100 PM

"When I was an executor I was an asshole. I was on the bottom floor being the bulldog saying, I want it now. I want it this way," she tells me. "Now it's, Where do you think we can go? How are we going to get there? There's a lot more 'we' that happens."

We're speaking of lessons learned on the job and advice from Simon Sinek's latest book, Leaders Eat Last, and we're laughing, a lot.

The first product Jacobo Plu built was a hemp bicycle frame using soybean oil resin.

Today he is among of the founding four at Yoi (alongside Keith Ferrazzi, enigmatic entrepreneur, author and former CMO of Deloitte and Starwood Hotels) — a human resources technology company now with 22+ employees; a little engine that could, and did, and is.

Chris Brereton got his start in product management as the lead screamer for the band Avarice.

“The process for me is very much the same [as being in a band], where you’ve got multiple people with multiple talents that have to somehow come together and work on their instruments or their talents in harmony and come out with some product, or song, or record, and hope that somebody enjoys it enough to buy it.”

Armen Daniyelian doesn’t mind that our recording room is a little chilly — 

“I’m Russian, so I’m used to it.”

Liam Oliver might be the only product manager who moonlights as a professional hockey referee.

He’s certainly the first person I’ve heard use refereeing as analogy for validated learning...

In this epsiode:

- Why routine and mindfulness matter

- Conducting thoughtful market research

- The power of curiosity