Season 2, Episode 33. Becoming a Leader in Product Development with Eb Ikonne
In this episode, we have Eb Ikonne joining us to share his story of taking a leap towards product development, the concept of leadership in the lens of mentality, and the power of communication as an adaptive leader.
Ebenezer Ikonne is a practitioner-academic (pracademic) with over 20 years in product development. He is currently a product and engineering leader at Cox Automotive. Ebenezer started his technology career as a network engineer and software developer. He later transitioned into product development leadership and management and has held middle- to senior-level leadership and management positions in large organizations, small corporations, and startups.
[00:27] How Leaders Nurture their Leadership Style
- Introducing Eb Ikonne
- Eb Ikonne talks about his book about leadership
- People learn how to lead by watching others how to lead.
- Leaders must continuously read and study about effective leadership.
[04:36] Making the Leap Towards Holistic Product Development
- Eb Ikonne discusses the transition from software engineering to product creation
- Figure out what problem to solve and consider how to solve it. Have a more communicative approach to clients.
- Prerequisites to shifting
- You must have the desire. Embrace the roles:
- More on human interactions thus less level of control
- Being a facilitator
- Being an effective communicator
- You must have the desire. Embrace the roles:
- Creating the right tradeoffs
- Have a sense of what goodness looks like.
[12:38] The Power of Communication in Becoming an Adaptive Leader
- What it takes to be a good leader
- Communicate in a clear and concise way. Communication may be the most important skill for a leader to possess.
- Get people to understand
- Get people to commit
- Communicate in a clear and concise way. Communication may be the most important skill for a leader to possess.
- Acquiring adaptive leadership
- Start with the attitude of service. Adaptive leadership focuses on mobilizing groups and giving them space to take on challenges.
- Everyone is a part of the solution. The leader couldn’t get everything done.
- The switch from wanting power to allowing individual growth of members
- Allow safe environments to fail safely. View other people’s talents, not just your own.
[21:44] Final Thoughts
- There isn’t enough pressure testing your own leadership style. Consider the challenges in the organizational environment.
- Connect with Eb (Links Below)
Key Quotes:
“Can we expect our leaders to have the answers and to come up with a game plan that will just make sure things work out? But we have so much evidence in front of us that shows us that it's not true, it never happens. And when things get done in any organization, it's not just the leader who did it. I can guarantee that.” - Eb Ikonne
“Most of us learn how to lead by looking at how others lead.” - Eb Ikonne
“Those are the leaders that I see most successful in their career are the ones that study leadership and communicate very well.” - Natalie Born
“The question is, how are you going to get people to (1) believe that, (2) buy into it, and (3) take that journey with you. And so that, to me, is the power of adaptive leadership.” - Natalie Born
Connect with Eb
Website: https://eikonne.wordpress.com/
LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/in/Ebenezer-ikonne
Twitter: @eikonne
Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/c/JoyatWork
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Becoming-Leader-Product-Development-Evidence-Based/dp/1484272978/
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