Dune's Leadership Lessons : Transforming Product Management with Duke Leto's People-First Approach

Before going to see Dune: Part 2, we watched Part 1 again. A phrase early in the film from Duke Leto Atreides stood out to me — “Damn the spice! I want every man off that crawler now!” You can hear the words in the clip below.

Today leaders often find themselves being discouraged or criticized for putting their people first. For example, I appreciate Ethan Evans writing, but I was put off when I went through his post titled “News Flash: Your boss isn't thinking about you.” If you’ve been reading my newsletters, you will instinctively know I don’t align with Ethan’s statement. I’m in Duke Leto’s camp and believe a boss - at any level - should care and be thinking about their team.

I won’t ruin the movie for you. Let’s just say Duke Leto’s reign is cut a bit short. His people-first leadership approach lives on through his son who recognized his father’s skills and ability to lead by example.

Why are we surprised when a leader puts their people first, either in a movie or in real life? I believe we should, and can, change that pattern. I’m glad to see a number of commenters to Ethan Evan’s post are in agreement as well.

Looking back over your work life, what leaders stand out to you?

I recall the startup founder who literally bounced with excitement when we discussed the product being built. There was the CTO who recommended I take his job to align product, design, and engineering more closely. And, the SVP of Sales who would stop by my desk in the mornings to share the good and bad about the product and my team with me. I also remember the leaders who mocked me, some to my face and others behind closed doors.

Would I work for any of these leaders again? The ones who pushed and challenged me, yes, in an instant. The ones who yelled or shamed individuals, no way. I’m not perfect, nor am I saying I’m anywhere close. No one is an ‘A player’ every day, even the greatest among us. We all have good and bad days. Days where we’re B or C players. What I believe in - and the leaders I would work for again espoused - is continually striving to be better. To learn from mistakes. To experiment as ‘perfect is the enemy of good’. To put personal competition aside as we’re all stronger when we work together. For these reasons a quote from Lenny’s Podcast with Andrew Bosworth stood out to me.

How do you identify people you would work with again? How do you identify a leader who would root for you and help you to be the best version of yourself? Keep the following characteristics in mind when you’re hiring or interviewing for a role.

1. Passion

   1. The candidate has a passion that drives them in their life. Their path has not always been easy or straightforward. Instead it’s their grit and positive character that stands out.

   2. The leaders starts an interview seeking to know what makes you tick and what led to the conversation today. They want to explore your backstory as they believe empowering employees benefits the entire organization.

2. Growth Potential

   1. The candidate appreciates the opportunity and is eager to learn. They may not check all the boxes on the job description today, but they have the interpersonal qualities you’re seeking and a positive drive to address any gaps.

   2. The leader shares opportunities for growth as they know employees who have time for professional development are the happiest. They understand in the absence of learning, companies are doomed to repeat old practices.

3. Teamwork & Collaboration

   1. The candidate brings up working in a team without prompting. They know their value and how it was amplified through working with others. They reference the power of collaboration and don’t have self promotion on repeat.

   2. The leader stresses the importance of spending time getting to know your team and colleagues. Listening and learning from others is encouraged at the start over introducing rapid change.

4. Attitude

   1. The candidate is constructive and confident, not condescending or narcissistic, when sharing their background. They know they’re human and have areas to develop, which have informed their interest in the role.

   2. The leader speaks in words you can relate to and understand. They are straight forward, upfront, and candid. They don’t put up with back channeling as they prefer collaboration, over competition, between teams.

5. Resourceful

   1. The candidate doesn’t need all the answers or expect a process to guide them. They share examples of navigating with incomplete information, making mistakes, learning, and applying the findings.

   2. The leader admits to not having all the answers and asks how you have effectively navigated through unknowns to deliver. Their questions lean into what you believe the future holds and the steps you envision to get there.

Cultivating a culture of authenticity

One begins to wonder when the the culture deck is 100+ pages and/or the whisper network is strong. You’re right to question whether what people say aloud or in written form is the actual culture. When I’ve found myself in such situations, the business strategy or goals often turn out to be TBD or individuals have different versions in their head.

