Michael Goitein's Linkedin Analytics

Everyone has it backwards: OKRs don't drive strategy—they're just to keep you on track. Look at Roger Martin's "Playing to Win" framework: 1. Winning Aspiration 2. Where to Play 3. How to Win 4. Capabilities 5. Management Systems Guess where OKRs fall? Dead 𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘵. They're nothing more than a management system—and an often misused one. The Google myth clouds our thinking. Yes, they took off and scaled with OKRs, but remember: Google created a business model that made astronomical sums of money selling WORDS. 𝘈𝘯𝘺 goal-setting system would have worked for them. When OKRs come before strategy, they degrade into glorified project management. Every time. True power emerges when you understand the hierarchy: • Strategic choices provide direction • OKRs enable mid-term goal-setting • KPIs maintain health along the way Start with strategy. Always. What would change if your organization flipped its approach today?

Five minutes of daily journaling can move you from passive doom-scrolling to being an active part of the conversation. But most people either avoid journaling entirely or turn it into another task on their already overwhelming to-do list. My path to consistency has been keeping a ridiculously low bar and making it super low-tech. I set my notebook and pen up the night before to make it frictionless. Writing long-hand on paper means extending the time I stay screen-free, helping my  mind and body align. I prioritize spending 5 minutes daily capturing random observations, thoughts, daily goals, gratitude, affirmations, and mind maps to expand my ideas & my thinking (thanks to Ayodeji Awosika). The biggest benefit of a consistent journalling practice? It creates the bridge to move from passively consuming content to becoming an active creator. In addition to Ayodeji, I owe my journaling practice to Nicolas Cole 🚢👻 and Dickie Bush 🚢  – and it's been as transformative for them as it has been for me. Have you tried a journaling habit? What's been your biggest barrier? (The attached image shows a mind map for my latest Upstream, Full-Stack newsletter.) #journaling #gratitude #mindmap

Managers - You might see nothing wrong with being too busy for 1:1 meetings. But it's destroying both employee engagement and your company's future. When managers claim they're too busy for one-on-ones, what they're really saying is: "I'm too busy being an employee to step up and shape the future of our company." Here's why 1:1 meetings aren't just another meeting—they're the lifeblood of your organization: 1. They're where tiny victories are celebrated, building confidence, and obstacles are recognized and dismantled 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 they become crises 2. They transform vague expectations into crystal-clear priorities that drive results 3. They provide a real-time feedback loop that prevents small issues from becoming exit interviews 4. They convert potential into performance through targeted coaching that can't happen in any other setting 5. They build the human connection that turns employees into allies and friends instead of "resources" or "staff" Without regular 1:1s, you're not just missing meetings—you're missing the countless avoidable early warning signs bubbling below the surface, ready to silently drain the energy from your employees and your company's future. The most successful leaders I know don't 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 time for 1:1s. They 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 time. Because they understand that these conversations aren't a cost—they're an investment with the highest ROI in leadership. What's your 1:1 strategy? And what's it costing your company for you not to have one? #LeadershipMatters #RetentionStrategy #PeopleFirst #HighPerformanceTeams #ManagementExcellence

Your product roadmap may look impressive. But it's most likely bankrupting your company. If those shiny new features you're planning don't connect directly to real business value, you're wasting your software teams' and your customers' time. Too many product managers are trapped in the product jargon echo chamber, completely disconnected from broader business realities. In order to shift from building feature outputs to solving customer and business outcomes, we need to answer four fundamental questions: 1. At a basic level, do you understand the revenue formula driving company revenue and profit? 2. Can you name your actual end-users? (Hint: Internal stakeholders don't count) 3. Can you repeat your company's strategy and how your product strategy aligns to it? 4. Could you list your company's top 3 business priorities in order? If you hesitated on any of these, you're likely building "stuff" that may even look good in demos but delivers zero meaningful impact. The harsh truth: Building “stuff” is hard enough. But it’s way harder to spend all that time and money planning, designing, and building features no one wants, needs, or uses that accomplish 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨. #ProductStrategy #ProductManagement #ContinuousProductDiscovery

Organizations try to use Objectives and Key Results (OKRs), but few succeed, and more fail every day. Why? Here are the top five factors that almost guarantee you'll fail to get the benefits of OKRs: 1. Doing OKRs without clarifying your strategic choices 2. The decision to use OKRs gets imposed top-down, but middle management isn't brought along or supported to understand their key role in leading differently in order for them succeed 3. Turning OKRs into an official process through HR or some other business function rather than using them to bring strategy to life 4. Getting distracted by other priorities and not keeping up the cadence of weekly check-ins 5. Not adjusting strategy and/or OKRs as conditions change. Where's your organization struggling?

