意识领导力:解锁愿景、战略与目标 | JM Nickels (Uber, Waymo, DoorDash)
Conscious leadership: Unlocking vision, strategy and purpose | JM Nickels (Uber, Waymo, DoorDash)
John Mark Nickels: Get clear on your objective function, and one way that I’ve gotten clear on it is trying to think about it from future me because five years from now, I’m not going to give a if I made the presentation slightly better, but I’m going to care a lot about what kind of relationship I have with my daughters, and that means that the next action, the next thing I do today and tomorrow, those will translate into the relationship with her, right? Not to be morbid, but just again, most of us just aren’t really tuned into an awareness that our lives will come to an end. We try to pretend like we’re going to live forever and just not think about it. And the horror of it is that we succeed, right? We mostly manage to just go live our life and eat ice cream and go to work and go on vacation and do what we do. To me, an awareness and mindfulness that our lives will come to an end punctuates reality in a way that requires me to rethink my priorities.
Meet the Guest
Lenny Rachitsky: Today my guest is J.M. Nickels. J.M. has been a product leader at Waymo, DoorDash and Uber. He’s also an engineering manager at Groupon, and before that an equity trader at Getco. At Uber, he built and launched the very first version of Uber Pool and then went on to lead the team responsible for the infrastructure and algorithms powering the economic and logistics brain behind Uber’s matching and pricing systems. At DoorDash, he was head of product for DoorDash platform. At Waymo, he led product for the commercialization of autonomous ride hailing and last mile delivery. And he recently returned to Uber to lead product for the mobility team.
This conversation is a unique and beautiful mixture of hard skills, soft skills, tactics, and emotions. I won’t give away too much about the conversation, but this is a powerful one. Tears are shed, stories are shared, and I’m confident you’ll become a better leader and human having listened to J.M.’s insights and lessons. If you enjoy this podcast, don’t forget to subscribe and follow it in your favorite podcasting app or YouTube. It’s the best way to avoid missing future episodes and it helps the podcast tremendously. With that, I bring you J.M. Nickels.
J.M., thank you so much for being here. Welcome to the podcast.
John Mark Nickels: Thank you, Lenny. Thanks for having me. I’m thrilled to be here. Really appreciate your dedication to helping product managers improve their craft and up-level. We’ve done a lot of great researches out there for that, and coaching and development, as I’m sure we’ll get into, is a passion of mine as well, so we have a lot of shared interests there.
What Is Conscious Leadership?
Lenny Rachitsky: Oh, I really appreciate that. I want to start with a phrase that came up again and again when I ask people what to talk to you about from your colleagues, and this phrase is conscious leadership. What is conscious leadership? What does this phrase mean?
John Mark Nickels: To me, leadership is broadly defined as having influence in the world, and so by that definition, to me, everyone is a leader because we all have influence in some way. It’s not about whether you’re a manager or not, it’s like I have influence on my kids or my partner or my community, or the world, the way I vote, the way I show up. So we all have influence. We’re all co-creating influences of each other. So that’s the leadership piece. The conscious piece then is becoming more aware, waking up. To me, it’s like learning more about my interior world, what my background is, my biases. We all inherit certain belief systems from our parents or our church or our community, and a lot of times they kind of go unquestioned and then they end up in conflict. And so it’s really just about becoming more aware and then taking responsibility for the influence that I have. So yeah, taking responsibility for my influence in the world.
The Power of Soft Skills
Lenny Rachitsky: As you talk about this, something that came up and something that I thought about as I was preparing for this episode is this idea of soft leadership, the power of soft skills and just how important that is in success. Is there something there that comes up when I say that? Just the power of soft skills and the importance of those in being successful.
John Mark Nickels: Yeah, it’s, what was it? Theodore Roosevelt, speak softly and carry a big stick? Yeah, I think I’ve evolved in that department. I think when I was younger in my career, I thought it was really important that we got to show up to the meeting and have the right slides and be the loudest, rightest voice in the room, and that’s the way to have influence. And there’s certainly a place for having leadership in a meeting and presenting a point of view and helping guide the narrative, but to me, yeah, I would say I’ve evolved more towards sitting back. It’s also as I’ve become a more senior leader, I’m aware that there are power dynamics there. There’s imbalances where junior folks don’t feel as comfortable speaking up or I say something’s not a good idea and then, “Well, I don’t want to disagree with J.M.”
So it’s like, back to being more aware of my influence in the world. I really try to spend more time being mindful of that and say, I want to hear from other people first. I want to create space and I don’t need to win the argument in the meeting. There can be a follow-up. It’s not like this is my last chance to say something, but that’s also more true when you’re more senior because when you’re more junior, it’s like, well, this is the one presentation I have with Dara for the next six months. I really got to nail it. And so the pressure is a little bit different. Yeah.
Three Versions of Uber
Lenny Rachitsky:
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There’s a couple of threads I want to follow here, but first, I was thinking as you’re talking, when people think Uber and people that work at Uber, I don’t think they imagine people like you. And I know you were there early and then you joined again. Was that ever like a, “Is this a place for me?” Did you ever go through that struggle or is it just, yeah, I don’t know?
Starting the Inward Journey
John Mark Nickels: Yeah, yeah, I mean, I would say I have been fortunate to experience probably three Ubers at this point. We joke about Uber 1.0, the Travis era, and you hear a lot about in the media the kind of bad parts of that, but there were some really good parts too. I mean, I think there was a lot of… Like when I joined in 2014, there was this mission of making transportation as reliable as running water for anyone anywhere, which is bold, audacious, and maybe a little bit pretentious from a little bit of Silicon Valley edge, but you could feel the electricity in the air. There was this energy and excitement like we’re doing something transformational, autonomy is coming, car ownership will change. And it just like, feel, like my vibration.
And then, yeah, the good parts of that era were, Travis was a very great visionary product leader, and we started ATG and Elevate and these future-forward things and the way he would conduct product reviews, I learned a lot. It was stressful at the time, but looking back, I was like, wow, I learned a lot. But yeah, I would say it was not a very conscious leadership sort of place. You’re right, it was like many organizations that run on fear because you can do that, carrots and sticks do work. But actually that’s kind of how I found this work is it was in 2015 and I was a very junior product manager at that point, in over my head in a fast-growing place. And in these weekly reviews with Travis as we were building out Uber Pool, and I had a six-month-old daughter, my firstborn, and we had just moved to San Francisco from Chicago. So my whole life was in flux and it was a very stressful place, and I was like, “I think I’m going to snap. I don’t think I can handle this.”
And that’s kind of what led me to start to explore this sort of inner work and meditation and sort of finding a way out of that. And that’s what got me interested in bringing it to teams too, is because I remember I was in one meeting where we were working on this future pricing thing, which is rider pricing, driver pricing, incentives, and how we bring surge pricing and all that together. And it gets very, I’ll go heavy, and we have all these PhDs in the room, some of the best minds in the world. We were able to hire people like Garrett van Ryzin, who was the foremost [inaudible 00:10:04] more person from Columbia and other people.
But everyone’s back to lizard brain, everyone’s arguing. They’re like, “Well, no, I think we should do it this way. We should do it this way.” And I was like, huh. As much as I enjoy the content of this, believe me, I’m an algo PM end to end, I love that stuff. But I was like, I don’t think this conversation actually needs another PhD, or I’m not even PhD, but content expert. It’s like what we need here is a way to shift again, back out of that fear, threat, righteousness sort of state into a more co-creative, collaborative, open-minded, curious, trusting sort of space. And that got me interested in pursuing more skills in coaching of individuals and teams.
But yeah, to your Uber question, yeah, the Uber 1.0 was crazy. Uber 2.0 was kind of like, Travis is out, the board is feuding, is leaking to Mike Isaac, whatever. And then Dara comes in and the peacemaker and then tries to stabilize, but the IPO is rocky. And so now I would say we’re in Uber 3.0, which it’s full pirate ship to navy, in Reid Hoffman’s words, a profitable company. We’re printing free cashflow, we’re in the S&P 500, we’ve established the independent contractor model in a lot of states and jurisdictions, and it’s like there’s less risk of that model changing.
And yeah, I would say we’re in an era now of Cambrian explosion of different types of transportation. The company really just built the UberX model and scaled it out to the world. That’s primarily how we got here. And now it’s like we’re going out for all these different new sort of modalities, whether it’s reserving a ride in advance or shared rides or renting a car or buses, and then different supply types too. It’s not just contracted, we have a lot of fleets in the platform, we now have a lot of taxi drivers in the platform. You’ve seen we’ve signed deals with Waymo and Cruise and other autonomist players. So I feel like we’re now at the beginning of another era of Uber and transportation, that the next decade or two, it’s going to be super exciting.
The Reptilian Brain in Teams
Lenny Rachitsky: One quick tangent, UberX, a previous guest shared that the name UberX came from… it was just like the internal code name, UberX, we’ll figure out a real name later, and then it stuck and no one had a better name. Is that true?
Uber 2.0 and 3.0
John Mark Nickels: Yeah, that’s right. I think that’s right.
How UberX Got Its Name
Lenny Rachitsky: Amazing.
John Mark Nickels: When I joined, we were already scaling UberX rapidly. I joined in early 2014. That’s amazing. But I did help name Uber Pool, Uber Pool, which I selflessly like to bring back. It got renamed to Share during my external APM rotation.
Accepting Emotions Over Fighting Them
Lenny Rachitsky: Okay. I want to come back to the thread that I pushed us off of, which is you talked about, you made this really interesting point about emotions, and this is something I’ve been learning myself recently with having a kid and also a couple of previous guests. So you say that when you have… so you’re in this meeting, you’re stressed, there’s a lizard brain kicking in. Something’s like, “Oh, Dara’s going to think I suck and it’s going to really screw my career if I mess up this presentation.” Your advice there is very counterintuitive, I think for a lot of people, which is accept that emotion. Because when I feel stressed and nervous in a meeting, I’m not, “Embrace the nervousness, let it out.” It’s more I’m just like, “No, it’s fine. Going to be okay. Don’t worry about it.” Talk about why that is actually more effective.
John Mark Nickels: Yeah, yeah. It’s like my daughter the other day had some nightmares and she was like, “Dad, how do I stop thinking thoughts about the nightmare or whatever?” And I said, “You can’t. Don’t try to stop the thought. Just allow it. Let me show you why that doesn’t work.” I said, “Don’t think of a pink elephant. What did you just think of?” And she’s like, “A pink elephant.” And then now she thinks it’s hilarious and she tells her sister, “Don’t think of a pink elephant.”
But yeah, I think you’re right. It is a little counterintuitive, but one of my first coaches actually had a great phrase, what you resist will persist and what you fear will appear. And so in my experience, this is another reason why becoming more aware of my internal world has been so important. I have more agency than I realized on the outcome of my experience. And so when I think a thought like, Dara might think I suck and then I have a thought that I suck, that can become a self-enforcing negative feedback loop where I have a thought that creates stress, anxiety, fear, and then that triggers more thoughts and we call it cognitive emotive loop where you’re kind of in this cycle of thinking stressful thoughts and then having unpleasant, anxious, fearful feelings. And so one way to break that is to just allow it and not try to fight it with other thoughts.
Hungry Ghosts and External Pursuits
Lenny Rachitsky: So the advice is very tactically, so you’re in a meeting with Dara, you’re stressed about something. Just allow it, let it be. Don’t try to pretend like it’s not there or don’t try to convince yourself-
John Mark Nickels: Well, that would be the first step, is just to allow whatever’s here, thoughts and emotions are rising. They come, they go, they’re transient. It’s not permanent. There’s a lot of wisdom I think in the Buddhist lineage around those concepts. And then the next piece for me, once I can take a breath and relax a little bit, is coming home to the fact that I… and this is a little more radical for some people, 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. And so we talk about approval, control and security. It’s very easy to look for that from the world. Do you approve of me? And if not, can I control outcomes to get approval or get security and get the job, the bank account, the house, whatever it is?
But what I kind of woke up to at one point was that 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 and whatever. It’s like it’s never enough. It’s like you kind of enjoy it for a little bit and then you get back to like, hm, you know? So it’s like a never ending sugar addiction. And so that’s the next step for me is allow it. Yes, allow the emotion, allow the thought. Come home to, “I am okay even Dara does think I suck.” And then also it’s not permanent, right? It’s like sure, there might be some high stakes things in life where you only get one shot, but for the most part it’s like if I didn’t do a great job on this presentation, there’ll be another one. It’s okay.
And think of it as practice. The other thing is from the fear threat state, I’m like, uh-oh, this is a risk, alarm bells, my career could be over. Whereas if I’m in that trusting, curious, open space, it’s like this is an opportunity for feedback. How can I learn? How can I get to become a better presenter? It’s like the feedback from others is no longer a threat. It’s actually a gift. It’s like information that I can use or not use to alter how I show up in the future and the skills I develop and all that good stuff.
True Purpose Versus Surface-Level Work
Lenny Rachitsky: I imagine some people may hear this and feel like if Dara or Travis or whoever thinks I suck, my career is at stake and that really matters and everything’s going to fall apart in my life because I get fired, there’s stakes involved with messing up. Is there anything that helps you get past that and not worry so much about just this trickle effect of all the things that could go wrong if you mess something up in an important high stakes meeting or presentation?
Surface-Level Work and Resource Allocation
John Mark Nickels: Yeah. Again, and maybe it is a little paradoxical, but what I found was 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. Because for my first few years of Uber, I was a senior PM and then I finally got my groove and started kind of moving through the product ladder. And it was really correlated to me at least, maybe causal, with dropping a lot of the focus on the presentation and how I show up and whether people like this or not, and just really focusing on the work. It’s like, you know what? I am here to be a conduit from what wants to happen in the world of transportation and mobility and shared rides is one that I’ve always been particularly passionate about, so that’s a good example, and then how can I get present and listen to what wants to happen next in the world of shared rides? And there’s lots of different ways we can take the product and all that.
And it’s really about, I want to make a fucking awesome product, right? And it’s like, 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 makes riders better off, drivers better off, cities better off, less congestion, all these things, that to me is the reward. And sure, in order to manifest that, it is often helpful to communicate things, present, align, all those sort of things. But those are a means to a more powerful and transformative end than just my career. I’m tapping into a larger purpose and sense of belonging and identity and sort of meaning. And from that place, it’s like I’ve just dropped the kind of egoic, self-centered focus on whether I did good in the presentation or not. And then yeah, maybe paradoxically, by doing that, it actually goes better and we do great work and it gets recognized.
Aligning Strategy With Vision
Lenny Rachitsky: Wow, that is fascinating. To make that work, you need to really connect with the mission of the company you’re working at. You really need to believe this is very important and very meaningful. So maybe that could be an issue for people if they don’t really care about what the company’s doing, it’s going to be hard to allow for that approach.
John Mark Nickels: Totally, totally.
Ride-Sharing and the Future Transportation Ecosystem
Lenny Rachitsky: It’s interesting that you say that optics aren’t as important. I think the reason I think about this as you talk about, a lot of people feel like there’s the work and then there’s talking about the work, making the work, the optics of what you did is really, really important. And I love to hear. Nobody wants to do that, but they always get this advice. So important, optics, how you share the impact you’ve done, how you represent yourself. I guess, is there anything else you can share there about just helping people relax about that aspect of their job and without being so critical?
Turning Future Visions Into Reality
John Mark Nickels: Yeah. And to be clear, I do think it’s important. It can’t be all work and no optics or all optics and no work. There does need to be a balance there, and I think it does change depending on the size of the company and the level of seniority. When you’re an IC, you’re probably hopefully doing more actual work, and leaders are supporting them and presenting and communicating that work so that they get.
I mean, the optics does matter, right? At some senior level, you do spend more time on that, and it does have influence, back to the influence piece, which is like, how will I communicate an idea and the need for engineering resourcing and so forth might mean that team gets more engineers or doesn’t get more engineers, or we do this project or we don’t, right? Because at the end of the day, executive resource allocation is largely based on the, quote-unquote, “optics layer”. So it does matter. I want to be clear. I’m not saying it doesn’t matter, but to me, again, it’s more about that’s a means to an end. It’s not about the optics itself. It’s like say what the Buddha is saying, don’t mistake the finger pointing at the moon for the moon. And the finger pointing at the moon could be the presentation, the OKR, you know, whatever. And it’s like, that’s not the actual outcome we care about. That’s an input to the output that really matters, which is the work, the product.
Lenny Rachitsky: Okay. I’m going to shift this to hard skills and another kind of direction. So another thing that came up a bunch when I was asking people what you’re amazing at and what you’re really good at is strategy and vision. I had this quote from one of your colleagues, Brent Goldman, “J.M. thinks big, has lots of great ideas, will ‘yes, and’ to other people’s ideas, will inspire everyone around him to be more creative, ambitious, and hardworking. He doesn’t climb hills, he finds bigger mountains and will bring you there.” So along these lines, say someone comes to you and wants to build these skills, wants to get better at strategy, wants to get better at vision, which is something basically every product leader is trying to get better at and every leader wants to get better at, what advice do you generally share? How does one improve in these areas?
The Future Strategy of Uber Rides
John Mark Nickels: Yeah, thank you. I appreciate the compliment. Thank you, Brent. That is a great quote. Wow. Yeah, I mean there’s no magic toolkit or manual. I’ve long ago given up on the notion that I’m one book away from the perfect elusive answer to whatever plagues you in life. And there’s obviously lots of books about strategy and you get into all that. I guess for me, a couple of things have been helpful. One is you mentioned earlier finding a mission that you’re really passionate about. I think it would be hard for me to come up with a strategy for improving the healthcare system. It’s like, sure, it’s important. I hope someone does it and figures out how to deal with HIPAA and whatever, all this stuff, but it’s just not for me. It’s not my purpose, mission and vision in life.
