Expedia Product Lead on Building & Learning As A Product Manager (Part 3)
There’s no excuse to not learn. Today, the diversity of options for learning resources is staggering. YouTube alone has a treasure trove of learning resources for just about any topic. I personally think everyone should have an O’Reilly account. Having access to such a huge library of knowledge really amazes me.
Here’s a real-world example of how this might work. My wife and I are redoing the floors in our home. So the first guy we call comes to our house, and he’s kind of older. He pulls out a giant measuring tape and takes an hour measuring everything and writing things down to give us an estimate. The next guy comes, and he’s the same age as the first. But the second guy has a laser measuring device and gets it all done in 15 minutes.
Furthermore, what learning resources have the first guy tapped into since he learned to install floors? The second guy was adaptable. Guess who we will hire?
Achievements Come From Learning
The CEO of Microsoft, Satya Nadella says, “Many who know me say I am also defined by my curiosity and thirst for learning. I buy more books than I can finish. In addition, I sign up for more online courses than I can complete. Ultimately, I fundamentally believe that if you are not learning new things – you stop doing great and useful things.”
If the leader of one of the biggest tech companies on earth feels the need to explore a variety of learning resources, that’s good enough for me. As a product manager, it confirms the importance of continuous learning. Nadella is at the top of his game, but even he’s afraid to stop learning. Even he’s anxious that someone else will come along with more insight and skills. We all should have a healthy dose of that kind of anxiety.
If you find yourself feeling overly confident and sure of yourself, be careful. It might just be a sign that you have to expand your knowledge.
About the speaker
Executive product leader with extensive background managing go-to-market strategies, user experience and design, and overall product development for Fortune 500 companies and startups. Strong team-building mentality, with a history of bridging the gap between development, marketing, and UX to improve existing products and create innovative new applications.