Episode 46:

How to Lead Remote Teams and Learn From Failure

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Show notes

In this episode of Culture Crush, host Dan Dowman interviews culture-shaper and entrepreneur, Christopher Nguyen. 


Chris unpacks his non-traditional journey into UX design, his ventures including UX Playbook and Backlog, and the importance of experimentation in starting and running successful projects. They talk about how to tackle leadership challenges like team cohesion in remote work and how to embrace failure.


Chris highlights the significance of both celebrating wins and extracting learnings from failures to foster a supportive and adaptive culture. 


Culture Crushes

🧡 Jason Fried and 37signals: For your contrarian outlook, building lean, and not bending to traditional start-up paradigms. 


Takeaways 

✅ Take action and start something rather than getting caught up in planning and learning. 

✅ Balance creativity with sticking to a path and finishing projects. 

✅ Celebrate wins and learn from failures to build a positive and learning-oriented culture. 

✅ Experiment and try new approaches to leadership challenges, involving the team in the process. 

✅ Don’t focus on the business outcomes, bring your team’s personal wins and worries into the conversation. 


Sound Bites

📢 "I'm okay starting things if I know… I can outlast it, right?" 

📢 “Psychological safety-wise, it’s fine to admit that you [messed] up.” 

📢 "Set goals that are attainable and focus on the process rather than the outcome." 


Chapters 

00:00 Introduction to Culture Crush 

00:22 Meet Christopher Nguyen: Serial Entrepreneur 

00:53 Christopher’s Journey: From Tech to UX Playbook 

02:24 Balancing Creativity and Focus 

06:17 The Importance of Starting and Iterating 

10:20 Challenges of Scaling and Leadership 

15:58 Democratizing Design: Chris's Mission 

23:25 Discussing Culture and Leadership 

24:01 Culture Crush: Jason Fried and 37signals 

28:04 Leadership Challenges in Remote Work 

30:02 Wins and Failures: A Weekly Ritual 

39:59 The Importance of Experimentation in Leadership 

42:50 Wrapping Up: Final Thoughts and Takeaways 


Links 

🔗 UX Playbook: http://uxplaybook.org/

🔗 Community: http://backlog.design/

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