Andrew Skotzko

Today, I am trying out a new kind of episode bringing you some big ideas. Even before I started doing the podcast, I read a lot and I still get asked about what books I recommend all the time. So I thought it could be fun to share the key ideas from books that have been very impactful to me. By me summarizing it, hopefully you will get a sense of some of the key ideas and know if the book is worth your time and energy to go deeper on.

There is no better place to start than with possibly my favorite leadership book of all time: “The Infinite Game,” by Simon Sinek.

Here’s the teaser: you probably aren’t playing the game you think you’re playing. Or at least not with the right mindset.

Enjoy, and let me know on Twitter what you think of this new episode format and what these ideas open up for you.

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This is an experiment inspired by my conversation with Pam Fox Rollin in episode #22, exploring the adaptation of “The Timeless Way of Building” to personal and creative leadership.

“The Timeless Way” is a classic book about the design of buildings and towns, which, to quote Pam, “asserts that places where you feel yourself come alive come about through a process in which the building or town grows organically out of the inner nature of the people in it… It’s a process which allows the life inside a person to flourish openly in freedom.”

I think that is such a beautiful idea. That inspires me to wonder, what if that was the impact on people that our teams, our companies, and our leaders had?

When Pam and I talked, she suggested this idea that I wanted to explore ever since, which is what brings us here today. She said it might be really interesting to swap out the word “building” for “leaders” or “teams,” that it could reveal something very interesting. I started with that, and then made other small substitutions and modifications to make the end result flow better. In this episode, I’ll share the first thing that came out of it.

This episode is 100% an experiment with a new format, where rather than an interview, I bring you a condensed idea. Let’s give it a try and see what we think. Let me know what you think on Twitter @askotzko or via email — what you like, what you don’t, etc. If we both enjoy it, I’ll play with more things in this direction.

This is obviously a derivative work, so credit for all original material goes to Christopher Alexander who wrote “The Timeless Way,” and a thank you to the writers collective Cincibility, which previously shared just the italicized parts of the book and saved me a bunch of typing.

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Teresa Torres is one of the top product coaches in the world, and one of the people who has most impacted how I think about creating and bringing things into the world. She teaches a structured and sustainable approach to creative work that infuses decisions with customer input, and has coached hundreds of teams of all sizes around the world. She is also the author of the newly-released book, “Continuous Discovery Habits,” which I think of as the missing operator’s manual for product teams and more broadly, I actually consider a must-read for anyone doing creative work.

I say that because the the framework we discuss in this conversation isn’t really about products at all: it’s about critical thinking, decision making, and problem solving in a world that’s always changing and irreducibly complex. And the genius of Teresa’s approach is that it is a simple set of habits that you can adopt in your work to increase the odds your bets pay off.

We talk about all things product discovery, how to increase your sense of agency and overcome obstacles to being more creative, career strategy, and how to balance the unsolvable, built-in tensions that are inherent in all creative work.

It’s a privilege to bring you Teresa Torres.

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Courtney Bigony is the Director of People Science at 15Five and the creator of Positive Product Design, which is a methodology to align tech products with the latest science of human thriving. She studied with the father of positive psychology, Martin Seligman, and holds a Master of Applied Positive Psychology degree from the University of Pennsylvania. She was named a 2019 Workforce Game Changer by Workforce Magazine, and has contributed pieces featured in Forbes and Huffington Post.

I have been eagerly waiting for months to release this episode and I am so excited to bring this to you. We go deep on Positive Product Design, which was just named a finalist in Fast Company’s 2021 World Changing Ideas. In addition to that, we go deep on positive psychology and how to use it as a foundation for a fulfilling career, discuss how to craft your work around your values passions and interests, and geek out on a bunch of books that you are definitely going to want to add to your reading list.

Please enjoy learning with Courtney Bigony.

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In this episode, I share a simple mental model, ARM, for thinking about crafting fulfilling work that has emerged over many conversations in the last eighteen months.

The ARM model is a mental model to help you intentionally craft a more fulfilling job and career.

