Becoming a conscious leader: Leading without fear, finding your life’s objective function, and getting better at vision and strategy | John Mark Nickels (Uber, Waymo, DoorDash)

JM Nickels is a Senior Director of Product Management at Uber. Previously, he was Head of Product for Commercialization at Waymo and led product teams at DoorDash. JM is also a coach and advisor focused on conscious leadership. In our conversation, we discuss:• How to sharpen your vision and strategy skills• What “conscious leadership” means and how to practice it• Practical techniques for managing stress• The power of soft skills and emotional intelligence in product leadership• Lessons from working at Uber, Waymo, and DoorDash• Keys to living a successful and fulfilling life• Much more—Brought to you by:• Pendo—The only all-in-one product experience platform for any type of application• The Enterprise Ready Conference — For B2B leaders building enterprise SaaS• Vanta—Automate compliance. Simplify security—Find the transcript at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/becoming-a-conscious-leader-john-mark-nickels—Where to find John Mark Nickels:• X: https://x.com/nickelsjm• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jmnickels/• Website: https://www.rhythmofbeing.com/—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 JM(02:02) Conscious leadership explained(03:41) The power of soft skills(07:34) Navigating Uber’s evolution(12:41) Embracing emotions and inner work(21:46) Crafting strategy and vision(41:16) Balancing vision and execution(46:13) Lessons from DoorDash, Uber, and Waymo(52:32) The future of autonomous ride-hailing(55:18) Contrarian corner: Embracing emotions in the workplace(59:47) Keys to a fulfilling life(01:04:45) Taking responsibility and agency(01:07:29) Lightning round and final thoughts—Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email [email protected].—Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed. Get full access to Lenny's Newsletter at www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe