I have a tradition that Iâve been doing for five years now during the Spring season: I create a visual board that reflects how I want to show up at work, whatâs stressing me, and whatâs most important to me as a product maker and leader.
Spring is always a time of renewal - but this year there are a lot of changes going on at work: Due to companywide reorganizations, Iâve recently taken on an expanded team, wider charter, new customer segments to learn about, a new set of bosses, and new cross-executive relationships to foster. So, it felt like a perfect time to drive intentionality into how I want to show up in the new world.
Here is this seasonâs mood board:
Our reader survey shows that this is one of our subscribersâ favorite posts of the year, so Iâll share a few thoughts on my creation process and the trends over the years.
How I want to show up to the team
These three totems are all about how I want to engage with my team on a day-to-day level.
The âBe a Builderâ graphic is a repeat from last year - itâs a fun time in tech to use products, prototype solutions, and show-not-tell. In particular, Iâm a big fan of product play - using my product as a product maker not just a user - and I want to be known as a top bug finder on my team.
The âI needâ graphic is a repeat from two years ago - a reminder of a vivid conversation a departing member of my LT had with me. He told me that I needed to say âI need X from you right nowâ more. All too often in the quest for servant leadership & x-discipline alignment, I sacrifice mission clarity. People want to get asked to help and this totem is a reminder of my job to rally people to a larger cause using clear and simple language.
The âmagic mirrorâ is a new emphasis for my evolving leadership style. Iâve had a couple powerful moments recently where itâs clear the best way to deliver praise is for me as a leader to capture the strength of a team and reflect it back to them. The industry is intense, bars are being raised - but taking the time to praise the team by representing their strengths is how I want to show up this year.
How I want to push on product
I like the brutal simplicity of my product strategy reminders this year. The moon represents âmoonshotsâ - we have a new org and existing momentum in our AI strategy. So now is the time to establish big audacious goals vs. experiments - I want to establish a âPlay to Winâ culture that focuses on bold goals that matter.
Second, the waves. Yes, itâs a nod to our post popular post on Mind The Beet - but in this context it also represents the time I need to spend ensure our technical, monetization, and user growth strategy is aligned to larger forces that we can draft behind. While this is always true, with our new orgs and emerging technical bets, itâs more critical than ever to get the âgrowth systemâ around our products just right.
How I want to grow myself
Finally, two totems that are about personal growth. First is the âsystem of neurons.â When Iâm at my best, Iâm a great connector between teams, disciplines, and stakeholders. But Iâve noticed that as Iâve gone up in level and are now in a more elite peer group, Iâm falling behind from where I want to be on this. So, this is a year where I need to push for my own personal growth here - deeper bonds with fellow leaders, more curiosity to understand partner needs, and a greater understanding of the shifting stakeholders in this era of my company. Itâs a reminder for me to be the connector and win fans among my stakeholders.
Second, the âone moreâ graphic represents a mechanic for personal growth that Iâve adopted recently. It anchors on the power of incremental growth on the margins - during strength training, letâs do one more rep than I was planning. In a cross-team conversation where Iâm not feeling comfortable, find one more insight to contribute than I was planning. In social situations, ask one additional question than I was planning - even if itâs just elevator small talk. âOne Moreâ leads to growth vs. status quo.
My motto
This is the only graphic that has been on all five of my mood boards: my motto for how I want to show up at work.
Do = Act, not think or talk.
Hard Things = We do whatâs difficult so our customers donât have to.
In A Calm Way = Attention, focus, and optimism.
With Me = We are in this together.
My story arc over the years
Now that this is a Spring tradition, I have five years to look back on:
2022:
2023:
2024:
2025:
2026:
Iâve noticed a few trends:
The boards track the lifecycle of the industry - from âpeacetimeâ self-awareness in 2022 (right after my sabbatical) to the industry shock of AI (2023) to stress of keeping up (2024) to the need for speed & transformation (2025) to systems, waves, and moonshots (2026).
Iâve matured over the years in how I show up - from stressing over being âin the fishbowlâ to thinking about how to intentionally use my station to set the team up for success.
Iâve simplified my totems as the years progressed - the ones that stick around are the simple ones, often with specific stories and moments behind them.
Outcomes over activity, building over talking, and agility over perfection are persistent themes of my product making ethos.
Every board is an interesting mix of âavoiding an antipatternâ and âembracing strengths I have.â Balance is key.
This year, I tried creating the board fully with AI - using a markdown file as my âspecâ for the board. Gemini and Copilot were both too rigid in their approach to image generation and unable to getting all eight totems right at once. So, I switched back to my standby - Canva - using both their stock imagery and image generation tools inline for each totem separately.
If you create a mood board yourself, share it with me!