Podcast: AI, Leadership, Career Ladders

Thrilled to share a wide-ranging recent conversation with Marc Baselga & Ben Erez on their Supra Insider podcast! We went deep on the evolving role of product leadership in today’s AI-driven landscape:

Why building has never been easier—but judgment, focus, and customer insight matter more than ever
The vanishing junior PM ladder and where tomorrow’s product leaders might emerge from
Why great heads of product are often “consiglieres” to the CEO—navigating politics, incentives, and long-term strategy
The subtle but vital shift from “doing product” to “leading product” and mentoring the next generation
The emotional side of product leadership

Episode timing/highlights (1:14):

(0:50) Why Rich wrote “Bottlenecks, AI, and Where the Product Adds Value”—and his concern about AI hype replacing meaningful product work.
(02:55) The swing from “PMs are obsolete” to “PMs are the bottleneck”—and why AI-first valuations fuel unrealistic expectations.
(07:57) The case for experimentation: why PMs must waste time and money to discover real value in AI tools.
(10:00) Core PM value areas that don’t change in the AI era: customer insights, judgment, understanding business economics, and maintaining focus.
(13:39) The danger zone: faster building increases pressure to ship everything—and why resisting feature bloat matters more than ever.
(16:14) The vanishing junior PM ladder: AI’s impact on entry-level roles and why career pathways may shift toward customer-facing functions.
(30:04) Building alliances inside the C-suite: CFOs, marketing leaders, and others who share a long-term mindset.
(36:06) The shift from doing product work to leading product organizations—navigating politics, incentives, and coaching the next generation.
(51:43) Lifestyle businesses, founder tradeoffs, and why not every great PM needs to chase unicorn-scale outcomes.
(59:44) The intrinsic joy of building products (and teams) that grow up to thrive—why mentorship is the legacy of great product leaders.