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In this regard, I am writing this leadership plan which will be my guiding force throughout my professional life. The document will be updated as and when underlying goals are met and the bar of defining success extended. The three most important competencies which I will strive to improve are: 1. Skills: * A competent product manager must have a diverse skillet and I plan on adding skills to my existing portfolio.
Some crucial skills which I plan on learning during the course of my MBA program are: * Sales and Marketing management – For successful selling, marketing and merchandising of a new product * Strategic management – For a more robust product inception, development and deployment * Conflict management – For effective and lasting resolution of internal and external conflicts * Financial management For informed capital budgeting and financial forecasting decisions * Project management – For better and efficient modular management of entire project lifestyle. In addition to the skills mentioned above, in this new role, I will strive to assimilate newer skills which will smoothen my professional evolutionary continuum. * Takeaway from the course: * Learnt the nuances of Authentic Leadership * I used to be over-rewarding and excessively emotion-driven in my previous stint as a team-leader. As learnt in the course, this can be detrimental in my decision making, blur my situational awareness and undermine my credibility s a leader. * Learnt how to be an Informal Leader * While I always practiced this model of leadership, the course helped me formalize the nuances of being an informal leader. The course elucidated the finer points of having an interpersonal influence which I intend on implementing in my MELT team on next team assignment. * Being a product manager in situations where customer needs are changing and product has to be altered and/or customized requires the manager to be more informal in getting tasks done. Directs tend to be more willing to undo and rework the task when they are emotionally aligned with the lead. . Knowledge: * Knowledge in the domain of: * Market: * Commercially astute – I should be able to gauge the next moneymaking *To keep up with the evolving market, I intend on spending a opportunity. Significant time online daily, sieving through various journals and magazines (as advised by my peer mentor Rashes Krishna, second year MBA). * Technical: * Learn new programming languages and data modeling tools so that I can efficiently talk and reason with developers and also understand the limitations and strengths of team. It will also help in task estimations and project forecasting. As part of our Team Charter exercise, I created and launched a website having online version of our team charter (http://confidential. Webs. Com I). This helped me get an understanding about hosting and launching a website. Customer insights: * Able to empathic with customers and extract and sift information which can make the product better. * According to Mr.. Bill Saliva, my career advisor, this is the skill which comes “naturally” to me and the one which I should hone even further to be a successful product manager. * Take part in club activities and networking fairs to get a deeper knowledge on the industry. 3. Leadership skills: * Being a product manager slots me into a middle layer management position with an average team size of direct reports as 15.
Hence, it becomes imperative for me to hone the leadership skills continually and iteratively to be an effective lead. * The course taught me how to be an effective leader. I shall strive to include “intellectual stimulation” and “inspirational motivation” within my leadership portfolio. * This shall be done by incorporating and incentives innovation driven environment. * 360 degree feedback (learnt through one of the classroom discussion) shall quantify success made in implementing such an environment within the team. Through the self-assessment on Leadership style and Emotional intelligence, drew the inference that while I am good at gauging the emotions of my direct reports and peers, I often don’t intervene to better cement my professional relationship. It shall be my earnest endeavor to be more emotionally aware and apathetic. * During a discussion with my previous team leader Mr.. Pride Appear, I should work more on improving my knowledge sharing skills within the team. I will try to disseminate my domain knowledge by organizing weekly sessions in my team and involving am members to chip in with inputs.
Five year development plan and checkpoints: Year I Checkpoints I Intended Results I I * Take academic courses and read journal articles on product management (Journal of Product Innovation Management) * Read literature on leadership * Request feedback from team members and career advisors on both action points I *Take at least 5 academic courses on product management and read 5 articles a week *Complete 3 books by year end | 2 | * Network effectively with executives in the organization where I intern and through networking events * Continue taking courses on product management t Katz and UCM *Take consulting field projects and gauge leadership and team working proficiency I * Connect personally via email and Linked with executives in my area of interest * Take at least two courses at UCM for diversified networking and learning opportunity | 3 | * Start building professional relationship with product consumers and take feedback on product performance and improvements * Continue to network with executives in this field * Conduct daily knowledge exchange sessions in team * Conduct 360 degree feedback for pointers to improve leadership style I * Connect personally IA email and Linked with executives in my area of interest * Implement improvement points from 360 degree feedback | 4 | * Learn new programming languages and soft skills on project / product management * Appear for PM certification * Strive on implementing 6 sigma methodology for product development I * Pass the PM certification exam * Implement six sigma in production line 5 | * Handle multiple product portfolio and teams * Become a member of and network with existing members of “Product Development and Management Association” I *Create and sustain relationships with new professionals * Launch at least 3 compact lifestyle and nee major product in the yearly Appendix: 1. How would you characterize your network? Strong? Weak? I will consider my network to be a strong one since I got a VBG which has best of both CHI (“cohesive, homogeneous network with an internal focus”) and KDE (“expansive, diverse network with an external focus”) profiles. 2.
What about your network needs to be changed, if anything, and why do you think so? How could you benefit from these improvements? Would like to have a more diverse background in terms of nationality and significant international experience. This will give me access to further networks of diverse members and an opportunity o gain further insights in other work cultures. 3. Write down a few ideas for improving your network. What specific actions do you need to take to initiate these changes / improvements? * Extend the network: * Attend networking events and be outgoing in talking with new people. Try to connect with new professionals in the same field using existing network. Diversify the network: * Making more cross-border and cross-functional acquaintances which diversify my network. * Stay in touch: * Send email greetings and try to stay in touch with professionals and old- mime friends who can provide access to more networks in the future. 4. What is a short term goal you have? How can you use your network to help you achieve that goal? I want to become a product manager in an IT / technology firm. The network I have is a rich mix of academia and working class professionals in diverse fields of IT and technology. I have been staying in touch with them over a long duration of time to get an access to their own networks.