And so 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. That’s the first step. So that’s where I feel enormously lucky because again, this revolutionizing transportation and car ownership and what happens with autonomy and form factors and future of cities is something that I’m super excited about. I think about my daughters growing up and having a different world to live in that’s safer and more environmentally friendly, all this stuff, and I get really jazzed when I think about, wow, the work I do could actually impact their future lives and other people. It’s like, whoa, I can feel the chills right now. It’s just super motivating. So that’s the first place, just getting myself fired up.
And then the next thing I guess that’s been helpful is I’ve deeply immersed myself. I haven’t really jumped around between crypto and gen AI, this stuff, and a lot of people do that. It’s great, nothing wrong with that, but I’ve been in this largely focused on mobility space for 10 years now with some stints over in the restaurant tech and delivery side, but very related in terms of last mile logistics. And so I think it’s hard to come up with a great strategy if you’ve only been working in an area for six months. Especially things like this, they’re super nuanced. Shared rides is another a good example where it’s a super hard problem to crack and it’s going deep on that for a long time is a precursor to being successful.
The other thing I would say though is people always talk about first principles thinking, but if there’s truth in it, I think that’s like when Elon’s like, “Well, why does the rocket cost a gazillion dollars to launch? And there’s no reason they have to throw away the materials and blah, blah, blah.” One example might be, why do we need a 4,000 pound vehicle to move a human three miles? Okay, well… Or even a couple of humans. We do an Uber Pool or a Share, and you move two humans or three humans, even then that’s pretty inefficient. If you think about just the physics there, the energy expenditure.
And that’s where I think you might come up with bikes and scooters and little other things. And sure it’s not always, it’s raining or you want the car, but that’s sort of an example of why questioning why are things the way they are, and then is the way they are super inefficient or not optimal in some sense? And that is often a doorway to opportunity to see, okay, well maybe things could be different. And so I kind of extend that at a larger level to the future. My general thing is just like, yeah, that’s the mountain thing is I try to just close my eyes and imagine the future as far out as I can.
It’s like five years from now, 10 years from now, whatever. And it’s develop a really salient picture of what that looks like. It’s like, we could do this right now, it’s okay. 10 years from now, what could San Francisco look like? Or some city? What happens to the parking spaces? Are there still parking garages? Are those parks now? What are the modes of transport? Are there bus-like things that are autonomous that are connecting people to bikes and scooters? And how are people living? Do they live in the far suburbs even more because autonomy and they have a nicer house and they come in, or is all the space repurposed and actually it’s cheaper to live in the city because we compact things, blah, blah, blah. It’s not even about having the right one, it’s more just developing some sort of picture of the future that gets you fired up.
And then yeah, you got to go articulate that and communicate it and get people to come on the journey with you. But from that picture, it’s like, well, first principle, what’s going to be true 10, 20 years from now? Well, autonomy is a given. I think most people would probably agree with that, and we’ll probably solve it with just cameras and won’t need lidar because humans don’t have lidar. The cost of vehicles and sensors will come down, remote support will come down, and at some point it’ll be super cheap and it’s like, okay, I can extrapolate, that will be a thing. Separate from which player wins. I’m not saying I can predict the ecosystem of companies that will win here. It’s more about just the underlying dynamics. And then that would be one, and another one would be sharing. It’s like, well, a lot of people are like, “Oh, well, once we have cheap autonomous cars, everyone can just have their own super cheap Uber, Tesla or whatever it is here in the city.”
And you’re like, “Well, that doesn’t work because then we’re going to hit this induced demand concept,” which is what economists call it, and you used to, when text messages cost 50 cents a piece, how many did you send versus now when it’s free, it’s in the millions. Same thing when they add a lane to a highway, the traffic just gets just as bad as before because more people drive and so forth. So if we flood the streets with super cheap autonomous cars with single occupancy, we’re just going to have even more good luck than we do right now. Maybe we’ll do The Boring Company thing and dig tunnels, but that seems unlikely.
So then for me, it’s like, well, from first principles, shared rides is going to continue to be an important part of the future of transportation. And other modalities where yeah, back to the three mile thing, it’s like, well, there probably will be various form factors of bikes, scooters and little mini golf cart things and whatever we end up building. And so that’s hopefully an example of how I try to think about what are the likely things to be true in the future, and then how does that lead to a potential ecosystem and strategy around what we might build towards that future.
Lenny Rachitsky: This is great because this is something everyone can do, and there’s all this talk of creating a vision, painting a vision, communicating a vision, and what you’re describing is how to actually sit there and think about what it might look like. Sit there, close your eyes and in your head visualize in the next five or 10 years, what does the future actually look like? And do you do this in a state of if we were to do this product and change, or is it just even if we’re not around, here’s where the future is going to go most likely, which direction do you usually take?
Focusing on High-Leverage Priorities
John Mark Nickels: Yeah, that’s a good question. I think you could probably do either. I typically like to start with the former, which is just like, what will the world move towards absent of me? Just trying to pick a bird’s-eye view of what I think the trajectories are and trends and what’s going to happen. And then yeah, you could apply a lens of, okay, if we were to build product XYZ or have the strategy, how might we influence the outcome or benefit from it, or is it in congruence with that or is it rubbing against that and trying to change that? Either could be good, you might say it’s a tailwind or a headwind, both are overcomeable, but having some awareness of the relationship between those things is good.
Core Principles of the GTD Method
Lenny Rachitsky: And I think transportation, Uber, Waymo, in theory it might be easier to visualize that future and how exciting that might be versus a B2B SaaS payroll app or some photo sharing thing. But on the other hand, not necessarily, right? What in the future in 10 years, how are people going to be paid? How do people work at companies? I think there’s an opportunity to do that no matter what you’re building. Is this something you actually do? You just sit there in the office, close your eyes and just imagine? Is this more of an iterative process where you get with your team, how do you actually practice this?
John Mark Nickels: Yeah, it’s not like something you can just schedule 30 minutes for in the middle of your day of packed OKR reviews and random one-on-ones and meetings. It’s like, I like to do it on my own at first unless it’s something that I already have an outline for and I’m ready to move into a team space. So for me, it’s like, yeah, can I get into a quiet contemplative space? So yeah, I like to go for a run and that obviously gives me ideas, or I’ll go for a hike up in Marin and sometimes I’ll just think of stuff or jot something down or make a voice note while I’m doing that to get things going. But yeah, the first step for me is just getting out of the craziness of day-to-day. To me, it’s still insane how many product manager, leaders of all kinds just run the schedule of back to back meetings, 30-minute review, big meaty topics, you run out of time, run to the next thing, answer a bunch of emails, and then cram some PRDs in there. It’s like, it doesn’t work.
And so I’m a big fan of carving out time, again, first for myself, a couple hours, whatever, where I can just get out of the day-to-day craziness and get into that head space of five, 10 years from now. It’s just a different place. So you need to transition to that. And then bring that to teams. If I have an outline of that kind of future of transportation in my head, I might share that with a group of folks and we’ll come together also for some extended period of time. We recently had an all-day Monday thing where eight of us came into the office to talk about future of marketplace, and it was super productive. It was like, laptops down, we’re going to spend all day together on a whiteboard. It’s like a lost art. People don’t use the whiteboards anymore.
But yeah, and then from there it’s getting more people and then you can kind of iterate on it. It’s like I had some vision of the future and someone points out something that is a little bit off with it or has a better idea. Then you move into co-creation. But I love that. It’s like Pixar calls the brain trust. If you read [inaudible 00:32:28] book, how they come up with a Toy Story and Inside Out and all these things, is they have this group of people that just sits around riffing on ideas. And again, there’s no judgment, there’s no attachment to being right. They’re in a co-creative sort of space where they’re just like co-exploring and riffing with each other. And I love to be in that space with other PMs and engineers and data scientists.
Balancing Vision With Execution
Lenny Rachitsky:
Something I’ve started to do, which is hard, but I find really valuable is when I’m driving to not play anything on the radio, not listen to any podcasts, and it’s so unnatural and it’s like, oh, this is hard. I don’t want my brain to just go… you don’t trust your brain to go to a place that’s fun, but it always does. It always ends up being like, oh, that was so interesting just to think of this idea that just came up. So I’ve been trying to do that, and that’s such a simple thing to do. Just don’t turn anything on.
John Mark Nickels: Well, it’s not really good for your podcast business to tell people not to listen to podcasts.
Lessons from Zuckerberg and Spotify
Lenny Rachitsky: Okay, everyone, we’re cutting this. What I find really helpful is playing Lenny’s podcast every time I’m out and about.
John Mark Nickels: No, but there’s something to what you said, which is there’s always a lot of content out there to pursue, and I’ve been in that mode where I’m like, yeah, more content, more… But yeah, actually similar to you, spend a lot of time now not listening to anything. Go on a hike where you don’t listen to a podcast or music on your commute and see what happens. You might be surprised.
Applying Lessons Across Different Companies
Lenny Rachitsky: Yeah. And it always ends up being like, oh, that was cool. And that’s where shower ideas come from and all these things. Maybe just to see if there’s something here, in this meeting that you have, this ideation brainstorming meeting, is there anything that came out of that that was really surprising or new from a recent experience? Is there anything there of just like, oh wow, we really uncovered this potential wrinkle of the future that we really need to think about differently?
Uber vs. DoorDash: Cultural DNA Differences
John Mark Nickels: Well, it wasn’t maybe a specific wrinkle, but one of the things that we’re thinking a lot about, like I’m fortunate to be involved in trying to help develop and articulate a multi-year three-year product or even overall tech strategy for the mobility business at Uber. And one of the, I guess big ahas for us is as we move away from the, in some ways simpler world of UberX being the predominant product, which is it used to be pretty simple. It’s kind of like a taxi meter on the driver’s side. There’s a time and distance rate that everybody gets, and then on the rider’s side it’s like, sure, there’s some surge pricing based on supply and demand, but it’s one product, it’s pretty straightforward. And so this future of multi-modality and on the both demand side and the supply side is what makes the marketplace even more complex and challenging to build.
And so it was kind of all this around, okay, well now that we have taxis in the platform and we have fleet providers and we’re starting to add Waymos and Cruise and other things, we have to have a marketplace that’s aware of those different types of supply and which one might be available for what trips and how to think about cost and quality and allocation of trips and all that. And then on the demand side, it’s like, yeah, we’ve got all these different products like shared rides and reserved rides and comfort and X and priority, and it’s like how do we think about how to price those relative to each other? How do we think about which one’s to show which user? How do you think about the ranking and so forth? And then that all has feedback loops into the pricing and matching itself as well.
So the dynamics of the thing, when I think about the future of marketplace, Uber, is like, whoa. And I don’t think anyone’s ever built that. That’s the super cool thing about it. I think we have the best logistics marketplace tech on the planet and we built something that no one else has ever built, relative to digital marketplaces, for example, just different physical world requirements. And then this next arc of what I described of thinking about different types of supply and different kind of demand channels just adds even more complexity to that. But the aha was like, I guess, yeah, we got to think about all that stuff and think about how the supply and demand relate to each other and yeah, it’s going to be cool.
Lenny Rachitsky: It’s just an infinitely cited marketplace now. That’s wild. One last nugget I wanted to just reinforce that you shared about how to become better at strategy and vision, developing great and interesting and innovative strategy, and vision is going really deep on a topic. So you’ve been in the space for a long time. There’s this idea that Paul Graham talks about, I think, called your top idea or something like that, that when you have… Whatever your top ideas, the more you can just think about that and keep that top of mind as you go about your day and just have one core focus, the more likely it is you’re going to come up with new interesting ideas because your brain’s going to keep working on it when you’re driving around listening to Lenny’s podcast. Just kidding, or going on hike.
So I think that’s a really important point is if you’re finding you’re not coming up with a great strategy or vision and just having struggles, part of it might just be you’re not spending enough time in that space, you’re not going deep enough in the problem area. One approach is just spend a decade in that space. Is there anything else just comes up as I say that of just how to do that?
Balancing Action With Deep Reflection
John Mark Nickels: Yeah. Well there’s also, that’s at the macro level, maybe spending 10 years in a space, but at the micro level, back to kind of like defrag your day, don’t just do the 20, 30 minute meetings on 20 different topics. Sure, sometimes you do that first and you got to do that. You have a large team like I do, obviously reviews across teams. I’m not saying I don’t do that on some days, but it’s like, yeah, what are my top few things, right? I think, you’re right, I think it was Peter [inaudible 00:38:52] or PayPal guys talked about that too, going really deep and having a person or a leader really responsible for one core, deep thing for the company, and that’s something they immerse themselves in. And so in the micro, that to me again translates to, yeah, I don’t have a to-do list of 20 things. I try to have a to-do list of three of the most important highest leverage things that could have impact broadly across the company and then try this, like you said, let that one top thing marinate and chew on it.
Waymo Lessons and Autonomous Driving Commercialization
Lenny Rachitsky: I love that. And I recently had a post about all these productivity tricks, and one of the things that I find really helpful is at the beginning of each day and also at the beginning of each week, just write down, here’s the one to three things that I need to do and get done. And everything else, I might have this really long list, but here’s the three things if I get done, life will be good. I’ve done a lot. I’ve accomplished really great, important things.
Breaking Free from Victim Mentality
John Mark Nickels: Totally. I tried to do the David Allen GTD thing once, the super complicated organization system. It was too much structure for me. I couldn’t do it. At the end of the day, what you said is right. There’s basically three things that I need to do next, and then there’s just some random backlog that I can just scan through periodically and that’s it. That gets you most of the way.
Lenny Rachitsky: It’s crazy. I read that book 20 years ago at this point, and there’s elements that still make things, like I leverage and benefit from. Even if you don’t do the whole thing, that book I recommend people read because there’s just like, if you pick a couple things from there, your life gets better. The things that have stuck with me, the main one is this waiting for concept of if you’re waiting, if you email your designer and like, “Hey, I need you to review this product,” just note, “Waiting for Dan to review design.” And just having that thread written down and not in your head really helped me.
Rapid Fire: Book Recommendations
John Mark Nickels: Totally.
Lenny Rachitsky: Yeah. Anyway, I’m not going to go on that tangent.
Movie and Television Recommendations
John Mark Nickels: Yeah. It’s the core concept of like, whatever steps you use. I think the most powerful takeaway from that book for me was if it’s in your head, you’re screwed because it’s like you’re trying to keep track of stuff and be creative and come up with the future of transportation and remember to pick up something from the pharmacy. It’s a recipe for disaster. This whole idea of empty mind, beginner’s mind, well, you have to empty the mind of all the to-dos first. Just get that out of the head.
Great Products Discovered Recently
Lenny Rachitsky: Absolutely. I think it was mind like water, that’s the one that stuck with me, where nothing you need to remember can be in your head. It needs to be written down somewhere Anyway, let’s not go into a whole productivity podcast here.
A Personal Life Motto
John Mark Nickels: Perfect.
Lenny Rachitsky: So we talked about vision strategy. So there’s classically two problems people have with vision strategy. One is how do I get better at it? The other is just like, I need to actually get shit done. I can’t spend all my time thinking about vision. You have a really good take on how to find this balance and you’ve seen it work well and not well, just vision versus execution. When do I go big vision, how much I spend on vision versus just get shit done, execute, execute, execute? What could you share about just what you’ve learned about how to find that balance and what you’ve seen work and not work?
A Story About Travis
John Mark Nickels: Yeah, I think you can go too far either direction, right? It’s like everything in life is about balancing the polarity between two opposing forces. And so in this one it’s like, yeah, you go too hard in division and theory land, I’ve seen that go off the axle, early Uber where again, back to the future of pricing, it’s like we have all the data scientists and PhDs locked in a room for two weeks and there’s a beautiful whiteboard diagram. What did it look like? And then it’s like, why don’t we actually build this thing? And engineers are like, this is like boiling the ocean. And you just get wrapped around the axle of like, well, that sounds really good in theory, but I have no idea how to even start executing on this. So that’s probably an example of we tilted a little too far towards the vision theory land.
Lenny Rachitsky: And this was, you’re describing the original plan to make a really good surge pricing algorithm?
John Mark Nickels: Yeah. This was a plan to try to bring together, say how we do driver pricing, time and distance rates, but also we do incentives for drivers where it’s like if you drive this many hours a week, you get a bonus. And there’s also surge pricing and how to tie all those systems together in a very sophisticated sort of way. This was back in 2017 or something and it winged a little too hard into theory land.
And we still have that bias sometimes. We joke about marketplace, especially when we talk about with other teams that are trying to integrate in the marketplace, let’s say they add fleets or teams with a big new product. And then marketplace people would be like, “Well, have you thought about this one random problem that could happen two years from now if teams become this much of demand and blah blah blah, whatever.” And it’s just like we do get wrapped around the axle on that sometimes. But yeah, so the future of pricing is a good example, we winged a little too far into theory land. But you could probably go too far into execution land too. And I’d say DoorDash in my experience would do that sometimes where we used to actually even half joke there, some of us leaders would be like, “It’s ready, fire, aim.”
And it was like, people would be like, “I’m just going to run through a wall. I have no idea if that’s the right wall to run through, but at least I know I’m running through a wall.” So yeah, I think it’s about balance and can you adjust. Again, it’s dynamic. I think there’s times where you’re in a soul searching sort of, “What is our product strategy? We got to pivot.” Maybe you’re a startup and it’s not working and you want to think about… And then it’s like, okay, well pull off the gas a little bit, ease up on the execution and let’s lean into the strategy vision piece. And there’s times where the strategy and vision’s pretty baked at least for the next whatever, six months, a year. And it’s like, okay, pedal to the metal. Let’s just go execute. Let’s get it done.