So many skewed definitions of OKRs, “SMART” goals, KPIs, and numerical targets in general totally miss the point. I'm indebted to Christina Wodtke for influencing the way I’ve used KPIs over the past 5 years. Instead of mistaking them for your goal, think of them as “Health” metrics, with specific “floors” or “ceilings." By contrast, OKRs work best when they’re used for something entirely different: Big, bold aspirational moonshots… Health Metrics (or “KPIs”) work best when they’re used for the things sitting right in front of you, that we only miss when they’re gone: 1. Team Health 2. Customer sentiment 3. Family 4. Friends 5. Personal Health 6. Happiness Just don’t make the mistake of achieving great things while sacrificing the things that really matter in the long run….

Still developing products the expensive way? The best product teams collaborate early and iterate cheaply before ever writing a single line of code. Why waste precious developer time when you could test and refine your ideas first? What separates successful product teams isn't more research—it's rapidly building and testing hypotheses in lightweight ways through continuous customer contact and iterating ON PAPER. I've seen millions wasted when companies misunderstand Amazon's "working backwards" PR/FAQ process. Fail #1: These aren't solo marketing exercises or customer-ready press releases. Fai #2: You can't delegate this entirely to AI. Use AI for ideas & outlines, but do the hard thinking work collaboratively as a team. Key takeaway: Amazon's "working backward" process works best when Product, UX, and Tech collaborate with regular stakeholder feedback. Tag people in your network struggling on a product team who need to hear this 👇

"Because the future hasn’t happened yet, there’s no relevant data to analyze." Don't be tempted to believe business is a scientific field. Roger Martin digs deep into the perils of misapplying science to every business problem, and what we lose as a result.

Most product teams are ignoring the fastest, most valuable way to get user insights • Product teams waste time and money on research when their own Customer Success and Support teams already have many of the answers they're looking for • These frontline warriors speak with users DAILY - they know exactly what's broken; many even keep top-10 lists and know customers by name • No recruitment hassles or scheduling nightmares - just book 30 minutes on their calendar • When I coach PMs, this simple practice delivers the fastest ROI in fixing problems that matter most to users Is it the perfect way to connect with and better understand your users? No. But when you need actionable insights NOW, your support teams hold the keys What will you do to connect with your people on the front lines today? Comment below.

Your product strategy can't be "make money." But without financial literacy, you can't design the right strategy to make your company successful. Too many product managers miss this key strategic constraint. They craft elegant strategies, set ambitious OKRs, and run perfect ceremonies while totally ignoring financial realities. The truth? You can't build effective product strategy without understanding how your business makes money. And that always begins with changing customer behavior in ways that mean success for them, as well as your business. Financial constraints aren't limitations – they're your strategic lenses that focus you on effectively serving the right customers through the right channels. • How is increased churn killing your profitability? • Is selling more units the path to growth? • How can you do that without spiking acquisition costs that will destroy your margins? These financial insights reveal your organization's true customer-centric problems to solve. Because ultimately, strategy isn't about fancy frameworks – it's about solving the specific problems customers and, by extension, your company is facing. And without maintaining a healthy influx of the right customers and the financial rewards they bring, no org will survive for long. A foundational part of your strategy journey means grounding your choices in financial literacy. What financial insight is currently reshaping your product strategy? Share below.

Please stop forcing people to change. It didn't work last time, and it won't work this time. The smartest leaders never push boulders uphill. They simply extend an invitation and see who steps forward. Those brave volunteers? They're never your "experts" or those with the most polished work. But they have a few things that are far more valuable: • Curiosity • Openness • Willingness What happens when you get a few open-minded people to improve just 1% each week? Pure magic. Compound interest takes over. Good will and positive intentions build on each other to become remarkable outcomes. The open-minded, willing few consistently outperform the many resistant experts in the end. Because "Progress over Perfection" isn't just a slogan—it's the only sustainable path that works. Who will you "invite" on your change journey today?

