Adriel Frederick is VP of Product Management at Reddit X, where he helps incubate and scale new products. He is a former Product Lead at Facebook, as well as a former PM and Director of Product at Lyft. In today’s episode, we focus on what it takes to become a better product leader. Adriel shares anecdotes from his time at Lyft and Facebook, insights about how to lead through tough times, why there isn’t an algorithmic solution to everything, why R&D teams need to be a part of the core mission, the tangible benefits of working on diverse teams, and his thoughts on the future of AI. He also introduces the concept of cannonballs, why you should focus on the marginal user, why organization and empathy are the most important PM skills, and so much more.—Find the full transcript here: https://www.podpage.com/lennys-podcast/humanizing-product-development-adriel-frederick-reddit-lyft-facebook/#transcript—Where to find Adriel Frederick:• Twitter: https://twitter.com/drellf• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adrielfrederick/—Where to find Lenny:• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com• Twitter: https://twitter.com/lennysan• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/—Thank you to our wonderful sponsors for making this episode possible:• Linear: https://linear.app/lenny• Flatfile: https://www.flatfile.com/lenny• Eppo: https://www.geteppo.com/—Referenced:• Jules Walter on Twitter: https://twitter.com/julesdwalt• Jules Walter’s guest post on Lenny’s newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/product-sense• Mark Zuckerberg on The Joe Rogan Experience: https://open.spotify.com/episode/51gxrAActH18RGhKNza598• Sam Harris’s TED Talk on AI: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nt3edWLgIg• Facebook’s 7 friends in 10 days: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-chamath-palihapitya-dramatically-improved-user-malinda-senanayake/• The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money & Power: https://www.amazon.com/Prize-Epic-Quest-Money-Power/dp/1439110123/• The New Map: Energy, Climate, and the Clash of Nations: https://www.amazon.com/New-Map-Energy-Climate-Nations/dp/0143111159/• Revisionist History podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/revisionist-history/id1119389968• Tuned In podcast: https://www.hpacademy.com/blog/tuned-in-high-performance-academy-podcast/• Mo on Netflix: https://www.netflix.com/title/81134264• Radiant Nuclear: https://www.radiantnuclear.com/—In this episode, we cover:

Adriel’s background

What he does at Reddit X

Reddit X’s avatar marketplace and NFTs

Why R&D teams need to be a part of the core mission

What it’s like to be the first black PM at Facebook

How to foster diversity

Being a PM at controversial companies, and how to evaluate criticism

Adriel’s most stressful time at Lyft

The importance of operational control and what it means

Why there isn’t always an algorithmic solution to everything

Thoughts on AI

Growth hacking and algorithms at Facebook

Cannonballs in growth—fundamental changes in the product for optimization

Facebook’s “7 friends in 10 days” push

What is a marginal user, and what can you learn from their experience?

How to think about doing experiments

Why organization and empathy are the most important skills