Ken Norton

Modern structured interviews often measure a candidate's ability to prepare for the test rather than their actual ability to perform the role.

"I actually feel like maybe the pendulum shifted way too far now where it's the interview process is so structured. Everyone's doing all these mock. They know exactly what questions they're going to ge..."

The definition of a 'product team' is a primary indicator of a company's organizational health and PM role clarity.

"I think a great question... is how does the company define a product team? Because it answers so much. It says so much about culture, collaboration, decision-making, the role of product management. If..."

Tracing the lifecycle of a feature reveals the true power dynamics and operational reality of a product organization.

"I think another great question for candidates is to ask them to pick an example of something they've shipped recently and just talk about how it came to be. How did the bill become a law? Was it someb..."

Innovation is a byproduct of a culture that removes the fear of taking big risks.

"It is the obligation of leaders to create that environment for people to be able to innovate... create the environment where people can step in and bring those types of ideas, and not play it safe or..."

Difficult conversations are a core leadership competency that requires formal training and practice, not just intuition.

"Why don't you go to training to learn how to have difficult conversations? Because there's some great training about having difficult conversations... these are all really, really important factors th..."

Senior product leadership is almost entirely about people management and cross-functional influence rather than technical product work.

"The people side of this is such an incredible aspect of what product management is. What I find... is people realizing that when they're put in a position where they're expected to have impact and rea..."

Storytelling is a critical 'art' of product management that facilitates persuasion and alignment.

"The art is communication, collaboration, the more fuzzy, softer skills, people stuff... do some training about storytelling. These are all really, really important factors that start to come into play..."

Effective vision-led leadership requires balancing decisiveness with active listening and psychological safety.

"What would it be like, in my case, to lead with purpose and be decisive and lead with vision and to have other people felt like they're being brought along and listened to and participated and create..."