Lenny Rachitsky: I just went to this Acquired Podcast event at the Chase Center. Zuck was there, and the CEO of Spotify was there too. And there’s two quick anecdotes that you remind me of. One is, Zuck talked about how once Facebook and Zuck and the team align on here’s where we’re going, no matter how many walls appear in front of them, there’s going to be a Mark shaped hole in the wall very soon because they’re just going to run through and get things done that they need to get done. And I really love that mentality of once we’re sure where we’re going, we’re going to bust through these walls.
John Mark Nickels: That’s awesome.
Lenny Rachitsky: The other is a really interesting value at Spotify. So Daniel Ek shared this. He said, “At Spotify we have this core value, talk is cheap.” And when you hear that you think it’s saying talk is not valuable, and it’s actually they look at it as a virtue. Talk is cheap, we can talk and it costs us no money, very little money compared to building something. So they actually spent a lot of time at Spotify refining their ideas and discussing until they’re really sure something is right. And I guess any reaction to that? Because I thought that was really interesting.
John Mark Nickels: Yeah, I love that. It’s almost a different flavor of, I think the base of saying of he’s like, I like a crisp dock and a messy meeting. The whole Amazon thing, if you have the three-page or seven-page narrative, it’s written with the clarity of angels singing from on high, at least describing how the problem statement or feature or whatever. And so it’s super crisp and organized and well articulated. And then you might have a meeting where you pick it apart and you talk a lot. That’s what made me think of that.
Lenny Rachitsky: Yeah. Awesome. Okay, couple more things I want to spend some time on. One is you’ve worked at a lot of really interesting successful hyper growth companies, DoorDash, Uber, Waymo. You were also in finance for a while. I want to pick on a few of these and just see what’s a lesson you took away or what’s an experience from that time that might be interesting or helpful to people?
John Mark Nickels: Sure.
Lenny Rachitsky: So you talked about DoorDash a bit. What did you take away from your time at DoorDash? What’s something you saw there that either is like, wow, that’s a really cool thing I want to do in the future, or here’s something they weren’t amazing at that I learned to try to avoid?
John Mark Nickels: Yeah, yeah, it’s really amazing to get to see different places and pick the best of what you like. And also the other thing is back to like, for me, there’s no right or wrong, it’s just differences have pros and cons. There’s always two sides of the coin. So what’s interesting I think about Uber and DoorDash is first back to the mission and the strategy. They started with different DNA, right? So Uber started with it was to utilize blocked cars at the airport that were not doing trips, but it was more about the riders. It was like whatever origin story you believe, Travis and whoever can get a ride in Paris. And so then it was about better than taxi and all this stuff, but it was very rider centric. It was consumer centric in that sense.
And so for a long time, I think Uber kind of took that too far. We got to the polarity of drivers are a commodity, blah, blah, blah, and they had to flip that back and start really investing more on the driver’s side of the marketplace. But you look at DoorDash and it’s like, Tony grew up in his parents’ restaurant kitchen and the DoorDash thesis was how can we help small businesses be more successful? And delivery was just the first instantiation of that sort of meta purpose of DoorDash. And so they’re much more merchant centric as opposed to consumer centric. And by the way, the consumer centricism of Uber that started with rides than translated to Eats. I think when Uber started with Eats, it was like, “Well, we just want Lenny to have some great Thai food and sushi and have some options. But selection is a means to Lenny having a great eater experience.” Whereas DoorDash with their merchant focus is like, “We want every Thai restaurant in this city to be successful and be on DoorDash.”
So their motivation for selection is, “We want all of the merchants to thrive and survive.” So that happens to give you better selection as a result. But the motivation was very different. So the analogy I use is Uber is to Amazon as DoorDash is to Shopify, if that makes sense. Amazon has always been more consumer focused, Shopify is obviously very merchant focused.
Lenny Rachitsky: Interesting.
John Mark Nickels: And by the way, either of those, again, there’s no right or wrong, is a fine strategy. They’re both great companies. And I actually don’t know if you could do both. Is it possible to be Amazon and Shopify? To really focus on consumers and build all the merchant restaurant tech? And maybe with enough resources and time, but that would lose focus. So it’s like there’s a trade-off there. Yeah.
Lenny Rachitsky: Yeah. Like at Airbnb, there was always this, “Should we optimize for hosts? Should we optimize for guests?” And there’s always this like, “This time, guests are most important. Right now hosts are more…” Make these trade-off decisions in the marketplace. So it’s interesting that at Uber, your insight there is Uber is always very rider focused, and DoorDash from its DNA was very merchant focused. You also talk about at DoorDash, there’s this mentality of just going before figuring out where to go. Is there anything more there that might be helpful, either as a cautionary tale or as a lesson?
John Mark Nickels: Yeah, I think it’s a balance. It’s back to I don’t want to deliberate and pontificate for weeks on end about which door I should run through. And I don’t want to go to the other extreme and just spend 30 seconds thinking about what to do and just go, go, go. So it’s finding that kind of happy medium. If I had to pick one, I’d rather bias towards running through a wall than not doing anything, because you still get learnings from that and you either make progress or you don’t, and that gives you feedback and you can run through another wall as a result. So I think the biggest failure case is probably erring on the other side of deliberating too long without action.
Lenny Rachitsky: What about Waymo? What’s something that you took away from that experience as a thing that you want to do more of or something you want to try to avoid?
John Mark Nickels: Waymo is, you’ve probably seen people in San Francisco, they’re quite prolific now in terms of they’re all over San Francisco and you see them all the time. And I’m not sure, I can’t remember the last time I saw one towed, I don’t want to say that they’ve solved self-driving, but they are obviously driving at scale with very minimal, at least real world intervention. You can’t tell by looking at the cars how many humans behind the scenes might be helping provide guidance of the car or whatever. But yeah, I would say what’s really interesting about Waymo is they’ve largely solved the self-driving piece, however they’ve done that, and in a complex environment like San Francisco, and you see them driving in fog and rain and puddles, and it’s like, wow, that’s pretty cool.
But I think what Waymo was learning, and I was trying help them learn is that building a self-driving car on a test track is a very different problem statement than scaling a fleet of thousands of cars. And how do you operate them, clean them, charge them, maintain them, and then how do you build the ride share network? It’s like, okay, well we got to build an app and we got to acquire users and do classic growth stuff and think about that marketplace and matching and pricing and those are very different skills. And so it’s like a warning that those are different things.
And trying to hire for that and build culture around that was hard, honestly. It’s just like you’re kind of a different thing than the host organism. Most of the host organism is just obsessed with perception and planning and all the core autonomy pieces and you’re like, the commercialization people there, “Well, now we’ve going to make money with this thing.” That’s why I think that’s an example where your overall vision would say Waymo is to build Waymo One. Just be mindful that it’s more than just one. There’s multiple pillars of that. There’s the self-driving piece, there’s getting a lot of cars at scale, financing them, operating the fleet, getting the demand, filling the cars with people, and then it has to all come together.
Lenny Rachitsky: Right. Yeah. It’s so interesting that your title is Lead Product for Commercialization of Autonomous Ride Hailing at Waymo, and now it’s come full circle where at Uber, that’s going to be in a sense the way that people call Waymo. And so it’s so interesting that you’ve seen both sides of this.
John Mark Nickels: Yeah. Well, we’ll see what happens. I think Uber, it got out of the autonomy business when it divested Autonomous Technologies Group or Advanced Technologies Group. And right now our stated strategy is to be an aggregator. So it’s like, we are partnering with Waymo, with Cruise, Motional, others in China, et cetera. And then the idea is to have every vehicle on the platform really, right? Autonomous or not. And then use the power of the platform, we have this big demand base, we have a lot of riders.
And so I think what you’re seeing is, Waymo and Cruise and others are like, “Okay, now that we’ve developed autonomy, what’s the path to profitability for us?” And so they can go it alone and try to build a ride-share network. And Waymo is doing that with Waymo One, but it turns out it takes a while. It’s funny, I feel like engineers too are always skeptical of why other people’s engineering problems take so much work. There’d be engineers at Waymo would be like, “Why does Uber have so many thousands of engineers? How hard can it be to build a ride-share app?”
But when you look at what made Uber successful, what we’ve been perfecting for the last decade, A, the marketplace tech that I alluded to earlier, but also how we manage a large rider base and doing rider support and driver support and logistics and all of the helping finance electric vehicles and working with regulators and cities and making sure we have safe and accessible pickup points and on and on and on. And those are all the depth of the iceberg that you don’t really realize or think of when you’re like, “Oh, I can just build a ride-share app.” Right? Tesla publishes their sigma design and some earnings report and everyone goes crazy like, “Wow, okay, well I don’t want to bet against Elon because that sounds scary,” but there is more to it than just the app and the autonomy.
So yeah, I think these companies will have an interesting question. Do they go alone, build their own ride-share network to capture all the value, or do they say, “Well, I could just work with Uber and have a faster path to high utilization of the vehicles,” which unlocks financing and more vehicles and that gets them to scale faster? And so if you look at the landscape right now, it’s a bit of both, right? Waymo is obviously working with Uber in Phoenix and we just announced Cruise will come back to some city next year I think, but Waymo is also still building their own thing, so they’re kind of hedging their bets at the moment.
Lenny Rachitsky: I want to take us to a recurring segment on the podcast that I call Contrarian Corner. I feel like you’re going to have a good answer here. What’s something that you believe that most other people don’t believe?
John Mark Nickels: One is back to being aware of your internal state and allowing emotions and thoughts is… Emotions in the workplace, a lot of people have the thing of like, “Well, there’s no need for emotion in the workplace. We’re going to be logical. We’re going to be data-driven. Keep your feelings at home. Just show up and presentation J.M. Mode.” And I guess in my experience, there’s this thing around whole body intelligence and whole body, yes, which is yes, there is signal from the head and logic and data and left brain reasoning are amazing and it could be great, but there’s also heart and gut. And to me, what is an emotion? It’s just energy moving on the body. Often it’s correlated with a thought too as well. I might have a thought that creates fear and so forth.
But to me there’s wisdom in emotion and I can start to access noticing them more. Like where do I feel sadness in the body? I notice I feel fear in the kind of center of my chest, and then sadness is like a sinking feeling in my stomach. And I notice when I’m angry, my jaw gets tight and my eyes furrow a little bit. And so those are common ones, but you may have your own little signatures of you pick up where is joy, where is creative energy? Where is fear or sadness, anger? And then noticing those in a meeting or in a conversation or review. And actually if you’re willing, even just voice it to other people, that’s like the next step. But start with just acknowledging it to yourself.
And so for me, the wisdom of emotions is fear is something wants to be paid attention to. There can be the saber-toothed tiger is not really Dara disapproving of me, whatever. I shouldn’t be afraid of that. But there are times where fear is applicable. There might be fear around, let’s say back at Waymo, you want to be really intentional about safety and you want to be super… That’s one of the things I love about Waymo is they’re very committed to having a super strong safety record. And so there might be fear around did we really consider all the edge cases of what might happen if a dog runs in the street or a ball or child or whatever, and you might see wow, fear. It’s great. The wisdom of that is something wants to be paid attention to and listened to. Okay, great.
Sadness for me is something wants to be let go of. There’s a mourning, there’s a letting go of I had an idea or vision for the future that will no longer be because whatever, something happened, other people don’t want to do it, this or that. But it could be a vision of a relationship, it could be a vision of what you thought your life would look like, whatever. We all go through those sorts of things.
And there might be micro-moments of sadness of like, wow, that feature didn’t work. It’s like I really wanted it to be successful. I just let go of that, welcome the sadness. Anger to me is something is not of service to me or my people or my mission or whatever I’m up to. And so again, that can be a great signal to like, okay, I pay attention to that. I want to change something. And then joy is something that wants to be celebrated. We had a great win. We nailed the OKR, we had a great product launch. A lot of times we spend too much time moving back into the next, okay, let’s set another goal. It’s like, it’s okay to stop and celebrate.
And then creative energy is something wants to be born into the world. It’s like it’s almost like I’m going to birth an idea or a vision or some new product thing and then just tuning into that. So yeah, I would say welcome emotions, maybe even talk about them, god forbid, in the workplace. Imagine that instead of having a OKR review where you’re behind target and everyone’s blaming other people, and you could tell when it’s kind of fearful, if someone was just like, “Wow, I noticed that I just feel fear around this.” Everyone was like, “Wow, I feel fear too.” That would just totally change the tone of the conversation.
Lenny Rachitsky: The advice here is bring your emotions into work. Don’t let emotions… What most people believe is leave your emotions at home, don’t bring your emotions into the workplace, and what you’ve found is they actually can make you more effective and make your teams more effective. And you even talked about it helps you make decisions in a more intelligent way because your gut and lizard brain almost tells you things that you should pay attention to.
John Mark Nickels: Totally.
Lenny Rachitsky: I love that. Okay, so I’m going to close with a question that is rooted in something that you shared with me when we were chatting about this podcast that I think is going to be helpful to a lot of people. What have you found to be keys to a successful, impactful, rich, fun life?
John Mark Nickels: It’s a great question, and I think lots of people have different prescriptions for that, and I don’t claim to have the one truth around that, but the first thing I would say as a meta observation is I spend a lot of time thinking about objective functions. We design algorithms to do matching and pricing and think about short-term effects and long-term effects. And so I really am ingrained in this idea of we have an objective function for our life. And then the problem is that a lot of us aren’t conscious of it. It’s just like an implied OF that you inherited values from your church or community or what your parents valued or what you learned to be good at, and I do this for work and blah, blah, blah, and I’m just kind of bobbing along.
That’s why I love Ray Dalio’s principle thing where it’s like, Hey, write down your values and your principles and get clear on what they are. Or Clayton Christensen wrote a great book that he’s less known for, he’s obviously known for Innovator’s Dilemma, but he wrote a book called How Will You Measure Your Life? And he was trying to answer this question of, he teaches whatever, MBA students at Harvard, and he’s like, “Wow, all these executives are super successful. They’re like Fortune 500 execs. They’re most super successful, but they’re all divorced and their kids hate them and their personal lives are a mess. What’s happening?” And so one of the key insights he comes to is like, it’s Sunday night and you have the choice of playing with your daughter, or you’re reading a book or playing a game, and you have a presentation to Dara on Monday. And he’s like, “Well, I could make those slides a little bit better and I could go practice or knock out some emails,” or whatever it is you want to do.
And so what he basically found was the type A exec, successful people are very short-term OF driven. They’re like, “Well, presentation’s tomorrow, and that can either go great or okay based on Sunday night.” Whereas like, “My daughter will be here, I’ll play with her next week.” And the problem is that he’s getting in this cycle where it’s like, okay, you start working every Sunday night and then years and years go by and suddenly you don’t have a relationship with your daughter who’s now a teenager.
But I think we’re just not conscious of that. So to me, the first piece of advice would be get clear on your objective function. And one way that I’ve gotten clear on it is trying to think about it from future me. Because five years from now, I’m not going to give a shit if I made the presentation slightly better, but I’m going to care a lot about what kind of relationship I have with my daughters. And that means that the next action, the next thing I do today and tomorrow, those will translate into the relationship with her. And I think a lot of us aren’t just tuned into that.
I love the stoic stuff, being mindful of death, Seneca, Marcus Aurelius, all those great ones. Not to be morbid, but just again, most of us just aren’t really tuned into an awareness that our lives will come to an end. And we try to avoid that and we try to pretend like we’re going to live forever and just not think about it. And the horror of it is that we succeed. We mostly manage to just go live our life and eat ice cream and go to work and go on vacation and do what we do. And that can lead us to doing things that ultimately don’t matter in the long run, and focusing on the wrong things.
And so to me, it’s like an awareness and mindfulness that our lives will come to an end punctuates reality in a way that requires me to rethink my priorities, stop wasting time on things that don’t matter with people who matter. This relationship, this journey, it will come to an end. I’m actually tearing up and feeling tingly just saying that. It’s like even right now, come back to it. How am I going to spend my afternoon? Am I going to hug my daughters? Am I going to spend time with them after work or am I going to do email all night? What would I wish I had done when I’m in my last breath?
Lenny Rachitsky: There’s a quote that I heard once that really stuck with me that I think is going to hit a lot of people really hard, which is that the only people that will remember you working late every night is your kids.
John Mark Nickels: Wow. Yeah.
Lenny Rachitsky: Yeah. An important reminder. J.M., we’ve covered a lot of stuff. Is there anything else that you think might be helpful for people that you want to leave listeners with? Or we’re going to have a lightning round coming up, but before we get that, we ended on a really powerful, impactful note. Is there anything else along these lines that you think might be helpful for people that you want to leave them with?
John Mark Nickels: The one thing I’d encourage folks to do out of all of these we talked about is to see if you’d be willing to commit to breaking out of victim consciousness and mentality. And it’s not to say there aren’t victims in the world, there are real injustices and things happening, but most of us, I’ve experienced, I often can fall into the trap of living my life at the effect of, right? I’m at the effect of other people and what they do. I’m at the effect of circumstances like COVID or Trump or whatever. I’m at the effect of the conditions and circumstances of life, and I feel like life is happening to me.
And so to me, the most empowering and radical transformation that I’ve been able to cultivate and develop is shifting from that to a state of I I am willing to take responsibility for how I see the world. And I may not be able to change the weather or the election or all that, but I can change how I’m being in relationship to it and choose to see it as a growth opportunity, as learning, how am I co-creating it, even things that I play a small part in, injustice in the world, how am I perpetuating that and being willing to see the world as I’m the painter of my existence?
