Innovating in Product, the Workplace, and the Choices You Make

Friday, March 17th, 2017
10:30am

"Innovating in Product, the Workplace, and the Choices You Make"

by Michal Langer; New Product Development, eBay

   In this seminar session, Ms. Michal Langer presented some excellent tips from her life experience & the journey that has led her to working at eBay.  Hard work is not a foreign concept to Ms. Langer, who emanated an extremely dedicated demeanor.  Michal started her career being constantly interested in startups and how she could help a new business succeed.  Eventually she worked her way into Product Manager roles; after moving to the U.S., she started with eBay in a product management position.  Early on in her time at eBay, it occurred to her supervisors that she was excelling in her roles and she was encouraged to run for a position that had recently been vacated.  Though she knew she was only about 1/2 qualified for the position, she knew it would provide her an opportunity to work for the best product managers in the company and expand her skills; that was how Ms. Langer became the Chief of Staff to eBay's Chief Product Officer.

Given her experiences, Michal had some great advice for those exploring their options for a career:

•  Follow your passion & positions you may not even be 100% qualified for
• There is always the chance that you can succeed and improve your skills.
• You never know what potential a possible employer may see in you.
• "You don't have a bucket" (that you belong in)
• There is no singular, specific role/industry/position that you belong in.
• Find something that is interesting & that makes you happy.
• "Create your own opportunities/roles
• Think 2 or 3 levels up, as if you are a manager.
• "Find the best combination of scared & happy"
• Don't let qualifications limit you from trying to get a job/role
• Don't settle for mediocrity

Michal finished her presentation on an informative note, introducing some of the great products & features that eBay has coming to market soon. The company currently has over 1 billion customers and over 1 billion products, therefore they are aiming towards a more personal shopping experience.  To make the shopping experience more like going into an actual store, they are implementing AI (artificial intelligence) with natural language understanding (picking out multiple parts of sentences to isolate important details/aspects in products).  One piece of technology they are implementing is ShopBot through Facebook Messenger, which you can chat with like you would with a friend, asking what size/price/type of product you're looking for & even using picture/image recognition.  The best part of the technology (though a little scary) is that it will learn about your preferences over time to enhance your search results. Michal did a great job of mixing her own personal story with information on eBay's new products.