Honor Your Team's Dreams
Join the next Becoming an Effective Manager Quest facilitated by Mindy Zhang and Cristina Georgoulakis
Dear Grand Fam,
Our next Quest on Becoming an Effective Manager kicks off in April, and we’re so excited to welcome Mindy Zhang as a facilitator.
Mindy Zhang is currently the Director of Product at Oscar Health and formerly a Group Product Manager at Dropbox. She’s been a member of The Grand Community since Fall 2020. From our first meeting, we’ve been impressed by Mindy’s authentic leadership style. Read on, and you’ll see why we love Mindy and her management philosophy.
Tell us about your career path, how did you become a product leader?
In college, I was most drawn to consumer psychology classes and studying how human beings work. That led me to concentrate in Marketing. From there, I joined Microsoft, and then Dropbox. A pivotal moment was my decision to join Dropbox, I chose it because I was so drawn to the talent and people. Dropbox is where I grew up in my career. I spent six years there, grew into a lot of responsibility, and led the New York product team. More recently, I joined Oscar Health, to work on expanding affordable health care, which is a mission that I am really excited about. At Oscar, I found my footing as a leader. I manage all women, which is mind-blowing, because it's the first time this has happened. We have a lot to learn both from and with women in tech.
What did it feel like when you first became a manager?
It was a sudden transition because I replaced my previous manager and went from managing no one to managing five people at all different levels.
I believe when we transition from being an individual contributor to people management, we often see it as the next rung in the career ladder. So when it's difficult, there's a tendency to get down on ourselves because we've gotten so used to excelling and being good at each rung in the career. In reality, being a manager is a whole new job itself. You have accountability for someone's performance without having control over their outcomes – it's insanely difficult.
I had to learn how to give myself the patience to learn something brand new and approach it with a beginner's mindset.
It's easy to think there's maybe a playbook that we can follow. You can read blog posts or books but that only gets you 10% of the way there.
90% is doing it, and fielding all of the different exceptions that come your way. Finding a community where you can vulnerably and honestly share these experiences and learn from other people's case studies is really important.
A lot of managers face imposter syndrome. I remember my partner telling me, “You’re always doing your first role for the first time. That's literally how it works. Before Barack Obama was president, he had never been president.” That helped me a lot.
How do you invite feedback from your direct reports and team?
When a new direct report starts, I give them the book, Thanks for the Feedback. It really anchors my direct reports in the right mindset for giving and receiving feedback. I also have a designing the partnership conversation with each direct report, in which I talk about how you like to receive feedback and why it's important to you.
When you do receive feedback from your direct report, consider:
What is your track record for showing immense gratitude for the feedback?
How do you actually act on it?
Your track record is going to inform how often your direct reports give you subsequent feedback.
I always try to express both gratitude and action. I’ll say, “I want to take the time to process this, I really appreciate you bringing it up. While I think about how to incorporate it, the most helpful thing you can do is point out to me specific instances and nudge me toward the right behavior."
What have you learned from your managers, and how did you find your management style?
I've realized to be the best manager that I can be, I need to find what's unique to me.
The Gottmans are these famous psychologists, who study primarily romantic relationships. They say that to build a strong relationship with your partner, it comes down to four words, which is “Honor your partner's dreams”. When I think about all the great managers I've had, that is so true. They've honored my dreams.
When I would say something in passing I might be excited about, my manager would pick up on it, and encourage me to lean into it. They would call out my strengths and say, “This is your superpower. This is what I hear your dream is. Let's combine those to figure out what the next opportunity is for you.” That's something all of my best managers have in common.
Mindy will be facilitating the next Grand Quest on Becoming an Effective Manager alongside, Cristina Georgoulakis, Operating Partner at 776, and one of our most beloved, veteran facilitators. Only five more spots available.
Thank you Mindy for sharing your own journey and insights with us! We hope this conversation helps new managers out there see that you are not alone and the best way to learn is together, with community.
💌
Rei and Anita