I think Viktor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning is probably the best example of that. He’s in a super oppressive situation that is very horrific and tragic, and the way he described his relationship with the people in the camp and the guards, and he given he gave a talk after he was free, the amount of compassion and empathy he had for his oppressors was just amazing. So I’m like, well, if he can do that in the face of those conditions, I can show up differently in a product review or in a conversation with my partner or meeting or whatever it is.
Lenny Rachitsky: Yeah, I think just that skill alone is such a powerful unlock for a lot of people instead of, here’s all the things that I don’t have and here’s all the things that are setting you back and all the things that are hard for me versus other people. Shifting to, I need to take responsibility for my own success and no one else will. And just taking agency is a really powerful thing. It’s easier said than done. There’s a lot of hardships. People have a lot of things that they don’t have that other people have that are hurting their career and hurting their ability to be successful, but still, the more you can take responsibility and have agency and the less you have this victim mentality, I 1,000% agree, there’s so much power there. So that’s an awesome lesson to end on. With that, we’ve reached our very exciting lightning round jam. Are you ready?
John Mark Nickels: I’m ready. Let’s do it.
Lenny Rachitsky: Okay. First question, what are two or three books that you’ve recommended most to other people?
John Mark Nickels: In the realm of the soft skills and conscious leadership, the best one is the 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership by Diana Chapman and Jim Dethmer. And those were my early coaches and teachers almost 10 years ago, and Diana is still my coach. So I think that’s a fantastic book that we’ll go into more detail about some of the things we talked about around fear and threat versus trust and drawing a triangle and all that great stuff. That’d be one that I’d definitely recommend first. Another one more in the content world is I think you had Nancy Duarte on your podcast one point.
Lenny Rachitsky: Yeah, Nancy Duarte. Yeah.
John Mark Nickels: Or Duarte, sorry. I love her book Resonate. I know she has some other ones too, on slide design and stuff. But what was so cool about that, I gave it to PMs all the time when I’m trying to help them develop their communication, storytelling, and presentation skills. And she goes through those TED talks and Martin Luther King, I have a dream, and going to the Moon, and basically make the spark line against it to understand this concept of resonance with the audience. It’s actually a great skill for, back to vision and north-starring, she said what all these things do is they alternate tension between the world as it is and the world as it might be. And it’s like, here’s that beautiful future of transportation, San Francisco, blah, blah, blah, but here’s why it sucks today, all these problems and this and that, but here’s how it could look in a few years.
And then you’re creating that tension and the audience at the end is like sweaty palms and like, “I want to help build that future.” What do you need? You need money, you need time, resources, join your company. Great. So anyway, Resonate, Nancy Duarte, great book. Those would be some of the top two that I recommend. There’s not one specific book, but I really love Alan Watts’ books if you’re into… He was one of the first people to articulate and kind of import Buddhism and that sort of Eastern thinking into the West, and he just has a very satirical, comical sort of not taking myself too seriously style and just like the way he explains a lot of those concepts. So that’d be another one.
Lenny Rachitsky: He also has an amazing voice if you listen to recordings of him with music, it’s just so fun to listen to.
John Mark Nickels: Totally. Actually, Sam Harris’s Waking Up app now has the entire… he worked with I think Alan Watts’ son. So the Waking Up app has all 80 or 100 hours of recorded Alan Watts lectures.
Lenny Rachitsky: Oh my god. There’s YouTube videos.
John Mark Nickels: [inaudible 01:10:06]
Lenny Rachitsky: There’s some awesome YouTube videos of him that are worth watching, we’ll link to some of those. And then Nancy Duarte, she shared exactly that lesson on the podcast that we had together. So if you don’t want to read the book and listen to her give this tactic of this way to communicate a vision, you can listen to that episode, we’ll link to it. Next question, do you have a favorite recent movie or TV show you have really enjoyed?
John Mark Nickels: Yeah. The last movie I really enjoyed was Inside Out 2 with my kids, which is very-
Lenny Rachitsky: I could see why you’d love that.
John Mark Nickels: Yes, consistent with the emotional awareness and allowing the different emotional parts and don’t want to spoil the movie, maybe everyone hasn’t seen it, but it’s very simpatico with that lesson of you can’t just let one emotion run the show, they all have wisdom. On the first one, Sadness, Joy learning that Sadness is necessary. It’s all about integration, but it was beautiful the way kids understand it and it’s a way to teach emotional literacy to your kids. So I think what they’ve done there with those Inside Out movies is just brilliant.
Lenny Rachitsky: Do you have a favorite product you’ve recently discovered that you really love? It could be an app, it could be something physical.
John Mark Nickels: Yeah, so Eight Sleep is a smart mattress company. They’re on their third or fourth rev now, but it’s like a Tempur-Pedic mattress, or you can put their cover on any mattress, but it has a cover that has little tubes of water, and then it has a little computer thing and you fill with water and then an app. And basically what you do is you program it and it learns, it has sensors, it can measure your heart rate, your HRV, body temperature, all that, but you’re basically trying to program a temperature curve to help you maximize your kind of REM sleep and deep sleep and get more value out of the sleep that you do have.
And so for me, it’s super cool early for deep sleep, and then it warms you up as you want to wake up, which is… or an alarm and all that. But it’s back to my thing about wanting to show up with the right mindset and energy and aliveness. Having really high quality sleep has been a really key part of that, is like if I don’t sleep well, I didn’t get enough sleep or didn’t sleep well, you’re already starting off on a bad foot. So yeah, if you haven’t checked out Eight Sleep, great product. No endorsement fee for me.
Lenny Rachitsky: What’s also cool about it is it tracks your sleep. It gives you all these stats. Instead of wearing a ring, and it gives you all these stats about your sleep quality. And there’s this guy, Brian Johnson, I don’t know if you follow him, he’s like this guy that’s trying to stay alive as long as possible, and he had a perfect sleep score for six months in a row to set the record.
John Mark Nickels: Wow.
Lenny Rachitsky: Yeah. He knows what he’s doing over there. Okay, two more questions. Do you have a favorite life motto that you often come back to, think of, find useful in work or in life?
John Mark Nickels: Yeah, I probably have had different ones over the years. The one right now that really serves me is there’s this track called Sit Around the Fire by Jon Hopkins, but it’s on Spotify, Apple Music, but it’s basically music with one of Ram Dass’ talks, lesser known talks. And so the mantra that’s been really serving me recently is the very first part of that, which is he says, “Beyond all polarities, I am. Let the judgments and opinions of the mind be the judgments and opinions of the mind. And you exist behind that.” So sometimes I have an abbreviated version of that where I’m noticing I’m activated, I’m clinging to an opinion, I’m arguing with somebody, and I’m just like, “Beyond all polarities.”
Lenny Rachitsky: An abbreviated version.
John Mark Nickels: I do that in front of my kids and they laugh at me like, “Daddy is so weird sometimes.”
Lenny Rachitsky: Beyond all polarities, kids. That’s so funny. Oh man. There’s another Ram Dass line that I often use with my wife, Be Here Now, which is the title of his book that everyone sees with the blue cover. And I do that when she’s on her phone and we’re doing something. I’m like, “Be here now.” And she’s like, “Okay, okay. I’ll put my phone away.” Yeah. Final question. I was going to ask you about the line tracking and what you learned from that. You already shared an awesome lesson from that time. So let me ask you something else. I’ll ask you about Travis. Any crazy, fun, memorable stories of working with Travis Kalanick? However you say his last name, Kalanick, Kalanick?
John Mark Nickels: Travis Kalanick, yeah. Yeah. I’ll share a quick one that’s short but sweet or hilarious to me, and maybe lesser known. So we used to have the Uber office at 1455 Market, and so there was one conference room where we’d often do reviews with Travis, and it wasn’t the war room, whatever whenever room it was. That was interior and no windows. So this room had windows overlooking, what was that? 11th street. So 11th and Market. And so we’d have a presentation up on the projector, some big screen we’re about to go through something with Travis. And reliably, every time he’d come in, he would close the blinds of the windows. Everyone like, “Travis, what are we doing?” It’s not because there was glare. They were orthogonal to the screen. And then one time I was like, “Why are you doing that?” He’s like, “I’m pretty sure Lyft has drones outside the windows of our office and they’re spying on our presentation.”
Lenny Rachitsky: Oh my gosh.
John Mark Nickels: I was like, whoa, your competitor paranoia runs deep, man. Okay. Yeah, yeah. Anyway.
Lenny Rachitsky: It’s hard to mention Lyft doing that. I could see Uber doing that to Lyft.
John Mark Nickels: Old Uber. Uber 1.0
Lenny Rachitsky: Old Uber. Yeah. Wow. That’s amazing. It’s like coaches in the NFL that are covering their lips always when they’re telling and giving plays, just like, I wonder if people actually do that. That’s amazing. Yeah, I get that. It’s like high stakes. You never know. Might be a drone out there.
John Mark Nickels: Right.
Lenny Rachitsky: Amazing. J.M., what a roller coaster of a conversation. We covered so much ground. I can’t even name all the things we covered. So let me just ask you two final questions. Where can folks find you online and reach out if they want to work with you? I know you work with folks, talk about that. And then finally, how can listeners be useful to you?
John Mark Nickels: Yeah, yeah. So I am occasionally on Twitter @NickelsJM, but I don’t tweet a lot, but maybe I should start. But the best way to find more about my thoughts and thinking on the soft skill stuff is a website called rhythmofbeing.com. And I’ve got some blog posts and stuff there that go into detail on some of these things. And yeah, I do a little bit of coaching on the side with folks. I do very little now. My day job at Uber and my night job with my kids takes up most of my waking hours. But for the right person and a few select spots, I can make time. But yeah, that’s the best place to find me, is rhythmofbeing.com.
Lenny Rachitsky: And then how can listeners be useful to you?
John Mark Nickels: Well, in the spirit of welcoming and embracing feedback, you could most be useful by reaching out, telling me what resonated, what didn’t, what was useful, where did your energy go up when I talked, and where did your energy go down? Because that to me is a signal of where I’m back to tracking the life, where’s the juice? And then that way in the future when I do other versions of this or other conversations, I’ll pay more attention to the energy up stuff and go more there, and the energy down was like, okay, maybe that wasn’t as interesting or didn’t resonate. Great. No problem.
Lenny Rachitsky: J.M., thank you so much for being here.
John Mark Nickels: Thank you for having me.
Lenny Rachitsky: Bye everyone.
Thank you so much for listening. If you found this valuable, you can subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app. Also, please consider giving us a rating or leaving a review as that really helps other listeners find the podcast. You can find all past episodes or learn more about the show at lennyspodcast.com. See you in the next episode.
Glossary
| English | 中文 |
|---|---|
| 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership | 《15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership》 |
| Advanced Technologies Group | Advanced Technologies Group(Uber 的自动驾驶技术部门,保留原文) |
| Alan Watts | Alan Watts(英国哲学家,将东方思想引入西方的先驱,首次出现保留原文) |
| Be Here Now | Be Here Now(Ram Dass 的经典著作,保留原文) |
| Brent Goldman | Brent Goldman(同事,首次出现保留原文) |
| Bryan Johnson | Bryan Johnson(长寿倡导者,首次出现保留原文) |
| Cambrian explosion | 寒武纪大爆发 |
| Clayton Christensen | Clayton Christensen(《创新者的窘境》作者,首次出现保留原文) |
| Conscious leadership | 意识领导力 |
| Contrarian Corner | 异见角落 |
| Cruise | Cruise(自动驾驶公司,保留原文) |
| Daniel Ek | Daniel Ek(Spotify CEO,首次出现保留原文) |
| Dara | Dara(Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi,首次出现保留原文) |
| David Allen GTD | David Allen GTD(个人生产力方法论,保留原文) |
| Diana Chapman | Diana Chapman(意识领导力教练,首次出现保留原文) |
| Eight Sleep | Eight Sleep(智能床垫品牌,保留原文) |
| Elon | 马斯克(Elon Musk,国际知名人物,使用公认中文译名) |
| first principles thinking | 第一性原理思考 |
| Garrett van Ryzin | Garrett van Ryzin(哥伦比亚大学学者,首次出现保留原文) |
| HIPAA | HIPAA(美国医疗隐私法案,保留原文) |
| How Will You Measure Your Life? | 《你将如何衡量你的人生?》 |
| Innovator’s Dilemma | 《创新者的窘境》 |
| Inside Out | 《头脑特工队》(皮克斯动画电影) |
| Jim Dethmer | Jim Dethmer(意识领导力教练,首次出现保留原文) |
| Jon Hopkins | Jon Hopkins(英国音乐人,首次出现保留原文) |
| lidar | lidar(激光雷达) |
| lizard brain | 爬行脑 |
| Lyft | Lyft(出行平台,保留原文) |
| Man’s Search for Meaning | 《活出生命的意义》 |
| Marcus Aurelius | 马可·奥勒留(古罗马皇帝、斯多葛哲学家) |
| marketplace | marketplace(指 Uber/DoorDash 的供需匹配系统,保留原文) |
| Martin Luther King | 马丁·路德·金 |
| Mike Isaac | Mike Isaac(记者,首次出现保留原文) |
| mind like water | 心如止水 |
| Motional | Motional(自动驾驶公司,保留原文) |
| Nancy Duarte | Nancy Duarte(沟通/演讲专家,首次出现保留原文) |
| north-starring | 北极星指引 |
| objective function | 目标函数 |
| Paul Graham | Paul Graham(知名创业投资人物,保留原文写法,暂无公认中文译名) |
| Peter [inaudible] | Peter [听不清](指 Peter Thiel,但原文未明确,保留处理方式) |
| Ram Dass | Ram Dass(美国精神导师,首次出现保留原文) |
| Ray Dalio | Ray Dalio(投资家/桥水基金创始人,首次出现保留原文) |
| Reid Hoffman | 里德·霍夫曼 |
| Resonate | 《Resonate》 |
| rhythmofbeing.com | rhythmofbeing.com(John Mark Nickels 的个人网站,保留原文) |
| saber-toothed tiger | 剑齿虎(比喻过时的恐惧反应) |
| Sam Harris | Sam Harris(作家/冥想应用 Waking Up 创始人,首次出现保留原文) |
| Seneca | 塞涅卡(古罗马斯多葛哲学家) |
| sigma | sigma(Tesla 的自动驾驶技术术语,保留原文) |
| soft leadership | 柔性领导力 |
| spark line | 火花线 |
| surge pricing | 动态溢价 |
| talk is cheap | talk is cheap(Spotify 核心价值观,保留原文) |
| Tempur-Pedic | Tempur-Pedic(床垫品牌,保留原文) |
| Theodore Roosevelt | 西奥多·罗斯福 |
| Tony | Tony(DoorDash CEO Tony Xu,首次出现保留原文) |
| Travis | Travis(指 Uber 联合创始人 Travis Kalanick,首次出现保留原文) |
| Uber Pool | Uber Pool(产品名称,保留原文) |
| UberX | UberX(产品名称,保留原文) |
| victim consciousness | 受害者意识 |
| Viktor Frankl | Viktor Frankl(《活出生命的意义》作者,首次出现保留原文) |
| Waking Up | Waking Up(Sam Harris 的冥想应用,保留原文) |
| Waymo | Waymo(自动驾驶公司,保留原文) |
| Waymo One | Waymo One(Waymo 的自动驾驶出行产品,保留原文) |
| Zuck | 扎克伯格(Mark Zuckerberg,国际知名人物,使用公认中文译名) |
Reformatted by reformat_english.py
意识领导力:解锁愿景、战略与目标 | JM Nickels (Uber, Waymo, DoorDash)
访谈文字稿
J.M. Nickels: 要搞清楚你的目标函数,我的一个方法是从未来的自己出发去思考。因为五年后,我不会在乎演示文稿是不是做得稍微好了一点,但我会非常在意我和女儿们的关系如何。这意味着我今天和明天做的下一件事、下一个行动,都会转化成和她的关系,对吧?不是要危言耸听,但话说回来,我们大多数人确实没有真正意识到自己的生命终将结束。我们试图假装自己会永远活下去,刻意不去想这件事。而可怕的是,我们确实做到了——我们大多数人确实就这样过着日子,吃冰淇淋、上班、度假、做自己的事。对我来说,意识到生命终将结束这一事实,以一种迫使自己重新审视优先级的方式给现实加上了标点。
嘉宾介绍
Lenny Rachitsky: 今天的嘉宾是 J.M. Nickels。J.M. 曾在 Waymo、DoorDash 和 Uber 担任产品负责人,也在 Groupon 担任过工程经理,在此之前是 Getco 的股票交易员。在 Uber,他构建并发布了 Uber Pool 的第一个版本,随后领导了负责基础设施和算法的团队,这些算法驱动着 Uber 匹配和定价系统背后的经济与物流大脑。在 DoorDash,他担任 DoorDash 平台的产品负责人。在 Waymo,他领导了自动驾驶网约车和最后一公里配送商业化的产品工作。最近他回到 Uber,领导出行团队的产品。
这次对话是硬技能、软技能、战术和情感的独特而美妙的混合。我不会透露太多,但这是一次很有力量的对话。有人流下了眼泪,有人分享了故事,我相信听了 J.M. 的洞察和教训后,你会成为一个更好的领导者和更好的人。如果你喜欢这个播客,别忘了在你最喜欢的播客应用或 YouTube 上订阅和关注。这是避免错过未来节目最好的方式,对播客也有极大的帮助。接下来,有请 J.M. Nickels。
Lenny Rachitsky: J.M.,非常感谢你能来。欢迎来到播客。
J.M. Nickels: 谢谢你,Lenny。感谢你的邀请。我非常激动能来到这里。真的很感谢你致力于帮助产品经理提升技艺和水平。你做了很多很好的研究,而辅导和发展,我相信我们后面会谈到,也是我的热情所在,所以我们在这方面有很多共同兴趣。
什么是意识领导力
Lenny Rachitsky: 非常感谢。我想从一个短语开始,当我向你的同事询问应该和你聊些什么时,这个短语反复出现,那就是”意识领导力”。什么是意识领导力?这个短语意味着什么?
