Becoming more strategic, navigating difficult colleagues, founder mode, more | Anneka Gupta

Anneka Gupta is the Chief Product Officer at Rubrik, a leading B2B cybersecurity company. She previously spent 11 years at LiveRamp, where she was the President and Head of Product and Platforms leading product development and go-to-market operations and strategy. Anneka also sits on the board of directors for Tinuiti and teaches product management at Stanford University. In our conversation, we discuss: • Navigating “founder mode” dynamics in organizations • Navigating difficult personalities and aligning teams • The PM skill of summarization • Giving and receiving hard feedback effectively • The value of a positive mindset • Tips for breaking into product management • Much more — Brought to you by: • The Enterprise Ready Conference — For B2B leaders building enterprise SaaS: https://www.enterprise-ready.com/ • Command AI — AI-powered user assistance for modern products and impatient users: https://www.command.ai/lenny • Eppo — Run reliable, impactful experiments: https://www.geteppo.com/ Find the transcript at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/becoming-more-strategic-anneka-gupta Where to find Anneka Gupta: • X: https://x.com/annekagupta • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/annekagupta Where to find Lenny: • Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com • X: https://twitter.com/lennysan • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/ In this episode, we cover: (00:00) Introduction to Anneka Gupta (01:43) Key mindsets for success (05:30) Managing energy for optimal performance (09:05) Founder mode (18:26) Becoming more strategic (27:54) The importance of decision-making (37:18) Navigating difficult personalities (41:38) Techniques for giving and receiving feedback (51:01) Transitioning into product management (54:56) Advice for aspiring product managers (59:39) Leveraging AI tools in product management (01:01:27) The power of a positive mindset (01:04:30) Lightning round Referenced: • Founder Mode: https://paulgraham.com/foundermode.html • Building a long and meaningful career | Nikhyl Singhal (Meta, Google): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/building-a-long-and-meaningful-career • The Skip community: https://www.linkedin.com/company/skip-community/ • Rubrik: https://www.rubrik.com/ • 5 essential questions to craft a winning strategy | Roger Martin (author, advisor, speaker): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-ultimate-guide-to-strategy-roger-martin • Playing to Win: How Strategy Really Works: https://www.amazon.com/Playing-Win-Strategy-Really-Works/dp/142218739X • Thinking like a gardener not a builder, organizing teams like slime mold, the adjacent possible, and other unconventional product advice | Alex Komoroske: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/unconventional-product-advice-alex-komoroske • Acquired podcast interviews Zuckerberg in San…