This New Way

The Resilient Leader's Reality Check: Planning for Change and Adjusting Your Course (with Leah Tharin, Startup Advisor)

Dec 7, 2023

Leah Tharin, a startup advisor, shares insights on leading through constant change, aligning teams with goals, allowing job trials, reality checks, planning for resilience, and mitigating risks in tech. She also discusses product-led growth, early leadership experiences, imposter syndrome, meeting guidelines to improve behavior, and the challenges of hiring the right people.

45:07

Creator website

Episode guests

Leah Tharin

AI Summary

AI Chapters

Episode notes

Podcast summary created with Snipd AI

Quick takeaways

Reliability is more important than specific skills or expertise in employees and colleagues.

Differentiating between leading and managing is crucial for effective leadership.

Empowering team members to believe in their abilities and openly communicate their concerns leads to effective decision making.

Deep dives

Importance of Reliability in Employees and Colleagues

A key characteristic of good employees and colleagues is their reliability. It is frustrating when promised tasks are not completed, leading to the need for follow-up. Reliability is more important than specific skills or expertise.

Introduction

3min

Exploring Product-Led Growth and Efficient Company Scaling

2min

Early experiences as leaders and managers

16min

The Importance of Reality Checks and Adjusting Course

4min

Introducing Meeting Guidelines: A Tool to Improve Meeting Behavior

2min

The Challenges of Hiring the Right People

19min

👉 Check out the resources mentioned here: https://fellow.app/supermanagers/leah-tharin-the-resilient-leaders-reality-check-planning-for-change-and-adjusting-your-course

How do you balance future planning while maintaining flexibility to adapt to changes?

In episode #178, Leah Tharin shares her insights from working in tech and start-ups for over 20 years. She covers how to lead your team through constant change, aligning your team with team goals, and why you should allow people to try a job before they commit to it.

You'll learn her framework for "reality checks," which she calls periodic evaluations that prevent you and your employees from getting off course. She also reveals how to avoid burnout and costly mistakes in the hiring process, planning for resilience, and mitigating risks.

Leah Tharin is a product leader, content creator, advisor, and startup founder. She has been in tech for over 2 decades and has founded 4 startups. Previously the Head of Product at jua.ai and Product Lead at Smallpdf, she is now a Portfolio Advisor at Notion Capital and Advisor to NorthOne and Paddle. Specializing in B2B product-led growth, she shares her experiences and features industry leaders on her website and YouTube channel.

Tune in to hear all about Leah’s leadership journey and the lessons learned along the way!

. . .

Like this episode? Be sure to leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review and share the podcast with your colleagues.

. . .

TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES:

[04:24] Leading versus managing a team

[10:07] Different ways to get team members aligned

[20:47] It’s very hard to predict anything

[26:25] How to handle hiring outcomes

[30:40] Allow people to try jobs before committing [37:30] When to pause the hiring process

[40:25] It takes a lot less than you think to be a good leader

RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

Connect with Leah on LinkedIn

Visit Leah’s website

Read Leah’s Product Led Growth Guide

Subscribe to Leah’s newsletter

Check out Fellow’s Meeting Guidelines
Subscribe to the Supermanagers TLDR newsletter

Remember Everything You Learn from Podcasts

Save insights instantly, chat with episodes, and build lasting knowledge - all powered by AI.

This New Way

The Resilient Leader's Reality Check: Planning for Change and Adjusting Your Course (with Leah Tharin, Startup Advisor)

Episode guests

Podcast summary created with Snipd AI

Quick takeaways

Deep dives

Importance of Reliability in Employees and Colleagues

Lessons Learned from Early Leadership Mistakes

Navigating Team Alignment and Decision Making

Investing in Strong Performers and Mitigating Risk in Hiring

Managing Hiring Processes and Avoiding Burnout

Remember Everything You Learn from Podcasts