Lenny's Podcast: Product | Growth | Career

Becoming more strategic, navigating difficult colleagues, harnessing founder mode, and more | Anneka Gupta (Chief Product Officer at Rubrik)

Oct 17, 2024

01:08:36

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Anneka Gupta, Chief Product Officer at Rubrik and Stanford lecturer, shares her insights on navigating 'founder mode' dynamics in organizations. She discusses the importance of a positive mindset in team management and the delicate art of summarizing complex ideas. Anneka emphasizes effective decision-making, strategies for handling difficult colleagues, and the value of giving and receiving feedback. She also outlines pathways into product management, highlighting the significance of relationship-building and embracing a culture of learning.

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Quick takeaways

Effective strategic leadership requires presenting clear rationales for decisions while championing beneficial yet challenging initiatives.

Adopting a positive mindset can transform how professionals approach challenges, fostering creativity and uncovering unexpected opportunities.

Engaging constructively with founders in 'founder mode' entails aligning their visions with company goals while providing necessary challenges.

Deep dives

The Key Elements of Strategic Leadership

Strategic leadership entails the ability to articulate a clear and compelling rationale for decisions made within a company or product context. Additionally, being a change agent who can champion difficult but ultimately beneficial initiatives is crucial. Without a balance of both these attributes, individuals may struggle to be perceived as truly strategic. Hence, effective leaders must not only present big ideas but also clearly convey their underlying reasoning.

Intro

2min

Transforming Challenges with a Positive Mindset

5min

Exploring Founder Mode: Insights and Implications

3min

Navigating Founder Dynamics in Leadership

17min

Strategic Decision-Making in Product Management

9min

Navigating Difficult Personalities with Abundance and Empathy

4min

Navigating Difficult Conversations

11min

Pathways to Product Management

10min

Harnessing Mindset and Tools for Professional Growth

3min

10.

Navigating Inner Struggles and Creative Inspirations

5min

Anneka Gupta is the Chief Product Officer at Rubrik, a leading B2B cybersecurity company. She previously spent 11 years at LiveRamp, where she was the President and Head of Product and Platforms leading product development and go-to-market operations and strategy. Anneka also sits on the board of directors for Tinuiti and teaches product management at Stanford University. In our conversation, we discuss:

• Navigating “founder mode” dynamics in organizations

• Navigating difficult personalities and aligning teams

• The PM skill of summarization

• Giving and receiving hard feedback effectively

• The value of a positive mindset

• Tips for breaking into product management

• Much more

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Brought to you by:

• The Enterprise Ready Conference — For B2B leaders building enterprise SaaS

• Command AI — AI-powered user assistance for modern products and impatient users

• Eppo — Run reliable, impactful experiments

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Find the transcript at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/becoming-more-strategic-anneka-gupta

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Where to find Anneka Gupta:

• X: https://x.com/annekagupta

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/annekagupta

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Where to find Lenny:

• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com

• X: https://twitter.com/lennysan

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/

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In this episode, we cover:

(00:00) Introduction to Anneka Gupta

(01:43) Key mindsets for success

(05:30) Managing energy for optimal performance

(09:05) Founder mode

(18:26) Becoming more strategic

(27:54) The importance of decision-making

(37:18) Navigating difficult personalities

(41:38) Techniques for giving and receiving feedback

(51:01) Transitioning into product management

(54:56) Advice for aspiring product managers

(59:39) Leveraging AI tools in product management

(01:01:27) The power of a positive mindset

(01:04:30) Lightning round

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Referenced:

• Founder Mode: https://paulgraham.com/foundermode.html

• Building a long and meaningful career | Nikhyl Singhal (Meta, Google): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/building-a-long-and-meaningful-career

• The Skip community: https://www.linkedin.com/company/skip-community/

• Rubrik: https://www.rubrik.com/

• 5 essential questions to craft a winning strategy | Roger Martin (author, advisor, speaker): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-ultimate-guide-to-strategy-roger-martin

• Playing to Win: How Strategy Really Works: https://www.amazon.com/Playing-Win-Strategy-Really-Works/dp/142218739X

• Thinking like a gardener not a builder, organizing teams like slime mold, the adjacent possible, and other unconventional product advice | Alex Komoroske: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/unconventional-product-advice-alex-komoroske

• Acquired podcast interviews Zuckerberg in San Francisco: https://transistor.fm/acquired-live/

• Hema Mohan on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hemamohan/

• Radical Candor: Be a Kick-Ass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity: https://www.amazon.com/Radical-Candor-Kick-Ass-Without-Humanity/dp/1250103509

• Radical Candor: From theory to practice with author Kim Scott: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/radical-candor-from-theory-to-practice

• LiveRamp: https://liveramp.com/

• Product Management class at Stanford: https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/experience/learning/experiential-learning/action-learning-program/product-management

• Figma: https://www.figma.com/

• Dovetail: https://try.dovetail.com/

• The Remarkable Advantage of Abundant Thinking: https://review.firstround.com/the-remarkable-advantage-of-abundant-thinking/

• The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers: https://www.amazon.com/Hard-Thing-About-Things-Building/dp/0062273205

• Brandon Sanderson’s books: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Brandon-Sanderson/author/B001IGFHW6

• Fallout on Prime Video: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CN4HV16N