Tradeshow talk

The topic of trade shows (conferences, conventions, etc.) seems to be on a lot of people’s minds lately. They (the trade shows) have become a fundamental part of many industries, especially for industries steeped in technology. However, in many ways they seem to be losing their mindshare if not their value all together. Art Petty [...]

Podcast: The New Rules of Marketing and PR

A few months back I wrote a post about the best-selling book The New Rules of Marketing and PR by David Meerman Scott. David is a thought leadership and viral marketing strategist. He has written several ebooks that have been downloaded hundreds of thousands of times. He teaches people how to get noticed online through [...]

Five factors of leadership

I’ve stated before that product managers have to be leaders (in the true sense of the word) because they have the responsibility on their shoulders to get products out the door on time, with high quality and under budget. The kicker – and the reason they must be leaders – is the people they rely [...]

Leadership and product strategy

Though the role of product manager differs from one company to the next, most product managers I know believe they drive the strategy for their products. I suppose in most cases they do. Strategic product managers spend time understanding the market and directing product activities toward meeting those activities. CEOs and other executives don’t always [...]

More great books

Since I’ve been on a book “kick” lately I wanted to share a few more great books I’ve read over the last couple years:
The Search by John Battelle describes the rise of Google and how they turned the Internet search business on its head. He discusses what searching the Internet was like before Google (I’d [...]

Great books

I mentioned in an earlier post that I had taken a speed reading course and was amazed at how much it has helped me to read faster and comprehend better. Consequently I have read a lot more books in the past few months than I ever had in such a short amount of time. Many [...]

The paradox of leadership

If you want to be a great leader, you have to be a great follower. I call this the paradox of leadership because it seems contradictory that a person who becomes a great leader would look to others for advice or have a high regard for other people. However, all the great leaders I have [...]

Ten principles of effective leadership

I recently read a post giving tips for efficient blogging. Tip 3 says readers love bullets, lists, and numbers. Reading that tip reminded me of a leadership seminar I attended last year presented by Doug Wood. The topic was becoming an effective leader. He presented ten principles of effective leadership that will build desired results, [...]

Live on purpose

One of the keys to effective leadership is being well-grounded in your personal life. A good friend of mine – Dr. Paul Jenkins (“Dr. Paul”) – has provided (and continues to provide) excellent life coaching. His work inspired me to write an article about effective leadership in product management that I titled “Lead on Purpose: [...]

Letting go

I’m a firm believer that knowledge is power. Learning and gaining knowledge is a passion of mine. One of my favorite quotes is by Eric Hoffer: “In a time of drastic change it is the learners who inherit the future. The learned usually find themselves equipped to live in a world that no longer [...]