The Inspirational Leader Series: Mary Piontkowski

<h1>Welcome to the Inspirational Leaders series, a collection of short interviews with sharp, impactful leaders, because the business world needs more refreshing people like them.</h1> <img alt="" src="https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:700/1*6Ki17MY4J5XvrwseWuowzg.jpeg" style="height:934px; width:700px" /> <blockquote> “If we can find places where we share values, that gives us permission to show up as our authentic selves, and then it opens it up for our teams to do the same.” — Mary Piontkowski </blockquote> <h2>Meet Mary Piontowski, VP and Head of Product at Cisco Meraki. I’ve been working with her team, including at an off-site, and have had the privilege of seeing what an amazing leader Mary is.</h2> (Note: This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.) I’m curious if there is an experience or two that shaped how you’re leading today. There are so many, and many of them are mistakes that have helped me move in a better or newly inspired direction. A few jobs ago, I was doing a pretty decent job building a team that was going to have strategic impact, informing service design from the ground up. I was building relationships as I went, and I would gravitate toward certain relationships, because we shared a common approach. I had a lot of ideas about how design could shape the product strategy. I wanted to prove my value, and it was satisfying to keep moving. What I realized is that I had some blind spots. <a href="https://medium.com/@TeresaBrazen/21-the-inspirational-leader-series-mary-piontkowski-97348273b79">Learn More</a>