Lenny's Podcast: Product | Career | Growth
How to be the best coach to product people | Petra Wille (Strong Product People)
27 Nov 2022
Petra Wille is an independent product leadership coach who’s been helping product teams expand their skill sets since 2013. She’s also the author of Strong Product People, which she published in 2021. Alongside her freelance work, Petra curates and co-organizes Mind The Product Engage Hamburg. She started her career as a software developer and in 2008 went to work at Xing, a German social media site, where she learned from two incredible product leaders: Marty Cagan and Jason Goldberg. In today’s podcast, we talk about Petra’s book, and how to help your team grow as a product leader. Petra also shares how to improve your storytelling skills, get better at public speaking, and why community is so important for product managers.—Find the full transcript here: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/how-to-be-the-best-coach-to-product—Where to find Petra Wille:• Twitter: https://twitter.com/loomista• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/petra-wille-b8b1329/?originalSubdomain=de• Website: https://www.petra-wille.com/—Where to find Lenny:• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com• Twitter: https://twitter.com/lennysan• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/—Thank you to our wonderful sponsors for making this episode possible:• Flatfile: https://www.flatfile.com/lenny• Mixpanel: https://mixpanel.com/startups• AssemblyAI: https://www.assemblyai.com/?utm_source=lennyspodcast&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=nov27—Referenced:• PMwheel framework: https://www.strongproductpeople.com/pmwheel• Marty Cagan’s assessment: https://www.svpg.com/coaching-tools-the-assessment/• PM Daisy: https://pmdaisy.com/• The Eisenhower matrix for prioritization: https://www.productplan.com/glossary/eisenhower-matrix/• Continuous Discovery Habits: Discover Products that Create Customer Value and Business Value: https://www.amazon.com/Continuous-Discovery-Habits-Discover-Products/dp/1736633309• Mochary Method Curriculum: https://docs.google.com/document/d/18FiJbYn53fTtPmphfdCKT2TMWH-8Y2L-MLqDk-MFV4s/edit• Matt Mochary on Lenny’s podcast: https://www.lennyspodcast.com/videos/how-to-fire-people-with-grace-work-through-fear-and-nurture-innovation-matt-mochary/• Hans Rosling’s Ted talks: https://www.ted.com/speakers/hans_rosling• Sarah Kay: If I should have a daughter: https://www.ted.com/talks/sarah_kay_if_i_should_have_a_daughter?• Nobody Wants to Read Your Sh*t: Why That is and What You Can Do About It: https://www.amazon.com/Nobody-Wants-Read-Your-Sh-ebook/dp/B01GZ1TJBI• Selling the Dream: https://www.amazon.com/Selling-Dream-Guy-Kawasaki/dp/0887306004• Nancy Duarte’s website: https://www.duarte.com/• The 72 Rules of Storytelling: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/72-rules-commercial-storytelling-jeremy-waite/• The Art of Thinking Clearly:https://www.amazon.com/Art-Thinking-Clearly-Rolf-Dobelli/dp/0062219693• Outcomes Over Output: https://www.amazon.com/Outcomes-Over-Output-customer-behavior/dp/1091173265• Martin Erickson’s Decision Stack: https://martineriksson.com/the-decision-stack• Present Yourself Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/womentalkdesign/present-yourself-a-public-speaking-book• The Product Experience podcast: https://www.mindtheproduct.com/the-product-experience/• Product podcast in German: https://www.produktmenschen.de/• Watch New Amsterdam on Peacock: https://www.peacocktv.com/stream-tv/new-amsterdam• Harvest bookkeeping and time tracking: https://www.getharvest.com/• Qanto: https://qonto.com/en—In this episode, we cover:(03:35) Petra’s background(05:51) The things leaders of product teams don’t always understand(09:33) Why Petra wrote the book Strong Product People to help managers of product teams (11:21) The five ingredient coaching method(17:00) Why Petra usually recommends starting coaching with a development plan(19:31) Why weekly time should be carved out for ‘people development’(21:16) How to define a competent PM in your organization and tools to help you(24:06) Petra’s PM Wheel and how she developed it(27:36) Other info product leads will find useful in Petra’s book(30:46) Tips for coaching your team(35:17) How to improve your storytelling(40:56) How to get better at public speaking(44:45) Why it’s important to develop good storytelling and public speaking skills (53:36) The importance of a community of practice for product people(56:14) Why people tend to stick around when they are supported and growing in a community(57:53) What to look for in a community(1:06:48) Lightning round—Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email [email protected]. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe
No persons identified in this episode.
This episode hasn't been transcribed yet
Help us prioritize this episode for transcription by upvoting it.
Popular episodes get transcribed faster
Other recent transcribed episodes
Transcribed and ready to explore now
SpaceX Said to Pursue 2026 IPO
10 Dec 2025
Bloomberg Tech
Don’t Call It a Comeback
10 Dec 2025
Motley Fool Money
Japan Claims AGI, Pentagon Adopts Gemini, and MIT Designs New Medicines
10 Dec 2025
The Daily AI Show
Eric Larsen on the emergence and potential of AI in healthcare
10 Dec 2025
McKinsey on Healthcare
What it will take for AI to scale (energy, compute, talent)
10 Dec 2025
Azeem Azhar's Exponential View
Reducing Burnout and Boosting Revenue in ASCs
10 Dec 2025
Becker’s Healthcare -- Spine and Orthopedic Podcast