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People-First Product Leadership

9.1

(24 ratings)

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6 Days

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Cohort-based Course

In just 6 hours: Learn the secrets to always prioritizing your people, becoming a stronger leader and building an empowered product team

Hosted by

Diana Stepner

VP of Product @ Pearson, Monster | 15+ years building & advising product teams

Course overview

Launching a product is hard. Building an empowered product team is even harder.

With the increase in remote and hybrid work, leading a product team is trickier than ever. People in product roles always put their customer first. But who puts them first? As a Product leader, your product team is your customer. It's your job to put them first. Learn how to do so over 2 hours on a Monday, Wednesday, and Friday (total 6 hours).

Who is this course for

01

New product leaders seeking to increase their confidence when transitioning from an individual contributor role

02

Experienced product leaders seeking to scale at growing companies and looking to attract and retain top product talent

03

Product leaders tired of the status quo and ready to create a culture which empowers and motivates product team members

You'll immediately be able to apply learnings from the following topics

Discover your leadership voice (hint: you don’t need to be loud to lead)

Establish your personal management style through practical exercises and role-playing. Your team will know they’ve been valued and heard. (another hint: listening is more effective than telling). 

Define poor behaviors to stay away from... and why!

Benefit from first-person experience how to identify behavioral pitfalls which disrupt and derail product teams. Simply following leadership 'top 10s' can lead to mistakes that could have easily been avoided.

Develop engaged product teams in a hybrid / remote world

Provide your product team with a space that is interactive and fun. Test out activities that can be adopted quickly and have an immediate impact, creating a cohesive team regardless of location.

Deliver an environment that empowers product people

Product people tend to be curious and always seeking to know "the why". We will establish a framework to continuously learn and improve in order to have a growth mindset.

9.1

(24 ratings)

What people are saying

        Diana is one of the strongest product managers and leaders I have ever met. If you're a seasoned professional, you'll enjoy being motivated and challenged by Diana. If you're still learning the trade, I can't think of a better person to help you build a solid foundation and develop the techniques necessary for success.
Norm Levesque

Norm Levesque

Senior Director, Web & eCommerce
        I loved the style of this course. There were tons of interactive activities which always involved different people in the group. I loved the guide document, so I could always follow what we were being taught, and I love even more that I can continue to learn and incorporate everything I have learned in my day-to-day with my team.
Deborah Akinpelu

Deborah Akinpelu

Senior Product Manager
        Diana is a thoughtful, dedicated, and enthusiastic zealot for technology and consummate manager. She knew how to engage folks like myself to participate in her vision. It was the most fun I had at work, so much so, I forgot I was working. Diana’s spirit is infectious and her advocacy for people unparalleled; she is a rare gem.
Megan Artin

Megan Artin

VP, Product Development
        What a great week its been, Diana is so friendly and its been lovely getting to know other product people from across the globe. The course was engaging, insightful & reflective. Thanks Diana - can't wait to try popcorning with my Squad!
Levina Basra

Levina Basra

Product Owner
        Loved this course! Diana is an incredible leader: inspiring, curious, and kind, and she encourages her teams to do the same and become the best versions of themselves. This course explored how we can become a product leader like Diana and I'm so excited to apply these to my own career.
Elizabeth (Liz) Belanger

Elizabeth (Liz) Belanger

Senior Product Manager
        The course has so much insight into Product leadership, and it's so interactive, ready to leave you with great action items you can apply in your day-to-day life. Thanks, Diana for this great course!
Monica Munteanu

Monica Munteanu

Lead Product Manager
        The course was well structured and touched upon a a variety of common issues, pitfalls and ways to optimize time spent together. Simple and profound, create more effective collaboration and communication with psychological safety.
Brendan Weafer

Brendan Weafer

Concept Manager
        Diana has created a peaceful, calm, positive, empowering environment where she shares actionable ideas and tangible, reusable resources to grow as a leader. My goal coming into this course was to become a more confident product leader, and I'm leaving not only much more confident but also excited and inspired!
Ayelette Robinson

Ayelette Robinson

Founder
        People-First Product Leadership has been incredibly insightful and affirming. I leave the course with a sense of self-confidence and belief that was lacking before, and I'm now armed with tools, resources, and tips to create and foster the right product culture with my team!
Rebecca Whitmore

