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Landing on your feet in your next Product Leadership role
After spending 19 years working for a big corporate, it feels kind of strange to have started 3 jobs in the last three and a half years. Whatever the pros and cons of working for anyone for a very long time, it’s fair to say that you know the company and the stuff you’re working on pretty well. Then you move on and you instantly feel like the dumbest person in the room!
There are lots of guides out there; books like The First 90 Days and thought leaders like Gibson Biddle have excellent content about their approach to landing on your feet (check out our chat here). But here are a few reflections of my own about how to get off on the right foot when starting that new job. This is written from the point of view of product leadership but I’m sure some of it applies to individual contributors too. I should also point out that this list isn’t exhaustive.
It all begins before it begins
One thing I like to do is start to meet the key stakeholders from the new place before I start at the new place. This might not resonate with everyone, because some people hate the idea of basically doing free work before they’ve started their new gig. And, to be fair, this step is totally optional but I find it a really useful way to get up and running on day one.
