The Track

How do you make your product stand out in a sea of competitors? Product Strategy alum Justin Lee shares his approach.

Building a new product is nerve-racking, especially if you’re taking a shot at something that’s never been tried before.

Will it end up being a YouTube or a Quibi? An iPod or a Zune? If it fails, will you ever be able to bounce back?

Luckily, you can build confidence by reducing risk. That’s where product experimentation comes in.

Pop quiz. When you hear the word NFT, do you think:

💪 I know exactly what an NFT is and how to use it for my business

🤔 I think I understand what NFTs are, but I have no clue if they’re relevant to me

🤢 Argh! I should know what NFTs are, but thinking about them makes my head hurt

If you answered the latter two options, you’re not alone. Don’t worry – we sat down with NYU Stern Professor Sabrina Howell to simplify it for you.

Have you ever been bored and caught yourself checking Instagram just seconds after you closed it?

I’m sure you didn’t reopen it because you had an overwhelming urge to see more pics of your college roommate's lunch. You did it without thinking, like it was second nature.

If that sounds familiar, then I hate to break it to you: You have a habit.

And what’s more, that habit was built intentionally – by the people who designed your app.

I’m sure you’ve had a manager you didn’t trust. 

Maybe that manager said she valued your time – but then canceled your 1:1 at the last minute because she just had to run out and get a smoothie. 

Maybe he called you out in front of the team for a mistake he made. (Truly an unforgivable offense). 

Whatever it was, you know that once trust is lost, it’s hard to get back...

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Have you ever sat in a 9 a.m. meeting with your team and wondered why one person is jacked up on coffee and firing off ideas, and another person looks like they just woke up from a 100-year sleep?

You might think, “Well, the first person is just more productive. They’re good at their job, whereas Steve is a useless lump. Duh.” 

But actually, it’s not that simple. These two people probably have different chronotypes – meaning they’re inclined to sleep, work, and recover at different times. 

Do you ever look at a company like Google or Netflix and think, “I know we could be that successful – if only we had their people on our team”? 

The bad news: It’s impossibly expensive to recruit talent from the top tech companies.

The good news: You can develop this type of talent in-house, if you zero in on the skills that actually matter to drive business growth.

To help you, our research team looked at 100 of today’s top-performing organizations and identified the business skills that matter. 

These are the skills that should be your top priority in talent development. So let’s get started.

Pop quiz: What percentage of employees say they have the skills to do their jobs effectively?

It’s not most of them. It’s not even half. It’s a crushing 30 percent. 

Now, what percentage of employees actually use the skills they learn in L&D programs at their jobs?

Twelve percent.

If these numbers sound rough, that’s because they are...

I was talking recently with a Section4 student, and I let him know that we would soon be giving members access to all our sprints for $995, about 1% the annual tuition of an MBA. 

“That’s incredible,” he said. “I’m so excited – my mind is blown.”

Then he paused.

“Why are you doing that?”, which is a polite way of asking “What’s the catch?”

There isn’t one. And here’s the answer as to why.

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