What is it about the top tech product companies such as Amazon, Apple, Google, Netflix and Tesla that enables their record of consistent innovation?Most people think it's because these companies are somehow able to find and attract a level of talent that makes this innovation possible. But the real advantage these companies have is not so much who they hire, but rather how they enable their people to work together to solve hard problems and create extraordinary products.As legendary Silicon Valley coach--and coach to the founders of several of today's leading tech companies--Bill Campbell said, "Leadership is about recognizing that there's a greatness in everyone, and your job is to create an environment where that greatness can emerge."The goal of EMPOWERED is to provide you, as a leader of product management, product design, or engineering, with everything you'll need to create just such an environment.As partners at The Silicon Valley Product Group, Marty Cagan and Chris Jones have long worked to reveal the best practices of the most consistently innovative companies in the world. A natural companion to the bestseller INSPIRED, EMPOWERED tackles head-on the reason why most companies fail to truly leverage the potential of their people to innovate: product leadership.The book covers:* what it means to be an empowered product team, and how this is different from the "feature teams" used by most companies to build technology products* recruiting and coaching the members of product teams, first to competence, and then to reach their potential* creating an inspiring product vision along with an insights-driven product strategy* translating that strategy into action by empowering teams with specific objectives--problems to solve--rather than features to build* redefining the relationship of the product teams to the rest of the company* detailing the changes necessary to effectively and successfully transform your organization to truly empowered product teamsEMPOWERED puts decades of lessons learned from the best leaders of the top technology companies in your hand as a guide. It shows you how to become the leader your team and company needs to not only survive but thrive.

Part I Lessons From Top Tech Companies 1Chapter 1 Behind Every Great Company 5Chapter 2 The Role of Technology 12Chapter 3 Strong Product Leadership 17Chapter 4 Empowered Product Teams 23Chapter 5 Leadership in Action 25Chapter 6 A Guide to EMPOWERED 27Part II Coaching 31Chapter 7 The Coaching Mindset 33Chapter 8 The Assessment 40Chapter 9 The Coaching Plan 47Chapter 10 The One-on-One 65Chapter 11 The Written Narrative 73Chapter 12 Strategic Context 76Chapter 13 Sense of Ownership 81Chapter 14 Managing Time 87Chapter 15 Thinking 90Chapter 16 Team Collaboration 93Chapter 17 Stakeholder Collaboration 98Chapter 18 Imposter Syndrome 102Chapter 19 Customer-Centricity 105Chapter 20 Integrity 109Chapter 21 Decisions 114Chapter 22 Effective Meetings 120Chapter 23 Ethics 124Chapter 24 Happiness 128Chapter 25 Leader Profile: Lisa Kavanaugh 134Part III Staffing 139Chapter 26 Competence and Character 142Chapter 27 Recruiting 146Chapter 28 Interviewing 151Chapter 29 Hiring 155Chapter 30 Remote Employees 159Chapter 31 Onboarding 164Chapter 32 New Employee Bootcamp 170Chapter 33 Performance Reviews 174Chapter 34 Terminating 176Chapter 35 Promoting 179Chapter 36 Leader Profile: April Underwood 182Part IV Product Vision and Principles 187Chapter 37 Creating a Compelling Vision 190Chapter 38 Sharing the Product Vision 195Chapter 39 Product Principles and Ethics 201Chapter 40 Leader Profile: Audrey Crane 203Part V Team Topology 209Chapter 41 Optimizing for Empowerment 212Chapter 42 Team Types 216Chapter 43 Empowering Platform Teams 220Chapter 44 Empowering Experience Teams 224Chapter 45 Topology and Proximity 229Chapter 46 Topology Evolution 233Chapter 47 Leader Profile: Debby Meredith 236Part VI Product Strategy 241Chapter 48 Focus 246Chapter 49 Insights 251Chapter 50 Actions 258Chapter 51 Management 261Chapter 52 Leader Profile: Shan-Lyn Ma 264Part VII Team Objectives 269Chapter 53 Empowerment 274Chapter 54 Assignment 280Chapter 55 Ambition 285Chapter 56 Commitments 288Chapter 57 Collaboration 292Chapter 58 Management 295Chapter 59 Accountability 298Chapter 60 Objectives in Perspective 301Chapter 61 Leader Profile: Christina Wodtke 304Part VIII Case Study 309Chapter 62 Company Backgrounder 312Chapter 63 Company Objectives 314Chapter 64 Product Vision and Principles 317Chapter 65 Team Topology 319Chapter 66 Product Strategy 325Chapter 67 Product Team Objectives 334Chapter 68 Business Results 343Chapter 69 Key Takeaways 346Chapter 70 Leader Profile: Judy Gibbons 349Part IX Business Collaboration 355Chapter 71 The Role of Product Leaders 357Chapter 72 Stakeholder Management vs. Collaboration 360Chapter 73 Shared Insights and Learning 363Chapter 74 Keeping the Lights On 365Chapter 75 Evangelism 367Chapter 76 Leader Profile: Avid Larizadeh Duggan 370Part X Inspired, Empowered, And Transformed 375Chapter 77 Meaningful Transformation 377Chapter 78 Transformation in Action 380Chapter 79 TRANSFORMED 386Chapter 80 The Most Important Thing 389Chapter 81 The Destination 392Acknowledgments 396About the Authors 398Learning More 400Index 401