Lenny's Podcast: Product | Career | Growth Thinking like a gardener not a builder, organizing teams like slime mold, the adjacent possible, and other unconventional product advice | Alex Komoroske (Stripe, Google)
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Oct 3, 2024 
Alex Komoroske, a strategic leader with a rich background at Google and Stripe, shares his insights on product development by advocating a 'gardening' mindset over a 'building' one. He highlights the importance of nurturing innovation and fostering open communication within teams, comparing organizational dynamics to the adaptability of slime molds. Alex also discusses the significance of reflection for personal growth and how AI will reshape product creation, urging teams to embrace the 'adjacent possible' for incremental success.
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Organizational Kayfabe
- Organizational kayfabe (pretending something is real when it's not) can lead to bad decisions.
- Acknowledging it allows for better navigation and use of disconfirming evidence.
Gardening vs. Building
- Instead of building with a plan, "garden" products by nurturing their growth.
- Cultivate self-accelerating ecosystems and focus on things that can grow organically.
Emergence over Top-Down Control
- Focus on emergence: let ideas develop bottom-up, instead of top-down control.
- Encourage experimentation and give junior team members space for their ideas.