J.M. Nickels: 对我来说,领导力广义上定义为在世界中拥有影响力。按照这个定义,每个人都是领导者,因为我们都在某种程度上拥有影响力。这不在于你是不是管理者,而是我对我的孩子、我的伴侣、我的社区,或者这个世界——通过我投票的方式、我呈现自己的方式——都有影响力。我们都有影响力,我们都在共同创造彼此的影响力。这是”领导力”的部分。而”意识”的部分则是变得更加觉知,觉醒。对我来说,就是更多地了解我的内在世界,我的背景是什么,我的偏见是什么。我们都从父母、教会或社区那里继承了某些信念体系,很多时候它们未经质疑,然后就产生了冲突。所以这真的就是变得更加觉知,然后为我所拥有的影响力承担责任。是的,为我在世界上的影响力承担责任。
软技能的力量
Lenny Rachitsky: 当你谈到这些的时候,有一件事浮现在我脑海中,也是我在准备这期节目时想到的,就是”柔性领导力”这个概念,软技能的力量以及它在成功中的重要性。当我提到这个的时候,你有什么想法吗?就是软技能的力量以及它们在取得成功中的重要性。
J.M. Nickels: 是的,那句话怎么说来着?Theodore Roosevelt 说的,“说话温和,手持大棒”?是的,我认为我在这方面有所演变。我想在我职业生涯早期,我认为非常重要的事情是:出席会议,做出正确的幻灯片,成为房间里声音最大、最正确的那个人,这就是拥有影响力的方式。当然,在会议中展现领导力、呈现观点、引导叙事,确实有它的位置。但对我来说,是的,我更多地向后坐的方向演变了。随着我成为更资深的领导者,我也意识到其中存在权力动态。权力是不平衡的——资历较浅的人不太敢于发言,或者我说某个主意不好,然后大家就想:“我不想反对 J.M.。”
所以这又回到了更加觉知自己在世界上的影响力。我真的花了更多时间在这方面保持正念,告诉自己:我想先听听其他人的意见。我想创造空间,我不需要在会议上赢得争论。可以后续再跟进,这不是我发表意见的最后机会。不过这在你更资深的时候也更有条件做到,因为当你资历较浅的时候,你可能会想:这是我未来六个月里唯一一次向 Dara 汇报的机会,我必须把握住。所以压力是有点不一样的。是的。
三个版本的 Uber
Lenny Rachitsky: 这里有几条线索我想接着聊,不过首先——你说话的时候我在想,当人们想到 Uber 和在 Uber 工作的人时,我觉得他们不会想到你这样的人。我知道你很早就加入了,然后又重新加入。你有没有过那种”这个地方真的适合我吗”的挣扎?还是说没有?
J.M. Nickels: 有的有的。我想说我有幸经历了大概三个版本的 Uber。我们会开玩笑说 Uber 1.0,也就是 Travis 时代。你在媒体上听到很多关于那个时期不好的部分,但也有一些非常好的部分。比如我 2014 年加入的时候,公司的使命是”让交通对任何地方的任何人来说都像自来水一样可靠”——大胆,有魄力,可能带着一点硅谷的狂妄,但你能感受到空气中的电流。那里有一种能量和兴奋感,就像我们在做一件变革性的事情,自动驾驶要来了,汽车拥有权将会改变。那种感觉让我整个人都在振动。
那个时代好的部分在于,Travis 是一位非常出色的有远见的产品领导者。我们创立了 ATG 和 Elevate 这些前瞻性的项目,他做产品评审的方式让我学到了很多。当时压力很大,但回头看,我想确实学到了很多。不过那个地方确实不是一个很有意识领导力氛围的环境。你说得对,它像许多靠恐惧驱动的组织一样——因为恐惧确实有效,胡萝卜加大棒是管用的。
向内探索的起点
其实这也正是我发现这项工作的契机。那是 2015 年,我还是一个非常初级的产品经理,在一个高速增长的公司里力不从心。我们当时在做 Uber Pool 的每周评审,要和 Travis 一起过会。而我有一个六个月大的女儿——我的第一个孩子——我们刚从芝加哥搬到旧金山。我的整个生活都在动荡之中,工作环境又非常高压。我当时想:“我觉得我要崩溃了。我觉得我撑不住了。”
这就是促使我开始探索内在工作、冥想,寻找一种从那种状态中走出来的方式的原因。这也让我对把这种工作带入团队产生了兴趣。因为我记得有一次会议,我们在讨论一个未来的定价方案——乘客定价、司机定价、激励措施,以及如何将动态定价整合在一起。这个话题会变得非常沉重,房间里全都是博士,一些世界上最优秀的头脑。我们请到了像 Garrett van Ryzin 这样来自哥伦比亚大学的顶尖学者,还有其他很多人。
团队中的爬行脑
但每个人都回到了爬行脑的状态,每个人都在争论。“不,我觉得我们应该这样做。我们应该那样做。“我当时就想:虽然我很享受这些内容——说真的,我是一个彻头彻尾的算法产品经理,我热爱这些东西——但我觉得这场对话需要的不是另一个博士,也不是另一个内容专家。我们需要的是一种方法,让大家从恐惧、威胁、自以为是的状态中跳出来,进入一个更有共创性、更协作、更开放、更好奇、更信任的状态。正是这一点让我对个体和团队的教练技能产生了更大的兴趣。
Uber 2.0 与 3.0
不过回到你关于 Uber 的问题。Uber 1.0 确实疯狂。Uber 2.0 大概就是 Travis 出局,董事会在内斗,内部消息泄露给 Mike Isaac 之类的。然后 Dara 作为调停者进来,试图稳定局面,但 IPO 过程一波三折。所以现在我觉得我们处于 Uber 3.0——用里德·霍夫曼的话说,就是从海盗船变成了正规海军——一家盈利的公司。我们在大量产生自由现金流,进入了标普 500,我们在很多州和司法管辖区确立了独立承包商的模式,这个模式被改变的风险更小了。
我想说我们现在正处于一个出行方式寒武纪大爆发的时代。公司之前基本上就是构建了 UberX 模型并把它扩展到全世界,这主要就是我们走到今天的方式。而现在,我们在尝试各种不同的新型出行方式——不管是提前预约打车、拼车、租车还是公交车——还有不同的供给类型。不再只是独立承包商了,我们平台上有很多车队,现在也有很多出租车司机。你也看到了,我们和 Waymo、Cruise 以及其他自动驾驶公司签了合作协议。所以我觉得我们现在正处于 Uber 和出行的另一个时代的起点,未来一二十年将会非常激动人心。
UberX 的命名故事
Lenny Rachitsky: 说个题外话,UberX——之前有位嘉宾分享过,UberX 这个名字其实只是内部代号,“先叫 UberX 吧,回头再想个正式的名字”,然后就这么定下来了,没有人想出更好的名字。这是真的吗?
J.M. Nickels: 对,是这样的。我觉得确实是这样。
Lenny Rachitsky: 太有意思了。
J.M. Nickels: 我加入的时候,UberX 已经在快速扩张了。我是 2014 年初加入的。不过 Uber Pool 倒是我帮忙命名的,Uber Pool 这个名字——我总是会无私地提起这件事。后来在我外部轮岗期间,它被改名叫了 Share。
接纳情绪而非对抗
Lenny Rachitsky: 好,我想回到刚才被打断的话题。你谈到了情绪,这一点我觉得非常有意思。我自己最近也在学习这一点——有了孩子之后,还有之前几位嘉宾也聊到过。你说当你在会议上感到压力、爬行脑启动的时候——比如”Dara 会觉得我很差劲,如果我把这个演示搞砸了,我的职业生涯就完了”——你的建议对很多人来说非常反直觉,就是接纳那种情绪。因为当我在会议上感到紧张焦虑的时候,我不会想”拥抱这种紧张感,释放出来”,我更多是告诉自己:“没事的,会好的,别担心。“请谈谈为什么接纳情绪实际上更有效。
J.M. Nickels: 对,就像前几天我女儿做了噩梦,她跟我说:“爸爸,我怎样才能不去想那些噩梦之类的?“我说:“你做不到的。不要试图阻止那个想法。让它存在就好。让我给你看看为什么那样行不通。“我说:“不要想一头粉色的大象。你刚才想到了什么?“她说:“一头粉色的大象。“然后她觉得这太搞笑了,就去告诉她妹妹:“不要想一头粉色的大象。”
John Mark Nickels: 不过你说得对,这确实有点反直觉。我最早的一位教练其实有句很棒的话:你抗拒的会持续存在,你恐惧的会应验成真。所以根据我的经验,这也是为什么更加觉察自己的内在世界变得如此重要的另一个原因。我对自己的体验结果拥有比我意识到的更多的主动权。所以当我想到”Dara 可能觉得我很差劲”这个念头,然后我也产生”我很差劲”的想法时,这就会变成一个自我强化的负面反馈循环——一个念头制造出压力、焦虑、恐惧,然后这些情绪又触发更多的念头。我们称之为认知情绪循环(cognitive emotive loop),你就处在这种循环中:不断想那些有压力的想法,然后产生不愉快的、焦虑的、恐惧的情绪。而打破这个循环的一个方法就是允许它存在,不要试图用其他念头去对抗它。
Lenny Rachitsky: 那这个建议具体来说就是——你正在和 Dara 开会,你对某件事感到紧张。就允许它存在,让它在那里。不要假装它不存在,也不要试图说服自己——
John Mark Nickels: 嗯,那会是第一步,就是允许此时此刻的一切——无论升起的是什么样的念头和情绪。它们来了又走,是无常的,不是永恒的。佛教传统中关于这些概念的智慧非常深刻。然后对我来说,下一步是一旦我能深呼吸、放松一点,就回到这个事实——这一点对某些人来说可能更激进一些——我其实不需要 Dara 认可我和我的演示才能过得好。我正在努力做的是从内在建立自我价值和自爱。所以我们讲到认可、控制和安全。从外界去寻找这些东西太容易了——你认可我吗?如果不认可,我能控制结果来获得认可,或获得安全感,获得那份工作、那个银行账户、那栋房子,无论是什么吗?
饿鬼与外在追逐
但我后来在某个时刻醒悟到,只要我还在外面寻找这些东西来填补内心的某种缺失,我就像一个饿鬼(hungry ghost)。不管有多少米其林星级大餐、多少次晋升、多少钱、什么头衔,都永远不够。你可能享受一小会儿,然后又回到”嗯……”的状态。这就像永无止境的糖瘾。所以对我来说下一步就是:允许它。是的,允许情绪,允许念头。回到”即便 Dara 真觉得我很差劲,我也没问题”。而且这不是永久的,对吧?确实,生活中可能有一些高风险的事情你只有一次机会,但大多数情况下,如果这次演示我做得不够好,还会有下一次的。没关系的。
把它当作练习。另一件事是,在恐惧威胁的状态下,我会想”糟了,这是风险,警报响了,我的职业生涯可能完了”。而如果我处在那个信任的、好奇的、开放的空间里,这就像是一个获取反馈的机会。我能学到什么?我怎样成为一个更好的演示者?来自他人的反馈不再是威胁,而是一份礼物——是我可以利用也可以不用来调整未来表现方式、发展技能等等的信息。
Lenny Rachitsky: 我想有些人听到这些可能会觉得,如果 Dara 或 Travis 或不管谁觉得我很差劲,我的职业生涯就岌岌可危了,这真的很重要,我生活中的一切都会因为被解雇而分崩离析,搞砸是有代价的。有没有什么方法能帮你跨过这道坎,不那么担心在重要的、高风险的会议或演示中搞砸后一连串可能出问题的事情?
John Mark Nickels: 有的。再说一次,这可能有点矛盾,但我发现我越关注自己的表现如何、表面功夫好不好、演示文稿漂不漂亮这些,我反而越得不到晋升。然后当我放下对这些的关注后,情况就变了。因为在 Uber 的头几年,我一直是高级产品经理,后来我才找到自己的节奏,开始在产品职级上逐步晋升。至少在我看来,这两者之间确实高度相关——也许是因果关系——就是我放下了对演示、表现和”别人喜不喜欢”的关注,真正把精力聚焦在工作本身。就像:你知道吗?我在这里要做的是成为一个管道,连接交通运输领域中那些想要发生的事情。共享出行是我一直特别有热情的方向,这是一个很好的例子。那我要做的就是活在当下,倾听在共享出行的世界里下一步想要发生什么?我们可以把产品带向很多不同的方向。
使命感与表面功夫
说白了,我想做一个牛逼的产品,对吧?至于别人喜不喜欢我、觉得我是不是一个好的产品经理或演示者——只要我能把一个伟大的产品带到世界上,让乘客更好、让司机更好、让城市更好、减少拥堵,所有这些,对我来说这就是回报。当然,要实现这一点,通常确实需要沟通、演示、对齐等等。但这些只是手段,服务于一个比我个人的职业生涯更强大、更具变革性的目的。我是在连接一个更大的使命、归属感、认同感和意义。从这个地方出发,我就放下了那种自我中心的、纠结于”我演示做得好不好”的执念。然后,也许矛盾的是,恰恰因为这样做了,事情反而进行得更顺利,我们做出了出色的工作,也得到了认可。
Lenny Rachitsky: 哇,这太有意思了。要这样做的话,你需要真正与公司的使命产生连接。你真的需要相信这件事非常重要、非常有意义。所以对于那些并不真正在意公司在做什么的人来说,这可能就是个问题,很难采纳这种做法。
John Mark Nickels: 完全同意,完全同意。
Lenny Rachitsky: 你说表面功夫没那么重要,这很有意思。我想之所以我会想到这一点,是因为很多人觉得工作是工作,谈论工作又是另一回事——把你做的工作呈现出来,你做的事情的表面功夫,真的、真的很重要。我很愿意听听——没人想做那部分,但大家总是收到这样的建议:表面功夫很重要,你怎么分享你的影响力,你怎么展示自己。关于帮助人们在工作的这个方面放松下来、不那么苛刻,你还有什么其他可以分享的吗?
John Mark Nickels: 有的。而且我要澄清一下,我确实认为它是重要的。不能全是工作不讲究表面功夫,也不能全是表面功夫不干实事。这两者之间需要平衡,而且我认为这会根据公司的规模和资历层级而有所不同。当你是一个 IC(个人贡献者)时,你理想情况下应该做更多的实际工作,而领导者则支持他们,呈现和传达这些工作成果,让他们得到认可。
表面功夫与资源分配
John Mark Nickels: 我的意思是,表面功夫确实重要,对吧?到了某个资深层级,你确实会在这方面花更多时间,而且它确实会产生影响力。回到之前说的影响力那个话题,比如我如何传达一个想法、表达对工程资源的需求等等,这可能决定一个团队能不能拿到更多工程师,能不能做这个项目。因为在最终的分析中,高管的资源配置在很大程度上是基于所谓的”表面功夫层”。所以它确实重要,我想说清楚这一点,我并不是说它不重要。但对我来说,同样地,我更把它看作是达到目的的手段。重点不在于表面功夫本身。就像佛家说的,不要把指向月亮的手指当作月亮。指向月亮的手指可以是演示文稿、OKR,诸如此类。而那并不是我们真正关心的实际成果。那只是通向真正重要的产出——也就是工作和产品——的一个输入。
战略与愿景
Lenny Rachitsky: 好,我想把话题转向硬技能和另一个方向。所以我之前问大家你最擅长什么、你真正厉害的是什么的时候,有一件事被反复提到,那就是战略和愿景。你的一位同事 Brent Goldman 说了这样一段话:“J.M. 胸怀大志,点子层出不穷,会对别人的想法做’yes, and’,能激发身边每个人变得更加有创造力、更有野心、更努力。他不是去爬山,而是去找更大的山,然后把你一起带上去。” 所以沿着这个思路,假设有人来找你,想培养这些能力,想提升战略能力,想提升愿景能力——这基本上是每个产品负责人都想提升的,也是每个领导者都想提升的——你通常会给出什么建议?一个人在这些方面该如何进步?
