Scott Belsky
Scott Belsky is an entrepreneur, author, investor, and currently Adobe’s Chief Strategy Officer and EVP of Design and Emerging Products. He founded Behance, an online platform for creative professionals to showcase and discover work, and served as CEO until its acquisition by Adobe. Scott is an early advisor and investor in several businesses at the intersection of technology and design, including Pinterest, Uber, Warby Parker, Airtable, and Flexport. He is also the author of two nationally bestselling books and founded 99U, a publication and conference focused on productivity in the creative world.
AI & Technology Skills
Generative AI serves as a superpower for product leaders by allowing them to explore a much larger surface area of possibilities and scenarios in less time.
"I think that the greatest performers I've ever worked with... preserve the time to explore lots of possibilities... generative AI and AI for all, when it talks to me about just product leaders explori..."
Career Skills
The decision to pivot or transition should be based on whether your conviction in the solution has increased or decreased after gaining real-world knowledge.
"If I knew then what I know now, I would not have done this... Then, quit. Your life is short. You have a great team. Pivot. Do something completely different. If you've lost conviction, you should not..."
Hiring & Teams Skills
Effective interview questions should test for a candidate's introspection, self-awareness of limitations, and humility regarding their success.
"I like asking about something people have learned about themselves that reveal the limitation in how they work. It's a way to test introspection... I also like the question, like, 'Do you consider you..."
Leadership Skills
In uncertain or resource-constrained environments, focus on refactoring processes and leveraging technology rather than simply adding headcount.
"Resourcefulness brings you further than resources... If resources are carbs, resourcefulness is like muscle. It stays with you. It makes you stronger, and it helps you have a better intuition and bett..."
Involving designers in early-stage research and strategy discussions builds the intuition they need to make superior interface decisions later.
"One of my obsessions has been bringing design earlier into the process of product development... Having the designer hear these things and contribute gives them a golden gut as they are then sitting d..."
Product Management Skills
Aggressively removing secondary features can significantly accelerate the velocity and success of your core product metric.
"What we realized is that some things were taking off, and some things weren't... we decided to kill the Tip Exchange. And suddenly, the publishing of projects in the portfolio went up... we killed gro..."
Observing users in their natural environment provides critical context and reveals data points that analytics alone cannot capture.
"The most humbling moments for me as a product leader have always been shoulder to shoulder to customers. Watching them actually go about their day, not just use my product but go about their day becau..."