How to Lead Remote Teams and Learn From Failure

In this episode of Culture Crush, host Dan Dowman interviews culture-shaper and entrepreneur, Christopher Nguyen. Chris unpacks his non-traditional journey into UX design, his ventures including UX Playbook and Backlog, and the importance of experimentation in starting and running successful projects. They talk about how to tackle leadership challenges like team cohesion in remote work and how to embrace failure. Chris highlights the significance of both celebrating wins and extracting learnings from failures to foster a supportive and adaptive culture. Culture Crushes 🧡 Jason Fried and 37signals: For your contrarian outlook, building lean, and not bending to traditional start-up paradigms. Takeaways ✅ Take action and start something rather than getting caught up in planning and learning. ✅ Balance creativity with sticking to a path and finishing projects. ✅ Celebrate wins and learn from failures to build a positive and learning-oriented culture. ✅ Experiment and try new approaches to leadership challenges, involving the team in the process. ✅ Don’t focus on the business outcomes, bring your team’s personal wins and worries into the conversation. Sound Bites 📢 "I'm okay starting things if I know… I can outlast it, right?" 📢 “Psychological safety-wise, it’s fine to admit that you [messed] up.” 📢 "Set goals that are attainable and focus on the process rather than the outcome." Chapters: 00:00 Introduction to Culture Crush 00:22 Meet Christopher Nguyen: Serial Entrepreneur 00:53 Christopher’s Journey: From Tech to UX Playbook 02:24 Balancing Creativity and Focus 06:17 The Importance of Starting and Iterating 10:20 Challenges of Scaling and Leadership 15:58 Democratizing Design: Chris's Mission 23:25 Discussing Culture and Leadership 24:01 Culture Crush: Jason Fried and 37signals 28:04 Leadership Challenges in Remote Work 30:02 Wins and Failures: A Weekly Ritual 39:59 The Importance of Experimentation in Leadership 42:50 Wrapping Up: Final Thoughts and Takeaways Links 🔗 UX Playbook: http://uxplaybook.org/ 🔗 Community: http://backlog.design/