Grow People, Not Just Products
Inspired by Ken Norton episode
The best product leaders make their teams better. Your job as a parent isn't shipping a perfect kid.
Ken Norton spent 14 years at Google learning that success isn't about shipping features—it's about growing people who can ship great features.
Your toddler can't tie their shoes. You're watching them loop the laces wrong for the fourth time while you're already late. You could do it in three seconds. You've done it ten thousand times. Your hands are literally twitching.
But you sit there. Watching. Because the job isn't tied shoes—it's building a human who can eventually tie their own shoes. And maybe, in eleven years, do their own laundry. And in eighteen years, remember to call you.
The capability is the product. Today's disaster is just a feature shipment.
Except, unlike Google, you can't pivot to a new user base when this one sets the kitchen on fire. You're in this for the long product roadmap. Very long. Like, until you die.
They'll get there. Eventually. Probably. Hopefully before college.
