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Preston Smalley

Category: leadership

Why Should Leadership Replace Our Personality?

Posted on 28 September 201828 September 2018

People come in all shapes and sizes. How does your individual personality enhance your leadership?

When to Ask Forgiveness and Secretly Build a Product Anyway

Posted on 19 September 201815 February 2020

Don’t let your organization kill your next baby tiger. Learn from an example when keeping secrets at work paid off for everyone.

The Unsuspected Danger of Building Good Products

Posted on 14 September 201828 September 2018

Too many companies get distracted by quality when building new products. Focus your efforts to quickly establish “product-fit” with the market and real influence over user’s daily life.

Billy Bean character in 2011 Moneyball (via Filmofilia)

The Dos and Don’ts of Leading Inherited Product Teams

Posted on 5 September 201819 September 2018

Inheriting product teams can be tricky. Side-step common mistakes to get early wins and maintain success in the long run.

How to Say “No” to Your Boss

Posted on 23 August 20185 September 2018

Five steps to pivot prescriptive solutions proposed by execs in a way that leads to effective outcomes for your products and teams.

Getting Products out from under the MIDDLE of the Bell Curve and Exceeding Expectations (SVPMA)

Posted on 12 September 201415 August 2018

Given the key role Product Managers play in creating the environment for their teams… what must they do to avoid the bell curve of mediocre products that unfortunately are the norm? I shared my perspective as the guest speaker at the SVPMA (Sept 3, 2014) based on my own experiences and other authors/speakers that I…

Play by your own rules

Posted on 26 February 201315 August 2018

Listen to your users more than the press. Don’t get sucked into the gravity hole between you and your competition. Ruthlessly run your own path, not someone else’s. – Josh Williams An excerpt from an insightful piece by Gowalla’s co-founder on how he let the competition and the press shape his startup’s priorities. A must read for anyone building…

Drive: Why carrots and sticks don’t work anymore.

Posted on 29 July 201115 August 2018

I just finished Daniel Pink’s Drive last night and am fired up.  At it’s core, he shows us how extrinsic motivators popularized in the early 20th century manufacturing management of carrot and stick just don’t work anymore and in many cases actually demotivates people. We must focus on intrinsic motivation. We do this by connecting people to…

Building Versatile Relationships

Posted on 19 April 200725 February 2008

I attended the Wilson Learning workshop on Building Relationship Versatility last week, facilitated by Suzy Hillard. A key concept to the workshop is focused on understanding the people you interact with most so that you can better adapt your social style to their needs. Here are the four social styles they’ve identified: Analytical – thorough,…

Six Styles of Leadership

Posted on 19 November 200619 November 2006

Daniel Goleman who writes on emotional intelligence, also lays out six distinct styles of leadership. Last week, Ryan Lahit of OrgLeader visited eBay to give my organization’s management team an overview of these concepts. I found this vocabulary useful in understanding and observing the styles of leadership I see in others. Six Styles of Leadership:…

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