3 key ingredients to perform as a leader with less stress

Insights from Danny Beck

In the world of product leadership, there’s no single path to career progression. Each leader brings unique experiences and perspectives. From coaching and training hundreds of product leaders, I believe the lessons learned along the way offer the most value. Recently, I had the privilege of sitting down with Danny Beck, a seasoned product leader who has worked at the forefront of industries like AI, autonomous vehicles, and finance. With over a decade of experience, including his tenure as VP of Product at Monarch Tractor, where he led the development of fully autonomous farming tractors, Danny’s journey is full of wisdom for aspiring and growing product leaders. 

Danny’s advice is grounded in real-world experience. He shares three key ingredients to accelerate your journey and performance as a product leader: respect instead of love, reflective decision-making, and an open support network. 

The Balance Between Leadership and Management

One of the key takeaways from my conversation with Danny was his clear distinction between leadership and management. In product roles, we often conflate the two, assuming that managing a team equates to leading it. However, as Danny explained, the two are fundamentally different but equally important.

“Leadership sets the direction and inspires people, while management helps get us there,” he said. This distinction is crucial for those moving from a manager of product people to leading a product. As a manager, your primary role might be to help your team execute their tasks and objectives. But as a leader, your responsibility expands beyond that—you need to set a clear vision, motivate your team, and inspire them to go beyond simply meeting their goals. As a senior product leader, you are often not restricted to positively influencing the staff you have hierarchical responsibility for but also leading how sales, marketing and technical teams think and feel about the product. 

For Danny, the leadership transition happened during his time at Volkswagen Group, where he was tasked with building a new product development function from scratch. “I had to figure out what we should pursue and why and then rally a team around that vision,” he shared. This meant setting the strategy and hiring and inspiring a 15-person team to execute it. The lesson here for product leaders is that leadership is about painting a bigger picture that your teams can buy into, while management is about helping them reach the finish line.

Being respected vs being loved

Danny shared powerful advice about the importance of leaders seeking respect rather than love. As a leader, you’ll naturally want your team to enjoy working with you. But trying too hard to be loved can make you less effective and hold team members back.

“My personality is that I’m a people person. I like making people happy,” Danny shared, which shows strong self-awareness. “But I found that I wasn’t driving hard enough because I wanted people to love me. People can still like you, but respecting you is more important.”

This was a valuable lesson for him early in his leadership career. As product leaders, it’s easy to fall into the trap of wanting to be everyone’s favourite boss. But Danny highlights the balance you need to strike. Your team doesn’t have to love you to deliver their best work—they need to respect you and trust that you are guiding them in the right direction. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be empathetic or caring; your decisions and actions should align with the business's goals, even if they’re not always popular.

Decision-Making Under Pressure

One of the most challenging aspects of product leadership is decision-making, especially when time is of the essence. Danny emphasised that understanding how your own mind works is essential in improving your decision-making skills. Some leaders are quick on their feet and can make snap decisions, while others need time to process information and consider the best course of action.

“I know that I’m a processor,” Danny explained. “I like talking through things, debating them, and digesting information before I make a decision.”

For him, it’s not about rushing to make the call but about taking a moment, or even a day, to reflect before committing to a path. A common challenge I regularly see when coaching product leaders is a desire to be overly reactive and move fast. If the decision matters, then pausing for reflection will not create any meaningful delay but will dramatically improve the decisions and following communication. This self-awareness has helped Danny improve his decision-making over the years, I encourage everyone to look inwards and better understand themselves to perform more effectively. 

Danny also shared some of the critical questions he uses to guide his decisions: 

• What value will this decision create for customers and for the business?
  This question helps ensure that every decision is focused on delivering tangible value. Whether it's a product decision or a strategic move, this question forces a focus on the end goal—creating positive outcomes for both customers and the business.

• Is this the most valuable thing we could be working on right now?
  This question is about prioritisation. It challenges you and your teams to consider whether the task or decision at hand is truly the highest-impact activity, helping you avoid getting sidetracked by less important initiatives.

• What needs to be true for this scenario to come about?
  This is one of Danny’s favourite questions. He uses it to free people from their current context and think beyond their current state of affairs. It pushes people to figure out what would be necessary to achieve something more significant and determine if there is a way to make it happen. Understanding what factors or assumptions are critical to achieving the desired outcome helps break down complex problems and evaluate the associated risk.

• What would the CEO ask me about this decision?
  As Danny describes it, “putting myself in the CEO's shoes” ensures he's thinking heuristically company-wide and considering the decision's broader implications. It helps broaden his perspective and forces him to consider the big picture.

• What does the data say?
  It should be a fundamental part of everyone’s decision-making process. Asking for the data ensures that decisions are grounded in facts.

As leaders, especially in the fast-paced world of product development, it’s tempting to make decisions quickly to keep things moving. But Danny’s advice reminds us that it’s okay to take a breath, step back, and ensure that the decision we’re making is truly the right one for the long term. But don’t step back for too long! 

Building a support network beyond your company

Danny’s third piece of advice might surprise you. He emphasised the importance of building a network outside of your company—a network of peers who can provide impartial advice and support. While internal relationships are crucial, external connections can offer a fresh perspective free from the internal politics and agendas that exist within every organisation.

“More recently, in the last few years, I’ve gotten a lot of value out of having a network of senior product leaders,” Danny said. “It’s less about them helping you find a new job and more about having people you can trust and bounce ideas off.”

This advice is particularly relevant for senior product leaders who might be facing complex challenges that require outside perspective. Whether it’s navigating difficult conversations with stakeholders, handling team dynamics, or making strategic decisions, having a network of trusted peers can be invaluable.

If you find networking difficult or perhaps just don’t have time for it, I suggest you check out a service called Sidebar, which does all this for you. Danny is a member of Sidebar and recommends it.

A Thought to Ponder

Danny’s journey and insights offer a wealth of knowledge for emerging and growing product leaders. Whether you’re stepping into a leadership role for the first time or have been managing product teams for years, his advice reminds you of the complexities of leadership. It’s about balancing being liked and respected, making thoughtful decisions under pressure, and building a network that supports your performance.

As you reflect on these lessons, consider Danny's challenge: Are you asking for help when needed, or are you trying to carry the weight of leadership alone?

No one has all the answers in leadership. Building a support system and knowing when to seek advice can be the difference between success and burnout. So, are you making the most of the resources around you to become the best leader you can be?