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)

Oct 6, 2024

01:18:05

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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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Quick takeaways

Defining a personal objective function guides priorities by emphasizing meaningful relationships over transient work-related achievements.

Conscious leadership involves recognizing one's biases and understanding the personal responsibility that comes with influencing others' perspectives.

Embracing emotions in decision-making enhances team dynamics by fostering empathy, communication, and collaboration among team members.

Deep dives

Clarifying Your Objective Function

Defining a personal objective function is essential for determining priorities in life. Reflecting on what matters most, such as relationships, can guide daily actions more effectively than focusing solely on work tasks. The speaker emphasizes that in the grand scheme, insignificant work-related achievements fade in importance compared to meaningful personal connections. This mindset encourages a reassessment of how time is allocated, reinforcing the idea that the present should be spent cultivating significant relationships.

Acceptance Over Resistance: Embrace Your Emotions

01:15

Focus on What Matters

02:26

Don’t confuse the finger point at the moon, with the moon

00:50

Everyone is a Leader with Awareness

01:01

Intro

2min

The Power of Conscious Leadership

3min

Leading Without Fear: The Evolution of Uber

7min

Embracing Emotions for Professional Success

21min

Navigating Security Compliance and the Power of Silence

2min

Navigating Mobility's Future: Strategy and Execution

21min

Emotions and Empowerment in the Workplace

15min

Emotional Awareness and Smart Sleep

4min

Humor and Mindfulness in Parenting

4min

JM Nickels is a Senior Director of Product Management at Uber. Previously, he was Head of Product for Commercialization at Waymo and led product teams at DoorDash. JM is also a coach and advisor focused on conscious leadership. In our conversation, we discuss:

• How to sharpen your vision and strategy skills

• What “conscious leadership” means and how to practice it

• Practical techniques for managing stress

• The power of soft skills and emotional intelligence in product leadership

• Lessons from working at Uber, Waymo, and DoorDash

• Keys to living a successful and fulfilling life

• Much more

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Brought to you by:

• Pendo—The only all-in-one product experience platform for any type of application

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

• Vanta—Automate compliance. Simplify security

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Find the transcript at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/becoming-a-conscious-leader-john-mark-nickels

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Where to find John Mark Nickels:

• X: https://x.com/nickelsjm

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

• Website: https://www.rhythmofbeing.com/

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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 JM

(02:02) Conscious leadership explained

(03:41) The power of soft skills

(07:34) Navigating Uber’s evolution

(12:41) Embracing emotions and inner work

(21:46) Crafting strategy and vision

(41:16) Balancing vision and execution

(46:13) Lessons from DoorDash, Uber, and Waymo

(52:32) The future of autonomous ride-hailing

(55:18) Contrarian corner: Embracing emotions in the workplace

(59:47) Keys to a fulfilling life

(01:04:45) Taking responsibility and agency

(01:07:29) Lightning round and final thoughts

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Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com.

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Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed.

Get full access to Lenny's Newsletter at www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe

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