Lenny's Podcast: Product | Career | Growth

Julie Zhuo on accelerating your career, impostor syndrome, writing, building product sense, using intuition vs. data, hiring designers, and moving into management

June 7, 2022

AI Summary

5 min read

Julie Zhuo shares lessons from her path from individual contributor designer to VP of design at Facebook, and now founder of Sundial, a product analytics startup. She discusses overcoming imposter syndrome, using writing to sharpen thinking, developing product sense, balancing intuition with data, structuring design reviews, giving feedback, transitioning to management, and hiring designers.

Embracing discomfort for growth

Zhuo felt imposter syndrome intensely for her first seven to eight years at Facebook, questioning her place amid rapid scaling. She reframed it as a signal of growth opportunities, advising people to seek fast-growing companies for more chances to volunteer and learn on the job. Key tactics include accepting discomfort as normal—even leaders face it—asking for help from peers or those ahead, and being vulnerable in conversations to build support and collective problem-solving.

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What you'll learn

1 `* (00:02:46) **Julie Zhuo's career journey from artist to Facebook VP Design to Sundial founder**`
2 `* (00:08:36) **Accelerating career growth and battling impostor syndrome**`
3 `* (00:14:25) **Founder life at Sundial vs. Meta leadership**`
4 `* (00:18:00) **Launch of writing habit, newsletter, and book**`
5 `* (00:37:55) **Building product sense through observation and validation**`
6 `* (00:43:25) **Intuition vs. data: When founders trust gut**`
7 `* (00:47:31) **Running effective product/design review meetings**`

+ Full timestamped outline available in the app

Show Notes

Julie Zhuo is the co-founder of Sundial, a company that helps builders make meaningful use of data to fulfill their mission. With over 400K followers across social media, she is one of the most influential leaders in product design, and product thinking broadly.

Julie started her career at Facebook as a product designer and eventually led teams of 100+ designers as the VP of Design. Her experience leading at Facebook motivated her to publish the Wall Street Journal best seller The Making of a Manager in 2019. On the side, Julie shared her thoughts on technology, design, and leadership in The Looking Glass, the blog that inspired Lenny’s Newsletter.—

Find the full transcript here: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/episode-2-julie-zhuo

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In this episode, you will learn about:

1) The making of a VP

* How did Julie find her way to product design?

* How did she navigate through impostor syndrome given the growing responsibilities as Facebook rapidly scaled?

* What are the challenges she faces as she transitions from VP to founder?

2) The impact and habit of writing

* What goals was Julie able to achieve through writing?

* What did she do to build a habit of writing?

* Does she think tweeting is better than blogging?

3) How to develop product sense and make better design decisions

* What are the three tried-and-true steps to develop product sense?

* When do you choose intuition over data?

* What’s the secret to facilitating great product/design review meetings?

3) How to take your first steps into management

* What can you do to unblock your path to become a manager?

* What’s the must-know trick in competing for design talent?

Where to find Julie:

* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/julie-zhuo/

* Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/joulee

* Sundial: sundial.so

* Book: The Making of a Manager, https://www.amazon.com/dp/B079WNPRL2/ref=dp_kinw_strp_1

* Substack: https://lg.substack.com/

* Medium: https://medium.com/the-year-of-the-looking-glass

Our amazing sponsors:

* Amplitude: https://amplitude.com/

* Productboard: https://www.productboard.com/

* Sprig: https://sprig.com/lenny

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