John Mark Nickels: 谢谢,我很感激这个评价。谢谢你,Brent,这段话说得太好了。是啊,没有什么神奇的工具箱或者手册。我很久以前就放弃了那种想法——觉得再读一本书就能得到那个完美而难以捉摸的答案,解决困扰你的一切问题。当然,关于战略的书有很多,你可以去深入研究。对我来说,有几件事是有帮助的。第一,你之前提到过找到一个你真正热爱的事业。我觉得如果要我提出一个改善医疗体系的战略,那会很困难。当然,这很重要,我希望有人去做这件事,搞清楚怎么应对 HIPAA 之类的东西,但这不是我的领域。这不是我人生的目标、使命和愿景。
所以第一步是,我是不是在一个我对之充满热情的地方和产品领域工作?因为对我来说,热情就是帮助我突破到找到战略的那个燃料和动力。这是第一步。所以我觉得自己非常幸运,因为再次强调,这场变革——变革交通出行、变革汽车所有权、自动驾驶会带来什么、新的形态规格、城市的未来——这些是我超级兴奋的事情。我想到我的女儿们长大后能生活在一个不同的世界里,更安全、更环保,等等这一切,当我想到我做的这些工作真的可能影响她们和其他人未来的生活时,我就特别兴奋。就是那种,哇,我现在都能感到一阵激动。这就是超级有动力的感觉。所以这就是第一件事,先让自己燃起来。
接下来我觉得有帮助的第二点是,我深度沉浸其中。我并没有在加密货币和生成式 AI 之间跳来跳去,很多人会这样做,这很好,没什么问题,但我基本上一直专注于出行领域,到现在已经十年了,中间有一段时间涉足过餐饮科技和配送方向,但和末端物流非常相关。所以我认为如果你在一个领域只工作了六个月,很难提出一个出色的战略。尤其是像这类事情,里面的细微之处非常多。拼车是另一个很好的例子,这是一个极难攻克的难题,在这个方向上长期深耕是取得成功的前提。
不过我还想说的另一点是,人们总是谈论第一性原理思考,但如果其中确有道理的话,我觉得就像 Elon 说的:“为什么发射火箭要花天文数字的钱?没有理由要把材料一次性扔掉啊” 等等。举一个我们这边的例子:为什么我们需要一辆四千磅重的车来运送一个人走三英里?好吧……甚至几个人也一样。我们做 Uber Pool 或者 Share,运两个人或三个人,即便那样效率也相当低。如果你仅仅从物理学的角度想想,看看能源消耗就知道了。
所以这就是为什么会出现自行车、滑板车和其他小型出行工具。当然这并不适用于所有情况——比如下雨了,或者你就是想坐车——但这算是一个例子,说明为什么要质疑事物为什么是现在这个样子,然后思考现状是否极其低效或在某种意义上不够优化。而这往往就是通往机会的大门——看到事物也许可以是不同的样子。所以我把这个思路扩展到更大层面的未来。我一般的做法就是——这也是关于”山”的那个比喻——我试着闭上眼睛,尽可能远地去想象未来。
比如五年后、十年后会是什么样子。然后构建一幅非常清晰的画面。就是,我们现在可以这样做,但十年后,旧金山会是什么样子?或者某个城市?停车位会变成什么?还有没有停车楼?那些地方变成公园了吗?交通方式有哪些?有没有类似公交车的自动驾驶车辆把人们接驳到自行车和滑板车?人们的生活方式是怎样的?他们是不是因为自动驾驶而住到更远的郊区,拥有更好的房子,然后开车进城?还是所有空间都被重新利用,实际上住在城市里反而更便宜,因为我们把东西都压缩了,等等。重点甚至不在于想象出正确的那个图景,而更多地是构建某种让你燃起来的未来画面。
然后,你需要去表达它、传达它,让人们愿意跟你一起上路。但基于那幅画面,你从第一性原理出发思考:10 年、20 年后什么是确定的?嗯,自动驾驶是一定的。我想大多数人可能都会同意这一点,而且我们很可能只用摄像头就能实现,不需要 lidar(激光雷达),因为人类也没有 lidar。车辆和传感器的成本会下降,远程支持的成本会下降,到了某个节点它会变得超级便宜。好,我可以外推,这一定会发生。这和哪个玩家会赢是分开的。我并不是说我能预测哪些公司会在这个生态中胜出。它更多是关于底层的发展态势。这是一个确定性判断。另一个是共享。就是,很多人会说:“哦,一旦我们有了便宜的自动驾驶汽车,每个人都可以拥有自己超级便宜的 Uber、Tesla 或者别的什么,在城市里随便用。”
你就会想,“嗯,这行不通,因为我们会撞上诱导需求这个概念。” 经济学家是这么叫它的——以前一条短信要 50 美分的时候,你发多少条?现在免费了,发了几百万条。同样的道理,给高速公路加一条车道,交通照样和以前一样糟糕,因为更多人开车了,诸如此类。所以如果我们用超级便宜的、单车单驾的自动驾驶汽车把街道塞满,我们只会遇到比现在更大的麻烦。也许我们可以搞 The Boring Company 那一套去挖隧道,但这看起来不太现实。
共享出行与未来交通生态
所以对我来说,从第一性原理出发,共享出行会继续是未来交通的重要组成部分。以及其他出行方式——回到三英里那个话题——可能会有各种形态的自行车、滑板车、迷你高尔夫球车之类的东西,不管我们最终造出来什么。所以这算是一个例子,说明我是如何试着思考未来大概率会成真的事情,然后这又如何导向一个潜在的生态系统和战略,围绕我们可能为了那个未来而构建的东西。
Lenny Rachitsky: 这段特别好,因为这是每个人都能做到的事情。大家总在说创造愿景、描绘愿景、传达愿景,而你描述的是如何真正坐下来思考未来可能的样子——坐在那里,闭上眼睛,在脑海里构想未来五年、十年会是什么样子。你做这件事的时候,是在想”如果我们做了这个产品、做了这个改变”的状态下,还是说即使我们不在了,未来也会朝那个方向走?你通常走哪条路?
John Mark Nickels: 这个问题很好。我觉得两种都可以。我通常倾向于从前者开始,就是先想:撇开我,世界会朝什么方向走?试着从鸟瞰视角去看我认为的发展轨迹、趋势和将会发生的事情。然后你可以加一层视角:好,如果我们要做某个产品 XYZ 或者采取某个战略,我们可能如何影响结果或从中受益?这与那个未来方向是一致的,还是在逆着它、试图改变它?两种都可以,你可以说一个是顺风、一个是逆风,都能克服,但至少要对这些东西之间的关系有某种意识。
Lenny Rachitsky: 我觉得交通领域——Uber、Waymo——理论上可能更容易构想那个未来图景以及它有多令人兴奋,相比之下 B2B SaaS 的薪酬应用或者某个照片分享应用就没那么直观。但另一方面,也不一定对吧?未来十年人们会怎么获得报酬?人们会怎么在公司工作?我觉得不管你在做什么产品,都有机会做这样的构想。你是真的会这样做吗?就坐在办公室里,闭上眼睛去想象?还是更多是一个迭代过程,跟团队一起做?你实际上怎么实践这件事的?
如何实践未来构想
John Mark Nickels: 这不是那种你能在日程表上硬塞 30 分钟就能做的事——你的日程排满了 OKR 评审、各种一对一和会议。我倾向于先自己做,除非我已经有了大纲,准备好进入团队讨论的阶段。所以对我来说,就是能不能进入一个安静的、沉思的空间?我喜欢去跑步,那显然会给我带来灵感;或者去 Marin 那边爬山,有时候我就会想些东西,或者随手记下来,或者录个语音备忘录,让思路开始流动。但第一步对我来说就是先跳出日常的疯狂节奏。
我至今仍然觉得不可思议,有多少产品经理和各类领导者就是排满了背靠背的会议——30 分钟的评审,讨论的是很大的议题,时间不够用,再赶去下一个,回一堆邮件,中间再硬塞几个 PRD。这根本行不通。所以我非常支持 carve out 时间——首先为自己 carve 出几个小时,让自己跳出日常的忙乱,进入那个五年、十年后的思维空间。那是一个完全不同的地方,所以你需要一个过渡。
然后再把它带到团队中。如果我的脑海里已经有了那个交通未来的轮廓,我可能会跟一群人分享,我们也会聚在一起,花一段较长的时间。最近我们有一个周一的全天活动,八个人来办公室讨论市场平台的未来,非常高效。就是笔记本电脑合上,我们花一整天在白板前。这简直是一门失传的手艺,人们现在已经不用白板了。
然后从那里开始扩大到更多人,你可以不断迭代。比如我对未来有某个构想,有人指出了其中不太对的地方,或者有更好的想法,然后你就进入了共创模式。我很喜欢这种状态。Pixar 管这叫 brain trust。如果你读过那本书的话,他们是怎么做出《玩具总动员》和《头脑特工队》这些东西的——就是一群人坐在一起碰撞想法。同样,没有评判,没有对”正确”的执念。他们处于一种共创的空间里,共同探索、互相碰撞。我喜欢跟其他产品经理、工程师和数据科学家一起待在那个空间里。
Lenny Rachitsky: 我最近开始做一件事,挺难的,但我觉得特别有价值——就是开车的时候不放广播,不听任何播客。感觉特别不自然,你会觉得,这好难,我不想让大脑就那样……你不信任自己的大脑能跑到一个有趣的地方去,但它总是会。最后你总会觉得,哇,刚刚冒出来的那个想法真有意思。所以我一直在尝试这样做。就这么简单——什么都不开。
John Mark Nickels: 你这么说对你的播客生意可不太好。
Lenny Rachitsky: 好了各位,这段剪掉。我觉得特别有帮助的是每次出门都播放 Lenny 的播客。
John Mark Nickels: 不过你说的确实有道理。外面总有大量内容可以追逐,我也曾处于那种模式——更多内容、更多……但实际上,跟你类似,我现在很多时候什么都不听。去爬山不听播客,通勤不听音乐,看看会发生什么。你可能会对结果感到惊讶。
Lenny Rachitsky: 对,结果往往就是——哦,那挺好的。淋浴时冒出来的灵感就是这么来的,诸如此类。也许我们可以试试看,在你参加的那种头脑风暴会议中,最近的经历有没有产生什么真正令人惊讶或新颖的东西?有没有那种”哇,我们真的发现了未来某个需要重新思考的关键拐点”之类的?
Uber 出行业务的未来战略
John Mark Nickels: 嗯,可能不是某个具体的拐点,但我们一直在深入思考的一件事是——我很幸运能参与制定并阐述 Uber 出行业务未来三年甚至更长期的产品和技术战略。其中一个很大的”顿悟”是,当我们从某种程度上更简单的世界——即 UberX 作为主导产品的时代——走出来的时候,事情曾经相当简单。对司机端来说就像一个出租车计价器,所有人拿到的是按时间和距离计算的费率;对乘客端来说,虽然有一些基于供需的动态定价,但它就是一个产品,很直接。而现在,多模出行的未来,无论在需求端还是供给端,都让市场平台变得更加复杂、更具挑战性。
现在我们的平台上有出租车,有车队供应商,我们还在接入 Waymo、Cruise 等等,我们必须让市场平台能够识别这些不同类型的供给,知道哪种供给适合什么样的行程,以及如何考虑成本、质量和行程分配等问题。而在需求端,我们有各种不同的产品——拼车、预约出行、舒适型、X、优先型——如何给它们相互之间定价?如何决定向哪个用户展示哪个产品?排名逻辑怎么设计?而且这些又会反过来影响定价和匹配本身。
所以当我思考 Uber 市场平台的未来时,它的动态复杂性让我感叹——哇。而且我认为从来没有人构建过这样的东西。这是最酷的地方。我认为我们拥有地球上最好的物流市场平台技术,我们构建了前所未有的东西,与数字市场平台相比,它有着完全不同的物理世界要求。而接下来我描述的这个阶段——考虑不同类型的供给和不同的需求渠道——又给这一切增加了更多复杂性。但那个顿悟就是,对,我们必须思考所有这些东西,思考供给和需求之间如何关联,而且这会非常酷。
Lenny Rachitsky: 这是一个无限复杂的市场平台。太疯狂了。最后我想再强化你分享的一个观点——关于如何提升战略和愿景能力,如何制定出色、有趣、创新的战略和愿景——那就是在一个领域深入下去。你在这个领域待了很长时间。Paul Graham 谈过一个概念,我想叫”头号想法”之类的,就是……无论你的核心想法是什么,越能集中思考它、在日常生活中保持它的存在感、只保留一个核心焦点,你就越有可能产生新的有趣想法,因为你的大脑会在你开车听 Lenny 播客的时候继续处理它——开玩笑的——或者去爬山的时候。
所以我觉得这是一个非常重要的观点:如果你发现自己想不出好的战略或愿景,总是在挣扎,部分原因可能就是你在这个领域花的时间不够,没有在问题域中深入下去。一种方法就是在那个领域待上十年。我说到这里,你还有什么补充吗?关于怎么做到这一点?
专注于少数高杠杆事项
John Mark Nickels: 有的。这是在宏观层面上说在一个领域待十年,但在微观层面上,回到整理你的一天这件事——不要只是排二十个不同话题的二十、三十分钟会议。当然有时候你不得不这么做,你也得这么做。你像我一样管理一个大团队,跨团队的评审是必要的。我不是说我某些日子不这么做,而是说——对,我最重要的几件事是什么?我想你说的对,我记得好像是 Peter [听不清] 或者 PayPal 的那些人也谈过这个,要非常深入,让一个人或一个领导者真正对公司的某一个核心、深度的事情负责,全身心投入其中。所以在微观层面,对我来说这意味着——我不会列一个二十项的待办清单。我尝试只列三件最重要、最高杠杆、能对公司产生广泛影响的事情,然后就像你说的,让那件最重要的事情在心里慢慢酝酿、反复咀嚼。
Lenny Rachitsky: 我很喜欢这个做法。我最近写了一篇关于各种生产力技巧的帖子,其中一个我觉得特别有用的方法就是——在每天开始和每周开始的时候,写下你需要完成的一到三件事。其他的事情,我可能有一长串清单,但就是这三件事——如果做完了,今天就是好的一天,我已经做了很多,完成了真正重要的事情。
John Mark Nickels: 完全同意。我曾经试过 David Allen 的 GTD 那套,那个超级复杂的组织系统。对我来说结构太多了,我做不到。归根结底,就像你说的,基本上就是三件我接下来需要做的事,加上一个随机待办列表,我定期扫一遍就行了。这就够了。
GTD 中的核心理念
Lenny Rachitsky: 真的挺神奇的。那本书我到现在已经读了二十年了,但其中有些东西依然有效,我至今在运用和受益。即使你不整套照做,我也推荐大家读一读那本书,因为哪怕只从中挑几个方法,你的生活就会变好。一直留在我脑海中的,最主要的就是”等待中”这个概念——如果你在等什么,比如你给设计师发了邮件说”嘿,我需要你审一下这个设计”,就记下来”等待 Dan 审查设计”。把这件事写在某处、而不是留在脑子里,这对我帮助很大。
John Mark Nickels: 完全同意。
Lenny Rachitsky: 对,算了,不在这个话题上跑太远了。
John Mark Nickels: 嗯。不管你用什么具体步骤,核心理念是一样的。我觉得那本书对我最有力的收获是——如果东西还在你脑子里,你就完了,因为你同时在试图记住各种事情、又要发挥创造力、构想交通运输的未来、还要记得去药店拿点东西。这简直是灾难的配方。所谓的空杯心态、初学者之心——但你得先把所有待办事项从脑子里清空出去,才能达到那种状态。先把那些东西从脑子里拿走。
Lenny Rachitsky: 完全同意。我记得他用的是”心如止水”这个说法,这个一直留在我心里——任何你需要记住的东西都不能放在脑子里,必须写在某个地方。好了,我们别把这里变成一个生产力播客了。
John Mark Nickels: 好的。
愿景与执行的平衡
Lenny Rachitsky: 我们之前聊了愿景战略。关于愿景战略,人们通常有两个问题:一是怎么做得更好?二是,我得真正把事情干出来,不能整天想愿景。你对如何找到这个平衡有很好的见解,而且你见过做得好的和做得不好的案例——就是愿景与执行之间的取舍。什么时候该大谈愿景,该在愿景上花多少时间,什么时候该埋头干活、执行、执行、再执行?关于如何找到这个平衡,你见过什么有效、什么无效,能分享一下吗?
John Mark Nickels: 我觉得两个方向都可能走过头。生活中的一切都是在两个对立力量之间找平衡。在这个问题上,如果你在愿景和理论的世界里走得太远,我见过那种情况翻车的。比如早期的 Uber,再说回”定价的未来”这个项目——所有数据科学家和博士被关在一个房间里两周,画出了一幅漂亮的白板图。图长什么样呢?然后就是,我们为什么不动手建这个?工程师们说,这简直是煮沸整个海洋。你就卡在那里——理论上听起来很好,但我根本不知道从哪里开始执行。这可能就是一个我们过于偏向愿景和理论的例子。
Lenny Rachitsky: 你说的是做一个非常出色的动态溢价算法的那个最初计划?
John Mark Nickels: 对。那个计划是试图把司机的定价方式——时间和里程费率——和司机激励机制——比如你一周开满多少小时就得到奖金——以及动态溢价,全部用一种非常精细复杂的方式整合在一起。大概是 2017 年的事,我们有点过于偏向理论了。我们现在有时候还是有这个倾向。我们会拿 marketplace 开玩笑,尤其是当我们跟其他想要接入 marketplace 的团队沟通时——比如说他们要加入车队功能,或者针对某个大的新产品组建团队。然后 marketplace 的人就会说,“你有没有想过这样一个问题,如果两年后车队需求量达到多少多少,可能会出现什么什么情况。“我们确实有时候会在这种事情上纠缠不清。但”定价的未来”确实是个好例子,我们偏理论偏过头了。但你也可能偏执行偏过头。我觉得 DoorDash 有时候就会这样。我们以前甚至半开玩笑地说,一些领导会说——“准备,开火,瞄准。“就好像有人说,“我就要撞穿一堵墙。我不知道那是不是该撞的墙,但至少我知道我在撞墙。“所以我觉得关键在于平衡,以及你能否动态调整。这又是动态的。有时候你需要深入反思——“我们的产品战略是什么?我们需要转型。“也许你是个创业公司,当前的路走不通了,你想重新思考方向。那就松一松执行的油门,往战略愿景这边靠一靠。也有些时候,战略和愿景至少在未来半年、一年内已经基本定了。那就油门踩到底,去执行,把事情干出来。
扎克伯格与 Spotify 的启示
Lenny Rachitsky: 我最近去了 Acquired Podcast 在大通中心办的一场活动。扎克伯格在场,Spotify 的 CEO 也在。有两个小故事让我想到了你说的。一个是扎克伯格谈到,一旦 Facebook 的团队就方向达成一致,不管面前出现多少堵墙,墙上很快就会出现一个扎克伯格形状的洞,因为他们就是会直接冲过去,把该做的事做了。我非常喜欢这种心态——一旦我们确定了方向,就撞穿这些墙。
John Mark Nickels: 太棒了。
Lenny Rachitsky: 另一个是 Spotify 一个很有意思的价值观。Daniel Ek 分享说,“在 Spotify 我们有一个核心价值观,叫’talk is cheap’。“你听到这句话会觉得它是在说谈话没有价值,但实际上他们把它看作一种优点——talk is cheap,我们可以讨论,成本几乎为零,相比真正去构建东西来说花的钱极少。所以他们其实在 Spotify 花大量时间打磨想法、反复讨论,直到真正确信某个方向是对的。你对这个有什么看法?我觉得这很有意思。
John Mark Nickels: 我很喜欢这个。这几乎是另一种风格,让我想到那句——他说的就像是我喜欢的”文档要清晰,会议可以乱”。就是亚马逊那套做法,如果你写一份三页或七页的叙事文档,它写得像天使在天堂歌唱一样清晰——至少在描述问题陈述、功能特性或其他什么的时候。文档非常精炼、有条理、表述清楚。然后你开一个会,把它拆开讨论,会有大量的争论和对话。你说的这个让我想到了那个做法。
跨公司经验
Lenny Rachitsky: 好的。还有几件事我想聊聊。你在很多非常有趣、高速增长的公司工作过——DoorDash、Uber、Waymo,也在金融行业待过一段时间。我想挑几个来聊聊,看看你从每段经历中带走了一个什么教训,或者有什么经历可能对其他人有帮助或有启发?
