Lenny's Podcast: Product | Growth | Career

Succeeding as an introvert, building zero-to-one, and why you should PM your career like you PM your product | Deb Liu (CEO of Ancestry, ex-Facebook, PayPal, eBay)

Aug 22, 2024

Deb Liu, CEO of Ancestry and former VP at Facebook, shares her journey from product management to leadership. She emphasizes the importance of managing your career like a product—focusing on continuous learning and resilience. Liu discusses the challenges introverts face in the workplace, advocating for self-promotion and inclusivity. Listeners will appreciate her insights on creating effective 30-60-90-day plans and overcoming perfectionism, as well as her encouragement to embrace failures as stepping stones to success.

01:11:25

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Episode guests

Deb Liu

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Podcast summary created with Snipd AI

Quick takeaways

Embracing resilience and learning from failures is essential for transforming career obstacles into stepping stones for growth.

The importance of a supportive home environment is highlighted, as it significantly influences career satisfaction and enables greater focus on work.

Self-promotion is reframed as educating others about one's accomplishments, making it a vital strategy for career advancement, especially for introverts.

Deep dives

Tactical Career Advice from a Product Leader

One key insight shared is the importance of resilience in career development. Successful individuals often learn from failures and setbacks, transforming obstacles into opportunities for growth. Emphasizing the dynamic nature of careers, it is highlighted that continuous learning and adapting are crucial for keeping up with ever-evolving demands. For example, one may need to navigate different roles and responsibilities, using past experience to inform and enhance future performance.

Embrace Adversity to Build Resilience

01:21

Self-Promotion: A very important skill to set your team up for success

01:05

Embrace Lifelong Learning for Career Success

01:58

Master the Basics Before Chasing Big Swings

01:57

Intro

2min

The Power of Continuous Learning in Career Success

2min

Navigating an Unexpected Path to Product Management

5min

Passion Over Expertise: Landing a Product Management Role

2min

Embracing Resilience in Leadership

21min

Empowering Introverts in the Workplace: Visibility and Inclusivity

5min

Embracing Self-Promotion for Introverts

8min

Embracing Growth Through Incremental Changes

16min

Overcoming Imposter Syndrome and Embracing Adaptability

2min

10.

Listening, Books, and Digital Culture

7min

Deb Liu is the CEO of Ancestry and former longtime VP of Product at Facebook. At Facebook, Deb led the creation of Facebook Marketplace, developed the first mobile ad product for apps, built the company’s games business, and launched Facebook Pay. She’s also held leadership roles at PayPal and eBay, serves on the board of Intuit, and is the author of Take Back Your Power. In our conversation, we discuss:

• Why you should PM your career like you PM your product

• Strategies for incubating new products within large companies

• Creating a successful 30-60-90-day plan when starting a new job

• The pitfalls of perfectionism

• The challenges introverts face in the workplace and how to overcome them

• The value of resilience and turning failures into stepping stones

• How to leverage coaching in your career development

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Brought to you by:

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

• WorkOS—Modern identity platform for B2B SaaS, free up to 1 million MAUs

• Webflow—The web experience platform

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Find the transcript and show notes at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/succeeding-as-an-introvert-deb-liu

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Where to find Deb Liu:

• Threads: https://www.threads.net/@debliu

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

• Substack: https://debliu.substack.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 Deb Liu

(02:18) Deb’s career journey and key advice

(09:45) Navigating new roles and challenges

(11:27) Overcoming adversity and failure

(15:07) Building billion-dollar businesses at Facebook

(19:33) Strategies for zero-to-one innovation

(23:40) PM your career like a product

(33:53) Challenges and strategies for introverts in business

(39:19) Reframing self-promotion

(42:25) The power of accountability

(46:15) Growth: a game of inches

(50:52) The 30-60-90-day plan

(56:52) Contrarian corner: career and marriage

(58:57) Final nuggets of wisdom

(01:03:09) How to find a coach

(01:04:47) Lightning round

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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.

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Lenny's Podcast: Product | Growth | Career

Succeeding as an introvert, building zero-to-one, and why you should PM your career like you PM your product | Deb Liu (CEO of Ancestry, ex-Facebook, PayPal, eBay)

Episode guests

Podcast summary created with Snipd AI

Quick takeaways

Deep dives

Tactical Career Advice from a Product Leader

Balancing Personal and Professional Success

Embracing Continuous Learning

The Necessity of Self-Promotion

Importance of Intentional Career Planning

Embrace Adversity to Build Resilience

Self-Promotion: A very important skill to set your team up for success

Embrace Lifelong Learning for Career Success

Master the Basics Before Chasing Big Swings

Remember Everything You Learn from Podcasts