What Your Favorite VPR Personality Says About You
In the world of reality television, not much has captured the hearts and minds of many Bravo fans quite like this last season of Vanderpump Rules. In an interesting cross-over, we started to chat with other Product Managers also watching, and worked to compile a quick review of what your favorite personality says about your style of Product Management.
Lisa Vanderpump
Mrs. Vanderpump is known for her perfectionism and attention to detail. Ever the control freak, PMs who love her are often micromanagers lacking trust in their team, or preferring to pick favorites. It’s important to be aware of how you might be controlling your team, but also, no one can run a better ship than you do, which is why your motto is probably something like, “I said, ‘SHIP IT!’” Be careful not to alienate your team too much by creating a toxic work environment. Your team will probably do that themselves anyway.
Tom Sandoval
Tom is known for being innovative and creative, albeit a bit of a showman who really is only interested in his self-interest, and a bit of hedonism. If your favorite personality is Tom Sandoval, then boy-oh-boy are you overpromising, underdelivering, and focusing on the flashy features vs. essential functionality. You have all the ideas, but most of them are bad, based on assumptions and your ego, and you never actually decide on any particular one, so you never follow through (nevermind that they are all expensive and overly complex). You probably lie, cheat, beg, and bargain your way to success, but it’s bound to catch up with you as you accrue ethical debt your team can never hope to pay down in future sprints, but it’s going to be a helluva ride when you fly too close to the sun and erupt in a scandal that ruins your career forever.
Tom Schwartz
You are loyal to a fault, attaching yourself to the showmen Product Managers who love Tom Sandoval. You are driven, probably the smartest and kindest of all the PMs who knows what the hell you’re doing, even if you have unconventional ways of going about doing it. You are well-liked, and often trying to make excuses for your friend’s failings as you both partner on large components of a platform your products share. Unfortunately, your loyalty to the wrong people gets you wrapped up in scandal, and you find yourself the subject of an intense HR investigation, learning more about the shady practices of your best friend, and burning bridges with the people you should have actually trusted. You realize mistakes were made, and you focus back on protecting your team and being honest about what you know. It’s okay though, your product is actually really successful, and everyone turns a blind eye to the loyalty you had. After-all, you’re a hard worker and the brains of the organization.
Ariana Madix
Honest. Straightforward. Blunt. You might be viewed as too critical and lacking tact with your stakeholders, but you see yourself delivering the absolutely essential news, no matter if it’s good or bad. You don’t dress it up, you just state it matter of factly, and if egos were not in the equation, you’d be doing a great job. You really just turn lemons into lemonade. Unfortunately, not taking fragile egos into account is going to yield a lack of interest, and probably get you fired, or at the very least stalling your career trajectory; however, you’ll remain principled in your approach and your team will love you for your honesty, until it comes time for their annual reviews.
Scheana Shay
Ditzy. Air-headed. The social butterfly who is constantly setting up meetings and working to chat with every stakeholder, customer, and user you absolutely can. However, these conversations tend to lack focus, and you quickly find yourself distracting everyone with your latest weekend trist and party-plans on your next vacation. You might miss deadlines, but you’re so well liked that your team usually helps to cover for you and ensure goals are being sort of met, as you gloss over any missed deadlines by wooing your executives, at the expense of those who were loyal to you. Congrats, you’ve played the game right, got the promotion, lost your friends, but wow, you’re happy you have the money and consider yourself “good as gold!”
Jax Taylor
Arrogant and self-centered, you’ve built a reputation for being a bit of a loose cannon, erupting into angry rants when you disagree with the directive and strategy of the organization. When things are going well though, you attribute any good idea to yourself, taking credit for others work without humility, and will throw others under the bus. No one really like working with you, and you’re probably going to be on the short list of absolutely being laid off in the next RIF.
Lala Kent
You’re ambitious and driven, but also a bit of a diva. You’re actually pretty good at knowing what you are supposed to do, but tend to never perform any of it too well; but when push comes to shove, you’re competitive and will push the team to success, only to bask in the rewards at the end. Your team is fine though, because at least you know what the priorities are, and you have your pulse on what needs to be done, but ensuring you’re team is following good processes of self-management isn’t one of your concerns, and it shows.
James Kennedy
You’re fun. You crack jokes. You get no real work done, and this is your third job in two years. In interviews, you allude to the fact that things just “didn’t work out” at your previous employer, mainly because you might have shown up drunk for one too many meetings. You typically take things too far, and have giant and grand ideas that are not only unfeasible, but also have no grounded context on the value they can provide to the organization. Ultimately, you come up with non-viable business ideas, and skirt real work where you can, calling yourself more of an “aspirational product person” and dreaming up “ideas” that can really propel to org further. Be careful, because you could end up causing some big issues that land your company in violation of regulations, and maybe even cause your own criminal liability if malfeasance is clearly traced back to your deliberate actions.
Ken Todd
You’re Lisa’s right-hand, stepping in when the things that need to be said don’t want to be said by her. You often abuse the dog-friendly office concept, and really, no one actually knows what you do. You’re the co-founder, but only in title. When you’re there, you’re generally unaware of anything going on, and most of the time, you’re simply not around. You appreciate it this way, and while all your questions just cause confusion and consternation among the team, you’re mostly harmless, and a bystander to the real brains of the operation.
And there you have it. If you’re a Vanderpump Rules fan, and you’re a product manager, then this should really resonate with you and identify what your favorite personality says about you.