John Mark Nickels: 好的。
Lenny Rachitsky: 你之前聊了一些 DoorDash 的事。你从 DoorDash 的经历中带走了什么?你有没有在那里看到什么让你觉得”哇,这真的很棒,我以后也想这么做”的东西,或者”这是他们不太擅长的地方,我学到了要避免这样做”?
John Mark Nickels: 能去不同的地方看到不同的做法、挑选你喜欢的最佳实践,真的非常棒。而且回到我之前说的——对我来说没有绝对的对错,只有不同的选择各有优劣,每枚硬币都有两面。Uber 和 DoorDash 之间很有意思的一点是,首先回到使命和战略,它们的基因不同。Uber 的起点是利用机场里空驶的车辆——那些没有在接单的车,但它的核心更多是围绕乘客的。不管你信哪个起源故事——Travis 和谁谁在巴黎叫不到车——然后它就变成了”比出租车更好”等等,但它是非常以乘客为中心的,以消费者为中心的。
Uber 与 DoorDash 的基因差异
John Mark Nickels: 所以在很长一段时间里,我认为 Uber 有点把那套做法推到了极端。我们走到了”司机是商品”之类的极端立场,后来不得不回调,开始在 marketplace 的司机端真正加大投入。但你看 DoorDash,Tony 是在父母开的小餐馆后厨里长大的,DoorDash 的初心命题是如何帮助小企业更成功。外卖只是 DoorDash 这个更大使命的第一个具体落地形态。所以他们要商家中心得多,而不是以消费者为中心。顺便说一下,Uber 以消费者为中心的传统从出行业务延续到了 Eats。我觉得 Uber 做 Eats 的时候,想法是”我们就是想让 Lenny 能点到很棒的泰餐和寿司,有更多选择”。但丰富的选择是为了让 Lenny 作为食客有好的体验这个目的服务的。而 DoorDash 凭借其商家导向的思路是”我们希望这座城市里每一家泰餐馆都成功,都上 DoorDash”。所以他们丰富选择的动机是”我们希望所有商家都茁壮成长”。这恰好也让你作为消费者获得了更好的选择,但出发点截然不同。所以我常用的类比是:Uber 之于 Amazon,如同 DoorDash 之于 Shopify——如果你能理解这个意思的话。Amazon 一直更侧重消费者,Shopify 显然更侧重商家。
Lenny Rachitsky: 有意思。
John Mark Nickels: 话说回来,这两种路径,再次强调没有对错之分,都是可行的战略。两家都是了不起的公司。而且我其实不确定你能不能两者兼做。有可能同时成为 Amazon 和 Shopify 吗?同时真正聚焦消费者又去建设所有的商家、餐厅技术?也许在资源足够、时间足够的情况下可以,但那样会失焦。所以这就是一个取舍。
Lenny Rachitsky: 对。就像在 Airbnb,一直有这个问题:“我们应该优化房东还是优化房客?“总是这样来回拉锯,“这个时候房客最重要,现在房东更……”在 marketplace 里不断做这种取舍决策。所以很有意思,你在 Uber 的洞察是 Uber 始终非常以乘客为中心,而 DoorDash 从基因层面就更以商家为中心。你还提到在 DoorDash 有一种”先跑起来再想往哪跑”的心态。这方面还有什么更多的内容吗,不管是作为警示还是经验教训?
行动与深思的平衡
John Mark Nickels: 对,我觉得这是一种平衡。回到我说的——我不想花好几周时间去深思熟虑、高谈阔论该冲过哪扇门,但也不想走到另一个极端,只花 30 秒想想该做什么就猛冲。关键是找到那个折中点。如果非要二选一,我宁愿偏向于先冲过去而不是什么都不做,因为即使那样你仍然能获得学习——要么取得了进展,要么没有,这都会给你反馈,让你知道接下来该冲哪扇墙。所以我认为最大的失败模式大概是走向另一个极端——过度深思熟虑而不行动。
Waymo 的经验与自动驾驶商业化
Lenny Rachitsky: Waymo 呢?你从那段经历中带走了什么,哪些是你想多做借鉴的,哪些是你想避免的?
John Mark Nickels: Waymo——你可能在旧金山见过,现在已经相当普及了,满大街都是。我不太确定,我都不记得上一次看到 Waymo 被拖走是什么时候了。我不想说它们已经解决了自动驾驶问题,但它们显然在规模化运营,现实中的干预非常少。你光看车是无法知道幕后有多少人类在远程协助引导车辆行驶的。但总的来说,我觉得 Waymo 真正有意思的地方在于,它们不管用什么方法,很大程度上已经解决了自动驾驶这一块,而且是在旧金山这样复杂的环境里。你看到它们在大雾天、雨天、积水路面行驶,确实很了不起。
但我觉得 Waymo 当时在学的——我也在帮他们学的——是:在测试跑道上造出一辆自动驾驶汽车,与规模化运营一支数千辆的车队,是完全不同的问题。你怎么运营、清洁、充电、维护这些车?然后你怎么搭建网约车网络?你需要做一个 App,需要获取用户,做经典的增长工作,思考 marketplace、匹配和定价——这些是完全不同的技能。所以这就像一个警示:它们是两码事。为此去招聘人才、建立文化,说实话挺难的。你跟母体组织本质上就是不一样的东西。母体组织大部分人满脑子都是感知、规划和所有核心的自动驾驶技术,而你这边的商业化团队在说”好吧,现在我们得靠这个东西赚钱了”。我觉得这是一个很好的例子,说明你的整体愿景是说 Waymo 要做的是打造 Waymo One,但要注意它不止一步。它有多个支柱:自动驾驶技术本身、大规模部署大量车辆、融资、运营车队、获取需求、让车里有乘客——然后所有这些必须协同起来。
Lenny Rachitsky: 对,是的。你的头衔是 Waymo 自动驾驶出行业务商业化 Lead Product,现在又兜了一个圈回来——在 Uber,Waymo 的车恰恰会通过 Uber 被人们叫到。你看到了这枚硬币的两面,真的很耐人寻味。
John Mark Nickels: 对,走着瞧吧。Uber 当年剥离了 Advanced Technologies Group 后就退出了自动驾驶业务。目前我们公开的战略是做一个聚合平台。所以我们正在与 Waymo、Cruise、Motional 以及中国的其他合作伙伴等建立合作关系。思路是把所有车辆都放到平台上,不管是不是自动驾驶的。然后利用平台的力量——我们有庞大的需求基础,有大量的乘客。
所以我觉得你看到的是,Waymo 和 Cruise 等公司在想:“好,自动驾驶技术我们已经开发出来了,我们的盈利路径是什么?“他们可以选择独立去做,自己搭建一个网约车网络。Waymo 正在用 Waymo One 做这件事,但事实证明这需要时间。很有趣的是,我觉得工程师也总是对别人家的工程问题为什么需要那么多工作持怀疑态度。Waymo 的工程师会说:“Uber 为什么需要几千个工程师?做一个网约车 App 有多难?”
但当你去看 Uber 成功的根基、过去十年不断打磨的东西——一方面是我前面提到的 marketplace 技术,另一方面还有如何管理庞大的乘客群体、乘客服务、司机服务、物流,以及帮助融资电动车、与监管机构和城市合作、确保上下车点安全可达等等等等。这些都是冰山在水面之下的深度,当你觉得”我不就是做一个网约车 App 嘛”的时候,你根本不会意识到或想到这些。对吧?Tesla 在某份财报里公布了他们的 sigma 设计,所有人都炸了,“哇,好吧,我不想赌马斯克会输,因为那听起来很吓人”,但事情远不止 App 和自动驾驶技术那么简单。
自动驾驶公司的战略选择
所以这些公司会面临一个有趣的问题。是自己单干,自建网约车网络来获取全部价值,还是说,“嗯,我可以和 Uber 合作,更快地实现车辆的高利用率”?高利用率能解锁融资、增加车辆数量,从而更快地实现规模化。如果你现在看行业格局,两种路径都有。Waymo 显然在凤凰城和 Uber 合作,我们刚宣布 Cruise 明年也会回到某个城市,但 Waymo 同时也在自建网络,所以他们目前是在两边下注。
异见角落
Lenny Rachitsky: 我想带大家进入播客的一个常设环节,我称之为”异见角落”。我觉得你这里会有很好的回答。你有什么观点是大多数人不认同的?
John Mark Nickels: 第一点回到觉察内在状态、允许情绪和念头的存在。职场中的情绪——很多人认为,“职场不需要情绪。我们要理性。我们要数据驱动。把感受留在家里。到了公司就切换到展示模式。“但根据我的经验,我体会到一种全身心智慧的概念。是的,头脑的信号、逻辑、数据和左脑推理确实很强大、很棒,但同时还有心和直觉。对我来说,什么是情绪?它只是身体上流动的能量,常常也和某个念头相关联。我可能有一个引发恐惧的念头,诸如此类。
但对我来说,情绪中蕴含着智慧,我可以开始更多地觉察它们。比如,我在身体的哪个部位感受到悲伤?我注意到恐惧感出现在胸腔中央,而悲伤则像是胃部的一种下沉感。我注意到愤怒时下巴会绷紧,眉头微微皱起。这些都是常见的反应,但你可能有自己的独特模式——你可以去觉察喜悦在哪里,创造的能量在哪里?恐惧、悲伤、愤怒分别在哪里?然后在会议中、对话中、复盘时去留意这些感受。实际上,如果你愿意的话,甚至可以向他人说出来,那就是下一步了。但先从对自己承认开始。
所以对我而言,情绪的智慧在于:恐惧意味着有某件事需要被关注。当然,剑齿虎并不是真的——Dara 不满你什么的并不是真正的威胁,你不应该为此害怕。但恐惧确实有其适用的时候。比如回到 Waymo,你需要对安全性保持极度的审慎和专注。Waymo 让我很欣赏的一点就是他们非常致力于保持出色的安全记录。所以你可能会感受到一种恐惧:我们是否真的考虑了所有边缘情况?如果一只狗跑上街道怎么办?一个球?一个孩子?你可能会感觉到,哇,恐惧。这很好。这背后的智慧是有某件事需要被关注和倾听。好的,很好。
悲伤对我来说意味着有某件事需要被放下。这是一种哀悼、一种放手——我曾对某个未来有一个设想或愿景,但因为种种原因它不会再实现了,发生了某些事情,其他人不想这么做,等等。但这个愿景可能是关于一段关系,可能是关于你以为自己的生活会成为什么样子的设想。我们每个人都会经历这些事情。
也可能是一些微小的悲伤时刻,比如,哇,那个功能没做成。我真的很希望它能成功。那就放下它吧,接纳这份悲伤。愤怒对我来说意味着有某件事对我、对我的人、对我的使命或我正在做的事情没有益处。这同样可以是一个很好的信号,让我注意到,我需要改变一些东西。而喜悦则是值得庆祝的事。我们取得了重大胜利,我们完成了 OKR,我们的产品发布非常成功。很多时候我们太急于进入下一个目标了——“好吧,再设一个目标”。其实,停下来庆祝一下是完全没问题的。
而创造的能量则是有某件事想要来到这个世界。就像我几乎要孕育一个想法、一个愿景、或某个新产品一样——然后去调频感受那种能量。所以我的建议是,欢迎情绪的到来,也许甚至可以谈论它们——天哪,在职场中谈论情绪,想象一下。与其开一场所有人都落后于目标的 OKR 复盘会,每个人都在互相指责,你能感受到空气中的恐惧感——如果有人只是说:“我注意到我对这件事感到恐惧。“所有人都说:“哇,我也感到恐惧。“那将彻底改变对话的氛围。
把情绪带到工作中
Lenny Rachitsky: 这里的建议是把情绪带到工作中来。不要让情绪……大多数人的信念是把情绪留在家里,不要把情绪带入职场,而你发现情绪实际上能让你更高效,也能让你的团队更高效。你甚至谈到过它帮助你以更聪明的方式做决策,因为你的直觉和爬行脑几乎在告诉你应该注意什么。
John Mark Nickels: 完全正确。
通往丰盈人生的钥匙
Lenny Rachitsky: 我很喜欢这个观点。好的,我想以一个问题结束。这个问题源于你之前和我聊播客时分享的一些内容,我觉得会对很多人有帮助。你认为成功、有影响力、丰富、有趣的人生的关键是什么?
John Mark Nickels: 这个问题问得好。我想每个人对此都有不同的答案,我不敢声称自己掌握了唯一的真理,但作为第一个宏观观察,我想说我花了很多时间思考目标函数。我们设计算法来做匹配和定价,考虑短期效果和长期效果。所以我深深扎根于这样一个理念:我们的人生也有一个目标函数。问题在于,我们很多人并没有意识到它。它只是一个隐含的目标函数——你继承了教会的价值观,或者社区的价值观,或者你父母看重的东西,或者你发现自己擅长的事情,“我做这个工作”,等等等等,就这样随波逐流。
这就是为什么我很喜欢 Ray Dalio 的原则体系,他说:嘿,写下你的价值观和原则,弄清楚它们是什么。Clayton Christensen 也写过一本不太为人所知的书——他当然以《创新者的窘境》闻名——但他写了一本书叫《你将如何衡量你的人生?》。他试图回答这个问题:他在哈佛教 MBA 学生,他说:“这些高管都超级成功,世界 500 强的高管,他们绝大多数都很成功,但他们都离婚了,孩子们和他们关系很差,个人生活一团糟。到底发生了什么?“他的一个关键洞察是:周日晚上,你可以选择陪女儿玩,或者读书、玩游戏,而你周一有一个给 Dara 的汇报。你想的是:“嗯,我可以把幻灯片做得再好一点,我可以去练习,或者处理几封邮件”,诸如此类。
John Mark Nickels: 因此他基本上发现,A 型人格的高管、成功人士都高度受短期目标函数驱动。他们会想:“明天就要做汇报了,而周日晚上做的事情会让这次汇报要么出色,要么平平。“至于”女儿在身边嘛,下周还可以陪她玩。“问题在于他陷入了一种循环——每个周日晚上都开始工作,年复一年,突然间你跟已经长大的女儿之间已经没有了关系。
但我觉得我们大多数人并没有意识到这一点。所以对我来说,第一个建议就是弄清楚你的目标函数。我找到清晰目标函数的一种方式是从”未来的自己”的角度来思考。因为五年之后,我不会在意那次汇报是不是做得稍微好了一点,但我会非常在意我和女儿们的关系如何。而这意味着我今天的下一个行动、明天做的下一件事,都会转化为与她的关系。我认为我们很多人并没有真正意识到这一点。
我很喜欢斯多葛哲学的东西——对死亡的觉知,Seneca、Marcus Aurelius,那些伟大的思想家。这不是要阴郁悲观,而是再一次说,我们大多数人并没有真正意识到我们的生命终将结束这一事实。我们试图回避它,试图假装自己会永远活下去,不去想它。而可怕的是,我们居然成功了。我们大多能做到就这样过日子——吃冰淇淋、上班、度假、做我们该做的事。而这可能导致我们把时间花在那些长远来看无关紧要的事情上,把注意力放在了错误的地方。
所以对我来说,对生命终将结束的觉知和正念,会以一种特殊的方式为现实打上标点,迫使我重新审视优先级,不再把时间浪费在无关紧要的事情上,而是把时间留给重要的人。这段关系,这段旅程,终将走到尽头。我说这些甚至自己都在哽咽、浑身发麻。就像此刻,重新回到这个问题——我今天下午打算怎么过?我要不要拥抱女儿们?下班后要不要陪她们,还是整个晚上都在处理邮件?当我弥留之际,我会希望自己当时做了什么?
Lenny Rachitsky: 我曾经听到过一句话,一直铭记在心,我想这句话会让很多人深受触动——唯一会记得你每天加班到深夜的人,是你的孩子。
John Mark Nickels: 哇。是的。
Lenny Rachitsky: 是的,一个重要的提醒。J.M.,我们聊了很多内容。你觉得还有什么可能对大家有帮助的、想留给听众的吗?接下来我们会进入快问快答环节,但在此之前——我们刚才以一个非常有力、非常有冲击性的话题收尾了——在这些方面,你觉得还有什么想留给听众的吗?
