SUCCESS is an Instrument of Torture

Let’s not bull shit each other! We can all agree that at some point in our lives, we have looked at others, what they have and how they got it, and used that to gauge success. Right?

I will be the first to raise my hand and say I am no different and have been guilty of that as well.

I must admit that when I was younger I used to do that and I was all obsessed with SUCCESS. I read frantically every book or article I could get my hands on, like Newsweek, Fortune, The Economist, Forbes - you name it. I was consuming so much content on success, obsessively reading about other people's career stories in a deep search, just blindly hoping to find that life-changing secret that would take me there as well.

Gauging by the amount of books on SUCCESS and the content that surrounds us around this topic, I can make an educated guess that I am not the only one mislead to believe this is the best way and a shortcut to finding SUCCESS.

I decided to write this piece in order to let you in on a secret: SUCCESS is absolute bullshit! It’s like a drug for all those ambitious peeps looking to improve their lives, which should be most of us. I bet we have all been sold on the dream of SUCCESS in one way or another, and made to feel that if we read and follow certain steps we’re going to accomplish something great, without actually getting us any closer to our goal.

I am telling you, this shit is an addiction. It is not worth your time pursuing this pipe dream!

“For you to be successful, you need to picture yourself where you want to be. You need to reach for a distant star, and you will get there. Do this and do that, blah, blah, blah blah.”

I think we have all read similar nonsense before… That’s the crap I am talking about. Unfortunately, I have wasted more time of my life reading useless articles on success than I can dare to call. I, for one, have completely come to terms with the notion that abandoning the fictitious concept of SUCCESS is the best way to go for any entrepreneur or businessman. It just doesn’t exist and therefore my recommendation is that we stop chasing it altogether.

Success narratives are actually condensed versions of a long history which don’t teach us anything of value. Forget about SUCCESS! Instead, we should be focused on the failures endured.

The most valuable learning tool is FAILURE.

When we fail, we learn our limits, and it teaches us how to crush those limits.

The true growth comes from all the stories in the middle of a journey that ended in some level of success as they like to call it. SUCCESS is actually an instrument of torture. It’s a myth that we get sold on to make us feel if we won or lost. It’s a fucken distraction. It’s vital to stop focusing on it!

Here is how I define this shit called SUCCESS:

• Being able to get where I want by doing what I want.
• Having the courage to tell the world they are wrong! - This takes time and isn’t that easy, as not many have the courage to do this. We naturally like to swim with the current.
• Daring to fuck things up on my own terms.

If SUCCESS were a final destination like we’re trained to believe, we would get to this destination and would be like: “OK, I have arrived, now what?”

Think about it, when we obtain something shiny and new, it's only a matter of time before the satisfaction of having obtained that wears off. Kind of reminds me of my high school days when I did track & field. One of my events was the high jump. Once I cleared the bar at a certain height, the hunger for more success inevitably forced me to raise it again, until I hit a wall and had to figure out a way to get better in order to clear that new height.

Instead of aiming for this destination of SUCCESS we’re sold on, just focus on what your ultimate goal and terms are, and be ready to suffer through it. Yes, you will suffer through it. Remember, it’s an inescapable process of torture.

For me this is a far more permanent feeling, than success itself.

FUCK MOTIVATION!

We have all looked at industry leaders like Elon Musk, Tim Cook, Mark Zuckerberg and many other successful entrepreneurs, and thought to ourselves, ‘it seems like all these guys have their shit together at all time’.

Let me break it to you! While I haven’t participated in business projects or collaborated personally with any of these guys, I have worked closely with other distinguished tech CEOs, COOs and CTOs, where I have had the opportunity to look under the hood in the most intimate way. Very often society and followers tend to build fan bases and even ‘worship’ such role models, but never ever forget that these guys are humans too, not much different than you and me. They have their ups and downs as well. And they are not necessarily always on the up.

However, what separates those accomplished tech leaders from the rest is the simple fact that they do have one thing firmed up. They can be defined as a group of highly inspired individuals that use Inspiration to effectively recharge or regain their focus.

As human beings we’re wired to be motivated by default. It’s a standard feature in all of us. The most basic and natural form of motivation that most of us can relate to is making a living. Why do you go to work every day? Think about it for a second and be honest with yourself! You wake up and jump out of bed every morning to go to work because you want to generate the economic means in order to support yourself and your family. In most cases you also want to make a difference in your workplace. If I were a betting man, I would be willing to bet that the majority of professionals are drawing motivation from these two reasons.

Q: Is this sustainable?

A: Probably not!

Q: Does this make greats?

A: Probably not!

Kind of doesn’t make a strong case for motivation, right?

Motivating is one of the most common approaches to leadership. Yet the truth is it’s just NOT sustainable over time. Remember how I mentioned before that we are wired with this trait already? Have you ever wondered why do we need more? What’s that vital ingredient that seems to always be missing?

The answer is pretty obvious but elusive at the same time: What we truly need is Inspiration!

As a leader, being able to inspire people is the most powerful trait you can think of. Having the ability to inspire someone or being inspired yourself is a deep-rooted approach that’s sustainable and one that steam roles motivation. It’s that simple!

