Coaching Trees and How We Pay It Forward

Last year, someone I sponsored on my team reached out to me asking for advice. Before he left Meta to join his current company, he had asked for my insight into the opportunity, and we talked about the risks and rewards he faced. He was taking on half the product team with the idea that he would expand his scope to become CPO at some point. Then, when he was made CPO months later, he stopped by to meet up with me and share the wonderful news.

When we met up, we talked about how many of the strong people from our teams went on to become incredible product leaders in their own right. He said, “In football, they call it a coaching tree.” He went on to explain the concept to me, and then he sent me a link to this Wikipedia article. It highlights the coaching tree of Bill Walsh, who became the storied coach of the San Francisco 49ers in 1979. His assistant coaches went on to win multiple Super Bowls and train well-known head coaches whose legacies extend to this day.

I read the article with curiosity, and gradually I realized that I myself had been part of a coaching tree, with my own branch of leaders all stemming from it. They will go forth to create their own branches and pay it forward to future leaders.

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