Episode 175: Evolution of Product Management and the Importance of Diverse Backgrounds with Ryan Johnson of CallRail

In this episode of the Product Thinking podcast, host Melissa Perri welcomes Debbie Widjaja onto the show to discuss her 13 year career, and how her witnessing of the transformative power of technology on people’s lives, shaped her perspective of product management. Debbie is the Chief Product Officer of Zero Gravity, and in this episode, she shares her focus on creating products that bring a positive impact to the world, and the importance of clear product principles.

In this episode of the Product Thinking podcast, host Melissa Perri welcomes Ryan to the show to discuss product strategy, communication, and innovation within a company. Ryan has over 15 years of diverse technology and product development leadership experience and currently serves as the Chief Product Officer at CallRail.

In this episode of the Product Thinking podcast, host Melissa Perri is joined by Anthony Maggio, Head of Product and VP at Airtable. Join them as they discuss combating challenges within the digital supply chain, addressing strategy drift, and how Anthony is spearheading Airtable’s newest: Airtable AI.

In this episode of the Product Thinking podcast, host Melissa Perri is joined by Amy Edmonson, professor at Harvard Business school and author of the new book: “Right Kind of Wrong: The Science of Failing Well.” Join them as they discuss the science of failing well, what is psychological safety and the distinction between leadership and leaders.

In this episode of the Product Thinking podcast, host Melissa Perri is joined by Mark McNally, a venture innovator who founded Nobody Studios, a startup incubator on the path to creating 100 compelling companies in the next 5 years. Join them as they discuss the fundamentals of building successful companies, the importance of culture, and the role of venture studios in supporting founders.

In this episode of the Product Thinking podcast, host Melissa Perri is joined by Stephen Bungay, author of The Art of Action and former Director of the Ashridge Strategic Management Centre. Join them as they explore Stephen’s approach to strategy execution. They discuss the common struggles in strategy execution and how to overcome them in your product management team.

In this episode of the Product Thinking podcast, host Melissa Perri is joined by Margaret Jastrebski, the SVP of Product at Tegus. Join them as they explore what it means to be a leader today. They discuss Margaret’s role at Tegus, the power of alignment within an organization, understanding sales and marketing, and the importance of a vision for execution.

In this episode of the Product Thinking podcast, host Melissa Perri is joined by Jacob Morgan, author of “Leading with Vulnerability.” Join them as they explore what it means to be a leader today. They discuss Jacob’s personal journey to vulnerability, balancing vulnerability and competency, the importance of being self aware and many actionables to be a better overall leader.

In this episode of the Product Thinking podcast, host Melissa Perri is joined by Alex Wettrelos Chief Product Officer at Sunday. Join them as they explore the challenges of rapid scaling and then descaling during the 2022 tech-crisis. They discuss how Sunday, a fintech company innovating payment methods across the hospitality industry, went from an idea on a slide deck to 450 employees with $124 million of seed funding. They also touch on the differences between product management in Europe & the US.

In this episode of Product Thinking, Aaron Smith joins Melissa Perri. Together, they discuss Aaron’s best practices he learned from his time at Amazon, key leadership principles, creating a culture of accountability, and the destiny creator mindset.