Building great products that achieve customer and business success depends on three things: 1. Strategy 2. Client-Centricity 3. Becoming a collaborative, “Learning-focused” organization But too many orgs obsess over: 1. Planning 2. Internal Stakeholder-Centricity 3. Being a siloed “Productivity-focused” organization Too analytical, planning, and internally-focused. Not enough creativity, strategy, and client-centricity.

Could a dashboard addiction be killing innovation at your company? I once saw an org nearly implode because user numbers dipped 0.5% on a random weekday. Subscribe to the Upstream, Full-Stack Journal this week, and learn how to: • Break free from the data analysis trap • Discover how Apple, Herman Miller, and TikTok succeeded by ignoring the data • Go beyond features and use empathy to build communities Tomorrow, I'll show 733 people what it takes to get beyond analytics and create products people actually want. Because in business, there’s no data that can predict what hasn't yet been created. Want to find out more? Subscribe here: https://lnkd.in/eY5jUjNa

I was put on a dreaded “PIP” (“Performance Improvement Plan”) But I was fortunate to have a great manager do a series of 1:1 sessions with me We were talking about one difficult situation I messed up. And this manager hit me with this question: “Walk me through your thought process on how you reached that conclusion and made that decision.” I was blown away. They weren’t judging or criticizing – they were curious and genuinely invested in my improvement. I had been working long hours, incredibly busy and stressed, but clearly wasn’t focusing on the right things. Sharing my thought process allowed me to get quality feedback on what to prioritize. I also learned some better mental models that really upped my game and helped me turn things around. I'm forever indebted for the skilled coaching I received.

Making no choice IS a choice—and it's the worst one you can make for both your life and your business. Last week, our new team reviewed our quarterly strategy. I've been encouraging our leaders to ruthlessly simplify: • Who's your true customer? • What's your core problem? • What does "Winning" look like in this situation? Meanwhile, while watching Roger Martin "Playing to Win" strategy session with Tiffani Bova, André Reis shared one line that nailed the essence of strategic thinking and stopped me cold: "When you make a choice to try to do everything, you're making a choice to do nothing." Great strategy isn't about getting more done—it's about having the courage to focus and be truly effective. Who's your "customer"? What ONE choice will you make today that eliminates ten other equally urgent and amazing options? Only when we begin to focus, will we have a shot at changing the future and creating an outsize impact.

Your team doesn't need a boss who has all the answers. They need a coach who asks the right questions. Effective leaders today don’t give the best instructions - they know how to unlock the leadership potential in others. As Bill Campbell, coach to Steve Jobs and Larry Page, famously said: "Coaching is no longer a specialty; you cannot be a good manager without being a good coach." The difference is clear: Great management has evolved. What's one way you could coach your team to bring out their potential today? Share below.

One of Roger Martin's foundational insights is that businesses frequently misapply scientific methods in areas they simply don’t belong. • A/B Testing • Data-driven Design • Tracking everything down to the nth degree This is why companies are awash in more data than ever, yet struggle with innovation and staying relevant against the continuously unfolding backdrop of daily events. Martin sees two issues with this: • All business decisions are about The Future • But all data comes from The Past We can only base our decisions on data when we're convinced that in that specific area, the future will continue to look exactly like the past.

AI writing is pretending— posing like you have knowledge and credibility you don't have. That "heartfelt" AI-generated post about that next step in your career journey? Anyone can see through it. Your AI-written: • Articles • Newsletters • Kindle books • Resumes • Posts • DMs • Comments What you're saying when you copy from ChatGPT and paste into LinkedIn (or anywhere else) is that you're asking for my time to read something you couldn't be bothered to write yourself. You want my attention, but you're not willing to put in the work to earn it. An opportunity? Grammarly has a "Blade Runner" tool: Tech that can predict, with some accuracy, what's human and what's AI. Will you have the courage to be authentically human?

I’m happy to share that I’m starting a new position as Enterprise Delivery Coach and Training lead at KeyBank!

I'm absolutely thrilled to announce I've joined a newly formed and refocused "Delivery Enablement and Onboarding" team under Max Shultz, PMP. After an exhilirating week of meeting and setting strategy in Cleveland together with my colleagues (from l-r) Matthew McKay, Thomas Lenker, CSM, CSPO , and Brandon McDowell, we're looking to support KeyBank in moving to better ways of working. Let's go!💪🚀