Latest news with #product
Fast Company
5 days ago
- Business
- Fast Company
How to avoid getting ambushed in a high-stakes meeting
If you've ever walked into a meeting expecting support, and instead found yourself under fire, you're not alone. Amid rising pressure to deliver more with less, leaders often find themselves defending critical initiatives, budgets, or even their own credibility in front of skeptical peers and executives. And while thoughtful debate can sharpen decisions, some meetings turn into something more damaging: an ambush. It's a uniquely disorienting moment, one where your pulse quickens, your prepared remarks fall flat, and the room feels suddenly less like a meeting and more like a trial. For Cora, the head of product at a fast-growing tech company, her annual budget presentation was supposed to be a formality. She had aligned her proposal with the company's growth strategy, benchmarked costs against those of her peers, and prepared a detailed slide deck. But when she began her presentation, everything shifted. One colleague questioned her department's ROI in the first five minutes. Another proposed reallocating her budget to fund their own priorities. Soon, a chorus of voices piled on, pointing out minor flaws and casting doubt on her entire proposal. It became clear they had compared notes beforehand. Caught off guard and on the defensive, Cora struggled to regain control— and left with her credibility bruised and her budget slashed. Cora's story is all too common. High-stakes meetings where influence, resources, or reputations are on the line are often battlegrounds for competing agendas. Without the right preparation, even the most capable leaders can be outmaneuvered and unprepared to handle resistance. Through our work advising dozens of companies facing similar dynamics— Kathryn, as an executive coach and keynote speaker, and Jenny, as an executive advisor and Learning & Development expert—we've identified six core strategies that help senior leaders show up prepared, persuasive, and grounded, even when others are working against them. 1. Clarify the Stakes Before you can persuade others, you need clarity for yourself. Start by defining what's truly at risk for you, your team, and the organization, along with what you want to achieve. Is this about getting a 'yes' on a specific proposal? Strengthening your position? Building support for a long-term initiative? Ask yourself: What is the desired outcome of this meeting? Who are the key decision-makers and influencers? What do they care about? What happens if I win, and what happens if I don't? Pro tip: Write down the one sentence you want them to say after you leave the room: 'We should move forward with her proposal,' or 'He made a strong case. Let's back him.' Holding that sentence in mind helps you stay focused if others try to derail the conversation. 2. Research Your Audience Cora's biggest mistake wasn't her numbers. It was not anticipating her colleagues' competing agendas. In high-stakes meetings, knowing your audience is just as important as knowing your content. Do your homework: Understand their priorities, pain points, and pressures. Identify possible objections and who is likely to raise them. Map out the room: who is likely to support you, who is skeptical, and who might stay silent. As Sun Tzu wrote: 'If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.' 3. Prepare Your Content Once you have mapped the dynamics, craft your case accordingly. Start with your key message and back it up with 2–3 compelling, business-aligned points. Support your position with data, examples, and even stories that make your message memorable. We recommend the SUCCESs framework to structure your message: make it Simple, Unexpected, Concrete, Credible, Emotional, and Story-driven. And don't forget to end with a clear ask. Ambiguity creates space for dissent. 4. Rehearse and Refine Cora had the facts, but she wasn't ready for the friction. Rehearsing isn't just about polishing your presentation. It's about building resilience for tough questions and interruptions. Consider these steps: Practice your opening and closing lines out loud—they stick most due to recency and primacy bias. Anticipate tough questions and rehearse concise, confident responses. Role-play with a trusted colleague who can throw curveballs and help you adjust. Pro tip: Prepare a short 'pause phrase' to give yourself a moment: 'That's a great point. Let me address that specifically.' 5. Build Support Before You Walk In And even with strong content, your meeting can fall flat without political groundwork. The most effective meeting performance often begins well before you step into the room. Smart leaders don't just prepare content; they build coalitions. Pre-aligning with key stakeholders to identify and address objections and build support. Socialize your idea informally to shape how your message is received. Securing a meeting sponsor, someone influential who can help frame your proposal positively and reinforce its credibility in the room Influence starts in the quiet conversations, not just the formal ones. In hindsight, Cora realized she had focused so much on refining her proposal that she hadn't spoken with peers in advance or gauged where their support stood. A few informal touchpoints might have revealed the coordinated pushback, or even helped prevent it. 6. Manage Your Mindset Once your strategy is solid, the final variable is you. Your mindset, not your slide deck, determines how effectively you show up. High-stakes settings amplify stress, which is why composure is your secret advantage. Visualize a positive outcome and anchor yourself in your credibility. Arrive grounded and focused; small rituals, such as deep breathing, can help. Prepare a few confident, neutral phrases if things get heated: 'Let me clarify that . . .' or 'That's a fair point; here's how we're addressing it . . .' If power dynamics make direct confrontation risky, consider influencing laterally or enlisting a trusted intermediary. Preparation doesn't mean going it alone—it means understanding your leverage points and using them wisely. Too often, leaders over-index on content and underprepare for resistance. But in high-stakes meetings, your ability to anticipate dynamics, tailor your message, and manage your mindset is what sets you apart. You may not control the room, but with the right preparation, you can control how you show up in it. After her experience, Cora changed how she approached every high-stakes meeting. She now pre-aligns with key stakeholders, rehearses tough questions with a trusted peer, and walks in knowing not just her content, but the political terrain. She still faces resistance sometimes, but she's no longer surprised by it. And that shift has helped her win more buy-in, not just battles. Because real leadership presence isn't forged in easy moments. It's revealed when the room turns against you, and you stay steady anyway.
