For you, in today's
— The root cause of Natural vs. Expert conflicts
— How Naturals & Experts can thrive together
— A sidebar on Composites

For a gentle intro to Naturals & Experts, check out the quoted tweet. Otherwise, buckle up and read on https://twitter.com/shreyas/status/1247028077785485313

Naturals excel at creating alignment and enthusiasm.

Experts excel at inventing new things and keeping systems running.

Each type can do the other’s work as and when needed, they just aren’t excellent at that by default.

Naturals and Experts are both valuable to organizations.

They just have different ways of delivering the value.

Conflict can arise when an Expert reports to a Natural or vice versa. After my first thread on this topic, folks wrote back (publicly and privately) asking for more detail.

So let’s further explore an example of an Expert reporting to a Natural. https://twitter.com/shreyas/status/1247030019156619265

Andy (the Expert product manager) is a rising star: smart, productive, and ambitious. Bob (the Natural product mgmt executive) is the most-admired leader in the company. While things started out fine when they began working together, there’s considerable ongoing conflict now.

Bob’s POV: Andy is great at the technical parts of his job, but misses the bigger picture. He's too fixated on his ideas, he needs to be more objective & flexible on details. He needs to build stronger relationships & influence all levels of the org.

Reasonable concerns, right?

Andy’s POV: Bob navigates the org with ease, his communication makes a profound impact on ppl at every level of the org. Bob needs to be a thoughtful mentor for him, it isn’t useful when Bob says “just observe what I do & emulate it”—it isn’t that easy.

Also reasonable, right?

So, what’s at the root of this conflict?

It’s the stories that we tell ourselves: the stories about what has made us successful thus far and what it means to create value for the organization.

Most interpersonal conflict is rooted in story conflict.

A Natural is successful early on by connecting the dots much better than his peers. A Natural doesn’t usually have strong opinions about the details. He begins to see value in being process-focused rather than being idea-focused. He gets appreciated for his objectivity.

His ability to influence people becomes a major asset, an asset whose value grows at each higher level. And since his rise is often very rapid, he never really gets the time (or the mandate) to fully develop the technical skills required for his function (i.e. pm, mktg, eng, ...)

And so, a fairly polished story is written in his head by the time the Natural is a senior exec. This story is not just about what made *him* successful—it’s often about what success & impact means, period. Remember this for later, because herein lies the solution to the problem.

Let’s now take the Expert who’s reporting to such a Natural. The Expert’s story is that ideas matter, being opinionated matters, getting results matters. That’s what gets the Expert excited and, up until now, that’s what the Expert has been rewarded for.

Andy is frustrated with Bob because he isn’t getting Bob’s mentorship on becoming a better product manager & leader. Little does Andy know that Bob can’t really teach this to him (or anyone). Further, no one (not even Bob) knows that mentorship is impossible here.

Bob is frustrated because Andy’s “stick-to-your-guns” attitude is a liability. Andy needs to be objective & flexible. But every time Bob brings it up, Andy shifts the talk away from “behaviors” & towards “content” i.e. why XYZ is indeed the right product decision, data/proof, etc

So, what are we to do? How can Experts and Naturals thrive in these vertical relationships? Below, I’ll share a recipe, from the point of view of the manager who’s a Natural and has an employee who’s a promising Expert.

First, name it.

Second, work as a complementary team (making each other better and making the work output better).

Third, jointly create an Expert → Composite roadmap.

Sidebar: Composites are Experts+Naturals hybrids, relatively scarce (1 in 10), rarely born, usually made, and once made, can walk on water.

Sidebar contd: That fast-growing leader in your industry very likely has an exec team consisting entirely of Composites. Founders usually start as Experts & the best ones morph into Composites over time (or find gifted Composites to scale the company).
Okay, back to main content

#1 Name it:

This is the most important step. The other stuff is relatively easy after you’ve named the problem. Arguing about expectations, career ladders, exec reviews, OKR disagreements, etc. is useless until you mutually recognize the elephant in the room...

…“The problem isn’t really that you want to do X and I want you to do Y. It’s that I’m a Natural & you’re an Expert and we haven’t really been talking about THAT. So let’s first discuss that, see if we see eye-to-eye, & then create an action plan that holds us both accountable”

#2 Work as a complementary team:

Your main duty is to create value for the company you both are in. An Expert+Natural tag team can work great, but it will involve hard work on your part as a manager (which you shouldnt shy away from, this literally is the job you signed up for)

…“You’re great with market & user insights. Your ideas & creativity are major assets for us. My strengths lie in combining these raw materials in ways that will resonate at all levels of the org. So let’s work as a team on this a few times until we both get noticeably better.”

Notice, this will require tremendous humility on your part. As a Natural, you’re probably conditioned to place more value on your opinions than is actually deserved. Not your fault, people have reinforced this since day 1 because you’re so charismatic. YOU gotta fix it though.

#3 jointly create an Expert → Composite roadmap:

Composites can walk on water. They don’t do it alone (it’s always a team effort), but they provide unique leverage for your team and org because they can both identify the right path and rally people to pursue it relentlessly.

As a manager, you should be creating more Composites for your company. As a Natural, you won’t be able to do this all by yourself. You’re necessary, but not sufficient. So create a fairly detailed plan with your superstar Expert that includes leveraging other resources.

…“As much as I would love to be your solo mentor, I think we’ll need a more holistic plan. I’m going to set you up with X, Y, Z, who’ll be able to mentor you on A, B, C much better than I can. Plus, let’s craft a plan together on how you can become a Composite in N years.”

So that’s it. I’ve personally experimented with and executed on versions of the plan above with a few folks I’ve managed / mentored, so I know it can work. This thread has given me a good excuse to create a more structured recipe and I hope you find it useful.

If you’re thinking: “This is all great if you’re a Natural manager. What if I’m an Expert employee facing this problem with my Natural manager?”
Or “What if I’m an Natural employee who’s having issues dealing with my Expert manager?”
Or something else.

Perhaps I’ll write a follow up to this thread. But no need to wait until then. If you're sure your manager is genuinely interested in your growth, share this thread with them or bring it up in a 1:1. Just a recognition of the conflict can be the majority of the solution.

What else would you like to hear about on this topic of Naturals, Experts, and Composites?

Reply below or send a DM.

Stay safe!