🏈 The Winningest NFL Coach's Leadership Lessons for PMs
+ How to become a PM, and a 5 question rubric for PM
Hello, to the many more of you. This newsletter has taken off:
From day 1, I have set out to treat this newsletter like I do the products I work on. We have identified our growth levers: LinkedIn and Twitter. Now, we are iterating on our strategy to master them. It’s called Product Growth, after all.
By far, this week has been my biggest week on both of my growth levers. I’ve now passed 17K followers on LinkedIn and 4K followers on Twitter.
And, the craziest thing is I have been doing less writing than ever. That’s right, I haven’t been staying up till 1 AM and pulling 5 hour nights as I had been since August and the baby arrived. My mom is around, and I have been spending tons of time with family.
Part of the reason I can grow on platforms while having a life is that the 5,000 word deep dives I have been doing for this newsletter take an insane amount of work to develop.
On the other hand, great Twitter and LinkedIn posts often don’t take great research. They take great compression.
Take my most popular Tweet of the week:
This tweet is the compression of 16 years of work in product. It’s not a 40 hour deep dive on a new topic.
The same applies to the following two “compression posts” I will share. These posts are governed by the constraints of Twitter threads. As a result, instead of meticulous details like my deep-dives, they focus on rhythmic wording and concision.
You can feel free to reply to this e-mail with what you would like to see more of in the newsletter going forward.
Sean McVay's Leadership Lessons for PMs
I've trained 100s of PMs. The 50% who are below average share one trait: They don't lead well.
Sean McVay, the winningest active NFL coach, is a must-know example about leadership for PMs. Here are 10 lessons from his leadership style to focus on:
1. Lead by example
As Sean says, leadership, team culture, strategy (scheme), and execution all follow from a leader's personal character "People do what you do, not what you say."
2. Set the standard high
McVay arrives at the team facility by 4:30 AM & stays long after everyone else has departed. This sets the standard for excellence high in and around the team. While I don't recommend long hours, I do recommend being the role model for high standards.
3. Love your work
McVay has insane energy and enthusiasm for his work. When he was first promoted to a positional coach in 2010, players recall the meetings getting twice as long, "and McVay still pumped up with energy." Enthusiasm is infectious.
4. Lead via principles
Sean prints on t-shirts, writes on walls, and repeats often his "McVay-isms":
⬛ The standard is the standard.
⬛ Situational masters.
⬛ We not me.
⬛ One rule -- be on time.
Repetition is the path to adoption.
5. Focus on the right level
Everyone wants to achieve competitive greatness. But that's the top of the pyramid.
First, you need Character, Connected, Consistency, & Communication
Then you need process, we not me, & standards
Then poise & confidence
Focus on the team's level.
6. Embrace the suck
Like an athlete, as a PM, you have to go through pain to get the payoff. There are going to be endless meetings and requests from stakeholders. Take them as opportunities to push forward your vision.
7. Show your team you care, and they'll give you everything you have
McVay goes above and beyond to care about his players, and PMs should do the same. Take notes on the life situation of engineers and designers. Use them to follow up. They'll give you everything they have.
8. To coach, be coachable
"Once you stop learning, you're going to stop growing," McVay says. To convince his players to listen to his advice, he listens to theirs. As PMs, we should engage in regular 1:1s and continuous feedback with all our colleagues.
9. Poise + confidence
McVay breaks down performance on game day into two key components:
⬛ Poise: Not bending to the competition
⬛ Confidence: Believing in the process and each other
PMs also cannot bend to negativity at work. They have to believe in the great PM process.
10. Urgent enjoyment
As you're going through the day-to-day grind, McVay's guide for the moment is also two components:
⬛ Urgent: who knows what tomorrow holds
⬛ Enjoyment: for the love of the process
As a PM, you probably dreamt of this job. Take the stress graciously.
There's so much more to McVay. Twitter is one place to learn more. For instance, Dave Kline's (@dklineii) thread has great insights:
There are also several great pieces on the internet. Two I would highlight are:
If you want more context on McVay's 10 lessons, I recommend these pieces.
Addressing the Skeptics
Now, for the skeptics. I hear you: "should PMs care about an NFL coach?" Like PMs, a coach has to lead via influence. Many of the players on McVay's teams are more highly paid than he is. So, in the end, has to bring them along towards his way.
And I've heard the other criticism too. "But isn't Sean McVay just a Football savant?" The sentiment that McVay is a genius has been echoed by many people.
But beyond having extraordinary insight about his field, McVay's system has many replicable aspects PMs can adapt:
Lead by example
Set the standard high
Love your work
Lead via principles
Build a strong foundation
Embrace the suck
Show your team you care, and they'll give you everything you have
To coach, be coachable
Poise + confidence
Urgent enjoyment
How to Become a PM
So, you want to become a PM. But, you haven’t coded, and you didn’t go to a brand-name school. You’re not sure you can do this.
Are you curious and hardworking? Then you can.
Here's your process:
1. Develop a long-term plan
2. Put in the extra work
3. Develop PM experience
1. The first thing you need to do is develop a long-term plan. Start with a realistic, strong goal: You are looking for an entry-level PM role at a growing tech company.
Now, ladder back from that goal to yourself. What are the gaps in your skillset? PMs must have:
- Tech chops
- Business knowledge
- Product & design sense
- Teamwork skills
- And EQ
Many people coming from alternate backgrounds are strong in teamwork and EQ. Emphasize that in interviews! But, the long-term plan is about filling the gaps. To fill in the gaps, you have to put in the extra work.
2. Let’s start with extra work for tech chops. You should start reading the top tech newsletters: Not Boring, The Generalist, and Stratechery. You should also start building things in code. Start with something simple you are passionate about.
Then, there is extra work for business knowledge. You should begin learning about the marketing, analytics, and user research concepts you are weakest on.
Finally, you should improve your product sense. Read product newsletters like Lenny's and mine. Then, go about asking yourself in normal life: Whom is this product built for? What is the job to be done it has solved?
3. Now that you’ve spent 6 months building your skills, it’s time to put a bow on the efforts with an experience you can put on your resume. Build a product, start a company around it, and list yourself on LinkedIn as the founder and product person.
Spend 6 months PMing that product. If you can, funnel its revenue into contract developers and designers. Write vision, strategy, segmentation, roadmaps, and specs for it.
You have now invested a year in becoming a PM. Now, you're ready to get to applications. Make a list of 10 growing tech companies you want to work for. Create a separate note for each company, and begin to fill in research.
Then, use LinkedIn to find all posts from PM hiring managers at the company. Message all of those hiring managers with a very short message stating:
- You saw their post and are interested in their role
- You have been doing PM at your startup that achieved X
- Something unique you researched about the company
Simultaneously during this outbound process, practice interviews. Do mocks on YouTube. Pause before the right answer is shown, and do yours.
Now, put everything together. You have experiences, interview practice, and interviews. Make your way through as many processes as you need.
If you rigorously critique and improve yourself after every rejection, you will eventually improve your interview skills and experience presentation.
Then, you will move from dealing with the stress of getting a PM job to the stress of doing one. I'll be here to help.