I was first introduced to this concept by a friend who enjoyed it and got a lot out of the self-reflection it takes to write a document like this. I, too, really enjoyed this and hope it paints a clear picture of who I am, what makes me tick, and how you might experience working with me.
My name is Aaron White and I live in Bloomington, IN with my wife Nicole, our two kids (Ava and Cooper), and our two dogs (Opal & Pearl). When I’m not spending time with my family I have a few personal hobbies.
- Golf (my daughter golfs now which helps me get to the course more)
- Motocross (my son races, I’m his mechanic, coach, and biggest fan)
- Doing IT and Ops work for my wife’s small business. (FIT812: Fitness Club)
- Woodworking and home DIY projects (I built most of the furniture in my office)
Over the years I’ve been asked to take a few personality tests at work. I find them fascinating and most of the time spot on. Some results that may interest you:
- Myers Briggs: ESTJ (AKA: Executive)
- Enneagram: Type 7
What I’ve been able to take away and believe in:
- I often serve as a stabilizing force among others.
- I take pride in bringing people together, often helpful in building successful teams.
- I’m valued for my clear advice and guidance
- I enjoy creating order and love to see what comes from it.
Mitigation Strategies For My Shortcomings
- I can be uncomfortable with unconventional situations. I can be quick to see what could go wrong. If you see me doing this ask me about the positives of this different approach. I almost always have strong opinions loosely held.
- ESTJs have strong convictions about what is right, wrong, and socially acceptable. If you notice me making a quick judgement ask why I'm feeling that way.
- ESTJs can get so caught up in meeting others’ expectations that they fail to address their own needs. Asking me what my expectations or goals are is a good way for me to put my focus on myself and my expectations.
I’ve grown a lot through my life experiences and my career. Some of what you’ll read below have been ingrained in me since I was a kid. Other principles are things I’ve learned along the way.
Leading through transparency is the only way I know how to lead. It builds psychological safety for those I work with, improves alignment, and trust, and helps everyone do their job better. There are certainly moments to withhold information but only for specific reasons.
I strongly believe that you can be kind, empathetic, and caring to those around you while also building a great business. I strive to be a servant leader and make everyone else around me better; I feel enormously privileged and lucky to be doing what I do, and I think it's my responsibility to do as much as I can in service to others and give back out of gratitude.
Collaboration only works if we have a diverse set of voices at the table; otherwise, we're just building an echo chamber. It's important to me to do what I can to build a diverse, just, and equitable team and world: it's the right thing to do, but it also results in fundamentally better products.
Initially, trust is given, not earned. We may lose each other’s trust at times and have to earn it back, but from day one, trust is given. This approach to trust is a value worth working for. Effective teams must have trust so they can rely on each other to get their jobs done.
Without strong, thriving individuals and teams, every other effort is far more challenging. My top priority is to make sure individuals and teams are growing, thriving, and feeling fulfilled.
My goal is to have empowered individuals who take ownership, make decisions, keep me informed as needed, and eagerly consult me when needed.
The other goal is to have empowered teams. There’s nothing more powerful than an empowered team that knows how they add value, communicates that clearly, and collaborates where needed.
Making sure we keep the “why” top of mind is so important for a good leader. It’s my job as a leader to make sure everyone on the team knows why we’re doing what we’re doing, and what impact we’re all making. For customers and the business.
- As a manager, if we have a recurring 1x1, that time belongs to you. These interactions are very important to me and are dedicated to whatever topic you’re interested in discussing with me. They’re not status meetings unless you’d like them to be.
- When coaching, I will try to avoid making suggestions on how to do things. I do love to brainstorm and discuss how you think we should approach a problem/opportunity. My goal is to help you think about the topic and not command you what to do.
- I appreciate transparency and directness. Please bring that to our discussions and I will do the same with you.
- Sometimes, my calendar will be packed with meetings. Please DM me on Slack if you can’t find time, I will always make time for you.
I hate seeing people struggling with or resolving problems we’ve already solved. I don’t like to overprocess things, but I find frameworks, documentation, and playbooks extremely valuable. I also nerd about with ops work so please bring these challenges my way.
The quickest path to failure is working towards perfection. Done is beautiful because you can get feedback, reactions, and iterate to an improved state. We will never create something perfect, but we can get a lot closer through iteration.
Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. Share early and often to avoid the big mistakes. Learn from your mistakes when you make them. I love a good retrospective with action items.
I have a busy, fulfilling life and I hope you do too. My wife and kids pull me away from work and I’m thankful for that. I know everyone doesn’t have this “luxury” build in so I’ll encourage you to have a good balance if I see you working to much.
In the spirit of transparency, I'll share recent mNPS feedback from my peers and direct reports:
- Enables his teams. Service oriented leader. Removes roadblocks. Down-to-earth.
- I appreciate his level-headed, tactical approach to everything. He's also super reasonable and does a great job of walking the line between treating everyone as a peer and being an authority when needed.
- He's supportive, fights for me day after day, and helps me to overcome the challenges that come my way.
- Aaron is a servant leader who's contributions oftentimes go unsaid and without fanfare even though they are critical to the product team and the overall business operating effectively.
- Aaron is very good at pushing me to think holistically and thoughtfully about my work. He is willing to push back on things I say to help me form a more sound understanding and picture of the problems at hand. He is also a steady and reliable leader who gives me comfort, in particular through organizational change, struggles, or moments of confusion.
- He provides honest, valuable feedback, is patient, always keeps it cool and takes everything in stride. A great teacher and leader.
We all have things we need help improving. Below are a few things I could always use help with to improve.
- I often jump into Product Manager mode with any discussion. If you’re just looking to vent, share your perspective, and have someone listen to you, please let me know. I'll set my product problem solving brain aside, apart from the empathy, and will just listen!
- I am very laid back which helps me be a calm in the storm. There are moments when everyone is stressed or frantic and I might appear as if I don’t care. This is just my demeanor and know that I’m just as concerned as everyone else.
- I can often move quickly onto the next thing and forget to celebrate. I love to celebrate so just remind me and let’s party!