Ex-Vice President at Google | How To Build Trust With Partners In Cross-Functional Teams As A Product Leader

Join Dr. Nancy Li on the Product Insider podcast as she interviews Rob Leathern, former VP of Product at Google and founder of Trust2.ai, who shares essential strategies for building trust within cross-functional teams. Trust is pivotal for product managers, who often act as the linchpin in collaborative efforts. Rob provides actionable insights from his extensive experience at tech giants like Google and Facebook. Discover how to effectively build and maintain trust, whether in startups or large corporations, to facilitate better decision-making and teamwork.

Rob Leathern's background in leading privacy and security at Google and his work on business integrity at Facebook equip him with unique perspectives on aligning diverse teams and managing remote work dynamics. Tune in to learn from Rob’s practical experiences and examples, making this episode a crucial listen for those aiming to enhance their leadership skills in any tech environment.

2:15 Introduction of Rob 

8:20  what do product managers actually do   

10:15 Why is it so hard to build trust as a product manager 

11:57 Real life challenges a product manager at FAANG+ companies face 

15:45 Building trust in a remote environment 

19:50 How to implement feedback systems within and across the team 

23:20 How to manage feedback 

27:20 How often should you give feedback

30:10 Do you think the future of Google is going to be imapacted by the rise of AI? 

30:25 Will Google be affected by open AI like ChatGPT

32:26 Do you think the trend of AI is similar to 3 

37:30 How do you become an AI product manager?

39:30 Big companies vs small startups

42:57 Opinion regarding investing in themselves

Follow Rob on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leathern/
Follow Rob on X: @robleathern

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