Person
Every book Matt LeMay recommended on podcasts
Key facts
- Matt LeMay has recommended or discussed 4 books on podcasts, as of August 14, 2025.
- Matt LeMay has talked about books on 1 podcast, as of August 14, 2025.
- Those books came up in 1 episode, as of August 14, 2025.
- The 3 books Matt LeMay has mentioned in the most episodes, as of August 14, 2025: Escaping the Build Trap, Radical Focus and The Wisdom of Insecurity.
- The latest episode with a book mention from Matt LeMay aired on August 14, 2025.
Updated
Matt LeMay appeared on Lenny's Podcast to discuss product management careers and his insights into organizational dynamics. During his appearance, LeMay shared several book recommendations that have heavily influenced his professional philosophy. He cited Melissa Perri's Escaping the Build Trap as the source for his favorite definition of product management as facilitating a value exchange. He also praised Christina Wodtke's Radical Focus, calling it the absolute best book about OKRs and noting that he cites it frequently. As a curveball recommendation, LeMay suggested Alan Watts's The Wisdom of Insecurity, explaining that the Buddhist philosopher's writings shaped much of his perspective on control and letting go of control during challenging times. Furthermore, LeMay discussed his own book, Impact-First Product Teams. He explained how researching the book led to the surprising discovery that commercially minded product managers were also the happiest, and he noted how recent industry layoffs served as a convincing real-world function for the impact-first principles outlined in his writing. Throughout the interview, LeMay consistently tied his practical product advice back to these foundational texts and his ongoing research into team structures.
Books Matt LeMay recommended or discussed
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Escaping the Build Trap
Recommended“Um you know my my favorite definition of product management comes from Melissa Perry's book escaping the build trap where she describes product management as facilitating a value exchange.”
Where to get it
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Radical Focus
Discussed“This idea comes from Christina Wood's book, Radical Focus. She had a great episode on your podcast that I just rewatched uh for inspiration before I came on here. Nice move. Um but in that book, she has this visual”
Where to get it
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The Wisdom of Insecurity
Recommended“The other book, this is a bit of a curveball, is by Alan Watts, the the Buddhist philosopher. It's called the wisdom of insecurity. And a lot of the way I talk about control and giving up control comes from that book.”
Where to get it
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Impact-First Product Teams
Discussed“Yeah, it it has taken me until now until writing this book to be convinced and I still feel like I need to be convinced a little bit some. Like I think the layoffs are a really good convincing function for people.”
Where to get it
Books Matt LeMay wrote
Appearances
| Episode | Podcast | Date | Books |
|---|---|---|---|
| The one question that saves product careers | Matt LeMay | Lenny's Podcast | 2025-08-14 | 7 |
Other mentions (3: passing, ad reads, own books)
“But that's part of why I wrote this book at the team level because I think for folks like myself who really enjoy and thrive in and enjoy that team environment, if you can look at the product team as the foundational unit of impact”
“They had read unfortunately they had not read Radical Focus um or they hopefully would have done things differently. They had read a lot of other books.”
“And then what's the name of the book? Where do they find it? Impact First Product Teams. Um, you can find it at all the places where you find books on Amazon. There's an author read audio book which I recorded right here in this room with this microphone.”