Curated articles by Andrea Michalek exploring People, Performance, and Passion leadership through the Beyond Incremental Framework.
57 articles
As you become more established in your career, your network gets bigger. But the number of people you can comfortably say, “I have no idea what I’m doing here” to gets smaller. That’s why leaders don’t always need advice. Sometimes they need peers they can trust with an unfinished thought.
After a career spent learning how to succeed as one of the only women in the room, I started asking a different question: What if we built a different room?
The questions that matter most don't get solved. They return. Why the best leaders win by giving old questions new answers instead of chasing new ones.
The point of asking people about your idea isn't to win them over. It's to hear what you didn't already know. The moment you start defending it is the moment you stop learning. Two reflexes worth catching, and one small pause that changes the result.
A simple look at my to-do list revealed hidden priorities. Learn how an intentional operating rhythm can align your time with the life you’re building.
It’s ok for it to be business NOT as usual right now. Catch yourself every time you tell yourself you “should” do something. Pause. Challenge it. Does it actually serve you?
My book didn’t start with an outline. It started with fear. A talk I over-prepared for. And one drawing I couldn’t stop thinking about. That was the moment it became a book I had to write.
The year-end feels wrong despite hitting deadlines and attending meetings. This is 'quiet burnout'—but the real issue isn't overwork exhaustion. Leaders suffer from being overloaded with context. High-performing leaders become trapped when their team depends on their clarity rather than developing their own understanding. Your role expands, but your impact does not.
Most leadership advice pushes you to do more: More clarity. More delegation. More velocity. But doing more doesn’t help when you’re solving the wrong problem. You don’t need more output. You need a better diagnosis. Great leaders don’t just lead well. They know exactly where they’re stuck. That’s what makes forward movement possible. It took me months to […]
Every leader knows the rush of inspiration: the all-nighter, the surge, the just one more thing moment. Last week, I shared one of mine: the 48-hour build that became the first version of my Beyond Incremental website. But breakthroughs don’t come from bursts of energy alone. They come from creating systems that make that energy repeatable. This week, I put my […]
My daughter got it right: "Wow, that was quick." I'd just told her I built the first version of my website in 48 hours. What I didn't mention initially was that I barely slept during those two days. Which led to the obvious question: Why do we do that? This Is What Breakthrough Leadership Actually Feels […]
High performers are wired for more. More goals. More progress. More achievement. It’s a part of our DNA. But, I have learned the hard way, that more for the sake of more isn’t the goal. You see it all the time. Someone who, from the outside, looks to be at the peak of success. Yet […]
You've already said no to most things. So why does the wagon still feel impossible to pull? The Pumpkin Patch Moment I have this photo of my daughter at a pumpkin patch. She's maybe three years old, determinedly pulling a wagon with a few pumpkins in it. Her whole body is leaning into it. She's […]
They told me I’d be fine in 72 hours. It took 3 years. Two prescription pills triggered a brain injury that turned my world sideways. Doctors called it a rare side effect. They said the symptoms would fade once the drugs were out of my system. They were wrong. Progress during my recovery came unpredictably: […]
I used to preach that solo work was the future. Then I built a team I’d stake my career on, and it changed how I see leadership forever. Every leader’s real job is this: Build the best team you’ve ever been a part of. Anything less is falling short. So the question becomes: What would […]
You know you need to innovate faster, but you feel trapped in systems that demand certainty for breakthrough decisions. What’s worse, these systems were built with the best intentions and stifle breakthrough innovation while keeping people feeling productive and responsible. I’ve seen this play out in my own teams, and in dozens of leaders I’ve […]
I built my career on grit and strategy. But the biggest breakthroughs came when joy was in the room, and my team actually enjoyed the climb. Early in my leadership journey, I championed 3 principles: That third one? I'd completely lost sight of it. This weekend, reconnecting with old friends reminded me: the best conversations happen […]
If your team can’t think strategically without you, that is not a compliment. It is a warning sign. This is the essence of what I call The Context Keeper Trap, one of the most common ways capable product leaders unintentionally limit their impact. On the surface, it looks like leadership: you are in every pivotal meeting, […]
Autopilot doesn’t look like failure. It looks like plateaued growth, endless meetings, and a calendar so full of escalations you can’t remember the last time you shaped the market instead of reacting to it. You’re not broken. You’re not failing. You’re not even underperforming. You’re hitting quarterly targets. Your team respects you. Stakeholders know they can count on you. […]
Beyond Incremental: The Journey Revealed A Behind-the-Scenes Look at 12 Weeks of Writing in Public For the past 12 weeks, you’ve been receiving newsletters about leadership breakthroughs, scaling yourself, and creating category-defining impact. Last week, I mentioned I was writing a book. Today, I want to show you what we’ve built together. Every newsletter has […]
