Question 1

What are the key takeaways from John Mark Nickels's episode on Lenny's Podcast?

Accepted Answer

1. Drop the obsession with optics and presentations - the more you focus on making a great product instead of how you appear, the more your career actually advances. 2. Great strategy starts with deep passion for the domain, then closing your eyes and vividly imagining what the world looks like 5-10 years from now. 3. Balance vision with execution - too much theory leads to beautiful whiteboards nobody builds, too much execution leads to running through the wrong walls. 4. Emotions at work are not a weakness but a form of intelligence - fear signals something needs attention, anger signals something is not of service, joy signals something to celebrate. 5. Define your personal objective function clearly - five years from now you won't care about the slightly better presentation, but you will care about the relationships you built or neglected.

Question 2

What does John Mark Nickels say about self-worth and leadership?

Accepted Answer

"I don't actually need Dara to approve of me in my presentation in order to be okay. What I'm up to over here is trying to force self-worth and self-love from within. As long as I was going out there looking for all that stuff to try to complete something inside of me that was missing, it's like I was a hungry ghost. It's like, it doesn't matter how many Michelin star meals and promotions and money and title. It's like it's never enough." - John Mark Nickels "The more I focused on how I show up and optics and having a good deck and all this, the less I got promoted. And then the more I dropped focusing all that, and just really focusing on the work, I want to make a fucking awesome product. Whether people like me or think I'm a good PM or presenter, as long as I manifest a great product into the world, that to me is the reward." - John Mark Nickels "Step one is, am I working at a place and in a product area in which I have a tremendous amount of passion? Because for me, that is the fuel and the motivation that helps me break through to getting the strategy. I think it would be hard for me to come up with a strategy for improving the healthcare system. It's just not for me." - John Mark Nickels

Question 3

What are John Mark Nickels's views on self-worth, leadership, mindset?

Accepted Answer

John Mark Nickels: "I don't actually need Dara to approve of me in my presentation in order to be okay. What I'm up to over here is trying to force self-worth and self-love from within. As long as I was going out there looking for all that stuff to try to complete something inside of me that was missing, it's like I was a hungry ghost. It's like, it doesn't matter how many Michelin star meals and promotions and money and title. It's like it's never enough." John Mark Nickels: "You go too hard in division and theory land, I've seen that go off the axle. We had all the data scientists and PhDs locked in a room for two weeks and there's a beautiful whiteboard diagram. And then it's like, why don't we actually build this thing? You could probably go too far into execution land too. At DoorDash, some of us leaders would joke, it's ready, fire, aim."

John Mark Nickels

Conscious leadership: Unlocking vision, strategy and purpose | JM Nickels (Uber, Waymo, DoorDash)

TRANSCRIPT

John Mark Nickels

Conscious leadership: Unlocking vision, strategy and purpose | JM Nickels (Uber, Waymo, DoorDash)

John Mark Nickels

Conscious leadership: Unlocking vision, strategy and purpose | JM Nickels (Uber, Waymo, DoorDash)

TRANSCRIPT

John Mark Nickels

Conscious leadership: Unlocking vision, strategy and purpose | JM Nickels (Uber, Waymo, DoorDash)