Thread by @Altimor

1/ My most important learning since I switched to product management is the importance of all the "touchy feely" leadership stuff. I initially thought PM competence was about organization skills, and tech, design, and data savviness.

2/ But now I realize all those matter less than optimism, energy, the ability to inspire a team, make it gel, and build a culture of trust and accountability. Product management is as close to sales as it is to engineering — it's your job to always be super pumped

3/ Tactically, this means:
- Having frequent team lunches, outside the office. No group of humans can bond that doesn't eat together.
- Be authentic. Don't hide behind a bs corporate mask. Allow fun and silliness into work.
- Be genuinely concerned about your teammates' wellbeing

4/ - Of course, leading by example (is there any other way?). If you want your team to work hard, act like owners, be responsive and accountable, you have to represent all that more than anybody

5/ - Be transparent, both about yourself and what's going on in the business. If you're struggling with or don't know something, just say so, don't try to make stuff up or pretend you've got it all together. Share frequent updates, and Always Be Clarifying.

6/ - But also be resolved and optimistic. There will always be a thousand things on fire. Be open about them, and about the pain and work people may have to brace themselves for. But also always be clear that things will be ok — you *will* win, if you do the work

7/ - Congratulate a ton! 5 positives for 1 negative. Give credit to your teammates at every occasion. Let them present their work, to as high leaders and as broad audiences as possible.

8/ - Hold people accountable. Doing otherwise is unfair to everybody in the team who's working hard and kicking ass. But do so in a way that shows you care about your interlocutor. The radical candor matrix is a useful mental model here.

9/ - Don't shy away from having disagreements in public. If you take too many conversations offline, you don't expose your team to real work. Team meetings are the best time to build common knowledge about the kind of culture you want to build.

10/ I use this mnemonic to capture much of this: CASH
Consistent, Authentic, Sharing frequent and transparent updates, Holding people accountable. This is obviously missing a ton — just a couple of rules of thumb I've learnt along the way.