I am a person that loves to watch and study documentaries that have some sort of biographical nature, as this type of content always presents a story line of some person fighting against all odds. But most importantly it’s about individuals like you and I. It’s not about super humans nor is it about superheroes. It’s about regular people doing big things while finding the inner strength to overcome challenges that all of us have faced.

I am a strong believer that every human being has the ability to do big things if given the opportunity and the environment to develop.

Q: I bet there are some of you that think quite highly of yourself, right?

Q: I bet you also think you just don’t have what it takes to do what the likes of Elon Musk and others have achieved, right?

A: Most of us undervalue our potential on a regular basis. Being able to overcome this shortcoming is what makes the difference between being that 9-5 person that is motivated by the two main reasons listed above, and those that are fueled up by Inspiration, which drives the execution of their bold ideas into industry-changing companies.

We all possess this untapped capability deep inside that’s being stepped on by a heavy weight called self-doubt. The difference, as simple as it sounds, is to figure out the best way for you to take that self-doubt weight that's weighing you down and just remove it.

Some will have great leaders they can rely on to help and guide them while dealing with this, and other will have to figure out what works best for them. I have had great leaders that have inspired me, and at the same time I have also had to find Inspiration in things like music, movies, documentaries, books etc. The beautiful thing is that true Inspiration comes in all shapes and sizes. There is no universal step by step instruction manual on how to get inspired. This is very much part of our unique fabric as individuals.

Some great inspirational sources:

• A sports event. A big come back and a victory.
• Music. A song like “I believe I can fly” from R-Kelly.
• Movie. The pursuit of happiness (one of my favorites).
• Ted Talks. Simon Sinek’s many great talks.
• Leaders we work with that lead by example.
• Our Kids.
• Coaches.

What Inspiration does for us:

• Gives us emotional strength.
• Provides us with fresh new ideas.
• Drives consistent and positive change.
• Power to create & innovate.
• Enables us to see the realm of alternative possibilities.
• Makes us dream.
• Empowers execution.
• Gives us hope.

You can be someone’s Inspiration without even knowing it!

One of the reasons I started writing again is because I was recently reminded by regular readers of my early blog posts of the fact that they used to get inspired by reading my articles. Many insisted that by keeping them updated on my life experiences and providing them with real-life advice, it helped them overcome many obstacles along the way. If I need to be truly honest, all those words moved me deeply. I had gotten so buried into work that I stopped sharing and little did I realize that I stopped inspiring people. I know I reached a small audience in comparison to some of these other influencers, but the point is that you can be someone’s Inspiration without even knowing it. I really believe that and it’s been proven to me time and time again.

One thing to never forget is that Inspiration can be found in the darkest of places. Don’t be surprised if you’re able to find it in between suffering or soul searching.

What It Takes To Be A Product Manager

It feels good to be writing again. I am the first to admit, I have been a complete slacker and just lazy to write lately. I went on sabbatical in early 2015. For those that do know me, YES, I took some time off to hang out with the family, sit by the beach in San Jose del Cabo, sleep until late and just do NOTHING!

 The funny and unexpected part about all this is that by the second month I was already going crazy and itching/anxious to get myself busy and involved with a new project again. Six (6) months later I decided to finally get back into it and spend some time with JewelsScent, one of the companies we're involved with through Zerimarventures. I helped out there for six months and then decided it was time for a little overseas adventure.

 Currently I live in London, where I work for eMoov, a Zerimarventures company we backed in 2013. I am acting as their CTO, firming up their tech stack and driving their product forward. Yes, product, it just seems that I can't get away from it ;). This is a truly amazing company with a strong team and run by an excellent CEO. Nevertheless, I must admit we have had our good share of challenges with product and tech, which is what prompted me to write this post about what, in my opinion, a product manager is all about.

 Early in my career when I was at Ovesrtock.com, the product manager role didn't even exist. As a matter of fact, the culture there was such that any title with the word manager used to be looked at as a bureaucratic burden. However, we did have roles such as business analysts, which, if I need to be honest, I regard as completely useless. I have experienced organizations where a simple project had a project manager, business analyst, product manager, and UX designer, all of them asked to do a simple feature any smart kid out of high school and thealmighty Google can easily coordinate by themselves.

 Oh, I almost forgot, this particular lineup I mentioned above didn't even include the director of engineering, the lead engineer and finally the guy that would write the feature. Hahahaha, this is fucken ridiculous, right? I am serious about this! Insane  don’t you think?

I talk to a wide variety of entrepreneurs and hungry peeps looking to make a mark on a daily basis. The one thing I constantly hear is that they all feelthe need of a rockstar product manager in their startup, or they want to get involved in a company as a product manager. Why a PM? Is it because someone like Sundar Pichai (Google's new CEO) was once a product manager at Google, and look where he's at now? Is it because it's the "IN" job title to have nowadays? Who knows?!

Personally, I think the reasoning behind all this is because it's one of those jobs that actually don't require you to be an expert at anything. After all, don't they say experts just fuck things up, right?

Here is a list of things I have read in multiple articles where they talk about the product manager role.

