Chris Bradle — Is it good to be genuine at work?

Long time designer, distance runner, and product leader Chris Bradle tells Tom about how his career as an athlete has effected his work in business. Chris suggested that the difference between winning new business and losing is being genuine. Tom asks if it's even a good idea to be authentic at work. Tom tells a story about getting laid off and asks if professionalism is like putting on a mask. Chris says putting on a mask is terrible. Vulnerability is not about being emotional, but about being yourself. Chris says he always knew what he wanted to do but he didn't know who he was when he was young. Tom tells how we make sense of reality by layering stories on top of what we see, but those stories are insufficient. Chris tells Tom how stories create shared meaning and understanding between different views of the same event. Chris talks about good advisors he's had and how their wisdom can help you know when it's time to exit a business. Chris talks about collecting proof before investing in a product, and how it’s a bad idea  to fund product discovery. Chris talks about how sometimes it's better not to have money because the constraints make you focus on what you're best at. The pressure of constraints helps you find your scale. Chris talks about how money makes you hire people often before you have the systems in place to support all those people. Chris tells how he got involved in product management. Chris says he was trained to solve problems visually and how he now applies that process to solving problems in his product management practice. Chris didn't know he was prating product management when he built his first start-up. After he sold his business, he had to choose a lane, and chose product management. Finally, Chris talks about how success is not about results but about throwing everything you have into your task.