You don’t win by building a better product than the competition. You win by creating a space where competition doesn’t exist. That’s category creation: not improving what's already there, but building the market around a problem only you can solve. Most product leaders aren’t doing this. They’re professional optimizers. Making things faster, cheaper, prettier… and call […]
Most senior product leaders are one promotion away from losing the passion that made them successful. In over 100 leadership coaching sessions, I’ve seen the same shift: more meetings, less making. Here’s how to break that cycle. When I was a first-time founder learning about venture capital, I dove into pre-money and post-money valuations, cap […]
Ever feel like you’re doing great work but still not getting noticed? You’re not alone, and the fix isn’t a new title. It’s something deeper. I once had a mentee who wanted a promotion and a bigger team. I asked why. What about his current role wasn’t satisfying? Was it the pay? What was driving […]
Most product leaders think their job is to have answers. It’s not. Your real job is to ask better questions: the kind that unlock ideas your team hasn’t thought of yet. You’ll hear some version of ‘test your ideas’ from entrepreneurs, scientists, and product leaders alike. It can come in many forms: Different voices. Same […]
The most valuable asset I’ve built in my career? Not a product. Not IP. Not revenue. It’s a network of people who still want to work with me again. Years ago, I posted that I want to create an environment where I’d be proud to have my family come to work for me. My brother […]
Why some teams ship game-changing features in six weeks while others stall for six months. I’ve been obsessing over a question lately: Why do some teams move impossibly fast while others grind through endless cycles? I’ve worked with teams at every stage: early startups, high-growth scaleups, and mature product orgs. What separates the fast from […]
What you’ll learn in 5 minutes: How to move from managing tasks to multiplying talent through proven frameworks used by product leaders at high-growth companies. As a new leader, leadership felt like being strapped into a roller coaster that launched before I found my safety harness. One moment, I was an individual contributor. The next, […]
I’ve told the story of founding Plum Analytics many times, but I rarely mention what happened three weeks after I started the company: my father was diagnosed with cancer. We had started Plum Analytics based on what we thought our target customers wanted: better metrics for research evaluation. We began with a market opportunity, a business […]
You don’t need more time, you need better rhythm. Your product team has all the necessary meetings, and yet you’re always scrambling. 1:1 meetings only happen when you can find the time. Strategic thinking gets pushed aside by urgent requests. You’re shipping, sure. But it feels chaotic and disconnected from the customer. And deep down, […]
Picture this scene: And yet… You’re staring at your dashboard, wondering if any of this actually moved the needle on breakthrough impact. When I created a new category in scholarly metrics at Plum Analytics, we faced a measurement problem most product leaders never encounter: How do you track progress toward something that’s never existed before? […]
Today, I’m giving you diagnostic tools to assess whether your current rhythms are actually working or secretly undermining your team’s effectiveness. Is Your Rhythm Working?5 Critical Questions Most teams think they have good rhythm because they have regular meetings. But having meetings and having effective rhythm are completely different things. Use these questions to assess […]
Imagine the scene: If this sounds familiar, you’re not alone. As a leader, this is the battle that we all face. But can I be truthful here? The problem most likely lies with your approach. The easiest path is usually to: But simply working harder will not end this cycle, and the simplistic advice of […]
When I look back on the most pivotal moments of my career, there’s one thing that stands out above all else: the relationships I’ve built. It wasn’t my education, technical skills, or just being in the right place at the right time. It’s the people I’ve connected with. It’s the relationships I’ve built. These connections […]
We set goals to move forward. But what happens when life derails our plans overnight? Everyone knows about setting goals. We set them at work, at home, and in the organizations we support. Goals give us direction. They define success and help us measure progress. And there’s another practice I’ve found equally powerful: setting daily intentions. […]
Do you have a photo that takes you back to the exact moment your life shifted? The kind of moment that showed you strength you didn’t know you had? For me, it is a picture of a waterfall. I keep this photo on the wall above my desk, and to most, it probably just looks […]
It’s easy to fall into the trap of blindly following frameworks that ‘everyone’ says work. But what happens when those frameworks hold you back instead of pushing you forward? Frameworks are the training wheels of problem solving. Think about when you first learned to ride a bike. Training wheels helped you get comfortable with balance, […]
Are you striving to create products that truly resonate with your users? What happens when you decide to build a product not for market validation, but to share something that brings you joy? That’s exactly what happened to me when I was sick with a cold. I was just sick enough to not want to […]
This lovely question was once asked of me when I was most vulnerable as a leader. In this issue of Leadership Advantage, we will talk a little about the underbelly of all success → failure. – Andrea Leadership Story: So, how does it feel to fail? It was January 2001. The first Monday after the […]
