Why half of product managers are in trouble | Nikhyl Singhal (Meta, Google)

APR 19, 202695 MIN
Lenny's Podcast: Product | Career | Growth

Why half of product managers are in trouble | Nikhyl Singhal (Meta, Google)

APR 19, 202695 MIN

Description

<p><strong>Nikhyl Singhal </strong>is the founder of The Skip, a community for senior product leaders; a former product exec at Meta, Google, and Credit Karma; and a many-time founder. He’s also one of the most honest, unfiltered voices on what’s actually happening in product management right now.</p><p></p><p><strong>In our in-depth conversation, we discuss:</strong></p><p>1. Why the next two years will be the most chaotic period in product management history</p><p>2. Why half of current product managers are at risk, and what separates those who’ll do well</p><p>3. Why you need to find your “moments of joy” with AI</p><p>4. The “smiling exhaustion” he’s seeing across the product community</p><p>5. The psychological barriers that prevent people from reinventing themselves</p><p>6. Why your resume’s fancy logos matter less than ever, and what matters now</p><p>7. His prediction that companies will shed 30,000 people and rehire 8,000—all AI-first</p><p>—</p><p><strong>Brought to you by:</strong></p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://workos.com/lenny"><strong>WorkOS</strong></a>—Modern identity platform for B2B SaaS, free up to 1 million MAUs</p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://vanta.com/lenny"><strong>Vanta</strong></a>—Automate compliance, manage risk, and accelerate trust with AI</p><p>—</p><p><strong>Episode transcript:</strong> <a target="_blank" href="https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/why-half-of-product-managers-are-in-trouble">https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/why-half-of-product-managers-are-in-trouble</a></p><p>—</p><p><strong>Archive of all Lenny's Podcast transcripts:</strong> <a target="_blank" href="https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/yxi4s2w998p1gvtpu4193/AMdNPR8AOw0lMklwtnC0TrQ?rlkey=j06x0nipoti519e0xgm23zsn9&#38;st=ahz0fj11&#38;dl=0">https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/yxi4s2w998p1gvtpu4193/AMdNPR8AOw0lMklwtnC0TrQ?rlkey=j06x0nipoti519e0xgm23zsn9&st=ahz0fj11&dl=0</a></p><p>—</p><p><strong>Where to find Nikhyl Singhal:</strong></p><p>• LinkedIn: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/nikhyl">https://www.linkedin.com/in/nikhyl</a></p><p>• X: <a target="_blank" href="https://x.com/nikhyl">https://x.com/nikhyl</a></p><p>• Podcast & Newsletter: <a target="_blank" href="https://skip.show">https://skip.show</a></p><p>• Skip Community: <a target="_blank" href="https://skip.community">https://skip.community</a></p><p>• Skip Coach: <a target="_blank" href="https://skip.coach">https://skip.coach</a></p><p>• <a target="_blank" href="http://Skip.help">Skip.help</a>: <a target="_blank" href="https://skip.help">https://skip.help</a></p><p>—</p><p><strong>Where to find Lenny:</strong></p><p>• Newsletter: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.lennysnewsletter.com">https://www.lennysnewsletter.com</a></p><p>• X: <a target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/lennysan">https://twitter.com/lennysan</a></p><p>• LinkedIn: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/">https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/</a></p><p>—</p><p><strong>In this episode, we cover:</strong></p><p>(00:00) Introduction to Nikhyl Singhal</p><p>(02:25) The big picture: what’s changing for product managers</p><p>(10:00) Are product leaders doing better than 2-3 years ago?</p><p>(11:44) What will change in the next couple of years</p><p>(14:23) How companies are changing the way they build products</p><p>(15:51) What “judgment” really means for PMs</p><p>(17:46) Why there won’t be any more bad software</p><p>(20:25) The skills you need to be effective today</p><p>(23:31) Why there are more PM roles than ever</p><p>(24:27) The builder versus information-mover divide</p><p>(30:14) The non-builder problem</p><p>(30:53) Should PMs code?