Lenny's Podcast: Product | Growth | Career

Becoming a conscious leader: Leading without fear, finding your life’s objective function, and getting better at vision and strategy | John Mark Nickels (Uber, Waymo, DoorDash)

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Oct 6, 2024

John Mark Nickels, Senior Director of Product Management at Uber and former Head of Product at Waymo and DoorDash, shares insights on conscious leadership. He explains how self-awareness and emotional intelligence can transform leadership styles. Nickels discusses the evolution of Uber's culture from fear to collaboration, the importance of embracing emotions for professional success, and practical strategies to sharpen vision and execution. The conversation underscores the value of relationships and personal fulfillment in navigating career challenges.

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ADVICE

Conscious Leadership

Be aware of your internal world, including biases and beliefs.
Take responsibility for your influence on others.

ADVICE

Soft Skills in Leadership

Create space for others to speak, especially junior colleagues.
Avoid dominating conversations and prioritize active listening.

ANECDOTE

Uber's Evolution

JM Nickels describes experiencing "three Ubers": the Travis era, the post-Travis/pre-Dara era, and the current Dara era.
Each era had a distinct culture and focus, from the initial "pirate ship" mentality to the current focus on profitability and diverse transportation options.

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Man's Search for Meaning

Viktor Frankl

The book is divided into two parts. The first part recounts Frankl's harrowing experiences as a prisoner in Nazi concentration camps, including Auschwitz, between 1942 and 1945. He describes the inhumane conditions and the psychological and emotional struggles of the prisoners. The second part introduces Frankl's theory of logotherapy, which posits that the primary human drive is the search for meaning, rather than pleasure. Frankl argues that meaning can be found through three main avenues: work (doing something significant), love (caring for another), and suffering (finding meaning in one's own suffering). The book emphasizes the importance of finding purpose and meaning in life, even in the most adverse conditions, as a key factor in survival and personal growth.

The 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership

A New Paradigm for Sustainable Success

Diana Chapman

Kaley Warner Klemp

Jim Dethmer

This book distinguishes between unconscious and conscious leadership, offering a roadmap to help leaders transition from fear-based to trust-based leadership. The 15 commitments outlined in the book aim to enhance self-awareness, accountability, and collaborative relationships. By practicing these commitments, leaders can achieve more energy, clarity, focus, and healthier relationships, both personally and within their teams. The commitments include ending blame and criticism, speaking candidly, finding unique genius, and creating win-for-all solutions, among others. The authors provide practical exercises and resources to help leaders implement these commitments effectively[2][3][4].

Principles

Ray Dalio

In 'Principles: Life and Work', Ray Dalio shares the principles he has developed over his career that have helped him achieve success. The book is divided into three sections: the first section explains how Dalio's principles were formed from his personal and professional experiences; the second section outlines life principles, such as embracing reality, being radically open-minded, and understanding the importance of pain and reflection in personal growth; and the third section focuses on work principles, including the use of radical truth and radical transparency to transform an organization. Dalio advocates for systematizing decision-making into algorithms, learning from failures, and building a culture where it is okay to make mistakes but unacceptable not to learn from them.

Resonate

Present Visual Stories that Transform Audiences

Nancy Duarte

In 'Resonate,' Nancy Duarte focuses on the art of storytelling in presentations, emphasizing the importance of making the audience the hero and the presenter the mentor. The book explores how to structure presentations using mythic structures and the hero's journey, contrasting 'what is' with 'what could be' to create engagement. Duarte provides practical advice on understanding the audience, creating emotional contrasts, and using visual and delivery techniques to make presentations memorable and impactful. The book includes case studies, sample presentation slides, and dramatic techniques to help presenters deliver persuasive and transformative presentations[2][3][5].

How will you measure your life?

Clayton M. Christensen

In 'How Will You Measure Your Life?', Clayton M. Christensen, along with co-authors James Allworth and Karen Dillon, explores how business principles can be applied to personal life to achieve happiness and fulfillment. The book addresses three key questions: how to ensure happiness in one's career, how to build enduring relationships with family and friends, and how to maintain integrity. Christensen emphasizes the importance of allocating time and energy wisely, avoiding the trap of short-term gains, and focusing on long-term personal and relational investments. He also discusses the 'jobs to be done' concept, encouraging readers to understand and fulfill the emotional needs of those in their lives[2][4][5].