JM Nickels: Why conscious leaders beat optics-first managers

ℹ️ EPISODE INFO

Released

October 6, 2024

Duration

1h 18m

Channel

Lenny's Podcast

Watch on YouTube

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📝 EPISODE DESCRIPTION

JM Nickels is a Senior Director of Product Management at Uber. Previously, he was Head of Product for Commercialization at Waymo and led product teams at DoorDash. JM is also a coach and advisor focused on conscious leadership. In our conversation, we discuss:

• How to sharpen your vision and strategy skills
• What “conscious leadership” means and how to practice it
• Practical techniques for managing stress
• The power of soft skills and emotional intelligence in product leadership
• Lessons from working at Uber, Waymo, and DoorDash
• Keys to living a successful and fulfilling life
• Much more

— Brought to you by:

• Pendo — The only all-in-one product experience platform for any type of application: https://www.pendo.io/lenny
• The Enterprise Ready Conference — For B2B leaders building enterprise SaaS: https://www.enterprise-ready.com/
• Vanta — Automate compliance. Simplify security: https://vanta.com/lenny

Find the transcript at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/becoming-a-conscious-leader-john-mark-nickels Where to find John Mark Nickels:

• X: https://x.com/nickelsjm
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jmnickels/
• Website: https://www.rhythmofbeing.com/

Where to find Lenny:

• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com
• X: https://twitter.com/lennysan
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/

In this episode, we cover: (00:00) Introduction to JM (02:02) Conscious leadership explained (03:41) The power of soft skills (07:34) Navigating Uber’s evolution (12:41) Embracing emotions and inner work (21:46) Crafting strategy and vision (41:16) Balancing vision and execution (46:13) Lessons from DoorDash, Uber, and Waymo (52:32) The future of autonomous ride-hailing (55:18) Contrarian corner: Embracing emotions in the workplace (59:47) Keys to a fulfilling life (01:04:45) Taking responsibility and agency (01:07:29) Lightning round and final thoughts Referenced:

• The Power of Soft Skills: Our Favorite Reads: https://hbr.org/2023/05/the-power-of-soft-skills-our-favorite-reads
• Theodore Roosevelt quote: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/theodore_roosevelt_130674
• Content vs. Context: https://conscious.is/video/content-vs-context
• Travis Kalanick on X: https://x.com/travisk
• Garrett van Ryzin on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/garrett-van-ryzin-7084a1/
• Mike Isaac on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikejisaac/
• Dara Khosrowshahi on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dara-khosrowshahi-70949862/
• Reid Hoffman on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/reidhoffman/
• Wim Hof breathing exercises: https://www.wimhofmethod.com/breathing-exercises
• The Breath Vault: https://george-ramsay-s-school.teachable.com/p/the-breath-vault
• Waking Up app on the Apple Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/waking-up-meditation-wisdom/id1307736395
• The 5AM Club: Own Your Morning. Elevate Your Life: https://www.amazon.com/AM-Club-Morning-Elevate-Life/dp/1443456624
• The Lion Tracker’s Guide to Life: https://www.amazon.com/Lion-Trackers-Guide-Life/dp/0358099773/
• Nelson Mandela: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelson_Mandela
• Brent Goldman on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brentgoldman/
• LIDAR: https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/lidar
• Lessons from Pixar 1: The Braintrust: https://medium.com/great-business-stories/lessons-from-pixar-1-the-braintrust-e306843a5153
• Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration: https://www.amazon.com/Creativity-Inc-Overcoming-Unseen-Inspiration/dp/0812993012
• Paul Graham’s website: https://www.paulgraham.com/
• Time management techniques that actually work: https://substack.com/@lenny/p-147172995
• Getting Things Done website: https://gettingthingsdone.com/
• Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity: https://www.amazon.com/Getting-Things-Done-Stress-Free-Productivity/dp/0142000280
• Mark Zuckerberg on Threads: https://www.threads.net/@zuck
• Daniel Ek on X: https://x.com/eldsjal
• Jeff Bezos on X: https://x.com/jeffbezos
• Waymo: https://waymo.com/
• Shopify: https://www.shopify.com/
• Cruise: https://www.getcruise.com/
• Motional: https://motional.com/
• Ray Dalio “write down your principles” activity: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/raydalio_if-you-write-your-principles-down-1-you-activity-7003078168060297216-XnjV/
• How Will You Measure Your Life?: https://www.amazon.com/How-Will-Measure-Your-Life/dp/0062102419
• Seneca: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seneca_the_Younger
• Marcus Aurelius: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcus_Aurelius
• Man’s Search for Meaning: https://www.amazon.com/Mans-Search-Meaning-Viktor-Frankl/dp/0807014273/
• The 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership: A New Paradigm for Sustainable Success: https://www.amazon.com/15-Commitments-Conscious-Leadership-Sustainable/dp/0990976904

Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com. Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed.

🎤 SPEAKERS

• JM Nickels

  guest

• Lenny Rachitsky

  host

• Narrator

  other

🧾 EPISODE SUMMARY

In this episode of Lenny's Podcast, featuring JM Nickels and Lenny Rachitsky, JM Nickels: Why conscious leaders beat optics-first managers explores conscious leadership, emotional mastery, and visionary strategy in product JM Nichols, a longtime product leader at Uber, DoorDash, and Waymo, shares how ‘conscious leadership’—deep self-awareness and responsibility for one’s influence—can transform both work and life.

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