Episode 139: David Fradin & his book, Letters From My Hymie

ABOUT DAVID

David Fradin was born and raised in Detroit during the automotive go go years of the 1950s and 60s. Later he pioneered the field of environmental mediation and joined Hewlett Packard to help site new facilities after running a successful campaign for Governor Al Quie and John Connally’s Minnesota presidential campaign. While at HP he was classically trained as an HP Product Manager during the 50 years that HP grew 20% a year. He was recruited by Apple to bring the first hard disk drive on a PC to market and later became the Apple 3 Business Unit Manager at the same level as Steve Jobs by heading the Apple 3 product line and providing the profits which helped fund the development of the Macintosh. He is the author of "Building Insanely Great Products," "Organizing and Managing Insanely Great Products," and the Wiley published "Successful Product Design and Management" all available now on Amazon plus Letters from My Hymie. He has trained companies such as Cisco on product success worldwide. His mission is to help products succeed. He is a commercial pilot, flight instructor and advanced ground instructor in addition to a certified SCCA race driver and white water rafting guide. Overall, since 1969 he has worked on over 75 products and services, at 25 small, medium and large organizations and eleven startups covering hardware, software, services, internet, SaaS, mobile, advertising, online training, video and for non-profit public policy associations and political campaigns.

CONVERSATION HIGHLIGHTS

• The engineer's mind.

• The power of mediation vs. litigation, and the need to advocate for oneself.

• The shift from product strategy to political strategy.

• When companies indoctrinate their values.

• Working with Steve Jobs.

• The need for authority commensurate with responsibility.

• Understanding the customer.

• When corporations intentionally try to undermine their values.

• A memo is not enough.

• Having a North Star.

• What is lost by fearing rejection.

The MAIN QUESTION underlying my conversation with David is, What (or who) is it that informs the non-negotiable values you hold and use to navigate your life, work, and career?

FIND DAVID

• Website: www.davidfradin.com
• LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidfradin
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/david.fradin/

LinkedIn – Full Podcast Article:

CHAPTERS

00:00 - The Book Leads Podcast – David Fradin

00:16 - Introduction & Bio

03:03 - Who are you today? Can you provide more information about your work?

03:36 - How did your path into your career look like, and what did it look like up until now?

29:11 - Values across different organizations.

34:05 - How values are best ingrained and sustained in organizations.

36:22 - How David was drawn toward science.

38:36 - David's evolution across different fields, roles, and specializations.

42:07 - How does the work you're doing today reconcile to who you were as a child?

44:51 - What do you consider your super power?

45:14 - How David ended up in politics.

50:04 - What does leadership mean to you?

51:19 - David's thoughts on the Great Resignation and what it demonstrated about personal vs. corporate values.

54:52 - Can you introduce us to the book we’re discussing?

01:06:33 - What's changed in you in the process of writing this book? (Plans for David's final book)

01:12:29 - What book has inspired you?

01:13:23 - What are you up to these days? (A way for guests to share and market their projects and work.)

This series has become my Masterclass In Humanity. I'd love for you to join me and see what you take away from theseconversations.

Learn more about The Book Leads andlisten to past episodes:

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• Read About The Book Leads – Blog Post

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