Lenny's Podcast: Product | Growth | Career

The essence of product management | Christian Idiodi (SVPG)

Dec 21, 2023

01:33:13

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Christian Idiodi, partner at Silicon Valley Product Group, discusses the negative perception of product managers and how to fix it. He explains the four attributes of a product manager's job and the power of finding reference customers. Christian also shares his process for high-volume hiring and offers tactical tips for coaching, building relationships, and building trust as a leader.

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Quick takeaways

Coaching plays a crucial role in leadership, helping team members improve their skills and achieve desired outcomes.

Building trust is critical for effective coaching, fostering open communication, collaboration, and a positive work environment.

Coaching empowers product managers to define and solve customer problems, validate product ideas, and prioritize features based on business goals and customer needs.

Problem-focused coaching enables leaders to support their team members in finding solutions and achieving desired outcomes, enhancing the ability to deliver successful products.

Deep dives

The Importance of Coaching in Leadership

Coaching plays a crucial role in leadership as it focuses on getting better results in specific areas of expertise, such as product management. The responsibility of the leader is to provide guidance and support to their team members in order to help them improve their skills and achieve desired outcomes. However, effective coaching is often overlooked or not prioritized in many organizations. The lack of experience in receiving good coaching can hinder the ability to provide it to others. It is essential for leaders to understand that their job is not only to manage tasks and projects, but also to coach their team members on a daily basis. By offering guidance and feedback, leaders can help their team members grow and excel in their roles, ultimately leading to higher performance and success.

The Essence of Solving Problems for Others

00:42

Immersing in the Problem for Effective Problem Solving

00:59

The Perception of Product Management and How to Improve It

03:56

The Importance of Honest Customer Feedback

01:12

Introduction

4min

The Importance of Competency in Product Management

13min

The Importance of Reference Customers in Product Management

29min

Exploring the Power of Technology and Coaching for High Performance

5min

The Impact of Coaching on Communication and Leadership

23min

Empowering Africa's Future Generation

14min

Life Mottos, Showing Up, and Surviving in the Jungle

2min

A Conversation about Nigerian Food and Supporting Africa

3min

Christian Idiodi is a partner at Silicon Valley Product Group. After a long product career and founding multiple companies, Christian now spends his time working closely with product leaders at companies big and small to implement and improve their discipline of product management. In today’s episode, we discuss:

• Why there’s often a negative perception of product managers, and how we can fix this

• The four attributes of a product manager’s job: value, usability, viability, and feasibility

• The power of finding reference customers

• How Christian developed a process for high-volume hiring to help companies like McDonald’s and Starbucks

• Tactical tips for coaching, building relationships, and building trust as a leader

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Brought to you by Jira Product Discovery—Atlassian’s new prioritization and roadmapping tool built for product teams | Vanta—Automate compliance. Simplify security | Teal—Your personal career growth platform

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Find the full transcript at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-essence-of-product-management

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Where to find Christian Idiodi:

• X: https://twitter.com/CIdiodi

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

• Website: https://www.svpg.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/