Divot #38: Building Great Products, Product Leadership & the Future of Work with Tomer Cohen (LinkedIn)
Recorded at LinkedIn headquarters in Mountain View, this episode features Tomer Cohen, former Chief Product Officer of LinkedIn and one of the product leaders behind how over one billion professionals connect, work, and create economic opportunity at global scale.
In conversation with Derek Andersen, Tomer breaks down what it takes to build great products inside large organizations, how LinkedIn evolved into a mobile-first platform, and what product leadership really means when operating at massive scale.
The discussion expands into AI and the future of work, where Tomer explains the rise of the full-stack product builder, how AI is collapsing traditional roles across product, design, and engineering, and why builders who combine vision, empathy, and execution will define the next generation of companies.
The episode closes with deeply personal reflections on growth mindset, restraint, resilience, faith, and the idea that true freedom lives in the space between stimulus and response.
Follow Tomer - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomercohen
Follow Derek - X (Twitter): https://twitter.com/derekjandersen
Episode Partners:
Delve
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Pulley
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Timestamps:
00:00 — Between Stimulus and Response: Where Freedom Truly Lives
08:55 — Rebuilding LinkedIn for Mobile Before It Was Obvious
11:02 — Turning LinkedIn Into a Daily Habit, Not a Transaction
13:34 — Why Authentic Voices Beat Corporate Talk Every Time
18:24 — Conviction Over Titles: Choosing Where to Make Impact
20:28 — The Rider and the Elephant: How Organizations Really Move
24:42 — What Separates a Good Product from a Truly Great One
31:34 — Restraint: The Hidden Skill Behind Billion-Dollar Products
35:09 — Slowing Down to Fix the Core Before Scaling
39:12 — The Rise of the Full-Stack Product Builder
42:02 — How AI Is Collapsing Roles and Restoring Meritocracy
53:25 — The Truth About Success: There Are No Shortcuts
59:55 — The Final Lesson: Choosing How You Respond
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Hashtags:
#TomerCohen #LinkedIn #ProductLeadership #BuildingGreatProducts #AI #FutureOfWork #ProductManagement #StartupLeadership #GrowthMindset #DivotPodcast