to try to sort through options. It was hard to get…

Sep 13 •

August 2023

5 tips to make context-switching work for me

“Okay,” I thought to myself this morning as I looked at my calendar. “I’ve got 4 back-to-back 1:1s, a 30-minute work block, a strategy discussion, late…

Aug 23 •

July 2023

Budgeting for Failure

In previous posts, I talked about a couple tactics that have helped me deal with failure: turning “what a failure” into “what a useful experiment” and…

Jul 12 •

June 2023

0 failure = 0 growth

In one of my first jobs, my manager told me: “It’s good to learn from mistakes. But a really smart person learns even before they make a mistake.” That…

Jun 28 •

Finding a global optimum always feels like a hill climb

A few years ago, I was talking with a brand new manager about how they could empower their team. “How about asking someone on your team to lead this…

Jun 14 •

Make every pixel earn its space — a simple formula

When I’m working on a particular product feature, I often have the subconscious desire to take up as much space as possible in the product so my feature…

Jun 1 •

May 2023

Learning my team’s recognition language in the first 1:1

In my last post, I talked about a big question I ask in my first 1:1 with someone on my team: “Are you someone who has a clear, long-term career goal in…

May 17 •

April 2023

Asking about career goals in the first 1:1

“Are you someone who has a clear, long-term career goal in mind, or do you tend to be more opportunistic about the jobs that come your way?’ This is a…

Apr 26 •

Creating a product vision

A core part of working in product, of course, is creating a product vision and strategy. Surprisingly, this isn’t always the most urgent thing — when…

Apr 12 •

March 2023

10 tips for moderating a panel or fireside chat to get a fresh conversation

Panels and fireside chats have become my favorite kind of public speaking — they require so little prep! — and moderating can be even more fun than…

Mar 29 •

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