🎙️ Pod Shots

We’ve got a slightly different one this week. Recently Ed Biden sat down with Mark Long from Numi to chat about his extensive career as well as the journey to becoming a Founder, and why its so important to put time and money into your career if you want to excel.

🧑‍🏫 Ed Biden: Invest in your education - it WILL help you advance in your career

🎥 Watch the full episode here 

📆 Published: April 23rd, 2024

🕒 Estimated Reading Time: 2 minutes. Time saved: 34 minutes🔥 

🎯 Making the Transition from PM to Head of Product

Ed first delved into the challenges of transitioning from a product manager to a group product manager or head of product. According to Ed, this shift is one of the biggest changes a product manager will face in their career. To successfully navigate this transition, it's crucial to start embodying the role you aspire to achieve. Ed emphasized two key areas where aspiring product leaders often fall short:

1. Managing a Team: The shift from individual contributor to leader requires honing people management skills. Often, PMs will either grow a team from scratch or inherit a team to lead.

2. Leadership Mindset: A leadership mindset involves strategic thinking and aligning the team's work with broader business goals. This requires understanding the CEO's perspective and ensuring your team's efforts are aligned with the company's vision.

🏃‍♂️ Career Experience and the Role of Non-Professional Activities

Ed stressed the importance of extracurricular activities as indicators of leadership potential. However, he highlighted the need to calibrate expectations, acknowledging that different backgrounds offer varying opportunities. Consistent drive and achievement, regardless of the context, are strong predictors of future success.

🌍 The Impact of Generational Differences on Leadership

While some people argue that generational differences significantly affect management styles, Ed downplayed these differences, emphasising that effective leaders should prioritise guiding their teams through change empathetically, irrespective of the generation they belong to.

🏢 The Future of Work: Office vs. Remote

Ed's perspective on remote work is grounded in practicality. While he acknowledges the value of flexible work arrangements, he believes that some level of in-person collaboration is necessary for relationship-building and effective communication. The ideal setup involves a hybrid model that allows for flexibility while still fostering in-person interactions.

💡 Understanding the CEO-Product Manager Dynamic

In a recent LinkedIn post that gained significant attention, Ed highlighted the tension that often exists between CEOs and product teams. He attributed the post's popularity to the fact that it resonated with product teams who felt validated in their struggles. However, he also acknowledged the importance of accountability for product managers in delivering value and meeting expectations.

📊 The Role of Product Management in Modern Organisations

While debates continue about the evolving role of product management, Ed believes that the essence of the job remains the same: it's about blending qualitative and quantitative research, stakeholder management, and strategy to drive value. The job title may evolve, but the need for a multidisciplinary approach will remain.

🎮 Learning from Experience: Lessons from Leading Companies

Ed shared that his time at a Berlin-based mobile games company - this provided him with a comprehensive understanding of product management fundamentals. The range of activities—from modelling game economies to conducting A/B tests—helped him hone his skills and understand the creative and strategic aspects of product development.

🧩 Breaking into Product Management

Ed's advice for aspiring product managers centres around showcasing a complete skill set. Depending on one's background, it may involve learning to code or building strategic projects to fill gaps in one's resume. His course, "Effective Job Hunting," offers practical guidance for professionals navigating their next career move.

🚀 Founding Hustle Badger

Ed's journey to founding Hustle Badger was driven by his desire to create practical resources for product managers and tech professionals. The platform offers courses, a wiki, a newsletter, and a community, all aimed at solving the real-world challenges that tech professionals face in their day-to-day work.

🏞️ Work-Life Balance for Founders

As a founder, Ed understands the importance of setting a sustainable pace from day one. By bootstrapping Hustle Badger, he has retained the flexibility to control his own time and targets.

Bootstrapping could be something to consider for would-be founders to provide flexibility and control over targets and schedules, ensuring a healthier work-life balance.

Want to know more quickly? Just ask the episode below [web only]👇️ 🤯 
or if you prefer, 🎥 Watch the full episode here 

📅 Timestamps:

• 0:28 - Transition to Head of Product

• 1:24 - Paths to Leadership

• 2:24 - Leadership Mindset

• 4:33 - Empathy in Leadership

• 5:22 - In-Person Collaboration

• 8:36 - CEO-Product Manager Tension

• 10:06 - Role of Product Management

• 20:00 - Founding Hustle Badger