You cannot fix a culture problem separately from the more important business drivers. It doesn’t matter if you’re at a nonprofit or for profit organization, the culture impacts the business results and vice versa. The two - culture and results - are linked.

Unfortunately you’ll find leaders who try cutting corners. In the push for impact, they use “get-it-done” or “HiPPO” (aka highest paid person's opinion) as a definition of culture, not stopping to reflect on how they arrived at such a state or the impact on their employees or their wellbeing.

When you are interviewing at a company, you can start by following the questions in the earlier section. As the interview progresses - or if you are revisiting the culture at your current organization - take time to grok (understand) the beginnings. You are seeking to determine whether diverse views were sought or did leaders / founders choose to listen to an echo chamber of ideas that simply repeat back what they want to hear. Incorporate the following questions into your mix.

• How was the culture defined? 

  • You want to determine whether the culture was defined via a leader and a “select group” of employees or from a range of individuals who were able to put forward alternative views.

  • Companies, like people, evolve over time. Gaining insight into the culture enables you to see where there might be gaps between the company’s goals, strategy, and culture.

• Either “what’s top of mind today?” or “what’s troubling you?”

  • These simple, yet powerful questions reveal a lot into the inner workings and the role of culture.

  • You are seeking humble answers, ones that enable you to see what and where help my be needed.

  • Ask yourself, do I have the resources in myself and/or others to turn the situation around?

An effective culture requires empowering individuals across the organization to contribute and own the strategy to prevent hierarchical decision-making and bottlenecks. This approach enables work to be driven by authenticity and collaboration instead of one-sided ownership.

People should matter more than the location

I’ve been working remotely since 2014. When I moved from London to the Bay Area all my colleagues were on the East Coast or overseas. We spent time in Zoom brainstorming and innovating just as we did when we were all together in person. We were a team due to a shared mission, vision, strategy and goals - not because of where we physically sat.

I appreciate some leaders believe they have more control over employees when they are in the office or feel company culture only exists when people show up in person. That simply hasn’t been my experience. Instead, throughout my career, I have benefited from a diverse and dispersed range of locations and perspectives.

• When working for Monster in London, we advised the way Monster in the US approached new ventures. Given our international perspective, we could experiment in one market and rapidly apply the learnings to another.

• While at Razorfish, I was constantly sharing and learning about emerging media with colleagues from every corner of the company. We had a view into the future as we were in different locations, experiencing different trends.

• At Pearson, I created a global community of Future Technologies Champions. Our accelerated adoption of digital was due to the individuals across multiple timezones all contributing their expertise to transform the organization.

Through my experiences, I value the range of views that emerge when people are dispersed. Even working remotely in the same city means you are encountering different individuals and communities throughout the day. Yes, you need to step away from your home office or Zoom calls to simply reset, take the dog out, or go for a run. Each step is an opportunity to learn and improve upon the ways of working.

Seth Godin has a similar philosophy. Every time you find something not quite right with a virtual experience add “so far” in front of your concern. As Duke Leto saw the benefit of learning from the Fremen, Seth Godin recommends examining other markets where remote is the way of life, such as video games.

There are ways to improve virtual experiences. We simply need to put in the effort - just in the same way you put in effort to make an in-person meeting worthwhile. The time and commitment is comparable. It’s the location and potentially aspects of the approach that are different. In return, you are saving people time and treating all participants equal regardless of location... because let’s be realistic, even when asked to go to the office, there is typically someone who couldn’t travel and is on Zoom. Put your people and their contributions - not their in office presence - first.

If you find yourself in a culture where location matters more than people or one with unclear goals or strategy, remember Duke Leto. Hold true to your beliefs and start to devise a GROW plan for change.

1. G - Goal, what is a short and concise goal or objective

2. R - Reality, where are you today and where do you want to be

3. O - Options, what could you do next to make progress

4. W - Wrap Up, what will be the next step to move forward

My ask of you is to take action, every big change starts with small steps. “You can't identify your passion or purpose from a standstill.” (link) Take a chance on yourself and give your GROW plan a try. Remember to reach out to others. Most likely you’re not alone.

Please take a few minutes to share your GROW plan and comments below. I’m always here to help as well, simply find a spot in my calendar. Enjoy!