What is 'Holistic Leadership'? In this episode, Aaron and Ben talk about what it means to be a leader and operating at more than just the process layer. They discuss how leadership and management are different, which do we most often see, and what do we need more of in the modern world? Take a listen if you're trying to improve your leadership capability and feeling stuck. Hope you enjoy!

Over and over we run into orgs that want help with 'the process'. Over and over we do a little bit of exploration and discover that the org's issues reside at a deeper 'level'. In this podcast, we walk through the three layers (Culture, Product, and Process) and talk about how so often leaders are focusing all their efforts on the layer where they can have the least long-term positive impact. Check it out, and let us know what you think!

"Product Management" is everywhere in technology. Wherever you're working there is a need to understand what we're trying to do and where we're trying to go. The role is ubiquitous, it is crucial, and it is also undeniably difficult to do well. In this episode, Aaron and Ben bring Darko Vukovic to the podcast. Darko's an ex-Riot/Google/Oracle PM who has led teams, products, and other product managers in a variety of environments. The discussion ranges from what a product manager is supposed to be doing, how do we get sidetracked, and what younger product managers can do to set themselves apart. There's a lot in this one, enjoy!

We often hear leaders lament a lack of 'accountability' around organizations. It's commonly discussed, usually when something has gone wrong. But what is accountability? Why is it not present when people seem to want it so badly? How do you set it up? In this podcast, Ben and Aaron explore the topic, walking through what accountability is, why we get it wrong, and how to set it up for yourself and those you lead. Hope you enjoy!

For this episode we got to sit down with an old friend - Andrew Brownell. He's spent years as a designer and product lead in AAA studios like Riot, Red 5, and Boundless. Included are crucial lessons on getting yourself unstuck, the social nature of design, and incorporating learning into your development approach. Brilliant guy and we had a blast.

Feedback: People don't even know what we mean when we use the term. We're talking direct, constructive, and growth-oriented - focused on the person and how they behave. We tend to focus on the work and avoid confrontation, but if you ask anyone you know its likely they have at least one "earth-shattering" story of when someone told them the hard thing and it changed their life. Why do we struggle with this? This is a key function of a trust-based and growth focused organization. To demonstrate our trust and investment in each other, we have to learn to say the hard things (and hear them too).

In this podcast we discuss and breakdown the major changes that occur as you grow into higher levels of leadership, and how our industry hasn't trained us to be effective when we get into them. Here we'll provide key focus areas for leaders at various levels and how the journey transforms what tools you'll need to be successful.

In Part 1, we talked about the framework and approach we'd recommend for a leader joining a new team. In Part 2 (this episode), we cover what bad looks like, some of the challenges you can encounter, and some real-life stories of how Ben and Aaron approached joining teams and organizations in the past. Hope you find something useful that you can apply.

As leaders, we are occasionally asked to join new teams. It could be part of a promotion or expansion of responsibility, it could be that they need help and you've 'finally' arrived to provide it. Whatever the reason, you are launched into a new and uncertain world. In this episode of the Valarin Perspective, Aaron and Ben discuss what a healthy orientation and approach looks like, and also cover a lot of common missteps, such as assuming you know what the team needs, or trying to turn the organization into something similar to what you've worked with in the past. Hope you enjoy it, let us know what you think!

So many organizations are constantly focused on solving problems and firefighting. In this reactive position we lose a level of deliberateness: Are we actually moving toward our vision? There will always be another problem to solve, and it feels very rewarding to solve them. What does it look like if we focus on abundance, and pursue opportunities instead?