Lucky breaks

Sometimes it sure seems like other people have all the luck and get all the breaks. They don’t seem to work any harder than you, they don’t appear to be more intelligent, and they certainly are not more handsome. So why do they get the breaks you long for? Robin Sharma, author of The Leader Who [...]

Commitment

Over the past few days it’s hit me squarely between the eyes that I have not been contributing enough to the online world. My excuse (and I’ve heard this from many product managers) is that I’ve been heads down on an intense product release and it’s sucking all my time and energy. While that is [...]

Five questions to ask each week

I ran across a great audio blog post by Mark Sanborn where he poses five questions we should ask ourselves at the beginning of each week. These questions serve as a guide to live by design and not just react to things as they come. They will improve your personal and professional situation. Here are [...]

Leadership and learning

One of the key tenets of leadership is the learning. Great leaders are learners. They read voraciously. They write and teach what they learn. Learning is as much a part of their life as eating. These are a few of my favorite quotes that illustrate the importance of learning: In a time of drastic change [...]

Capturing ideas

Ideas are the seeds from which all greatness grows. Every book and every company started from the spark of an idea. Ideas come on their own time and in their own way. Those who understand this principle find a sure path to success. The key to benefiting from ideas is to capture them. You need [...]

Battle of the bloggers

Tomorrow I have the opportunity to speak at the AIPMM Battle of the Bloggers and tell the people why Lead On Purpose is the top product management blog. Given the level of competition among the participating bloggers and the many other great blogs “out there” it’s a daunting task to say the least. In preparing [...]

Book Review: The Pursuit of Something Better

According to Jack Rooney, “Eighty percent of the failure in business is because of leaders. Yet 80% of the brunt of the failure is felt by the people who can’t do anything about it.” If you look at its opposite, this declaration clearly demonstrates the importance great leadership plays in creating successful companies. In the [...]

Do hard things

What does the statement “do hard things” mean to you? In its most simple form the statement can be broken down as follows: the word ‘do’ connotes action or “bring to pass;” the word ‘hard’ (in this case) means challenging or perhaps difficult; and ‘things’ can be any action, task, job or responsibility of your [...]

Don’t hesitate

The famous Nike advertising campaign taught us to just do it! When an opportunity arises, it’s a wise person who takes advantage. Why does it seem so difficult, so risky at times to jump at new opportunities? Perhaps it’s the fear of what we might lose or what might happen if we take a risk. [...]

A marvelous journey

I’m away this week, so I “pre-loaded” my blog with a link to a great post. On his podcast, Dr. Paul talks with John and Amy Simmons who share an amazing story about adopting children from Russia. This podcast is not about leadership or product management; however, it’s a powerful story that is worth taking [...]