Rebecca Whitmore

Senior Product Owner
        Diana is a fantastic teacher who is warm, welcoming and so generous with her knowledge, time and experience. The course is not only really useful, but also really enjoyable!
Adam Palin

Adam Palin

Director
        A great, engaging course that had the perfect balance of information, discussion and workshop activities to learn more about becoming better product leaders and product people in general. It was a delight to interact with product leaders from around the world. Diana does a brilliant job of presenting, encouraging discourse and leading by example.
Brad Butcher

Brad Butcher

Product Owner

Meet your instructor

Diana Stepner

Diana Stepner

Diana is a Silicon Valley native and annual skateboarder with 15+ years of international product leadership experience running diverse global digital teams.


Diana's background includes leading teams in startups (E.piphany, Cheapflights - bought by Kayak, and SimplePractice), enterprise organizations (Salesforce, Monster, Pearson), digital agencies (Razorfish, part of Publicis) and software consulting (Epsilon).


Diana focuses on putting people first in the people-product-process triad, accelerating digital innovation, being a dot-connector, and coaching individuals through their product leadership journey. She has a MIMS from UC Berkeley and an MBA from Boston University.


Find out more about Diana on LinkedIn. Sign up for my People-First Product Leadership newsletter.

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Join an upcoming cohort

People-First Product Leadership

Dec 2023

$490 USD

Dates

Dec 10—15, 2023

Payment Deadline

Dec 9, 2023

Course syllabus

01

Discover your leadership personality

The best leaders let their personality shine through. You will discover your style and how to turn imposter syndrome into a super power.


One activity includes writing a personal readme (or user manual to you) that you can share with your team. You can use the exercise with your own team to foster better connections too.

02

Define how you lead product teams

How you lead your product team in a changing world requires knowing what to do and equally important, what not to do. You'll learn why leadership presence could use a makeover and how to define a culture of curiosity.


I'll share real world examples. Together we'll brainstorm how to counter a toxic culture and ways to celebrate wins.

03

Develop and Deliver the best performing product teams

The best performing teams practice autonomy and are psychologically safe. Experimentation is encouraged and failure is seen as an opportunity to learn.


Developing products is about developing people. You might be thinking, "is my team any good"? You'll learn innovation practices to deliver an empowered culture for remote and hybrid work.

Course schedule

Three 2-hour sessions
  • Mon, Oct 30 | Weds, Nov 1 | Fri, Nov 3

    8:00am - 10:00am PT

    We will use a mix of live presentation and hands-on workshop style with team activities.

  • Self-paced lessons

    1 hour

    Articles and resources to help you become a people-first product leader.

  • Bonus: Oct 16th to 29th

    1:1 Coaching

    Reach out and schedule a 30min spot outside the course to discuss any additional product leadership topics that are top of mind

Free resource

Preview of People-First Product Leadership

Leading product teams is not easy, even when market dynamics are trending up.


During the uncertain times we're facing today, the leadership techniques of product managers increases in importance.


It’s time to double down on emotional intelligence and creating a safe space, especially for experimentation.


With this free resource, you'll receive a preview: "Discover" what is people-first product leadership, "Define" your product leadership style and learn how to "Develop" + "Deliver" your leanings to your team. Enjoy!

Sign up to get your preview

Learning is better with cohorts

Learning is better with cohorts

Active hands-on learning

This course builds on live workshops and hands-on projects

Interactive and project-based

You’ll be interacting with other learners through breakout rooms and project teams

Learn with a cohort of peers

Join a community of like-minded people who want to learn and grow alongside you

Frequently Asked Questions

What makes this course different?
Who is this course for?
Can I expense this course with my employer?
Are there prerequisites? Do I need to come into the course with any particular knowledge?
I work full-time, what is the expected time commitment?
Will I get a certificate upon completion of the course?
Will this course include access to a community, mentorship, or coaching?
What happens if I can’t make a live session?
What’s the refund policy?

Stay in the loop

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A pattern of wavy dots
Join an upcoming cohort

People-First Product Leadership

Dec 2023

$490 USD

Dates

Dec 10—15, 2023

Payment Deadline

Dec 9, 2023

$490 USD

9.1

(24)

·

6 Days