In a terrific interview with Lenny, Shopify CEO Tobi Lütke said something that cuts right to the core of building great products.
“It is not possible to make great products if the people who work on it do not give a shit about the product.”
Tobi Lütke
Lütke continues that a critical role for any product leader is “to make sure that the team gives a shit.” This isn’t about motivational posters or shallow pep talks; it’s about creating an environment where genuine passion and ownership can thrive. If your team is just going through the motions, you’ll get mediocre results every time.
This got me thinking about the practical ways leaders can instill that deep sense of belief and energy into their teams. Here are four strategies that actually work.
Table of Contents
Anchor Your Team
Your mission must be anchored to something bigger than the company and any single person on the team. When people feel their work contributes to a larger, meaningful purpose, their motivation shifts from completing tasks to achieving a shared vision. This provides a resilient “why” that fuels them through the inevitable challenges and setbacks.
Leading From the Front
As a leader, you must be the one to raise the heat first. You set the standard for energy, bias for action, and operational tempo. This also means driving the team to seek out the truth, even when it’s uncomfortable. Fostering a culture where challenging ideas is encouraged, not punished, is the only way to avoid complacency and unlock real innovation.
Daily Customer Interaction
You have to talk to your customers every single day. This is where you learn the good, the bad, and the creative use cases that never show up in a report. Data and spreadsheets tell you what is happening, but direct conversations tell you why. By building this feedback loop into your team’s regular cadence, and even into performance reviews, you cultivate a level of empathy that quantitative metrics can never replicate.
Align Incentives
Structuring an ownership compensation model with salary, bonus, and Restricted Stock Units (RSUs) or stock options is fundamental. It ensures that employees do well when the company does well. While building a great culture is essential, those efforts can feel hollow if they aren’t backed by financial alignment. When personal success is directly tied to the company’s success, the team’s focus sharpens dramatically.
As the great Charlie Munger said, “Show me the incentives and I will tell you the outcome.”
Conclusion
Getting your team to truly care about your product isn’t about fancy speeches—it’s about creating the right conditions where passion naturally develops.
- Anchor Your Team – Connect their work to a bigger purpose beyond just the company
- Leading From the Front – Set the energy and encourage tough conversations about what’s really working
- Daily Customer Interaction – Talk to customers every day to understand the real problems you’re solving
- Align Incentives – Make sure your team wins financially when the product wins
When you get these fundamentals right, you’ll have a team that fights for the product because they genuinely believe in it.
Huge thanks to Lenny for the terrific interview.