#8 - Become a better leader- conversation with Ibrahim Bashir
Specific advise from an exec from Amplitude, Twitter, Amazon - to help you navigate and move up in your career
Hey people, going to keep the write up short as the highlight is the conversation below.
For the second edition of my audio series, I have Ibrahim Bashir - VP of Product at Amplitude, previously Box, Twitter, and Amazon. The conversation with Ibrahim is one of the most information dense conversations I've ever had and has specific advice that you can apply in navigating your career.
Top 3 takeaways
- Stop viewing your career in a linear fashion, instead view it as a game of “Snakes & Ladders” (Chutes and Ladders for some)Understand that sometimes you will get a ladder and fast track your way to the next step. Other times, you might get a snake and move couple steps behind. None of these events are final and the game continues.
- Figure out what matters to you and use that to make career decisions”If one does not know to which port one is sailing, no wind is favorable.” - SenecaPoint is that if you do not know what motivates you or others, you won’t be able to make good decisions for yourself or lead others. Use SCARF leadership model to refine your understanding of your colleagues and be a better leader.
- https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s!oFWq!,fauto,qauto:good,flprogressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6f3c7cce-7e5d-4ad3-84c4-31fb1c09f76c320x279.png
- Focus on your own journeyThis might sound like a cliché but is very important to remember. Comparing your journey to others is not productive as everyone has different struggles and different opportunities. Focus on your own journey and do the best work.A little cheeky but this image captures the gist.
- https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s!wZki!,fauto,qauto:good,flprogressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F4c809089-eacf-4a5c-ae16-f2cd8efe83d7259x194.jpeg
You don’t want to miss this one if you are looking to grow in your career and be a better leader.
Or find it on Google podcasts, Stitcher, Overcast, and others. You can also download directly from here.
About Ibrahim
Ibrahim Bashir is the VP of Product Management at Amplitude – one of my favorite data analytics platforms. Before Amplitude, Ibrahim has built product and engineering teams at some of the most exciting companies of our times like Box, Twitter, Amazon, and more.
He writes an email newsletter called “Run the business” which is one of my favorite reads and introduces interesting concepts about product, and career in general in each edition.
There are learnings from starting your career, to crafting your career path, to how to be a great leader, and so much more. For anyone who wants to be a better leader, this is a must listen as well as for people navigating their career paths.
If you enjoy the conversation, share it with someone you think will enjoy it.
I love you all, keep going!
- Aakash
- @aakashpathak
Originally published on substack.