Forbes
14-07-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Why Your First Product Should Be Boring
Why do so many first-time founders chase novelty instead of traction? This article explains why ... More starting with a "boring" product—something proven, simple, and needed—is often the smartest way to launch a startup. Startups often begin with a burst of creative energy. Founders want to make something the world has never seen before. But novelty, while exciting, is not always useful. And more importantly, it's not always what the market needs. In fact, the best product ideas might be the boring ones. A product that doesn't impress your peers on launch day but quietly makes someone's life better. This article explains why 'boring' products are often the smartest place to start and why chasing novelty too early can slow you down. 1. The Risk Of Inventing Too Much At Once It's tempting to believe that the best startup ideas are the most original. But in reality, many of the most successful companies didn't start with novel inventions. Building something brand new is a triple challenge: you have to invent the product, educate the market, and figure out how to monetize all at once. Paul Graham, co-founder of Y Combinator, warned about this in his essay Schlep Blindness. He writes that many founders ignore valuable ideas because they look like too much work, not because they lack potential. Often, these ideas aren't flashy, but they solve real, tedious problems that others don't want to tackle. Your job as a founder is to find a problem worth solving and build a solution that people will actually use. That's hard enough already. Don't make it harder by adding unnecessary complexity. 2. Boring Is Easier To Validate A 'boring' product idea is usually boring because it's already familiar to the market. That's a good thing. If users already understand the problem and have been trying to solve it with spreadsheets, duct tape, or outdated tools, then you can move much faster. You won't need to convince people the problem exists. You won't need to invent a new category. You'll just need to show that your version is better. One of the most effective ways to get a good startup idea is to look at what's already working and improve it. This makes validation faster. You can talk to users, get real feedback, and iterate on something concrete, not hypothetical. 3. It's Easier To Ship And Iterate Novel ideas tend to come with vague specs and unclear edges. A simple, straightforward tool aimed at a known problem is much easier to scope, build, and launch. With a boring product, you don't have to invent everything. You can borrow existing models, replicate interfaces that people already understand, and focus your time on execution. Shipping fast is critical in the early startup stages. A boring product helps you do that. You can get to market quickly, collect feedback, and make real improvements based on real usage, not just intuition. Think of the first version of Basecamp, or the early versions of Notion. These weren't revolutionary in form, but they were reliable, clear, and focused. And they grew steadily because they solved a real problem well. 4. Distribution Is Less Of A Gamble Novel products often come with a second layer of difficulty: figuring out how to get them in front of the right people. A proven product in a known category gives you clear channels. If you're building accounting software, you know where accountants hang out. If you're building construction tools, there are obvious partners and trade networks to tap into. A niche B2B SaaS tool might not feel glamorous, but if it plugs into an existing buying process and delivers a real ROI, it can grow fast. That's why so many successful B2B startups like Superhuman, Loom, or Zapier, started in categories that already existed. They just executed better than the incumbents. 5. Boring Doesn't Mean Lacking Vision And Ambition Boring doesn't mean small. It means focused. Starting with a 'boring' idea doesn't lock you into a boring business forever. It just helps you get started with fewer unknowns. Once you have traction, trust, and a customer base, you'll have the freedom (and capital) to take bigger bets. Stripe started by solving a very straightforward problem: accepting payments online. Now it's building a full financial platform. Amazon started with books. Airbnb started with one city. Facebook started with Harvard students. Novelty and ambition can come later - once the engine is running.
Bloomberg
30-06-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
Musk's X Hires Entrepreneur Nikita Bier as Head of Product
Elon Musk's X has hired entrepreneur Nikita Bier as the platform's new head of product, giving Bier a senior role atop one of the most widely used social apps in the world. Bier is a relentless X user and tweeted at Musk in April 2022, floating himself as a candidate to run product at the company shortly after Musk acquired the social network for $44 billion.
CNA
13-06-2025
- Automotive
- CNA
Ikea recalls garlic presses due to risk of metal pieces detaching during use
SINGAPORE: Ikea said on Wednesday (Jun 11) it is recalling a batch of garlic presses due to the risk of small metal pieces detaching during use. The production error was identified after an internal investigation, Ikea said in a press release on Wednesday. The affected product is the 365+ Vardefull garlic press in black with article number 601.636.02. The date stamps of the impacted batch are from 2411(YYWW) to 2522 (YYWW). Affected products can be identified by a marking of the Ikea logo on the upper handle of the product, said Ikea. While no incidents have been reported in Singapore, Ikea has asked all customers who own the product to stop using it. Affected products can be returned to any Ikea store for a full refund and a receipt is not required, said the company. If customers are unable to identify the date stamp, they can return any Ikea 365+ Vardefull garlic press in black for a refund, it added.
CNA
11-06-2025
- Business
- CNA
IKEA recalls garlic press due to risk of metal pieces detaching during use
SINGAPORE: IKEA said on Wednesday (Jun 11) it is recalling a batch of garlic presses due to the risk of small metal pieces detaching during use. The production error was identified after an internal investigation, IKEA said in a press release on Wednesday. The affected product is the 365+ VÄRDEFULL garlic press in black with article number 601.636.02. The date stamps of the impacted batch are from 2411(YYWW) to 2522 (YYWW). Affected products can be identified by a marking of the IKEA logo on the upper handle of the product, said IKEA. While no incidents have been reported in Singapore, IKEA has asked all customers who own the product to stop using it. Affected products can be returned to any IKEA store for a full refund and a receipt is not required, said the company. If customers are unable to identify the date stamp, they can return any IKEA 365+ VÄRDEFULL garlic press in black for a refund, it added.