I get really fired up about career-related topics, because I really care about seeing a world of people that are fully alive. And work is a huge factor in crafting a life that makes you feel fully alive. So getting this area of your life to be a source of energy, meaning, and positive emotion is one of the best things you can do for yourself.

This is the first time I’ve talked about this model, and I’m curious to hear feedback, suggestions, disagreements, etc. Feel free to let me know via email or on Twitter!

Update: I’ve now released a follow-up episode answering four questions about the model that have come up since this episode was released. Check it out here.

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This conversation features Barry Brown, a dear friend and mentor. He’s one of those people I feel really, really grateful to have in my life. Barry helps leaders all over the world be more of who they are, and be more effective in bringing forth the contribution they seek to make in the world.

Barry is someone I call a “shaper of shapers,” and by the end of this conversation, you’ll understand why.

We dive right into the deep end about what it means to be a grounded, humble leader, and what it means to embrace the limits within our work as a pathway to our individual and collective evolution. We also discuss how to bring a craftsman mindset to your work.

For longtime listeners of the show, you may recognize Barry’s name! This conversation was one of the first episodes I released, back when this podcast was but a twinkle in the eye. And, for a bit of trivia, it was actually the first interview I ever recorded for the show. So this is as OG as it gets here. I’m republishing this conversation, because the show has grown a lot since this early interview, and I think this conversation deserves more love. I’ll do this once in awhile, to highlight an episode and feature it to all the people who weren’t yet listening to the show back when it first dropped!

So with all of that, please enjoy Barry Brown.

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Eric Steege is an energetic product leader with over a decade of experience leading large-scale innovation-focused product teams.

With what I think might be a perfect background for a product leader, Eric actually started his career as a pro soccer player and then a Division 1 college soccer coach with a masters in sports psychology! He’s been a founder and product director as well, and currently works at Amazon AWS, building the world’s largest community of product management and innovation consultants. Basically, his teams help other companies adopt Amazon’s secret sauce for building new products and businesses. He’s deep

This conversation goes into an area that I’m really interested to explore more deeply, which is about how to approach culture building. We riff a lot here, exploring different ideas around how to approach your culture like a product.

Please enjoy learning with Eric Steege.

Enjoy!

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Melissa Perri is the CEO of Produx Labs, a product management consultancy, and the author of “Escaping the Build Trap” which is one of my favorite books on product.

She’s the creator of the online school Product Institute, where she has shared her scientific approach to Product Management with over 3500 students and since 2019, she’s taught on the faculty of Harvard Business School.

In this conversation, we discuss the “missing middle” layer in organizations, how to create and maintain a product strategy, how to assess whether you want to work with a company, product operations, and much more.

After you listen to this, check out Melissa’s new podcast, Product Thinking, which launched after we recorded (link in show notes below).

Enjoy!

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Sarah Avenir is a full-hearted leader who models the strength of vulnerability in her experiments with creating sustainable businesses that are good for people and sharing her journey on the way. She is the CEO of Andyet, a people-first growth and creative web consultancy founded in 2008, and is the author of Gather the People, a book I really appreciated in which she introduced the world to a deep-not-wide marketing theory built on genuine vulnerability and authenticity.

I really enjoyed this conversation exploring people-first growth and bridging the gap between authenticity, spirituality, and leadership. I hope it inspires you to step into the next level of your leadership with a full, open heart, as it did for me.

Please enjoy Sarah Avenir.

Enjoy!

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C Todd Lombardo is a data and design obsessed product leader, currently the VP of Product and Design at MachineMetrics. He’s a mentor at TechStars, a global speaker and consultant on all things product design and customer experience, and is also on the faculty at Madrid’s I.E. Business School, and Baltimore’s Maryland Institute College of Art where he teaches graduate level courses in design, innovation, and data visualization.

And because he’s obviously bored and looking for more interesting things to do, C Todd has also co-authored three books published by O’Reilly, with his most recent book being Product Research Rules which is one of my new favorite guides to thinking about product research.

This is a fun conversation that really explores how to think about the questions that we all are asking — often unconsciously — that shape our lives and work. Talking with C Todd made me a better listener, thinker, and question-asker, and I think it’ll do the same for you.

Please enjoy C Todd Lombardo.

Enjoy!

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