Leaders Unscripted

Conversations with leaders about the challenges they’ve faced and what they’ve learned.

Listen

6: Bearing the Weight of Product Leadership with StackHawk’s VP of Product, Lauren Nagel

Episode cover image

You don’t need a title to be a leader, and the weight of leadership can be a heavy burden to bear.

One of the marvels of leadership, however, is that you can grow at an accelerated rate - that much is clear from Laruen Nagel’s remarkably varied career, now residing as VP of Product at StackHawk.

Tune into this week’s Leaders Unscripted, where Lauren shares the trials and tribulations that leadership brings, how to overcome them, the value of support networks, recognizing your impact, and much more.

This Episode Covers:

  • Recognizing the impact on those around you as a leader
  • Bearing the weight of people’s expectations, particularly for product leaders
  • Flexible leadership styles, and how to adapt to different personalities and situations
  • The positive impact you can make beyond your own comprehension

Episode Highlights:

“You don't have to have a title to be a leader. Some people are genuinely born leaders, I think some people grow into it. But when you are in that position, however you get to that place, you need to recognise it, and you have to own the impact that you have on those around you.” - 6:50 - Lauren Nagel
“That is a way of being a leader - helping someone, redirecting them, giving them a different perspective. Say ‘Hey, you're not on the path you think you're on or that you want to be on. I know this and I love you and let's see if we can reposition you’.” - 8:35 - Lauren Nagel
“There's a whole machine around building pipelines and market leads and everything. But ultimately, if people get in there and use the product and don't like it and leave, that's on the product. So that's, that's a new weight that I feel.” - 15:35 - Lauren Nagel
“It is hard to make unpopular decisions, and it was hard for me to realise that being a good leader meant that I wasn't necessarily the most liked person in the room, and maybe my team would disagree with me.” - 30:05 - Lauren Nagel
“The process of learning, growing, seeking feedback and mentorship, and having that support system becomes really important. It's an awesome thing about being a leader, I think, because you can grow at such an accelerated rate.” - 35:25 - Lauren Nagel
“I've carried all sorts of things I had no business or need to carry. Then that skews your perspective of what that weight of leadership really does feel like, because it's not the true weight.” - 39:30 - Lauren Nagel

Links & References:

Constellary: https://www.constellaryhq.com/

Suzan Bond: https://www.linkedin.com/in/suzanbond/

Lauren Nagel: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurenyoungernagel/

StackHawk: https://www.stackhawk.com/