• You’re a Mini-CEO

• You're the boss

• You get to lead others

• You're the subject matter expert

• The products look and feel is on you

• You're the most important person in the company

All this sounds great, which most likely influences people to get into the role. But let's face it, it sounds fucken great! The Mini-CEO! Who doesn't like that?!

OK, it’s time for a reality check now! Over the years, I have developed a picture of what a product manager is all about. This picture has come into focus with years of being neck-deep into the role and as a result of working with many useless PMs.

When I started CommerceInterface I focused 100% on the sales and business development, and delegated and/or hired others to handle things like tech and this so called “product role”, until I finally realized things weren't going as well as we thought.

Let me remind you that I ended up in the role out of necessity. Don't they say "necessity is the mother of invention". Yeah, one of these PM's I describe above; was driving the product into the ground. Ultimately, it was my fault, since I was the one letting it happen.

I decided to hand sales and business development to a colleague who was kicking ass in the business and got into this product role. Here is what I managed to learn out of all this and how I would describe a valuable product manager:

Humility: If you don't have this, just go home! You need this in order to listen.

More listening - less talking: Often you will find yourself asking tons of questions, even if they seem dumb and/or obvious, but if you  are not able to listen, how will you ever learn and know what your customers really want? Listen, listen, listen!

Passionate about the problem, not the solution: You can get way too caught up in the solution. Problems are easy to spot and we can formulate solutions pretty quickly. Remember to listen and deep-dive into the problem, and worry about addressing the problem later. The solution will come organically.

Loves to help: Believe it or not, some people don't like to help. They like to delegate, give orders and usually hate talking to customers. You really need to love helping customers.

Values the customers point of views: How many times have we sat down to make fun of the customer for bringing up an issue we all feel is stupid? After all, we get it and they don't. Probably it wasn't well designed to start with or we didn't listen enough. If you truly value your customers feedback, they tend to always accept your product with ease.

Realizes  there are two types of customers (Internal & External): If you're servicing an external customer, you're likely servicing an internal customer as well. The internal customer (e.g. knowledge frontiers) interact with customers daily, they know the tone customers like, they have the customers pulse, etc. They are also our customers  and your best sales agents at the same time. If your internal customers love your product, they will be positive about it to your external customers.

Ability to move fast: I am all for the process approach within a product and tech organization, but don't let this get in the way of moving fast. There will be times you will need to move fast, which means no need of requirement docs, just simple feature descriptions straight into the ticket. it’s vital to make sure you use some sort of change management system (e.g. Jira, Pivotal Tracker, Trello, etc.) so you can keep all the communication on a feature within that system.

Always delivering, even if it's in small bites: Customers love new feature releases. Define natural cut points in a feature and get features out fast and frequently. It will also make you feel like you’re getting shit done. It may not feel like you are since they are small features, but guess what, you're being extremely productive this way.

Attention to detail: There is nothing worse than having a feature that just lacks attention to details. We have all been guilty of saying something like "It's good enough for release, a few small details left, but that can be done later". I hate this line of thinking! if it's a small detail, then why not handle it immediately?! My favorite quote on this is from Jack Dorsey: “Make every detail perfect and limit the number of details to perfect.”

Loves to tell a story: Your product needs to follow a story line. Support articles and “How to…” videos are all great ways to show customers how to use your product. The best way however, is to simply make them feel enamored through the user journey you take them through. Beware! This is not rocket science. You get people talking all this fancy BS about user journeys and blah blah blah. It's simple, listen, listen and listen and there is your user journey. You don't need a UX designer for this task. You just need to listen, value your customers point of view and be passionate about the problem.

Team player: You will have to make many sacrifices in order to win. Just remember one thing: don't ever ask anyone to do anything you're not willing to do yourself. A true leader leads by example and helps others become successful.

Gets it done with limited resources: Another common thing I hear: "I need more resources if you want me to complete that in addition to the other projects". Please don't fall in that mediocre behavior. Busy people get shit done, and bosses always notice and respect it. If you take something on in addition to other projects and it happens so that you miss delivering it, I guarantee you, they will respect you for taking it on and trying to drive it to completion no matter what.

Makes no excuses: People love excuses. Don't be afraid to say: "I dropped the ball on that and I haven't done it yet". It's quite likely that it slipped because you're doing many valuable things for the organization. Just learn to admit it, pick it up and get it done! Ultimately, “done” gets more respect than any excuse.

Not afraid to make mistakes: If you work with the fear of making a mistake, you're guaranteed to make one. We all make mistakes and I am one that believes we should work to get things approximately right rather than precisely wrong.

I truly hope this helps the reader in understanding the product manager role better. Some may be like "this Ivan guy is oversimplifying this and taking all the glamour out of this", while others will just get it!  In reality, it's actually quite simple.

Product management is one of the hardest jobs to define in any organization, partially because it’s different in every company. So, what's worked for me may not necessarily work for you, but I do think the basic principles I describe here are applicable across the board in many different shapes, sizes and colors. Feel free to make use of them as you see fit.

Ultimately, a product is a process of ongoing improvement, which will have many developments and iterations to make it better. Just remember that at the end of the day the best product managers are those that just always find a way to get shit done.