We all need catalysts. Catalysts keep us growing, energized. Grant Hunter, Co-Founder of Product Growth Leaders reflects on some of the growth catalysts that led him to and through a career in product management.

Grant started his career like many people do, in a large, steady, corporate ship. He launched his career with GE. At GE he picked up the skills good product managers need. This included strong market research, problem solving, and strategic planning capabilities.

I’ve highlighted six core themes from our discussion. Grant opened up and got philosophical. Most of the themes apply to anyone’s career adventures. Things like embracing problem solving and managing sunk cost fallacy. Listen to the full episode. You’re sure to pick up a nugget or three.

Don’t have time on your commute to work? Skim the top themes below. Then listen to the full episode on your commute home.

6 Core Themes via quotes

Grant highlighted six major themes you should take note of in your own career adventures.

Iterate & Problem Solve

“it looks like you changed jobs pretty frequently. What's wrong with you?…I like to solve problems. I like to figure things out. Once I figured stuff out and they wanted me to run them, I wasn't interested in that. I wanted to, figure new things out. So I was always looking for a new challenge to grow.”

Build Your Foundation

“he said, let me tell you why you don't want to take a product management job and why you want to come do market research with me. Good product management is based on good market research and analysis. If you go into a product management role, you might get some of it, but building a foundation, doing market research analysis at GE is gonna give you capabilities and skills to succeed in product management and beyond.”

Don't Overvalue the Past

“the opportunity in front of you is what guides your decision. Not, “Do I want to stay at GE?” Just like I had some hindsight regret as should I have stayed at GE the first time I had some hindsight regret when I left, it ends up a mentor of mine, who I did not expect to become the CEO and take the company public, became the CEO and took the company public. There's plenty of rumination I've done in my mind of, “Oh my gosh, if I had stayed with Charles, what would have happened?” You make a decision in the moment."

“Be Ready” to Go Back

“The opportunity to go back, the thing that stuck with me the most is, especially at companies like P&G and GE, I know that when you do your exit interview, the HR person also does an exit interview with your manager. The final question is, would we hire this person back?

I left on good enough terms with enough respect for the people that they saw the value of me and because I would not have gotten that chance to go back to G. E. if they did not answer yes to that question. And so it was sort of a come full circle.”

Product Management: An Ambiguous Field

“You have to be comfortable with ambiguity. And there's some people who aren't, right? Product management is a unique role, just like brand management. We interface with the whole organization upstream to downstream. The lens switching that you have to do mentally, you go from one conversation with finance, where you're talking pro-formas to a conversation with engineering, where you're talking APIs and user interfaces. You should be able to balance them all in. The context of the problem and persona and market segment.”

Beyond Yourself

“To have built a team like that, that succeeded, that thrived without me. It's about helping other people get better at it. And maybe that's why I ended up in the more of the educational advisory coaching type stuff.

“But it goes back to integrity. It goes back to putting the other people first. It was these people who are not selfish, right? They're selfless. They help other people. They try to make other people better on their good resources.”

Listen to Grant’s Full Story

Grant has a wealth of experience both in big corporations and entrepreneurial pursuits. You’ve read a snippet of the major themes. But, there is more. We discussed career lessons from the 2005 movie Nanny McPhee starring Emma Thompson. Plus, we discussed the key ethos of product management and how products have natural S-curves that many companies too often ignore.

Download the full episode to hear all his thoughts. It's a perfect way to reflect while on a commute.

Enjoy the episode! Thanks for you support!

Paul G. Fisher

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Eva Ruchpaul, yogi