Your org chart is obsolete. It's time to move from silos to studios. The old model of large, hyper-specialized teams is now a liability. If you're looking to leverage AI to innovate faster than the competition, this episode offers a playbook.

Product leader Nate Gosselin introduces a new model inspired not by corporate frameworks, but by hip-hop producers. He breaks down the concept of the "Product Producer" and the shift from rigid, siloed teams to small, nimble "studios" powered by AI. This conversation provides a tactical guide for leaders to rethink their org design, tackle technical debt, and build the multidisciplinary teams needed for the future.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

(01:31) What is a "Product Producer"?

(05:12) The Skills to Hire For: AI Literacy and Multidisciplinary Talent

(11:09) Managing AI Like a Team of Highly Capable Interns

(13:30) Where to Start: Low-Risk, High-Impact AI Projects

(16:33) How to Use AI to Tackle Your Scariest Tech Debt

(20:49) The New Org Model: Shifting from Assembly Lines to Creative Studios (31:53) Your First Step: A Practical Guide to Implementing AI in Your Workflows (39:08) The Personal Transformation for Leaders: From Specialist to Builder

Follow Keith Cowing:

LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/keithcowing

Subscribe to free coaching via email: https://kc.coach

Subscribe to the show:

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@kcowing

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1Bw7KhjlUzFjMoFhdfNAKN

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/executives-unplugged/id1769131263

Follow Nate Gosselin:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nate-gosselin

Website: https://www.heynate.me/

The pressure on leaders to deliver rapid, transformative change has never been higher. But how do you move fast without leaving your people behind?

In this episode, host Keith Cowing sits down with Perry Steinberg, a seasoned Chief Product Officer with deep experience leading through high-stakes transitions at both public companies and fast-paced private equity-backed firms. Perry unpacks his core leadership philosophy for navigating this exact challenge, revealing how to maintain cohesion and drive results simultaneously.

In this conversation, you will learn:

• The Art of Cadence and Commitment: The methods Perry uses to build trust and alignment, even when making difficult decisions.
• Leading the 'Mindset Shift': Discover techniques to guide an organization through a fundamental change in thinking and strategy.
• From Chaos to Cohesion: Hear how Perry unified disparate teams and roadmaps post-acquisition to create a single, focused vision.
• Staying Relevant in the AI Era: Understand why past playbooks are obsolete and what skills are critical for leadership in a world of constant technological disruption.

This episode is for any leader tasked with steering their organization through uncertainty.

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What do you do when a leader tells you, "You have integrity. That's rare in this profession"? For my guest Natasha Jaffe, it was the signal she needed to leave.

In this episode of Executives Unplugged, I talk with Natasha, an experienced engineering leader and coach who has guided teams at both Fortune 100 companies and startups through multi-billion dollar acquisitions.

We have a raw and honest conversation about the critical mistake leaders make when they chase productivity gains but accidentally "squash the magic" that makes their teams special. Natasha shares a powerful playbook for leading through disruptive changes—like reorgs or the push for AI—by protecting your team's "flow state" and listening to your own moral compass.

This episode is a masterclass in leading with empathy and principle, offering practical advice on how to navigate immense change without losing your team, or yourself, in the process.

Guest:

• Natasha Jaffe: Experienced Engineering Leader and Coach.
• Find Natasha's writing at her blog: Nuts and Bolts on Substack

In this episode, we discuss:

• (1:13) What is "Flow State"? Natasha explains why long, uninterrupted blocks of time are the source of an engineer's most creative and deep work.
• (2:11) How Leaders Destroy Flow: Forcing teams to prioritize the "important" over the "interesting" for too long erodes curiosity and squashes the magic.
• (3:40) The Human Reaction to AI: Why engineering teams often react to top-down AI mandates with trepidation, seeing it as "dystopian" and a threat to their craft.
• (4:35) Fear Kills Innovation: When your team is afraid, they won't engage in the productive risk-taking required to innovate.
• (5:11) A Case Study in Leading a Reorg: How Natasha turned a messy, demoralizing situation into a success by bringing the team into the decision-making process, listening to their fears, and even choosing a team mascot.
• (8:33) The Real Path to Moving Faster: Stop telling your engineers to "run harder." Instead, reduce toil and remove friction to "widen the mouth of the funnel."
• (9:16) The Collapsing Talent Stack: Are we moving away from hyper-specialists and back toward multi-skilled teams who can move with lightning speed?
• (12:49) The Bell Curve of Team Size: The trade-off between having more minds on a problem and the rapid degradation of velocity and quality when "too many cooks are in the kitchen."
• (15:01) Your Moral Compass: Why you can't leave your values at home and how the biggest career regrets come from not listening to your gut.
• (16:35) "They Said the Quiet Part Out Loud": The powerful story of how a single comment about integrity was the signal Natasha needed to make a pivotal career change.
• (18:41) Key Questions to Ask Yourself: How to get clarity when your job is in conflict with your values, and how to know when it's time to explore a change.
• (22:08) On Burnout and Recovery: Natasha shares her personal journey of recovering from massive burnout and rediscovering creativity.