Product & General Management Expert | Guide in Business Turnarounds
For more than 25 years, I’ve been an executive in Silicon Valley, working at Adobe, Avid, and Plantronics. As a vice-president and general manager, I have built a reputation as an extraordinary all-around executive talent, growing in-depth product development, product management, business, and marketing leadership expertise. In 2020, I founded The Product Sherpa, a new-generation coaching and training venture that guides business leaders and product teams to success. The Product Sherpa was born from my obsession with deconstructing product and business excellence, following a significant product setback in 2005. There’s no magic framework for success, but I have built key leadership expertise focused on generating billions in profit and exceptional team alignment over the years. Then COVID-19 hit. I decided to share the method with more than one company and help the many businesses in need of transformation and turnaround. I particularly enjoy assisting product and business leaders in the five critical steps to business success in times of change: customer development, business vision, product portfolio optimization, adapted routes-to-market and maximized profit through strategic pricing. Living in California with my family since 1999, I enjoy the outdoors and running, and I have run more than thirty full marathons, including at least one on each of the seven continents. I’m originally from France. I graduated with a Master of Sales & Marketing degree from Reims Management School, Reims, France (now part of NEOMA Business School), and completed the Stanford University Graduate School of Business – Executive Education program. I keep learning every single day and am an avid reader of business and strategy publications. The top of the list of my favorite authors and timeless books include “Principles” by Ray Dalio, “Thinking Fast and Slow” by Daniel Kahneman, and “Start With Why” by Simon Sinek.
For more than 25 years, I have built and led teams both in good and bad times. I've had my own dose of hiring mistakes, but also exceptional talent growing into fantastic leaders. Establishing the right rules of engagement and setting proper expectations is key. Building trust is even more important. I can help you ask yourself the right questions so you can attract and retain the right talent for your team.
A growth mindset is not a myth! There's a silver lining in every situation and magic in every encounter. But you need to let go of all these voices that say you will not succeed. You need to embrace change and uncertainty! I have helped hundreds of my team members make that switch and become incredibly successful.
Product management is both the most exciting and scary role in any organization. The risk of spreading yourself too thin is real and if you're not careful, you'll quickly turn into a "feature-factory" victim. I have nurtured and grown hundreds of product managers leading the most promising ones to CPO and CEO roles. I can help become a successful strategic product management leader.
Product success is a delicate balance between deep customer insights and a variety of business and operational constraints. After having launched hundreds of products through the years, I can help you focus on the essentials.
At the heart of every successful company lies a passion, sometimes an obsession for the customer. Knowing what's on your customers' minds is paramount. Through the years, I've learned how to conduct proper research and ask the right questions to get gems that would turn into the best product ideas. The secret is not so much to understand what they want or think, but more to get to the WHY they want it and build from there. I can teach you how to get to that WHY.
Using it for my own business. I have built a full list, a weekly newsletter, and specific funnels to help my audience get to the content that best matches their areas of interest.
- A new-generation venture that guides product and business leaders to success. - Primary expertise in establishing a business vision and uncovering deep customer insights. - Core business optimization, from product portfolio management, strategic pricing, to business rationalization.
Business Unit “CEO” with full P&L accountability. Focus on strategy, business leadership, and operations optimization (Plantronics is now Poly). - Drove all aspects of $250M+ consumer business: vision, portfolio strategy, product development, and product management, and go-to-market execution with full P&L responsibility. - Proactively and successfully executed the sale of the gaming portion to Nacon, a leader in video game publishing and gaming accessories. Maximized the transaction by narrowing the scope to an asset sale. - Initiated, defined, and drove complete turnaround in product development, sourcing strategies, manufacturing, supply chain, and go-to-market models. - Led a shift in channel strategy, working with sales on distribution rationalization and increased focus on eCommerce.
Product P&L and general management for the Creative Enthusiast customer segment ($150M+ annual revenue). - Heading a 100+ people global engineering and product management organization. - Helped significantly increase the profit contribution through revenue growth strategies, SKU optimization, and cost restructuring on R&D and manufacturing overhead. - Implemented global development teams with offshoring growing from 10 to 40% of engineering teams. - Led the shift of product development to SCRUM (Certified SCRUM Master). - Drove the definition of a new Product Life Cycle Management program leading to a better assessment of business opportunities and streamlining product roadmaps. - Successfully drove multiple turnaround efforts and M&A’s. - Driving product strategy, roadmap and co-ordination of go-to-market plans for TV Viewing segment and establishing Pinnacle PCTV as the Premium Brand. - Establishing retail market share lead through active lifecycle management, point-of-sales promotions, effective packaging creation and strong web-ecommerce integration. - Driving customer-feedback and metrics-driven marketing effort through on-going tests and measurements. - Member of the Executive Team and driver of key projects: redesigned global web sites and eCommerce growth, implementation of Net Promoter Score, strategic planning. - Transitioned into market solutions to define a new strategy for the consumer segment.