What happens when you go from designing or building things yourself… to leading a team of 100+? And what if your career didn’t follow the standard product ladder to get there?
In this candid and funny conversation, Lidia Oshlyansky shares her journey from social worker to backend engineer to product and UX leader at companies like Google, Spotify, and fast-moving startups.
We explore the invisible work of leadership, the emotional challenges of management, and what it really takes to drive change in complex organisations—without losing your humanity.
Whether you’re navigating scale, burnout, tough cross-functional relationships, or wondering if you’re still contributing anything at all… this episode will resonate.
🧠 In this episode, we cover:
* Why Lidia left social work to become a backend engineer—and how she discovered product along the way
* The existential doubt of managing managers (“What am I even doing?”)
* A mindset shift: empowering others is the work
* How to build better relationships between product, design, and engineering
* What to do when collaboration breaks down—and why sometimes, the right move is to stop trying
* How to approach transformation in legacy organisations without arrogance
* The difference between startup chaos and corporate resistance—and how to lead through both
💬 Favourite moment:
“I like that creative innovation chaos—and I like being able to harness it.”
👤 About Lidia:
Lidia Oshlyansky is a veteran product, UX, and design leader with global experience across big tech (Google, Spotify), publishing, and startups. She’s currently Chief Product Officerat Gillion, a Stockholm-based fintech. You can find her on LinkedIn (her only public presence—by design!).
🎯 For:
* Product leaders navigating growth or career transitions
* Managers stepping into more abstract leadership roles
* Anyone wrestling with cross-functional dynamics, change, or self-doubt
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit
scaleupleaders.substack.com
