I used to wear my 70-hour work week like a badge of honor. I was the textbook “hard worker” on my job, and yet I was constantly behind, leading an underperforming group, and missing my financial targets.
The moment I stopped working hard on the product and started working harder on myself, everything changed. I went on to lead organizational turnarounds, promote 11 leaders into senior roles, and scale a flagship SaaS product to over $25M ARR.
You’re not paid for your time. You’re paid for the value you bring, and your value is a direct reflection of your internal operating system.
The hardest, most leveraged work you will do as an executive happens when you’re not touching the roadmap. This is the internal calculus that unlocks external results.
I learned to audit my internal operating system (attitude, language, beliefs) before touching the product roadmap. Here is the 3x Leverage Point I coach every product leader on:
Work Hard on Your Philosophy: Your beliefs dictate your actions. If you believe chaos is inevitable, you will create it. I only achieved organizational turnaround by imposing the radical belief that clear processes could overcome any political obstacle.
Work Hard on Your Language: The language you use internally and with your teams shapes reality. When I slashed customer churn by 20% and secured $5M+ in new funding for startups, it started by replacing defensive, hesitant language with assertive, definitive language.
Work Hard on Your Attitude: You can’t lead a turnaround if you’re carrying a victim mindset. Your team is a mirror. You must develop the unshakeable accountability required to transform an underperforming group into a high-output machine.
Working hard on the job just makes a living. Working hard on your mind makes a fortune.
What’s one belief about your own leadership style you need to audit today to 3x your impact tomorrow?
I help product leaders operationalize strategy and accelerate impact. Book a 15-minute Strategy Alignment with me to transform your complexity into clarity.
Richard Ewing is a Product Executive and the creator of The Product Economist framework. He serves as a Strategic Advisor to B2B SaaS organizations, helping leaders audit their roadmaps for capital efficiency and prevent “model collapse” in their business models.
Stop guessing. Start auditing.
Connect on LinkedIn: Richard Ewing (MBA)
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