What I learned from an industry pivot - Kate Kempe (Director of Product, International Baccalaureate)

Kate Kempe made the leap from 13 years at Amazon — most recently leading Alexa's screened products — to head up product at the International Baccalaureate, an NGO with no established product function. In this episode, she talks through what that transition actually involved: finding focus during a job search through Phil Terry's Never Search Alone methodology, reconciling Amazon instincts with a slower-moving, mission-driven organisation, and learning to be interested rather than interesting when you're the new person trying to make an impression.

Chapters 01:07 — Kate's introduction 01:37 — From arts degree to Amazon: career origins 03:30 — Why leave Amazon? Finding the IB opportunity 05:08 — Never Search Alone: how the job search council works 10:37 — Building a personal inventory before committing to a role 13:38 — Amazon vs the IB: culture, pace, and decision-making 16:10 — Making the case in a mission-driven organisation 19:02 — Influence and persuasion — the "bus" analogy 23:44 — Building a product function from scratch 25:10 — Shifting from project delivery to product health 29:45 — Crossing domains: how to land and establish yourself 35:26 — Be interested, not interesting 37:50 — Advice for big tech → mission-driven transitions

Our Hosts Lily Smith enjoys working as a consultant product manager with early-stage and growing startups and as a mentor to other product managers. She’s currently Chief Product Officer at BBC Maestro, and has spent 13 years in the tech industry working with startups in the SaaS and mobile space. She’s worked on a diverse range of products – leading the product teams through discovery, prototyping, testing and delivery. Lily also founded ProductTank Bristol and runs ProductCamp in Bristol and Bath.

Randy Silver is a Leadership & Product Coach and Consultant. He gets teams unstuck, helping you to supercharge your results. Randy's held interim CPO and Leadership roles at scale-ups and SMEs, advised start-ups, and been Head of Product at HSBC and Sainsbury’s. He participated in Silicon Valley Product Group’s Coaching the Coaches forum, and speaks frequently at conferences and events. You can join one of communities he runs for CPOs (CPO Circles), Product Managers (Product In the {A}ether) and Product Coaches. He’s the author of What Do We Do Now? A Product Manager’s Guide to Strategy in the Time of COVID-19. A recovering music journalist and editor, Randy also launched Amazon’s music stores in the US & UK.