After decades of leading product and tech teams, I’ve learned that great teams don't innovate by accident or rely on one-hit wonders. They create environments where ideas consistently thrive. Great leaders also understand their people as whole humans, not just employees. Here's how to master both. Building a culture of innovation Innovation doesn't just happen; […]
Leadership where you least expect it This issue I wanted to explore is how we often become leaders when we least expect it. I start off with my coming-of-age story of being ripped from the keyboard and asked to lead for the first time. I also wanted to talk a bit about the areas in […]
Are you looking for a way to maximize your team's impact? It's not just the charisma of leadership. It's also the grind of management. You need both for team success. 🌛 The world craves authentic leadership. But what’s leadership without its other half: management? It is vision without execution. It is like dreaming of climbing […]
This week, while I was on a coaching call, the topic of burnout was front and center. Looking back at my career, with the clarity of hindsight, the factors that both got me to that point, what helped, what didn't, and what I have learned are so much more apparent than when I was facing […]
Nothing screams 'successful team' like a well-oiled rhythm. But how do you create it? Having led numerous teams that excelled in delivering products throughout my career, I want to share the structure that will help you get a solid start. 👇 First and foremost, as a leader, it is important to think through what needs […]
I want to talk about those events that wake you up and make you reconsider your path. For me, it started 5 years ago. Sometimes your drive to do what is right for "the business" comes first. You put it before your free time, your leisure time, and your mind is always racing. Some mornings, […]
A common question I get is… What is the most important skill a leader should improve? Storytelling is, or should be, on the top of every leader’s list. As a leader, your ability to tell a story can be the difference between inspiring your team to achieve great outcomes or leaving them uninspired and unmotivated. […]
I was curious about what people think makes a great leader. So, I asked the following question to my audience: I love the community of leaders I have built. Here is just a sampling of the insightful comments I got back: If you have more to add to the conversation, I'd enjoy hearing about it. […]
Especially with the never-ending stream of product releases, teams can get lost and lose track of the reason they are building the product in the first place. Like a beacon in the fog, a clear and compelling vision can guide them through the numbing repetition of endless product updates. However, many product leaders struggle with […]
Having a career plan that you can refer to, and work towards can frame your daily challenges, help evaluate new opportunities, and give you a greater sense of purpose in your work life. Background This framework was designed when I was on a long plane ride sitting next to two other passengers who were loudly […]
Failures of leadership are bad for both the leader, their employees, and the company. Luckily there are skills that leaders can improve on, that yield immediate benefits. To improve your leadership skills, do a survey of these 8 areas, and see what quick wins you can get. Jot down a few notes on ways to […]
1. Work that Matters Is your team mission-driven? Can your team answer what the company is trying to achieve and how they get there? At my first startup, I had an offsite where I wrote questions about the company on index cards. I had my developers each pull an index card and respond as if […]
Remote teams are here to stay. I have been leading distributed product dev teams since 2001. Here are 10 leadership tips on how to optimize your remote team. Learn how often to meet face to face, and when to not meet at all. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fq5C3lz-0fw Summary 1️⃣ Think through the rhythm of the team. What needs […]
Getting my nails done is a newfound obsession of mine. It feels like a girly, guilty pleasure, and is something I enjoy doing to spend time with my daughters. This weekend, it was the last place I thought I would find inspiration for running my own business. But, small business owners can teach us all a lot about how to interact with the key driver of our business success, our customers.
Making incremental progress towards a long-term goal often goes without notice. However, building a pattern of consistently communicating about progress can both motivate your team as well as give others visibility into your team's successes. These short-term wins can anchor the change you are trying to work towards. A Simple Example of Capturing Short-Term Wins […]
On a cross-country flight to San Francisco when my girls were 6 and 9 years old, my laptop battery died. I put aside the work I planned to finish, and I started reflecting on how my path as an entrepreneur might influence my daughters. Since they were so young, they only saw my […]
When aspiring entrepreneurs ask me when is the right time to raise money, my answer always is, “Bootstrap as long as you can, until the lack of capital slows down your growth.” Once you start the money hunt, the amount of time you can spend building your business goes down significantly. Especially if you are […]
Building a rock star technology team is often a key ingredient to a successful startup. Once this seed team is built, and your company is gaining traction, it is critical to retain the stars on the team. Long ago, my good friend and entrepreneur from Just Enough HR and I put on a seminar on how to […]
I recently went to a talk by @mikeonads about Adserving and Scalability. I went prepared to hear about the technical bits of scaling and to do a compare/contrast of some of the challenges that the ad industry faces versus high-volume search (where I have been spending most of my cycles lately.) Surprisingly, Mike did not lead with that. […]
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