Episode 11: Building Trust to Build Great Products with Brian Bhuta
The theme of this week’s Product Thinking Podcast is transformation, and Melissa’s guest is Brian Bhuta, Chief Product Officer at Signify Health. Brian is an experienced product leader and is passionate about establishing and scaling product management organizations in an agile environment. He’s also an expert at getting tricky or resistant stakeholders on his side. Brian joins Melissa to discuss transformations and product management through the lens of relationship building.
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Here are some key points you’ll hear Melissa and Brian talk about in this episode:
How Brian and Melissa both got into product transformation. [1:50]
The raw material of transformation is people who are passionate about wanting to do better on a regular basis. [07:09]
Employees and customers want a bold vision. [10:26]
Consider and acknowledge that there are people who have invested more into the company than you have. A leader who has the goal of product transformation, but who has a mindset that they’re going to “save” or “fix” the company, is doomed to alienate the people who have helped get the company to where it is. [14:19]
We have to build a relationship with our team and the people we are now in charge of. “You’re never gonna be able to work with someone if you don’t understand them,” Brain tells Melissa. [22:24]
An executive who sees themself as part of the team will make great strides towards transformation and help the company move towards a positive workplace culture. [30:54]
When selling a product we need to consider if the product and the market are right. We also need to make sure that we are not promising too many things to our customers. [46:11]
Melissa and Brian talk about building relationships as both sales and product leaders, and building trust internally. [47:37]
Once you build a foundation of trust you can deal with any subsequent backlash or friction that may arise as systems begin to change. [52:07]
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