As I was sitting in the cafe eating lunch today, I reflected on my career and the things I’ve learned.  There are three things that popped into my head that seemed universally true.

1.) It pays to be humble.  There is always someone that knows more than you do.  If you step up to a problem and act like you know all the answers, you might end up close minded to a better way of solving that problem.  And nobody likes a know-it-all.

2.) You can never know enough people in the industry.  The more people you know, even just loosely, the more you’ll stay in tune with what’s new and emerging.  You don’t have to like everyone you know, but it really never pays off to burn your bridges.  People won’t respect you, and ultimately you’ll lose touch with the pulse of what’s going on.  People in the Valley remember you, for better or worse, long after you’re gone.

3.) You have to be willing to learn something new every day.  Never assume that you know everything there is to know about any topic.  As smart as you might be, you can always be smarter.  It doesn’t take much to fall behind on what’s going on in technology.

Filed under: General, Product Management