Author: Richard

  • Hey there, Billionaire!

    Hey there, Billionaire!

    You are a Billionaire. No really, it’s true! (I think.) You probably have at least a Billion seconds left to live on this earth. Most people with a Billion dollars aren’t so lucky. I can’t recall if it was Peter Diamandis or Naval Ravikant or someone else I heard this idea from first, but I…

  • Brilliance in the Basics (of Product Management)

    Brilliance in the Basics (of Product Management)

    The Marine Corps preaches “be brilliant in the basics.” Often we may be tempted to get fancy to use the latest sexiest gear and cool new techniques. But the highest payoff is almost always reflecting back on the most basic competencies and becoming brilliant in those. To do this as a Product Manager: Start with…

  • To be a leader: deliver victory, share in the suffering

    To be a leader: deliver victory, share in the suffering

    IBM is doing this wrong. The Marine Corps has done this right and it has done it wrong in its past too. How can we learn from this? This direct quote seems relevant here “How much more am I worth to IBM than that guy down at the bottom of the pay scale? Twice as…

  • Interpersonal Violence and Statistics

    Its strange how the relationship we have with death caused by interpersonal violence is so different from deaths caused other ways – I think it has to do with a feeling helplessness. If there is something we care about, we have to refuse to give in to helplessness, we have to dare mightily and refuse…

  • Love value, value love

    I’m a Product Manager, I’m also a father, a husband and a Marine and all of these inform my perspective on love. Don’t love your plan, your product, don’t love your company, don’t even love your problem. Love your people. We need to unabashedly bring love back into our lives. Ive been reminded of this…

  • Gratitude (Professional)

    As March begins I wanted to take a few minutes to reflect on professional gratitude. I’ve been quite open about my gratitude personally. There’s an intersection there, a year ago my baby daughter Winter was in the NICU (Many of these posts are protected due to sensitivity if you’re a friend just ask me for…

  • What is an “Offering Manager”?

    What is an “Offering Manager”?

    And for that matter what is an “Offering?” Or a “Product” or a “Feature” and how do you know the difference between them all? What is an Offering Manager at IBM? A Product Manager? What is an Offering? How can you tell the difference between a Product and a Feature? Why can’t you just give…

  • Thankful

    I’m back from being thankful with the family (just the 4 of us – no super-spreading here) at the NC coast – and thankful we got the chance to unplug and just be with all my little mermaids (3rd pic shows 4 years of family tradition: beach for thanksgiving) You may end up seeing the little…

  • Veterans Day: Don’t thank us, join us

    Veterans Day: Don’t thank us, join us

    On this Veterans’ Day, like on previous, I call on you, my fellow citizen, not to thank us Veterans. I call on you to join us. Serve your nation and your fellow citizens, help protect and safeguard them. We are at war with a deadly Pandemic. It is killing more Americans per day than any…

  • Cyber Security is a Team Sport

    Cyber Security is a team sport. And it doesn’t have to be a dull compliance ridden affair with death by powerpoint, click-through web based training and mindless acceptance of each and every concept by rote. I just absolutely blazed through Cory Doctrow’s Little Brother novel series including the latest (potentially stand-alone more adult- focused) Attack…