</p><p>(34:15) Why experienced leaders still matter</p><p>(35:44) The diversity setback nobody’s talking about</p><p>(37:21) Why your brand doesn’t matter as much anymore</p><p>(39:54) How valued skills are flipping upside down</p><p>(40:49) Why change is so hard for humans</p><p>(43:53) The “equal disappointment” algorithm</p><p>(46:39) You must cross the threshold</p><p>(48:37) This chaos will settle</p><p>(53:19) Finding your moment of joy</p><p>(58:50) Nikhyl’s AI stack and what he’s building</p><p>(1:00:53) The obsolescence mindset</p><p>(1:05:24) Specific advice for PMs right now</p><p>(1:08:58) The four jobs that will exist in the future</p><p>(1:11:59) Why alignment is changing (but not disappearing)</p><p>(1:15:40) How engineering is changing even more than PM</p><p>(1:17:04) The surprising design plateau</p><p>(1:18:49) Finding optimism in the chaos</p><p>(1:21:12) Lightning round</p><p>—</p><p><strong>Referenced:</strong></p><p>• Building a long and meaningful career | Nikhyl Singhal (Meta, Google): <a target="_blank" href="https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/building-a-long-and-meaningful-career">https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/building-a-long-and-meaningful-career</a></p><p>• COBOL: <a target="_blank" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COBOL">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COBOL</a></p><p>• United Airlines: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.united.com">https://www.united.com</a></p><p>• State of the product job market in early 2026: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/state-of-the-product-job-market-in-ee9">https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/state-of-the-product-job-market-in-ee9</a></p><p>• Head of Growth (Anthropic): “Claude is growing itself at this point” | Amol Avasare: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/anthropics-1b-to-19b-growth-run">https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/anthropics-1b-to-19b-growth-run</a></p><p>• Demis Hassabis on X: <a target="_blank" href="https://x.com/demishassabis">https://x.com/demishassabis</a></p><p>• Sam Altman on X: <a target="_blank" href="https://x.com/sama">https://x.com/sama</a></p><p>• Dario Amodei on X: <a target="_blank" href="https://x.com/DarioAmodei">https://x.com/DarioAmodei</a></p><p>• <em>Cross </em>on Prime Video: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.amazon.com/Cross-Season-1/dp/B0D6X7ZZHC">https://www.amazon.com/Cross-Season-1/dp/B0D6X7ZZHC</a></p><p>• <em>Jack Ryan </em>on Prime Video: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.amazon.com/Tom-Clancys-Jack-Ryan/dp/B0CNDCMN8R">https://www.amazon.com/Tom-Clancys-Jack-Ryan/dp/B0CNDCMN8R</a></p><p>• <em>24 </em>on Prime Video: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.amazon.com/24-Season-1/dp/B000HPF85A">https://www.amazon.com/24-Season-1/dp/B000HPF85A</a></p><p>• Claude Code: <a target="_blank" href="https://code.claude.com">https://code.claude.com</a></p><p>• Codex: <a target="_blank" href="https://chatgpt.com/codex">https://chatgpt.com/codex</a></p><p>• Lovable: <a target="_blank" href="https://lovable.dev">https://lovable.dev</a></p><p>• Sonos: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.sonos.com">https://www.sonos.com</a></p><p>• “There are only four jobs” on X: <a target="_blank" href="https://x.com/yrechtman/status/2039012253341495462">https://x.com/yrechtman/status/2039012253341495462</a></p><p>• <em>Paradise </em>on Hulu: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.hulu.com/series/paradise-2b4b8988-50c9-4097-bf93-bc34a99a5b4f">https://www.hulu.com/series/paradise-2b4b8988-50c9-4097-bf93-bc34a99a5b4f</a></p><p>• <em>Lioness </em>on Paramount+: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.paramountplus.com/shows/lioness">https://www.paramountplus.com/shows/lioness</a></p><p>• Tesla: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.tesla.com">https://www.tesla.com</a></p><p>• Albert Einstein’s quote: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/115696-genius-is-1-talent-and-99-percent-hard-work">https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/115696-genius-is-1-talent-and-99-percent-hard-work</a></p><p>—</p><p><strong>Recommended books:</strong></p><p>• <em>James</em>: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.amazon.com/James-Novel-Percival-Everett/dp/0385550367">https://www.amazon.com/James-Novel-Percival-Everett/dp/0385550367</a></p><p>• <em>The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn</em>: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.amazon.com/Adventures-Huckleberry-Finn-Unabridged-Uncensored/dp/195483943X">https://www.amazon.com/Adventures-Huckleberry-Finn-Unabridged-Uncensored/dp/195483943X</a></p><p>—</p><p>Production and marketing by <a target="_blank" href="https://penname.co/">https://penname.co/</a>. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email <a target="_blank" href="mailto:[email protected]">[email protected]</a>.</p><p>—</p><p><em>Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed.</em></p> <br/><br/>To hear more, visit <a href="https://www.lennysnewsletter.com?utm_medium=podcast&#38;utm_campaign=show-notes-no-free-preview-language">www.lennysnewsletter.com</a>