打破受害者意识
John Mark Nickels: 在我们谈到的所有内容中,我最想鼓励大家做的一件事,就是看看你是否愿意承诺打破受害者意识和心态。这并不是说世界上不存在真正的受害者,确实有不公正的事情在发生。但大多数人,至少我的经验是——我自己也经常掉入这个陷阱——过着一种”被动承受”的生活,对吧?我在被别人的行为所影响。我在被 COVID、Trump 或诸如此类的外部环境所影响。我在被生活的条件和处境所左右,感觉生活是在”对我发生”。
所以对我来说,我所培养和发展出的最赋予人力量的、最根本性的转变,就是从那种状态转向——我愿意为自己看待世界的方式承担责任。我也许无法改变天气,无法改变选举结果或所有那些事情,但我可以改变我与这些事物之间的关系,选择把它视为成长的机会、学习的机会。我是如何在共同创造这一切的?即使是那些我只扮演了很小角色的事情——世界上的不公正——我是如何在 perpetuate 它的?我是否愿意把自己看作我存在的画家?
我认为 Viktor Frankl 的《活出生命的意义》可能是最好的例子。他身处一个极其压迫性的、骇人听闻的悲惨处境中,但他描述自己与营中同伴和看守之间关系的方式——他在获释后做了一次演讲——他对压迫者表现出的同情和同理心令人惊叹。所以我想,如果他能在那样的条件下做到这一点,我也可以在产品评审中、在与伴侣的对话中、在会议中或任何场合展现出不同的状态。
Lenny Rachitsky: 是的,我觉得单单这项技能对很多人来说就是一个强大的解锁。从”这些是我没有的东西,这些是拖我后腿的因素,这些是我比别人更困难的地方”——转向”我需要为自己的成功承担责任,没有别人会替我做这件事”。仅仅拥有主动性就是一件非常强大的事。说起来容易做起来难。人们面临很多困难,缺少很多别人拥有的东西,这些都在影响他们的职业发展和成功之路——但即便如此,你越能承担责任、拥有主动性,越少抱持受害者心态,我百分之一千同意——其中蕴含着巨大的力量。所以这是一个非常棒的收尾启示。接下来,我们进入了激动人心的快问快答环节。J.M.,准备好了吗?
John Mark Nickels: 准备好了,来吧。
Lenny Rachitsky: 好。第一个问题:你向其他人推荐最多的两三本书是什么?
快问快答:推荐书籍
John Mark Nickels: 在软技能和意识领导力领域,最好的一本是 Diana Chapman 和 Jim Dethmer 合著的《15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership》。他们是我将近十年前的早期教练和老师,Diana 至今仍然是我的教练。我认为这是一本非常出色的书,会更深入地展开我们讨论过的关于恐惧与威胁 vs. 信任、画三角形等话题。这绝对是我首先推荐的一本。另一本更偏内容领域的是——我记得你曾经在播客上请过 Nancy Duarte。
Lenny Rachitsky: 对,Nancy Duarte。是的。
John Mark Nickels: 或者 Duarte,抱歉。我很喜欢她那本《Resonate》。我知道她还有其他书,关于幻灯片设计之类的。但这本书最棒的地方在于,我经常把它给产品经理们,帮助他们发展沟通、讲故事和演讲技能。她分析了那些 TED 演讲、Martin Luther King 的《我有一个梦想》、登月演讲,并基本上画出了一条”火花线”来帮助理解与观众产生共振的概念。这其实也是一项很好的技能——回到愿景和北极星的话题——她说所有这些演讲做的事情都是在”现实世界”和”可能的世界”之间交替制造张力。就像:这是交通运输的美好未来,旧金山多么多么好,但这也是今天为什么糟糕——所有这些问题、这个那个——但这是几年后它可能的样子。
John Mark Nickels: 然后你就制造了那种张力,观众到最后手心冒汗,心想”我想帮忙建设那个未来”。你需要什么?你需要资金、时间、资源,加入你的公司。很好。所以总之,《Resonate》,Nancy Duarte,非常好的书。这两本是我最推荐的书。没有一本特定的书,但我真的很喜欢 Alan Watts 的书,如果你对这方面感兴趣的话……他是最早将佛教和东方思想引入西方并进行阐释的人之一,他有一种非常讽刺、幽默、不太把自己当回事的风格,他解释那些概念的方式也很有趣。所以这是另一本我想推荐的。
Lenny Rachitsky: 如果你去听他配有音乐的录音,他的嗓音也非常棒,听起来特别享受。
John Mark Nickels: 完全同意。实际上,Sam Harris 的 Waking Up 应用现在有完整的……他跟 Alan Watts 的儿子合作了,所以 Waking Up app 里有 Alan Watts 全部八九十个小时的讲座录音。
Lenny Rachitsky: 天哪。YouTube 上也有他的视频。
John Mark Nickels: [听不清]
Lenny Rachitsky: 有一些超棒的他的 YouTube 视频,值得一看,我们会附上链接。然后 Nancy Duarte,她在我们一起做的那期播客里分享过完全一样的这个经验。所以如果你不想读那本书,而是想听她亲自讲解这种传达愿景的方法,可以听那期节目,我们会附上链接。
电影与电视推荐
下一个问题,你最近有没有特别喜欢的电影或电视剧?
John Mark Nickels: 有。我最近很喜欢的电影是和孩子们一起看的《头脑特工队2》,非常——
Lenny Rachitsky: 我完全能理解你为什么会喜欢那部。
John Mark Nickels: 是的,跟情绪觉察非常一致,允许不同的情绪部分存在。我不想剧透,也许不是每个人都看过了,但它跟那个道理非常契合——你不能只让一种情绪主导一切,它们每种都有智慧。第一部里,悲伤和快乐的互动让你学到悲伤是必要的。都是关于整合的。但它呈现得非常美,孩子们能理解,也是一种教孩子情绪素养的方式。所以我觉得他们做的那几部《头脑特工队》电影真的很棒。
最近发现的好产品
Lenny Rachitsky: 你有没有最近发现的、特别喜欢的某款产品?可以是 app,也可以是实体产品。
John Mark Nickels: 有。Eight Sleep 是一家智能床垫公司。他们现在已经做到第三或第四代了,它就像 Tempur-Pedic 的床垫,或者你可以把他们的罩子铺在任何床垫上。那个罩子里有细小的水管,然后有一个小电脑设备,你往里注水,再配合一个 app。基本上你编程设定之后它会学习,它有传感器,可以测量心率、心率变异性、体温等等,但你本质上是在编程一条温度曲线,帮助你最大化快速眼动睡眠和深度睡眠,从你已有的睡眠中获得更多价值。
对我来说,深度睡眠阶段它会变得很凉,然后你想起床时它会把你暖回来,比闹钟什么的都好。但这也回到我一直说的,我想以正确的心态、精力和活力去投入每一天。拥有高质量的睡眠一直是其中的关键部分。如果我睡得不好、睡眠不足或者睡眠质量差,你从一开始就处于劣势。所以如果你还没看过 Eight Sleep,很好的产品。没有代言费。
Lenny Rachitsky: 它还有一个很酷的地方是能追踪你的睡眠,给你各种数据统计。不需要戴戒指,它就能给你关于睡眠质量的各种指标。有一个人叫 Bryan Johnson,不知道你关不关注他,就是那个想活尽可能久的人,他连续六个月拿到了完美的睡眠评分,创了纪录。
John Mark Nickels: 哇。
Lenny Rachitsky: 是的。他在那方面确实很有一套。
人生座右铭
好,还有两个问题。你有没有最喜欢的人生座右铭,经常回想起来的,觉得在工作或生活中有用的?
John Mark Nickels: 有。这些年我大概有过不同的座右铭。现在对我特别有用的是,有一首曲子叫《Sit Around the Fire》,Jon Hopkins 作的,在 Spotify、Apple Music 上都能找到,基本上是音乐配上 Ram Dass 的一段演讲,不太为人知的一段。所以最近一直对我很有用的那句咒语就是那段话最开头部分,他说:“超越一切二元对立,我在。让头脑的评判和观点就只是头脑的评判和观点。而你存在于那背后。” 所以有时候我会用缩略版,当我注意到自己被激活了、执着于某个观点、在跟人争论的时候,我就对自己说,“超越一切二元对立。”
Lenny Rachitsky: 缩略版。
John Mark Nickels: 我在孩子们面前这样做,他们会笑我,说”爸爸有时候好奇怪。”
Lenny Rachitsky: “超越一切二元对立,孩子们。” 太搞笑了。天哪。还有另一句 Ram Dass 的话,我经常跟我妻子用的,“Be Here Now”(活在当下),就是他那本人人都见过的蓝色封面书的书名。我就用在她看手机而我们在做别的事情的时候。我说,“Be here now。” 她就说,“好吧好吧,我放下手机。“
关于 Travis 的故事
是的,最后一个问题。我本来想问你关于线路追踪的事以及你从中学到了什么。你已经分享了一个那段时期的精彩经验。所以我换个问题问你——聊聊 Travis。跟 Travis Kalanick 共事有没有什么疯狂的、好玩的、难忘的故事?不管他姓怎么念,Kalanick 还是 Kalanick?
John Mark Nickels: Travis Kalanick,对。我分享一个简短但有趣的小故事,可能不太为人知的。我们之前 Uber 办公室在 1455 Market,有一个会议室我们经常跟 Travis 做汇报,不是那个 war room,或者其他什么 room。那是没有窗户的内部房间。而这个房间有窗户,可以俯瞰,那条街叫什么来着?11th Street。就是 11th 和 Market 的交汇处。我们会在投影仪上放好演示,在大屏幕上准备跟 Travis 过一些东西。然后每次他进来,都会把窗户的百叶窗拉上。大家都很疑惑,“Travis,你在干嘛?“不是因为反光。百叶窗跟屏幕是垂直的。后来有一次我问他,“你为什么要这样做?“他说,“我很确定 Lyft 在我们办公室窗外飞着无人机,在窥探我们的演示。”
Lenny Rachitsky: 天哪。
John Mark Nickels: 我心想,哇,你对竞争对手的偏执真是深入骨髓,兄弟。好吧。总之。
Lenny Rachitsky: 很难想象 Lyft 会做那种事。我倒能想象 Uber 对 Lyft 这样做。
John Mark Nickels: 旧 Uber。Uber 1.0。
Lenny Rachitsky: 旧 Uber。是的。哇,太精彩了。就像 NFL 的教练在喊战术时总是捂着嘴,就像,我一直在想是不是真的有人这样做。太精彩了。是的,我理解。高赌注嘛,谁知道呢,外面可能真有无人机。
John Mark Nickels: 对。
Lenny Rachitsky: 太精彩了。J.M.,这场对话真像过山车一样。我们聊了太多东西,我甚至数不过来。那我最后再问你两个问题。大家如果想在网上找到你、或者想和你合作,应该去哪里联系你?我知道你会和人合作,聊聊这个。最后一个问题,听众怎样才能帮到你?
John Mark Nickels: 好,好。我偶尔会上 Twitter,账号是 @NickelsJM,不过我不怎么发推,但也许我应该多发点。但想了解更多我关于软技能方面的想法和思考,最好的去处是一个叫 rhythmofbeing.com 的网站。上面有一些博客文章之类的东西,对其中一些话题有更深入的展开。对,我也在业余做一点辅导工作,和一些人合作。现在做得很少了。我在 Uber 的本职工作加上晚上带孩子的”夜班”,基本占满了我所有醒着的时间。但对于合适的人,少数几个名额,我还是能挤出时间的。不过,找到我最好的地方就是 rhythmofbeing.com。
Lenny Rachitsky: 那听众怎样才能帮到你呢?
John Mark Nickels: 秉持欢迎和拥抱反馈的精神,你能做的最有用的事就是联系我,告诉我哪些内容引起了共鸣,哪些没有,哪些对你有用,我讲到哪里时你的能量上升了,哪里又下降了?因为对我来说,那就是一个信号,告诉我我是不是在追踪生命——活力在哪里?这样以后我做其他版本的内容或其他对话时,我会更关注那些能量上升的部分,往那个方向深挖;而能量下降的部分就说明,好吧,也许没那么有趣,或者没有引起共鸣。没关系,没问题。
Lenny Rachitsky: J.M.,非常感谢你来参加节目。
John Mark Nickels: 谢谢你的邀请。
Lenny Rachitsky: 大家再见。
感谢大家的收听。如果你觉得这期节目有价值,可以在 Apple Podcasts、Spotify 或你最喜欢的播客应用上订阅本节目。也请考虑给我们评分或留下评论,这真的能帮助更多听众找到这个播客。你可以在 lennyspodcast.com 找到所有往期节目或了解更多关于本节目的信息。下期再见。
术语表
| 原文 | 中文 |
|---|---|
| 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership | 《15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership》 |
| Advanced Technologies Group | Advanced Technologies Group(Uber 的自动驾驶技术部门,保留原文) |
| Alan Watts | Alan Watts(英国哲学家,将东方思想引入西方的先驱,首次出现保留原文) |
| Be Here Now | Be Here Now(Ram Dass 的经典著作,保留原文) |
| Brent Goldman | Brent Goldman(同事,首次出现保留原文) |
| Bryan Johnson | Bryan Johnson(长寿倡导者,首次出现保留原文) |
| Cambrian explosion | 寒武纪大爆发 |
| Clayton Christensen | Clayton Christensen(《创新者的窘境》作者,首次出现保留原文) |
| Conscious leadership | 意识领导力 |
| Contrarian Corner | 异见角落 |
| Cruise | Cruise(自动驾驶公司,保留原文) |
| Daniel Ek | Daniel Ek(Spotify CEO,首次出现保留原文) |
| Dara | Dara(Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi,首次出现保留原文) |
| David Allen GTD | David Allen GTD(个人生产力方法论,保留原文) |
| Diana Chapman | Diana Chapman(意识领导力教练,首次出现保留原文) |
| Eight Sleep | Eight Sleep(智能床垫品牌,保留原文) |
| Elon | 马斯克(Elon Musk,国际知名人物,使用公认中文译名) |
| first principles thinking | 第一性原理思考 |
| Garrett van Ryzin | Garrett van Ryzin(哥伦比亚大学学者,首次出现保留原文) |
| HIPAA | HIPAA(美国医疗隐私法案,保留原文) |
| How Will You Measure Your Life? | 《你将如何衡量你的人生?》 |
| Innovator’s Dilemma | 《创新者的窘境》 |
| Inside Out | 《头脑特工队》(皮克斯动画电影) |
| Jim Dethmer | Jim Dethmer(意识领导力教练,首次出现保留原文) |
| Jon Hopkins | Jon Hopkins(英国音乐人,首次出现保留原文) |
| lidar | lidar(激光雷达) |
| lizard brain | 爬行脑 |
| Lyft | Lyft(出行平台,保留原文) |
| Man’s Search for Meaning | 《活出生命的意义》 |
| Marcus Aurelius | 马可·奥勒留(古罗马皇帝、斯多葛哲学家) |
| marketplace | marketplace(指 Uber/DoorDash 的供需匹配系统,保留原文) |
| Martin Luther King | 马丁·路德·金 |
| Mike Isaac | Mike Isaac(记者,首次出现保留原文) |
| mind like water | 心如止水 |
| Motional | Motional(自动驾驶公司,保留原文) |
| Nancy Duarte | Nancy Duarte(沟通/演讲专家,首次出现保留原文) |
| north-starring | 北极星指引 |
| objective function | 目标函数 |
| Paul Graham | Paul Graham(知名创业投资人物,保留原文写法,暂无公认中文译名) |
| Peter [inaudible] | Peter [听不清](指 Peter Thiel,但原文未明确,保留处理方式) |
| Ram Dass | Ram Dass(美国精神导师,首次出现保留原文) |
| Ray Dalio | Ray Dalio(投资家/桥水基金创始人,首次出现保留原文) |
| Reid Hoffman | 里德·霍夫曼 |
| Resonate | 《Resonate》 |
| rhythmofbeing.com | rhythmofbeing.com(John Mark Nickels 的个人网站,保留原文) |
| saber-toothed tiger | 剑齿虎(比喻过时的恐惧反应) |
| Sam Harris | Sam Harris(作家/冥想应用 Waking Up 创始人,首次出现保留原文) |
| Seneca | 塞涅卡(古罗马斯多葛哲学家) |
| sigma | sigma(Tesla 的自动驾驶技术术语,保留原文) |
| soft leadership | 柔性领导力 |
| spark line | 火花线 |
| surge pricing | 动态溢价 |
| talk is cheap | talk is cheap(Spotify 核心价值观,保留原文) |
| Tempur-Pedic | Tempur-Pedic(床垫品牌,保留原文) |
| Theodore Roosevelt | 西奥多·罗斯福 |
| Tony | Tony(DoorDash CEO Tony Xu,首次出现保留原文) |
| Travis | Travis(指 Uber 联合创始人 Travis Kalanick,首次出现保留原文) |
| Uber Pool | Uber Pool(产品名称,保留原文) |
| UberX | UberX(产品名称,保留原文) |
| victim consciousness | 受害者意识 |
| Viktor Frankl | Viktor Frankl(《活出生命的意义》作者,首次出现保留原文) |
| Waking Up | Waking Up(Sam Harris 的冥想应用,保留原文) |
| Waymo | Waymo(自动驾驶公司,保留原文) |
| Waymo One | Waymo One(Waymo 的自动驾驶出行产品,保留原文) |
| Zuck | 扎克伯格(Mark Zuckerberg,国际知名人物,使用公认中文译名) |
此文档由 AI 分片翻译(translate_long_document)