On Life with One Hand by Keiron McCammon
I am a reflection.
In me, you see reflected,
That which you have yet
To Accept
In yourself,
Your own way
Of Thinking,
Your judgements
Laid bare.
For it is impossible for you
To know my
Intentions,
What I am
Thinking.
What you think I am thinking,
Your rationalization of my
Behavior,
Your stories about my
Intentions,
Are all your own
Thinking,
Projected as mine.
It’s early morning, dark, with just a pin prick of light illuminating the room. I focus my gaze on the flickering candle in front of me; sitting, staring.
Sleepy still from the night’s slumber my eyes relax, lose focus. One candle becomes two and the dance begins as candles move to and fro. Both quite real, floating in front of me before my very eyes the illusion of separateness.
My focus sharpens and what was two becomes one and I see the Truth.
There is only one candle and they are both me.
Cogito ergo sum. It’s interesting how we self identify so with our thoughts. It’s as if “I think, therefore I am” was a Truth. Yet, what I think is no more who I am than what I see or hear. We don’t self identify with what we see and hear and yet we do with what we think?
In the same way that our autonomic nervous system triggers a flight or fight response based on what we sense, without conscious evaluation, it seems as if at times we are hardwired to react to our thoughts and emotions without conscious evaluation also. As if my thoughts and emotions are who I am – except they are not (the delusion of the ego).
I am – comes first; and therefore I think; and I feel; and I see; and I hear.
Our ego exists within the realm of our thoughts and emotions. But who we are comes from a deeper place. A self that transcends and enfolds our ego mind (small mind). To evolve beyond reactionary responses and feelings we have to first understand that how we feel or act is a choice. That our thoughts and emotions are simply sensory inputs to be evaluated.
I am angry. You made me angry! Really you are anger? That’s who you are? No, you are not anger. And no-one can make you angry. You have chosen to feel anger and act accordingly. Consciously or not.
With practice we are able to slow down, wake up and become aware of these choicepoints. After all, the choices we make dictate the life we lead.
Recently I had pause to reflect and look back on my experiences driving product for the last 15 years. I consider myself a technologist first, yet have always been drawn to the sphere of product management and have generally held both CTO/Head of Product positions. Product management is probably one of the least well-defined roles in most, certainly technology, companies. The role where you see the most variance from one company to another as to what the role even entails.
That said, I posed myself the question, what makes a great product manager? In my experience, great product managers: